[News] Protests Against Police Violence After Death of George Floyd

Discuss police violence, the victims of police violence (including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor), the Black-led protests against said violence, and related topics.

Chairman_Mao wrote:

So the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff did a pretty quick turnabout considering he just walked with Trump in combat uniform to St. John's Episcopal Church in his combat uniform. His letter might be a total snow job. Or maybe we're in for a coup! Who knows.

IMAGE(https://media.tenor.com/images/214284ba3834f8985d2d17b5782de178/tenor.gif)

The Republicans force Trump to resign and we get Mother's Husband?

ClockworkHouse wrote:
James Mattis wrote:

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.

I'm happy for you, Mattis, and I'mma let you finish, but you were his Secretary of Defense for two years. You were a part of those three years without mature leadership. You were a part of that "deliberate effort". If he was a clear and present danger to the Constitution and unfit for office, you shoulda f*cking said something about it before now.

Yep. I couldn't believe how people went along with that shtick back in 2016, and I still can't believe it. Zero respect from me.

Chairman_Mao wrote:

So the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff did a pretty quick turnabout considering he just walked with Trump in combat uniform to St. John's Episcopal Church in his combat uniform. His letter might be a total snow job. Or maybe we're in for a coup! Who knows.

Milley and Esper were very quick to say that they had no idea about the photo op until it happened, nor that the protesters would be forcibly cleared out. That specifically seems to have been a really unpopular move that everyone but Trump is taking a step back from.

So presumably they were okay with the blatantly authoritarian speech Trump gave. They just weren't happy with him actually doing what he said he would do.

Or did they not know what he was planning to say? (I strongly doubt that.)

Not sure if you are a guitar player, but if you are - avoid Fulltone pedals, please.

At this point, the Trump administration's response to the Mattis article could just involve plagiarizing lines from anti-Trump internet users.

SallyNasty wrote:

Not sure if you are a guitar player, but if you are - avoid Fulltone pedals, please.

UPDATE: Michael Fuller has since given a statement in response to the backlash, clarifying his position and apologising for offense caused. See below.

Non-apology alert!

Actually, reading the full apology, it's not really as much of a non-apology as the update note makes it sound. He honestly seems sincerely sorry for the way he put it. But he still thinks looting should be prosecuted.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:

So the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff did a pretty quick turnabout considering he just walked with Trump in combat uniform to St. John's Episcopal Church in his combat uniform. His letter might be a total snow job. Or maybe we're in for a coup! Who knows.

Milley and Esper were very quick to say that they had no idea about the photo op until it happened, nor that the protesters would be forcibly cleared out. That specifically seems to have been a really unpopular move that everyone but Trump is taking a step back from.

So presumably they were okay with the blatantly authoritarian speech Trump gave. They just weren't happy with him actually doing what he said he would do.

Or did they not know what he was planning to say? (I strongly doubt that.)

I'm not sure anyone knows what Trump is going to say before he says it. He routinely horrifies his staff.

Malor wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:

So the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff did a pretty quick turnabout considering he just walked with Trump in combat uniform to St. John's Episcopal Church in his combat uniform. His letter might be a total snow job. Or maybe we're in for a coup! Who knows.

Milley and Esper were very quick to say that they had no idea about the photo op until it happened, nor that the protesters would be forcibly cleared out. That specifically seems to have been a really unpopular move that everyone but Trump is taking a step back from.

So presumably they were okay with the blatantly authoritarian speech Trump gave. They just weren't happy with him actually doing what he said he would do.

Or did they not know what he was planning to say? (I strongly doubt that.)

I'm not sure anyone knows what Trump is going to say before he says it. He routinely horrifies his staff.

sh*t. At this point, I think even the spirochetes are disavowing his actions.

NYT: Facing Protests Over Use of Force, Police Respond With More Force
Videos showed officers using batons, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets on protesters and bystanders.

@rebtanhs, Washington Post reporter:

The Trump administration has continually tried to portray the D.C. protests as violent / dangerous. You can judge for yourself how yesterday’s event went with this compilation of videos from multiple reporters:

@NathanBacaTV, WUSA9 reporter:

Breaking: police canisters gathered by @wusa9 crews Monday night show federal police DID use artificial CS tear gas in addition to natural OC gas on BlackLivesMatter #WashingtonDCProtests Asking @usparkpolicepio & @realDonaldTrump for response on statements claiming otherwise.
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/C0RtrpT/EZr-Ig-V1-Wo-AQldzd.jpg)

WP Op-Ed: The no-knock warrant for Breonna Taylor was illegal
Police departments continue to violate an important Supreme Court ruling — and judges keep letting them

Just after midnight on March 13, police in Louisville on a drug raid forced their way into the home of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman who worked as an emergency room technician. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, a licensed gun owner, woke up and grabbed his gun. According to the police, Walker then fired at them, and the police returned with a storm of at least 20 bullets, striking Taylor at least eight times, killing her. (One police officer was shot in the leg and is expected to make a full recovery.)
Much of this has been previously reported. Here is what has yet to be reported: The no-knock warrant for Breonna Taylor's home was illegal.
That’s exactly what has happened. Breonna Taylor’s death wasn’t some unimaginable accident. Nor were the deaths of people who have since died in similar raids. Her death was the entirely foreseeable consequence of a police department feeling free to callously and carelessly ignore the Fourth Amendment and the Supreme Court’s decision to prioritize the integrity of drug prosecutions over the Fourth Amendment right of Americans to feel safe and secure in their homes.

Unless this is corrected, the next Breonna Taylor is coming.

Boston Globe: ‘It’s a broken window, it’s not a life.’ Damaged businesses choose to amplify Black Lives Matter movement: Damaged businesses are choosing to amplify the Black Lives Matter movement.

At 6 on Monday morning, Hadley Douglas awoke to a text from a friend. It was the news that she’d been dreading: Urban Grape, the South End storefront that Douglas owns with her husband, TJ, had had its window smashed in as thieves took advantage of the chaos that erupted after Sunday’s peaceful protest.

The hours and days that followed tested the Douglases emotionally and were yet another significant setback after months of financial strain. But the Douglases, and other independent business owners in the city who suffered looting damage, sided with the protesters voicing outrage over police brutality.

When the text message about the looting came, Hadley Douglas, who is white, stayed home with their kids while TJ, who is Black, drove from their home to the South End to check on the store. Then her phone rang: Someone had tripped the store’s alarm, and the representative from the security company needed a password to turn it off. Her mind went blank — they usually called TJ first — and the dispatcher told her she would have to call the police.

She panicked, the fear and frustration that have fueled the protests of the past week forcing a tightening in her chest.

“You can’t call the police," she sobbed. Her husband, she explained, "is Black and in a broken-into liquor store the night after protesting and rioting. I need you to hear me when I say you can’t send the police,” she told the dispatcher. “If you call them, you have to understand what you’re condemning him to.”

The dispatcher was sobbing, too — she was torn, and had to do her job — when suddenly the alarm stopped.

SallyNasty wrote:

Not sure if you are a guitar player, but if you are - avoid Fulltone pedals, please.

If folks want to support an amazing member of the trans community who makes top of the line guitar effects/pedals and teaches others electronics, Fran Blanche has her Frantone stuff available. She makes it all by hand which does mean small batches and a limited selection, but her stuff is made to last a loooong time.

I really love his closing comments describing the differences between the civil rights movement protests of the 1960s and the protests that are taking place today. Just a few simple things, but they show a big difference, and that gives me hope, too. The people out on the streets are a far more diverse group than the groups protesting in favor of the Civil Rights Act. And, despite a few of the current protests turning ugly (and the uglier they are, the more the media highlights them), a majority of Americans still think the current protests are justified. That definitely was not the case in the 1960s.

(BTW, Obama and I were born a month apart. Let me tell you that was an eye opener for me when he was elected president!)

That was....not bad per se but certainly not inspiring. Perhaps for me things have gone a bit beyond his nice, calm, reassuring tone. His talk about how good we have been doing, how he loves seeing so many people engaged...etc.

While he is head and shoulders above the current occupant of the White House he is not really helping all that much.

Axon wrote:

Being completely pedantic, it dates back to the 70s' in Northern Ireland. The British developed the weapon and handed it over to the RUC. The RUC would have had some parallels with modern day US police forces (heavily militarised and not exactly evenhanded).

The RUC could certainly be viewed unfavorably. They were often unnecessarily militant. They were not evenhanded between the communities. The RUC are not recalled fondly, not by anyone, really.

Our background is Protestant (Unionist). A family member was fired upon and hit with a rubber bullet. By the RUC. He was separate from those causing trouble, an onlooker from the front of his property. Why they chose to fire upon him is a mystery other than they had the power to do so, so they exercised it. They misinterpreted his actions. They misfired. Difficulty discerning civilians from protesters from rioters amongst a crowd. That's how they explain it. Anyway. He was lucky. We knew of many in similar circumstances who were less so.

Another individual, this time an active participant in what was taking place, although not the same instance, sought to aid someone who was being brutalized by the RUC. Unnecessary use of force. Endangering life. He was similarly dealt with. Unfortunately an RUC officer suffered an injury in the scuffle which ultimately cost this RUC officer their life. Needless to say this individual was sent down. The issue was, as others could and would attest to, this individual was not the one who engaged with that RUC officer. He was, though, the easiest identifiable and was known to the RUC. He intervened first. That was enough. Someone to blame. Someone to punish. Someone to pay. The system worked how they wanted it to.

My early childhood saw the RUC and the Army on our streets, and in our Entries. They were part of the furniture. This was in the 90s'. Not the worst by any stretch. Still. No one trusted them. We were taught to be wary. Whilst they were in our communities they weren't there to serve or protect us. I'm not sure I believed that fair. Not all the time. Yet when your elders spoke you listened. They were looking out for you. They had experienced before you.

We had stand-offs between the two communities a few times a year. The RUC would get involved which only seemed to escalate the situation more often than not. On purpose? Byproduct? I couldn't say.

As I became older I began to hate the RUC. I leaned more to my community and more away from the opposite community. I saw those around me being assaulted, falsely accused, killed, by both. My mother intervened. We moved house. We moved quite a distance. It course corrected.

Axon wrote:

Of course, it's been disbanded now and has been reformed with huge over sight into the PSNI. The PSNI is viewed so favourably on this Island that the current Garda Commissioner is Drew Harris who was the Deputy Chief Constable of the PSNI and is the first non-Irish citizen to hold the role.

Curious, RnRClown you're up in Belfast? What's the general consensus on the RUC to PSNI reforms been like. We down here in Dublin tend to few have a favourable view and I don't see a lot to abuse myself of that notion. But always good to hear even anecdotes to add context. On a wider front, it seems those reforms are a template for what has to happen in quite a number of US states.

I reside just outside of Belfast now. I have not resided in Belfast since our 1997 departure. Northern Ireland is a small place, though. You're never far removed. Family. Friends. Work.

From my perspective, there is a lot more trust in and goodwill towards the PSNI. That's possibly more to do with how unfavorably the RUC were viewed. How they evaded accountability. There are areas and communities who still maintain a level of distrust. There are age demographics between positive and negative viewpoints.

What has helped is more Catholics being recruited to the PSNI. More women, too. When law enforcement better represents the communities they serve it goes a ways to bridging understanding and compassion. Less militant responses can reduce aggression and fear. The RUC rolled in with armoured land rovers and weapons drawn. For everything. The PSNI can utilize a standard vehicle with holstered weapons. The disappearance of water cannons and rubber bullets went a long way. Those signalled immediate non-negotiable blanket oppression with an intent to hurt.

It feels like I'm going too far afield. I don't mean to detail or adjust focus so I'll wrap it up. Good food for thought, though, Axon.

Ezra Klein had an interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates this week where Coates expressed hope in the midst of all of this. He had a very interesting analogy.

Imagine if black Americans from the turn of the 20th century could see King's March on Washington. The sight of millions of black Americans marching on Washington would lookalmost impossible as a political event.

He goes on to say that he believes the response across the country right now over the last week is equally dramatic. Watching protestors join in protest in 50 states in days of sustained protest all across the country. Americans of all races and economic backgrounds not just agreeing that what happened to George Floyd was wrong, but willing to risk their lives to say that.

I have been angry and sad and anxious the last week, but I think it's important to remember that some of our Americans view this as hopeful that they're no longer alone in the fight.

BadKen wrote:

despite a few of the current protests turning ugly (and the uglier they are, the more the media highlights them)

I've seen this from friends and family back in Louisville. When things were violent, instigated by the LMPD, on Friday and Saturday and Sunday, the local networks did live coverage until after midnight.

After they fired the police chief and a few nights have been calm, and even no arrests for breaking curfew, the local channels just cut coverage at 9. They're not covering any of the positive peaceful part like they were the violent bits.

DSGamer wrote:

Ezra Klein had an interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates this week where Coates expressed hope in the midst of all of this. He had a very interesting analogy.

Imagine if black Americans from the turn of the 20th century could see King's March on Washington. The sight of millions of black Americans marching on Washington would lookalmost impossible as a political event.

He goes on to say that he believes the response across the country right now over the last week is equally dramatic. Watching protestors join in protest in 50 states in days of sustained protest all across the country. Americans of all races and economic backgrounds not just agreeing that what happened to George Floyd was wrong, but willing to risk their lives to say that.

I have been angry and sad and anxious the last week, but I think it's important to remember that some of our Americans view this as hopeful that they're no longer alone in the fight.

This was my exact thought as I watched protest coverage last night. The rallies are so much larger than anything I’ve seen that has been so persistent, and it is massively diverse. They are also massively peaceful. While the Right continues to lump looters and vandals in with protesters, they’ve never been so clearly not with the protesters, thanks to impressive work by protesters to call them out and stop them.

Whether it is the good we did, or a valid reaction to the crap we didn’t fix, the next generation is looking like the real heroes. And they are playing Trump like a fiddle. Much better than any of other pushback against Trump. He is finally being called out by name, a fascist, by people the GOP supposedly respect.

But, man, this is gonna be a long, hot summer...

farley3k wrote:

That was....not bad per se but certainly not inspiring.

Wait for it.
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*clears throat*
Much like his presidency!

Yeah. I really was stoked at the start of Obama's presidency but looking back it was more and more a "lets just all get along" message while the other side actively beats you and pisses in your dinner.

Yep. I think he could have tried a bit harder. To be fair, I think he also thinks he could have tried harder.

I will say, though, that I'd take Obama as President for the rest of my life over 4 more years of donald.

Was Obama the progressive leader I wanted? No. Was he a good president? Yeah. Did he support/allow some pretty awful things? Yeah. Did he support/allow some pretty awesome things? Definitely.

To be blunt, if he were part of the white ethnic majority of the US, he'd have been quite a disappointing Democrat president to me.

But he is not. He had to bear the unbelievable weight of being the first ethnic minority president in US history. Dude spent eight years walking a damn tightrope. I'm not giving him the presidential equivalent of socially promoting a child from one grade to the next. No, I give him mad props for enduring a ratio of catching sh*t versus deserving said sh*t that eclipses any other US president in history, and doing a pretty damn fine job in spite of that.

All that said, man, I would love to see him leading one of the protester marches in D.C. Barr's sh*tty mercenaries versus the Secret Service would be a staring contest for the history books.

Farscry wrote:

All that said, man, I would love to see him leading one of the protester marches in D.C. Barr's sh*tty mercenaries versus the Secret Service would be a staring contest for the history books.

The former President leading a march against the current White House would be seen as a coup, domestically and internationally. That could escalate very, very quickly. As it is, Obama making national addresses on television is being interpreted as a sign of instability.

Nm

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Farscry wrote:

All that said, man, I would love to see him leading one of the protester marches in D.C. Barr's sh*tty mercenaries versus the Secret Service would be a staring contest for the history books.

The former President leading a march against the current White House would be seen as a coup, domestically and internationally. That could escalate very, very quickly. As it is, Obama making national addresses on television is being interpreted as a sign of instability.

There aren't already enough signs?

Obama at the head of the march makes it into Democrats vs Republicans, liberal vs conservative, same old sh*t vs even worse sh*t.

It needs to remain what it is: the people, standing up for their civil liberties, vs those who would take them away by force of arms and long-entrenched immunity from the law.

After careful consideration, we have decided the most effective way to eliminate Lt. Bob Kroll's employment with the Minneapolis Police is to eliminate the Minneapolis Police Department.

That video of Obama is not an "address to the nation." It was an interview on MSNBC, and the version that aired was much shorter than what you see on YouTube. There were I think two segments aired, one about a minute and a half, and one a little over two minutes.

And it has a hopeful message. And it has not one iota of negativity towards the current administration. And this sh*t has been going on all week, and this is the first time Obama has publicly said word one about it.

Anyone claiming that video is Obama trying to start something is trying to start something themselves.

I'm not sure where the resources page is or if there is one yet, but I have a friend who's working on supply chain logistics to make sure there are food and supplies for folks in Minneapolis where grocery stores were burned down.

If you live in the area or nearby and would be able to help provide food or supplies it would be really appreciated.

She's attempting to source these supplies from outside the immediate Twin Cities area so there aren't barren shelves inside of Minneapolis.

More information here -
https://www.facebook.com/hannah.remt...