I’M JUST HERE FOR THE RIOTS.
The last few days have been absolutely insane. In my 25 years of photographing protests, I’ve never seen anything like what is happening now. We’ve got protests and we’ve got a full scale insurgency underway. Those who have suffered abuse from cops (nearly everyone reading this, I would imagine) have had enough. Whether you’re white being pulled over by some power and cash hungry uniformed thug in Rhinebeck (NY) because he thought your inspection sticker was out of date and wanted to mug you with a ticket, or if you’re black and have been stopped, frisked, beat up and arrested by cops hungry to meet their quota. Nearly ever last person I know has had a negative encounter with cops. Protect and serve? Fuck that. A majority are a gang, a gang that considers civilians as savages to be ignored or abused depending entirely on their mood of the moment.
At the moment here in NYC they’re a significantly weaker gang than I’ve ever seen. During the squatter protests in 1995, they rolled out a tank. During RNC (2004) and OWS (2011), they settled and arrested peaceful protesters en masse. They detained and abused people in a contaminated former bus depot for 72 hours.
We’re not seeing that right now. NYPD no longer seems to have the coordination, training or ability to handle protests. Even when things are quiet, their authority is not what it was. Yesterday morning in SoHo I saw a POC walk right past a police checkpoint. The cops had a few streets half-assed blocked to non-residents. This man walked right past them, and yelled at them when they tried to get all authorization on his ass. He was probably a bit lucky… I walked around to the other end of the same block and backtracked to get all the destruction porn photos available. And this is what I mean by the cops having no plan. Cops had one end of the block closed and not the other. I had a similar encounter Saturday night. Cops saying you can’t go this way, another cop saying you can’t go that way… Neither were part of a coherent line. I simply walked around the second cop, in the direction he didn’t want me to go in. This would have never, ever flied during RNC or OWS.
Grant it, I’m a generic ass looking white dude, but like I said, I saw POCs do the same. And if you’re looking to explore literally anything in NYC right now, this is a great time to do it. None shall stop you.
Now we’re seeing their lack of preparation when it comes to looting. They don’t know how to handle hit and run looters. They have no plan for any of this.
They all report into a commissioner with little experience, and a Mayor who is too busy smoking pot to give a about leading a city in what has become an all out war for the soul of our country. Instead of removing violent cops from the streets for a night, he wants more. He wants an earlier curfew. He thinks ‘law and order’ can somehow crush an idea and end a rebellion. How about instead the cops return to their stations, and we call all citizens to come out. Peacefully come out. Sit outside. No need to riot. How about we have a one night cop free vigil, where we mourn the hundreds of black lives lost at the hands of racist cops. A night where we mourn for the over 100,000 people who needlessly died because a white nationalist idiot occupies the white house? You’re worried about looting? Go stand in front of small businesses, unarmed, arm in arm (looters want to steal stuff, if they wanted to confront people they would be out there mugging folks).
While getting out and protesting is important right now, it is just important that you all get out and vote. On June 23rd we have a primary here in New York. All of those old, do nothing white politicians? Many of them are being primaried. This is you’re chance to get someone into office who represents you. There are literally hundreds of people running for office all over the United States who want to defund the police. Who want to cancel rent, and make sure we join every other nation in the world by having universal health care. We can have a Green New Deal. We can have criminal justice reform. It is all right there at the tip of our fucking fingers but only if every last person who has had enough of this no good, broken down, garbage ass system votes these garbage motherfuckers out.
In NY-12 (covering west queens, LES, and west Brooklyn), we can vote out 32 year do nothing incumbent Carolyn Maloney (Lauren Ashcraft is getting my vote). In NY-15, we can vote in Samelys Lopez, a far left POC. In NY-16, we can vote out the corrupt-as-fuck Gregory Meeks and vote in Shaniyat Chowdhury. Consider joining the NYC DSA, or at the very least voting for these amazing candidates.
Don’t want to vote for Trump or Biden in November? Vote Green. STOP VOTING FOR THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS. We’ve done that for at least forty years now and we’re in hell. We’re literally in hell because Boomers thought lesser of two evils was fine. It’s not. Fuck all the way off. Write in fucking Gritty for all I care.
Take a half hour, find out who is running in your district, and vote these old ass incumbent motherfuckers out. Republicans are Nazis, but these corporate centralist democrats are even worse. They pretend to be on our side when they barely show up (Where the fuck are Biden, Schumer and Pelosi right now? Playing fucking scrabble?) Suficiente.
ASS: Assorted Subway Shenanigans
Cuomo and Murphy (NJ) are angling hard for Trump to fund the Gateway Tunnel. They are totally kidding themselves.
They also say they expect commuting to return to normal, and that’s just not the case. From what I’ve heard, workers in NYC offices will be staying home for at least another six months. When they do return, they will work a few days on, and two weeks from home, on rotating shifts. Commuting in NYC is likely dead for the foreseeable future—maybe permanently.
Should we still replace the nearly 110 year old current tunnels? Absolutely. They’ll probably be needed eventually. But you can bet your sweet ass Trump will not be funding them.
ANYWAY: Rumor is that NYC’s subways will reopen for 24 hours service next week. Apparently no permanent housing solutions for the homeless have been found, so the trains will soon be just as dirty as ever….
A SWARM OF SHORTIES
Elon 234-809/Ae*9 Musk went for a ride with Jay Leno through his boring tunnel and well woop de fuckin’ doo white people.
The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel turned 70 last week.
There are still quite a few big buildings in Dayton, Ohio that were hit by tornadoes last year and never repaired.
LOL The US Military is spending money developing a tunnel boring ‘earthworm’ drone. Because hey why not blow millions of dollars while people are starving and facing with the worst recession in American history.
Hospital Content OMG!
I’ve begun a bit of a drive to document all the various hospitals that were closed in the NYC area in recent years. Check out these fresh write ups on Hudson River Psych, Sea View’s Children’s Ward, The Essex County Isolation hospital, and the Willoughby nursing home.
Foam Dome
This video of looters hitting an inter-modal train is pretty damn funny. Reminds me of an unpublished video where a south bronx gang raided a beer train two years back.
Bando BBQ
Some asshole arsonist set the historic Third Presbyterian Church in Chester, PA on fire, completely destroying it. I never got around to visiting this joint but it looked 100% amazing.
Someone keeps setting this abandoned North Carolina store on fire and good for them. Fuck it. When it comes to non-historic boring ass looking bandos, burn it all. Whole damned worlds on fire anyway.
International Update
Hey y’all the Irish water department is warning people to beware of Fatbergs and Dead Rodents when reopening their businesses. Eegits could have saved those rodents by burying more Bog Butter.
India has built a new tunnel to China and wow sounds cool let me revert back to you when I see it.
Sometimes I really don’t understand the English. A greek millionaire abandoned his house, leaving a ton of valuable stuff behind. And judging from these photos, it doesn’t look like the place was looted that hard.
Quaratinewhile, if you want to see some kids explore an abandoned UK bus depot, well, here you go.
Here is a Paris Catacombs primer for anyone who might need it.
A Canadian explorer visited a home where a double murder took place and found… a house people lived and died in?
And on an infinitely more fascinating note, check out these abandoned french warships. The photos are old but the story behind the adventure is awesome.
And that’s a Wrap:
Black Lives Matter.
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