Blessed Are The Warmakers?
President Trump staged a photo opportunity yesterday that went horribly wrong, but the White House doesn't yet seem to have comprehended how bad a look it actually was. In fact, they proudly put up a video montage of the event that seems to strive for the impact of a Leni Riefenstahl production (watch it for yourself if you think this is overstating the case). The whole staged event is nothing more than a naked effort to counter the growing ridicule Trump has gotten for hiding in his bunker over the weekend during the protests, in fact. You see President Trump boldly striding away from the White House, crossing Lafayette Square, pumping a macho fist to all the militarized police standing around, and then appearing in front of a historic (and boarded-up) church where he awkwardly tries to hold a Bible up for the cameras. Trump then (according to the Riefenstahl clip) triumphantly strides back to the White House, to the adoration of all. Mission accomplished. Roll credits.
This bears little resemblance to reality, of course, but then that's really a hallmark of all propaganda. What actually happened was that all of the protesters across from the White House were swept from the streets by combined federal forces (Park Police and Secret Service, but not D.C. cops), who used tear gas and other violent tactics on peaceful protesters for no reason other than to clear the area for a crass and self-serving presidential photo opportunity. It's worth noting that there had been ministers standing on the steps of the church who were engaged in handing out drinks and snacks to the protesters but who got swept aside by this police action. In other words, religious leaders on their own property, in front of their place of worship were treated as just more (as Trump likes to call them) "THUGS" who needed to be taught a lesson. The sweep took place a half-hour before the D.C. curfew was to start, by the way.
The Episcopal leader in D.C. condemned Trump's visit to one of her churches in the strongest possible terms. Today, Trump doubled down on his "Lookit me, I love all the Christian voters who vote for me" tour, by visiting a shrine to Saint John Paul II. The Catholic leader of Washington then also denounced this second photo-op in the strongest possible language. So rather than boost his standing among the religious, Trump has instead opened a new front of antagonism with church leaders -- exactly the opposite of what he was attempting to do. And yet the White House still thought it was worth glorifying with a propaganda video.
For Christians, the strongest words of condemnation come from the very top, though. In fact, during the Sermon On The Mount, Jesus addressed exactly what just happened. And according to the King James Version of the Bible, there wasn't much ambiguity (Matthew 6:5-6):
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Got that? Don't stand around on street corners in order to "be seen of men." In other words, don't use a church for a cheap political photo op. Trump might know this if he had ever actually cracked a Bible, but the photo op painfully showed that he wasn't just uncomfortable holding a Bible, he was visibly confused by how to hold a book, period. Have you ever seen anyone brandish (there's really no other word for it) a book in such a fashion before? When Trump was asked whether it was a family Bible, he reportedly responded that it was "just a Bible." In other words, Trump has no family Bible to brandish, and instead some unnamed staffer in the West Wing had to hastily search for a Bible for Trump to use.
Later in the evening, a military medical helicopter (with a visible red cross painted on it) participated in "scare tactics" to disperse the protesters in the streets, by flying and hovering so low that the rotor wash created a small tornado in the midst of the crowd. One wonders what the Geneva Conventions have to say about such use of a marked medical evacuation helicopter for non-medical purposes.
Trump's speech in the Rose Garden was essentially a declaration of war on American citizens. In a leaked phone call to all the governors earlier in the day, Defense Secretary Mark Esper can be heard telling the governors to "dominate the battlespace." Trump, in his speech, promised to send out the U.S. military into American cities, even if not invited. We may all be about to engage in a rather important debate about the differences between the Insurrection Act of 1807 versus the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.
The only thing that seems certain at this point is that Trump's vaunted "outreach to African-American voters" initiative is as dead as George Floyd. Team Trump wanted to try to convince enough black voters to support Trump to swing some key states in November. This was somewhat of a lost cause to begin with, but now it is nothing short of an impossibility for Trump.
Donald Trump is now flailing around and lashing out, because the only leadership quality he's ever even been aware of is "toughness." Trump wants to appear "tough" and the "law and order president," but in his ham-handed attempts to project toughness he is doing nothing short of antagonizing even more groups of people. People aren't going to remember Triumph Of The Will (or maybe, more appropriately, Victory Of The Faith) propaganda film favorably in November, in other words, because Trump seems incapable of doing anything other than rub salt in people's wounds right now.
If Trump ever did actually bother to read a Bible, in fact, he might be astonished that "blessed are the warmakers" appears nowhere in the Sermon On The Mount.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Well said!
He didn't, of course, visit any Jewish temples or mosques. His base wouldn't approve of that.
CW: President Trump staged a photo opportunity yesterday that went horribly wrong, but the White House doesn't yet seem to have comprehended how bad a look it actually was.
It also doesn't appear anyone gave a scintilla of thought at all to not just the "optics of the day" but also the totality of the visual whiplash the Trump administration is displaying. They clearly did not think this through.
How many days ago was it that the Trump administration and their operators were actively encouraging American citizens to risk their lives during a pandemic and protest "coronavirus lockdown" at state houses across America? They called it "Operation Gridlock." Trump tweeted and gave lip service to "liberate Michigan," "liberate Minnesota," "liberate Virginia," and spurred on citizens to attack their governors saying things such as, "Some governors have gone too far" and "These seem to be protesters that like me."
These protests were carried out in Michigan, Kentucky, Texas, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Utah. Trump was "all in" for these thousand-people protests where mostly white people showed their seemingly manufactured dissatisfaction by waving their Confederate flags and wearing their MAGA gear and carrying their war weapons while screaming at the police who just stood there and took no action because Caucasians (not to deride Caucasians since I am one).
Operation Gridlock featured right-wing "celebrity" extremists like Alex Jones (you know, that vitamin selling grifter who tells the gullible rubes things like the Sandy Hook killings never happened) and the Proud Boys (the white supremacist fascist torch carriers with their anti-Semitic signs and swastikas) spewing their vile hatred, and QAnon nuts (deranged conspiracy cult of gullible rubes who believe that Donald Trump is some kind of undercover genius who "any day now" will throw down the gauntlet and "stick it to the libs" and arrest all the Democrats for which they harbor toxic hatred.
Fast forward to now where Trump orders the teargassing of a group of peaceful protesters in Washington, DC in violation of their constitutional rights.
The only thing that seems certain at this point is that Trump's vaunted "outreach to African-American voters" initiative is as dead as George Floyd.
You mean you don't think those Americans who were peacefully protesting yesterday and were beaten, trampled, teargassed, and shot with rubber bullets on the orders of Dictator Donald so he could hold up a Bible and get a photo op might find some disparity in the types of protests Trump defends, do you?
Anyone watching election results?
Steve King just got primaried out of his seat in Iowa!
IA-04 will now probably stay Republican as a result (King would have been an easier target for Dems to defeat in November), but I still have to admit I'm pretty happy with the result.
:-)
-CW
andygaus
2
He didn't, of course, visit any Jewish temples or mosques. His base wouldn't approve of that.
Because they are united in their hatred, and "Jews will not replace them," Andy... except, of course, Jared Kushner, Yael Kushner (Ivanka), Steve Mnuchin, Stephen Miller... etc.
Y'all will have to excuse my attitude, but I'm not a big fan of the torch-carrying Trump KKK fascists and the confederate flag waving racist assholes. While I'll not join them in their toxic hatred of their fellow Americans, they definitely elicit my pity.
Chris Weigant
4
Anyone watching election results?
I was just fixing to do that.
Steve King just got primaried out of his seat in Iowa!
Was that today!? Heh. Well, that just made my day... the last 9 minutes of it anyway. Stupid Steve King is so dumb that if all his brains were ink, he couldn't dot an "i" with it.
IA-04 will now probably stay Republican as a result (King would have been an easier target for Dems to defeat in November), but I still have to admit I'm pretty happy with the result.
Me too. What else good? Must go check that out. :)
Blessed are the hypocrites, for they will have the judiciary as their reward. Just when you think the religious rabble might do the right thing, the cat barks at the dog the religious end up backing a man who appropriates Gideon's guide for photo ops.
If the Dems do retake the Senate, and there's every chance they might, Biden should immediately expand SCOTUS to 11. After all, the court was designed to be commensurate with the population and hasn't been added to in decades. Then Moscow Mitch can retire in disgrace, secure in the knowledge that his best intentions have been subverted.
I'm glad that the riots have somewhat petered out and only sporadic looting remains in some of the bigger cities. Not that Trump was making much hay out of the crisis, had the rioting continued apace, he might have engendered to himself to people disinclined to vote for him save for the fact that he acted aggressively.
No doubt there will be countless other crises prior to November for Trump to mishandle, botch, make a dog's dinner of, and all-around bugger up. Being kith and kin to chaos, catastrophe and calamity follow Trump wherever he goes, glued to him like old friend perpetually in need of a loan or use of your couch for a week. If he wasn't such an ignoble cuny, he'd warrant pity.
LL&P
I just wanted to put on the record here that it is infinitely heartening to see police officers all over America taking a knee and showing support in other ways for the peaceful protesters and for positive change.
Police chiefs in south Florida have shown the way forward if national leaders cannot.
Chris,
The defeat of Steve King is also a good sign. It was too close for any great comfort, though.
JTC,
If the Dems do retake the Senate, and there's every chance they might, Biden should immediately expand SCOTUS to 11.
Well, what Biden will do, given the chance, is nominate the first black women to the highest court in the land.
Tell, me, do nominees to the SCOTUS just need a simple majority vote in the Senate or is a two-thirds majority still required?
yeah i read about that last night. bout freakin time.
EM
10
Tell, me, do nominees to the SCOTUS just need a simple majority vote in the Senate or is a two-thirds majority still required?
Republicans changed it to simple majority for Gorsuch.
https://www.npr.org/2017/04/06/522847700/senate-pulls-nuclear-trigger-to-ease-gorsuch-confirmation
[6] Kick wrote:
"Stupid Steve King is so dumb that if all his brains were ink, he couldn't dot an "i" with it."
Good one! ROFL! I laughed so hard this would have made me spew out my nose if I had been drinking at the time!
You know it's bad when you lose even Pat Robertson!
As reported by HUffingtonpost:
Televangelist Pat Robertson scolded President Donald Trump on Tuesday over his threat to send the U.S. military into American cities to control civil unrest.
“You just don’t do that, Mr. President,” Robertson said on his “700 Club” TV show, then he raised his voice: “It isn’t cool.”
In comments posted online by Right Wing Watch, Robertson also called out Trump for getting the tone all wrong in dealing with the people protesting against racial injustice in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, last week.
“You know, there’s a purpose to everything under heaven, you read in the Bible, and there’s a time,” he said. “And I think like now is the time to say, ’I understand your pain, I want to comfort you, I think it’s time we love each other.”
Sounds like Johnson on the Vietnam War when being told It's over when you even lose the support of Walter Cronkite on the air."
If Trump ever did actually bother to read a Bible, in fact, he might be astonished that "blessed are the warmakers" appears nowhere in the Sermon On The Mount.
Ugh. Big Orange apparently donated his buybull to some kind of snake-handler museum.
It's a good thing when a person gets rid of it. Owning one but not reading it is only slightly less good. Mr Christ was not especially blood-thirsty, but his dad was a narcissistic, genocidal sociopath. If the Nazi Drumpf actually did read it, he could find plenty of inspiration. Let's not encourage that.
ALSO:
Three more former Minnesota police officers will be charged in the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who died after an officer kneeled on his neck during an arrest.
The office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison plans to charge Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng on Wednesday with aiding and abetting Floyd’s murder, according to reporting by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that HuffPost confirmed with a law enforcement source.
The Hennepin County prosecutor had already arrested Derek Chauvin, the former police officer seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck, last week, charging him with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Ellison’s office is also planning to announce that it would be upgrading the third-degree murder charge to second-degree murder.
The whole staged event is nothing more than a naked effort to counter the growing ridicule Trump has gotten for hiding in his bunker over the weekend during the protests, in fact.
Wow. Do you work for China or something? The Orange one was inspecting the place. Your alternative facts have been shot down in flames.
OMG! Check this out! I think I now know why Trump wanted that photo-op with him not smiling and awkwardly holding a Bible in his hand. It was an homage to a photo of George Floyd that ChristianityToday used in an article about him.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/may/george-floyd-ministry-houston-third-ward-church.html
That HAS to be it! Trump held that Bible the same exact way that Floyd does in this photo. Floyd looks like he’s responding to someone off camera asking, “Does anyone have a Bible I could borrow?” and doesn’t seem to realize the photo was being taken.
Trump’s holding of the Bible seemed so unnatural that I thought maybe the Bible was burning his skin. It just looked odd. But now I see it was Trump trying “to be black like George.” Trump thinks that is how blacks hold Bibles in photos!!!
BWHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAHAAAAAA!!!
Trump, having no concept of how normal people act, had to have seen this and believed that THIS was how black men pose with Bibles for the camera! I have been laughing so hard at this... I no longer care whether my theory is proven true....in my mind, this is what happened and no one can tell me otherwise! Trump is so clueless!
FPM: Posted on wrong article so moving it here:
OMG! Check this out! I think I now know why Trump wanted that photo-op with him not smiling and awkwardly holding a Bible in his hand. It was an homage to a photo of George Floyd that ChristianityToday used in an article about him.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/may/george-floyd-ministry-houston-third-ward-church.html
That HAS to be it! Trump held that Bible the same exact way that Floyd does in this photo. Floyd looks like he’s responding to someone off camera asking, “Does anyone have a Bible I could borrow?” and doesn’t seem to realize the photo was being taken.
Trump’s holding of the Bible seemed so unnatural that I thought maybe the Bible was burning his skin. It just looked odd. But now I see it was Trump trying “to be black like George.” Trump thinks that is how blacks hold Bibles in photos!!!
BWHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAHAAAAAA!!!
Trump, having no concept of how normal people act, had to have seen this and believed that THIS was how black men pose with Bibles for the camera! I have been laughing so hard at this... I no longer care whether my theory is proven true....in my mind, this is what happened and no one can tell me otherwise! Trump is so clueless!
John M.
Three more former Minnesota police officers will be charged in the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who died after an officer kneeled on his neck during an arrest.
Yeah, I read in an article from CNN that Officer Lane twice asked if they should roll Floyd onto his side, but for some reason they chose not to do so. I was glad to see that at least on Officer was concerned about Floyd’s wellbeing. I am curious what reason was given for not doing that. I am guess that it will be because it is much harder to control a combative person on their side than when they are face down. You no longer control the head which gives the person a lot more opportunities to get up since you cannot do knee to neck on the side of the neck (carotid artery and windpipe more likely damaged if you did).
Because Lane recognized the danger in keeping Floyd facedown and brought that to the group’s attention, that allows the prosecution to charge Chauvin with Second Degree Murder —he was aware that Floyd’s life was in danger and continued with his actions.
CW,
If Trump ever did actually bother to read a Bible, in fact, he might be astonished that "blessed are the warmakers" appears nowhere in the Sermon On The Mount.
Love the Sermon on the Mount.
Spectator I: I think it was "Blessed are the cheesemakers".
Mrs. Gregory: Aha, what's so special about the cheesemakers?
Gregory: Well, obviously it's not meant to be taken literally; it refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.
- Monty Python’s Life of Brian
And now the Secretary of Defense is refusing to use the Army. I believe that is the first of Trumps minions to refuse Trump while still holding his post. The others all resigned first but Secretary Mark Esper told Trump no and added "I ain't going anywhere". Now that he has laid down the gauntlet will Trump feel the need to fire him and try to send in the Army out of spite?
@russ,
Wait till Biggus Dickus hears of this.
JL
JL
22
He has a wife, you know. You know what she's called?
JL,
“He has a wife, you know. You know what she's called? She's called... 'Incontinentia'... Incontinentia Buttocks.”
-R
OK...great minds definitely think together!
JTC,
I don't see Biden enlarging SCOTUS. But, I do see him advocating for the need for a two-thirds majority vote in the senate to confirm all nominations to the Supreme Court.
Personally, I would be in favour of that course of action. And, I wouldn't be surprised if, as part of that effort, Biden works to expand it to all judges.
This can be a tricky debate, though, especially when one side of the aisle is hard to get along with.
Thanks to Kick for the info on how many votes are needed to confirm SCOTUS nominees these strange days.
Russ,
I was glad to see that at least on Officer was concerned about Floyd’s wellbeing. I am curious what reason was given for not doing that. I am guess that it will be because it is much harder to control a combative person on their side than when they are face down.
Well, I've seen a lot of video of this incident and I have yet to see Floyd being combative. Have you?
I wonder if that will be their defense ...
Liz,
Well, I've seen a lot of video of this incident and I have yet to see Floyd being combative. Have you?
Only one was the video from across the street that you can see the apparent struggle taking place through a car window.
But Liz, here is the thing that people do not understand...once you are combative and have resisted arrest, you are considered to be combative until you are booked. You don’t get a second chance to become combative; especially when it took four to six officers to get you restrained to begin with. There is not a single police officer out there who doesn’t have a rookie story of rushing to react to the bloodcurdling cries of someone they just placed in cuffs claiming that they are hurt — only to have their concern used against them when they lean in to check the cuff and the person throws an elbow to their face or when they simply take off running.
The medics had already been called, so it is not like the officer’s would risk trying to give basic aid to Floyd. It is safer to leave that to the professionals. I am guessing this will be their defense...and depending on how their SOP’s are worded, it is likely a good defense. Securing the scene takes higher precedence than giving first aid.
Only one was the video from across the street that you can see the apparent struggle taking place through a car window.
Yeah, that was a police car window, no? Why didn't they just leave him there and take him to the precinct?
The medics had already been called, so it is not like the officer’s would risk trying to give basic aid to Floyd.
All they had to do was remove a knee from his neck until the medics arrived as Floyd was on his stomach, handcuffed and not going anywhere. Help me understand this.
I am guessing this will be their defense...and depending on how their SOP’s are worded, it is likely a good defense. Securing the scene takes higher precedence than giving first aid.
That would be a great defense … IF the knee wasn't kept on the neck in the meantime and if the paramedics didn't have to force (yes, force is too strong a word, but the point is made) the officer to take his knee off of the neck.
Securing the scene takes higher precedence than giving first aid.
The scene was pretty secure well before the paramedics arrived, relatively speaking since this whole thing took just 9 minutes.
Tell me why the knee wasn't removed while they waited for the paramedics. Again, Floyd wasn't going anywhere - he was handcuffed and on his stomach and in distress, all of which was known to the officers.
John M
13
Good one! ROFL! I laughed so hard this would have made me spew out my nose if I had been drinking at the time!
Heh. It's funny you say that because, being a Texan, I have more of those colorful sayings than you can shake a stick at. It's a Southern thing that I bet Russ could also tell you about because you just know he's got plenty of notches on his gun... how it can be both a hindrance and sometimes a lot of help.
You can be arguing with someone about dang near anything, and then somebody drops in one of those, and the fight either escalates because now you really made somebody mad or it's over right there because all the participants are laughing their asses off and somebody's having to get a mop to clean up the mess. ;)
Playing Devils advocate:
At what point do protesters understand that they are now providing protective cover for those whose intent is to riot and destroy?
And, if they are against the rioting occurring, why have we not witnessed them stopping those that loot from getting away? Their numbers surely outnumber those law breakers who mock the protest through their selfish actions; so should we not judge them for the crimes that their inaction allowed to happen???
I mean, that is what we are demanding be done with the officers in Floyd’s death, are we not?
I'm with you on that one, Russ!
In fact, non-violent protesters should follow the curfews. Then, the only one out for something else can be stopped much easier by the police.
the only ones, of course
JFC
15
Heh. Remember that time Trump said the Bible was his favorite book so a reporter asked him what verse in his "favorite book" was his favorite, and he wouldn't answer it, “Because to me that’s very personal,” Trump sidestepped. “You know, when I talk about the Bible it’s very personal so I don’t want to get into verses. The Bible means a lot to me but I don’t want to get into specifics.”
So the reporter -- as they are wont to do -- tried again by asking Trump if he was a bigger fan of the Old Testament or the New Testament, and Trump said (get this) he's “probably equal.”
Probably equal. *laughs*
“I think it’s just incredible, the whole Bible is incredible,” Trump said.
Translation: "I haven't read the buybull. I bet it's uncredible."
Mr Christ was not especially blood-thirsty, but his dad was a narcissistic, genocidal sociopath.
I got in trouble when I was about 10 years old because I was in Sunday School and the teacher wrote "God is love" up on the chalkboard and asked us one-by-one to explain to the whole class what we thought it meant. So I don't have to tell y'all there were a whole lot of wondrous and flowery answers until finally it was my turn, and I gave my honest answer:
"It means whoever wrote that never read the Old Testament."
Liz,
Was the officer placing his knee on Floyd”s neck putting his full body weight on the neck? Unless they can show serious bruising to the neck, Chauvin likely was just using enough pressure to keep him from sitting up.
Did he maintain the same level of pressure the entire time or did he only apply pressure if Floyd tried to move and then released it once he complied? Many of the photos show Chauvin’s weight to be on his other foot — his weight on the neck most likely occurs only when Chauvin is leaning forward.
Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck is tough to view, as it looks brutal. I would argue that the officer on Floyd’s back was doing much more to cause Floyd’s feeling that he could not breathe than Chauvin was. That officer was likely putting his weight on Floyd’s diaphragm, making his ability to take in air limited. Again, Floyd’s size plays a big role in why these non-lethal control holds proved lethal. His big chest made it tougher for him to lay facedown on the ground — his pecs got in way. His head would be about an inch above the ground if his posture is normal.
Floyd’s death looks like it fits the excited delirium model I have described in the past — especially how quickly he goes from screaming that he cannot breathe to going limp and then dead within seconds. It could also be just positional asphyxiation (excited delirium typically includes aspects of positional asphyxiation).
Sadly, the one thing no one has been able to show us is how his race played any part in the police’s response! Three officers were holding him down because it required them to each have to use less force to keep him under control than if there was only one or two officers. If their intent was to injure, they’d let just one person attempt to hold him down.
Kick [38],
Ha! I really thought about ending [15] with a "Gawd is love".
John M
16
Aiding and abetting. That's about the only charge for which they'd ever even come close to getting a conviction on either of the other three officers. Why? Because they have to have a jury of 12 people to agree unanimously to convict "beyond a reasonable doubt." One juror disagrees and the officer walks. There's no way a good lawyer will allow them to be tried together either. It'll be four separate trials... four separate juries, I would wager.
Also, that lesser charge of aiding and abetting Chauvin, who is now charged with Murder 2, Murder 3, and Manslaughter -- a veritable cornucopia from which the jury can choose -- they're going to try to flip a minimum of one of them to rat out the others. They lied on the police report and should plea to a lesser charge because if any of them are by chance convicted, under Minnesota law a charge of aiding and abetting murder/manslaughter carries the same potential sentencing (although generally a slim chance of a criminal conviction because 12 jurors agreeing on anything is difficult, 12 jurors agreeing unanimously to convict a police officer is dang near impossible).
Based on the evidence I've seen to date, I'd be all over flipping Mr. Lane... the one who recommended multiple times to do something to help Mr. Floyd and Chauvin refused.
SF Bear
21
I know, right!?
Where the Hell is Mattis? I know he's a "by-the-book" soldier and all that spit, but NOW is the time for him to step up and let it rip.
C'mon, Mattis. Time to step up for democracy.
The others all resigned first but Secretary Mark Esper told Trump no and added "I ain't going anywhere". Now that he has laid down the gauntlet will Trump feel the need to fire him and try to send in the Army out of spite?
I wouldn't put it past him. The spineless GOP have proven they won't honor their oaths to America and do a dang thing about Trump... so the military is going to have to step up and honor theirs.
The GOP has already chosen Party over country. Time for the military to choose.
So to recap: It's "go time."
Liz,
Tell me why the knee wasn't removed while they waited for the paramedics. Again, Floyd wasn't going anywhere - he was handcuffed and on his stomach and in distress, all of which was known to the officers.
I want to make sure that I answer this fully:
He was also thought to be on drugs at the time...which is partly why the medics were called. “Floyd wasn’t going anywhere” because he had three officers holding him down. Floyd being allowed to sit up would have made his chances of standing up and running much greater. His head was turned to the side, so if he were to vomit he should not have choked. Floyd had fought them. It took four to six of them to get him handcuffed.
He was a big and powerful individual. Drugs only enhance a person’s strength. Drugs like PCP can cause a 5’8 160lbs woman to require over 15 officers to subdue her... and if you ever get the chance to watch the video of a 6’4 350lbs Samoan on Angel Dust taking on approximately 30 police and medical personnel...it’s best viewed with circus music playing in the background to try to lighten the mood...it is like nothing you have ever seen. The man was like a superhero, tossing aside full grown men like they were rags. I do not know what Floyd was on... if anything. I know that he gave indication that he was on a bad trip to the officers, which is why medics were requested to begin with. The officers knew he was on something that wasn’t good for him, and they took the proper steps prescribed for keeping him from hurting anyone...including himself.
Bad things sometimes happen when no one ever intended for them to occur. It just does. I told Devon that someone needs to collect the footage of all the people who scream the officers arresting them are hurting/killing them that were fine when it was all said and done. Show them on monitors that keep getting smaller and smaller as their numbers grow exponentially. Then have all of their audios play them screaming, “I cannot breathe!” together as one big choir. Then let the screen fade to the message - This is why officer’s are slow to believe those who have resisted arrest when they scream that they cannot breathe!
Maybe then people would see that they weren’t being intentionally cruel to Floyd.
Russ
24
What! *laughs*
I was going to make him answer it!
Jinx! x0x0x
Elizabeth Miller
26
I don't see Biden enlarging SCOTUS. But, I do see him advocating for the need for a two-thirds majority vote in the senate to confirm all nominations to the Supreme Court.
Oh, Hell no, he better not advocate for a two-thirds majority if he wins the election. Let the Trumplicans live with it. No. No. No. No. No.
Personally, I would be in favour of that course of action.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo
And, I wouldn't be surprised if, as part of that effort, Biden works to expand it to all judges.
Hell nooooooooooooooooooo. Pack those courts like you're a septuagenarian and every single day might be your last vacation and that last chance to pack.
This can be a tricky debate, though, especially when one side of the aisle is hard to get along with.
Well, if a Democratic POTUS suggested to a group of Republicans (regardless their number) that the Senate rules should be reversed and it should be made harder to seat that POTUS's own judges, please explain to me why they'd have any problem whatsoever with that request to neuter himself?
Thanks to Kick for the info on how many votes are needed to confirm SCOTUS nominees these strange days.
You're welcome. If Biden wins the nomination and goes on to become POTUS *prayer hands*, he should leave well enough alone and start making his list to pack!
Kick,
Please tell me you looked at that picture of George Floyd from the ChristianityToday article and that I am not crazy: Trump thinks that is how a black man is supposed to stand when he is taking a picture with a Bible! Trump meant for that photo to be a show of solidarity from him to the black community....that they would feel closer to him once they saw him standing like a proud black man holding a Bible! It completely backfired on him!
The bonus being that he has no idea why they aren’t picking up on the tribute he thinks he was paying to George Floyd! I seriously have been cackling with laughter every time I think of him trying to explain to those around him why the photo was so important, but none of them willing to say that they have no idea what he is talking about! THIS...this is my new happy place to escape to when the day sucks!
Russ
28
But Liz, here is the thing that people do not understand...once you are combative and have resisted arrest, you are considered to be combative until you are booked. You don’t get a second chance to become combative; especially when it took four to six officers to get you restrained to begin with.
Didn't Officer Lane rear-cuff him alone, and then he walked over to the wall and sat down? He was restrained the entire time until time to get into the squad. He just didn't want to get into the squad, likely because he was confused and UTI (mitigating cicumstances for the officers). He had no firearm, and his hands were already rear-cuffed behind him, and he said he was "claustrophobic" when it was time to get into the sqaud.
He was at least partway in the vehicle because the charge says Officer Chauvin pulled him out of the passenger side of the squad and then put him face down on the street awaiting an ambulance.
There is not a single police officer out there who doesn’t have a rookie story of rushing to react to the bloodcurdling cries of someone they just placed in cuffs claiming that they are hurt — only to have their concern used against them when they lean in to check the cuff and the person throws an elbow to their face or when they simply take off running.
Okay. I hear you. But this man was already rear-cuffed and had no firearm. What could he do to them in a four-on-one situation that they couldn't handle in another manner besides the one they chose... and chose poorly?
Elizabeth Miller
30
All they had to do was remove a knee from his neck until the medics arrived as Floyd was on his stomach, handcuffed and not going anywhere. Help me understand this.
I'll explain everything you seem to be confused about below. I'll even number it.
1.
Russ,
It is very painful for me watching you turn yourself into a pretzel trying to justify Floyd's death at the hands and knee of four police officers who should have known better.
Sadly, the one thing no one has been able to show us is how his race played any part in the police’s response!
I think this poor response by those four police officers has much more to do with plain, garden variety incompetence and that is what I think will do them all in.
Liz,
It is very painful for me watching you turn yourself into a pretzel trying to justify Floyd's death at the hands and knee of four police officers who should have known better.
My belief is that he should have been allowed to sit up. What I am attempting to do in my posts is explain the police officers’ possible state-of-mind based on my background.
But, Russ, from my vantage point, the officers' state of mind is the problem here.
I appreciate that you are trying to explain these officers' behavior to those of us who don't have your experience.
I really do, Russ ...
[48],
Heh.
I'm not ready to talk about Esper, if ever. He should have gone all in or not at all.
And, I'm done here, too. :)
Russ
34
At what point do protesters understand that they are now providing protective cover for those whose intent is to riot and destroy?
Well, I think they've figured it out now. They're sitting in groups and lying down and denouncing the looters as not part of their peaceful protests.
And, if they are against the rioting occurring, why have we not witnessed them stopping those that loot from getting away?
Because they're likely not trained to apprehend criminals that might possess firearms. In order to stop those who are looting, they'd have to literally take the law into their own hands and make decisions they're not qualified to make. Citizens arrest can go "oh so wrong." Example: Ahmad Aubrey, Georgia killing.
Their numbers surely outnumber those law breakers who mock the protest through their selfish actions; so should we not judge them for the crimes that their inaction allowed to happen???
Crime involves intent. No matter how many protesters there are versus the number of looters, the protesters' intent is to exercise their constitutional right to peacefully protest regarding social injustice and that constitutional right does not require that they literally police those morons whose intent is widely divergent from their own.
Cigarettes slowly cause cancer to the smoker and those people who work daily in the same confines. Why don't the nonsmokers just knock the cigarettes out of the mouths of the smokers?
I mean, that is what we are demanding be done with the officers in Floyd’s death, are we not?
Well, I think it's like this: In your scenario, you're asking that the innocent bystanders take actions to perform the work of the trained police officers whose job it is to protect the citizens. Mr. Floyd's case, we're simply asking the trained police officers do their jobs while protecting the public because at no time whatsoever was there a need for the use of excessive force.
Kick,
Didn't Officer Lane rear-cuff him alone, and then he walked over to the wall and sat down?
Yes, he did. But then they walked him over to the business where the person who called the police was so they could ID him. It is possible that Lane had released him from cuffs so not to influence the ID’ing process (possibility, but not known for sure). I would guess when they went to place the cuffs back on him is when the struggle and his resisting took place.
However, I would argue that if he was still cuffed when the struggle took place and it took that many officer’s to get him on the ground and compliant, that only supports the officer’s decision not to let him up off the ground until medics arrived. Like I said, he was a big man. The video is tough to watch when you know how it will end.
Russ
43
Great post.
Russ
46
Please tell me you looked at that picture of George Floyd from the ChristianityToday article
I looked at that picture of George Floyd from the ChristianityToday article
and that I am not crazy:
and I am not crazy... I mean, you are not crazy.
Trump thinks that is how a black man is supposed to stand when he is taking a picture with a Bible!
I doubt if Trump saw the picture... because in the same way he never opened a Bible, he never opened a ChristianityToday.
Trump meant for that photo to be a show of solidarity from him to the black community....that they would feel closer to him once they saw him standing like a proud black man holding a Bible!
Right after he called them "thugs" and ordered they be beaten, teargassed, and moved out the way so he could walk over to the church and show them solidarity? *scratches head*
I could be wrong, but I would wager that shit-show there was "all about that base" and getting a photo that spoke a thousand words but mostly: "Trump is still your savior from the thugs [dog whistle] and the satanic "antifa" who will burn all y'alls churches down to the ground unless you re-elect Donald J. -- for Jesus -- Trump... The Chosen One."
Or something along those lines.
It completely backfired on him!
Appears that it did, but never underestimate how much the right-wing dipshits and gullible rubes really "get off" on that type bullshit. Oh, they claim they're the "patriots" and love Constitution, but if Barack Obama had ordered the same thing, made the same speech, and took the exact same walk across Lafayette Park over to Christ's Church and hoisted an upside down Bible pulled out of Malia Obama's designer white handbag, they'd have lost their collective damn minds, and the DC sanitation would still be sweeping up the remnants of Righty brains where their heads exploded in unison while screaming at the top of their lungs: Antichrist!
THIS...this is my new happy place to escape to when the day sucks!
Who am I to deny you a happy place? :)
John From Censornati
40
Ha! I really thought about ending [15] with a "Gawd is love".
Heh! :)