Sinister

With each passing night of rioting in many American cities, evidence grows that the driver of that violence and destruction has little to do with the murder of George Floyd, but rather with the anti-American, anti-capitalist machinations of violent, far-left extremist groups. Sadly, legitimate and once-peaceful protestors have been used by the extremists' and have become their "useful idiots" and human shields. 

Andy Ngo (a reporter who was hospitalized by Antifa thugs a few years back) comments: 

We are witnessing glimmers of the full insurrection the far-left has been working toward for decades. The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was merely a pretext for radicals to push their ambitious insurgency. In a matter of hours, after the video of Floyd began circulating the internet, militant Antifa cells across the country mobilized to Minnesota to aid Black Lives Matter [BLM] rioters. Law enforcement and even the state National Guard have struggled to respond in Minnesota.

Portland, Oakland, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta are just some of the other cities waking up and finding smoldering ruins where businesses once operated. Nearly 30 other cities experienced some form of mass protest or violent rioting. At least three people have been killed so far ...

Antifa, the extreme anarchist-communist movement, has rioting down to an art. The first broken window is the blood in the water for looters to move in. When the looting is done, those carrying flammable chemicals start fires to finish the job  ...

At its core, BLM is a revolutionary Marxist ideology. Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, BLM’s founders, are self-identified Marxists who make no secret of their worship of communist terrorists and fugitives, like Assata Shakur. They want the abolishment of law enforcement and capitalism. They want regime change and the end of the rule of law. Antifa has partnered with Black Lives Matter, for now, to help accelerate the break down of society. 

If the destruction and looting were perpetrated by right-wing groups like the KKK or Neo-Nazis, Democrats and their media flunkies would demand that every conservative publicly condemn the actions of those extremist groups without equivocation. Woe betide any GOP member or media outlet that argued that right-wing extremist groups were not responsible for the majority of the rioting. And no matter how the GOP responded, the Dems' trained hamsters in the media would roundly criticize them for 'fostering an atmosphere in which violence can occur.'

But there is absolutely no evidence (despite a few left-wing claims to the contrary) that the violent rioting we've seen over the last few days was driven by right-wing extremists or "white supremacists" (a claim so ridiculous based on visual evidence, it's laughable).  Clear evidence from local African American leaders, local police, federal law enforcement, and the national guard indicates that rioting has been perpetrated by violent, left-wing extremist groups that used the murder of George Floyd as an catalyst to incite violence and destruction.

Far too many Democrats for far too long have remained subdued in condemning groups like Antifa and BLM. In fact, some media outlets (e.g., CNN) contend that that outside groups are not instigating the violence and destruction despite clear evidence to the contrary. They also tried and failed to connect the riots to the far right. They would prefer to allow the public to believe that unaffiliated "protesters," driven by anger at the death of George Floyd, are destroying their own city neighborhoods, looting local businesses, and attacking police and innocent bystanders. The reality is far more sinister, but is being suppressed or de-emphasized because it simply doesn't fit the preferred narrative.

UPDATE-1:

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In what can only be characterized as a pathetic attempt to somehow justify the destruction, looting, and violence of the past days, the virtue signaling crowd has already begun to condemn those of us who are concerned about the destruction of property and the looting of businesses. In much the same way they glorified and romanticized themselves by adopting the name, "Resistance," they glorify/romanticize all of this by characterizing it as "rebellion."

Sarah Hoyt (h/t: Instapundit) relates the story of three Italian bakery owners in Cleveland who over a weekend night protected their bakery (est. 1954). They stood at the doorway, shotguns in hand, as rioters approached. The police were nowhere to be found.

The rioters threatened, but then left (I wonder why) and torched an unprotected business down the block. The owners were then criticized by progressive media for an aggressive defense of their property, their business and their livelihood. "After all," whined the progressives, "it's only property and possessions. It's all insured. Is that worth a human life?"

Hoyt responds with a strong but reasonably accurate assessment:

Two things, before my calm gets damaged further.

a) Most [small] businesses are not insured against civil unrest. Most will get nothing.

b) When you say “are your possessions worth a human life?”  Most people’s possessions are their lives. They spent days of their lives and strength and health to acquire them.

As for their being “worth” a human life…  Humans who think it’s okay to hurt people and take their stuff are only going to cost more lives in the long run. The right to be secure in your possessions is part of what made America great. Who will work, invest, innovate, if at any minute the government can decide their work is non-essential and brownshirts [a metaphorical reference to Antifa] at the service of the democrats can burn it all down?

You allow this to continue, you have Mogadishu, not the US.

Even if we allow the crowd that somehow empathizes with Antifa to lead, I doubt we'd become Mogadishu, but Caracas has a real shot.

UPDATE-2:

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Reports continue to indicate that far-Left extremist groups are responsible for fomenting violence and destruction using the George Floyd protests as cover in many cities. In what can only be characterized as comic progressive fantasy-think, the New York Times refuses to use the term Antifa (probably out of antipathy for Donald Trump) but does note that far-Left extremist "groups" are involved:

The groups also developed supply routes to transport gasoline, rocks and bottles during the protests. A complex network of bicycle scouts were tasked with moving ahead of the demonstrators to let them know where small groups could break off to do damage out of sight of the police, he added...

Among the 786 people who have been arrested during the demonstrations so far were bicyclists transporting gasoline and people whose backpacks contained hammers, hooks and ropes. 

One out of every seven people arrested lived outside of New York, including from as far away as Texas and Minnesota. 

Yet the NYT rarely (if ever) characterizes the perpetrators from these groups as "rioters" preferring the softer and misleading term "protesters."  So when police aggressively subdue a rioter, the NYT uses a headline like, "Police Shoot Rubber Bullets at Protesters." Those "protesters" have killed at least 6 people, injured hundreds, looted and burned  thousands of properties, and have terrorized major cities across the land. But, yeah, let's soften our characterization of them. After all, progressives argue the word rioters is "racist."

Like the NYT, USA Today uses the collective term "groups" which somehow is a bit less ominous than the collective term, Antifa. They write:

Drifting out of the shadows in small groups, dressed in black, carrying shields and wearing knee pads, they head toward the front lines of the protest. Helmets and gas masks protect and obscure their faces... Most of them appear to be white. They carry no signs and don’t want to speak to reporters. Trailed by designated “medics” with red crosses taped to their clothes, these groups head straight for the front lines of the conflict.

Night after night in this ravaged city, these small groups do battle with police and the National Guard... Around them, fires break out. Windows are smashed. Parked cars destroyed. USA TODAY reporters have witnessed the groups on multiple nights, in multiple locations. Sometimes they threaten those journalists who photograph them destroying property.

Journalist Lara Logan tweeted a photo of a pallet of bricks brought in (or possibly stolen) for window smashing during the riots. It's more than obvious that all of this is organized, funded, and coordinated by "groups" that want to create chaos. Her tweet follows:

While progressives conduct an empty debate about whether Antifa can be named a domestic terror group, Donald Trump has acted—making sure that the full force of the DoJ and our intel agencies focus on these scum. 

At this point, Black Lives Matter and affiliated groups know full-well that their calls for additional protest can and often will devolve into violence and destruction, particularly at night when these cowards can hide in the darkness. Maybe that's exactly what BLM wants, maybe not. But they, along with other extreme leftist groups, should be held responsible for the aftermath and feel the full force of the law as a consequence.