Where are the jobs? Not in the riot neighborhoods because you can't invest in those areas if the mayor lets your customers steal from you in broad daylight. Just sayin'

This isn't about Freddie Grey, this looting and destruction. The shopkeeper didn't kill Freddie Grey.

Governor Larry Hogan has called out the National Guard, while Mayor Rawlings-Blake has imposed a curfew.

It's a shame she did not ask the gangs for assistance in their areas.

"If it's covered for concealment and looting/burning, it's yours. Happy hunting. No cell phone videos of your trophys and I'll give you a heads up before we (cops) head your way."

Clearly, Islam is to blame for this.

Personally, I blame President Bush.

Last night's Orioles baseball game was postponed because the stadium is right in the middle of the riot area. If this kind of thing keeps up, I wonder if it'll encourage sports teams to start moving back out to the suburbs again. Saturday night, they had to put up a scoreboard message asking fans not to leave the stadium after the game. Fortunately, the game went into extra innings, and by the time it was over the situation had eased. Nonetheless, I understand that a lot of the Orioles employees, and some spectators, spent the night in the stadium.

I never thought I'd see race riots in America again. After half a century, the only conclusion we can reach is that integration, as defined by the Left, has failed. I'm not saying that blacks and whites should be segregated again. What I am saying is that "urban" culture has demonstrated itself to be one of several sub-cultures that has demonstrated that it has no place in America, and it's time to start denouncing it wholesale, without regard to "disproportionate impact". I know from which I speak, because I come from a background in which my ancestors were surrounded by redneck culture, which had a number of harmful aspects, some of them similar to urban culture. In the past, the nation denounced redneck culture, and its harmful aspects were over time mostly eliminated or isolated. No one had any concerns about the fact that the denunciations mostly impacted Southern whites. It was bad behavior, and it didn't matter who was doing it.

This article doesn't mention it, but I'm really surprised that there is no outrage over the reason Freddy Gray was arrested - he "Made eye contact with the police and then ran." Last time I checked, that wasn't cause to be arrested. This guy was arrested and killed by the cops for no reason at all.

This guy was arrested and killed by the cops for no reason at all.
Which doesn't justify the violence by the mobs. But it's nice to be able to selectively vilify those you don't like (the mobs), whilst ignoring what started the whole thing (obviously Obama amirite?).

I think people understand that the unjustified arrest and (probable) murder of Freddy Gray was the catalyst for the protests- but the riots have now overshadowed that.

My company's office in Baltimore is pretty much shut down. People are working from home for the next several days, meetings have been moved, and there is a company-wide advisory out right now to avoid travel to Baltimore until further notice.

Mom bitch-slaps the breakfast out of her son as he prepares to riot - fashionably attired with hoodie and face mask.

This article doesn't mention it, but I'm really surprised that there is no outrage over the reason Freddy Gray was arrested - he "Made eye contact with the police and then ran." Last time I checked, that wasn't cause to be arrested. This guy was arrested and killed by the cops for no reason at all.

Unfortunately, if Facebook derp is any indication, lots of people don't get it. I keep seeing people citing his arrest record without noting his smaller conviction record. Gee, maybe he ran from the cops because he was tired of being dicked around for no reason.

Unfortunately, average America won't get it until it's their ox getting gored.

So someone fill me in on your read of the original incident, because the reports I've read have just left me more confused. Was it a legit case of police brutality? What's your take, and how do you reach that conclusion?

As for the riots, I think one thing that makes people suspicious is that these riots usually happen in cases where the original charge of brutality turns out to be questionable or outright bogus, e.g., Ferguson. You seldom see anything like this happen as the result of legit cases -- there may be protests for a few days, but then it goes to the legal system and everyone calms down. Riots usually happen when one group wants to force a false narrative on everyone else by means of a show of force.

Ack - I see Amy already linked to the slappy Mom video!

Cousin Dave: Baltimore has already paid out two multi-million $$ settlements to people who were paralyzed after receiving the type of ride in a police van Gray experienced:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-gray-rough-rides-20150423-story.html#page=1

There is also the fact that he ran after only making eye contact with the police so even the original arrest (supposedly over a knife he was carrying) was dubious. see also:

http://reason.com/blog/2015/04/28/freddie-grays-arrest-record-explains-why#.plrzsm:q2dF

The police have clammed up, so how Gray actually suffered a severed spine after one hour in police custody is not yet known.

Astra, thanks for the info. So it sounds like there is more investigation yet to be done, but so far the brutality charge seems legit.

I got this third-hand from a commenter to Richard Fernandez' column at PJ Media:

Via Zerohedge, John Arguellos, Exec VP of the Baltimore Orioles:

."..my greater source of personal concern, outrage... is focused upon an American political elite that have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the US..., plunged tens of millions of good hard-working Americans into economic devastation, and followed that action around by diminishing every Americans civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state."

As the commenter there said, this could be the manifesto of a new American political center.

And apologies to keep harping on the baseball theme, but I think the contrast is illustrative. As I said, the Orioles' home park, Camden Yards, is right in the middle of the riot area. They cancelled today's game, but the kicker is that tomorrow's game will be played -- but it will be closed to the public. The Orioles and the Chicago White Sox will play in front of an empty stadium. I wonder if they are going to have police escorts for the participants and the staff.

"When police cars or vans had screens between the front and back seats, drivers would stop short — "to avoid a dog" — sending a handcuffed prisoner flying face-first into the screen, he said.

"Cops used to laugh about it."

Don't riot. Go hunting solely for those responsible. Treat the community right.

In an industrial society, there will always be a segment of the population that is unsuitable for employment for any reason, at any price - and their number will go up with every generation. What do you do with those people?

I've been told that if we had a Black President, these sorts of racial tensions would not exist.

Of course, no one mentions the big issue here:

Why is it that female looters in Baltimore only take home 70% of what men do, for doing the same looting?

And apologies to keep harping on the baseball theme, but I think the contrast is illustrative. As I said, the Orioles' home park, Camden Yards, is right in the middle of the riot area. They cancelled today's game, but the kicker is that tomorrow's game will be played -- but it will be closed to the public. The Orioles and the Chicago White Sox will play in front of an empty stadium. I wonder if they are going to have police escorts for the participants and the staff.

The O's are my team so I've been following this. It's apparently the first time MLB has done an empty stadium game; it is something that has happened in international soccer but not in baseball. I can understand MLB's desire to avoid potential negative publicity but this solution is unappealing at best.
They could play down in D.C. if Peter Angelos wasn't a dick and in a fight with the Nationals over TV rights. Oh well.

Any time that so-called protesters are destroying property, the only "space" law enforcement has any business giving them is a piece of ground about six feet by three.

If this keeps up we're going to have to re-legalize segregation just to keep all of civilization from being destroyed.

Snoopy; that's because the men go for the big ticket items - TVs, Stereos, PlayStations, etc. while the women go for things like pampers, baby formula, cheap-ass payless shoes, etc.

And, yea that mom bitch slapping her son may not exactly deserve mother-of-the-year award, at least she is concerned enough about her son to do something. Where are the other mothers? Where are the fathers?

Astra, an O's fan! I like it. The Orioles have promised to do something very cool and I'll give them mad props if they go through with it: they are going to make up the two postponed games with the White Sox on one day, and one ticket gets admission to both games -- a true doubleheader, the first one in MLB in probably twenty years.

I can recall two college basketball games that were played without spectators. One was a result of there having been a brawl in the home team's previous game. The other was weather-related; I forget where it was or what the details were, but there had been a big snowstorm. Somehow the visiting team was able to get to the arena, but they didn't want spectators trying to drive there.

Astra, an O's fan! I like it.

I was a postdoc in Baltimore. We lived about 3 miles from Camden Yards and would often go to games. Great stadium. Plus, Buck Showalter looks just like my dad.

This article about Baltimore policing from David Simon is searing:

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/29/david-simon-on-baltimore-s-anguish

I was kind of hoping Martin O'Malley might derail the Hillary campaign but this story is pretty damning of his role in Baltimore policing as it stands now.