Various Notes...
As many of you did, I watched the immediate aftermath of what we all knew what would pretty much go down in Ferguson.
It regrettably did not disappoint...the DA made a speech longer than War and Peace, announced the Grand Jury's decision not to indict and then on cue, Ferguson began burning.
As if on cue, CNN began acting like CNN with reporters reporting about their own plight after the fires, violence, mayhem and destruction began in earnest. Don Lemon was there which immediately hastened my decision to leave CNN and head to BBC. Naturally I had about enough with BBC and migrated between CNN, Fox News, (guilty pleasure), and MSNBC too because I truly need and yearn torture in my life.
*Someone tell Don Lemon and Jake Tapper they should pinch themselves ever day; in the case of Lemon, an all-around drama guy with biting intrigue and enough chutzpah to satisfy an orphan who kills his parents and asks for mercy.
CNN: God's gift to the world and Jon Stewart.
*I will resist the temptation to go after the local TV fools who can't help themselves. Most of them are really good people and have no malice intended and just want to do their best under difficult circumstances
NBC Bay Area was my first local glance and before you knew it, their news chopper was directly over Downtown Oakland looking for anything; something, maybe they could get a shot of a black opp smashing windows on Broadway...nothing, at the time, was happening--back to regularly scheduled programming...In fact, early on, as usual, even at nightfall, Downtown Oakland was calm and peaceful. Passionate speech, civil disobedience, protesters echoing the heed and call for "responsible behavior." In other words, precisely the kind of images that are fine and dandy but aren't good for overhead chopper shots that had a thirst for the usual Oakland display to come later on, hastened by the scene of eager-beaver reporters dying for the first sign of vandals and unforeseen mayhem and mischief...cue the live shots and head for 580.
Hwy 580, early evening. The weather was unusually balmy and cooperative for a blockage and takedown. Helicopters abuzz. News vans, Highway Patrol, OPD, Alameda County Sheriff's Dept. and plenty of visuals. The blur is about to begin in earnest. KGO-TV and KTVU made their mark. KPIX was in place. Gasia Mikaelian began getting really excited. So too, PIX's Veronica De La Cruz, her first rodeo here--GAME ON!!!! Yeah, for once VDLC had some TRENDING issues --real and genuine too, what a bargain.
The scene began shifting back to Downtown Oakland where it was getting late and more time for the dedicated trouble makers to begin doing what they do best: break windows, spray paint, Fuck the Police and play to the camera and provide overhead shots while Gasia shouted and breathless reporters could accommodate the mob and they could accommodate the giddy reporters.
The freeway scene at 580 was legitimate breaking developments as motorists were unable to navigate both east and west. The OPD had to ask for mutual aid from the CHP and AC Sheriff's officers. A sea of protesters, probably in the 500 or so, perhaps larger, provided actual breaking news! Huzzah.
50 or so black opps near the 9th and Broadway corridor was not so newsy but then again it never is or was even though the news guys here insist on thinking it is because, by god, we have all this equipment and damned if we're not going to use it! The end result is what the end result usually is; a low-grade mob inspired by the local electronic mob inflict mayhem and vandalism on the Oakland streets. It's morning--time for more live shots. Mike Brown. Buster Brown. Oscar Grant. Live and Local.
No time to rip and critique with intensity --I know you guys are just doing your job and are at the behest of the assignment desk. Deadlines, live shots, and you're not CNN but then again at least Ferguson, scene of the real mayhem provided smoky, genuine news and who can turn away from Sarah Sidner.
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Next time Sidner should wear a helmet as she did in war zones. Last night she got hit by a rock. Gal has a strong head!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnn-reporter-sara-sidner-gets-hit-in-head-by-a-rock-on-live-tv/
"No time to rip and critique with intensity"
ReplyDeleteReally Rich? You already started doing that YESTERDAY.
They should burn it down. What did calm and talk do for them? Look,I don't buy into the brave police mantra- just the opposite,they are cowards who only react when the odds are in their favor. They call that procedure. It explains why police have been murdering kids and people with a mental illness all over the country- those two groups aren't likely to follow orders yelled at them by a total stranger. And with not a single officer held accountable- on the contrary the DA's blame the victim- so there is no reason for a officer to give in to common sense if he's having a bad day.
ReplyDelete12 year olds, 13 years olds...and nobody in law enforcement cares.
OK, Stan. Why don't you go live in a place with no police. I bet Somalia is to your liking.
Delete"Burn it down" What else would we expect from Stan?
DeleteOnly Stan could advocate that residents burn down the place they live and work to demonstrate their anger.
Stan, are you five year old child or do you just think like one?
How about I stay in the land I love,and beside her,while the police are reformed from becoming complete paramilitary death squads.
DeleteThat's a better idea.
"Burn it down" Stan, what a genius!
DeleteBurn down your own community to accomplish what? Where are you supposed to sleep after you've burned your own town down?
At least Stan isn't blaming this on Radnich, YET.
This is the best post by Stan EVER. It proves to me you're a sane man equipped with rational thinking. I agree 100% with everything written by Stan.
DeleteStan, crawl back through the crack in the World from which you came from.
DeleteI support protest and nonviolent civil disobedience. Last night's violence was carried out predictably by white people who probably don't live here as was true beginning with Occupy Oakland. One car was spray painted. One woman was sobbing because a group attacked her car. There were street fires scattered around Grand Lake and downtown.
ReplyDeleteI listened to the live streaming opd radio and they sounded desperate in some instances and some sounded very rattled. I was worried for their safety.
There will be more protest tonight but as long as it is peaceful, I'm okay with it. But the out of town anarchists have to go. Most residents are sick of them, been sick of them.
There were 47 arrests, only 16 from Oakland. People from as far away as Chicago & Maryland. I saw some black people last nite but that was a predominantly white riot. So white people, please do something about your violent folks.
DeleteWhite people rioting over stupid shit
ReplyDeletehttps://storify.com/betakateenin/white-people-riots
OK, can I call you a racist for your outright misinformation? I mean, people got upset for the phrase "calling a spade a spade", so can your bullshit be called what it is, Racist?
DeleteWhere's Cosby with the red and blue pills when you need him?
DeleteThe population of the United States is roughly 325 million. How many citizens are protesting in the streets or causing havoc? It’s not in the millions. It’s not in the hundreds of thousand range. Its probably in the tens of thousands range and that still might be a high estimate. Basically its not even a percentage point of the whole population which gives us a small perimeter to examine this ecliptic group of individuals who wish to feed off a tragic situation.
ReplyDeleteWho do we have in this group? Those who truly feel that social justice wasn’t served, the disenfranchised, the opportunist, the security apparatus, and the media.
Breaking down each component will be a futile exercise and a waste of time but two components that do stand out the most in my mind are the opportunist and the media.
We all know retail sales are way down and will continue to go down. Online sales are increasing and will continue to increase. Retail business owners know this because it reflects in their profit and loss statements. How do we know that what we are seeing are not actually insurance jobs being perpetrated under the guise of a riot scenario? We don’t.
Corruption is becoming more and more prevalent in society. From the two bums on the street corner conspiring to get a quarter out of your pocket all the way up to the highest office in the land. Believing is seeing some have said but that is what a magician or an opportunist will exploit to their full advantage.
Which leads us to the media, the ones who are the casting directors who pick and choose the crises actors. Both them together creating a very badly made for TV drama that rest of us really don’t give two squirts about.
Mediocrity is the name of the game. Complacency and indifference is the norm. Very boring, very stale, repetitive and lame.
Can somebody bring forth a new recipe for disaster? Scratch that. How about a new recipe to replace the cookies and cream that was stolen off my table.