Wherever it came from, whoever is behind it, whatever the reasons – burning, looting , and threatening have no positive effects on anyone.
On the 19th anniversary of the night a young deputy died, which was also the 29th anniversary of the day a cop friend lobbied for the assignment that would result in his death, I heard a screaming kid in a live video call a police officer a name I can’t print.
I sincerely hope a lot of Americans are as angry as I am.
I’m about disgusted with those who have decided that pitching a fit and destroying property is the most effective way to get their voices heard. I reckon they can’t quite get over not being able to fulfill their internet-fueled dreams of easy money and easier living, so rather than saddling up and working harder, they turn to politicians who tell them what they want to hear and make promises that will never be kept.
I have not personally examined the paperwork surrounding the raid that left Breonna Taylor dead, except for what is available online. I have only briefly looked at the online documents and a variety of videos regarding George Floyd, Jacob Blake and several others who are considered martyrs by some on the left. It didn’t take much to confirm, through multiple sources, that Floyd was not the angel he was made out to be, although he may have been trying to rebuild his life. Blake was facing arrest for sexual assault and theft of a debit card, and refused to comply when instructed to do so by officers. Taylor apparently was no longer an EMT, as is constantly being reported, and had allegedly allowed a boyfriend who was a drug dealer to live in her home and use his address, but never informed police.
These folks did not have to die, but they weren’t murdered or ambushed. They each made a conscious decision to put their lives in jeopardy when they allowed the ball to start rolling that led to their shootings by police. In virtually every case like this, there were serious mistakes made on both sides.
It’s easy for us to be armchair critics, since we were not there when Floyd argued with police about getting in the car, or the officers raiding Taylor’s apartment knocked on the door, or when Blake’s hand moved toward a weapon.
It’s easy for us to say we would have done it differently, since 98 percent of us have never been in law enforcement, or faced a similar situation.
Yes, the police screwed up in the Floyd case. One officer may have been too quick on the trigger in the Blake case, although tasers had been used twice on him. The officer indicted for firing rounds into an apartment beside Taylor’s may be a lousy shot.
But.
None of these people were snowy-pure innocent victims hunted down by police because of their race, as the media, rabble rousers and politicians would have us to believe. They each made bad choices that any of us might have made, but for the grace of God, and as such they died because of actions by law enforcement officers intent on obeying their oaths to protect the community.
Yet they are now martyrs in whose names people have destroyed large portions of cities, martyrs in whose names police departments and law enforcement agencies are being hamstrung by politicians above and media below, caught between the boulders of “Don’t hurt the suspect!” and “You should have done something.” I wonder if these people would have complained that white men killed my friend Donald Tucker, who was black, while he was working undercover to break up a drug ring. Would they have memorialized Donald, since he was black – or demonized him, since he was a cop?
Watching Chad Nesbitt’s basic, really honest reporting from Asheville last week showed the sheer idiocy of some of these people burning down their own neighborhoods to make some kind of a point.
Nesbitt interviewed and debated with a protester who was sipping a latte as he explained that the tourism industry in Asheville was not sustainable, and it was unfair to people who couldn’t afford to stay in pricey hotels. Hoteliers in Asheville are mean, according to the protestor.
He said that capitalism had nothing to do with the recovery from the Great Depression, and that greedy rich folks just took advantage of the disarray in the years after World War II to become richer. The young man also said that people in poor neighborhoods should have firearms to defend themselves — against police.
Nesbitt had been doing an outstanding job in recent weeks, just letting the videos and protestors speak for themselves. That’s possibly why he was attacked the other night. A protestor tripped or pushed one of Nesbitt’s bodyguards, who then fell against Nesbitt, who then hit his head on a parking meter. He sustained severe head trauma, possibly some brain damage, and last I heard, was still hospitalized.
The parking meter has since become a popular “tourist attraction” for protestors. They smile and pose beside it. One of the cop-haters from out that way – a male I know in passing, through odd circumstances – said he was going to start a GoFundMe campaign for the parking meter.
Nesbitt isn’t the only newsman being threatened or injured, and with few exceptions, it’s not the police making the threats, regardless of the claims of some professional bloggers. In a now-deleted Tweet Saturday night from Raleigh, a reporter was warned by protestors to leave the area, since everyone with a camera was going to be in trouble when the 9 p.m. curfew went into effect. In Louisville, Kentucky, a newspaper reporter was told much the same thing. And everyone is familiar with the case of the freelance reporter out west who was assaulted with a cup of cement while trying to report on conditions in one of the so-called “free zones.”
Once the darlings of the Antifa movement, the “protesters” are getting upset at seeing their pictures broadcast whilst doing bad things. In their own way, these so-called protestors are no different from politicians: if you’re trying to hide from the press, it means you have something to hide from the world.
Considering how many in the media have bought into the BLM/Antifa hype, out of fear or hatred of law enforcement or both, it’s amusing to me how some in the press are starting to show a little bit of fear of the anarchists, even while using a burning building for a backdrop to discuss “mostly peaceful protests.”
I am by no means a conspiracy theorist, but there can be no doubt when a vice presidential candidate says the riots “shouldn’t stop,” that there’s something afoot. Uhaul trucks are expensive, yet protestors are caught on camera in Louisville handing out baseball bats, homemade shields and signs from the back of a Uhaul truck. Somebody is buying two-way radios used by the protestors in Raleigh, Charlotte and Asheville.
Wherever it came from, whoever is behind it, whatever the reasons – burning, looting , and threatening have no positive effects on anyone.
Are there problems between races in America? Sure, but I doubt they’re nearly as bad as the harpies want them to be. Are there bad cops in America? Sure, but they comprise a very tiny percentage. Could things be better? Sure, but that doesn’t mean everybody will start at $18 an hour and full benefits for slinging hamburgers when it’s convenient to them.
I don’t know what the answer is, except for the American people to replace spineless quibblers who make their decisions based on the direction of the winds out of Hollywood. When we are willing to elect leaders who respect law and order, then maybe law enforcement officers will be allowed to do their jobs without being worried about being arrested or sued for, well, doing their jobs.
I have a friend in Louisville right now; he and some other veterans were asked to provide security for some businesses there. He sent me a message the other night, as fires were starting around the city, helicopters buzzed hither and yon, and law enforcement in riot gear began dealing with people throwing rocks and fireworks. He and his team had just reported a carful of suspected arsonists to the police.
“This is just like Baghdad,” my friend said. He knows very well what that city looks like, having served in the U.S. Army in Iraq.
If we don’t get our country under control pretty soon, I’m afraid Baghdad will look tame by comparison – but that won’t happen until we the people elect politicians who are willing to not just hold law enforcement officers responsible, but to back them up, too.
Until then, we’re at the mercy of the spoiled brats of the modern era, and the socialists who spoonfeed them sweet promises of a brave new world.
It makes no sense that they chant death to America! But I saw in the 60″s riots in the military to restore law and order to burned out community”s that the law breakers were burning their own grocery stores?