how big is big?

I was intimately involved in responding to the World Trade Organization (WTO) riots in Seattle back in 1999. There was one week where I slept on the floor of one of the offices at the Seattle Emergency Operations Center. It was a long, long week. I remember having a meeting at 2AM one morning reference logistic support for the law enforcement officers responding on the streets.

During that week I got a call from my sister in Florida. She said it looks like the entire City of Seattle is consumed by the rioting—based on images she had seen on television.

In reality, the riots in the street were confined to the central business district and areas around the convention center where the WTO meeting was happening. It was the last time I smelled tear gas.

As we look at what is going on in Los Angeles, if you know someone in LA, call them and ask “How big are these riots?” They should confirm to you that is a very, very small area of the city that is experiencing this turmoil. 

I keep telling my wife that if you want to deport immigrants, they need to go to every meat packing plant in the country, every chicken/egg farm, every dairy farm in Wisconsin and they will find illegal immigrants working there. Easy pickings! No need to be in LA.