Free Speech Dies at Berkeley

How does maliber know the rioters were not students? They were wearing masks

Sigh. The court should order damages to be paid and the victims should be allowed to pursue the awarded damages if not collected.

One cannot know for sure.

But apparently the tactics employed in recent campus and urban "protests" are sufficiently organized and similar that they've even got a name now: "Black Bloc".

From the The Washington Post
********quote*****
They’ve been around for decades, but in the past three months they’ve been especially visible: protesters in head-to-toe black clothing and ski masks, charging through the streets in public demonstrations, provoking police and leaving a trail of broken windows and flaming piles of debris in their wake.

Pockets of them sowed chaos during peaceful protests in Portland the week Donald Trump was elected president, smashing electrical boxes and spray-painting buildings, and prompting a volley of rubber bullets from authorities.

They turned out by the hundreds at Trump’s inauguration in January, vandalizing a Starbucks and a Bank of America and torching a limousine in downtown Washington.

And on Wednesday, swarms of them shut down a planned speech by the conservative provocateur and Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos at the University of California at Berkeley. Some 1,500 people had showed up to demonstrate against the event when a black-clad mob of a few dozen started breaking windows and setting fires at the campus.

For years now, masked activists in black have been a fixture at demonstrations nationwide — from Black Lives Matter rallies to political conventions to Occupy Wall Street. On Wednesday, they destroyed ATMs, broke windows in the student union and set a fire in the campus plaza at Berkeley, prompting a campus lockdown.

From the black bloc-ers perspective, property destruction is all about attacking the symbols of capitalism and corporate greed. Some don’t even view it as violent.

“We contend that property destruction is not a violent activity unless it destroys lives or causes pain in the process,” read a “black bloc communique” from the Seattle protests in 1999. “When we smash a window, we aim to destroy the thin veneer of legitimacy that surrounds private property rights.”
*****endquote*****

The "protests" nowadays seem more professional than spontaneous, . . . and absolutely political.

DonDiego supposes somebody is funding these anarchist demonstrations across the Nation.
DonDiego supposes whoever it is, is not a Republican.

Things like this have happened before:


They are likely to happen again.

OH LOOK !

Another "conservative speaker" has been shut-down by protestors, . . . this time at New York University; no surprise there.

Ref:Reuters

DonDiego sees a pattern.

I have no idea if Yiannopoulos is a white supremacist. One can never trust Mally's claims of such things, however.

Uneffin believable. Only the left knows what "real" free speech suppression is. Took away possible xenophobe or homophobe name calling so he goes with white supremacist. Can't get away from the standard liberal playbook. Name-calling and discredit. Just like Hillary with Bill's victims.

I heard a little of what the guy speaks about and it's an entertainment/shock value type thing ala Stern, but good to know what an open mind you have Mal and really sad that you didn't even bother to find out what the guy appears to be about.

I saw an article last night that had it #1 on Amazon. Great job UCB!

Before you blame the speaker, blame those who destroy to keep them from speaking. If the speaker is an idiot it's always best to let them speak and show everyone instead of keeping it a secret.

My absolutely favorite ironic sign someone was carrying read"HATE FREE ZONE". Funny, that sign amid "kill Trump" spray painted ina few different places along with other hate filled messages as a matter of fact that whole thing was INSPIRED by hate, Every window that was smashed, evry wall that was painted on, the fire that was set was fueled by a blind hate and this from a part of the people who talk of love and unity for ev-ery-one (except for those who don't agree, then you're the enemy and will hated, physically attacked and not allowed to speak) but all brothers and sisters are welcome into the fold.

BTW I heard they destroyed the ATM machines in the student union. If it were me I wouldn't fix 'em, they wanna bitch about greed ,capitalism and such let's see how long 'til the bitching starts when they can't purchase their grand mocha hooka looka coffee with extra sprinkles (obviously not a coffee drinker) that they can all talk over waht a phenomenal thing their voices are and how all of the country is talking about them and how they're the current center of the universe.

Meanwhile back from lala land, the huge majority of the people are thinking what a bunch of spoiled brats, they haven't the faintest clue what they're doing. They beleive they are making a strong case for freedom of speech by all their protesting, they don't see the irony of it.