Even in the crazy state of California, I thought I'd seen it all. A northern mayor who performs same-sex marriages in direct defiance of California law, voters who diarm themselveswhile carfully leaving everyone around them armed, people who protest the execution of a multiple murderer who laughed as he blew away an entire family, a southern mayor who announced to a large crowd, "We clean your toilets!" and implied that he himself was an illegal alien.

But I can't offhand recall an event quite as bizarre as this one seems to be. The Mayor of L.A., Antonio Villareconquista, apparently doesn't like the stories he's heard of the way some of his own employees behaved during the illegal-alien rallies a few weeks ago. Does he wait for the results of the many investigations going on? Does he let his employees go as public as he is, to air their side of what happened?

No.

He joins a street march set up to protest the incident. And he marches in support of his employees, the LA police, naturally, right? What else can he do? After all, they put their life on the line to support and defend the law and his city, every day. As Mayor, ultimately the buck stops with him, right? If his employees did step over the line, then it is of course the mayor's duty to wait till all the evidence is in and the myriad investigations are completed, and then he may have to perform the sad task of demoting or even firing a few police officers.

Except... he didn't join to support his own side. HE'S MARCHING WITH THE ILLEGAL-ALIEN SUPPORTERS, to show solidarity with them!!! Little evidence is in, no investigations are anywhere near complete. But Mayor Villareconquista has already decided what his reaction will be.

I thought I'd seen everything, but this tops them all. It's sort of like a bank president whose bank gets robbed. His guards rough up a couple of the crooks as they flee. Some bystanders say the guards were too rough on the crooks. And next thing you know, the guards, who put their life on the line defending the bank, see the bank president marching in circles outside with a group defending the crooks, who are insisting the GUARDS be prosecuted!

Why do I get the feeling that Mayor Villareconquista is going to start having a hard time hiring police officers, if he pulls shit like this on them?

It also gives rise to a fleeting thought. What if the march gets out of hand like the marches did a few weeks ago, and the cops wind up arresting the Mayor, among others, and throwing him in the clink? Can he order himself released, and/or pardoned?

You can't make this stuff up, folks.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Protesters Begin March In Response To Police Actions - News Story - KNBC | Los Angeles

Mayor, Speaker To Join Rally Protesting LAPD Behavior
Police Chief Also Plans To Attend; Deputy Chief To Retire

POSTED: 6:38 am PDT May 17, 2007
UPDATED: 4:21 pm PDT May 17, 2007

LOS ANGELES -- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez are among those expected to join immigrant-rights activists Thursday for a march and rally to denounce the actions of Los Angeles riot police at a May Day rally at MacArthur Park.

The event will begin with a town hall-style meeting at 5:30 p.m. Immanuel Presbyterian Church, followed by a 10-block procession to MacArthur Park, where organizers will hold a candlelight vigil and a series of performances. The march will start at 6 p.m.

The LAPD issued a citywide tactical alert at 3:30 p.m. Officer Jason Lee said the alert was issued to ensure the procession and rally have "a peaceful ending."

Demonstrators, journalists and police officers were injured at the end of an immigration march in MacArthur Park May 1, when police tried to disperse some people who moved off the sidewalk into Alvarado Street.

Some demonstrators responded by throwing plastic bottles and rocks at officers, according to police. Officers clad in riot gear used batons and fired 146 rounds of foam-rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

A preliminary version of the LAPD's after-action report will be heard by the full City Council on May 30. In a separate investigation, the department is checking into complaints filed by demonstrators and journalists injured during the fracas.

A third LAPD investigation is aimed at searching for those who allegedly started the confrontation by throwing rocks and plastic bottles at officers.

Separately, the Police Commission is investigating the matter, while the FBI launched a preliminary probe to determine whether the LAPD committed civil rights violations.

__________________
The Constitution isn't perfect, but it's better than the system we're using now.

You're right, mayors shouldn't have first amendment rights.

__________________
"Jesus said: I have cast fire upon the world, and behold I guard it until it is ablaze."
Gospel of Thomas

Oh, to be a class action type lawyer in LA today. Get a dozen clients and bring suit against the city and the mayor for a 100 million or so. And the cherry on the cake of my argument is the mayor demonstrating with and for my clients.

__________________
"You don't have to practice being miserable. Everything else we're gonna work on." - A wise Platoon Sgt.

He's protesting the police brutality handling of the incident at MacArthur Park. Peaceful demonstrators who posed no one any threat, unarmed immigrants - men and women with their children in strollers and in their arms were attacked with rubber, foam and beanbag bullets, batons, and tear gas.

Have you seen the news coverage? It was on every LA TV station and there are a million clips of the police brutality caught on tape floating on YouTube. Mayor Villaraigosa should do the right thing - fire them and bring criminal charges against them.

The LAPD Chief of Police William Bratton has launched three investigations into the incident.

Bratton said it was the "worst incident of this type I have ever encountered in 37 years in law enforcement.’” The police said 15 civilians were hurt.

The NY Times reported, “Mr. Bratton said 240 non-lethal projectiles [rubber bullets] were fired by the police into the crowd.”

According to the LA Times - “Bratton said the 60 or so members of the Metropolitan Division’s Platoon B have been ‘stood down’ and won’t return to active street duties until they have undergone retraining that meets his level of comfort. ‘Some of them in all likelihood won’t be returning to the Metropolitan Division as a result of our findings,’ he said. Any disciplinary action won’t come until the LAPD issues a May 30 report to the City Council. ‘Some of this will be career-impacting,’ Bratton added. The chief made it clear that incident commanders would be just as accountable.”

I oppose the goals of the rally and recognize there undoubtedly were provocateurs who threw rocks and bottles at the police. I doubt that the police were in such danger that they feared for their lives, and they apparently did not try to apprehend those engaged in violence before resorting to their guns.

Ultimately, the police arrested nine people for offenses including assault and rock throwing. Hopefully, those convicted will pay an appropriate penalty, including jail time, and not be discharged with merely a lecture.

But the greater threat to our liberty is police who engaged in a police riot, described by their police chief as the “worst incident of this type.” They should all be suspended from the force immediately and those who gave the orders to lock, load and fire should be prosecuted. Society cannot tolerate lawbreakers, especially among those charged with enforcing the law.

You should be glad that we have people like the LA Mayor and Chief of Police who recognize this sort of brutality is wrong and un-American. This is not Tiananmen Square or Jallianvala Bagh (look them up).

Kudos to Police Chief Bratton and Mayor Villaraigosa for doing the right thing.

__________________
"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
~Thomas Jefferson

"There is Still No Such Thing As a Fair Tax"

Those "peaceful demonstrators" pelted the police with rocks and bottles for HALF AN HOUR, injuring several officers, and the police took it and did not respond. When it kept happening beyond that time, they finally decided enough was enough.

Michelle Malkin: The truth about MacArthur Park

It was very clear who was being peaceful. And it wasn't the demonstrators.

__________________
The Constitution isn't perfect, but it's better than the system we're using now.

LOL! You didn't read any of what I wrote did you? The few who threw rocks and bottles are in jail as they deserve to be - I want the police to be held to the same standard. You haven't seen any of the brutality shown on all of our local LA channels have you?

As I mentioned....even Bratton doesn't condone the actions of the Police in this incident.

By the way - the police are not employees of the Mayor. They are paid by my taxes, an LA resident - so they work for me. They are my employees. I want them fired and prosecuted. And the nice thing is Police chief Bratton is listening to me.....

__________________
"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
~Thomas Jefferson

"There is Still No Such Thing As a Fair Tax"

The title of your thread is entirely incorrect and misleading...as well as your comment above. The Mayor of the City of Los Angeles is not in any way the boss of the LAPD...that role is served by the Los Angeles Police Commission and the Commission does not report to the Mayor. Certainly the mayor appoints Commissioners when their five year terms expire, but they are absolutely in no way bound to carry out the Mayor's wishes. Come on, if you're going to argue something, at least get the basic facts straight.

I suppose you could argue that the LAPD is employed by the Mayor, being one of the 3+ million residents of the City of Los Angeles. But then the idea that any resident that protests an action taken by the LAPD is somehow a traitor would be ridiculous, wouldn't it?