The U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach is around the corner! What could possibly go wrong?
The world has really taken a turn for the worse. Black men getting gunned down on U.S. streets by police. Police getting gunned down in Dallas by a black man. Tunisians driving over French revelers in Nice. Baghdad truck bombs. Brussels, Paris, San Berdoo etc.
It’s almost enough to make a man or woman try to avoid unruly crowds but, really, where is the fun in that? If we fail to get together, fail to listen to throbbing electronica, fail to write perverse things on our bodies then the terrorists win!
And that’s right, it’s almost time for the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California!
The randy event has been marked by riots etc. in its glorious past. This year, though, it stands to reason that Huntington Beach locals and police officers are on extra edge. Police Chief Robert Handy addressed the issues in a town hall meeting. Let’s read about it in the Los Angeles Times!
“Drinking, parking, traffic and urination are our biggest problems [during the US Open],” Handy said to the crowd. “We are going to be very visible and very active in enforcing, starting on Day One.”
There will also be additional dumpsters around downtown and more street cleaners deployed in the mornings, he said.
Handy also said residents and visitors should expect a “posture change” among police officers who may be more on guard, given the recent fatal shooting of five Dallas police officers.
“It’s probably been the most difficult time in my career for officers to be police officers,” he said. “Our officers will probably be a little more on edge than they have been in the past. Anything we can do as management to mitigate some of that, we’ll do. .. Thankfully, we haven’t had an incident like that in California, but you never know.”
Handy also addressed terror threats at highly populated locations and events, but said police always plan tactics around big events in Huntington Beach, particularly on the Fourth of July and during the US Open.
If I was Police Chief Robert Handy I would wake up each day with absolute dread in my heart. Like, so much dread that it might turn into a “Well…fuck it” attitude. Doesn’t it sound like he has a “Well…fuck it” attitude?
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I can remember my son and I driving our camper down from NorCal, parking about a block from the beach, using the bathroom at a gas station and surfing with the pros in the early hours before the first heat. Then there were parking meters, and we had to park farther away, but still a full-on blast. Then “No Parking” signs went up and this outing became nearly impossible. Now, we have a webcast to watch at home, which may be for the best, with risk of mob violence and bomb threats. Modern times.
I always have such high hopes for this event
I’ve found out after an 8 ball and a xanax that yelling ” burn this motherfucker down! ” doesn’t go well at a surf contest after a 5th place wqs result ( don’t ask me how i got that far),or costco.
Yeah, cause Venezuela is the THE place to be right now.
DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM AND SOCIALISM ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS, you like when people come to put out your meth lab fire? That’s democratic socialism at work.
Democratic Socialism is just a prettier wrapper for Socialism. It’s like the “creme” filling in Twinkies…they want you to think it has real cream in it but it’s just a bunch of artificial ingredients. And I LOVE Twinkies.
And there’s the reason we’re fucked. Tell that to teddy Roosevelt.
close the 91 at Yorba Linda, problem solved
Think they should just declare Martial Law like in Turkey – imagine the shit ( and urine) going to go down when Paul Speaker doesn’t get enough roses in his limos or on his hotel bed sheets while he is at the event
Ummm, so apparently San Bernardino isn’t in the same California as Huntington Beach for this gentleman?
(909) is its own deal, sorry (951)
You’re right. It’s basically a cultural division best understood as a juxtaposition of the Vans Park and pro shop or backyard pools in foreclosed homes.
this sleepy beach hamlet? I’ve always found it to be a bastion of tolerance, diversity, acceptance & empathy. oh and truck nuts
Total shitshow. No one comes to this thing to watch surfing. And why would they when it turns the worlds best into groveling beggars. Have the waves ever been good for this farce?
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Pumping! Thanks Bitter. But its still a closeout. Did you ever catch any of the Katin Pro-Am’s?
shiiit negro, i remember Curren spraying peeps on the pier on Northside. saw Schmoo win one.
Watched Dorian Paskowitz try to fight the judges when his son lost. That was a weird scene. Curren was mind blowing back then. His backhand off the lip to round house rebound was seamless. Drawing such modern lines as a teenager, seemed like he was from fucking Mars.
think about how much foam his skinny ass was pushing around then too
The US Open embodies all of the fail of pro surfing events; namely, unruly crowds of ugly people, a trashy city, and shitty waves. Although I live a half hour’s drive south, I avoid that lame contest like a contagious disease.
must be nice, Laguna Art
What? I don’t reside in Laguna.
how fast do you drive then? CDM? kinda splitting hairs there.
90-100mph, unless I’m in a hurry.
Handy be like: “our officers will probably be a little bit more on edge than in the past.” Translation: “you’all mutha f-ers betta behave bc we ain’t fucking around this year.”
I love pig logic. Cops killed unarmed humans and we’re still supposed to respect and trust their fellow officers. Some whackjob mows down a few cops and the rest live in fear of every person on the planet.
Maybe deploying a bunch of frightened people with body armor and weapons to do crowd control ain’t a great idea?
Wow, that’s pretty fucked up. Perhaps you should invite a cop to be on your Podcast. Dialogue is important these days, not off-the-cuff remarks like that given above.
What’s more American than raging against the system whilst living comfortably within it?
Apple Pie
Those of us who aren’t struggling have the greatest duty to complain.
what would you do, protest and get shot?
doing this with a budweiser in hand
There are too many guns and assholes in the mainland. Here’s an article that describes/shows Fresno police shooting a man. If this exact situation happened in Hawaii, the police wouldn’t have shot, and I know this because I know of many situations where ice heads attack Hawaii police, and act all nuts, and even reach for guns; but the police don’t shoot. They only shoot when shot at; kinda like the military – they only use deadly force when it is threatened or used against them. Just a few days ago, in Hilo, an ice head attacked the police, and tried to get an officers gun; they didn’t shoot him. One of the commenters on the article said, something like, “that guy is lucky Hawaii cops would rather scrap than shoot.” In my opinion, the officers in the video below could have handled the situation differently. In any event, police officers are supposed to be peace officers, and they should only be called in action when completely necessary, i.e., don’t pull people over because they look “Arab” (happened to me in Vegas), don’t stop Latinos just bc they don’t use their turn signals, and stop fucking w black people. There needs to be way more women police.
http://mobile.reuters.com/a…
i think everyone would rather scrap than pull guns out just in life in general. the police are trigger happy uneducated idiots you went to high school with and now with more cops pulling the trigger, it makes other cops think its ok to pull guns out on unarmed civilians…only in fuckin america
Too many idiots with guns. England has a bunch of idiots too . . . but they don’t have guns.
I’ll say I totally agree with Rory here…the Dallas thing obviously inexcusable. Police brutality has spun utterly out of control though. Like way beyond.
And also…I doubt Rory’s comment is off the cuff. I don’t know what his experience has been but I’ve been harassed by the damn police so much that’s it has drained most of my sympathy. I can’t even imagine how black/Mexican/etc feel….
who hasn’t been harassed by cops in multiple occasions in their lives? i have no sympathy for police.
I think the whole situation is fucked up. In the end, as a result of the police shootings in Baton Rouge and Minnesota, children lost their fathers. As a result of the police shootings in Dallas, children lost their fathers. Both results are tragic, none being less so than the other.
Except Dallas is an excuse for our militarized police force to act jumpy and frightened.
Police are allowed to kill people when they’re frightened. Putting already frightened police on the streets is a recipe for disaster.
If an Orange Count cop believes what happened in Dallas has ramifications at the US Open he or she should be put on leave and given counseling. Not armored and armed and put on crowd control.
Agreed, but you’re not giving hordes of disgruntled, jumpy brothers guns and a license to do whatever they want to the general public under the guise of the rule of law.
how about the 990 lives who were taken from police last year? how do their families feel? why do cops get all the sympathy
“by” police, but good point. maybe they didn’t have any children, in which case, no big deal
grammar gets lost sometimes when you have furious thoughts raging through your brain.
Ding, ding, ding!
So with more cops on edge than ever..AKA tazing, beat downs, and civilians being shot are more likely than ever. How does the drunk kid kicking a port-a-potty oppose any real threat?
I can go on for days about police; this topic gets me going, but, instead, I’ll thank you for the Wassel and Laserwolf podcasts; really cool. Those were the first podcasts I had ever listened to, and I’m stoked on it; it saves the eyes and I can multitask.
Sorry, back to cops; here’s three interesting articles I read recently about policing; maybe the policy makers/system administrators should meet with experts and try to change policing in America? Might be a good idea.
http://m.motherjones.com/po…
http://kuow.org/post/ive-be…
http://www.vox.com/2015/5/2…
Thanks. I’m super amped people have been enjoying them. Looking forward to getting better with more experience.