*Last night in New York City—its first night under curfew (11:00 p.m.)—was* *something like a split-screen presentation of A Clockwork Orange and * *State * *of Siege. This isn't only what I saw with my own eyes (in Greenwich Village,* *near NoHo), but from what I learned from friends in Chelsea and the East* *Village, and from snippets of video on Facebook.*
*On the one hand, the NYPD* *were out in force, with long lines of police cars**, * *rooflights ominously **strobing, **snaking slowly throughout certain neighborhoods, * *and protective **cordons **of black-clad (and duly masked) cops around high-profile * *sites **like Brooklyn's **Barclay Center, while the helicopters droned all over, like* *(to invoke another movie) the opening sequence of Apocalypse Now. (I'm * *hearing it right now.)* *At the same time, and here and there in those same neighborhoods, young* *droogies roved in vandalistic packs, freely breaking windows, stealing stuff,* *and threatening passersby. Around 11:15, just moments after the (apparently)* *all-for-nothing show of force in eight police cars cruising down Mercer Street. * *I heard people yelling from the windows **of the complex where I live—"Put that * *back! Go home!"—and looked down to see a group of youths stowing * *something in the trunk of their parked car. Although this was after curfew,* *they took their time in loading up and driving off.* *Later that night—well after curfew—a good friend sent around some video* *he'd just shot of a far more violent, yet just as leisurely, attack on his * *building on W. 23rd, where about a dozen youths took their time shattering* *the windows of a supermarket on the ground floor. "There were cars involved* *in the attack. They let out groups that went in. An unmarked police car drove* *up for a second, and then left, and the looting continued. I called the cops.* *By the time they showed up the looters had scattered."* *Today I walked through Washington Square Park, where there were kids* *in black resting on the benches here and there, and holding signs that said * *"Fuck the police" and "Black Lives **Matter." No doubt they were sincere, but* *they did look like extras on a break. * *All this is in line with what I sent out from my son the other night, about the* *wrecking crew of 15 people who, after the peaceful protesters had passed* *down Second Ave. in the East Village, meticulously rampaged down the street,* *breaking windows. My son saw that the nearby precinct house on 5th St.* *was alive with cops, who looked like they were to guard headquarters. * *There are all too many people taking sides while watching this go down,* *"the left" reflexively applauding the protestors, and/or even justifying the* *vandalism, and the right just as reflexively applauding the police, and* *Trump's usual chest-thumping promise to "get tough," as if he's actually* *in charge. Neither side can see, or wants to see, that this appears to be* *Round Two of a (1) controlled demolition of America's economy, and, with* *it, the middle class. or what's left of it; and (2) a faux-chaotic set-up for* *outright martial law, as what Bertram Gross called "friendly fascism"* *gives way to the overt kind that the CIA routinely engineered worldwide* *for decades, with "our free press" abetting it by misreporting it, or not* *reporting it, and then forgetting it, so as to help Americans not know* *about it, just as the New York Times and all the other adjuncts of our* *Ministry of Truth are doing now.* *MCM* *p.s. Tonight's curfew begins at 8:00 p.m. here in "the city that never * *sleeps." It will be 6:00 p.m. in L.A., and (I'm told) 7:00 p.m. in Dallas,* *and 8:00 p.m. in Denver, as the lights continue to go out all over * *America.** (Boston has been under COVID curfew since April 8, from* *9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. If that order stirred any protest from the residents * *of **that "blue" city, I haven't heard of it.) * -- If you appreciate News From Underground, please consider making a donation — either a one-time gift or a monthly subscription: http://markcrispinmiller.com/support/ Thank you for your support. Ways to unsubscribe: 1) send a blank email to [email protected] PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "News From Underground" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/newsfromunderground/CAGxB6W-oYY8s%3D%2Bz8hxauN6b7m0L2zEGXkXv7aGoqbE9vq7ydLA%40mail.gmail.com.
