June 24, 2020

The most honored statues on the Wisconsin State Capitol Square came down last night.

Here are the photographs I took just before 6 a.m. this morning:

IMG_7016

IMG_7013

IMG_7026

IMG_7028

Here's a news article, "Protesters pull down Forward statue, Col. Hans Christian Heg statue outside State Capitol" (WKOW):
Protesters pulled down the Forward statue that normally stands outside the State Capitol and left it lying in the middle of the road. Demonstrators had been marching around downtown Madison, frustrated after the arrest of a protester earlier in the day. The same group also tore down the Col. Hans Christian Heg statue a short time later. The group then went on to throw the statue into Lake Monona. Heg fought for the Union during the Civil War and was a stark opponent of slavery during that time.

AND: "Madison protesters tear down Capitol statues, attack state Senator from Milwaukee as fury erupts again" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel):
During the melee late Tuesday, Democratic state Sen. Tim Carpenter was assaulted after taking a photo of protesters.

"I don't know what happened ... all I did was stop and take a picture ... and the next thing I'm getting five-six punches, getting kicked in the head," Carpenter told a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter following the assault.

Protesters, chanting for the release of the man who'd been arrested earlier, also broke glass at the Tommy Thompson Center on West Washington Avenue, smashed windows and lights at the state Capitol, and set a small fire at the Dane County jail before police arrived just before 1 a.m.
ALSO: Here's what the man who got arrested did (warning: the "n-word" is in the man's tirade):



And here's what the arrest looked like:


196 comments:

wendybar said...

Haters are going to hate. We just have got to make sure their side loses, so we can put them in prison for vandalism.

Temujin said...

Happy 1984, Madison!

Why worry about little statues coming down?

Robert Marshall said...

"Black is beautiful".

Vandalism is ugly.

Mike Sylwester said...

Wisconsin will be one of at least 40 states to vote for Trump in November 2020.

rehajm said...

Reviewing Ann's pictures of plywood and graffiti the word shithole comes to mind.

Hey, still better than Trump though, right? He tweets such mean things...

Howard said...

Iconoclasts don't discriminate.

Dave Begley said...

Where were the city police, Dane County Sheriff’s department and WI State Troopers?

Evers MUST be recalled.

John Fisher said...

So Ann - have you figured out that this is not about Black Lives Matter yet (or any other rational grievance either)?

Darrell said...

They tried to pull me down last night.
I have to get more sun.

Dave Begley said...

Good thing that Ann now knows how to shoot a gun.

Pure anarchy in Madison.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Black leadership and Dems are obviously OK with this.

StoughtonSconnie said...

The “protester” was arrested after berating customers through a bullhorn while carrying a baseball bat inside a restaurant on Cap Square, then fought with cops trying to arrest him. Also, in addition to the statues, a State Senator, a Democrat, was assaulted by the mob after taking pictures.
Amazing how the dark night of fascism is always descending on the right but ends up landing in the left.

Jersey Fled said...

Dear Ann:

This is what happens when you elect Democrats.

XOXO

Fled

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Wake me when they come for Fighting Bob.

Sofa King said...

Savages.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Black leadership and Dems are obviously OK with this.

rehajm said...

I don't know what happened

Many of your local elected officials were funded by groups who are funded by people who like this sort of thing. Those same and groups funded loose organizations of felons and misanthropes and radical lefties to commit destructive acts while guaranteeing they won't see jail time or have permanent marks on their records, arranged by your local bought and paid for DA and/or prosecutor.

You got bonked on the head because you're video and images are the only way they won't get away with it...

Wince said...

"I don't know what happened ... all I did was stop and take a picture ... and the next thing I'm getting five-six punches, getting kicked in the head".

Unless he happened to snap a photo of their "Hello: My Name is Antifa" stickers you really can't prove anything.

michaele said...

Wow, I am speechless...so much needless destruction and rampant fury directed against subjects that would seem to be on the "good" side of the issue. Back in May of 2008, Michelle Obama said, “Barack knows that we are going to have to make sacrifices; we are going to have to change our conversation; we’re going to have to change our traditions, our history; we’re going to have to move into a different place as a nation.” That always stayed with me because I didn't really understand what it meant. I guess it's stuff like this.

mgarbowski said...

When you think about it, Jesus was made famous for toppling statues of anti-Confederate militia and dumping them in lakes. That, and mob-beatdowns of state legislators who take photos of mostly peaceful protests.

Craig said...

I am sorry this is happening in your town. It's really sad.

gilbar said...

so, where's the footage? hard to believe, that In This Day, there's not footage of the people Doing this. Why do i ask?
I'm just wondering if there was a single person of color in the crowd; of if it was 100% white?

Bleachbitandhammer said...

The party of maddow

Bob Boyd said...

I'm calling on Green Bay and the NFL to change the offensive name of the Packers, which honors animal slavery and animal murder. I suggest a plant-based name like the Green Bay Pickers.

tim in vermont said...

John Kerry promised that there will be a revolution to overturn any election that the Democrats lose. They are just getting in shape, is all.

It must be a proud moment for Democrats to see their kiddies grow up like this.

I saw a tweet from an Iranian and she says that the successive generations absolutely revile the statue destroyers and renamers who robbed Iran of its history.

Bleachbitandhammer said...

Why would these leftist anarchists do it for what the news media will ignore or lie and call “right wing”?

Swede said...

I think we should vote for the people they want us to vote for so that this kind of thing stops.

RMc said...

AND: "Madison protesters tear down Capitol statues, attack state Senator from Milwaukee as fury erupts again"

Animals. And Althouse and her ilk stand idly by.

So Ann - have you figured out that this is not about Black Lives Matter yet (or any other rational grievance either)?

Nope.

D.D. Driver said...

Important omitted fact: Senator Carpenter is openly gay. If this happened at any other moment it almost certainly would be investigated as a hate crime. And, if this happened at a right leaning protest it would be conclusively proven already that this was a hate crime.

tim in vermont said...

I like how people are setting off fireworks all night in Crown Heights too, I guess they are trying to send Jewish people the message that they are not welcome.

This goes back to Hillary being the first presidential candidate in history to reject the outcome of the election.

Owen said...

Shit got real, huh?

Heartless Aztec said...

I'm a native Floridian. I stood next to that statue honoring that brave man and the brave men he led. I touched the metal and granite. Fucking utter bulk bullshit. I am further incensed.

BillieBob Thorton said...

What ya gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys bad boys

tim in vermont said...

"I don't know what happened ... all I did was stop and take a picture ... and the next thing I'm getting five-six punches, getting kicked in the head,"

For any normal human being, getting red pilled like that would cause a person to rethink, but my money is on no. He’s not shocked at the violence, but that it’s happening to him — a Democrat!

tim in vermont said...

I am sure the voters of Wisconsin will be cowed by this, well those outside of Madison won’t but whose counting?

Temujin said...

The destruction of the US and Western Civilization is full on. This is not going to slow down and it's not going to stop. And it goes on with the approval and funding of the Democrat Party here in the US, and socialists around the world. This is not news, it's not a sudden occurance. I've been saying for months that there should not be another Dem elected for 2 elections. It'll take at least that long to clean it out. And I've been right all along about this.

The far left now runs the Democrat Party. They have been nurtured for years by the left in academia, media, Hollywood, and throughout our political class. I would further say that Republicans are right there. They don't support it, but neither have they ever stood up to it- for decades now. Our schools, our society has all been pushed so far left, those on the street are the result of 40 years of mis-education. Or, better put, a very specific indoctrination.

My statement is not extreme. This is the reality. Democrats hate America. They look, to use Obama's words, to transform American society. From what? To what?

The next civil war is coming. Because most Americans are not going to just stand by and watch a Socialist takeover of the United States. Not going to happen. So what next? People just going to let this 'run it's course' pushing the leftist dream onto all of us even further. Then we hold for a bit? Then it picks up again in a few months, with a new push? What happens when and if the extreme Left Democrat Party wins the White House, the Senate, and the House of Reps.?

I'll tell you what happens. It will usher in a civil war. Not asking for it. I'm telling you what's going to happen. I will vote for Trump, not because I love or even like the man. But I vote for him because I know he at least loves America. And wants what is best for all people. The Dem/Socialists? They hate America. They do not want what is best for all. They want most of us destroyed or put away. Those who do not have correct thoughts or words must be put away. And who judges those thoughts and words? Well...you can see them on your TV every night.

This is what the Left has done throughout history. They are who they are. I don't care how they dress it up. Listening BLM?

The Tangerine Tornado said...

Have police not developed any tactics to deal with these mobs? I mean, dozens of crimes are being committed in public and there are no arrests.

Browndog said...

Reporter Emily Hamer covered the events in their entirety last night.

“This is not a peaceful protest, so if you came out here for a peaceful protest you missed it,” one organizer says. “We’re done being peaceful. Now we demanding justice.”

Crowd is standing off with police now, chanting, “This is not a riot, this is a revolution.”

R C Belaire said...

Fine city you had there. Must be comforting to realize there are caring people sharing your environs...

Ralph L said...

When seconds count, the police are only hours away.

Browndog said...

All of these unorganized leaderless events have a certain familiarity to them-

Coincidentally.

Kevin said...

Monkey see.

Monkey do.

Tina Trent said...

Remember, your first reaction to this was talking about how pretty the posters were painted on the plywood protecting the property of people other than you whose life savings were being destroyed by lawlessness, rather than expressing even the mildest outrage at the lawlessness.

Perhaps you'll become incensed when they come for all white professors' pensions.

When you shove the person in front of you under the bus to placate the baying mob, you're next in line for a bus tire facial.

Rory said...

"fury erupts"

Misspelled "fun."

Sebastian said...

"protesters"?

Where were the police? How many vandals got arrested? Hey Althouse, what are your taxes paying for?

"I don't know what happened ... all I did was stop and take a picture ... and the next thing I'm getting five-six punches, getting kicked in the head,"

You ran into the Red Guards, buddy. What do you expect? Now plan to fight back.

I am getting the feeling that Althouse is seeing what she's observing.

Wince said...

"The most honored statues on the Wisconsin State Capitol Square came down last night."

Unless they leapt themselves, why the passive voice?

A Voice of Reason said...

Liberal fascism, folks. The only kind of fascism there is or ever was, actually.

gilbar said...

First they came for the Confederates, and i did not speak out--
...because i was not a Confedrate
Then they came for the Generals from Ohio, and i did not speak out--
...because i was not a General from Ohio
Then they came for the Colonels from Norway, and i did not speak out--
...because i was not a Colonel from Norway
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Kevin said...

How are black people going to tell us how they rose up and ended slavery...

...with all these Lincoln statues and Civil War statues around?

rehajm said...

Have police not developed any tactics to deal with these mobs? I mean, dozens of crimes are being committed in public and there are no arrests.

The question is moot. Law enforcement is being told not to enforce, the elected legal system has been put in place not to prosecute. It's all going according to plan...

Browndog said...

This all started with a republican, Nikki Haley.

MartyH said...

Madison is reaping the whirlwind for Wisconsin voting for Trump. Inga applauds.

rehajm said...

If you want to see legal enforcement, try harming of these bastards.

Rory said...

"Have police not developed any tactics to deal with these mobs? I mean, dozens of crimes are being committed in public and there are no arrests."

The government officials who control the police have tied the cops hands, and will prosecute the cops if they try to restore order.

Kevin said...

warning: the "n-word" is in the man's tirade

Stop coddling these people.

It serves to support the suppression of speech.

Owen said...

Prof. A: Can you share any knowledge on Wisconsin and Madison rules for self-defense? Is WI open carry or concealed? Because it sounds as if at least one legislator might want to know how that works.

MountainMan said...

And Biden has double digit leads in the polls and in checking all the POTUS betting markets this morning at RCP double-digit leads there as well.

We are heading for a new dark age and where this ends up I have no idea. But it will not end well for anyone. And there are people who comment on this blog regularly who are apparently just fine with all this and will vote for Biden with enthusiasm.

tim in vermont said...

You have to hand it to them, the diligence they are putting in to boost Trump’s turnout.

rehajm said...

Any wagers on if Coopers makes it to the weekend?

Kevin said...

“We’re done being peaceful. Now we demanding justice.”

The left has never believed in peaceful protest.

They know what they want.

And they want it RIGHT NOW!

tim in vermont said...

The Democrats are putting on what has to be, by far, the most violent and destructive presidential campaign in the history of this country.

MayBee said...

I am currently reading this: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2020/06/white-fragility-racism-racism-progressive-progressphiles-david-shor.html?__twitter_impression=true

About a progressive listserv that hounded off a progressive statistician for daring to quote data showing that people do not respond well to violent protests.
It's in NY Mag.

Do people like what is happening here? We can act like they do if we don't let another viewpoint see the light of day.

Rick.T. said...

“...came down”

Passive voice. One of the seven deadly sins of writing and, as your conservative readers know, a favorite device of the liberal MSM outlets to obscure rather than to illuminate.

jeff said...

Progressives eating their own. Can’t say you didn’t see this coming, be dammed if Minneapolis will out-woke Madison.

Birches said...

This is so sad. There is no limiting principle.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

A stark raving opponent of slavery

Howard said...

There treating Objects like Trump treats people.

rehajm said...

Can you share any knowledge on Wisconsin and Madison rules for self-defense?

With the bullhorn guy there's a guy brandishing lethal force in the form of a bat, an attempt to retreat followed by pursuit. Not sure if it's enough for a defense in WI but it would set many a cc into defense mode.

tim in vermont said...

"And Biden has double digit leads in the polls...”

And Hillary was a mortal lock.

Biden hasn’t even stepped into the ring yet, he’s hiding out letting the press run his campaign. Oh, and the polling outfit that actually got Michigan right last time says that Trump is within a point there, nothing has changed. I think that there are a lot of people afraid of being accused of racism answering those polls.

One thing that is hurting Trump with older voters is the loud obnoxious COVID deniers, I call them Hectors, who refuse to wear masks to do a small thing to protect the lives of seniors who have to be out and about to live day to day. Honestly every time I see someone in the store refusing to wear a mask, I think “Asshole Trump supporter” and I am a pretty loyal Trump supporter. Imagine people on the margins.

Jamie said...

I think we should vote for the people they want us to vote for so that this kind of thing stops.

This is exactly what my husband thinks will happen. I pray he's wrong (and that you're being sarcastic).

wendybar said...

They are peacefully shooting people in Chap now. Coming soon to a Progressive city near you!!!

Howard said...

Time to back up your years of big bold macho macho macho man talk of guns ammo and civil war, tough guys. Lets see your ass on the streets to defend these objects that are being victimized by thugs. Crickets

Sally327 said...

It's a Presidential election year so this will all stop after November 3, 2020, one way or the other.

I'm guessing the left is counting on enough of the electorate deciding that Trump has precipitated the mayhem or exacerbates it or can't control it, take your pick, and that to achieve order again, voters will decide to vote for Biden. He can't hold rallies or go out and do meet and greets so this is the Democrats' version of a get out the vote program.

Similar to how the anti-war movement melted away after Obama was elected in 2008 (remember Cindy Sheehan or those Code Pink protestors) even though he was certainly just as much a warmonger as anyone on the GOP side.

tim in vermont said...

Black Americans are the demographic group MOST CONCERNED about a shortage of police officers and reduced public safety in the community where they live.. - Rasmussen

This checks with my experience with my black friends. Not that they love cops.

A Voice of Reason said...

November 2020. Trump in a landside.

iowan2 said...

Silence gets more of this rule by thugs. Stupid uniformed thugs.

Of course it's been clear for 2 weeks? This has nothing to do with Floyd. Nothing to do with seeking to right wrongs done. This is knownothings flexing their imagined power. As the Democrat Party has demonstrated, controlling some City centers, is not a pathway to political power. There are hundreds of millions of center right citizens living their lives, and quietly preparing them selves for what ever happens. Not dependent on govt actions or lack of actions to protect their families and livelihood.

We are doing to some DIY projects and needing materials headed towards Des Moines. Stopped at several stores in the outlying suburbs. Not finding specific items, one clerk noted a Des Moines store showed inventory. We looked at each other and said No. We will look elsewhere.
In the past we have sought out food and entertainment in the downtown Court Ave district, gone the Farmers Market there on Saturday mornings. I'm not willing to defend myself from thugs for entertainment, so we wont do that anymore. Cities will not be a destination for us. Again, not willing to defend myself for entertainment. Do not think I will not defend myself. I do, and I will. Just not for meaningless entertainment.

Mayors are bending to the will of people that don't matter. 10's of thousands of people you need to keep your city vibrant, feel exactly like me. People with both time and money to spend, refusing to visit the shithole city you have willingly devolved into. We stay 2-3 times a year at the Hotel Savery. Downtown, on the skywalk system, within a few blocks the Civic Center Theater. 3 and 4 star restaurants, little bars with live entertainment. The last solicitation e-mail I got from them, I responded back, we would not return, because city leaders have refused to take positive actions to assure my safety.

MikeR said...

"I don't know what happened!"
"They were supposed to attack the other guys!"

h said...

As I'm sure other commenters will note: This statue must have been removed by white supremacists who can't abide the fact that the state of Wisconsin was honoring a person who gave his life fighting to free blacks from slavery. I bet BLM will be marching (and perhaps using some of their gofundme money) to have the statue replaced.

mezzrow said...

He wasn't armed. He had a megaphone and a baseball bat. No gun, there.
They're going to run out of statues before long. What's next?
My guess is buildings or people. I hope it's buildings with no people inside at the time. You see, there's some history at Madison.

The Sterling Hall bombing that occurred on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus on August 24, 1970, was committed by four men as a protest against the university's research connections with the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. It resulted in the death of a university physics researcher and injuries to three others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Hall_bombing#

Matthew Heintz said...

We seem to have very little trouble going on here in Maine, maybe because we have the highest gun ownership and a minority population of 1.5%! Come to beautiful Maine and help us vote out Janet Mills in '22. She is destroying out tourist economy.

Dave Begley said...

Doesn’t the statue Forward represent WI’s liberal values?

Liberals get the bullet too.

mikee said...

When a mob finally faces a firm "No," or worse, a very firm, "OH, HELL NO!" from the rest of the citizenry, and the full power of the police is released upon the mob, will the mob be surprised because they are all in jail for several years, or because so many of them are suddenly lying dead in the street?

Kent State happened because poorly trained and poorly led National Guardsmen were put in an untenable situation. But it wasn't the National Guardsmen who died. A student later said, "No one knew the national guard had real bullets. We were completely shocked. It just never occurred to anyone that they would actually have bullets to shoot people. It may sound naive but we talked about that for years afterwards.”

The mob today needs a better understanding of history, not just because it will help them erase Western Civilization and immanentize the eschaton, but because it might save their lives.

Hey, buddy, the police have guns and bullets, and the citizenry does, too.

rhhardin said...

The line around here is that America was actually discovered by Christopher Cincinnati.

Butkus51 said...

They should have just shot the Samuel Jackson impersonator. Thats what would happen in the movie.

Note to self: avoid Madison, Wisconsin.

Gahrie said...

The Democrats are putting on what has to be, by far, the most violent and destructive presidential campaign in the history of this country.

In 1968 leftwing domestic terrorists were killing innocent people with bombs.

MayBee said...

I can't wait to see the beautiful murals on the plywood covering the empty bases.

daskol said...

This all started with a republican, Nikki Haley.

I think that is giving Haley too much credit. However, I hope that people recall her typical reaction to the race-baiting grievance-mongering hucksters whose main purpose is to divide and destroy America. She opportunistically tries to use them, along with her tenuous status as a racial minority to her political advantage, in particular by making sure everyone knows she's not one of those racist GOP types, like the rest are. I can't imagine supporting such an unprincipled hack, who would side with the enemies of civilization--the self-professed enemies of our civilization--because it will help Haley's political brand.

Birkel said...

Madison is getting what it deserves.

Josephbleau said...

Why do these guys resist arrest? Are they trying to get the cops to injure them for publicity? If they quietly take a ride downtown they won’t even be charged by the da.

AustinRoth said...

Althouse's silence on condemning these actions is violence.

Howard said...

Blogger Swede said...
I think we should vote for the people they want us to vote for so that this kind of thing stops.


Trump supporters will always vote to re-elect, so there is no political advantage for democrats to try and make you happy. As a matter of fact, there may be some benefit to enraging your side. The question is, will this destructive wave of protest and rioting move swing voters to Trump greater than create new young democrat voters? Obviously this is creating a ton of chaos and chaos is a Trump tactic. Will chaos help the democrats with the youths? Perhaps. November is a long way off.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Assaulting wypipo with a bullhorn and a bat is a natural negroid right. It’s in a UN charter, or something.

Unknown said...

At least we can be take solace that now that the statues are down, the racial healing can begin.

wild chicken said...

Well I don't know about you all but I have a new appreciation for the Brownshirts. And Reconstruction.

Hell even the old-time mafia could have put this down.

Howard said...

tim in vermont: MLK and RFK could not possibly comment

buwaya said...

When some gracious bit of your remembered landscape is destroyed like this, it hits you in the gut.

The same here, I think, for you Madisonites, as it is for us in the case of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I will not be surprised at news of a massive fire in San Francisco, say, any day now, or some move to sequester unoccupied private property like our old house.

The only sure thing is that its going to get a lot worse. This is an all-fronts conflict that will very rapidly change. Societies in this state are whiplashed into extremism by the rapid sequential violation of norms, each outrage and counter-outrage (they are coming) just makes the next possible, and so chaos becomes normal, and removes inhibitions to anything at all. After a point there will be no control possible even by those that are "organizing" it. They will become just some more passengers along for the ride, trying to survive the violent currents.

The authorities are paralyzed because they fear the short-term (so they think) political consequences of attempting to impose order. They have no idea how little time they have.

The law is becoming moot, so are property rights.

The only way out is a totalitarian dictatorship, for a time, to re-establish norms through force. What the character of this regime will be is impossible to say. To get to that, and past that, will be a saga. In the meantime...

This will be a global disaster of course. We are old, we really don't matter, in ourselves, we are expendable. Our job is to set up lifeboats and lifelines and preparation for sacrifice.

That is a good part of why we are here and not there. Becoming the main reason, in a way also to provide a foreign fallback to the family, for why we are in "exile". It may work, it may not.

Ref, in case you even need one at this point, Stanley Payne "The Spanish Civil War", Cambridge edition published in the US, a bit ironically, by the University of Wisconsin, Madison. On Amazon, for as long as Amazon is functioning.

Zbig said...

We are witnessing new art genre forming: Vandalism.

Tearing down monuments are just "happenings".

Anyone, who think that images of progressive streets with boarded-off storefronts are only temporary...

tcrosse said...

I wonder what they talk about when they talk about Justice.

Birkel said...

I am glad Democratics are getting the mobs they voted to have.
No buyers' remorse, fuck heads.

When they come to the places where they do not have political monopoly, the outcomes will be different.

MadisonMan said...

Is WI open carry or concealed?
I believe open -- or it was once. I recall vaguely a lawsuit related to someone going into the Todd Dr. Culver's with a gun and something coming of that.

Jeff Brokaw said...

Civilization vs mobs, anarchy and chaos. Choose wisely.

daskol said...

Meanwhile, little Jack Dorsey has banned pro-Trump meme guy Carpe Donktum, because safety is paramount. Those nasty memes were upsetting to people, especially people in the news media, who are braving physical violence and public shaming to report on these totalitarian iconoclasts wreaking havoc on our cities and their statuary.

MadisonMan said...

It would be refreshing to hear Evers and Barnes, jointly, condemn this vandalism.

MartyH said...

This is what democracy looks like!

buwaya said...

They (Democrats) will not be able to control this, very soon now. Especially if it gets to a point where the right breaks discipline and retaliates. Then it will all continue of its own, driven by random factors, events.

Lucien said...

Thanks for the “warning” Ann. My poor widdle earsie-wearsies might have been twaumatized. Boy, you really have spent time in academia.

buwaya said...

In a situation like this next week is a long way off.

CWJ said...

Baseball bat and a bullhorn - not threatening at all. Makes me wonder what a "protester" would have to do for the mob to shrug and say yeah that's a fair cop. Clearly beating a state senator isn't quite there yet.

Birkel said...

Who did the action, passive voice Althouse?

CWJ said...

BTW, didn't Mead personally defend the Heg statue in some way during the Act 10 occupation? Good times.

Ann Althouse said...

"Unless they leapt themselves, why the passive voice?"

Because when I first put up the post, with my own photographs, having viewed the site, I did not know what had happened. I knew they were down, but I had not yet read the news reports.

I got up at 4:45 to get ready to go for my sunrise run. Meade told me the statues were down, but I had not read any news stories. I did my run and we drove to the Capitol to get the pictures. When I got home I processed the photographs and put them up and put up the post initially without reading any news reports. I am careful not to say what I don't know.

The words in the post "Here's a news article, "Protesters pull down Forward statue, Col. Hans Christian Heg statue outside State Capitol" (WKOW)" were added a minute after the post was first published. I didn't put "ADDED" in front of them because I put it up so quickly.

rhhardin said...

Plinth clinch.

Ann Althouse said...

"Meade told me the statues were down..."

Actually, Meade told me the Forward statue was down. We did not know Heg was down until we drove there.

curiosity said...

This is insane. It makes me very sad.

Ann Althouse said...

"Prof. A: Can you share any knowledge on Wisconsin and Madison rules for self-defense? Is WI open carry or concealed?"

Open carry has always been legal here. It was not well known until an effort to legislate for concealed carry was going on. So you need a license to conceal carry, but not to open carry!

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

“He wasn’t armed... he had a baseball bat.”

Are you joking? A baseball bat can be a deadly weapon, and he threatened people with it. I’d have shot him.

BTW, Wisconsin allows both concealed carry, with a permit, and open carry, with or without a permit. It doesn’t allow brandishing a weapon and threatening with it while verbally harassing and assaulting with a megaphone, unless the DA is your brotha.

Birkel said...

A human did the thing.
That you did not know precisely which human is irrelevant.
Humans with agency are to blame.

Grow up.
Recognize what is happening.
See the wider patterns.

You me ability to focus on each detail while missing the bigger picture is a wonder.

I am glad the citizens of Madison are getting what they so richly deserve.
I hope you get it harder.

buwaya said...

Once a statue is down, it can no longer be raised again, as its overthrow will have become a symbol to one side or another. Heg is gone, for as long as your local power structure is attached to that vandal gang, and they certainly can't effectively oppose them in this situation. And in a very short time (tomorrow?) this empty plinth will be a symbol of their own opposition to those conservatives.

With Heg goes an entire category of attachments to your polity. Articles of faith will change overnight. What to, I dont know. But whatever they are they will just make it easier to rationalize the next thing.

John henry said...

Hopefully I am not the first to mention this but I do want to reinforce it :

The statues did not "come down"

They were pulled dow by vandals.

Shame on you Ann fit the passive voice here. People like you are enabling the vandals.

John Henry

major dad said...

Anyone who thinks Madison protestors are thoughtless for disposing of the Heg statue doesn’t get what it must feel like, as a black person, to have to live in a city and state that builds monuments to white “abolitionists” at the same time that it immiserates black people.

WHO tweeted this gibberish? THIS creature:

@jmcmaster29
qpoc assistant professor, writer, and rabble-rouser; Asian Am studies & gender and women’s studies @ UW-Madison

Eating themselves - and Madison - from within.

JML said...

You are very blond, Ann. That is all the crowd will see when they attack. Not your political thoughts or affiliation, not your past support for leftist causes, nothing. They will just see a white blond who 'deserves' to be attacked.

Ann Althouse said...

The man who got arrested went into a restaurant with a baseball bat (and a bullhorn). No one seems to be afraid of him, despite the potential weapon.

Daddy Binx said...

mezzrow said...
"He wasn't armed. He had... a baseball bat."

The incongruity, it burns!

chuck said...

This is what democracy looks like!

MadisonMan said...

Curious, I googled. Matt Kenny was the Madison Police Officer who shot Tony Robinson 7 times. It is odd to me that he still has a job, but just like the do-nothing Mayor, I'm not responsible for that.

Birkel said...

They are not afraid because they do not yet understand that he (or somebody just like him) will be swinging with impunity once Democratics win the White House.

I am hoping all these Leftist enclaves get exactly what they want.

How many shot/killed in Chicago on Monday?

chickelit said...

The people of Madison voted overwhelmingly by for their current leadership. Do not forget this fact.

Quaestor said...

Here's what the man who got arrested did (warning: the "n-word" is in the man's tirade)...

N-Word warning. Absurd. It's just a word. It's obviously not banned, because the man with a baseball bat and bullhorn used the word about a dozen times. Obviously, he's got a license to speak his mind in terms he chooses to use. It's called the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. (BTW, there's no racial penumbra to the free exercise of First Amendment rights, so if "man with baseball bat and bullhorn" is free to say nigger, it applies to me as well.) He doesn't have a license to accost people with a bullhorn in one hand and a deadly weapon in the other.

I might be in favor of banning nigger if we could agree to a suitable Constitutional measure: Amendment XXVIII No person residing in or visiting the United States may speak or write these words [insert list here] on pain of death or dismemberment. However, my approval is contingent on draconian enforcement everywhere, particularly in music, art, and literature. It would be entertaining to watch agents Federal Bureau of N-Word Enforcement drag Cardi B. off the stage and beat the crap outa her.

The N-Word is an amusing absurdity. Everyone knows it's a stand-in for a word right-thinking people hold to be offensive, but the word only, not the concept. These same right-thinking people know the meaning of the N-Word, they never confuse it with other n-words -- John is a racist! I heard him call a black philosophy professor a [gasp!] Neoplatonist. -- thus when they hear or read the N-Word they immediately associate it with the conventional meaning. If they were truly right-thinking they would be innocent of the knowledge, would they not? They would wonder what a nigger does. Is it a practitioner of an obscure trade, like a peruker? Is nig one of those ancient but virtually extinct Anglo-Saxon words? Reacting to the N-Word is like a Victorian virgin of good family blushing when she hears the word fuck; she's obviously only virginal in fact and not in inclination.

N-Word warnings are dangerous. It's like trying to use an unexploded bomb like a xylophone. What is called for is disarming the bomb, not bashing it with hammers. The N-Word must be disarmed, else people are going to brutally slain over an utterance. One way to accomplish this necessary disarmament is to be honest rather than conventionally virtuous, i.e. suitably submissive.

I'm Not Sure said...

"Reviewing Ann's pictures of plywood and graffiti the word shithole comes to mind."

I was thinking "Garbage People", but "shithole works, too.

Jersey Fled said...

More people are killed by blunt instruments each year in the U.S. than by "assault" rifles.

Fernandinande said...

jsonline.com sez "a Black man who was killed by a white police officer."

Ignoring that the statement is false, using a capital B in black and lower-case w in white now seems to be the standard at Minitrue. It also seems to be a bit more than a merely a racist anti-white microaggression since it's consistent and purposeful.

Michael K said...

Trump supporters will always vote to re-elect, so there is no political advantage for democrats to try and make you happy.

Howard is sure the rioters and "new Democrats" will not come for him and his house.

He will be surprised and annoyed when they come for him.

Known Unknown said...

Heg died for black people. Twice.

Tortfeasor said...

According to Wikipeida Hans Christain Heg was an anti-slavery activist and led a Wisconsin regiment in the Civil War. Just wondering why the protestors would destroy a statute to this Wisconsin hero.

Hans Christian Heg (December 21, 1829 – September 20, 1863) was a Norwegian American journalist, anti-slavery activist, politician and soldier, best known for leading the Scandinavian 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment in the American Civil War. He died of the wounds he received at the Battle of Chickamauga.[1]

mtrobertslaw said...

Someone somewhere has placed middle class neighborhoods next on the list.

Quaestor said...

Bugs Bunny fights racism.

tommyesq said...

No "men in shorts" tag?

Jupiter said...

"Good thing that Ann now knows how to shoot a gun."

Won't do much good if she doesn't have one.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Right on, Daddy!

Fernandinande said...

"The most honored statues on the Wisconsin State Capitol Square came down last night."

Maybe they didn't like being put on a pedestal.

tim in vermont said...

"No one seems to be afraid of him, despite the potential weapon.”

It’s not a “potential weapon” it’s a weapon. It’s intention is to intimidate. Just like the bullhorn is there to break people down.

“He wore his gun outside his pants
for all the honest folks to feel...”

Althouse has Stockholm Syndrome now.

traditionalguy said...

Looks like Heg and his Norwegian Volunteers gave their lives at Chickamauga for nothing.

n.n said...

Honor, worship, same difference. All things white, not rarified/shredded, are viable targets, a new religion.

tim in vermont said...

This is all about leftist DAs. Once they figured out that the prosecutors really make the laws, that was it for the rule of law, viz Mueller.

n.n said...

Once a statue is down, it can no longer be raised again, as its overthrow will have become a symbol to one side or another.

The Twin Towers, now a single tower. A flag, now exclusive of black, brown, featuring the rarefied/shredded remains of white. a baby, unwanted, now a fetus, socially distanced, a diverse cluster of cells, disposable, perhaps profitable. A rational and logical progression.

gerry said...

Protesters, chanting for the release of the man who'd been arrested earlier, also broke glass at the Tommy Thompson Center on West Washington Avenue, smashed windows and lights at the state Capitol, and set a small fire at the Dane County jail before police arrived just before 1 a.m.

The shitholeness spreads. Will Althouse post the celebratory plywood artwork as soon as it goes up?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

I hate perukers, the nasty wiggers.

Nichevo said...


Here's a news article, "Protesters pull down Forward statue, Col. Hans Christian Heg statue outside State Capitol" (WKOW)


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!eleventy!!!

So the crocodile didn't save you till last. Quel triste!

But-do you mean to say that nice Ben Wikler let this happen? You KNOW him!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Hey, it's just property, it's just a dead white European male.

And after all, did the doers have Antifa membership cards? Or any cards? (Do you remember how the commies denied everything to Congress in the fifties? Remember how well that worked?)

Insty has a question for you though...

QUESTION ASKED: What’s Your Woke Breaking Point? https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/382447/

What's yours, Ann?

tim in vermont said...

"So you need a license to conceal carry, but not to open carry!”

Same as Vermont.

steve uhr said...

Not fair to arrest someone just because he left his mitt at home.

Big Mike said...

I am careful not to say what I don't know.

I call BS. You knew. This sentence tells us either that you’re stupid — and we know you aren’t — or that you have contempt for our intelligence. Which is plausible.

Big Mike said...

If the rioters don’t believe in “Forward” then it follows that they are backwards, right?

Ralph L said...

Looks like Althouse's property taxes will go up:
State Finance legislator says Madison will pay

Michael said...

The result of these peaceful riots will doubtless be an increase in black IQ and an elimination of the black fatherless problem. Maybe even the disappearance of motherfucker from rap lyrics and the pulling up of pants. With luck the next black hero martyr will not be a criminal resisting arrest. Maybe a Nobel winner in mathematics.

RK said...

Psst, the UW campus has some statues too.

Michael K said...

Althouse has Stockholm Syndrome now.

I'm starting to wonder. Kurt Schlicter's novel, "Peoples' Republic" was supposed to be fiction.

At least I'm in Arizona. "Red Dawn" seems closer all the time.

Yancey Ward said...

"The most honored statues on the Wisconsin State Capitol Square came down last night.
Here are the photographs I took just before 6 a.m. this morning"


A question- do you think Althouse deliberately chose passive voice to be provocative, or was it an unconscious choice?

Michael said...

Howard
Dear boy we give not one shit about Madison destroying itself. Fun to watch. Enjoy it just as much as you do.

paminwi said...

What a stupid comment “no one seems afraid of him”.
Were people supposed to cower in fear? Run around and say please don’t hurt me? Please don’t hurt me!
That would just give that asshole video to post of whitey cowering and giving the rioters more impetus to get more whites to react that way.
Madison has turned into a shithole city and the idiots here will continue to elects Dems and expect a different result.
(See the big margin AOC won her primary by)

DarkHelmet said...

When things really heat up neutrality is not really a viable position. It will not protect you. The bad guys don't care if you call yourself neutral.

Birkel said...

Tortfeasor,
Why would you believe destroying things is related to historical facts.

Don't be absurd.

cacimbo said...

"It's a Presidential election year so this will all stop after November 3, 2020, one way or the other."

No way.Remember the pussy hat march to show how angry leftists were over Trump winning.AOC and Omar are today's Democrats.They are openly socialist.They support and encourage this insanity.The riots over the justified killing of Michael Brown occured under Obama.Even after an Obama DOJ investigation into the shooting found the cop acted appropriately, media continue to refer to the "killing of Michael Brown" with an implication it was not justified.Democrats and journolists just don't seem able to grasp that once you set the riot in motion you can't control it.

Jupiter said...

"The man who got arrested went into a restaurant with a baseball bat (and a bullhorn). No one seems to be afraid of him, despite the potential weapon."

If he hadn't had the weapon, they'd have shoved his worthless ass right back out the door.

policraticus said...

Professor, do you remember Symmachus? Quintus Aurelius Symmachus was a Roman Senator who vainly stood against the rise of Christianity. He wrote moving letters to the Emperor Gratian in which he opposed removing long standing pagan statues, especially the statue of Victory that stood in the Senate. He failed. He failed because he and men like St Ambrose did not share the same set of assumptions.

I feel like that is where we are today. We don't share the same set of assumptions and many of us have lost the moral courage to defend our society.

Yancey Ward said...

To inspire fear you need, at least, a mace. With a baseball bat, people might just think you are a softball player. A machete is even better.

Josephbleau said...

“The man who got arrested went into a restaurant with a baseball bat (and a bullhorn). No one seems to be afraid of him, despite the potential weapon.“

I would be mad at him for damaging my hearing. Why does someone get to stupidly assault me with high level sound that can permanently injure my hearing? Are these protesters so sacred that they can damage me? Does my well-being not matter?

Nichevo said...

Yancey Ward said...
"The most honored statues on the Wisconsin State Capitol Square came down last night.


I'm so old I remember when it was a lie to say things that you knew weren't true.

The statues didn't come down.

Statues have no agency.

The statues were taken down by human hands. Unless some dumb blonde wishes to posit that it was done by military rotorwash.

The further follow-up that it was done by "protesters?" Who is a protestor? Do they have ID? Did they confess? What is their organization? Were they in fact mere "protesters" or did they cross categories into "rioters," "saboteurs," "terrorists?"

We do know conclusively that it was not "Boogaloos" because then no tender sensibilities would have been spared.

LA_Bob said...

I wonder if the "protesters" aren't pulling for Trump to win so they can continue the "party."

LA_Bob said...

Isn't blaring a bullhorn aggressively in someone's face assault?

Amadeus 48 said...

I don't know why you people put up with this.

rcocean said...

Again with the passive language "Fury erupts again" - again with the complete lack of details about crowd size, composition, politics, etc. of the vandals -oops - "protesters". Who are they specifically? What are there politics? What organization was responsible for them showing up and vandalizing the statue?

Seems to be a nation-wide decision by the Press to NOT tell us who the "protesters" are. And why should Col Hedwig be saved? Wasn't he white? Wasn't he a racist? By someone's definition of racism. Wow, that slope from R.E. Lee sure is slippery.

Mark said...

Leave the vandalism in place, together with all the other refuse left behind in the sacking of the cities.

This is history too.

Let all the world see what the left and their Democrat enablers and collaborators have done and intend for the future.

"This is what Democrats look like!"

Howard said...

Right on Doc Karen, appreciate the warning and concern. You are right, I'm not worried like you people scared out of your minds sitting at home on top of your impotent arsenal.

rehajm said...

No one seems to be afraid of him, despite the potential weapon.

There's absurdity in this. The guy retreating from him seems more than a little concerned. What expression of 'fear' would meet your threshold?

There'e plenty of video showing typical reaction to someone brandishing but not using deadly force. Usually it's freezing in place. Fleeing starts after the violence happens...

tcrosse said...

Psst, the UW campus has some statues too.

There's that one of Lincoln in front of Bascom Hall. Or there used to be.

Original Mike said...

Potential weapon? What a naive thing to say.

Krumhorn said...

The video of the arrest of the bullhorn/bat bully was interesting. When the camera pans to the street when the perp continued to resist out into the intersection, no doubt hoping to start a riot, there was a white guy with a backpack hectoring the police who easily could have been Howard. He was full to the snout with his a acute moral clarity When the lady black police officer had heard more than enough, she walked off and was relieved by another officer who was forced to endure the continuation of the rant. And then there was the Karen with a dog who managed to be right on the scene throughout.

The leftie Howards and Karens are nasty little shits.

- Krumhorn

Dude1394 said...

All I can say is you asked for it, you are getting it. Sorry about that, but not too worried about it down here in Texas.

Big Mike said...

Just looked at the videos. OMG! The policemen were wearing shorts!!!

MalaiseLongue said...

Reminds me of the time, five years ago, when a phalanx of BLM activists invaded a restaurant on College Avenue in Oakland (the city where I no longer live), as part of a coordinated "Black Brunch" campaign. In their attempt to take it to whitey, they ended up chanting the names of their heroes to a largely bemused/disgruntled roomful of Asian American customers.

link

By the way "the statues . . . came down" is not passive voice. It's transfer of agency (a variety of Newspeak, as an expression of Doublethink).

YoungHegelian said...

What I find really interesting is that weeks now of violence and the violence has not spread outside of strongly liberal/lefty enclaves. In the heavily Republican voting areas, there's barely even a whimper.

This insurrection is being completely misunderstood. This is a civil war within the Left. The Far Left is attempting to carve out territories it can control from the moderate Left, who are far easier targets than the Right. The Far Left will then have to build up its strength, and especially its force of arms, before it can make any incursions against the Right in their strongholds.

Michael said...

Whoa, I think I see the problem. The cops are wearing shorts.

The dude was raving about the pyramids. Believer in the fact that the Greeks stole their ideas from Africans. One day Africans could do math and, bam, the next they couldn’t. Stolen. That’s our guy with the baseball bat and megaphone.

Tomcc said...

"The most honored...", but by whom? When Mr. Trump was running against political correctness, this was what was at stake.

Doug said...

A shithole city. Well done, Madisonians.

MikeD said...

Our hostess celebrates the fact barbarians were not wearing their AntiFa badges.

Narr said...

Check the 4:40 mark on the outside video--white skateboarder in Hawaian shirt enters from left.

Narr
Case closed

Nichevo said...


Howard said...
tim in vermont: MLK and RFK could not possibly comment

6/24/20, 7:59 AM



Ah, them. Where are their statues?

Lewis said...

LOL!! And these same people consider themselves to be high and mighty good progressives, full of compassion and mercy and definitely way smarter than any conservative. Meanwhile, all those terrible republicans are doing terrible things like rioting, pulling down statues, smashing windows, burning buildings and being otherwise obnoxious. One thing for sure, none of the elected democratic leaders in the community have any balls whatsoever. Who elected those idiots anyway?

n.n said...

the pulling up of pants.

Pants On The Ground | American Idol

Classic.

mandrewa said...

"so, where's the footage? hard to believe, that In This Day, there's not footage of the people Doing this."

Increasingly people are being assaulted for filming the left. More and more it takes a brave person to do that and there just aren't that many brave people.

FullMoon said...

The man who got arrested went into a restaurant with a baseball bat (and a bullhorn). No one seems to be afraid of him, despite the potential weapon.

Common knowledge among local mischievous youth is to have at least one glove and ball along with your bat. Been that way for years. Helps deter that deadly weapon misconception.

FullMoon said...

Howard said...
tim in vermont: MLK and RFK could not possibly comment

6/24/20, 7:59 AM


Wow. Never expected Howard to make a joke about those particular assassinations..

Rory said...

"Won't do much good if she doesn't have one."

Clank, clank, I'm a tank.

Caligula said...

"I don't know what happened ... all I did was stop and take a picture ..."

Here's a clue: protesters love cameras. After all, what would be the point of doing a protest if no one (media or bystander) ever saw or heard it?

Therefore "what happened" was obviously not any type of "protest." Given that, perhaps you could tell us what you think it actually was, Senator Carpenter?

Caligula said...

"I don't know what happened ... all I did was stop and take a picture ..."

Here's a clue: protesters love cameras. After all, what would be the point of doing a protest if no one (media or bystander) ever saw or heard it?

Therefore "what happened" was obviously not any type of "protest." Given that, perhaps you could tell us what you think it actually was, Senator Carpenter?

Required field must not be blank said...

Ann Althouse said:

"The man who got arrested went into a restaurant with a baseball bat (and a bullhorn). No one seems to be afraid of him, despite the potential weapon. "

Nowadays, the world is an open air acute mental ward and there are a lot of people like him on the streets.

Most of the time, people will survive proximity with them, so they avoid eye contact and act as if the guy doesn't exist (there's entire papers written about this kind of thing) hoping they won't be maimed or killed.

If you flee from every untreated mentally ill person, you will not be able to live your life normally in any place that no longer provides health care for such patients.

And if you acknowledge that you are afraid, then you also have to fess up that there is nothing you can actively do about it (maybe post a rant on the interwebs, but that's it). So it's easier to pretend that's everything is just fine and you're not as helpless as you really are.