IT'S OVER.
After a little bit of snooping, people in a position to know are claiming that the kites are saying the riots are over. At least for now. From several usually reliable sources, the start of the all the trouble was a San Fer shot caller currently in High Power waiting for his case to go to trial. It was all a pure power move to check the blacks, flex his muscle and keep tight control on the flow of dope and money into County. This was a total County thing and had little to do with homies in the state system. Which is not to say that it has nothing to do with them. Somebody, probably more than one somebody in State, is backing this shot caller's play. The move would have been a hollow threat if somebody in the State system hadn't promised to check whoever got put on the lista once they hit the state system. The message to resisters and blacks was loud and clear. Don't mess with M or you get ass-kicked and stomped.

Think of it as a strategic move to consolidate business in County into one large monopoly. Black free lancers and independents will now either have to think twice about doing business at all or just knuckle under and buy from the one source that either controls all the supply or taxes it.

I hate to drag politics into all this, but sometimes it needs pointing out. Some of the ugliest fallout of the riots came from politicians and activists. Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Najee Ali went on TV at the height of the violence and essentially accused Tony V. of being either racist or race biased. Earl said something to the effect that if Hispanic inmates were getting beaten, Tony V. would be up in arms and shouting for peace. But because the victims, were black, Tony kept quiet. This sort of comment underscores the absurdity of "ethnic" leaders and race politics. Tony V. may be a lot of things, but he ain't racist. The notion that black gangsters will obey you because you're black, or that Hispanics gangsters will somehow snap to attention because the Hispanic mayor yells at them is farcical. Maybe it hasn't dawned on Earl Ofari that some problems are beyond the power of politicians and well-intended activists to fix. Which brings us to the next item.

That $26 million a year LA pays for gang intervention and diversion is going down a big drain. All that money has apparently not been able to get one little homie to leave the life and go straight. City Councilman Tony Cardenas was reported in the Daily News saying, "We've been wasting a lot of money in this city. Because we have a lot of gang intervention and prevention programs to deal with these people and for us not to have success with one is just beyond me." Read about in the Daily News, 2/18/2006. It's a sad commentary when a guy on the city payroll comes to a realization that's been common knowledge for years to every 16-year-old with a spray can. Dude, have you checked your programs? Do you know who's running them?