The "Battle of Berkeley"

I've long read that the left will regret resorting to violence when the right decides to fight back, and this past week the right started fighting back.  Literally.

The cowardly, cover-their-face Antifa goons thought they'd disrupt another conservative rally.  They were mistaken:

The leftist mob has sown the wind. Now, the whirlwind looms.

If the media accurately and comprehensively reported on leftist mob violence, it would see that a pattern has emerged: On campus and in the streets, a violent or menacing core seizes the ground it wants, blocks access to buildings, and shuts down the speech or events it seeks to suppress. This violent core is often surrounded and protected by a larger group of ostensibly “peaceful” protesters who sometimes cheer aggression wildly and then provide cover for the rioters, who melt back into the crowd. After the riot, the polite progressives condemn the violence, urge that it not distract from the alleged rightness of the underlying cause, and then do virtually nothing to enforce the law and punish the offenders...

At Berkeley, a mob blocked Milo Yiannopolous from speaking, before going on a violent rampage that included arson, smashed windows, and assault on innocent bystanders. Americans were pepper-sprayed and beaten for the “crime” of supporting Donald Trump while the police stood idly by, letting the riot play out before arresting a grand total of one person. Urban and academic progressive leaders can respond to violence with all the scolding tweets, sternly worded statements, and calls for calm they want. But until those who break the law and violate university policies are aggressively brought to justice, it won’t matter...

Saturday, we saw more clashes in what now threatens to become an increasingly vicious, violent war for control of America’s streets. Leftist “antifa” or “black bloc” rioters met pro-Trump “Oath Keepers,” bikers, and alt-right goons in a barely contained battle royale, with assaults and beatings streamed live and posted to YouTube. Police struggled to control the violence and often appeared completely absent as brawls broke out across entire city blocks. By the end of the fighting, Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer said, “Militias, alt-right, nazis etc. won today in Berkeley. They outnumbered the opposition, pushed it back, and held downtown.”

Yes, Mother Jones will resort to name-calling--but the right held. I've even seen pictures of some of the rightists giving wedgies to the Antifa types. You have to love that sort of humiliation.

See?  Even I start to lean towards violence when it seems to be the only currency accepted in the land.

We are now teetering on the edge of a truly terrifying incident, one trigger-pull away from a slaughter. Campus and urban progressives have a choice to make. Is this a nation of laws? If it is, then it’s time to grow a backbone, protect free speech, punish rioters, and expel those who disrupt the educational environment regardless of ideology. There should be no more sympathy or leniency for the lawless social-justice warrior than there is for the lawless neo-Nazi.

Governor Reagan addressed just this issue in Berkeley back in 1969:

If you don't want to watch the entire 1:53, just scroll over to 1:31 and hear these logical words:

"All of it began the first time some of you who know better, and are old enough to know better, let young people think that they have the right to choose the laws they would obey as long as they were doing it in the name of social protest."

Reagan saw things so clearly, without the muddling mush of liberalism.  You follow the law, or you pay the consequences.  It isn't so hard to understand, except for snowflakes who think they're special and don't have to follow the law.

Today's snowflakes want to wear the mantle of the 60's protesters, but pay attention to the linked video--buckshot and teargas.  One dead student, and over 100 sent to local hospitals.  If that were to happen today, there'd be a lot fewer of the type of violent "protest" and lawlessness that we're currently seeing.

Update, 4/18/17:  Something is wrong in Berkeley, all right:

Something is wrong in Berkeley, and it’s making peaceful protesters (and the nearly 117,000 people who live in the city) look bad, as they’re forced to watch their town covered in the press due to the riots. Once the beacon of free speech back in the 1960s, Berkeley is now full of free speech advocates battling it out with those wanting to censorship.

The irony of the censorship crowd, as I and others pointed out after the Yiannopolous fiasco, is that the violence gets media coverage that the rally itself wouldn’t have received. The violent actions make Antifa look bad (though perhaps they don’t care)...

This weekend also made the rally attendees (from the right) seem violent when previously their propensity for violence was only suggested by the Left. At the same time, suggesting the attendees simply allow themselves to be attacked doesn’t see like an appropriate response, either...

What’s happening in Berkeley is unlikely to remain confined to Berkeley, and any right-leaning speaker is likely to become a reason for riots. If one wants to see where the breakdown of political discourse is coming from, they can’t blame it all on Trump.

Update #2, 4/19/17:  Outside of Berkeley, police officers know how to handle the antifa fascists.  Watch the video here :)