Condemn Violence. Period.

The Democratic ticket is going down the wrong road.  In a tweet now unavailable, an individual with 142,000 followers sensibly asks

Legitimately confused how conservatives can blame anybody else for violence when there is literally video of a caravan of Trump supporters running red lights with their oversized pickups, shooting passersby by paintballs and mace.

There are two reasons conservatives can legitimately, albeit unjustifiably, blame the left for violence which most evidence indicates is instigated or perpetrated by right-wingers or ideologically uncommitted anarchists. The first is represented by the report Saturday that the previous evening

the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) activist group, along with its Milwaukee and Chicago chapters, held a rally and press conference in Kenosha alongside local protesters who have been out on the ground all week. The protest called for community control of policing, limiting the scope of police power and an end to “repressive and inhumane jailing tactics” that disproportionately incarcerate Black Americans.

This organization's response to violence- violence visible to the American people- is... less police and punishment.   The number of Democratic politicians who will condemn this, either by identifying the group or more generally, is zero.

The response of national Democrats to the violence in Kenosha has been tepid.  On Tuesday, vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris stated

"We must always defend peaceful protest and peaceful protesters. We should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence, including the shooter, who was arrested for murder."

Harris recalled other Black Americans who have lost their lives to police violence, including Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.

"People are rightfully angry and exhausted," Harris said. "And after the murders of Breonna, and George [Floyd], and Ahmaud, and so many others, it's no wonder people are taking to the streets. And I support them."

When the California senator says she supports "people taking (it) to the streets," people no longer are thinking peaceful demonstrators. They see rioters, and are not impressed that they are angry and exhausted.

The presidential nominee was only slightly better when the next day he remarked

“Burning down communities is not protest, it’s needless violence — violence that endangers lives, violence that guts businesses and shutters businesses that serve the community. That’s wrong.”

Biden said the wisest words he had heard so far on the matter came from Blake’s mother, Julia Jackson.

“She looked at the damage done in her community and said this, ‘This doesn’t reflect my son or my family. So let’s unite and heal, do justice, end the violence and end systemic racism in this country. Now.’”

Democrats must stymie President Trump's effort to make urban mayhem the focus, overtaking Covid-19, of the campaign, . Instead, voters- at least whites, of whom I am one- heard "Jacob Blake" and the conflation of "violence" and "systemic racism," in which the former appears to be justified in light of the latter.

Joe Biden, a moderate figure whose record on gun safety is strong, can more credibly than most give a major speech- perhaps akin to the Obama "race" speech- condemning disorder in Kenosha and elsewhere. Kyle Rittenhouse shouldn't have had a firearm. Violence- from whites, blacks, and everyone- is unacceptable and puts everyone at danger. It is rampant now- not with Obama, George W Bush, or Bill Clinton as President, but under President Donald J. Trump.

With his running mate at his side, Biden should put the Democratic ticket on the side of everyone, of any race, from any state, city, suburb, rural area or small town, who wants to be safe. And for at least this moment, he must put aside Jacob Blake, racism, and police. President Biden won't regret it.

 

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Racial Animus+

As can be seen and heard in the video below, sports journalist Jason Whitlock has little sympathy for George Floyd or Jacob Blake. He criticizes NBA players for following the "Just Do It" slogan, inspired by mass murderer Gary Gilmore, and having no actual plan for what they want to accomplish.

That's a controversial opinion which leads Whitlock down a controversial and questionable road.  More significantly, though, he argues (at 12:38)

There's no proof that Derek Chauvin was driven by any racial animus. He was a cop behaving inappropriately. Race likely had nothing to do with it. That doesn't mean he wasn't criminal, potentially criminal, but there's no proof that it was driven by racism.

 

Race played a role in the killing of a black man by a white police officer,  who held his knee against the suspect's neck for 7 minutes and 46 seconds (originally thought to be 8 minutes, 46 sections). Moreover, the conviction that the act was an obscene act of racial animus obviously motivated  the peaceful demonstrations this spring by of over a million individuals across the nation.

The protests were sparked, additionally, by the conviction that Chauvin's act demonstrated that racism pervades police departments in all parts of the country.

There are undoubtedly racially biased, even grossly racially biased, law enforcement officers in the USA And yet, there has been no indication of any action that rivals the cruelty and viciousness exhibited by Chauvin.  Especially, then, it should be of more than passing interest that

George Floyd and Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged with killing Floyd, worked security at the same local club for much of the year before their fatal encounter on a Minneapolis street last week. The owner of El Nuevo Rodeo said the two were in close proximity once a week for their Tuesday night shifts, though she did not know if they ever actually met while working at the club.

Maya Santamaria said she had been paying Chauvin, when he was off-duty, to sit in his squad car outside El Nuevo Rodeo for 17 years. She said Floyd worked as a security guard inside the club frequently in the last year. In particular, they both worked on Tuesday nights, when the club had a popular weekly dance competition. 

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension contacted Santamaria soon after Floyd was killed, and family attorney Benjamin Crump believed the association between the deceased and the defendant indicates charges should be upgraded (as they since have been).

Whatever the relationship was between the two individuals, it is not inconsequential and  it would be enlightening to find out whether the information would sustain our conclusions.

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Begging For Caricature

This makes some sense. After the Democratic vice-presidential nominee gave a speech Thursday morning blasting President Trump, Charlie Pierce wrote

This was pretty much what made Harris the best choice for vice president on the Biden ticket. It is always the VP candidate’s job to be the monster back, flying to the ball and hitting hard—a heat-seeking, rapid-response weapon. ...  Harris has the prosecutor’s instinct for the jugular and the politician’s instinct for doing so calmly and with cold precision. Those two lines—Donald Trump froze. He was scared.—were damned near perfectly constructed and aimed. You know that, when the president heard a Black woman call him out as a poltroon, every demon in his demon-stuffed psyche began talking at once. The game, she is on now.

This, however, makes no sense:

"I think that there should be a thorough investigation and, based on what I've seen, it seems that the officer should be charged," Harris said in an interview with Craig Melvin of NBC’s “Today” that aired Friday morning.

Harris, a former prosecutor and California attorney general, conceded that she doesn't know all the facts of Blake's case and reiterated she would want the officer to receive due process. Asked whether she felt the officer's use of force was justified, Harris said, "I don't see it. But I don't have all the evidence."

"The man was going to his car. He didn't appear to be armed," she said. "If he was not armed, the use of force that was seven bullets coming out of a gun at close range in the back of the man, I don't see how anybody could reason that that was justifiable."

Let's run this through the clarity meter.

There should be a thorough investigation (and) the officer should be charged. There is no need for an investigation if it is already determined that the officer should be charged.

I don't see it (the use of force) was justified (but) I don't have all the evidence. If you don't have all the evidence- and you're a candidate for the second most powerful official elected nationally- you probably shouldn't suggest that the use of force was unjustified.

This was the Kamala Harris who in March 2019 told a crowd of wealthy donors "I support Medicare for All. But as you may have noticed, over the course of the many months, I've not been comfortable with Bernie's plan, the Medicare for All plan."

Harris had co-sponsored that Medicare for legislation. Nonetheless, her half-in, half-out stance was consistent with the Kamala Harris who supported abolishing private insurance, then opposed it, then supported, and finally opposed it. 

Call it consistent inconsistency.  There was another vice-presidential candidate whose selection was met with thunderous applause but whom probably ended up costing the presidential nominee election to the presidency, especially in foolishly trying to sell the duo as "mavericks" against the first major party black presidential nominee 

Kamala Harris is no Sarah Palin. But Sarah Palin wasn't Sarah Palin until Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live got the part down. Joe Biden, the Democratic Party, and the American people better hope there is no right-wing Tina Fey warming up to have a crack at Senator Harris. 

 

 

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Voter Fraud, Presidential Division

President Trump has played golf an awful lot since he entered office. As of late May, he had been at a golf club once very 4.92 days, after President Obama  and played golf once every 8.77 days. And of course he makes a killing while doing so; after all, what is the point of there even being a Donald Trump if he does squeeze every last penny out of anyone he can. 

As of now, the federal government (otherwise known as taxpayers) has paid the President's businesses $900,000, approximately $570,000 as a result of Trump's travel, which has included 271 days spent at a property he owns. But most of the time he is in Washington, D.C.

One of the Trump properties is Mar-a-Lago, the resort in Palm Beach, Florida, which the President claims as his home, which if  true would enable him to vote as a Floridian.

Which is curious because documents obtained by TheWashington Post, in light of the President's effort to obtain approval for a boat dock at the resort, indicated that Trump

agreed in writing years ago to change the use of the Mar-a-Lago property from a single-family residence to a private club owned by a corporation he controls.

The distinction is significant. The property is taxed as a private club — not as a residence, according to Palm Beach County property appraiser records. Trump’s own attorney assured local officials in Palm Beach before they voted to approve the club in 1993 that he would not live there. Mar-a-Lago’s website says only that Trump maintains “private quarters” at the club.

“It’s one or the other — it’s a club or it’s your home,” Reginald Stambaugh, an attorney who represents a neighbor opposed to Trump’s dock plan, said in a recent interview. “You can’t have it both ways.”

Alas, President Donald J. Trump, the Chosen One, can have it both ways. In his acceptance speech on the grounds of the White House Thursday night, he declared

The fact is, I am here. What is the name of that building? But I’ll say it differently, the fact is, we are here and they are not. To me, one of the most beautiful buildings anywhere in the world is not a building, it is a home, as far as I am concerned. It’s not even a house, it is a home. Wonderful place with an incredible history. But it is all because of you.

Asking the nation to re-elect him, Trump suggested the People's House was his private domicile, thereby making him a resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, "a home, as far as I am concerned," in Washington, D.C.

But District of Columbia residents are second-class citizens and  elections are barely contested there while Florida is a swing state. So Donald Trump votes as a resident of Palm Beach, Florida.

In March, Donald Trump voted by mail as a resident of Palm Beach, Florida, where he does not live. However, he is claiming to be a resident there- except when he illegally conducted his campaign rally Thursday night in front of the White House.

It's not the President's greatest crime or con. However, when the media reports GOP complaints about illegal voting, Donald Trump should be unmasked as someone who knowingly and intentionally has committed voter fraud, and recently.

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Don't Call Him Deplorable

The President has given us another glimpse into Donald Trump's America, circa 2021.

The Republican National Convention has been filled withencomiums to the President, portraying him as honest, compassionate, and generous as any person ever.

But Donald Trump himself wants you to know what he has in store for you if he is re-elected.  In late May, the President tweeted "just spoke to (Minnesota) Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!" (Thank you?)

Three months later the President would stage-manage the Republican National Convention, where wealthy couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey  were given roughly four minutes to spin their way into the hearts of the fed up with black people crowd. “Not a single person in the out-of-control mob you saw at our house was charged with a crime. But you know who was? We were,” Mr. McCloskey stated.

It's just a guess but it may be because Mark brandished a rifle, and Patricia a pistol, at protesters peacefully marching past their mansion in a gated community.

Vigilantism is, in the might makes right party, a benefit, not a bug. In something less than a big upset

The law enforcement–obsessed 17-year-old who was charged with shooting and killing two people and injuring another in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during protests for Jacob Blake appeared in the front row at a Donald Trump rally in January.

Kyle Howard Rittenhouse’s social media presence is filled with him posing with weapons, posting “Blue Lives Matter,” and supporting Trump for president. Footage from the Des Moines, Iowa, rally on Jan. 30 shows Rittenhouse feet away from the president, in the front row, to the left of the podium. He posted a TikTok video from the event.

On Monday night, Trump gave his national platform to a white man who used an AR-15 to terrorize BLM protesters.

On Tuesday night, a white man used an AR-15 to murder two BLM protesters.

But please, carry on praising RNC optics.

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) August 26, 2020

Then on Wednesday night at the convention, the GOP painted an apocalyptic vision of the future, Democratic governors, riots galore, and cities ablaze, with President Biden. There was no mention of Kyle Rittenhouse. It's only with people like him that Donald Trump's goal of twelve more years can be fulfilled.

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Don't Ignore; Attack

Ever the propagandist, Trump TV's Steve Doocy can be seen at the end of the video below saying "and the RNC, by the way, did include a prayer for Jacob Blake in the very beginning."

Aside from the "thoughts and prayers," both Fox News- as the video indicates- and the Trump campaign are determined that viewers and voters find violent protests "terrifying" (beginning of the video) and are terrified by peaceful protesters.

So CNN host Don Lemon remarks that Joe Biden

gotta address it. He's gotta come out and talk about it. He's gotta do a speech like Barack Obama did about race. He's gotta come out and tell people that he is going to deal with the issue of police reform in this country and that what's happening now is happening under Donald Trump's watch.

It's happening under Donald Trump's watch. The dysfunction voters perceived in the country in 2016 (which ultimately led to loss of the presidency by the incumbent party) was arguably magnified as of even six months ago and is greatly magnified now.

Inevitably, someone will take the blame. The most obvious way for Americans to have their voices heard is every two, and especially every four, years and they will make one of the political parties pay (probably dearly) for what they see on television and in video. 

Most individuals know what Joe Biden doesn't, that all is not sweetness and light, and will not be after November. Further, they have heard President Trump encouraging state violence. Therefore, a prayer for Jacob Blake will convince no one of anything. But the pictures, and the Fox reporter calling the events "terrifying," will. The GOP and their media lackeys are embarking on a full-court press to persuade voters that the Democratic Party is responsible for the mayhem, which widely-played video dramatizes and exaggerates.

Therefore, as Lemon points out, it is necessary to tell Americans that this is happening under Trump's watch. And then remind them. And remind them. And.... not Joe Biden, not Nancy Pelosi, but Democrat after Democrat must say This is Trump's America.

Democratic candidates and surrogates (and Biden if he makes the recommended speech) should include this:

We need @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris to condemn the armed militias that killed two people in Kenosha yesterday while working in tandem with local police.

These militias are domestic terrorists looking to incite a race war. “Protecting private property” is cover for their agenda.

— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) August 26, 2020

Democrats, don't mince words. By and large, Americans do believe there is a "race war" or will be one. Use those words- and use the word "terrorists" to describe the culprits.  Show the voters that Democrats do not fear the word "terrorists."

And don't give a free pass to the police.  A lot of Democrats would be astonished how many whites, even conservative whites, have come to distrust police- and not primarily because of law enforcement's anti-black bias.  Whether because of visual evidence, personal experiences (perhaps with a motor vehicle), or maybe just knowing one cop they don't like, citizens do not have a comic-book view of police.

Consequently, it is not helpful, nor even necessary, for their presidential nominee (and vice-presidential nominee) to continue implying that Democrats are pressing these points on behalf of blacks.  There is bias, we know already and are constantly reminded; Democrats must change the narrative by persuading voters that they are acting on behalf of all Americans.

Stress that there will be more of this if Donald Trump is re-elected. Rhetorically establishing the link between police and armed militias has two benefits. It puts Republicans on the defensive- and it warns the populace of what is likely to prevail, to a much greater degree, if Donald Trump is re-elected.

 

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If It Walks And Talks Like A Duck.....

If a person you admire- say, perhaps, a President of the USA- says "this could happen only in Nebraska" and you are from Nebraska, said person knows that you are flattered.

That applies, albeit indirectly, to former Heisman Trophy winner and mediocre NFL running back Herschel Walker, who on the first night of the Repugnant National Convention claimed (beginning at 1:36 of this video)

It hurt my soul to hear the terrible names that people called Donald. The worst one is "racist." I take it as a personal insult that people would think I've had a 37-year friendship with a racist. People who think that don't know what they're talking about.

I'll let one of Twitter's most passionate dog owners respond:

Yes, Mr. Walker, you would. And you are. https://t.co/veOeuHQPPE

— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) August 25, 2020

I've had friendships with atheists and white evangelicals; with black evangelicals and white bigots; with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents; with Green Party voters and libertarians. Most of us have, and it proves nothing.

And so Herschel Walker has indeed had a "37-year friendship" with a racist. An early clue was Donald joining his father in the latter's practice of refusing to rent to blacks in the 1960s. Later clues were in abundance with a series of racially charged remarks Donald has made over theyears. A more recent clue is

...Your housing prices will go up based on the market, and crime will go down. I have rescinded the Obama-Biden AFFH Rule. Enjoy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2020

I am a white person (a shock, I know.) We know what Donald Trump was talking about. (Unfortunately, most whites who will be, or consider, voting for Trump unfortunately agree with him about this.)

 And now, because Donald Trump is determined that voters fully understand what he is, we have

 

 "Let's be nice," he says with a smile, followed by "this could only happen in North Carolina," which is a shout-out, and far from an insult, to voters in a swing state.

This is not John McCain's Republican Party anymore. (It probably never was.) It is now Donald Trump's Republican Party, owned by the President lock, stock, and barrel (in Second Amendment terms).  He's a racist, Herschel. Own it. It's yours.

 

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