In my last post, I said what BLM was doing in Louisville was a RICO violation.

It’s worse than that.

What BLM is doing in Louisville is doing is using a protection racket to arm-twist businesses into participating in a Maoist struggle session.

‘Mafia tactics’ or ‘legitimate’ demands? NuLu businesses respond to protesters

The protesters say business owners in the area have benefited from years of gentrification following the demolition of a public housing complex that displaced many Black families. And they put forth the demands during a demonstration last week, calling on the owners to employ more Black people, purchase more inventory from Black retailers and undergo diversity training.

Phelix Crittenden, an activist who works with Black Lives Matter Louisville, said the demands and related “NuLu social justice health and wellness ratings” were not meant to be a threat but were instead intended to start a conversation with owners about how their businesses can better reflect and support Black people.

Crittenden said several NuLu business owners have volunteered to sign a contract created by the protesters and are open to discussing their roles in gentrification.

But others have expressed anger and an unwillingness to work together, she said.

“How you respond to this is how people will remember you in this moment,” Crittenden said. “You want to be on the right side of justice at all times.”

“The right side of justice” sounds a lot like the “right side of history” argument, which has been used to justify countless atrocities.

It also sounds like a threat and a moving target.  It is whatever the protestors say justice is now, however it was defined last week or last year is irrelevant.

The “NuLu social justice health and wellness ratings” are not performed by government, it is an audit conducted by biased activists with a group called BO$$.

These are the signs they demand business owners put up in their windows:

A for Ally.

C for Complicit: “helping to do wrong in some way.”

F for Failed: “ to disappoint the expectations or trust of,” i.e. your business is persona non grata in LuLu.

The code isn’t written anywhere.  There is no appeals process.  The activists come in, decide if you are being sufficiently obsequious to them, and then slap a sign in your window telling other woke people if they can or cannot patronize your business.

These activists have no right to do this but they are doing it anyway.

BO$$ has a list of NuLu business on its website with their rankings, so anyone can go online and see where they should and should not patron to be on the “side of justice.”

Other businesses have gotten out ahead of this by posting their own struggle session signs in their windows.

This art gallery owner felt the need to grovel and debase herself for something she had no part in and was an overall benefit for Louisville.

This from WLKY:

Reborn public housing projects create safer communities

Jennifer Simmons remembers living in Louisville’s Clarksdale housing project in the 1990s.

“To see a body in the alley was one of the scariest things for me,” she said.

Each revitalization effort required a $20 million federal grant, but supporters say the benefits are safer communities.

“Now, we see all walks of life just walking through, passing by,” Simmons said. “It could be a nice day out, you see people with their pets. It’s just really good to see an environment with someone walking in the street without them getting robbed or any of that stuff.”

WLKY obtained crime data for Liberty Green and Park Duvalle, a public housing community built on the former sites of the Cotter and Lang public housing projects.

There have been no homicides in Liberty Green in the past three years and only one at Park Duvalle.

At one point, Clarksville was the most dangerous, crime-filled neighborhood in Louisville.  The revitalization by the city literally saved lives.

Business owners who moved in after the city revitalized the area are helping create a decent place to live and work, but these activists are tormenting them as gentrifiers.  The alternative is a violent slum, but that’s what the activists seem to want, as that is what they have created elsewhere (see Portland and Seattle).

Activists should not be allowed to do this to businesses, but they are getting away with it.

For activists to think that they have to authority to rank businesses and demand Danegeld and that they have the power to kill businesses is obscene.

They need to be charged with RICO violations by the federal government.

That, or the next time some activist demands a business owner post an F rating in his window, the business owner blows the activist the fuck away with a scattergun.

I’ll accept either one.

The 3rd Precinct of the Minneapolis City Government sent out this tip sheet on how to deal with the spike in property crime in the city.

This is in the wake of the city council moving to defund the police and the city’s treatment of the police causing more than 10% of the police department to retire to take medical leave, resulting in a massive shortage of officers.

Here is the tip sheet:

“Be prepares to give up your cell phone and wallet.”

“Do not argue or fight with the criminal.  Do as they say.”

How many times have Miguel and I pointed out that this is no guarantee of safety.

There is no code of honor among thieves that says “if the victim gives everything willingly, you cannot hurt the victim.”

A criminal may want to hurt you are kill you to keep you from being a good witness (as the handout suggest) or just for the fun of killing you.

This kind of bullshit comes from the Liberal naivete that criminals are good people just pushed to commit crime because they are impoverished and victims of the system.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said exactly that about the crime spike in New York City.

Criminals who will take your cell phone and walled can and may also take your life.  You must believe them that they will exact on you the violence they threaten you will to make you comply.

This advice is not just bad, it’s dangerous.

From Louisville:

Cuban community plans rally at NuLu restaurant in response to Black Lives Matter demands

Fernando Martinez, a partner of the Olé Restaurant Group, was one of dozens of business owners in the downtown Louisville district who recently received a letter from protesters laying out demands that aim to improve diversity in the area, which is known for its locally-owned shops and restaurants.

The release states that La Bodeguita de Mima was forced to close July 24 during a demonstration that shut down East Market Street, at which several protesters presented Martinez with the list of demands and said he “better put the letter on the door so your business is not f*cked with.”

The restaurant remained closed the next two days because “management and staff were concerned about safety,” according to the release. “30+ staff members (mostly immigrants) were unable to earn a paycheck.”

The demands and an attached contract, which were created by local organizers and activists, ask NuLu business owners to:

• • • Adequately represent the Black population of Louisville by having a minimum of 23% Black staff;
    • Purchase a minimum of 23% inventory from Black retailers or make a recurring monthly donation of 1.5% of net sales to a local Black nonprofit or organization;
    • Require diversity and inclusion training for all staff members on a bi-annual basis;
    • And display a visible sign that increases awareness and shows support for the reparations movement.

These activists demand that the restaurant hire more black workers, and since the restaurant industry is doing horribly because of COVID, that will necessitate the firing of non-black workers.

These activists are also demanding that the owner gives money to the black community with a shakedown of 1.5% of net sales.

If the owner fails to acquiesce to the demands, the protesters will continue to protest, threatening the safety of patrons and workers, which will result in the restaurant shutting down again.

This is a protection racket.

The activists are just masquerading it as “racial justice.”

Black Lives Matter needs to be hammered with a federal RICO violation.  Using protests and threats to shut down businesses that don’t donate to BLM is an organized crime tactic and should be treated accordingly.

Genius No. 1:

A Portland man has been charged with arson after rioters broke into and set fire to the Justice Center on May 29, 2020. Read more: https://t.co/SZO7CdnVUM pic.twitter.com/3ZRkBHvSku

— U.S. Attorney Oregon (@USAO_OR) July 28, 2020

From the press release by the US Attorney:

U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams announced today that Edward Thomas Schinzing, 32, has been charged by criminal complaint with using fire to maliciously damage or destroy the Justice Center in downtown Portland on May 29, 2020.

Among those who entered the Justice Center, Schinzing was identified by a comparison with a jail booking photo and a distinctive tattoo of his last name across his upper back. Schinzing spread a fire that started near the front of the office by lighting additional papers on fire and moving them into a drawer of a separate cubicle.

If you are going to break into a federal office building and light it on fire, don’t do it shirtless with your name tattooed on your back.

Genius No. 2:

Rioter tries to aim rocket at the Portland federal courthouse but it misfires on him, burning his hand. Video by @livesmattershow. #PortlandRiots #antifa pic.twitter.com/XskvfH2S6n

— Andy Ngô ?️‍? (@MrAndyNgo) August 1, 2020

How many posts have I done in the last couple of weeks about traumatic hand injury from fireworks?

Doofus here things he can launch a bottle rocket death-gripping the stick.

Antifa is really sending its best and brightest to cause havoc in Portland.

I am watching The Expanse again, this time with the wife.

I enjoy watching or reading series like this, where there is extensive world-building, twice (or more) because ever time I ingest it, I pick up more details.

The first go-through is for the plot.  Once you know the plot, you can focus on other things like universe and character development.

The best advice I ever got for reading Dune or Atlas Shrugged is to read the abridged version the first time to understand the plot, then read the full version next and focus on the philosophy the book is really about.

Watching The Expanse a second time, not trying to figure out the mystery and politics, you really develop an appreciation of how incredible some of the characters are.

Honestly, James Holden is one of the most meh characters in the series.

Amos Burton is amazingly complex wonderfully acted.  Every little nugget oh his backstory that gets reveled makes him more empathetic and understandable.

But it is three female characters that this post is about: Chrisjen Avasarala, Camina Drummer, and Roberta “Bobbie” Draper.

Like Holden, I find Naomi Nagata to be somewhat meh.

Avasarala, Drummer, and Draper are the three best female character of the show.  I’d go so far as to say they are the three best female characters in all of sci-fi television, and top five in all of sci-fi movies and TV combines.  They rank up there with Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor (The Terminator and T2 only).

GySgt Bobbie Draper is an ass-kicker.  They don’t do to her what Hollywood does to all the other female ass-kickers, where they do some sexy dance fighting unrealistic ass kicking.  She just plain ‘ol beats the shit out of people.

She’s more than just an ass-kicker.  She was a dyed-in-the-wool true believer in the Martian cause.  Watching her try to hold fast to her values and believes, and do the right thing, while everything around her changes, from learning that the Martians used her squad to test a protomolecule weapon to the collapse of Martian morale once the Martian/UN cold war comes to an end is a character study.

Avasarala is probably the smartest and most shrewd person in that universe, and probably the smartest female character ever on TV.  She is an intellectual badass.  She commands every room that she is in.  But they also show her soft spots, like her relationship with her husband and grandchildren.  Also, the scene where she is talking about her son with Holden’s mother, reveals so much about her and how much she holds back to maintain her poise as a UN leader.

The costuming they put Avasarala in is part of what makes her so great.  She’s a handsome woman.  Unlike everyone else in the UN, she doesn’t wear boring business attire.  Her wardrobe is beautiful and feminine, with bold colors and big jewels.  She stands out.

Drummer is by far my favorite though, as much as I love Avasarala.  Drummer has most of Avasarala’s shrewdness and command presence but makes up for it with Burton’s willingness to shoot someone herself.  Avasarala, you can tell, is used to ordering people to be killed but isn’t a trigger puller her self.

My favorite scene with Drummer early on is in the second season, where some OPA take over the Tycho Station bridge and one shoots Drummer for not handing over the missiles.  When the bridge is rescued, Drummer takes Alex’s pistol and shoots the two OPA prisoners then walks to sickbay herself.

Drummer displays her leadership as Captain of the Behemoth.  Her speech in Intransigence is awesome.

That’s another thing about Drummer.  The Expanse isn’t afraid to shoot her or crush her spine with a rover.  So many female characters are untouchable because Hollywood is afraid to beat up the sexy female action star.  The Expanse doesn’t do that and it is far better for it.

Every single one of these characters is wonderfully written and wonderfully acted.  They are powerful, each in their own way – brains, brawn, and the combination of the two – and abide by none of the shitty tropes that Hollywood dumps on female characters.

The Expanse needs to be required viewing for all film students.

Writers should stop trying to make “empowered female character” because they all turn out to be shit.  The magic of Avasarala, Draper, and Drummer is that the writers are not trying to make them “empowered female characters,” they are just making awesome characters.

This is a new song from Alanis Morissette.

(Shut up, I was a teenager in the 90’s, this is the music of my adolescence.)

This is a new topic for a song for her, not the breakup anthems she was known for back in the day.  It’s her mom anthem.  I warn you, it might make the room just a little bit dusty.