How Bad Is It?

We, in the good old U.S. of A., have got COVID-19, a severely damaged economy, protests and riots over police brutality, and commercial media throwing gasoline on the fire.  How much worse can it get?

Well, I'll tell you - but the standard disclaimer applies.

Chicago, Illinois 

Courtesy of Second City Cop (winner of the most courteous cop on the entire Internet award) I found this one: Police Lieutenant Says Chicago Was Unprepared for Unrest: ‘It Was Chaos From The Very Beginning’

“…The looters [were] emboldened, they are on a roll, they are getting what they want and we are unable to stop them so we’re letting them have it,” the lieutenant said.
On May 31, when crowds of looters hit the city particularly hard, he said officers watched on as looting continued.
“We [weren’t] really trying to catch anybody because the crowds [were] too big and we don’t want our officers getting separated … and getting hurt. So, the main priority is protecting our officers.”

Also from Second City Cop, I found a link to crime statistics in Chicago, appropriately named Hey Jackass!

June To Date
Shot and Killed: 17
Shot and Wounded: 137
Total Shot: 154
Total Homicides: 20

Year to Date
Shot and Killed: 239
Shot and Wounded: 1081
Total Shot: 1320
Total Homicides: 265

Note the shot and wounded is much higher than the shot and killed. Translation: The shooters should learn how to shoot.

I don't see how any of this is possible, because Chicago has some of the most Draconian laws intended to disarm the law-abiding citizen in the US.  But maybe the criminals can't read, most being products of public education. 

During Riots, Chicago Had Bloodiest Day in City’s History: 18 Murders in One Day

As Chicago devolved into chaos during the rioting on May 31, the city had its bloodiest day in 60 years with eighteen murders in a 24-hour period.
The number of deaths jumps to 25 when added up with the rest of the weekend, Friday, May 29, to Sunday, May 31. An additional 85 were wounded during that weekend, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The next most violent day in the records occurred on August 4, 1991, when 13 people were murdered.

New York, New York

Moving right along to another repressive city, New York, I found this little gem.  It seems that the Mayor of NYC doesn't approve of the police department protecting the citizens and their property, so they've come to a parting of the ways - lost in a crowd of New York's finest, all headed for the door.

Sources Indicate NYPD Leadership Is Leaving Along With Hundreds Of Street Cops

The Commissioner and Chief are Reportedly Leaving The Agency

Jonathan Gilliam, former Navy Seal & FBI Agent out of New York City, reports that hundreds of NYPD officers are retiring immediately as the city is in a free fall dealing with nightly riots.
Chief Terence A. Monahan and Commissioner Dermot Shea were reportedly told that they would be removed from their positions after clashing with Mayor Bill de Blasio repeatedly over the department’s response to civil unrest.
NYPD sources indicate that Mayor de Blasio believed that Chief Monahan and Commissioner Shea were too hands on and aggressive with rioters and asked them both to condemn NYPD cops’ actions.
When they refused, the Mayor told each of them that they would be removed from their positions.

When the police commissioner resigns, and the Mayor approves, something is wrong.  Real wrong, and the results will be seen in future looting.

Los Angeles, California

Down in Los Angeles, the Mensa rejects earning their living as public school teachers have demanded that all police leave the school building: L.A. Teachers’ Union Calls for Elimination of School Police Force

The United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), representing teachers and support staff in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), called Monday for the elimination of the 400-member police force protecting schools in the district.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the teachers’ union made the announcement at an event with Black Lives Matter leaders, and called the move a step toward dismantling “white supremacy”:

Get that?  Black Lives Matter versus White Supremacy.  This is stable dressing.  The teacher's union was among the most vocal supporters of having police in the school to protect against school shootings (which mysteriously dropped off sharply once the cops were in place), and now all these police are white supremacists.  Must be something in the water.

This story really bothers me, and it's one of many.  These people actually make the world a better place, and as a result, they learned a harsh lesson about gratitude and the way of the world.

Violent, Armed Looters Overrun Santa Monica Music Center

'They took everything from us, and no one stopped them'
Calling 911 proved to be futile. According to the frightened Music Center owner, they were informed that police could not get to the scene, and if they were registered gun owners, they could protect their private property. However, California has some of the strictest gun legislation in the country, including magazine limitations and a 10-day waiting period after purchase.

Other Places

Minneapolis City Council president aspires to have a 'police free society'

The president of the Minneapolis City Council [Elizabeth Peterson "Lisa" Bender (DFL)], who went viral for saying that calling the police when your home is broken into “comes from a place of privilege,” has said she wants a “police-free society.”
DFL is the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is a political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is affiliated with the U.S. Democratic Party.

It Was a War Zone

Small-business owners who lost everything in riots speak out.

For Dr. Ali Barbarawi, his dental practice on the corner of Chicago and Lake streets in Minneapolis was more than just a means to feed his family – it was a way to help the city’s poorest, the disabled, the uninsured and those struggling the most to make it through.
But his Chicago Lake Dental, close to the spot where George Floyd died while in police custody last week, is now nothing more than a burned-out shell. Less than two days before Barbarawi’s small business was slated to reopen after more than two months in lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis, it was trashed and burned by rioters on the backend of protests in the name of Floyd and police brutality toward people of color over the weekend.
“It looked like a war zone; it looked like a bombing in Fallujah,” Barbarawi, 36, told Fox News. “Everything around me was rubble, my neighbor’s sci-fi bookstore had burned to the ground. It came out of nowhere.”
Police were called, but they informed the company that they were too overwhelmed to tend to the scene.

Over 4,000 miles away, Europe has problems, although just why anyone in Europe would care about a police problem in the U.S. I cannot imagine.  But, here we all are: 4,000 Miles Away: Europe Racked by Riots and Protests Over Death of American George Floyd

Activist groups across the European continent and in the United Kingdom have used the death of Mr Floyd to stage large scale protests in clear defiance of national lockdown regulations imposed on regular citizens during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

In Summary

It can get worse.  Check with anyone who has spent time in a third world shit-hole country, and get a preview of what parts of the United States will turn into, given half a chance.  Minneapolis / St. Paul already has sections where Muslims rule and police won't patrol.  All major cities are either developing no-go areas, or already have them.

I don't blame the police for any of this, including the untimely expiration of George Floyd.  Police in larger cities (over 150,000 people) are always answering calls.  It is, literally, one call after the next.  In small towns, not so much.  Dump ten days of protestors, rioters, and looters on any given city, and the regular calls will not get answered - ever.  The emergency calls might get a response, but it won't be immediate.  Because now we have too few police by a factor of five or six.

Many people have lost everything because of these riots, and the Democrats approve of this.  After all, it isn't their business that failed because of a lock down, a protest, or a riot.  Their business didn't get looted.  The Democrats never have to defend themselves; they're politicians and have private security.

So I don't really know what we'll find once the rioting stops and the fire goes out, but I predict that it's not going to be the place we left behind in 2020.