Global Anger Grows Over George Floyd's Death

[Old55]

In the Seattle Washington area most of the looters are highly organized and trained. Some are anarchists and or antifa a few are criminal gang members. The protests I have personally seen this week have been peaceful. 

In the US if a riot is taking place Police has the legal right to demand people disperse immediately or be subject to arrest. This includes so called media. There are forces at work to destroy the USA. Don't believe all you hear and see on TV generally there is an agenda.

[GeoffH]

3 hours ago, Old55 said:

In the US if a riot is taking place Police has the legal right to demand people disperse immediately or be subject to arrest. This includes so called media.

During the examples I linked real press (TV Station crews broadcasting on air, not bloggers) were attacked and/or arrested.   Attempts were made to move to an area acceptable to the police such that broadcasting could continue.  Repeated requests in one case went unanswered.

The freedom of the press is supposed to be guaranteed by USA first amendment rights but the free press ranking of the USA had already fallen to 45th in the world (well behind other western democracies) before these incidents.  These incidents demonstrate why, and I expect when the next rankings are released to see that they have fallen further.

Direct attacks with violence upon the press have been something only seen in countries without press freedom, like China, Russia... until now.

A free press is integral to the functioning of a free and open democracy.

Edited June 3, 2020 by GeoffH

[Jack D]

19 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

The freedom of the press is supposed to be guaranteed by USA first amendment

It seems like protecting and guaranteeing the 2nd amendment has become more much important than protecting and guaranteeing the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

[JJReyes]

Statement from James "Mad Dog" Mattis, US Marine Corp general retired and former Defense Secretary under Donald President.

 

 

By CNN

 

Updated 6:30 PM ET, Wed June 3, 2020

 

 

(CNN)Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis castigated President Donald President as "the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people" in a forceful rebuke of his former boss as nationwide protests have intensified over the death of George Floyd.

Read Mattis' statement:

In Union There Is Strength

I have watched this week's unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words "Equal Justice Under Law" are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.

 

 

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When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.

We must reject any thinking of our cities as a "battlespace" that our uniformed military is called upon to "dominate." At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict— between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part.

Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders

who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.

James Madison wrote in Federalist 14 that "America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more

forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat." We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose. And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law.

Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that "The Nazi slogan for destroying us...was 'Divide and Conquer.' Our American answer is 'In Union there is Strength.'" We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.

Donald President 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. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.

We can come through this trying time stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for one another. The pandemic has shown us that it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community. Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country. We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln's "better angels," and listen to them, as we work to unite.

Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad.

James Mattis

[RBM]

12 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

Without a doubt.  Some may have genuine grievences, some are egged on politically and others are just weekend anarchists.

And some perhaps just simply frustrated by current events and loose it.....

[Mike J]

25 minutes ago, RBM said:

And some perhaps just simply frustrated by current events and loose it.....

Agree completely, it is almost like some kind of "perfect storm" in terms of anger, frustration, divisive politics, quarantines, unemployment, etc.   I think some are protesting because they feel helpless in a world where things seem to be out of control.  Unfortunately looting and burning are unlikely to make a bad situation better.  

[earthdome]

I was wondering how long it would take for this topic to get started.

<Stepping up onto my soapbox>

For those outside the US the Political Left (D) and Political Right (R) have been escalating their political attacks on each other for many decades. It is not the fault of one or the other but of both ruthlessly seeking the "Ring of Power" to use a Lord of the Rings metaphor. Any issue where one or both parties think they can exploit to gain political advantage is politicized and covered with glee by the main stream media and becomes red meat for the political partisans in their social media echo chambers. Not only the political parties but other organizations, some very fringe, use opportunities like this to try and move forward their own agenda. For example AntiFa, white supremacists, criminal gangs, etc. The only facts which aren't really in dispute is the unjustified killing of George Floyd due to excessive force by police, peaceful protests and later riots with looting. Everything else is a bunch of BS politicized propaganda.

<Stepping back down from the soapbox/>

[scott h]

1 hour ago, earthdome said:

unjustified killing of George Floyd due to excessive force by police

And the bad apples HAVE been arrested and HAVE been charged.

1 hour ago, earthdome said:

Everything else is a bunch of BS politicized propaganda.

Amen brother, Amen

 

[hk blues]

11 minutes ago, scott h said:

And the bad apples HAVE been arrested and HAVE been charged.

That's the first step.  Let's see them convicted and appropriately punished in due course. 

 

[Mike J]

50 minutes ago, scott h said:

And the bad apples HAVE been arrested and HAVE been charged.

Amen brother, Amen

 

I think many black Americans would ask; "Would those officers have been charged and arrested if there was no video, if there were no protests"?