Looters Ransack Chicago's 'Magnificent Mile' after Police Shooting

BY JACK CROWE

August 10, 2020

THE FAMILIAR PATTERN OF POLITICIZED VIOLENCE resumed this weekend after a brief respite in most major American cities. Chicago police shot a young man Sunday afternoon after he fired at them while attempting to evade arrest. Hours later, a mob — inflamed by the lie that the cops had shot and wounded a child — laid siege to Chicago's downtown commercial district, Magnificent Mile.

Hundreds of people can be seen in countless videos circulating online looting luxury clothing stores, pulling ATM's out of banks, smashing windows, and screaming in protest against a fiction. Around 4:30 in the morning, some of the rioters exchanged gunfire with the police. No one was shot in the exchange but at least one officer sustained a shoulder injury while clashing with rioters and another was maced.

The city responded by halting public transportation and raising the bridges that lead to downtown, but apparently failed to deploy enough police to quell the unrest.

"Absolute chaos in downtown Chicago," CBS reporter Ryan Baker wrote on Twitter. "Appears to be coordinated effort with minimal police presence."

Just as looters were preparing to destroy Chicago's famed shopping district Sunday night, the same spirit of anarchy was manifesting in the streets of Portland, which have not seen a peaceful night since the summer began with a wave of protests and rioting over the death of George Floyd.

Roughly 200 people marched from a downtown park to the Portland Police Association Building, where they threw objects and launched fireworks at officers, blocked off the road and set dumpster fires.

The police responded by declaring a riot and using tear gas to disperse the crowd. Sixteen people were arrested and two officers were hospitalized with unspecified injuries, the police said. A small number compared to the twenty-four who were arrested in Portland on Friday night for throwing rocks and launching fireworks at officers. It should be said that we know all of this because local news outlets have done yeoman's work documenting the unrelenting chaos in Portland. The Washington Post, meanwhile, believes its readers are best served by a glowing photo essay depicting the varying DIY riot uniforms worn by the play-acting revolutionaries.

As Chicago's urban decay spread into its affluent downtown and Portland saw its seventy-third straight night of rioting and protests, New York grappled with its own crime wave, more diffuse than what's been seen elsewhere but perhaps more insidious for that.

New York City is now on track to have more shootings and victims in 2020 than it had in 2019 and 2018 combined, the New York Post reported in its Monday cover story. There have been 821 shootings and 1,000 victims as of Saturday; there were 905 shootings and 1,099 victims in all of 2018 and 2019 combined.

One of this year's many victims, Curtis Holley, was shot and killed in front of his wife Saturday night after inadvertently flicking a cigarette near a group of men on the sidewalk. One wonders what that has to do with "bread."

Chicago's 'Magnificent Mile' Looted after Police Shooting

Looters ransacked shops in downtown Chicago early on Monday morning following a shootout between a suspect and police officers.

According to police, officers were called to the Englewood neighborhood on Sunday afternoon after receiving reports of a man with a gun. Officers found a suspect who matched the description, however the suspect attempted to flee and fired at officers giving chase. Police then shot and wounded the suspect, who was brought into custody.

However, police said rumors spread in the neighborhood that the suspect was a child, when in fact the man is in his 20's. A crowd gathered at the sight of the shooting and confrontations with police ensued. One officer was sprayed with a can of mace and the windows of a police vehicle were smashed with a brick, while community members told a local CBS affiliate that officers beat some of the demonstrators. (CBS)

Lindsey Graham Claims Declassified Docs Show FBI 'Misled' Congress on Steele Dossier

Newly declassified documents show that the FBI misled Congress regarding the reliability of the Steele dossier, Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said on Sunday.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, which Graham chairs, is currently conducting an investigation into the origins of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane probe, whose stated aim was to uncover alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives.

One document released by the committee on Sunday is an FBI draft of talking points for a February 2018 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the Russia investigation. The talking points, uncovered by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, seek to give the impression that the Steele dossier's "Primary Sub-Source" for intelligence was reliable.

The Primary Sub-Source "did not cite any significant concerns with the way his reporting was characterized in the dossier to the extent he could identify it," according to the talking points.

However, the FBI knew in early 2017 that the Primary Sub-Source had cast doubt on the dossier's claims that Trump-campaign officials and Russian operatives were working together. The Primary Sub-Source in fact told FBI agents in 2017 that there was "zero" corroboration for some of the allegations in the dossier. (Judiciary Committee)

Hong Kong Media Tycoon Jimmy Lai Arrested Under New National Security Law

Hong Kong police on Monday arrested pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai on charges of allegedly colluding with foreign forces under the controversial new national security law imposed on the territory by China.

Lai, 71, was arrested along with at least six other people connected with him including his two sons and four executives at his publishing group Next Digital, publisher of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, which frequently criticizes Beijing.

"Jimmy Lai is being arrested for collusion with foreign powers at this time," read a Sunday evening tweet from Mark Simon, a senior executive at Lai's media company.

More than a hundred police raided Next Digital's offices on Monday morning. The newspaper livestreamed video of officers arresting Lai and his chief executive and warning reporters to stop filming the raid.

Ron Johnson Subpoenas FBI Director Wray in Probe of Crossfire Hurricane Origins

Senator Ron Johnson (R., Wisc.) subpoenaed FBI director Christopher Wray last week for documents pertaining to the Russia investigation.

Johnson, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, issued the subpoena as part of the committee's probe into the origins of the Russia investigation, dubbed Crossfire Hurricane by the FBI.

The subpoena, obtained by Fox News, demands that Wray make available "all records related to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. This includes, but is not limited to, all records provided or made available to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice for its review."

"The FBI has already been producing documents and information to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which are directly responsive to this subpoena," the FBI told Fox. "As always, the FBI will continue to cooperate with the Committee's requests, consistent with our law enforcement and national security obligations." (Fox News)