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GELFAND’S WORLD - What is the difference between the flash mob looting of the 7-11 store in San Pedro and the Trump campaign's actions at the Arlington National Cemetery?
Nothing.
In each case, an unruly mob forced itself on unwilling victims. There is even a certain similarity in the respective responses by the authorities, which is to say: Not Much.
At Arlington, the cemetery worker got shoved aside by the Trump staff and the authorities have closed the investigation without filing charges against those who engaged in assault and battery against a federal official. Here in San Pedro, the police eventually arrived at the location where the mob had looted the store, but they were late to the location and unable to take any of the criminals into custody.
At least the police and San Pedro authorities are paying lip service to the idea of law and order. The Arlington story is, in its own way, a lot grimmer because it involves a reckless disregard for the rule of law and for the sanctity of a national burial ground.
The best comment on the Arlington outrage was made by Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo, which you can read here. (Note: If you are not a subscriber, you can get a free read by clicking on the link that pops up.) The most telling element of the Arlington story is the photograph showing a grinning Trump, doing his "thumbs up" signing, over the graves of soldiers. Marshall's comment about what this tells us about Donald Trump is right on point.
What's truly curious about the Arlington story (and in keeping with the long-time focus in this column towards media criticism) is that the nightly news treated the Arlington wreath ceremony as if it were an official event. The news even featured comments by relatives of one dead soldier, the people who apparently invited Donald Trump to participate with them. At the time, there was no mention that the event was unsanctioned and indeed a violation of the military's own rules regarding the use of its facilities for partisan political events.
There is one other observation that we might make. Trump continues to act as if he were still president. Just look at the video of this ceremony to recognize the truth of this statement. One might even interpret the retention of secret documents by Trump in the Mar a Lago case as one more bit of evidence along those lines.
The San Pedro flash mob robbery and what it says about city government
In the aftermath of the recent sacking and looting of the 7-11 store in San Pedro, our City Council representative was interviewed on television. He allowed as how it was too bad that the police couldn't get to the crime scene fast enough.
This observation is just one among thousands involving the current capability level of the LAPD. There just aren't enough of them. It's no secret. Every mayor going back to Richard Riordan has talked about the size and staffing of the police force. Right now, the force is at historically low numbers.
The local councilman (Tim McOsker) has even pointed out that the city's HR department is inadequate in getting new recruits hired so they can attend the police academy. He (with other council members) is even proposing that the police department be allowed to bypass the HR system and do its own hiring.
What's of course missing from this story is the fact that successive city councils (including this one) have impoverished the city government by maintaining a series of salary increases from year to year. What do you call it when you provide raises of 4-5% per year for year after year? In mathematics, it is called exponential growth.
There is no current evidence that this rate of growth will be allowed to continue, but there is also no indication as to when it might stop. One of my fellow CityWatch writers argues for a change in the City Charter that would ensure financial sanity. That would be one more thing to keep watch over when the City Council starts to talk about the next round of Charter upgrades.
(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected].)
