'Better This World'

The New York Times has a review of the PBS broadcast out this week, "Better This World."

See: "Film Is Skeptical About Domestic Efforts on Terrorism." The most interesting thing is how the filmmakers and activists they interviewed are determined to delegitimize the word "terrorism."

The film had an Oscar-qualifying theatrical release here last week, but it will reach many more people when it has its television premiere on Tuesday night on “POV,” the PBS documentary series. Simon Kilmurry, the executive director of “POV,” said it was timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“The legacy of 9/11 is something we’re all living with today, and these are some of the issues that I think tend not to get looked at very closely,” Mr. Kilmurry said.

In a pairing of sorts the next “POV,” on Sept. 13, will show “If a Tree Falls,” a documentary about the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group that set fires and was labeled a domestic terrorist threat by the F.B.I. in 2001. One of its former members, Daniel McGowan, who pleaded guilty to arson charges, says in that film, “People need to question, like, this buzzword” — terrorist — “and how it’s being used and how it’s, like, just become the new ‘communist.’ ” He adds, “It’s a boogeyman word.”

The “Better This World” filmmakers, Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega, said they came away from their reporting with a recognition that use of the term “domestic terrorist” had broadened dramatically since the Sept. 11 attacks. “In the media and in the legal realm it’s marshaled for all sorts of political agendas, and it’s complicated,” Ms. Galloway said.

Framing is obviously important, and it can work. Look how frightened people are of being called "racist" even when they're not. Progressive love to attack folks as "racist," but when authorities clamp down on left-wing domestic terrorists, that's a "boogeyman." Typical.

As for Brad Crowder and David McKay, the subjects of the film, they were both idealistic and stupid. They wanted to change the world, got involved in far left-wing causes, and planned a trip to Minneapolis where organizers had planned to "shut the place down." Now how might they do that? By placing flowers in barrels of police shotguns? No, they had planned for streetfighting, even assembling shields and first-aid kits, and when that stuff was confiscated by authorities charged with securing the convention, they screamed "police oppression" and went off to build Molotovs. The only part that's "complicated" is the link to a government informant, Brandon Darby, who had strong creds in radical left circles following Katrina. But he turned state. Crowder and McKay fell under his sway, and some of those in the circle of organizers planned for violence and Crowder and McKay got caught. From Texas, they became known as the "Austin Anarchists." This part's especially good, from Michael May, at the Texas Observer, "The Infamous Austin Anarchists—in Their Own Words." The two carpooled it to Minneapolis, and May picks it up as they got to town:

Things became more testy when the five Austinites pulled into St. Paul. The federal government gave St. Paul $50 million to secure the convention. Authorities raided the homes of activists associated with the RNC Welcoming Committee before the convention started. Darby’s presence in the van assured that the group was under scrutiny. The activists dropped the trailer off at a house so they wouldn’t draw attention, but on the way into the city, the van was stopped by police with their guns drawn. They pulled everyone out of the van and had them lie on the ground before letting them go. Later, when the group returned to the trailer, they found it had been cleared of the shields and the rest of their supplies. The police took them, but didn’t explain their actions or reprimand them.

After the shields were taken, Crowder and McKay decided to make Molotov cocktails in retaliation. “When we got up there, the situation was superheated,” says Crowder. “The police were breaking the law left and right. They broke the law when they searched the trailer. They broke the law when they searched us at gunpoint. The atmosphere is like a military siege. And Brandon Darby has been providing us with his influence, encouraging us to step up our game. So it was confluence of forces and our particular rage and frustration that led us to make a bad decision. We thought, the [police] want to go to the walls; we don’t have to stand for this. We’re going to stand up for ourselves right now. It was an emotional feeling we went through.”

The two got Molotov supplies from a Walmart and a gas station. Within a few hours they were in the bathroom pouring fuel into wine bottles. Crowder says making the Molotovs was thrilling because of their potent symbolism as a revolutionary tool. “It’s a categorical break with official society,” he says. “With the shields, it was illegal, but still in scope of nonviolent resistance. With Molotov cocktails, that’s a flaming middle finger to official society.

"There is no middle ground to Molotov cocktail,” he says. “It’s raw. No good. It’s like with David and Goliath. Molotov cocktails are the proverbial stone. It was all we knew to go to in those times, the first thing in our swirling heads that we stumbled upon.”

They soon calmed down, Crowder says. "The next morning, David and I had slept on it. And we were in a different place. And we knew as heated as it was, it wasn’t the right time. It’s not Egypt. Not Libya. And we decided not to use them.”

When the rest of the group found out about the Molotovs, they confronted Crowder and McKay and told them they had made a terrible decision. One of the group told Darby what was going on and asked him to help stop it. Crowder and McKay left the firebombs in the basement and went to the protest, where they dragged dumpsters into the street and otherwise made a ruckus to stop delegates from reaching the convention. Crowder was arrested and jailed on a misdemeanor.

During that time, Darby and the FBI closed in on McKay. Darby wore a wire and asked McKay about his plans. The conversation wasn’t recorded, but the FBI took notes that state McKay said he planned to throw the Molotovs at a parking lot full of cop cars. McKay now says he was just posturing for Darby. “I didn’t want him to think that I was scared, scared of what was going to happen or afraid of him,” says McKay.

Crowder, who hasn’t spoken to McKay since the day he was arrested, believes that’s the only explanation that makes sense. “David had plenty of opportunity to use those things and never did,” Crowder says. “You got to separate macho talk from actual actions. At end of day, he’s not that guy. He wanted to man up for Brandon.”

McKay and Darby agreed to meet at 2 a.m. to use the Molotovs, but when the time rolled around, McKay blew it off and stopped responding to Darby’s calls and texts. At 4:30 a.m., McKay was awakened by a police officer pointing a rifle at him. He was asleep next to a girl he’d met in St. Paul. In about an hour, he was planning to leave for the airport to fly back to Austin.

McKay took his case to trial, arguing that he’d been entrapped. The trial ended in a hung jury. He added a story that he was eventually forced to admit was a lie, that Darby had directed them to make the Molotovs. McKay eventually pled guilty to making the Molotovs and to perjury. He was sentenced to four years in prison. Crowder pled guilty to possessing the Molotovs and received two years.

Actually, they were rightly convicted. Police informants or not, the two acted on their own. Probably the smartest thing they did was decide against actually throwing Molotovs. But there'll be others. Indeed, thanks to police efforts we've been spared the waves of left-wing revolutionary terrorism for which progressives keep agitating.

Berlin Copes With Car Burning Surge

Via Google, here's the headline at Wall Street Journal, "Berlin Authorities Struggle to Stop Car Burning Surge."

BERLIN — German authorities are scrambling to contain and make sense of a surge in car torchings in the nation's capital that have raised fears that the vandalism spree could escalate into the broader, more dangerous forms of street crime that have recently hit other pockets of Europe.



Setting cars on fire has become a popular form of class protest and petty crime in recent years in Berlin, triggered in part by tensions over fast-rising rents and other forms of gentrification in this relatively poor city compared with other major German cities. But the latest spate—including some 60 cars torched in four nights—marks a sharp surge in the arson attacks. While previous car burnings were largely confined to Berlin's up-and-coming working class neighborhoods, such as Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, the latest spate has rapidly spread to its more affluent western districts.



They also come amid a wave of street violence across other parts of Europe—most notably riots in London and other U.K. cities this month—that so far has largely left Europe's largest economy relatively unscathed. Elsewhere on the Continent, violence has erupted in countries chafing under austerity measures, such as protests marred by police clashes in Spain and Greece and the deadly firebombing of an Athens bank building just over a year ago.



In Berlin, the circumstances behind the rash of car torchings appear largely local, but many residents and crime experts believe growing economic tensions within the city limits play a role. While Germany's national unemployment rate hovers around 7%, in Berlin it remains stuck at 13.5%. Meanwhile rising rents and real-estate prices are displacing more of its poorer residents from its central and increasingly trendy neighborhoods.

And checking back at that Google search, a number of articles have mystified titles, such as "Is 'Tourism Fatigue' Behind Berlin Arson Wave?", at Spiegel, and "Berliners Still Can't Work Out Who's Torching Their Luxury Cars," at Business Insider. But c'mon, there's no mystery. Business Day nails it, "Berlin’s far left vents fury on ‘fat cat’ cars":

ARSONISTS had set fire to 26 cars in Berlin in the past two days, mainly Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs and Audis, police said yesterday, bringing the number torched in the city this year to at least 138.



Far-left extremists were targeting German luxury cars, symbols of the country’s wealth and export prowess, police said.



"The arsonists want to hit what they say are ‘fat cats’," Berlin police spokesman Michael Gassen said. A special unit was investigating the fires as political crimes after the police received letters claiming responsibility that derided globalisation, gentrification and rising rents, he said. No arrests have been made in the most recent string of attacks.



The fires come amid worsening economic data and political discontent in the country. German growth, last year the motor of Europe’s recovery, almost ground to a halt in the second quarter. Gross domestic product, adjusted for seasonal effects, rose 0,1% from the first quarter, the Federal Statistics Office said this week.



Almost two years into the European debt crisis , restiveness over Germany’s contribution to rescues is weighing on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition as voters rebel over providing aid to fellow euro-zone countries.



When Germany in 2009 experienced its worst recession since the Second World War , a record 221 cars were torched.



A key factor in the unrest is that about 40% of youths are either without a high school certificate or a paying job, said Johannes Becker, head of the Centre for Conflict Studies at the University of Marburg. "In Britain … people are predisposed to jumping on the bandwagon . They see that something is up and want to be part of it, to add some fuel to the fire, as it were. With these cars in Berlin, they are in contrast consciously trying to send a message."

See? That wasn't hard. Far left groups are seizing the moment to heighten revolutionary tensions, but since it's not likely any of the European democracies are at risk of their governments being overthrown, the violence ends up being purely anarchist and nihilist. And that's all you're going to get from the progressive, neo-communist left. It's all of a piece. And it's not only murderously destructive, it's morally reprehensible. Freakin' ASFLs.

Anonymous Hacks BART

At E-Week, "Anonymous Hack Exposes Personal Data of San Francisco-Area Commuters."



And LAT, "Hackers attack BART, Fullerton police websites," and "Protest closes 4 BART stations, leaving commuter crowd stranded."

'Descent Into Evil'

I had this at the blog-item finder, and now it's an essay at New York Post, from John Hinderaker:

What makes the present such a frightening time is that a number of nightmarish phenomena that we had thought consigned to the dustbin of history are reappearing. Rioters in the streets. Burning buildings. Plunging markets and the threat of depression. The scent of socialism in the air.



Who, as of, say, 1989, could have imagined that in barely 20 years, what was then known as the Free World could sink so far?



What we are seeing in London and other English cities is an outpouring of evil. To try to explain evil as the result of something else is almost always a mistake.

'I don't call it a riot... I call it an insurrection of the masses of the people...'

When the riots first broke out I checked over at a couple of the anarchist "occupy everything" blogs and it seems like a lot of them are silent, apparently frustrated at the slow development of revolutionary consciousness. But one needn't look too hard to find deep sympathy for the hooligans (at Comment is Free, for example). Hard-left progressives see in the micreants' criminal thuggery some long needed blows against the capitalist state, even if those were mostly just some deviant losers robbing the shelves blind of goods for which they actually had enough money to purchase. It's not deprivation driving unrest, but hatred of conventional goodness, nurtured by decades of socialist progressivism, manifest in the left's deliberate breakdown of the common family structure, which has left generations of "yobbers" free to destroy property and the sense of sanity in society. Jawa Report posted this video, of Darcus Howe, in which he calls the unrest some kind of dialectical historical moment, "London's Thuggery, Murder, Neo-Marxist, Socialist, etc., etc. Mahem + USDayofRage."

Not surprisingly, BBC is now apologizing for suggesting that the bloke might have been involved. See Telegraph UK, "London riots: BBC apologises for accusing Darcus Howe."



We are witnesses the Mad Maxification of society in the early 21st century.

More Mark Steyn Mania!

At Pundit & Pundette, "After Great Britain."



And at American Glob, "VIDEO: Mark Steyn Explains the UK Riots and More On Hannity."



BONUS: I've meant to post on Melanie Phillips as well, but Blazing Cat Fur beat me to it: "Melanie Phillips on the UK Riots."

London Riots Day 4: Manchester and Midlands on Fire

Criminal unrest continues in Britain as the government struggles to regain control. See Independent UK, "Riots spread north as London cools." And at Daily Mail, "Now it's Manchester and the Midlands' turn as London braces for FOURTH night of rioting." And also Telegraph UK, "London riots spread to Midlands and north-west on fourth night of trouble."

See also Amusing Bunni, "Save Our Streets," Daley Gator, "Would I be wrong to ask just one question concerning the UK riots?," JammieWearingFool, "Heroes of London: 'It Was Like Being in a War'," Right Wing News, "There’s Nothing Wrong With The Government Shooting Looters & Rioters Down Like Dogs In The Street," and Saberpoint, "Massive Rioting in the U.K., Black on White Violence: What's the Solution?"

Also, at New York Times, "Cameron Deploys 10,000 More Officers to Riots," and "London Riots Put Spotlight on Troubled, Unemployed Youths in Britain." (At Memeorandum.)

Britain Descends to Hell

I'll tell you this: If it's coming to America, I will never be forced to strip down to my underwear upon threats from possessed underclass ruffians. I will fight these people to the death. When society has lost its collective mind, and when authorities are helpless to do the thing that they are established to do --- keep order and decency --- then you have to protect yourself and your family. I will not have my wife and children stripped and humiliated and robbed of their clothing on the freakin' streets. And I would help anyone facing such raw brutality if I see it happening to them in person. It can happen here. See London's Daily Mail, "Forced to strip naked in the street: Shocking scenes as rioters steal clothes and rifle through bags as people make their way home." I'll have more on this. The British government clearly isn't up to the task of defending against lawlessness, and things aren't nearly as bad as they could be. God help us:

Police Overwhelmed in London Riots

See London's Daily Mail, "Scotland Yard braced for backlash over 'lack of police on streets' and London Fire Brigade criticised for 'not tackling blazes'."



And at Telegraph UK, "London riots: why did the police lose control":

The police have become so sensitive to the issue of race that it is impairing their ability to do the job.

See also Lonely Conservative, "Riots Rattle London."

PREVIOUSLY: "London Riots Continue for Third Day."

London Riots Continue for Third Day

Lots of coverage at Telegraph UK, "London riots: breakdown of Monday night's violence," and "London riots: Guerrilla warfare erupts as no one knows where mob will strike next."



And again, stunning coverage at London's Daily Mail, "Britain burns at the hands of the mob as the PM finally flies home: Gangs armed with petrol bombs and poles on THIRD night of riots."



Also at ABC News, "Britain Burning: Riots Rattle London, Spread Across U.K."

Update on Tottenham Riots

At Telegraph UK, "Tottenham riot: a community blighted by drugs and gun crime." And, "How technology fuelled Britain's first 21st century riot." There's a live blog as well, "Second night of rioting as violence and looting spread across London."



BONUS: A phenomenal report at London's Daily Mail, "Police and the riot blunders: Top officer flew off on holiday hours before mayhem and doubts emerge over shooting that sparked carnage."