Barbarians, Virus Ejected

Looks like the pandemic is over. So it would seem, now that we're no longer being lectured to stay home or "wait two weeks! The protestors will all be in the hospital!"

The "protests" here are astroturf. People in Indianapolis don't protest things that happen in Minnesota. There was a protest here about a local the police shot--a man speeding, running red lights, then allegedly firing on the police. Both the officer and suspect were black. But the protest was weeks ago and mostly peaceful. The people tearing up downtown this weekend were--well, you be the judge. Note the 404 phone number below isn't local.

A bail bond hotline--just what every nice young girl needs.

Caught throwing molotov cocktails? Antifa has your back with bail money.

Today, the police here warned people to stay out of downtown. The mayor set a city-wide 8 PM curfew whose violation carries a $10,000 fine and six months in jail; it showed up as an emergency alert on every cell phone in the county. The governor put the National Guard on standby. They closed inbound traffic into downtown. Protest organizers warned people to go home. Somehow, I got the sense that everyone from the police to the governor was done playing around.

Protestors showed up downtown today anyway. The police told them to go home--again--before breaking out the tear gas and pepper spray, just like yesterday. Then told the diehards still remaining to go home or go to jail. And off to jail some of them went.

Downtown streets are now quiet, according to the Indy Star and Twitter. I don't know where the rioters went, but I don't hear any news of mayhem. Eighty businesses were damaged, monuments were spray painted, three officers were injured and two people died. And any goodwill that Antifa or Black Lives Matter had is now gone. It was a weekend of mayhem and destruction, but the lockdown is over--a lockdown that may not have done any good--so that's something.

In other news: I'm no longer coughing.

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2020/05/31/indianapolis-police-protests-live-updates-sunday-george-floyd-dreasjon-reed/5302139002/

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