By Andy Ngo | 20 June 2020
NEW YORK POST — On June 8, Seattle police frantically loaded what they could from the east precinct onto trucks and cars. Within hours, they boarded up and abandoned the station. That night, left-wing protesters from Black Lives Matter and Antifa declared ownership of the six-block neighborhood in the middle of the Pacific Northwest’s largest city. They named their new territory the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,” or CHAZ. No laws or rules applied here except for one: “No cops allowed.”
During five undercover days and nights in the zone, I witnessed a continuing experiment in anarchy, chaos and brute-force criminality. In order to avoid being exposed as a journalist — several reporters have been barred or expelled — I slept and showered outside the zone. (Those inside have no showers but they do have portable bathrooms.) I took meals, and most of my water breaks, elsewhere because I was reluctant to remove my mask and risk being recognized. Every day I entered the zone twice through its semi-porous borders — once in the early afternoon, and again after sundown, staying until the wee hours.
Crime has surged inside and outside the zone.
On Saturday morning, a shooting erupted that left at least one person dead and another injured near a border checkpoint. Police were reportedly met with resistance when they tried to get to the victims, who apparently were then taken in private cars to the hospital. Cops made it into the zone to gather shell casings and evidence, some reports said, as police in riot gear stood at the border.
On Thursday, police arrested Robert James after he left the CHAZ. He is accused of sexually assaulting a deaf woman who was lured inside a tent. The same day, former city council candidate Isaiah Willoughby was arrested on suspicion of starting the arson attack on the East Precinct June 12.
Police Chief Carmen Best has stated that police response times to 911 calls in the surrounding area have “more than tripled” because they are down a station. […]
Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao are cheering from their graves. Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry are crying…
Sorry, but if you want to be seen as not credulous enough to accept everything the media puts out at face value, then you have to express at least a bit of doubt re how Andy Ngo, who is relatively well-known and has been unfavorably covering “Antifa” (whatever that is/whoever they are) for years, could wander around inside CHAZ for days without being recognized and thrown out.
Again, not everything we put up is an endorsement or a promotion for an echo chamber. We spot other articles of interest in addition to ones of merit.
Also:
Andy Ngo is gay, and on the effeminate side — I don’t think he could (or would) throw a punch to defend himself even if/when it was warranted — so he probably finds a lot more things “terrifying” than the average man would (i.e.”terrifying” is hyperbole and part of his media shtick).
However I have little doubt that were CHAZ to declare independence it would become and be pronounced a shithole country in no time.
What is revealed is that you didn’t read the whole article. Andy explained how he got away with it for as long as he did, and he was eventually caught.
I curated this article for our “Around the Web” section because I think Andy did a fine job. I don’t see any other reporters hopping into the viper pit. Do you? If so, feel free to provide a link.
I’ve never dug deeply into Andy’s background, but I know his stories. From what I’ve seen of his coverage of Antifa in Portland for the last couple years, he tries to be fair and professional in a true “reporterly” kind of way — which is something people people outside of the field (and inside) rarely see anymore, acknowledge or appreciate. Given the beatings he’s taken trying to cover Antifa in the past, the armed thugs in CHAZ and their attitude toward reporters, I think Andy’s fear is qualified.
Whether he’s gay or effeminate or whatever, so what. It’s not the point of the piece or relevant in any way. So your sloppy ad hominem slaps to Andy and Torchy are noted and are not appreciated.
I did not follow the link and read the whole article — I read only what is here — the rest didn’t interest me, since the part published here appears rather tabloidish, and not dissimilar to what everyday life in significant parts of Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, St Louis, Philadelphia, Birmingham, etc is like — I can just go read the local news in those places (as I sometimes do).
58 shooting deaths so far during June in Chicago — 354 total people shot & wounded — 62 total homicides, 9 this week alone.
So what’s so interesting about CHAZ again?
As I said, Andy Ngo is well known and would be easily recognized by many hardcore “Antifa” types — probably less so with a “mask”.
So your sloppy ad hominem slaps to Andy and Torchy are noted are noted and not appreciated.
So now it’s an ‘ad hominem slap’ to say that an effeminate homosexual man is an effeminate homosexual man? — I clearly explained the context of that remark — since you admit you don’t know much about him: he was beaten/roughed up by “Antifa” in the past — at the time, I honestly got the impression that he is not capable, physically or psychologically, of defending himself — not that he should have to; but the reality today is that, as a man, you really ought to be prepared to do that — this is not an unreasonable view.
And exactly where did I say anything ‘ad hominem’ about Torchy Blane?
Again: what I will call (not unjustifiably) ordinary criminality inside CHAZ is not of much interest to me personally.
I have nothing against Andy Ngo — I know of, and have a general regard for, his work, as well as sympathy for him as a person.
Raz Simone, chop’s warlord, real name solomon simone…. Should I put that name in triple parentheses? Most likely.