Protests

[MU82]

Yay! That arson made me very sad. Had worked in a nearby building several times.

THUG!

[forgetful]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-protests-man-pushed-ground-salt-lake-city-utah-george-floyd-a9541126.html

This is what the rest of the world gets to see about how the US police handle protesters.

Police shoving an old man with a cane down to the ground.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Good reminder that there are lots of cops who get it.

@RexChapman: Genesee County Sheriff (Flint, Michigan) Chris Swanson put down his helmet and baton and asked protesters how he could help.

The protesters chanted "walk with us" so the Sheriff joined — and walked alongside the protesters in solidarity.

Leadership.🌎❤️ https://twitter.com/TheoShantonas/status/1267096096825905152/video/1


@bribrielle_: Art Acevedo, Houston Chief of Police “DONT FOLLOW THAT BULLcrap” https://twitter.com/bribrielle_/status/1267195158149369856/video/1

The New Haven Police marched with the protestors on Saturday.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

There has been an arrest in the torching of Nashville's historic courthouse.

https://www.wkrn.com/news/crime-tracker/suspected-metro-courthouse-arsonist-arrested/?fbclid=IwAR0cTcWxWEFfj1LvIS_MAqyC-1BVVkExfGOqT6T3InGkggKnYzpKxHBl24U

And with a Deadpool t-shirt. 

[Galway Eagle]

My cousins in London told me there was a massive protest outside the US embassy.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.standard.co.uk/news/london/george-floyd-black-lives-matter-protest-london-us-embassy-a4455661.html%3famp

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

My cousins in London told me there was a massive protest outside the US embassy.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.standard.co.uk/news/london/george-floyd-black-lives-matter-protest-london-us-embassy-a4455661.html%3famp

I was watching Euronews last night (it's one of the news stations on my cable) and they showed this protest and spoke with some of the protesters.  There was a protest in Germany also.

[mu03eng]

My cousins in London told me there was a massive protest outside the US embassy.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.standard.co.uk/news/london/george-floyd-black-lives-matter-protest-london-us-embassy-a4455661.html%3famp

We've got a lot of progress to make, there is no doubt but getting a lecture out of Europe is borderline hysterical. I've lived in a lot of parts of this country, I attended schools in some very poor neighborhoods and I've never experienced in the US the casual racism that I did in Europe, especially England.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I actually said to my wife, "In addition to the zillion other problems here, this is going to make the COVID-19 situation worse. A bunch of people without PPE screaming into each other's faces from close range. Talk about a 'super-spreader event.'"

I think we will undoubtedly see an uptick in cases.  I hope we don't or that its minimal.  It would be a good sign for all sorts of reasons.

[mu03eng]

I think we will undoubtedly see an uptick in cases.  I hope we don't or that its minimal.  It would be a good sign for all sorts of reasons.

Agreed, it will be really interesting to see what the Covid situation looks like 4 weeks out and 8 weeks out from this point. 4 weeks would be the direct infection from the protests(incubation, symptoms, worsening symptoms, hospitalization, and then deaths) and 8 weeks would be the secondary infection ring(those who didn't protest but spend time/live with those who did) with the same cycle. The science and narrative will be interesting in July.

[GooooMarquette]

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/26/1947872/-KY-Governor-Beshear-D-amn-Right-Responds-to-Being-Burned-in-Effigy-You-WANT-to-Hear-This

Governor Beshear’s response to the protester who hung him in effigy.
The protester was identified and fired, also.

"You cannot fan the flames and then condemn the fire."

A quote that applies to the appalling action action in KY...and to the protests against the pervasive racism and police brutality that ultimately led to the murder of George Floyd.

[Galway Eagle]

Some messed up stuff by police right now

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2020/5/31/21276044/police-violence-protest-george-floyd

[WarriorDad]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-protests-man-pushed-ground-salt-lake-city-utah-george-floyd-a9541126.html

This is what the rest of the world gets to see about how the US police handle protesters.

Police shoving an old man with a cane down to the ground.

They also get to see a woman beaten and attacked by protesters.  She was guarding her business while her husband pleaded for them to stop. 

https://twitter.com/ekiledjian/status/1267442429566869506?s=20

Rest of the world seeing some great things right now, including most police that get it and are doing their jobs right now. The attacks on the Chicago and NY PD by peaceful protesters was a site to see.

Suddenly coronavirus isn't a thing and knocked off the news. 

The good news is that our Federal leader as well as Governors and Mayors aren't fanning the flames and blaming people because of skin color, ideologies or where they come from. 

[wadesworld]

They also get to see a woman beaten and attacked by protesters.  She was guarding her business while her husband pleaded for them to stop. 

https://twitter.com/ekiledjian/status/1267442429566869506?s=20

Rest of the world seeing some great things right now, including most police that get it and are doing their jobs right now. The attacks on the Chicago and NY PD by peaceful protesters was a site to see.

Suddenly coronavirus isn't a thing and knocked off the news. 

The good news is that our Federal leader as well as Governors and Mayors aren't fanning the flames and blaming people because of skin color, ideologies or where they come from. 

The coronavirus isn't a thing?  It's knocked off the news?  The US is showing great things to the rest of the world?

What world are you living in?

[mu_hilltopper]

Thousands of hours of video of police doing their jobs, stepping in to the breach, trying to maintain peace.

And yes, dozens of videos of police acting terribly this weekend.   So massively disappointing to see these examples of just plain stupidity on the part of police.  Pushing an elderly guy with a cane?   Shooting people on their front porch?   Drive by pepper spray of an apparently peaceful crowd? 

Terrible, and so counter-productive.

[forgetful]

Thousands of hours of video of police doing their jobs, stepping in to the breach, trying to maintain peace.

And yes, dozens of videos of police acting terribly this weekend.   So massively disappointing to see these examples of just plain stupidity on the part of police.  Pushing an elderly guy with a can?   Shooting people on their front porch?   Drive by pepper spray of an apparently peaceful crowd? 

Terrible, and so counter-productive.

This is what bothers me. There are massive protests involving millions of people around the US right now. There are a handful of outliers that turn it violent. The media focuses on that element.

At the same time, there are thousands of police, doing the right thing during these protests, and there are outliers (saw a sad 20 minute video of police brutality during these protests) violently attacking peaceful protesters. Certain aspects of the media focus on the police doing the right thing.

The reality is there is about 1% of the population that are simply crappy people.

[shoothoops]

Minneapolis Police uses next restraints "at least 237 times" since 2015 according to records.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1220416?__twitter_impression=true

[MU82]

There's a big difference between rioters, looters, antifa, white supremacists and any other manner of hell-raisers raising hell right now (even if it seems there are a lot of them), and the police instigating, provoking and escalating (even if it's not many doing that).

Unlike rioters, police are duty-bound to protect and serve. They are trained (theoretically) to de-escalate and bring peace. They are hired specifically to be public servants we Americans can trust. Thankfully, the vast majority of them take that duty seriously and perform it well.

To see some of these authority figures violate our trust, it's like the disappointment when a trusted employee embezzles funds, when a trusted member of the clergy molests kids, when a trusted coach covers up sexual assaults, when a trusted contractor takes short cuts to line his own pockets - and sure, I'll cite my former profession, when a trusted reporter fabricates a story.

I can't imagine the pain a black person goes through when he or she has to deal with this stuff; I can try to put myself in his or her shoes, but I'm pretty certain I will never be assaulted during a traffic stop simply because of the color of my skin. But I definitely can understand and empathize with the feeling of a violation of trust.

We are supposed to be able to trust police officers. So when some of them are the opposite of trustworthy, it's beyond bad. And quite often, it's deadly, not just for the victim but for the rioting it provokes.

Attempts to equivocate the misdeeds of police officers who are sworn to protect and serve, to the actions of rioters ... that's just not helpful. Those who are doing it, please stop.

[MU82]

Oh boy ...

President Donald Trump told the nation's governors this morning that they should clamp down on demonstrations that rocked the nation this weekend following the killing of Minnesota man while he was being detained by police.

"They're terrorists. They're Antifa and the radical left," Trump said of the unrest that has spawned mass protests in major cities, as well as building burnings and looting.

"You have to arrest those people and you have to try them," Trump said, based on a recording of the governors' call obtained by Newsweek. "If you don't dominate your city and your state, they are going to walk away with you."

"You have to have total domination," he added.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-tells-governors-dominate-protestors-after-george-floyds-death-says-theyre-1507877

No word on if he talked about how superbly his threats to shoot Americans worked to de-escalate the situation.

[forgetful]

There's a big difference between rioters, looters, antifa, white supremacists and any other manner of hell-raisers raising hell right now (even if it seems there are a lot of them), and the police instigating, provoking and escalating (even if it's not many doing that).

Unlike rioters, police are duty-bound to protect and serve. They are trained (theoretically) to de-escalate and bring peace. They are hired specifically to be public servants we Americans can trust. Thankfully, the vast majority of them take that duty seriously and perform it well.

To see some of these authority figures violate our trust, it's like the disappointment when a trusted employee embezzles funds, when a trusted member of the clergy molests kids, when a trusted coach covers up sexual assaults, when a trusted contractor takes short cuts to line his own pockets - and sure, I'll cite my former profession, when a trusted reporter fabricates a story.

I can't imagine the pain a black person goes through when he or she has to deal with this stuff; I can try to put myself in his or her shoes, but I'm pretty certain I will never be assaulted during a traffic stop simply because of the color of my skin. But I definitely can understand and empathize with the feeling of a violation of trust.

We are supposed to be able to trust police officers. So when some of them are the opposite of trustworthy, it's beyond bad. And quite often, it's deadly, not just for the victim but for the rioting it provokes.

Attempts to equivocate the misdeeds of police officers who are sworn to protect and serve, to the actions of rioters ... that's just not helpful. Those who are doing it, please stop.

I hope you do not think that is what I was implying with my post.

My post was in regards to some segments of our media focusing on "rioting, looting" and ignoring that 99% of the protests are peaceful. While at the same time, completely ignoring the escalation and brutality of some members of those sworn to protect and serve.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

To be fair, I don't think Trump did much to escalate the situation and I don't think there was much he could have done to de-escalate it either.  I think most of the people causing the problems were going to cause it regardless.  Be they anarchists, crap-baggers who want to create mayhem for mayhem's sake, police out on a power trip, or even people who legitimately went out to protest and got caught up in it, none of them were going to listen to Trump either way.

[mu03eng]

Forgetful is correct, we lose sight of the good because it by and large the good "doesn't sell". Note, I'm making an approximation here: 80% of the protest interactions are normal, 15% are extraordinary(cops and protesters comforting/supporting each other), and 5% is terrible(rioting, cops lack of restraint, physical attacks, etc). You have breathless reporting at the national level of all the horrible going on that is disproportionate to reality which gets further compounded by social media where depending who you follow and their personal narrative influences what you see in your timelines so to speak.

Collectively we need to step back from our individual tribes and narratives and think of the other tribes and how we bridge the gaps between them constructively....
And we're going to have to do it because the president has abdicated his role in that process. We assess what we have and where we need to go and then go.

[MU82]

I hope you do not think that is what I was implying with my post.

My post was in regards to some segments of our media focusing on "rioting, looting" and ignoring that 99% of the protests are peaceful. While at the same time, completely ignoring the escalation and brutality of some members of those sworn to protect and serve.

I understand, sir. Not sure how much I want to blame the media for showing news, but I get what you're saying.

To be fair, I don't think Trump did much to escalate the situation and I don't think there was much he could have done to de-escalate it either. 

You might be right, though it still might have been nice to see the president of the United States at least try to act like a leader for all Americans instead of a third-world strongman.

We hear speeches from past presidents from both parties in times like these, or we hear the mayor of Atlanta a couple days ago and a few other current politicians, or we hear civic leaders and athletes and religious leaders and entertainers ... and it just drives home the point of the terrible void in national leadership we have today.

A President Kasich or President Rubio or President (insert most other names) would have at least tried.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

In before another Nads thread lock.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

Collectively we need to step back from our individual tribes and narratives and think of the other tribes and how we bridge the gaps between them constructively....
And we're going to have to do it because the president has abdicated his role in that process. We assess what we have and where we need to go and then go.

 I think your advice is good and everybody needs to take a step back and say what do we need to do to if we want to continue to have a country...because this isn’t it.

[muwarrior69]

Extra credit assignment:

Compare and contrast the police reaction to the re-open protestors vs the George Floyd protestors.

There were no anarchists imbedded with the re-open protesters as there were with the George Floyd protesters, thus no windows smashed, cop cars set on fire and buildings burned to the ground. Also law enforcement was not the target of the protest in the one as the other therefore a different police response.