Baltimore Mayor Gave Rioters 'Space To Destroy'

Looks like her comments are being taken literally tonight

Could be the gaffe of the decade.

Watching Baltimore burn on CNN tonight. 10 minutes ago, the Mayor denied she said what she said on video.

a reply to: IAMTAT

My jaw hit the floor!

Sad part, there is quite a few people that stand by her.

Mayor currently on CNN totally backtracking and denying what she said on video AGAIN. Unbelievable.

you know i feel for the people that lost their property, and livelihood.
but let them burn their neighborhoods down.

then maybe when the POS's don't have any where locally to buy things they need, will leave and then the good decent folks that are willing to stick it out and work, do what's needed in life, can get back to the business of living, and working to make things better.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: grandmakdw

Exactly. Who cares? No one. That is how life works. # happens, then you deal with it.

Who cares?
They got insurance?

How about the senior citizens who were burned out of their 60 units during the riots, they lived in subsidized housing, bet none of them could afford insurance. But hey stuff happens, they just have to deal with it according to you.

How about the community senior center that was burned down? Hey, stuff happens, people just have to deal with it.

How about the private small businesses where the owners were barely scraping by and their businesses were burned out. Well, that's how life works, stuff happens, they just have to deal with it.

No biggie according to you. Just let them get out their steam by destroying whatever they want.
Hope a riot happens in front of your house, you'd let them in to burn and destroy and let steam off, wouldn't you and say hey, stuff happens, my insurance will take care of it.

As an ETA to that original post I made on page 1.

I was wrong about my statement

Seems like that just let to more violence and property damage as opposed to containing it.

So..there's that.

~Tenth

a reply to: tothetenthpower

Out of all the view points and bickering I have seen among the many post, THIS ONE deserves a star! It takes a special person to look at the big picture and change their stance.

It doesn't mean you don't see where they are coming from, just that you see where they took the wrong direction when faced with the fork in the road.

originally posted by: grandmakdw

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: grandmakdw

Exactly. Who cares? No one. That is how life works. # happens, then you deal with it.

Who cares?

How about the people who live in the neighborhood where the worst of the rioting is happening right now, this very moment. They are looking out their windows at the rioting in the streets below and at their vehicles parked on the street and watching the looting and burning - yes burning - I'm seeing it live on TV right now.

So you want to tell those people watching their neighborhood burn, # happens, deal with it? How heartless can one person be?

I just saw them destroy cars of people who live in the neighborhood,
I just saw them steal a van that belongs to people who live in the neighborhood,
Do you say to these people, tough, stuff happens, deal with it?
What would you say if it was your neighborhood burning, your car burning, your car being destroyed?
Just think, do you really want to be a heartless .......

Well if you are so touched by their plight, get out your checkbook and start mailing checks. Otherwise get off your soap box.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: grandmakdw

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: grandmakdw

Exactly. Who cares? No one. That is how life works. # happens, then you deal with it.

Who cares?

How about the people who live in the neighborhood where the worst of the rioting is happening right now, this very moment. They are looking out their windows at the rioting in the streets below and at their vehicles parked on the street and watching the looting and burning - yes burning - I'm seeing it live on TV right now.

So you want to tell those people watching their neighborhood burn, # happens, deal with it? How heartless can one person be?

I just saw them destroy cars of people who live in the neighborhood,
I just saw them steal a van that belongs to people who live in the neighborhood,
Do you say to these people, tough, stuff happens, deal with it?
What would you say if it was your neighborhood burning, your car burning, your car being destroyed?
Just think, do you really want to be a heartless .......

Well if you are so touched by their plight, get out your checkbook and start mailing checks. Otherwise get off your soap box.

Just pointing out the heartlessness of your statement.

Of course, your attitude is unfortunately that of most of the rioters.
Burn the city, smash people's cars, destroy small business where the owners barely make ends meet, burn poor old people out of their homes, so what, stuff happens, they can deal with it, right?

Your soap box is not one I want to be on for sure.

a reply to: grandmakdw

No. It's just my standard way of answering posts, without emotion. If my attitude was the same as the rioters, I'd be out there rioting.

My point is that you are sitting here whining about what they are going to do, yet aren't reaching into your own accounts to help them. I'm just telling it how it is. I'M not going to help them. I certainly wouldn't want to be in their situation, but I have my own problems to deal with. The world is unfair and # happens. That is the way things work. I'd like for them to recover from this situation, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. And that's just the truth of the matter. Did you have trouble sleeping last night because of all these people having their stores, homes, and cars destroyed?

PS. Stop tying emotions to my posts. Most of my posts are written without emotion and purely through an analytical eye. I'm not heartless.

The Mayor is on a news conference right now.

Lots of deflections and tangents.

In the meantime, the Army is in the streets helping police.

All must be well?

....;waiting for the excuses next.

I am proud of people in America, You live in even worst $$it than we in Europe. But riots after one man death? These people are bored because they dont have a job. But 'they at top' saw only the le bout de son nez "edge of their noses".

The Mayor had some special words for special people too.

Ba ltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Thanks ISIS Advocates (The Nation of Islam) For their Support…

a reply to: xuenchen

Is there any live stream from Baltimore streets?

Source: Baltimore mayor ordered police to stand down

Despite a firm denial by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a senior law enforcement source charges that she gave an order for police to stand down as riots broke out Monday night, raising more questions about whether some of the violence and looting could have been prevented.

The source, who is involved in the enforcement efforts, confirmed to Fox News there was a direct order from the mayor to her police chief Monday night, effectively tying the hands of officers as they were pelted with rocks and bottles.

Asked directly if the mayor was the one who gave that order, the source said: "You are God damn right it was."

The claim follows criticism of the mayor for, over the weekend, saying they were giving space to those who "wished to destroy."

By Tuesday night, despite the chaos a day earlier, Baltimore police along with the National Guard and other law enforcement contingents seemed to be restoring order in the city, which was under a curfew overnight.

More on this...

Baltimore mayor denies police were ordered to stand down
Rawlings-Blake has defended her handling of the unrest, which grew out of protests over the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody.

The mayor, in an interview with Fox News' Bill Hemmer on Tuesday, denied any order was issued to hold back on Monday.

"You have to understand, it is not holding back. It is responding appropriately," she said, saying there was no stand-down directive.

She said her critics have a right to their opinion.

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, just days into the job, addressed the unrest on Wednesday. She offered her "deepest condolences" to the Gray family, but said the "senseless acts of violence" are a "grave danger to the community" and "counterproductive." She reiterated that the FBI and DOJ civil rights unit are investigating, and ready to offer assistance.

She said she's been in direct contact with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and others.

On Monday, Hogan suggested the mayor waited too long to request a state of emergency.

That followed criticism over her remarks over the weekend, when she said it's important to give protesters the opportunity to exercise their right to free speech.

She seemed to take that notion a step further: "It's a very delicate balancing act, because, while we tried to make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well."

As her "destroy" remarks faced a buzzsaw of criticism amid the riots Monday, the mayor initially tried to deny she said them.

"I never said nor would I ever say that we are giving people space to destroy our city, so my words should not be twisted," the mayor said Monday.

In a press conference, she accused critics of a "blatant mischaracterization."

But her office eventually released a written statement acknowledging she said those words -- while attempting to explain them.

Howard Libit, director of strategic planning and policy, said: "What she is saying within this statement was that there was an effort to give the peaceful demonstrators room to conduct their peaceful protests on Saturday. Unfortunately, as a result of providing the peaceful demonstrators with the space to share their message, that also meant that those seeking to incite violence also had the space to operate. ...

"The mayor is not saying that she asked police to give space to people who sought to create violence. Any suggestion otherwise would be a misinterpretation of her statement."

www.foxnews.com...