Police and Rioters Get Violent at Protests in Cities Nationwide

Mayors are imposing curfews and governors are deploying the National Guard in response to anti-police-abuse protests.

Yet another wave of protests has rocked America's cities tonight in response to the Monday death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police. Mayors have imposed curfews, and the National Guard has been called out in at least 11 states, according to The Washington Post.

In Minneapolis, scenes of the same kind of police violence that sparked nationwide protests appeared to be on display. MSNBC reporter Ali Velshi says he was hit in the leg with a rubber bullet after police and National Guard fired non-lethal rounds on a crowd of protestors.

State Police and National Guard shot tear gas at protestors and Ali Velshi live on national television. "This was a 100% peaceful march and the police opened fire into it. There was no reason to do so, there was zero provocation." pic.twitter.com/HFufjj7zDE

— Zac Bears ???? (@zacbears) May 31, 2020

pic.twitter.com/hsHLDeKrAI

— justin glawe (@JustinGlawe) May 31, 2020

In another shocking video from the city, police fired paint canisters at several people filming them from their own front porch.

Also in today's criminal justice news, National Guard and Minneapolis PD officers illegally demand taxpayers stop filming from their porch and go inside – you'll hear "Light 'em up!" as they then shoot at these people *WHO ARE ON THEIR OWN PORCH*

pic.twitter.com/151AkaMhSH

— T. Greg Doucette (@greg_doucette) May 31, 2020

 

In Washington D.C., a building was set on fire just a few blocks from the White House, in the same area that police and protestors had clashed earlier in the evening. An SUV was set ablaze as well, and police reportedly have kettled protestors, refusing to let anyone leave the area.

Fires burning near the Hay Adams Hotel near the White House in DC, from CNN and Fox. pic.twitter.com/ZZZ44U5WDS

— Tim Shorrock (@TimothyS) May 31, 2020

An SUV has been set alight at the intersection of Connecticut Ave. and I Street, a block over from Lafayette Park. Police flushed everyone out with flashbangs.

Flames spread to a tree and a small structure on the sidewalk. DC Fire has an engine on it. pic.twitter.com/e3HL6SP3cI

— Alejandro Alvarez ???? (@aletweetsnews) May 31, 2020

In Chicago, protestors and police clashed throughout the day, and several police vehicles were vandalized.

Los Angeles saw peaceful protests from early in the day morph into evening looting of shops and businesses. The Los Angeles Times reports that the National Guard has been called out and will be deployed on city streets in the next few hours. At least 500 people have been arrested in that city, where a curfew is in place.

#GeorgeFloyd protestors looting sneakers from Flight Club on #Fairfax in LA: pic.twitter.com/oCDsymhXMh

— MK-ULTRA (@mkultranews) May 31, 2020

In Louisville, Kentucky—where a botched drug raid resulted in police shooting health care worker Breonna Taylor earlier in the month—one police officer fired pepper balls at a reporter and camera crew from the local NBC affiliate.

LIVE ON @wave3news - something I've never seen in my career.
An armed officer shooting directly at our reporter @KaitlinRustWAVE and photographer @jbtcardfan during the protests in #Louisville.
My prayers are going out to everyone tonight.
Such a scary situation for all. pic.twitter.com/Ipg0DjFIXu

— Lauren Jones Redfield (@LaurenJonesNews) May 30, 2020

Al Jazeera reports Louisville's Hall of Justice was set on fire as well.

News media are reporting mass looting and property destruction in Philadelphia's Center City area. At least 13 police officers have been injured and dozens have been arrested.

It likely the violence will continue throughout the night. We won't get a full sense of the amount of destruction, and numbers of injured and arrested people until the morning.

Comments

[turk1973]

All a result of libertarian guided neoliberal policy. Thanks market worshippers.

[Liberty Lover]

You have no idea about libertarians, libertarian policies or libertarians lack of power in this country. You mistake the frustrated conservative for a libertarian, as there are many on this site:
At the core of libertarian-ism is a Non-Aggression Principle, or NAP. No use of aggression or force is legitimate except in self-defense, or defense of property. All other use of force is unjust. Because of this principle, many libertarians tend to believe that the government’s use of force in terms of taxation and programs funded by taxation is illegitimate. This may seem extreme, and in our current political structure it is, so the Libertarian Party structures its platform on limiting government and giving the power back to the individual.
https://www.larrysharpe.com/2017/09/libertarian-views-beliefs/

[Liberty Lover]

I seriously doubt one State Rep set Federal policies for years to come:
I consulted the List of All Libertarian Party, Green Party and Constitution Party State Legislators Compiled and LPedia, a wiki about the Libertarian Party (LP). The highest legislative office ever held by a Libertarian who won office as a member of the Libertarian Party was state representative. The LPedia and the list of Libertarian Party legislators do not include any politicians who have served as a state senator or as a member of the upper house of a state legislature.
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-highest-office-ever-held-by-a-Libertarian-in-the-US?share=1

[phobos&deimos]

The article misses the point...

This is not about the escalation in violence on both sides, nor a protest of the death of George Floyd. It is an invasion of Soros-sponsored left wing anarchists spawned on our college campuses, and taking advantage of a tragedy that otherwise would have gone to waste.

But what about covid? What's covid? Fools!

This needs to become a RICO case that follows the money all the way to George Soros and hangs him financially from Mussolini's lamp post. Anything less is unacceptable.

[AlmightyJB]

I don't think there is any question that Antifa is responsible for a lot of the destruction. You see their black & red and the red anarchy symbol and their tools and tactics in lots of videos and pictures. I keep hearing people say that they're getting funding from Soros, but is there any actual evidence of that?

[R Mac]

“I keep hearing people say that they’re getting funding from Soros, but is there any actual evidence of that?”

I have the same question. You hear rumors about it all over the place. And we know that he in fact a despicable person. But I’ve never actually seen any evidence of him funding these particular things.

All the more reason to do a real investigation into this. If he’s behind it and suffers consequences, good. If it’s someone else behind it and they suffer consequences, just as good.

[Echo Chamber]

Who has time to do research? Do actual facts matter anymore?

[BahmedHousni]

I Make Money At H0me.Let’s start work offered by Google!!Yes,this is definitely the most financially rewarding Job I’ve had . Last Monday I bought a great Lotus Elan after I been earning $9534 this-last/5 weeks and-a little over, $10k last month . .OPTp I started this four months/ago and immediately started to bring home minimum $97 per/hr

Heres what I do…….............► Online Jobs Provid

[Mother's lament]

"I keep hearing people say that they’re getting funding from Soros, but is there any actual evidence of that?"

It's as far away as a google search and a Wikipedia page.

Soros funds:
Media Matters for America
Center for American Progress
Center for Public Integrity
Priorities USA Action
American Bridge 21st Century
America Votes
Millennium Promise
Open Society Foundations
New America
Center for Community Change
Tides Center and Foundation
Black Lives Matter

The cites on the Wikipedia page will give you more info than the article.

Now, he funds a hell of a lot more than just this list, particularly because many of these groups fund smaller groups.

[Mother's lament]

For more clarity on the Black Lives Matter/Soros connection, Soros funds them directly through his Open Society foundation.

[middlefinger]

Daily Caller did a piece on the new urbanists movement, tracking it back to Soros. Funding of the density or Yes in my backyard movements (which is a new way for Democrats to raise property taxes by importing immigrants that have 7-10 children per female and placing them within the new "integrated community boundaries"). Leftists SJWs and the open borders they support want existing residents to pay for new Public Teachers unions, schools, gov't union expansions, while placing HUD buildings and democrat voters strategically within surburban boundaries. Existing suburbanites can also pay for water/sewer expansions and energy subsidies.

[Jayburd]

Pay attention to currency trading right about now.

[Mother's lament]

this is an invasion of Soros-sponsored left wing anarchists"
They're bought and paid for and bussed right in. And neither they or Soros and Steyer bother to hide the fact. They can thank a complicit media for making it appear spontaneous.

It really baffles me as to why anarchists would ally with globalist overlords and the Davos crowd. I suppose they might fantasize that they are just using them for their money... or maybe they just like being paid to fight and smash shit and social anarchism is just an excuse.

[Nardz]

Because they're not anarchists but rather communists.

[Brian]

Needs moar diversity training.

[Case of the Mondays]

Bring it on. Better than the anarchy from the Koch head libertarian left wing.

Socialist assholes think they can win by burning a few buildings. They don’t know their history. But we know where they live.

I am done here. Time to get out and crack some left wing heads.

[American Socialist]

Hey look... a jack-booted thug. You go, jack-booted thug.

[Shitlord of the Woodchippers]

Actually, the thugs are you and your pals that are out rioting and raging by the thousands. As EVERY one of those Rioters is a leftist.

Your kind should be wiped off the map.

[ohlookMarketthugs]

That’s some good nonaggression principle right there, but you’ve been faking it for a while. Apply it to employers! Oh wait, you didn’t.

[Mother's lament]

He's not wrong about AmSoc and his ilk, but you're right too, that it's not a very libertarian stance.

[StackOfCoins]

What a libertarian thing to say. Is this Infowars?

[DarthHusker]

Shhhh, let the trolls fight each other. It's a beautiful natural phenomenon.

[Gasman]

yep,
arson, looting and assaults. Good way for a group to prove that they are not yet ready for first-class citizenship.

[JeremyR]

I have to wonder how much of this is driven by bored kids that have gone crazy from being inside for 2+ months?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Not only locked up under house arrest, but unemployed to boot. Stir crazy.

[Jayburd]

with their extra hard earned $600

[darkflame]

It's definitely added fuel to the fire, I've seen it before on a smaller scale. Notice how the worst areas are the ones that have lockdown still in effect or were just beginning to lift it.

[Nardz]

The left has been undergoing a mass nervous breakdown for the past 5 years.
I'm kinda surprised it took this long.
A bunch of psychotics genuinely angry because they didn't get their totalitarian leftist dictatorship.
They aren't protesters, they're religious fanatics and useful idiots throwing a temper tantrum.

[68W58]

The failure of the Obama administration to deliver them unto the promised land of progressive utopia revealed their false faith for what it is-a lot of empty promises and vague platitudes about “diversity and tolerance”. If “the ones we’ve been waiting for” couldn’t bring about the immanentized eschaton, well who can? But they don’t have anything else to fall back on so they’ve doubled down and that requires them to keep pushing obvious falsehoods, it has to make them even more crazy after a while.

[A Thinking Mind]

This is how we'll see any inroads at increasing freedom destroyed. By senseless violence that serves no purpose other than to demonstrate that people are angry.

When there's ongoing violence like this, the government doesn't look for answers how for to prevent the issues that created this response. All they're looking for is "How do we get the rioting to stop so people can go back to living their lives?" Which generally means they issue broad platitudes to appeal to people while simply increasing the boot of authority.

In order to achieve substantive change, something that may be effective, you need to maintain the momentum of your reform movement while reaching as wide a base as possible. Rioting and looting narrows the base and it quickly burns out the passions for reform. So in the end, more violence happens, and people's anger at the police is dulled by their anger at the mob burning down their pharmacy.

[Eddy]

Megan Thee Stallion (whoever that is) rebuts you:

"Megan Thee Stallion let Tupac speak for her to explain why Black folks are rioting across the country to protest George Floyd's murder by police. As these demonstrations continue to spread across America and tensions begin to rise, many observers have criticized rioters for looting and destroying their communities rather than conducting peaceful marches and protests against racism. However, others have pointed out that Black folks have reached beyond their limit of this type of treatment, and that this is the only thing left to do."

https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/megan-thee-stallion-shares-famous-tupac-clip-to-explain-rioting-against-racism-news.111483.html

[Mother's lament]

...Three Stallion then tucked a $500 check from the Center for American Progress into her cleavage and yelled, "And make sure you burn down Carlson's Laundromat! The old fucker booted us out for drinking in there, once! If anyone is an Uncle Tom tool of the Pigs it's him!"

[Qsl]

Kinda.

Full scale rioting has definitely put a fire under the ass of government to respond with something more than platitudes, but unfortunately none of the protesters are organized enough to present a set of reforms they would like implemented (exception being Louisville, who are pushing for an end to no-knock search warrants).

In many respects, this is a rehash of Occupy with more drama, but the same idiocy directing it with no clear goals beyond killing black men bad.

It will die unglamorously with a bunch of ne'er do wells patting themselves on the back at how radical they were for a weekend.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Can't have it both ways:

none of the protesters are organized enough to present a set of reforms

the same idiocy directing it with no clear goals beyond killing black men bad.

It's easy to despise rioters and looters like this. But they can be simultaneously understood, and too many people stop at despising.

[ByteRot]

"Killing black men bad" isn't a policy you can legislate or order to redress the issue, though. So unless the cops get the message on their own (hint: these are the same cops who are gassing and rubber-round shooting the rioters, I'll let you infer how much sympathy they have), riots with an aim to deliver the message "killing black men bad" are ineffective.

[Paulpemb]

On the other hand, if cops were the itchy-trigger finger, genocidal racists that the Black Lives Matter crowd claims they are, they would be shooting a lot more of these folks.

[Mother's lament]

Yeah. The problem isn't racism or even the cops themselves.

It's their training, the institutional policies and 'occupation force' approach to policing that characterizes modern police forces.
You train cops to act like soldiers, your going to get this type of behavior.

The real fault lies at the feet of city councilmen and mayors in many of the bluest states in the US.

[Nardz]

"the issues that created this response."

Which, if you've been paying attention, have nothing to do with policing or "racism"

[turk1973]

Who has the monopoly of violence and who do they serve?

[Fats of Fury]

Hmmm! There's a lot of masked white rioters showing up smashing windows and engaging in general mayhem. If they were in white robes the FBI would be on them, but I suppose Black Clad White Lives Matter.

[Real Books]

Antifa.

[Jerryskids]

Communists. I've been watching the news and they're showing clips of some of the rioting, a few of them feature lots of black people, most of them are young white kids. When you see the masks and the hoodies and the backpacks, you're dealing with Antifa, the Bernie Bros, the communists, the anti-capitalists, the anti-Americans, the anti-Westernists and the left-wing extremists. What's in the backpacks? You think these are schoolkids with their books and homework in those backpacks who just happened to stop by the riots on their way home from school? There's weapons and instruments of destruction in those backpacks. A lot of them call themselves anarchists, they're revolutionaries. The rule of law has broken down, there's a civil war going on. Unfortunately, it's a civil war between the authoritarian communists on the left and the authoritarian fascists on the right and either way it's the end of the American experiment of leaving other people the hell alone. Either way, government is going to win and individualism is going to lose.

[Nardz]

And you can show us the authoritarian fascists on the right?
Or is this some idiotic "both sides" mantra you're religiously devoted to

[ThomasD]

This.

There may be authoritarian fascists "on the right" Although it is curious how an expressly socialist ideology like fascism gets placed over "on the right," But mostly, if they even exist, those 'right wing authoritarians' have been invisible so far.

Because what we have been watching is antifa and the statists powers-that-be going at it. Both of whom are verifiably on the left. No one to the right of Bill Clinton has seen higher office in Minneapolis in near a century. And the worst part is that those two elements have been going at it upon the property of the lower middle and middle class. Neither Antifa or the rulers stand to actually lose anything in the current fight. The ruling class being insured by the tax state and antifa getting bail money and support from a coterie of celebutards and leftist money men.

What Jerry is playing is thesis, antithesis. Where if Antifa is 'on the left' then whoever stands up to fight them simply must be 'on the right.' Which, is all very Marxist of him.

[mad.casual]

And you can show us the authoritarian fascists on the right?

Somebody in Cliven Bundy's clan is probably anti-open borders. QED.

[Gray_Jay]

Think Jerryskids was referring to the seemingly inevitable reaction, when the middle class finally gets pissed off enough to start executing on their accountability lists, with their NODS, boutique ARs with cans, and homemade encrypted packet radios. Death squads, in other words. It's not like a lot of these antifa, DSA types are that hard to find.

We've imported the rest of Latin America, guess we'll import that ugly feature of their politics too. I agree with Jerryskids, that if that happens, a more individualistic, lower-government American Experiment is unlikely to result.

[Gray_Jay]

A much better solution would be for law enforcement to recognize that a large chunk of these rioters aren't interested in protest and an expression of grievances, but are there to cause politically motivated violence, and have LE treat them as such.

Treat them like the Mafia was treated. Find their lines of communication, funding, basic logistics, and start using laws like RICO and materially supporting a terrorist organization on them. Start seizing bank accounts and perp walking the heads of NGOs that bankroll this stuff. Back in the 60s and 70s it was easier: the Soviets and their helpers were behind it. It's a bit murkier today.

In addition, let's start retraining law enforcement away from their current posture of absolutely eliminating anything that might threaten an officer. Make it easier to get rid of problem children in their departments---abolishing public employees unions would be a fantastic start.

[JesseAz]

Lines of communication? Twitter, media defending them, wattsapp.

[damikesc]

Right wing protests in, say, MI consisted of people demanding the government stop oppressing people and allow people to live their lives AND managed to avoid burning or looting.

[R Mac]

But some of them had big scary guns, which is actually violence in itself.

[Echo Chamber]

The whataboutthem articles are amazing. Armed Trump supporters treated with kid gloves, but peaceful protesters hit with tear gas. Huh???

[middlefinger]

At least the Bernie Bros will get their bread lines and soup kitchens. If all supply chains in the market are destroyed, Bernie's famous dream of "Bread Lines are a good thing" will come to fruition.

[darkflame]

The governor of Minnesota and the Mayor of St. Paul are both saying that the arson and looting are being orchestrated by outside forces, either political extremists or foreign actors. Apparently everyone who was arrested Friday night in St. Paul was from out of state. Check out "Umbrella Man". Of course, being a democrat, the governor is saying it's "white supremacists" who are doing this. Bullshit, all 5 of those guys are hiding in their parents' basement laughing as they think their worldview is being proved right.

[Chipper Jones]

It's funny that both sides want to blame this on outside agitators. In any case, it's not true.

[Gray_Jay]

Then explain why a majority of the arrested in these riots are out of state residents.

[Nardz]

Fake news.
Something like 80% arrested in Minneapolis have Minnesota addresses.
Guess it depends on how you define local.

Which is not to say that these aren't being driven by outsiders. They are. It's just that the funders and professional agitators know enough to incite others to do the dirty work

[Gray_Jay]

The claim was made in the comments yesterday that the same thing held true for riots in Detroit and D.C. I don't doubt it.

[Chipper Jones]

Nearly the entire country has riots going on. They had to declare a state of emergency and call in the National Guard in fucking Fargo, ND last night. Did the rioters all come up with elaborate plans to trade places with one another?

I dont see why it's so hard for people to believe that in every city there are gonna be kids who wanna break shit and maybe walk away with a free tv if they play their cards right. Some of the organization may be from outside but dont let the dumbasses in government get away with some reichstag fire nonsense about all of this being the fault of outside agitators.

[Echo Chamber]

It's sad that all the provocateurs need to do is break the windows, knowing that the herd can be counted on see that as a welcome mat to empty the contents behind the glass.

[R Mac]

Yes I repeated the claim. The Detroit claim has not been debunked that I know of. But the Minneapolis claim has turned out to be false.

My mistake for believing Democrat politicians.

[darkflame]

It's St. Paul specifically that's claiming they were all from out of state. That being said, I have a hard time believing Charleston, SC isn't the work of outside interference. The police there generally have pretty good relations with the people, it's the one place back during the Obama years that arrested an officer for shooting someone before anyone called for it. The officer got convicted. The cops did it without outside pressure

[Nardz]

Atlanta has a long history of being relatively harmonious, but I'm not surprised there are people there willing to be assholes.
Nowhere is there a populace completely devoid of hateful people willing, even eager, to riot.
But I do believe that without outside organization and agitation, a lot of places like Atlanta wouldn't find the critical mass needed to do so

[PurityDiluting]

"The governor of Minnesota and the Mayor of St. Paul are both saying that the arson and looting are being orchestrated by outside forces,"
Both the gov of MN and St Paul mayor admitted yesterday that their statements were bullshit, but their retractions don't get the same attention

[Paloma]

They weren't. Governor has since retracted and said he misspoke

Now that doesn't mean there weren't a lot of out of state people there. Just not all of those arrested.

[JesseAz]

The analysis of those arrested says it is locals for the most part.

[Jayburd]

It's obviously Trump and the Russians.

[Hattori Hanzo]

Where was all of this outrage when Tony Timpa died under the same circumstances as Floyd?

Rhetorical question, I know. Progressives want to believe cops don't kill white people. That doesn't drive their desire to loot and burn.

The intersection on a Venn Diagram between progressives and conservatives when it comes to police brutality is wilful ignorance. The progressives want to depict police actions as racist and targeting blacks. Conservatives want to sell this "well they should've complied" bullshit. They also ignore the murder of white compliant civilians at the hands of police.

[JeremyR]

On the flip side, part of the reason police are where they are is because Democrats always support unions (including Police Unions) and Republicans always support the police no matter what (though I'll be damned if I understand why)

So there's almost never any pushback against the cops

[BigT]

Good point.

Police immunity from being held accountable for their actions is the root cause of the current problem. If all four Minn cops had been arrested immediately - as would have happened to other citizens - this might not have gotten out of hand. Both left and right are copsuckers for different reasons, so we get Blue Lives Murder and are not punished.

[John]

I don’t know a single person who is defending the actions of this cop. So no, conservatives do not always defend cops. There was a time when they were more willing to give cops the benefit of the doubt but even that is ending. Last I looked conservatives were not too fond of the FBI.

[ohlookMarketthugs]

Perfect example of ignorance

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Speaking from experience?

[John]

Since you can't come up with a single example to disprove my claim, yes you are. You make up for being ignorant for not understanding how argument works. Here I make a very sweeping statement that you could disprove with a single link to a conservative defending a cop and you don't do it. Why? Because you are stupid and lazy and don't know how to think and only emote

[mad.casual]

It's a lot harder to hate policing as an institution when you run into local officers, out of uniform, at Church every weekend and it's been 30+ yrs. since they killed anyone. You can, of course, appreciate and readily sympathize with a hatred of large nameless and faceless institutions run out of nondescript concrete buildings. But simply being in that situation, whether specifically of your making or not, is racist.

[John]

This is very true. But even that is getting more rare than it once was. The police have lost the support of a significant number of people on the right who no longer give them anything close to the benefit of the doubt they once did.

[Jayburd]

This is designed to fix that. It's called "federalization of local law enforcement". If there is a perceived pattern of civil rights violations by local law enforcement, that opens the door for strings attached grants and regulations to make sure everybody wears the same brand jackboot.

[avb]

"At least 13 police officers have been injured and dozens have been arrested."

Who arrested dozens of police officers? Is that how at least 13 were injured?

[Eddy]

Well, now that the "dozens" of agents provateurs and Russian operatives who are behind the riots have been arrested, we'll get peace in the streets.

/sarc

[American Socialist]

It’d be a shame if one of Trump’s hotels got firebombed. That would be terrible!

[Eddy]

Jackbooted thug.

[American Socialist]

If there’s one thing I learned from you guys it’s the value of having an armed populace willing to confront governmental and police tyranny. We literally have a President encouraging violence against protesters. If not now, when?

[BigT]

If an armed citizen is defending their shop from looters, that would be fine. Otherwise stay away.

As usual, Trump hasn’t been helpful in his insensitive remarks. He should invite the mayor of Atlanta to act as counselor; the rioters might listen to her.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I'm sure he's got insurance out the wazoo on it. Meanwhile, blue cities have been burning and it's been glorious to watch.

[American Socialist]

The problem with these protesters is that they’re the wrong color libertarian. Libertarianism is for White Nationalists and deadbeats who graze their cows on public land— not Black people. Geesch.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Haha. Yeah. White people are terrible.

[Shitlord of the Woodchippers]

Deadbeat? That would be you. You don’t pay your mortgage.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

Mayors are imposing curfews and governors are deploying the National Guard in response to anti-police-abuse protests.

Not even trying to hide it anymore.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

anti-police-abuse protest https://old.reddit.com/r/Rochester/comments/gtu29d/husband_and_wife_beaten_with_2x4s_while_defending/

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

Look at these urban youths tramatized by police abuse.
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1266931911445880833

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

"Let's go loot the mall. That's how we'll protest police abuse."
https://twitter.com/natalie_allison/status/1266914094642233344

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

Destroying a civil rights movement plaque to protest police abuse.
https://twitter.com/natalie_allison/status/1266883130423721985

[Eddy]

Where?

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

Nashville

[BigT]

All of those are some sick shit.

[Gray_Jay]

The pisser here is if that couple would have defended themselves with a firearm against that mob, they would have easily caught more jail time than the thugs would have. As it is, they'll likely spend longer recovering from the assault, than their attackers will spend being bothered by the criminal justice system.

I'd heard Rochester was a complete shithole since the fall of Eastman Kodak.

[PurityDiluting]

Or been killed by the mob, like the guy defending his business in Dallas

[Eddy]

Entertainer Cardi B (cited previously in other contexts in Reason) shares her nuanced views -

"So I just wanna give my POV," Cardi began. "Seeing people looting and going extremely outraged, it makes me feel like ‘Yes! Finally! Finally, mothaf*ckas is gonna hear us now. Yeah!’ And as much as people is so against it, at this point, I feel like I’m not against it even though it do scare me and I don’t want anybody to get hurt...."

https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/cardi-b-supports-protestors-looting-encourages-followers-to-vote-news.111370.html

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

mothaf*ckas is gonna hear us now. Yeah!’ And as much as people is so against it, at this point, I feel like I’m not against it even though it do scare me

Subject-verb disagreement to protest police abuse.

[The Glibertine Party]

Pedant.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

God, that ho is dumber than a box of rocks. Every time shit like this has happened in the last 50 years, it's led to increasingly draconian crime bills and law-and-order candidates winning elections.

I suppose the indoctrination of white self-loathing that's taken place in schools and mass media since that time may ensure a different outcome this time, but all I see is a bunch of Democrat-dominated areas that have been burnt to the ground. There ain't enough gibs in the world to bring about what this thot is expecting.

[Gray_Jay]

Uglier than one too. Can't sing, can't rap, doesn't even dance all that well: exactly why am I supposed to know who she is again?

As I wrote a day or two ago here, they couldn't be doing more to help Trump get reelected if they tried.

[JesseAz]

"exactly why am I supposed to know who she is again?"

She fucked a lot of people.

[Eddy]

"But should we care about the looting of stores like Target and Autozone?

"This was the destruction of property by people enraged over the murder of an innocent black man by a white police officer. Should we, like Martin Luther King’s “white moderate,” equivocate about an anti-racist uprising?

"Should we blame working-class black people for lashing out at a government and economy designed to repress, exploit, and subdue them; during a pandemic in which capitalism has made it near impossible for them to survive? Should we participate in this ritual condemnation even though our media consistently treats identical acts of property destruction by sports fans as simply revelry and exuberance, and corporate looting of working-class communities as business as usual?

"No. George Floyd mattered. Black lives matter. And until we can build a movement that can defeat racism and capitalism, until working people of all races unite against capitalists and their repressive apparatus, it is a good thing that bosses, government officials, and the police who protect them are sometimes reminded that black lives matter through a little proletarian fury."

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/05/george-floyd-minneapolis-uprising-police-brutality

[PeteRR]

Forever Marx. That little troll doll has caused more misery than the police ever will.

[DarthHusker]

But police in Marxist regimes are so well-known for being nice and light-handed.

[StackOfCoins]

It's Jacobin. What do you expect.

[lap83]

"And until we can build a movement that can defeat racism and capitalism"

They use as all of their normal beliefs only as a gateway for the trash beliefs.

[OneSimpleLesson]

They're hoping for a two for one deal.
Like the green new deal mostly being about labor laws.

[Jerry B.]

"But should we care about the looting of stores like Target and Autozone?"

If you're the person of color who used to work at Target or Autozone, but is out of a job now because it got burned down, you probably care.

Just collateral damage to you, though.

[ByteRot]

But when Marxism wins, the state will provide for that now-unemployed POC. They're not even collateral damage, they're a POW that needs to be liberated!

[Paulpemb]

Omelets and eggs, y'know?

[Gasman]

wonder why there might exist urban food deserts...
now urban cores will go on to lack other businesses, and jobs, that go along with being a first world local economy. They are burning their way into further decay.

[Gray_Jay]

That it's titled 'Jacobinmag' should have been your first clue.

[madstatus]

Thank you for sharing valuable information madstatus

[Eddy]

More nuance:

"A recent paper from Princeton political scientist Omar Wasow found that protester-initiated violence in that period bolstered support for repressive measures and may have contributed to Nixon’s victory in the 1968 election. Another paper from Harvard’s Ryan Enos, New York University’s Aaron Kaufman, and UC Merced’s Melissa Sands found that the riots in Los Angeles following the beating of Rodney King in 1992 led to the registration and mobilization of Democratic voters and boosted local support for liberal policy initiatives....

"The most that can be decisively taken from all this is that the factors that render radical action productive or counterproductive, effectual or ineffectual, are complex. Most of the people we can expect to try that calculus are going to be far from the ground where action actually happens, and the actors may well have a different sense entirely of what political success—in the moment or in the aggregate—actually means. On Thursday night, a precinct was burned and the police fled. To the people who burned it, this was a victory, of a kind, against one of the public institutions least accountable to the public and responsive to democratic will."

https://newrepublic.com/article/157935/deep-amnesia-national-conscience

[Qsl]

They should also include massive federal investments in housing, education, and job and anti-poverty initiatives that might address the structural inequities fueling anger and despair.

And this is where it falls apart.

The War on Poverty has been an unmitigated failure, and further is attempting to conflate a class issue with a race issue. There may be overlap, but anger and despair is not unique to blacks. Can't they just learn to code like the coal miners in Appalachia?

Further, as the Oklahoma City Bombing was in part a response to Waco, it is curious how one is designated domestic terrorism and the other an expression of pain and grief. If you can justify spending to avoid another Minneapolis, wouldn't you do the same to avoid another Oklahoma?

Using police brutality as a springboard to justify issues only marginally related perverts the entire issue of reform. The issues at hand are police accountability, lack of oversight and prosecution when wrongdoing is found. And a sobering look as to why police interactions should be so common in the first place (too many laws).

[Nardz]

"Using police brutality as a springboard to justify issues only marginally related perverts the entire issue of reform"

Which is the point, and is why Racism is made the issue.
Deflect, divide, and conquer

[Gray_Jay]

"Using police brutality as a springboard to justify issues only marginally related perverts the entire issue of reform. The issues at hand are police accountability, lack of oversight and prosecution when wrongdoing is found. And a sobering look as to why police interactions should be so common in the first place (too many laws)."

Deserved repeating, and frankly, pinning at the top of the thread.

[Eddy]

"As before, there's been handwringing over the riots and, specifically, the "looting." (In a tweet on Thursday night, President Donald Trump wrote that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," a sentiment that recalls tough-on-crime rhetoric from the 1960s.) As before, such narrow focus has been misguided. Above all, instead of interrogating the cause of abiding black anger -- a system of control via deep-seated racism -- it latches onto its symptom. It obscures the fact that, given the ferocious institutional disregard for black life, an honest negotiation for equality in this country must, necessarily, be a confrontational one.

""He doesn't really want the TV set. He's saying screw you," as author James Baldwin put it in a 1968 Esquire interview. "You're accusing a captive population who has been robbed of everything of looting. I think it's obscene.""

https://www.wral.com/the-protest-pictures-alone-tell-the-story-of-americas-racial-hierarchy/19120393/

[Gray_Jay]

Robbed of everything? Has that motherfucker taken a look at a pay stub in the last 50 years? Or watched where a gigantic chunk of the federal budget's gone in that time?

The productive citizens of this country have poured a literally astronomical amount of money into programs designed to house, clothe, and educate the minority perpetual underclass. All we've gotten in return are 5 generations of atavistic, feral humans who are not only ungrateful, but amazingly dangerous to themselves. I called it an astronomical amount of money because we'd have had no end of outer space discoveries and industries if we'd chosen to invest that money there instead. (Or just let the taxpayers keep it.) Moonbases, asteroid mining, zero-g manufacturing, immense zero-g structures for scientific discovery and tourism: the list goes on and on. But instead, we chose to set it on fire, and this overrated 'important American author's claims the community he is representing was robbed.

[kined21968]

welldone

[kined21968]

I Make Money At H0me.Let’s start work offered by Google!!Yes,this is definitely the most financially rewarding Job I’ve had . YEr Last Monday I bought a great Lotus Elan after I been earning $9534 this-last/5 weeks and-a little over, $10k last month . . I started this four months/ago and immediately started to bring home minimum $97 per/hr

Heres what I do…… Profits3.com

[Eddy]

Lady Gaga: “The voices of the black community have been silenced for too long and that silence has proven deadly time and time again. And no matter what they do to protest, they are still met with no compassion by the leaders that are meant to protect them. Everyday people in America are racist, that’s a fact. Right now is a critical time for the black community to be supported by all other communities so we can put a stop to something that is intrinsically wrong by the grace of God or whatever creator you do or do not believe in.”

https://www.nme.com/news/music/rihanna-dre-dre-lady-gaga-harry-styles-cardi-b-and-more-demand-justice-for-george-floyd-2679256

[Rufus The Monocled]

"Everyday people in America are racist, that’s a fact."

It's not a 'fact' but that's scientism and the fall of critical thinking for you.

Everyday people in America are kind, that's a fact.

Everyday people in America say stupid shit, that's a fact.

Lady Gaga the intellect we deserve.

[Don't look at me!]

Can we please stop quoting singers and actors?

[Gray_Jay]

Please, this. Just shut up and sing, or take off your clothes, emote---do whatever it is that entertains people enough that they'll give you money to do it. They're not great intellectuals (not that our public intellectual class is much better at the job), stop trying to be one.

It's not going to stop me being entertained by Gaga's art, but damn it, she needs to stop proving to me that she's actually as vapid as I suspected.

[R Mac]

She does look good naked.

[Gray_Jay]

Ex-strippers should look good naked. But see Cardi B.

Gaga used to be really creative when it came to wearing outrageous outfits. The meat dress, some of the elaborate headdresses. Weird when it turned out she could actually sing too.

[R Mac]

Pretty good actress too. American Horror Story with her in it was decent.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

so we can put a stop to something that is intrinsically wrong by the grace of God or whatever creator you do or do not believe in.

When people say shit like this, it indicates that they see religion as a pair of clothes you take on and off, not something that drives your life. It's literally the "no I'm not a Christian but if I use this argument on you, you'll do what I want" meme come to life.

[Eddy]

"bigboi
Verified
My Fellow ATLIENS, Beware of who is among you , I saw at least 20 arrest on Live TV last nite , and it wasn’t Us , there are snakes among u ! Why were bricks just sitting in the middle of the sidewalk? Who had the spray paint ? Be weary of who u call brother ! Issa set up #WatchForTheHook"

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA0YS7PJHp1/?utm_source=ig_embed

[Eddy]

Lefty catfight: Salon article claims the media gives more favorable coverage to white left-wing white protests than to left-wing POC protests. With the latter, the media gives way too much coverage to violent incidents.

"Journalists pay little attention to protests that aren't dramatic or unconventional.

"Knowing this, protesters find ways to capture media and public attention. They don pink "pussy" hats or kneel during the national anthem. They might even resort to violence and lawlessness. Now the protesters have the media's attention, but what they cover is often superficial or delegitimizing, focusing on the tactics and disruption caused and excluding discussion on the substance of the social movement."

https://www.salon.com/2020/05/29/riot-or-resistance-how-media-frames-unrest-in-minneapolis-shapes-publics-view-of-protest_partner/

[BigT]

So the rioters riot to get attention, then are surprised when the riots get lots of attention?

[Ken Shultz]

To what extent is the news media helping the police identify the vandals, looters, and arsonists they have caught in the act on video?

To whatever extent they refuse to assist the police in identifying suspects, it's fair to say they are biased in favor of violent protesters.

[PurityDiluting]

Plenty of crystal clear news videos showing looters taking stuff from stores and loading it into their cars. The license plate numbers were clearly visible as well. Do they get arrested in the coming days/weeks?

[Gray_Jay]

LOL no. That's my cousin's (baby mama's/grandma's/friend's etc) car. That's not my car.

Laws are only for the law-abiding. We are going to have a gigantic problem when the law-abiding figure that out.

[PurityDiluting]

Many forgot to wear their masks too. But it was only a few cases of booze or munchies from the convenience store. Those aren't real crimes.

[StackOfCoins]

Rioters are asshole punks and so are cops.

[Commenter_XY]

The primary function of government is to protect life, liberty and property. That is not happening right now. We need the national guard called out to stop the rioting pronto. That is just bullshit. How does 'wilding' respect the memory of George Floyd, and advance the notion that police malfeasance is a real thing and must be severely punished?

This MN cop deserves death. He murdered George Floyd.

I simply cannot believe the other cops stood there and just let it happen. I have watched the video a few times now, and I still cannot believe my eyes. In 2020 America, this can actually happen?

I will say, I fully expect the Eighth Circuit to wave the qualified immunity flag when the family sues. They'll say some nonsense about how the law doesn't explicitly tell cops they cannot kneel on some guys neck for eight minutes and kill him. Just watch. QI needs to go...SCOTUS created it, now they can end it.

Last point. The bystanders also did nothing aside from filming. They filmed (not stopped) this mans murder. Could they not have caused a distraction great enough to disrupt what this murdering cop was doing? We will never know the answer.

[BigT]

The pig deserves a long prison sentence in the general population. The state should not be executing him. The other 3 should be accessories to murder.

I can’t understand why they ALL weren’t arrested immediately. It might have headed off the riots.

[StackOfCoins]

I can’t understand why they ALL weren’t arrested immediately. It might have headed off the riots.

Procedures were followed etc.

It is AMAZING the police union did not side with the cops for once. The cops probably all believed (with reason, though not this time) they were immune to being held accountable. Now the other shoe has dropped. It's probably too much to hope this is the new normal.

[Nardz]

"I can’t understand why they ALL weren’t arrested immediately. It might have headed off the riots"

Lol
You really think so?
You really think this is about George Floyd and police accountability?
Sure, all these riots "spontaneously" happened.
By the way, I've got a very nice bridge to sell you at a bargain rate!

[SQRLSY One]

"You really think this is about George Floyd and police accountability?"

It's because the Trumptatorshit has NOT been giver enough POWER yet, and because Nadless Nardless has NOT yet been appointed to be Minister of Propaganda!

Demented Pro-Trump commentors here (like Nadless Nardless) think themselves to be Constitutional Scholars, and bless the idea that the Trumptatorship has “absolute rights”. ‘Cause Trump says so!!!
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/president-trump-absolute-rights/607168/
Donald Trump’s Strange and Dangerous ‘Absolute Rights’ Idea
This is a profound misunderstanding of the American constitutional system.

[Nardz]

You are unintelligent and unworthy of reading

[SQRLSY One]

MOST eggcellently excellent, egg-headed, scholarly, fact-driven rebuttal, Oh Intelligent One!

Trump and Trumpistas are "intelligent" in your estimation?

To quote your eminent scholar-leader, Tulpa...

AHAHAHHHAHAHHAHHHHAHAHHHAHH-HAHHAHAH!!!!

[R Mac]

Pure nonsense, like everything else you post.

[SQRLSY One]

Do you recall the awesome enchanter named “Tim”, in “Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail”? The one who could “summon fire without flint or tinder”? Well, you remind me of Tim… You are an enchanter who can summon persuasion without facts or logic!

So I discussed your awesome talents with some dear personal friends on the Reason staff… Accordingly…

Reason staff has asked me to convey the following message to you:

Hi Fantastically Talented Author:

Obviously, you are a silver-tongued orator, and you also know how to translate your spectacular talents to the written word! We at Reason have need for writers like you, who have near-magical persuasive powers, without having to write at great, tedious length, or resorting to boring facts and citations.

At Reason, we pay above-market-band salaries to permanent staff, or above-market-band per-word-based fees to freelancers, at your choice. To both permanent staff, and to free-lancers, we provide excellent health, dental, and vision benefits. We also provide FREE unlimited access to nubile young groupies, although we do firmly stipulate that persuasion, not coercion, MUST be applied when taking advantage of said nubile young groupies.

Please send your resume, and another sample of your writings, along with your salary or fee demands, to [e-mail] .

Thank You! -Reason Staff

[R Mac]

Do you recall the awesome enchanter named “Tim”, in “Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail”? The one who could “summon fire without flint or tinder”? Well, you remind me of Tim… You are an enchanter who can summon persuasion without facts or logic!

So I discussed your awesome talents with some dear personal friends on the Reason staff… Accordingly…

Reason staff has asked me to convey the following message to you:

Hi Fantastically Talented Author:

Obviously, you are a silver-tongued orator, and you also know how to translate your spectacular talents to the written word! We at Reason have need for writers like you, who have near-magical persuasive powers, without having to write at great, tedious length, or resorting to boring facts and citations.

At Reason, we pay above-market-band salaries to permanent staff, or above-market-band per-word-based fees to freelancers, at your choice. To both permanent staff, and to free-lancers, we provide excellent health, dental, and vision benefits. We also provide FREE unlimited access to nubile young groupies, although we do firmly stipulate that persuasion, not coercion, MUST be applied when taking advantage of said nubile young groupies.

Please send your resume, and another sample of your writings, along with your salary or fee demands, to [e-mail] .

Thank You! -Reason Staff

Reply

[Ken Shultz]

"The primary function of government is to protect life, liberty and property."

I would say that the legitimate function of government is to protect our rights. We have police to protect our rights from criminals, courts to protect our rights from the police, a military to protect our rights from foreign threats, and a national guard to protect our rights from rioters (among other things).

The riots are erupting in the most progressive areas of the country, where the politicians who run things do NOT think that protecting our rights is a legitimate function of government. They think the legitimate functions of government are wealth redistribution, funding pensions for government employees, and protecting people from discrimination and racism.

Calling the national guard up to put down these riots flies in the face of protecting people from racism. That's the last thing progressives want to do. It puts them on the side of the racists.

[PurityDiluting]

Do a little bit of background research on the Minneapolis mayor - he has a long-running disdain for his police force, including cutting the size of the force. He's a progressive hero who wants some alternative universe of police-free community self policing. Too many bad apple cops, it's time to throw the barrel away

[Longtobefree]

Christian, perhaps you can get promoted to editor from associate by suggesting the following change to the style guide; "People peacefully holding signs advocating for or (usually) against a particular view are called protesters, people committing various felonies in a group are called rioters".

[Ken Shultz]

Yeah, the word "riot" appears to be racist in the minds of journalists these days.

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

Arson is Protest

[Rufus The Monocled]

Exactly. These aren't protestors.

They're a combination of nihilists and violent degenerates.

[Jayburd]

“People peacefully holding signs advocating for or (usually) against a particular view are called protesters, people committing various felonies in a group are called rioters”. Insert "student" if they are white.

[Ken Shultz]

I can't help but think the riots and the looting are to some extent related to the lock-downs.

People don't always understand the economic and psychological forces that are acting upon them. They can engage in behavior for reasons they don't fully understand and just rationalize it as being about an injustice perpetrated in some other state. The LA Riots in 1992 weren't just about Rodney King, and if these riots hadn't been sparked by the murder of George Floyd, it would have been something else.

It's hard not to notice that the areas being hardest hit by riots are the most progressive cities in the country. I don't think this is directly related to ideology so much as the severity and duration of the lock-downs were related to ideology. If you lock people in their homes long enough and keep all the businesses that cater to them closed for months, we should assume they will become increasingly frustrated over time. Show me an especially progressive state and municipality, and I'll show you a place where the lock-down was especially severe and slow to be lifted.

This is probably another reason why the lock-downs were a terrible idea.

[John]

Maybe. But it is not like we didn’t have rioting and looting before this. I think it may have aggreviated the riots but it didn’t cause them.

[Ken Shultz]

Major contributing factor, maybe even the primary contributing factor.

A huge spike in unemployment didn't help, and that spike is obviously worse in (progressive) places where the shut the economy down the hardest and the longest.

It'll get worse when the subsidies businesses are getting to keep their employees on the books runs out.

The LA riots in '92 also happened in the aftermath of an economic downturn.

[Rufus The Monocled]

It certainly has added a flair of nihilism. Wouldn't surprise me if it ensnared some people who have nothing to lose so may as well blow off some steam and rage against the machine in general.

You don't put 40 million out of work and not see some kind of blow back.

For me, the most troubling thing about the pandemic? How we're governed by spectacularly low IQ losers incapable being true leaders.

[Ken Shultz]

I maintain that shutting down the economy in the face of an impending recession was the stupidest thing I've ever seen grown ups in positions of authority do. Consumers were already isolating themselves, and the impact on airlines, hotels, the movie industry, the restaurant industry, etc. was already going to be dramatic--without the lock downs.

Economic collapses lead to civil unrest.

This collapse has been even more dramatic because of the lock-downs and was the worst in the places where the lock-downs were the harshest and lasted the longest. This is the most dramatic economic contraction in a shorter period of time than we've ever experienced before. It won't lead to a revolution in this country--because we hold a vote on whether to have a revolution every four years to let off steam. But the pressure economic collapses cause is the same cross-culturally and throughout history. No reason why this one should be any different.

This is also why Emperor Xi is preparing to go all Tienanmen Square Massacre on the people of Hong Kong come June 4th, the anniversary of the massacre that's always "celebrated" in Hong Kong with protests. People who find themselves unemployed and marginalized turn against the authorities--no matter the nature of the authorities. When protests erupt in Hong Kong, they don't have anything to do with George Floyd, and IF IF IF protests erupt in mainland China, they probably won't really have anything to do with Hong Kong. The Arab Spring started when a guy lit himself on fire in protest, but the Arab Spring wasn't really about him.

Like I said up yonder, the LA Riots weren't really about Rodney King either, and I'm not convinced the riots in Chicago and New York City are really about George Floyd. Most people act and then rationalize it afterwards. Canadian geese don't fly in a V-formation because they know all about the physics of aerodynamics. Maybe we riot or invade Iraq for the same reason geese fly in a V-formation and just rationalize it afterwards. George Floyd is the focus of angry, frustrated, and scared people's attention, but that isn't necessarily what's making them act like this right now.

[Sevo]

"Economic collapses lead to civil unrest."

But if just JFree doesn't catch the flu, well....

[Echo Chamber]

Good points, and interesting prediction about June 4. We'll know next week

[Roberta]

No, I think the opposite: The lockdowns are the root cause, the killing was just the trigger.

[Nardz]

No, the root cause is that Obama failed to fundamentally transform America.
By which I mean he didn't cement leftist totalitarianism in perpetuity.
The lockdowns might have added fuel to the fire, but it would've burned no matter what.
These riots have been planned for years by people waging war against the rest of us and bent upon our complete submission.

[darkflame]

The lockdowns are definitely a contributing factor, although I think they aren't the primary one. There's enough funky business going on that suggests Antifa or another group is stirring the pot intentionally. But back in college we'd have barracks riots a few times a year (it was a private military college, no leaving campus except during special times, have to wear a uniform when you did, etc). It would be like this, after a long or hard week one person would throw their trashcan onto the quad, and it would set the entire barracks off (the barracks all have an open "quad" in the center with 4 stories of rooms surrounding it. Only accessible by a gate that's locked at night). If it didn't last longer then 15-20 minutes and only consisted of shouting and throwing stuff, the Tac officers usually just looked the other way. If it lasted longer then that, or got crazy (one barracks set a trash dumpster on fire one year) then they'd get the Sgt. Major and there might be consequences.

[Ken Shultz]

"There’s enough funky business going on that suggests Antifa or another group is stirring the pot intentionally."

They're always there. Why are they suddenly finding the pot so easy to stir?

It's the heat from the stove.

[Earth Skeptic]

Ken, we can take the conspiracy view up a notch, and interpret the lockdown as a deliberate strategy to inflate these emotional frustrations, with some expectation that the societal outrage, especially among some groups, would be useful.

So for the puppet-masters, not a terrible idea.

[Ken Shultz]

When the CEO of Coca-Cola was asked, long after he retired, if the reason they introduced New Coke was to drive sales of Classic Coke, he replied, "We weren't that smart, and we weren't that stupid".

They weren't stupid enough to purposely enrage their customers as a marketing strategy, and they weren't smart enough to know that they could increase their market share at Pepsi's expense by enraging their customers.

When I look at all the progressive governors out there and how badly they've destroyed their chances of winning the nomination for president with these lock-downs and riots, I think that Coca-Cola CEO's explanation rings true. They aren't stupid enough to think that destroying their own economies unnecessarily would make them more powerful, and they aren't smart enough to turn massive unemployment and riots into a force they can ride all the way to the White House.

Cuomo, Newsom, Walz, Whitmer, on a national stage, their names are mud. They'd be lucky if a Democratic president would make them the Secretary of the Interior. Whatever future they had in national politics otherwise is gone forever. They're like Gray Davis, the former governor of California, who mishandled the energy crisis so badly, he lost a recall vote in a state dominated by Democrats. They'll be lucky to survive inside their states. Their national careers are over.

The economic impact of the virus was always going to last longer than the virus itself, and it doesn't matter what the issue was before the issues that are important in any given election. It's just the issues that matter at the time of the election. Imposing lock-downs that would necessarily exacerbate the depth and length of the recession was never a smart thing to do from an electability perspective. It might be different if they were trying to increase their cachet with a certain group of people, but on a national stage, they didn't execute a grand conspiracy theory. They committed political suicide.

[PurityDiluting]

The mayor of St. Paul is clearly trying to leverage this to further his political career. He's giving lengthy speeches with flowerly words and soaring rhetoric during press conferences about the status of the riots

[Ron]

Lockdowns are a knee to the neck of personal liberty to provide oneself a living while a police knee to the actual neck of a person is only the next step in the lockdown. The two are relatable

[Ron]

The Arab spring was about similar oppression where the government didn’t allow citizens to conduct private bussiness, not climate change as those who want to deflect from the real cause claimed. Maybe these riots are America spring with the police brutality the final straw in an overly surpressed society

[Nardz]

Maybe we'll have a better outcome then.
The Arab Spring was started by (more or less) legitimate protesters but was quickly hijacked by jihadists (progressives).
Here it's the Marxists who are starting.
If we're lucky, maybe legitimate people can replace them

[John]

Rioters don’t get violent. They are violent. That is why it is a riot.

This headline is an indictment of the American education system

[Rufus The Monocled]

John, I'm at a loss for words I tell ya.

Something went off the rails.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Christian thinks businesses shut themselves down.

Mi ricordi.

[Rockstevo]

I see two outcomes to these riots, firstly all those who are thinking of moving into the gentrified central city areas are going to seriously rethink that option. And secondly we will see the reversal of republican losses in the suburbs. The first will be helped by the lock downs as they have shown you don’t have to be close to the office to work for a lot of people that work in those downtime towers. The second, all those who maybe don’t care for Trump personally don’t like violent rioters even more. The dems might have had a chance of blaming it on Trump and the republicans if this was the 90s with only a few news sources but it’s 2020 and for every news story with thinly veiled attempts to lay this at their doorsteps there is another that lays out the facts, these are all dem controlled cities and have been for decades. And if the DOJ returns indictments against these cops that will be another strike against the dems when in several of these Obama’s DOJ let several go free.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

We might actually see a reversal of all that big-city gentrification that took place over the last 15 years or so, especially if white hipsters end up getting targeted for beatdowns. I don't think these idiots realize how much blacks and Hispanics actually hate their guts and want to see them dead or gone.

[PurityDiluting]

The gentrified section of Minneapolis is not where the rioting took place, and they are seizing on the opportunity to sing the 'we're all in this together' song now

[Overt]

"especially if white hipsters end up getting targeted for beatdowns."

Uh...the white hipsters are the ones delivering these beat downs.

[Rockstevo]

That is what I was thinking…guess hipsters aren’t as peace loving as their predecessors.

[R Mac]

Depends what you mean by hipsters. I know a lot of hipsters in the craft beer community. None of them or their friends have anything to do with this shit.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Is it me or do pandemics or virus outbreaks at least and riots tend to happen in election years?

[Nardz]

I'm sure it's just a coincidence...

[Nemo Aequalis]

As usual, Zman gets it right.
http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=20606

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug]

Trump is stoking the country's divisiveness. He loves it as the most divisive POTUS since the 19th Century.

His only chance of reelection depends on rallying his 38% base. Based on the 2018 mid-terms it will be a futile effort.

[Colossal Douchebag]

Trump is stoking the country’s divisiveness.

So are you, fuckface. Go masturbate to kiddie porn.

[SQRLSY One]

Trump's racism is well documented. Do you live on the same planet as our reality exists on?

https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2020/05/28/george-floyd-minnesota-steve-almond Racism in America today…

[Sevo]

"Trump’s racism is well documented."

Your TDS and stupidity are, so we can ignore anything you post in that regard.
Fuck off, you pathetic piece of shit.

[SQRLSY One]

I see that you are incapable of refuting the FACTS about Trump's words and actions, in the linked article.

As far as your perpetual potty-mouthed low-brow insults go, I have heard funnier ones in grade school.

So... Sevo is on the rag AGAIN today! Has it ever occurred to you, you could spend your time more efficiently, by letting us know when you are NOT on the rag?

[R Mac]

You posted this bs yesterday. It’s not a news article, it’s a column. By a man who’s new book intro says:

Like a lot of Americans, Steve Almond spent the weeks after the 2016 election lying awake, in a state of dread and bewilderment.

[SQRLSY One]

Refute the FACTS listed in the links, intellectual painty-waist! Not just one snippet of stuff that hurts your baby feelings!

By an intellect whose usual TOP-DOLLAR comment consists of "dumb", I might add, in response to YOUR vapid, empty-headed comments!

[R Mac]

I’m not reading some shit from a lunatic who laid awake at night from dread and bewilderment for weeks because of an election.

As for the “dumb” response, that’s only in response to comments made by you. Because you post dumb comments so often.

[SQRLSY One]

"I’m not reading some shit from ..."

From anyone who might disagree with R Mac, or might... OMG!!! Know of some FACTS that might challenge the biases of R Mac! Confirmation bias = modern words; ancient terms = "None are so blind as those who refuse to see." In new short hand, it is known as "R Mac mental deficiency".

[Curly4]

Title: 'Police and Rioters Get Violent at Protests in Cities Nationwide'

The first there words in the title are incorrect! It should have been the Rioters and then the police get violent . . . The violence came first from the rioters then the police responded to that violence.

[SQRLSY One]

Police violence on George Floyd never happened? Willful ignorance is common, as is lopsided reporting as well, but WHY do you feel the need to try and SPREAD ignorance and misinformation? WHO do you think you're fooling? Trumptards will agree with you, but they were already propaganda-filled haters to begin with. What do you think you're accomplishing?

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug]

This 2020 presidential forecast says Trump faces historic defeat due to terrible economy
Published: May 21, 2020 at 11:33 a.m. ET

Oxford Economics predicts Trump to only get 35% of the vote

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-2020-presidential-forecast-says-trump-faces-historic-defeat-due-to-terrible-economy-2020-05-20

Bad news for The Dotard.

[lap83]

Trump gets no votes because of the terrible economy that Democrat governors played a huge part in? How convenient for them!

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug]

The Dotard made it far worse than it should have been by first denying that the virus would be a serious problem in the USA and then by repeated missteps on testing and PPE. His incompetence was in full display.

But Droxy sales did go up. I'll give him that.

[Michael Ejercito]

He was followuing theadvice of Dr. Fauci.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Following what the CDC said you idiot.

It was the same thing here. When we left for Europe in February the Canadian government - led by our own incompetent Health boss - was saying the same thing. Nothing to worry about and then it wasn't and lockdowns.

You're a fucken clown.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

by first denying that the virus would be a serious problem in the USA

Funny how the media was repeating that same line.

[darkflame]

They set fire to Nashville's courthouse/city hall last night. 30 businesses looted at last count. Not sure how looting a Margaritaville is "fighting racism".

[Rufus The Monocled]

I'm starting to be of the opinion that America is under attack from within.

[darkflame]

I don't disagree with you. I think most of it will settle down tonight with so much of the guard called out, but if any rioters are stupid enough to come to some of the more suburban areas, they are gonna be in for a nasty surprise.

[PurityDiluting]

"Not sure how looting a Margaritaville is “fighting racism”."
It is because Parrotheads were the first to openly embrace wearing hawaiian shirts. It is know that only white nationalists wear those shirts. The irony is that in this case they would be brothers in arms, as the dog whistle is a reference to pig roasts at a luau

[darkflame]

nice.

[Gray_Jay]

Bravo. Golf clapping ensues.

[R Mac]

Well done. Two jokes in one!

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

By the way, for those of you who have already forgotten, "Hands up Don't Shoot" was a complete lie. A 100% fabrication that never actually happened.

We real libertarian of course can and should be able to distinguish between legitimate cases of police brutality, like with George Floyd and Eric Garner, and Fake News cases that were actually justifiable self-defense, like the cases of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin.

Lefties and Professional Fake Libertarians (but I repeat myself) aren't sophisticated or intelligent enough to be able to make this kind of critical distinction, and in any event they really don't want to because they have an agenda that goes way beyond stopping police brutality.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug]

can and should be able to distinguish between legitimate cases of police brutality, like with George Floyd and Eric Garner, and Fake News cases that were actually justifiable self-defense, like the cases of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin.

Mikey, I agree with this portion of your post and it might even prove that you are not completely insane.

According to you that makes me a real libertarian. Good enough. I just believe in capitalism, free trade, and secularism.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

As usual you’re a lying shitbag, Weigel. You were practically apoplectic when George Zimmerman got acquitted (along with most of the Reason staff I might add).

Now why don’t you go burn down a building somewhere along with the rest of your fellow lefties.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug]

Liar. I never cared about the Zimmerman incident.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

Right, that’s why you posted on the acquittal thread six times, starting about 15 minutes after it was posted.

By the way, I know damn well that you, Welch, and many of the other fugazis at Reason sympathize with the Antifa and Black Lives Matter terrorists, and you guys relish seeing them burning American cities down. You’re left-wing anarchists; natural born Jokers.

You think they’re going to help bring about the radical fundamental transformation of America you’re looking for, but you’re completely wrong. Your terrorist friends will bring about the exact OPPOSITE effect.

[Earth Skeptic]

Numbers are inaccessible if not painful for most emotional i.e. activist people, but for the rest of us it might be useful to review some data.

Approx. number of people killed by cops each year: 1000
Approx. number of black people killed by cops each year: 250
Approx. number of black people killed by black men each year: 2500

Crude statistical analysis: a black person is 10 times more likely to be killed by a black male than by a cop.

Should we expect marches, riots, and looting inspired by outrage against black males?

[Commenter_XY]

Adding to your point about rational contemplation of the numbers. Every day in America, there are millions and millions of interactions between police and citizenry that are unremarkable. Meaning, nothing happens. We should not lose sight of that.

This cop who killed George Floyd should get the death penalty. He is not reflective of police generally. And his fellow brothers in blue who stood by and did nothing to stop it should go to prison for a long time.

The fact is, black on black violence IS a problem that the A-A community needs to step up, acknowledge, and address. The A-A community has to do this; not others. Whether it is cultural, historical, racial or social matters very little when we literally have thousands of young black men being killed by other young black men. Instead of making elaborate explanations and excuses for it, we need to stop it. We can address causes later, but stop the slaughter first.

As for the rioters.....this is bullshit. Call out the National Guard and put an end to this horseshit. Peaceful protest is fine. Violent rioting is not, and you belong in a cage. Or shot.

[Glenye West]

I’d be a lot more sympathetic to BLM and any other protesters in cases like this if there were even a quarter of the rage on display when some innocent little black kid is killed by a stray bullet from a gang shootout. Where’s the outrage for those victims? As my preening sanctimonious liberal friends assure everybody on social media, silence is complicity.

[John]

Black lives only matter if they further the political cause.

[Glenye West]

Yep.

[Jayburd]

Oh that's just conspiratorial bullshit started in the fifties during the Civil Rights Movement. That somehow political movements will latch on to social issues and use minorities to try to cause anarchy. wait what?

[Jayburd]

Now you know why they are burning down their own businesses.

[Gray_Jay]

To add to that, isn't it true that more blacks are killed by black cops than white cops?

I'm surprised it's only 2500.

[Ken Shultz]

These things are obviously unpredictable, but if your'e looking for the impact on the election in November, are things not shaping up nicely for President Trump?

Far as I can tell, average people are associating the Democrats and the press with being pro-lock down and pro-rioter. Are they not treating the rioters with kid gloves? Did they not criticize President Trump for not having a nationals lock-down policy?

Meanwhile, far as I can tell, average people are associating President Trump with being anti-lock down and anti-rioter. Trump, apparently, didn't mean what we thought he meant when he wrote, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts", but since the media ran with that as being anti-rioter, that label may be hard to shake--not that President Trump should want to shake the label of being anti-rioter.

And how does Biden respond to that. What's he gonna say, another embarrassing statement like, "If you aren't pro-rioter then you aren't black"? How does that win him the suburban women's vote in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin?

Biden is getting screwed by this. None of this will be on the news in November.

[mtrueman]

GOP electoral outlook is priority number one. Now and always.

[Earth Skeptic]

Unlike the Democratic Party attention whores and shills.

Fuck off.

[mtrueman]

GOP's chances improve with every building burned. That's what's important. Just ask Ken.

[Sevo]

No, it's you demonstrating *YOUR* idiocy which is important:

mtrueman|8.30.17 @ 1:42PM|#
"Spouting nonsense is an end in itself."

[mtrueman]

Enough about the crumbling empire and its enablers. Let's talk about me!

[Nail]

Yea please write another gay ass post about the 'sense of adventure' you get from playing shuffleboard and eating dinner at the captains table !!

[mtrueman]

Keep reading. I'll get around to it. The future is gay cops on fire.

[damikesc]

If your political rivals insist on self-immolation, sometimes, you cannot stop them.

[mtrueman]

Burn baby burn!

[damikesc]

Tell me more about how Democrat cities, where cops tend to kill people all willy-nilly, show how we need to elect more Democrats

[mtrueman]

I really don't care who you elect. It makes no difference.

[Ron]

The police are shooting pepper balls but if i owned a building that was being looted i’d be fine with real bullets

[darkflame]

Yep. Quite frankly, there's only two ways to handle a riot. Either you let it burn itself out and accept the damage/deaths, which is what Minnesota appears to be doing, or you use overwhelming force, such as what the US army did in NY City during the civil war draft riots. No one wants to be the person who made the tough call, so its the regular people who suffer

[mtrueman]

Minnesota has regular people?

[darkflame]

It's Cali that's devoid of regular people. I know, I know, I get them confused sometimes too. One's constantly on fire because of bad policing decisions, and the other is constantly on fire because of bad forest-clearing policy. Easy to make the mistake.

[Hattori Hanzo]

Things seem to be tipping to Trump's favor. Democrats are have been doubling down on the issues that cost them '16. Biden is a terrible candidate that won't inspire anyone to come out to the polls or even mail in a ballot.

Riots, looting and arson won't bode well for Democrats as they are largely soft condoning them with MLK quotes and referring to them as "expressions of grief". On the flip side people are also getting frustrated with the police at how legitimate protestors are being treated. A cop in Seattle pepper sprayed a kid. A legitimate child.

There's also time for more details to surface. Anecdotal and circumstantial evidence is pointing toward coordinated chaos efforts. I've seen accusations against antifa, white supremacy groups and various levels of law enforcement working as infiltrators and agitators. If the white supremacy and/or law enforcement proves true it could damage Trump.

You also have to take into account Trump himself. This fucking guy is a buffoon. The fact that Biden isn't a surefire success tells you the pathetic state of the Democratic Party.

I had hoped Trump's election would have been a wake-up call to the Duopoly. Bite the bullet for 4 years and reform. They cannot even get that right. Same old bullshit. Looks like we'll have to wait for '24 for a chance of sanity but I am not holding my breath.

I'd love '20 to be a boon for the LP but I am skeptical there's a shot at 5%.

[mtrueman]

"Bite the bullet for 4 years and reform."

Reform? Reform?! Aren't things bad enough already?

Lord Melbourne UK PM 1834 etc.

[Nardz]

"A legitimate child."

You sure he's not a bastard?

[Michael Ejercito]

And just like that, people are no longer worried about COVID-19.

[Earth Skeptic]

Except that "legal" masks are handy disguises in a riot.

[lap83]

Except the CNN reporters who wore masks during the riot, which strangely enough did not prevent them from being arrested

[mtrueman]

Chickens coming home to roost. Venezuela and Iran ignore empty Trump threats and successfully counter US sanctions. China making moves in Ladakh. Russia in Libya.

[Sevo]

"Venezuela and Iran ignore empty Trump threats and successfully counter US sanctions."

Right, the Venezuelans are still looking for a roll of TP.
mtrueman|8.30.17 @ 1:42PM|#
“Spouting nonsense is an end in itself.”

[mtrueman]

Tankers. Vessels.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Fuckin' hilarious how the narrative shifted almost overnight from, "We can't go outside or we'll get WuFlu" to "Everyone needs to get out in LAAAAAARRRRGGE gatherings and protest". This is "We've always been at war with Eastasia"-type shit.

[mtrueman]

Your chances of getting laid at a large demonstration or riot improve. That narrative wins every time.

[Brian]

This comment explains a lot.

[Nardz]

Aaaaaaaand trueman outs himself as a rapist

[mtrueman]

The charged atmosphere in such a demonstration heightens the libido.

[Nardz]

Yea, that's not an excuse for rape

[mtrueman]

It's a great excuse for consensual acts of a sexual nature.

[darkflame]

Listen man, just because she's physically unable to say no doesn't imply consent.

[mtrueman]

I promise you the heightened atmosphere of these actions leads to increased libido. Evidently difficult for commenters here to grasp but l assure you it's true. The participants are young and full of beans. Not at all like the adult diaper crowd we are familiar with.

[Jayburd]

This should be "right up your alley". https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=643340202733735

[mtrueman]

No alley of mine is complete without a burning police car.

[Earnesto Concernada]

None of this would be happening of not for republicans who are
1. Racist,
2. Hate government such that they make it ineffective.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

You can’t stomach the thought of anyone disagreeing with you about something. You want to fundamentally transform America into another version of communist China. You’re a Joker who’s looking for any justification you can find to burn America down.

You’re a totalitarian, and a terrorist.

[Nardz]

Riots are happening in blue cities in blue states that have blue governments who have contracts with blue public unions (yes, that includes police) as businesses are being looted by blue voters/activists...

But it's the R's fault

[Nardz]

In a way, it is the Rs fault - for opposing and not meekly submitting (enough) to totalitarian leftism.

Rejection and internal inconsistency have caused a full on mass nervous breakdown that seems to be (hopefully) peaking now.

[lap83]

Imagine how bad things would be if those Democrats weren't there to protect the blue states from white supremacists lurking behind every bush. Like ants, they keep coming back every year unless you do the preventative maintenance.

[damikesc]

...Yet it's not Republican led cities that have their police killing folks all willy-nilly.

I guess these deaths are the price for effective government.

[VenerableLurker]

The twin cities have been run by Democrats for literally decades. A cop with knee on a handcuffed man's neck for over 8 minutes is what you get with "effective" government. Your ilk would have the future of humanity as a boot stomping on a fearful face, forever. Go read the works of Thomas Paine, and keep re-reading them until the truth sinks into your thick skull.

[Reshufflex]

Protests my ass. 70% punks, losers, lowlifes and thugs. I say let ‘em have their Day in the Radical Sun. We all did at some point.

On the whole, the cycle of social rebellion, half bogus as it is, reestablishes the democratic consciousness and forces the statists to pause.

Silver lining.

[Colossal Douchebag]

On the whole, the cycle of social rebellion, half bogus as it is, reestablishes the democratic consciousness and forces the statists to pause.

Frequently this is true, and I hope it is this time. Occasionally, it inspires the statists to double down.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

By the way, most of these terrorists sure didn’t look to me as if they were practicing safe social distancing guidelines.

What happened to “Six feet apart, SIX FEET APART!!!”. Is that no longer a thing we need to do now?

[Colossal Douchebag]

Don't worry. Karen's going to give them all a good talking-to on the internet.

[Reshufflex]

The nomenclature has shifted: the operative phrase is now, six-feet under.

[VenerableLurker]

I imagine Chris Cuomo must be so upset that the needle has broken on his scold-o-meter. Probably had to go back into his basement to recover...

[Colossal Douchebag]

governors are deploying the National Guard in response to ... protests

Hey, anybody remember Kent State? Good times, good times.

[damikesc]

Call it a hunch...but I bet gun control isn't going to be in great shape after these...

[Mother's lament]

That's why Open Society Foundations is spending so much in sponsoring the rioters. Anarchy today is an investment in an authoritarian tomorrow.

[John]

Since most of America is armed, these riots are an entertaining side show to most people. If they ever manage to disarm the public, these riots will spread everywhere and the public will have no way to defend itself. Leftists know that. They know as long as the public is armed, they can't use mob violence and terror to take power. So, yes, you will be seeing all kinds of calls for gun control.

[creech]

Hey, now we've heard you. Now let's all stop voting for the do-nothing clowns, corrupt politicians, cop suckers, union pimps, and assorted other statists who have claimed, over and over again, that "this time we will reform the criminal justice system, hold cops accountable, and end the war on victimless crimes." There's been one party on most ballots since 1976 that has consistently opposed what has happened to those targeted by the State...and you've ignored it. Wake the f*** up!

[mtrueman]

Least you can do is learn another language and get yourself a passport.

[BigGiveNotBigGov]

American Carnage was more than just an old geezer's gripe like most assumed as Trump was screehing it out. It was a promise, maybe the only one that Trump has kept:

A raging pandemic that's already killed over 100,000 Americans.
An Obamacare (not repealed) cripled medical system, enabling it.
State goons killing and maiming Americans on camera.
Rioters looting and burning from coast to coast.
Hormonal rage, libel, and threats from the POTUS.
Free speech under sustained and vile assualt.
Failed tax and spend worse than ever.
The worst economy in living memory.

American Carnage, the one thing about which Trump did not lie and the one promise on which Trump delivered.

[Jayburd]

Ya better go to Hong Kong soon, Big, while ya still can, to get the scoop.

[Mother's lament]

You realize trying to blame a both Covid and the economic effects of a shutdown on Trump isn't going to work. People are very aware it's their governors that determine most of this.

All passing the buck like this is going to do is piss people off, because you are being patronizing and obviously think they're idiots.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

All of these cities - Minneapolis, Chicago, Philly, New York, Atlanta, etc., have one thing in common - staunch right-wing political leadership.

/prog

[creech]

That's right. The POS mayor of Philly just decried "decades of institutionalized racism." His Party has ruled Philly for more than sixty years, there have been black mayors (one of whom bombed a black neighborhood) and black chiefs of police. The state has had numerous governors of his Party, including "America's Governor, Ed Rendell", in these same decades. His Party's presumed candidate for President supported numerous measures which promoted more injustice and ratched up the boots on the neck of minorities. Want criminal justice reform? Stop voting for Parties which pay lip service and do nothing!

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Funny thing is that Jim Kenney is one of the most racist mayors you'll find.

He's a "those people" leftist who thinks that "those people", particularly black people, shouldn't make decisions for themselves because they won't choose what he wants.

[Reshufflex]

The left would become a mirage absent its plantation of dependency and identity politics. Ever since (ca.) the Great Society, blacks especially and other minorities have been indoctrinated by a myth.

The myth descends on them with a soothing, disarming sound-that government and the state grounds their progress and self-development. The sound repeats, and intensifies, with each succeeding generation. Almost every politician, academic and SJW on the left reinforces the refrain. It’s how they maintain their power structure.

But the sound is a siren song. It always was. And now they face the music.

[Ken Shultz]

"The POS mayor of Philly just decried “decades of institutionalized racism.”"

Well, it obviously can't be his fault.

[PurityDiluting]

"MSNBC reporter Ali Velshi says he was hit in the leg with a rubber bullet ..."
Yeah, and Ali reported that the police fired tear gas without any provocation for the crowd whatsoever. None at all. The provocation was ignoring the curfew, asswipe

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown MSNBC.

[PurityDiluting]

"Also in today's criminal justice news, National Guard and Minneapolis PD officers illegally demand taxpayers stop filming from their porch and go inside – you'll hear "Light 'em up!" as they then shoot at these people *WHO ARE ON THEIR OWN PORCH*

AND WHO WERE TOLD MORE THAN A DOZEN TIMES BEFOREHAND TO GO INSIDE

because a bad guy would never try to blend in with a innocent-looking crowd during a riot, and everyone is entitled to their own personal interpretation of what a stay indoors curfew means to them.
oh, and she was hit by A PAINTBALL (and I didn't hear anything in the audio about stop filming, just 'get inside' being yelled over and over again).

[Jayburd]

What precisely does pulling a "Cloward-Piven" on law enforcement accomplish? This whole issue could be solved by departments weaning out cops and recruits with "short man" attitudes (no offense to my height-challenged friends).

[Jayburd]

This is why we need A.I. LE. Robots aren't racist and a lot more lethal.

[Jayburd]

As a libertarian i am partial to sub-contracting the shooting of minorities, as we do overseas.

[John]

It accomplishes nothing. But you have to remember these people are retarded. They don't understand that the police are there to protect them. You want to let the police stand down and let these people run wild, okay. When you do that, the public itself will come down and put a stop to it and they will wish they had the police back.

[Jayburd]

What it tries to accomplish is the federalization of local police. And it won't be castration, probably militarization. The John Birch Society's "Support Your Local Police" bumper stickers meant keep them close, like the School Board. I always put one on my truck so I wouldn't get pulled over for, like,,, well you know.

[Homple]

Mayors are imposing curfews and governors are deploying the National Guard in response to anti-police-abuse protests.

"Anti-police-abuse protests". How profoundly retarded do you have to be to think these are "protests" and that the rioters really give a shi'ite about police abuse?

[John]

A protest necessarily has something it is demanding. What do these people want? The cop was already charged. They don't "want" anything except to burn shit down and steal. They are rioters not protesters. And yes the author is profoundly retarded.

[mtrueman]

"They don’t “want” anything except to burn shit down and steal."

It's the language the regime understands most easily. And is most threatened by. What would you have the rioters do instead?

[Ken Shultz]

Well, the rioters say it's about police abuse, and if a rioter says it, then it must be true.

[Ken Shultz]

Forgot the /sarcasm font tag.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

Remember that the military and FBI have been increasingly focused on far right movements since at least 2013. It's nice of them to follow the lead of our other institutions in playing political bullshit instead of focusing on real threats.

[Nardz]

http://www.zerohedge.com/political/its-setup-mysteriously-staged-bricks-appear-throughout-major-protest-cities

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

5 pallets of bricks in a nation of 330 million is not evidence of anything.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

The overriding issue is not that we've been living in a police state for three months and that civilization is disintegrating before our eyes. The real problem is that these rioters are not social distancing. Undoubtedly Bailey will have a new model to report on Monday based on changing circumstances.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

A real, actual WuFlu spike and lockdown measures being re-instituted might be just enough to tip things over.

[darkflame]

Trump's declared that he's gonna get Antifa designated as a terrorist organization. Meanwhile, Biden's staff is bailing out these fuckers. I seem to recall an article from about a year or 2 ago about how the FBI was tracking Antifa stocking up on weapons. Looks like the forecast is gonna be sunny with a chance of drone strikes.

[Mike Drop]

Slow down a second. They said they contributed to the Minnesota Freedom Foundation (Fund? Might be getting the exact name wrong.)

How did we get from that fact to claiming they are bailing out Antifa members?

[mtrueman]

"How did we get from that fact to claiming they are bailing out Antifa members?"

Anger, frustration and ignorance.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Any subversive organization, whether it's Antifa or the KKK, is going to be crawling with feds. Sure, Trump may just be talking shit again like usual, but Barr's already released a statement, and these galaxy-brains have been taking their smartphones with them everywhere.

Honestly, it would really be easier to just seize the records of the National Lawyers Guild and go through their clients. Those guys have been providing services for the radical left for 80 years.

[darkflame]

Ya got to wonder where this will go, especially if the government can prove that it's Antifa specifically that's burning everything down. Are we gonna see a replay of what happened to people who signed up with the communist party in the 1920s & 30s, only to get hit with all sorts of shit when the reds became the enemy in the 50s and 60s? A lot of Democrat politicians have supported these assholes.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It's not going to be like the 50s and 60s, if only because the institutions that basically operated like crypto-commie havens in academia and the media are now out and proud leftists.

Guarantee that, short of the process of Antifa getting its shit pushed in reveals a lot of foreign money trails and no-kidding sedition with the help of Chinese or Russian agents, this will ultimately be glossed over. Hell, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn should have faced decades in prison for the bombings they and Weather Underground committed, and the real, actual efforts they made to try and break the country apart, but they basically just got a slap on the wrist. It probably won't be any different with Antifa.