In case you missed it in all the fiscal cliff blah-blah-blah this week, Michigan on Tuesday became the 24th Right-to-Work state, meaning union control of employees has been drastically scaled back. Given that it's Michigan, you can imagine this was a pretty big deal, given the historical importance of Detroit and the UAW and so on. If I weren't completely burned out right now from finals week and the end of the semester, I would get into the details of this legislation and what it means for unions and Michiganders (Michigandees?). But since I am, you're going to get a story that requires less research on my part.
Living up to their standards of calm and rational discourse, thousands of union activists descended on the state capital early this week to protest the bill, and of course by "protest" I mean "threw the mother of all temper tantrums and threatened violence if Republicans dared take away their entitlements." So did the Democratic lackeys who represent them, naturally. Inside the Capitol, one state rep said of the consequences of passing right-to-work, "There will be blood." (A follow-up statement from state Democratic leadership explained that the legislator was only talking about getting passionate and he didn't literally mean blood would be shed. I assume they settled on this excuse after deciding no one would believe he was just randomly noting the titles of Paul Thomas Anderson movies.) Of course, Jimmy Hoffa did follow up on CNN by saying of the fight over right-to-work, "We're going to have a civil war," so I guess the messaging hasn't quite been straightened out yet.
Happily, protestors outside were already fulfilling said prediction. Tuesday morning, the day the bill was passed, a tent set up by the conservative group Americans For Prosperity, was violently tore down by unionists, reportedly armed with knives. At about that time, commentator/comedian Steven Crowder, who you may know from occasional appearances on Red Eye or his contributions to Breitbart, was physically assaulted, by at least two different union guys, leaving cuts on the head and a broken tooth. To provide context for the link, Crowder produces videos like these on a regular basis, asking liberal protestors questions about why they're supporting or attacking X, which is what he was doing here before the AFP tent started to get torn up. The video jumps around a bit, but you can clearly see one guy at the end grab Crowder from behind and punch him before getting pulled away, shouting what are unmistakably death threats. From the pics Crowder posted after the fact, you can see how violent things got.
Oh, and this wasn't the only incident. In the course of destroying this tent and all, the protestors also smashed up the cart of a popular hot dog vendor whose sole crime was to cater for the AFP folks--and also to be black, which brought on shouts of "N***er" and "Uncle Tom."
No doubt some (or most) of you had already heard of this. But that's because you don't watch the network news or read the big-name papers, at least not exclusively. Needless to say, none of those guys mentioned this at all. Brian Williams started off NBC's Nightly News on Tuesday with (I'm paraphrasing): "For generations, unions have served as a gateway to the American dream. But now in their heartland, new legislation looks to change all that." With the poor little union guys cast in the light of victims (and really, who making $32/hour can't be considered victims?), there was no way stories like this would see the light of day. As usual, Fox News, talk radio, and the blogs were the only ones running with this.
Well, that's not entirely true. MSNBC's website did give the story of violence at the AFP tent some air--or at least, they reported a union member's claims that he saw an NRA guy tampering with the tent to make it look like union people destroyed it. So, same thing, basically.
As for Crowder personally, one Washington Post blogger did address his attack and asked, "Are the media ignoring thuggery?" Erik Wemple considered his own question and then ended with a thoughtful No. His explanation: Hey, the union guys probably shouldn't have attacked that right-winger, but he jumped up and down about it so much to get the media's attention, who can blame them for ignoring him? No, really. People "should take a second look at Crowder's actions....he's gone buffoonish since then." "Given how Crowder has carried on, I, too, may well pass on the story of his beating, were I a network executive producer." So, for those keeping score at home, a conservative who gets assaulted by leftists and then, seeing it going unreported by other leftists in the media, tries to raise enough of an alarm that it will be noticed, is "carrying on" and "buffoonish" and therefore below the media's notice.
You know, I changed my mind. Maybe I don't want the media covering stories like this.
P.S. In case you were worrying (and I know you were), the White House did weigh in on this. Jay "Twerp" Carney called the incidents a "civil" form of debate; as for the "There will be blood" line: "I haven't seen those comments, and I'm not sure they mean what someone interprets them to mean." Someone better tell Jimmy Hoffa.
P.P.S. I will be on the road most of the day tomorrow, so y'all will have to carry the conversation yourselves for a while. I'll do what I can.
48 comments:
Violence by leftists was common during the town hall days and during the 2010 election as well, but it went unreported because the MSM doesn't want to paint the left in the slightest negative light. This doesn't surprise me in the least.
It also doesn't surprise me that Team Obama would downplay or pretend it didn't happened... but would jump right in when a black professor claims he was treated without respect by a cop. That's how the left works -- they shamelessly ignore the crimes of their own side while spinning up any complaints from their own side into national atrocities.
The fact that these instances of violence went under-reported just goes to show that the left had no effective way to spin it. Much like the lack of reporting on the Right-to-Work law itself. I haven't seen the usual parade of experts defending unions and the few there were offered remarkably facile arguments.
These articles in the conservative blogosphere about MSM malfeasance are becoming tautological.
We all agree that the MSM is operating as the coordinated PR arm of the Democratic party.
Therefore, when some newsworthy even occurs that casts a negative light on some Democratic party constituency group there is no information in relating the event was either ridiculously and blatantly spun or ignored completely. A=A. At best it's dog bites man.
If we want to discus something interesting, ACE of ACE of Spades wants billionaire Republicans to start buying up media so there can be a real non-Democratic party option. He would start with women's magazines first as the most cost efficient.
Crowder has talked a lot about the assault, but has declined to press charges (despite the fact that with the help of the guy's jacket, conservative blogs have identified his attacker as Tony Carmago of the International Electric Workers Unions) and offers videotape which only starts with the fist impacting his face. I won't get worked up until I see who said and did what before the punches were thrown. As I've said before, I tend to be skeptical of purported victims of politically oriented crimes.
I don't doubt there were innocent victims of union thuggery that day (nods towards whoever was in the AFP tent including of course the hot dog vendor), but Crowder may or may not be one of them.
Still, the move by the lame duck legislature is a masterstroke, hitting one of the Democrats' staunchest supporters where it hurts (in the pocketbook) and the fact it is a move that gives people more liberty guarantees that the backlash will be minimal (something Andrew pointed out recently).
It's times like this I'm thankful I already live in a right-to-work state. (Florida can do things correctly once in a while!)
I feel terrible for the hot dog vendor and hope he can get back on his feet one day (hopefully soon).
As for Crowder... I've talked about him with Andrew and while I'm glad he wasn't more seriously injured (and I'm not downplaying the injuries he did get)...
...well, they say if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all.
K -
The idea of buying up women's magazines was Glenn Reynolds' idea.
Scott,
I was listening to Hannity interview the hot dog vendor in question yesterday. Hannity stated he was going to mail the guy a check for 5K (well in excess of his losses).
Which doesn't mean that the tent tippers shouldn't be nailed for vandalism and assault (surely making a temporary building fall on people could be read that way).
Andrew, Word. I could have said "If a Tea Partier did it" until I was blue in the face, and of course that's what's going on here.
The question for me is whether or not this violence is deliberate. I know a lot of union goons are hotheaded and like to bust people up on a lark; on the other hand, the statements of Hoffa and others make it clear they would like nothing better than to use violence to get their way.
tryanmax, I kind of wonder if, despite all their rhetoric, there's a growing realization among some on the Left that this just can't go on. Even NBC News, after beginning with that hacktastic talking point I mentioned above, went on to halfway admit that, yeah, unions aren't quite the ticket to prosperity they used to be. Maybe that accounts for the lack of spin. But they'll never actually disown unions, unless they suddenly turn conservative.
K, I realize that, but that doesn't mean it doesn't need to be talked about. The only time stories like this see the light of day beyond right-wing outlets is when said outlets cause enough stir for the general public to start noticing. Political violence isn't something we should get "ho-hum" about.
As for your more "interesting" topic, I read about that and I think it's not a bad idea; I would like to know, though, who's going to be bankrolling said project and how trustworthy they are.
T-Rav
Great Article (wondering when we were getting to this)
I saw the video. These guys are real winners. The one guy had to be 50 plus just screaming F You over and over in monotone. The other one sat there asking if another fellow just asking them to back away would like his teeth knocked down his throat. I have seen high school dropouts act with more discretion and civility.
We on the right have got to know that the MSM will never do their job. These leftist do what they do because they can say "Yeah, Faux News, all lies, you are stupid" and in there little bubble it will have never happened.
Unfortunately we have to get personal. We have to hire PI's who will trak these guys down to their homes and we have to not just air the event, but find them at their home, repeat their names and then just to pour salt in the wounds create a flyer with a link to a website explaining the actions of their neighbor. Use only facts, transcripts from video.
Then the MSM will have to get involved and we go to war with them accusing them of purposeful bias.
It is unfortunate that these kind of war room tactics have to be employed but honestly until we do these people will feel emboldened to attaack conservatives, call minorty conservative slanderous racial epithets and what have you. These thugs have to be named.
I researched online for Kenneth Gladney's beating by the SEIU. I found an aritcle in the Missouri newspaper. It listed the name of every member of the Tea Party arrested for speaking up to the cops but did not name these four guys who beat a black man, called him the n word and put him in the hospital. Given the press will give such a pass why should these leftists feel any need to molify their actions.
Anthony, I wish the tape was more continuous, but there are enough context clues in what we do see to piece things together. Crowder started off doing his usual routine; then the protestors started tearing down the tent, at which point he came out with some AFP people and was like "Hey, back off," but with both hands raised up, palms out, as a non-confrontational "calm down, guys," gesture. At one point he even said, "All right, we're going," or something to that effect. And then the next piece shows him getting assaulted, without ever throwing a punch himself.
Anything's possible, of course, but there is no evidence that Crowder instigated the violence himself. I can only speculate as to why he's not pressing charges; that speculation would be, though, that he was (and maybe is) in genuine fear for his life, which I would be too under those circumstances.
Anthony
The entire thing is on Breitbart including well before the attack.
They were starting to tear down the tent even though people were inside it. Crowder went up to ask them to back away. They man cam at him attacking four times.
Their mob outnumbered the people there at least ive to one. On O'Reilly Crowder explained that he did not raise his had for fear they would kill someone.
PS: Crowder said he would drop the charges if the man agreed to get into a legally sanctioned MMA ring with the proceeds going to the charity of the winner. But the man had to come forward on his own.
Just a note. Even if Crowder declines to press charges this man could still be arrested. The state of Michigan has that right and there certainly is enough evidence,
I read Charles Krauthammer's op/ed piece today in the NY Daily News on this incident and the RTW laws in general. He made a really good point that they should be hammered with over and over and over. [Not literally, just in case someone asks...though...nah...]
"It's slightly ironic that Democrats, the fiercely pro-choice party, reserve free choice for aborting a fetus, while denying it for such matters a choosing your child's school or joining a union."
Though I think it is not "slightly" ironic. It is very and hypocritically ironic, but that's just me. Anyway, who is smack dab in the middle of the issues of schools and jobs, that who are NOT with the abortion issue? I would give you a hint, but I don't think you will need one. And who gives the Dems more money?
And as an aside: I am seeing a pattern here at Commentarama with phrases like "going to Denver" and "on the road most of the day". I think this is maybe code for something...it could even be that racist code that Al Sharpton's always harping about...so let's be on the lookout.
I remember seeing a young Sean Connery in the film "The Molly Maguires" based on an actual group of coal mine laborers in Pennsylvania. Back in those days, unions served a purpose, but having grown up in the greater Delaware Valley, I have known for decades how thuggish organized labor has become. I have found the notion of "closed shop" and "open ballot" to be almost laughable in their hypocrisy.
Scott and Anthony, when I was putting this together last night, I saw that total donations from Hannity and others to the hot-dog vendor had topped $23,000. Undoubtedly it's gone up since then.
Bev, it is code, but I can't tell you for what. I promise, though, it has absolutely nothing to do with building my cyborg kitten army and beginning my path to world domination.
Jed, here's the thing--I haven't ever had a job in a part of the work force that is usually unionized, so I don't have enough direct experience to say authoritatively whether they're still necessary/useful. And, in fairness, in my neck of the woods they tend to be fairly socially conservative. I've read local union publications before; they're pro-gun all the way, and usually pretty pro-life as well.
But in those same publications, there's all sorts of denunciations against anyone who so much as talks about right-to-work, or who doesn't want to jack up taxes on those evil rich guys, or thinks entitlements need to be scaled back, etc etc. The biggest problem with unions, as I see it, is that they think every other section of society needs to make sacrifices EXCEPT themselves. But then, that's a problem most people in this country have to some extent. Unions just have it worse than others.
And with that, I'm out (until this evening). Catch you on the flip side, folks.
T-Rav - I HAVE had jobs where I was forced to join a union, where I was forced to work with union laborers, AND where I would have been forced to join another union IF I didn't quit in protest because my hourly wages would have been cut almost in half, but thereby allowing myself the opportunity to start a new, lucrative non-union career.
Anthony, I agree, this is a master stroke and it has real potential to really hurt the unions in one of their last strongholds outside the government.
K, You're right that the blogosphere isn't really influential for the most part because it's just an echo chamber. It's a shame to me that conservatives were never able to recreate Huffpo, and I think the reason is the content.
Bev, Conservatives need to learn to speak in terms of words like "choice". They are stupid to ignore those words when they would fit perfectly and could so easily be co-opted.
Code words? I have no idea what you are talking about. ;P
Nice write up, T-Rav. It truly is appalling that the media will go out of its way to create a false narrative that the Tea Party is somehow violent and racist (despite there being no such evidence), and completely ignore the violence and racism of these union assholes.
What's worse, as Bev points out, is that all the law does is stop forcing workers to join unions and prevents unions from forceably extracting their dues from worker paychecks. Most unions no longer guarantee a pool of skilled workers (give me a break, SEIU), nor do they even exist to benefit their members. They exist to consolidate power into a monolithic voting block and benefit union leadership.
I don't even care if Crowder was verbally baiting the protesters. The violence was an act of assault, plain and simple, and the protester should be arrested. Had Crowder punched first, I would have said the protester was justified, but that's not what happened. These people are stupid and feral, resorting to their basest fascist impulses merely to mandate submission to the government.
we live in a seriously screwed up world...
T-Rav: good luck herding those cyborg cats.
I while back I asked my fb friends, among whom are a number of teachers (including some flaming liberals), for something GOOD the teachers' union had done for them. Not a good thing was mentioned, but several bad things were...
(assuming y'all have seen the Conn. shooting - I reiterate: We live in a screwed up world!)
"If we want to discus something interesting, ACE of ACE of Spades wants billionaire Republicans to start buying up media so there can be a real non-Democratic party option. He would start with women's magazines first as the most cost efficient. "
Obama will start governing to the right of Reagan before that happens!
I pray for the families of the deceased and the wounded and I hope Hell is hot enough for the killer.
I have two elementary school aged daughters. I can't imagine what the parents are going through. Heaven just got a lot of little angels.
Anthony, I can't imagine either. I just know something is very wrong with humanity.
You know what, I'm seeing a lot of people arguing about guns again. Let's be honest here....
THE GUN ARGUMENT IS AN EXCUSE!
This is the fault of his parents... his friends... his teachers... his neighbors... his employers for refused to see the signs that this asshole needed to be locked up. This is the fault of liberals who decided that society should not lock people like this up. This is the fault of lawyers who sue anyone who gets involved.
This is the fault of Hollywood for glorifying gun violence. This is the fault of the media for making these people famous. This is the fault of politicians for spewing hate and telling people that hate and spite are legitimate feelings.
This is the fault of everybody who calls into sport shows and talks about hurting people, everybody who posts death threats on the net, everybody who spews hate day after day after day.
This is the fault of a society that is genuinely hateful and spiteful and who mix fantasy and reality and who are unwilling to take responsibility for their own actions and certainly won't responsibility to do something when they see something wrong.
This is really depressing.
My apologies to T-Rav for hijacking his thread, but this is really upsetting.
Andrew - You are absolutely right. I was railing about this for exactly same reasons. It isn't about the guns. It's about the glorification and prevelence of violence in our global culture. It could just as easily have been a bow and arrow like the guy who shot his stepfather a few weeks ago, or knives like the hundreds of Chinese schoolchildren who have been murdered in the last few years.
But it will BE about the guns and I am sure that the Tea Party will be blamed when in fact it is our lack of proper mental health laws that are to blame.
BTW, is anyone else having trouble logging in to Blogger?
Andrew -
I don't think any apology is necessary.
And as I'm fond of saying, my gun philosophy (which I imagine is shared by many folks here) can be summed up with a Charles Bronson line from one of the Death Wish movies:
"Guns don't scare me. Idiots with guns do."
But how do we make sure idiots don't get access?
Naturally, the nutjob at the American Family Association has proven yet again what a total dick he is.
And I do wish the reporters would just let these kids go home without barraging them with questions.
Scott and Bev, I moved this to an article because I don't want to steal T-Rav's thread.
But Scott, who is to say "the nutjob at the AFA" is wrong? Mayor Bloomberg thinks it's because we have guns and if there were no guns there would be no more violent crimes. Both may be deluded, but I am much more inclined to believe that when "God" was in the schools, we had much less violence in our schools yet there were many, many more guns on the streets and in homes.
Bev -
I guess Andrew wants to continue this in the other thread.
I agree that, when religion was more prevalent, there were less tragedies like this. The schmuck's entitled to his opinion but he's no better than his counterparts on the other side when it comes to horrible timing and the newsworthy faux pas.
Scott - I agree. And we can continue this on whatever other thread. BUT Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of Boston, and probably Bill Maher, John Stewart et al. who I am sure will weigh in shortly, are also schmucks, but they are never called out for the schmuckness. Quite the opposite, they are lionized for their schmuckness. [I just like writing the word "schmuckness" and I think I will add it to our Commentarama-nary)...
Bev -
Add away!
(And I 100% agree with you but I seem to have more venom for some folks versus others.)
Scott and Bev, I just don't want to steal T-Rav's article.
Totally agree about Bloomberg, Maher and Stewart, they will do what they always do -- exploit this for their own gain while acting smug about it.
I originally posted this in response to Bev on 12/8:
I hadn't heard that the Right to Work passed in Michigan, I only heard about the protests, and that some people were arrested. I caught part of the protest on a local TV channel, and couldn't make out their chanting except for "...right to work has got to go..." Idiots. I'm glad it passed as it did in my state earlier in the year.
What I did catch on TV was the governor originally didn't have that as part of his platform, but he was worried about competition from my state.
----------------------
T-Rav, I once worked somewhere in which I had to join a union, and I agree with what Bev said about her experience.
There was no such thing as merit raises, but the company violated it to give an undeserved raise to someone who wasn't qualified for the title & pay increase, and another co-worker told me about it. I filed a grievance because I was turned down for the same title over a year prior to this, and was told I (read--wasn't qualified) didn't know enough, which was total bullsh*t. The guy in question didn't know half of what I did, but he threatened to quit if they didn't up his pay. He was a slacker/lazy, as many others in that store were as well. They couldn't be fired, and the ones who actually did do their job never got anything for it--they just had to pick up the slack.
Folks, no apologies necessary. If I'd had Internet access this afternoon, I would have hijacked my own thread. I didn't hear about this until after lunch and then was violently gesturing up and down in the car and swearing. So again, no need to apologize.
Bev and Jen, I yield to your own expertise. It should be obvious to everyone how big of a problem nepotism is in these unions, in addition to everything else.
rla, I suppose we technically have a teachers' union in Missouri, but it's essentially non-functioning. Surely it's no coincidence that my public school education was well above the average. Funny how that happens when teachers are concerned about doing their jobs and not getting a pay raise every six months.
T-Rav, I forgot to add that during election cycles, the only literature that was on the breakroom tables was support for the Democrat Party, and on the union bulletin board, they even had who to vote for. Not a Republican in sight. Imagine that. And, I live in Red county, and it's been that way since I moved here in the 90s.
One thing though, at least the department I worked in totally ignored the Dems crap--we were solid Red (polar opposite of the department I had been in). One of the guys was even a union steward, but voted Republican nonetheless.
Jen, somehow that does not surprise me at all. I interned in our state House for a few months once, and as part of my job, I periodically read some union newspapers. Not only did they do all that, their attacks on Republicans verged into conspiracy-theory territory. No surprise that they would tell the rank-and-file how to vote.
wahsatchmo, I couldn't agree more. I wonder what twisted logic liberals employ to justify their baiting of the Tea Party--because episodes like this make me certain they know full well the threat of violence does not come from that quarter.
T-Rav, In case no one has told you, your articles are quiet excellent. Thanks! :)
T-Rav & Doc, If I haven't said that before, then let me second Doc's thoughts! :)
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