Nothing helps clarify the decision about when to return to a virus-ridden society like nationwide riots actively trying to burn that society to the ground.
The provocation of said riots, at least in theory, was the sad and almost certainly criminal death of George Floyd, an African-American who died after having a policeman kneel on his neck for an unconscionable amount of time. There was video of the incident, and all who saw it - of any race or political disposition - agreed "this is wrong. The officers involved need to face legal consequences."
Outrage and protest from the Black community and sympathetic persons of all races was and is completely understandable. Peaceful protests are absolutely appropriate. Our nation has real racial problems that run deep and need solving, though any longterm solutions are going to be difficult, multi-tiered, and involve hard questions for everyone involved.
But that's not what these riots are about. They are about anarchy, and the most violent offenders couldn't care less about George Floyd. Many are politically motivated antifa-style terrorists, emboldened by previous spasms of destruction that not only went unchecked and unpunished but were actively praised by left-leaning media. There are opportunists who want to loot whatever businesses the crowd chooses to pillage, stripping shelves like a plague of locusts. And there are those who are simply feral, getting a drug-like high from senseless violence and carnage.
All of that is bad enough. But where are the leaders - local, state, and federal - who are willing to take a stand against all of this? Police are told to stand down, government officials become apologists ("We think white supremacists have infiltrated the mobs"), and the many existing crowd-dispersal technologies go unused.
It is no stretch at all to imagine that there are many in power who want to see these riots continue if only to make Donald Trump look bad in the run-up to the election: if he doesn't react strongly, he'll be tarred for not protecting lives and property. If he does react strongly, he'll be pilloried as a racist.
We've seen all of this before, far too many times. What we haven't seen, and what we must see, is order restored to our streets by immediate and appropriate use of force (including, as a final resort, deadly force), and severe legal consequences for the agitators and anarchists who are setting flames not just to buildings, but to our nation's soul.
36 comments:
May as well repeat what I said on Facebook:
"I will now settle for nothing less than the summary execution of rioters, looters, arsonists and vandals on the spot. This cannot, and WILL NOT stand. I don't give a shit about causes, grievances or how long someone's been oppressed or by whom. This shit stops NOW."
it's 1 am and the police chopper is still working, and there are still sirens...at least the flashbangs have stopped. i can go to sleep eventually.
The protestors ended and they all went downtown and became rioters; 'cept tonight the police went medieval on them and herded the crowd away from the mostly boarded-up Denver downtown area. it sounded like a war movie outside my window.
i live almost downtown, just blocks from the rioting snowflakes.
yesterday all the damage and injuries really pissed off the popo and the governor...tonight was never out of control.
The crowd seems to have a neverending supply of firecrackers...
From the brief clips I have seen on our local news, the rioters are overwhelmingly white, well-dressed and under 30 and as you've said Stilton why they are out there has nothing to do with justice , but for anarchy, destruction and cheap thrills. It is not about protest, its about insurrection.
President Trump said he will classify the over-indulged punks who call themselves Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. Ok, that I suppose will allow the federal government to bring its full force down on them, but like turning on the kitchen light at night, it only serves to scatter the cockroaches. And this will also serve to give the basket-weaving college major Antifa's creds (they now we're really bad-assed!)
Last I wonder if it is too far-fetched to lay this all at the feet of the vile, most unqualified, most, unfit and most unworthy POTUS candidate since Henry Wallace and others who started and continue to facilitate the "resistance" in its many forms.
Report from Nebraska: Lincoln and Omaha were under siege Friday and Saturday nights; an individual was shot and killed by a bar owner in Omaha's Old Market area Saturday night. So far, the shooter hasn't been charged yet. I suppose they're trying to figure out what led up to it.
Both cities had 8 p.m. curfews Sunday, with plenty of daylight left to sort things out. But the idiots in Lincoln decided to let protests continue Sunday night as long as they remained peaceful. They didn't once darkness fell. The "protesters" at the County-City Building were chanting the long debunked "Hands up, don't shoot" mantra, which didn't increase my regard for them. One of the organizers (a high-school kid) vowed to keep this up until all four cops at the Floyd incident are convicted of 1st-degree murder. See below why they will never happen.
Omaha was a little quieter. My brother lives right in the Old Market. His wife and he were out Sunday a.m. helping with a massive volunteer clean up. I saw him on a TV news video. Didn't look like he'd gotten much sleep.
I personally live a couple hundred miles from these two cities, in a very rural place. So nothing going on here.
In RE: third-degree murder, with which the cop has been charged. Minnesota is one of only three states that define that form of homicide. As I understand it, 1st-degree is premeditated, 2nd-degree is deliberate killing without premeditation (crime of passion, etc.), while third degree doesn't require intent to kill, but requires the killer to be wrong number. From Wikipedia:
Minnesota law originally defined third-degree murder solely as depraved-heart murder ("without intent to effect the death of any person, caus[ing] the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life").
They're going to have a tough time proving intent to kill in this case, and no chance of showing premeditation, especially as the knee-on-the-neck thing is a recommended tactic in Minnesota, in opposition to everywhere else in the US. As to the other cops present, they haven't been charged to my knowledge, and I'm not sure what they could be charged with. So the Lincoln organizer kid is going to have to protest every night for the rest of his life.
Declaring Antifa a terrorist organization may help in the longer run. I gather this allows the feds to run a RICO on anybody involved and seize their money and property. I'd love to see Soros wake up some morning with only the clothes on his back.
All this grief because of one really bad cop, in a city that's been a Democratic outhouse receptacle for decades, with a commie major, a commie DA, in a state with a commie governor.
The freaking birds are starting to sing, so I need to call it a night.
DISCLAIMER: I am absolutely not absolving the rioters here.
You cannot lock an entire country up while continually screeching about how we’re all going to die if we step outside our homes for some fresh air, panic young children about murdering grandma if they visit, and run daily escalating death crawls on TV and not expect people to explode when a critical incident happens. Not to mention the fact that “the authorities” actively support these terrorists. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, protestors ask we liberate HK while carrying American flags. It is sad to note we are not worthy of Hong Kong’s respect.
This has nothing to do with George Floyd, this is all about the contempt the Left has for our country and their determination to destroy us.
Well......here in Indianapolis, all was (thankfully) quiet after our governor stood up the National Guard and declared a curfew from 8 last night til 6 this morning. Unfortunately, the rioters and looters had a field day the two previous nights. Tragically, the Democratic mayor was reluctant to do much of anything those first two nights, resulting in a considerable amount of damage to our fair city. I’m seriously considering moving to Wyoming. Don’t hear much of anything coming out of there.
I deliberately made time to see how David Muir & ABC nightly news reported Sunday 31 May 2020 last night. I didn't "time" the broadcast in great detail down to the second; they move too fast for that; I got the main time-marking minutes. But can also find where most 30 minute network programs have no more than 22 minutes of "program content, some less. Here is the approximate tally for 5:30 to 6:00 last night without breaking out the teasers and commercials; just watching running time; and also noticed the bad news was front-loaded with fewer commercial breaks.
FIRST 16 minutes (No kidding: 5:30 thru 5:46) Black lives matter riots, reported with sense of urgency: Multi-location videos; Lot of Protester face time on camera; Multiple national locations. This "reporting" was done in three basic segments: (1) Several city sites; Then (2) a cynical criticism of Trump, (3) then exclusively Minneapolis.
THEN 3 minutes to cover Coronavirus and how it's making a comeback; & is somehow related to the riots. Then how Coronavirus is fully out of control and devastating Brazil.
Even with a "push out" befor commericial: Then LESS THAN 1 MINUTE to cover successful launch and astronauttransfer to ISS by NASA/SPACEX - with what seemed to me to be less enthusiasm & no optimism. Just the news, folks.
Then another Less than 1 minute on dying Tropical Storm Amanda in Central America; OH! but it may redevelop and come back to get us.
Then the "puppy piece" for Closing, but this time time there was no puppy. It was a heartwarming closer about good cops at SOME locations. No drama; just solemn network appreciation.
So my tally is approximately: 8 minutes or more of commercials, ~3 minutes of "back page" news like NASA & all American major success and the only "good news" story which really, they could hardly ignore even if they wanted to; but up-top and long running: 19 minutes of race riots, lootings, destruction, chaos, accusations, blame, anti-Trumpness, and more threats.
THIS "TYPICAL" NETWORK BIAS AND PROPAGANDA IS A BIG PART TO OUR NATIONAL PROBLEM. I hope to see something done about it. It's startling, absolutely shocking, to me to realize many people do not notice this bias and control
I don't know if anyone else has realized that it is possible to track the rioters using the traffic features on the various mapping apps.
One can only speculate about the pattern of the attacks. ANTIFA may claim to oppose fascists & Black Lives Matter claim to oppose racism but the attacks appear to be focused on mixed and minority neighborhoods & businesses much like the Klan did in their heyday. Middle & upper class white neighborhoods appear largely unaffected. If these people are who they say they are wouldn't these be the expected targets.
We've been moving away from "civilization" since 1975. It's even more uncivil than it was then. This time I think I've moved far enough away that "progress" i.e. urban sprawl, won't get to us in my lifetime. If anarchist rioters think they will have it easier in the country they will get a rude reception. As Fred noted, we have guns, we know how to use them and we will. I have never understood why people like to live close to the noise, congestion and crowded streets of urban life. But thankfully they do so I can live away from it in peace. If they try to force their tantrums upon me, I will NOT react peacefully nor with courtesy.
Blue state politicians think that they can milk more cash from the Federal tit by letting these thugs burn down their cities and crying "emergency". If they don't protect what they have then they can replace it with their own money. I haven't noticed any republican run cities getting burned. Antifa is clever enough to know where they can get away with it. There is no such thing as a "civil" war. I don't think they are clever enough to understand what they will get if they persist.
reluctant.
Interesting word choice.
It seems the bigger the good news; the bigger the bad news to cancel it out. We KNOW how much effort, planning skill, etc. good news requires. Bad news just seems to require funding, organization & media support. No integrity, skill or dedication.
It does not seem like this crap should be so difficult to stop. Wake up; Stop the funding; Stop the organization; and Stop the violence. Hard stops, all of them, with extreme prejudice. Make examples. Change the law if necessary to restore peace.
This insanity has gone on far too long. Curfews mean nothing if they are not enforced. They are useless if you allow the rioters time to gather in the streets before you tell them they have to go home.
Hint for politicians: you're doing it wrong!
Curfews should begin no later than 4:00 p.m. local time and last until 6:00 a.m., and should be STRICTLY enforced. IMMEDIATELY stop the sale of ALL fireworks. Anyone found with flammable fluids, whether liquids or in aerosol cans, should be subject to immediate arrest. Use of force to accomplish those arrests should be authorized. Gatherings of more than six people should be declared illegal "for the public good."
Finally: citizens have the right to defend themselves, their families, their possessions from the lawless mobs. Anyone doing so should not face arrest or prosecution.
Over a month ago I predicted that the lockdowns and massive unemployment would lead to looting and rioting. I just did not know, until now, when or where they would start.
Here in Az., Governor Ducey has imposed a statewide 8 pm to 5 am curfew for one week. Where I am at in Northern Arizona, there has been no protests, peaceful or otherwise. Phoenix,being the hellhole that it is, has seen some rioting.
However,business owners up here in Flagstaff were just allowed to reopen and are way too well armed to put up with any crap.
In OKC on Saturday night, they got to 6 blocks from daughter's house. They broke into a Walgreen and looted it. I was locked and loaded and almost out the door when daughter and
s-i-l said to hold up. The mob was headed toward downtown and the police station. Last night, Sunday, the cops never let it get going. There was a peaceful group at the state capitol in the afternoon, when they started the same crap downtown like Saturday, the cops tear gassed and flash banged them. Then declared a curfew.
I liked to think we have a fairly well balanced bunch of tv reporters here in OK. However, they showed their truly liberal coats over this. A "journalist" is a propagandist.
I sometimes watch ABC Nightly News just to see how biased their reporting is. I think it was Friday or the first day after the Minneapolis riots, I noted that the reporters never once used the words "rioters", "looters", or "arsonists". They referred to the mobs of people burning and looting as "protesters" and "demonstrators".
Me? I used to say that it would be acceptable to shoot ANYONE wearing a ski mask when it's not winter as it's an obvious outward indication of ill intent. And then COVID made it the "new normal" to disguise oneself. So, thanks to the Chinese: there goes my target acquisition system....
Who would have thought that a backward, 7th century tribal norm - the "birqa" - would have had it right all along?
At this point in time I believe it is now time that the enforcement of order falls upon the shoulders of patriotic, legal American citizens. When government authorities refuse to uphold the law and even encourage violent "protest" someone has to have the backbone to stand up for our fellow citizens and see that..."order [is] restored to our streets by immediate and appropriate use of force (including, as a final resort, deadly force)."
John Stuart Mill said in 1867: “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”
A couple times in the last few years, some mouthy Antifa slime has claimed they'd be visiting our area. Each time, the county seat mayor, backed by city and county law enforcement, said, "Try it, scum. We and all our citizens will be ready and waiting for you."
Needless to say, the slime has never shown up in town. Besides, unless they fly into the nearest big city, they'll be way obvious driving across the state to even get here, and rural folks are nothing if not very, very observant. So they'd never actually arrive. Meanwhile, the few times they've tried anything in the big cities, local LEO shut them down hard.
Not even in Texas blue cities are they allowed to get away with destruction and violence. Tried it in San Antonio a couple nights ago. Did not go as they planned...got arrested. Meanwhile, next day, regular people turned out in force to clean up, repair and make right the damaged/destroyed businesses. Gov. Abbott declared a state-wide disaster, which gives him authority to make federal law enforcement Texas Peace Officers, greatly increasing the number of LEO available to enforce state and local laws. And a fair number of city folk are no longer interested in voting for people who condone this kind of crap...
OK I'm putting some effort into seeing good things: From a film in-progress on NASA channel: I reviewed the recent SpaceX TESS launch using the same Falcon 9; but it didn't get the attention of this last weekend's manned launch. TESS was the big payload bulb on top of Falcon 9 and is interesting. It's also already successful in a planned 2 year search for nearby similar planets in "near" space. That video repeated what we just saw about Falcon 9: it's first stage launch and return to Earth offshore landing in ~ 3-4 minutes total; as second stage continues into orbit in under 10 minutes. This is all very impressive. This may take me back to the old "air & space: fandom and I may need to get some more plastic models.
I also wonder about their sanity when activist "reporters" ask NASA & SPACEX about their comments on things like these riots. W.T.H. are THEY supposed to do? Stop what they ARE doing to voice their societal concerns? And are those folks actually assigned to go out and make fools of themselves? or it's just pack-mentality or what they learned in school?
@Rod: I'd say it's a pack mentality learned in school.
What these blinkered idiots fail to understand is, the future belongs to the people/country, who goes forth to explore our solar system and beyond.
I couldn't help but notice that the officers that were on the scene arresting George Floyd were not wearing masks. Meanwhile, the subsequent looting and destruction continues unabated. Could it be that violence is a more effective vaccine for the Wuhan Flu than vitamin D or hydroxychloroquine?
"But where are the leaders - local, state, and federal - who are willing to take a stand against all of this?"
Hiding, scared. (Look at the face of the mayor of Minneapolis who is in waaay over his head lecture people about masks as his city burns) Unfortunately, violence works. Violent mobs get their way. Gutless Progressive leaders are more sympathetic to the feral than they are to the real victims of the chaos. It's all part of the Progressive War on the Middle Class. The poor will do whatever they want with little consequence. The rich can insulate themselves in their protective bubbles. The rest of us are forced to deal with the collateral damage and live under the thumb of a state that is powerless to control the miscreants, but happy to further impose it's will against the remaining pliant citizenry.
For months now, local governments have been harassing people and threatening jail for being outside or less than 6 feet apart. If you are a middle class citizen, the threat is real to you; you will lose your freedom or at least a lot of money to the state defending yourself. But if you're a member of the underclass in any major city, the repercussions are comparatively minimal for throwing a brick through a window and running off with a TV. We all know that even if caught, most of these miscreants will be immediately released if even charged at all.
Actually, there's really little new going on here. Is this really any different than the Rodney King riots of 30 years ago? There were plenty of white people joining in on that mayhem as well. I think the only different today is a 24/7 media combined with social media full of cheap virtue signalling pouring fuel on it all.
Making Trump look bad: Not sure how that's going to sell. Most of the cities that have experienced police officer malfeasance and subsequent rioting have been run exclusively by Progressive Democrats for generations. So they can't exactly argue that electing more Progressive Democrats will improve anything. Local governments, not the federal government run police departments and hire and supervise police officers. Trump, much less any President has relatively little control over this. (Nor should they) Blaming this on Trump is largely calorie-free.
I'm currently listening to a political analyst pontificate as to how suburban women are Biden's big advantage over Trump. She's obviously blind to reality being so deep in her Progressive NYC bubble. The reality is that suburban women are watching what is going on in the urban centers and are scared that sooner or later it's going to spread to their safe middle class enclaves. Are they then going to look at a babbling sub-coherent Biden as a savior? Nope, just like 4 years ago they're going to virtue signal that they favor Biden, and then pull the lever for Trump. Remember, women tend to vote for "safety", and the Democrats currently are offering nothing other than chaos.
Trump needs to realize this and think harder before tweeting.
A view from (near) Minneapolis: the last non-Democrat mayor in Mpls. was elected in 1976 and served one 2-year term. He was an "independent" candidate, a former police chief. So in most ways, Minneapolis is getting EXACTLY what they've voted for - right in the neck.
The local Police have had an excessive force problem for decades. The current mayor was elected on a platform including police dept. reform. Problem is, the last several mayors have actually been "reforming" and nothing substantive has changed, other than the color. sex and/or sexual-orientation of the people in charge. I was raised as a Democrat and have been a confirmed former-Democrat since my college days in Madison, WI. What's gone on in Mpls is a big reason why. They're all about getting people riled up and can't be bothered to actually DO anything significant. Turns out the actual problems don't fit their election narratives. Change the narrative? Why? The narrative worked - they got elected. Seems that people used to seek office as a MEANS to effect action vs. our problems. When election is the GOAL itself, well , the results are on display in Minneapolis.
Since the Ds & Rs are BOTH parties of Tax & Spend, the key to election(and re-election) appears to now be "Tax. And tax more. Blame. And blame more. Elect. And elect. And elect....
I find it quite disheartening to wake up every morning wondering which page of The Book of Revelations we have entered today.
(pauses for a moment to drink some water) Sorry, the bile was literally rising in my throat and I had to wash it down.
A friend of mine recently defined my birthplace, Philadelphia, as "a nice city run by evil people". I think this can be applied to most of the places struck by riots and looting in the US and worldwide.
I kinda wish someone would organize a "Comité Pour Encourager Les Autres" who could take it upon themselves to stop rioters with lead and bad politicians, reporters, academics, celebrities et cetera with hemp.
Wishful thinking, I suppose... :/
If there is a silver lining in this deep dark cloud, it would be the end of harassment and arrests of people just trying to make a living and live their lives peacefully. Do these left-wing leaders really think the people are going to stand for their harassment and totalitarian ways, after watching them condone this despicable violence and try to blame it on anyone or anything besides their own malevolent actions? In some perverted way, this could facilitate the opening of our entire country.
Omaha update. They're not going to prosecute the bar owner, having determined it was a righteous self-defense shooting. He was being beaten by a gang when he fired. Probably will provoke a whole new round of bogus outrage.
To take a sad turn on an old phrase, "It's NOT funny because it's true".
@ Velveeta: I agree with you, but hope soros doesn't wake up at all.
These creeps are breaking the law and need to be taken down by whatever means.
“Protesters “ blocked parts of I-4 last night in Orlando. The Chief of Police said they could peacefully protest in front of (get this) the police station. The crowd got out of hand and “occupied” I-4. I thing The Mouse has a quiet word with Val Demmings’ (D) husband to shut the protest down. Whaddya know, out came the troops and tear gas.
I keep seeing reports about pallets of bricks magically appearing in cities. These bricks show up in areas where there is no construction going on, but there are plenty of people primed and ready to "protest". We all know they're not planning on "protesting", they're planning to riot and loot and someone is counting on that.
It's a well-known communist tactic to "protest" and then riot, in hopes that "the government" will over-react. The commies then rile "the people" to demand a change in government, which the commies are amazingly well-placed to provide. When "the people" realize their new government is just as bad as, if not worse than, their old government, the commies being firmly in charge will be harsher than the old government could ever have imagined being.
All these riots are planned out well beforehand; the commies are just waiting for something to light the spark.
I saw a comment from some black woman who claimed that if a white guy had died like George Floyd did, there would be a huge stink raised. I wonder what color the sky is in that woman's world. Had George Floyd been a white guy, nobody would have heard about it on the news because it wouldn't have been reported at all outside of the city in which it happened. And NOBODY would have rioted!!
@JustaJeepGuy: The only difference in those two cases is who would portray the victim in the eventual TV-movie, Denzel Washington or Matt Damon. The script would otherwise be identical...
Wouldn't it have been great if Asian Murder Hornets arriving in the US was the worst news story of 2020?
Thinking a bit overnight, the worthless punks who continue to stoke the fires in hopes of a general insurrection aren't really new.
While far less destructive, deluded, believe they have a dedicated, high speed line to The Truth individuals have popped up again and again in our history.
Off the top of my head, there was John Brown and Carrie Nation
What I find puzzling is that the worst violence and police abuse seems to occur in Democratically controlled states and cities. In the same states and cities where the populace continue to vote for liberal politicians that blatantly lie to them about how they will make changes in the use of police force, improve racial tensions, clean up the ghettos, fix voter disenfranchisement (which means letting anyone that is breathing, and in some cases not) vote early and often.
The African American and Latina communities have for the most part been voting for Democrats for the past 40-50 years and nothing has changed for them in large. Why do these groups continue to vote Democrat and why do the Republicans not make hay with this?
@FlyBoy,
I was born and raised in Wyoming. This shit would never happen there for more than about a half hour before being met with "Cowboy Justice."
@Fred Ciampi,
Ya notice in these big cities, looters smash windows and take stuff unabated. This would also not happen in Wyoming (or in my little rural NC town either). Try that and get a rapid case of lead poisoning. I still remember working at a Texaco station when in high school in Wyoming. There was a bar across the street. One day, we heard two gunshots. When the cops got there, they found two robbers; one dead, and the other shot in the ass while running away. the bar owner was hold the second guy at gunpoint waiting for the cops to arrive.
A little of this attitude in Minneapolis' stores might have ended this shit days ago.
@Readers- Great comments, folks. A lot of wisdom on display here, which is awfully refreshing at the moment.
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