Engineered rioting and civil unrest once again broke out in Seattle on Sunday evening, organized by Antifa and the city's chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement. These riots come as the Seattle City Council, which comprises entirely of Democrats and socialists, is expected to put to a vote a measure that would defund the Seattle Police Department (SPD).
The riots began in the afternoon and were situated primarily around the city's First Hill neighborhood, which is right next to downtown Seattle. Much of the damage was situated along several streets. Some of the businesses that were targeted include Amazon Go, which was swarmed with rioters who had sledgehammers and were breaking windows; a Whole Foods , where private security personnel were able to fend off the would-be looters; as well as a Starbucks, a Chase Bank and a Key Bank, where several windows were smashed and protective plywood coverings were peeled off.
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Several other businesses in the area experienced limited cosmetic damages, such as smashed storefronts and windows that looked like they were hit by a baseball bat several times.
By the evening the rioters and looters began making their way north to Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill, where they congregated before dispersing of their own accord.
Parts of the Capitol Hill and Pioneer Square neighborhoods – directly to the north and the southwest of First Hill, respectively – were also targeted by smaller bands of organized looters. (Related: Seattle Mayor again blames Trump after rioters blew open a police station using a van full of explosives.)
“Sadly it's become routine,” said Jamie Munson, whose Simply Seattle store in Pioneer Square was targeted. “We've gotten good at calling the insurance company, boarding up windows and protecting the store. It's just exhausting.” Munson's storefront was smashed and spray painted. Two of his three stores have been attacked five times since the rioting in the city began in late May and early June.
Listen to this episode of the Health Ranger Report, a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he informs the public about how the Black Lives Matter domestic terrorist movement is now intentionally targeting people in their vehicles, further proving the need for upright citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights and defend themselves.
Seattle City Council votes to defund police
The Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots seem to have worked, as the Seattle City Council voted by a seven to one margin, a veto-proof majority, to slash the SPD's budget. Socialist councilwoman Kshama Sawant, a member of the openly Marxist and revolutionary socialist party, the Socialist Alternative, was the only member of the council to vote against the budget. Councilwoman Debora Juarez was forced to abstain because she was not present during the vote.
According to the terms of the new budget, around $3 million will be taken away from the SPD's remaining budget for 2020. Several of the department's programs either had their budgets reduced or were cut entirely, such as the SWAT team, the Public Affairs unit, the School Resource officers, Mounted Patrol, Harbor Patrol and the Navigation Team, which comprises both armed police officers and unarmed outreach workers who aid the city's homeless population.
All in all, up to 100 of the city's nearly 1,400 sworn police officers might get fired due to the budget cut. The department's retention and recruitment budget has also been reduced by $800,000, which may see more employees leave the department due to pay concerns.
The SPD's command staff have also gotten their pay capped at $150,000, and the chief of police's annual salary was reduced by around seven percent from $294,000 to $275,000.
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Several members of the city council have hinted at how these initial cuts are a first step to larger budget cuts that can be passed in future votes. Some councilmembers have highlighted how many of the SPD's responsibilities can be shifted away from them.
“While we can't do everything in this summer rebalancing package, we have set the path forward for tremendous work in front of us as a council and as a city,” said Councilwoman Teresa Mosqueda.
However, many public figures in Seattle who are even further left than the council's Democrats are criticizing the budget cut for being not steep enough. The city's Black Lives Matter chapter, for example, has demanded from the beginning of the rioting that the SPD's budget be reduced by no less than 50 percent, or around $85 million.
Councilwoman Sawant, the only person to vote against the budget, rationalized her vote by stating that the budget cut to the SPD did not go far enough.
“This budget fails to address the systemic racism of policing, trimming only $3 million from the bloated department's remaining 2020 budget of $170 million just weeks after six of the eight other councilmembers publicly declared they would support defunding SPD by 50 percent, as our People's Budget and the Justice for George Floyd movement have demanded,” Sawant said in a statement released after the council's vote.
Sawant further criticized that the budget cuts “tens of millions of dollars” from many other city departments, while not increasing taxes for large businesses which operate out of the city, such as Amazon.
“The only balancing that is happening is on the backs of working people, especially in Black and Brown communities.”
The Black Lives Matter movement's goal of defunding police departments is succeeding. Learn more about how this criminal organization is achieving their objectives by reading the latest articles about them at Rioting.news.
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