Good News, Protest Is Once Again Patriotic

So says the NY Times editorial board

In America, Protest Is Patriotic

When George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, the scourge of police violence, festering for generations, became a rallying point for Americans yearning for the fulfillment of this country’s founding aspiration to promote life, liberty and happiness.

Yet as they turned out to exercise their most basic rights as citizens, these Americans have often encountered only more contempt for those rights from the people who are supposed to protect them.

Some protesters crossed the line into violence. Some people took advantage of the chaos to loot. But all too often, facing peaceful demonstrations against police violence, the police responded with more violence — against protesters, journalists and bystanders.

Remember, this was the same NY Times that mostly denigrated the reopen protesters, who didn’t throw bottles at police, didn’t loot and pillage, who didn’t spray paint graffiti, didn’t get violent at all, as bad people, and often right wing agitators and that it was all astroturfed, in articles and opinion pieces. They were not condemning use of police force and threats to use police force against people breaking lockdown. Nary a word on things like a paddle boarder out in the ocean having law enforcement come and take him away.

Obviously, those protests were not patriotic

Just a few weeks ago, the police demonstrated remarkable forbearance as heavily armed groups turned out in several state capitals to oppose coronavirus-related public heath measures. Now the police are demonstrating an equally remarkable intolerance to protests against their own behavior.

They weren’t violent at all, and, unlike with leftist protests, there’s little chance of violence unless leftists show up and start it. Let’s be clear, the George Floyd protests include conservatives, as we are all appalled by the murder of Floyd. I know many conservatives who have attended the Raleigh and Charlotte protests. But, since this is one where lots of leftists are running it and showing up, the violent leftists forces, ie, Antifa, anarchists, Black Bloc, and others, show up and cause problems. Law enforcement had intelligence. Auto businesses in north Raleigh had warnings about threats against them the past few nights.

Protesting peacefully is patriotic. More importantly, it’s Constitutional, both in the federal and state constitutions. The minute you start getting violent, it stops being constitutional. But, you also know what? Sometimes violence is required. Against the government. That’s how this country started. Rioting and looting against private businesses is not the same thing.

And, yes, sometimes the cops started it with no excuses. They didn’t have to worry about violence at reopen protests, you know.

BTW

‘Destruction is not the answer:’ After Raleigh riots, those arrested express regret

The Wake County Justice Center re-opened for Tuesday, and on the first day of regular business post-pandemic, eight of those arrested for their roles in weekend protests were on the docket.

After court, those charged described a protest that started peacefully before it grew, spurred by crowd anger, into something they regret.

“Destruction is not the answer,” Dijon Pulley said. He is charged with trespassing during an emergency for actions Sunday night.

Well, yeah, not that you’ve been arrested and charged, regret happens. I’m sure their lawyers are telling them to have regret for lighter sentences.

Read: Good News, Protest Is Once Again Patriotic »

Here We Go: The Climate Crisis (scam) Is Racist Or Something

Can you guess what the answer is from Eric Holthaus, a high poobah in the Cult of Climastrology?

The Climate Crisis Is Racist. The Answer Is Anti-Racism.

I’m writing this from St Paul, Minnesota. Our neighbouring city, Minneapolis, is descending into riots this evening. I can hear the fireworks and tear gas grenades being fired at protestors five miles away. They are outraged at the police killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd. Floyd was killed by a white police officer who knelt on his neck for at least seven minutes while he was handcuffed and face down on the ground. Floyd repeatedly said, “I cannot breathe. I cannot breathe.” The same rainstorm that is falling on the burning buildings across the river is falling on the garden I planted with my preschoolers earlier today.

The CoC loves taking advantage of every event that happens, as we’ve seen time and again. They then try to subsume those events and make them more about ‘climate change’ then about the actual event, making the actual even less important.

The outrage in Minneapolis right now is primarily about inequality. Since the early days of this city, it has been divided along racial lines, beginning with the expulsion and extermination of the Anishinaabe people, whose land we still occupy. A hundred years ago, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, banks and city officials maintained a racist system of redlining, and created entire neighbourhoods where housing and businesses could not apply for loans and where poverty persists today. Schools in Minnesota, where Minneapolis is the largest city, have among the worst achievement gaps for kids of colour in the entire country.

Eric does understand that Minneapolis is a city run by his buddies in the Democratic Party, the party of ‘climate change’, right? Right?

Climate change is racist because the system that caused it is racist. No, rainstorms don’t care about skin colour, but worsening weather worldwide aggravates the divisions in society that already exist because it hits people of colour living in poverty the hardest. Simply put: the reason the world hasn’t been fighting climate change as hard as it should is because powerful people don’t want to stop exploiting people of colour. The urgency of climate change is also an urgency for racial justice.

Now that is a scorching hot take. Eric spends lots of time trying to prove this, forgetting it happens in areas that tend to be run by ‘climate change’ believing Democrats

Climate change is a symptom of the same unequal system. It is the denial of the right to exist on an enormous, planetary scale. It is a consequence of the same system run by people who think of Africa as a resource for imperialist expansion, not a continent filled with millions of families who deserve health and safety and happiness just like everyone does. It’s what happens when the lives of marginalised people and non-human species are viewed as expendable. That expendability, and the continuation of this system, is a choice. Nothing about it is inevitable or necessary, yet those in power choose to continue it every single day.

Eric’s plan?

The answer to all of this obviously isn’t easy, but the approach must include anti-racism at its core. Anti-racism, actively working to replace the current system with something that repairs past harms and redistributes power meaningfully in favour of people of colour is what is required of everyone in the climate emergency, especially those of us who benefit the most from how things are right now. We cannot fight climate change without being anti-racist.

Huh. Not much of a plan.

Read: Here We Go: The Climate Crisis (scam) Is Racist Or Something »

Celebs Sign Letter Calling To Defund The Police

You know, the people who tend to live in gated communities which often have their own private police force and also often have their own armed security

John Legend, Common, the Weeknd, Lizzo Sign Open Letter to Defund the Police

John Legend, Common, the Weeknd, Lizzo, Jane Fonda, and others have signed a new open letter urging local governments to decrease police budgets in favor of spending more on health care, education, and other community programs. Others to sign the letter include Megan Rapinoe, Yada Shahidi, and Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU.

The letter was released by activist Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter and a founding member of the Movement 4 Black Lives, a coalition of more than 100 black-rights organizations. The letter arrives in conjunction with #BlackOutTuesday and #TheShowMustBePaused, a grassroots campaign within the music industry to pause work today, June 2nd, and “reconnect with our community.” Talib Kweli, Natalie Portman, America Ferrera, Brie Larson, and Taraji P. Henson also signed on to support the letter.

OK, let’s start by defunding the government run city police in the areas these people live. They can be the experiment group, everyone else can be the control group. The state police and county sheriff’s departments would not be allowed to respond. Let’s see what happens.

The open letter ties the deaths of unarmed black people like George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and others to the disproportionately devastating effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on black communities. “The COVID-19 deaths and the deaths caused by police terror are connected and consequential to each other,” it states. “The United States does not have a national healthcare system. Instead, we have the largest military budget in the world, and some of the most well-funded and militarized police departments in the world, too. Policing and militarization overwhelmingly dominate the bulk of national and local budgets. In fact, police and military funding has increased every single year since 1973, and at the same time, funding for public health decreased every year, crystallized most recently when the Trump administration eliminated the U.S. Pandemic Response Team in 2018, citing ‘costs.’”

Interesting. What about the number of blacks killed by blacks? Year over year, somewhere between 7,000-8,000 blacks are killed each year by other blacks. Despite being around 13% of the population, blacks account for around 50% of the murders/murdered. In 2019, about 1,000 citizens were killed by police overall, and just 24% of those were black. Maybe they should be concerned with the violence within the black communities, which tend to be in areas run by the Democratic Party, because the Dems love to keep blacks in their plantations, er, low income areas.

Noting, for instance, that state and local government spending on police and corrections jumped from $60 billion to $194 billion between 1977 and 2017, the letter lays out an array of different ways that money could be used. “It could go towards building healthy communities, to the health of our elders and children, to neighborhood infrastructure, to education, to childcare, to support a vibrant Black future. The possibilities are endless.”

In fact, the U.S. and states have spent lots and lots of money on these things, yet, nothing seems to change. Because Democrats are still the same racists they were during Jim Crow and segregation, now they just keep blacks in certain areas. They have housing built, and the areas turn into dangerous areas with gangs and all sorts of violence, crime, drugs, poverty, etc. That’s what Democrats want.

Read: Celebs Sign Letter Calling To Defund The Police »

Climate Cultists Lay Out 50 Step Plan For Markets And Regulators

This would all require massive amounts of government

Warning of ‘green swan’ risks, climate group Ceres and bipartisan supporters lay out 50-step plan for markets and regulators

The U.S. has sustained more than $1.775 trillion in costs from more than 265 climate-related extreme weather events since 1980, by some measures, and more than $500 billion in economic losses between 2015 and 2019. That means any move forward from COVID-19 and its economic malaise requires a concerted climate-change response from financial markets and their regulators, a new report says.

Huh what? What does one have to do with the other? Besides, weather events have always happened. No need to blame witchcraft, er, carbon pollution.

The call, leveled at major financial market and insurance regulators and with support from a key Democratic Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, was sounded in a report released Monday by sustainable investing advocate Ceres.

The release examines the wide-ranging and compounding impacts of the climate crisis on U.S. financial markets, establishes how these impacts fall within the purview of seven different federal financial regulatory agencies as well as state regulatory agencies, studies what models for action are already being implemented by regulators around the world, and recommends more than 50 specific actions U.S. regulators can take right now. This includes what regulators might learn from the COVID-19 recovery effort, including a warning about ignoring sustainability requirements in any relief awarded and in plans to rebuild from the pandemic.

This really isn’t about science nor the climate, is it? Sounds more like excuse making to empower more Big Government.

“A multi-industry chorus of big investors, central banks, rating agencies, insurers and top economists warns of severe economic disruption from climate change — what the Bank of International Settlements termed ‘green swan’ risks; systemic and catastrophic,” Sen. Whitehouse said in response to the report. “For safety’s sake, U.S. financial regulators must prepare and adapt,” he added.

For safety’s sake, Government must control the entire economy, ya know. Funny how it always comes to this. Say, what do we call it when the government runs the economy?

Read: Climate Cultists Lay Out 50 Step Plan For Markets And Regulators »

If All You See…

…is a sea rising up to meet the forests, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is 357 Magnum, with a post on comparing the rate of COVID19 in Europe and the U.S.

Read: If All You See… »

Autopsy Done By George Floyd Family Could Help Police Officer’s Defense

Well, this is not a good thing. I’d like to see the officer spend a long time in jail for what he did, along with the other officers who just stood around

Floyd family autopsy could help accused policeman’s defense, legal experts say

An independent autopsy that found George Floyd died solely from asphyxiation could actually bolster the defense of the former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing him, legal experts said.

The autopsy released on Monday said Floyd’s death, which sparked nationwide protests, was a homicide and that he had no underlying medical conditions.

Later on Monday, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner released details of its autopsy findings that also said Floyd’s death was a homicide caused by asphyxiation but that he had possible underlying health conditions and intoxicants in his body that may have been contributing factors in his death.

On the surface, the independent autopsy would seem to bolster the prosecution’s case against Derek Chauvin, the police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for several minutes before he died last week.

But legal experts said it could do the opposite by creating confusion in the mind of the jury.

“It will be part of the defense strategy to say they can’t even get the cause of death right,” said Gerald Lefcourt, a criminal defense attorney.

We’ve all seen the video, I think we can all conclude George Floyd would not be dead without the actions of Chauvin, but, we have a legal system

Former prosecutors and defense attorneys told Reuters that Chauvin faced a very difficult case given the strong video evidence.

If prosecutors introduce the independent report, the defense could seize on the conflicting autopsies to create questions in the jury’s mind about the cause of death.

Under U.S. law, prosecutors must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

If prosecution doesn’t, defense could. One has to wonder if the State is going to have to reduce the charges down from 3rd degree murder in order to attempt to get a conviction, which would set people off yet again. And if they fail to convict him. Gonna be tough to get a unbiased jury. There’s zero possibility of charging Chauvin with 1st degree murder at this point.

Read: Autopsy Done By George Floyd Family Could Help Police Officer’s Defense »

Bummer: Florida Judges Dismisses Kids’ Hotcoldwetdry Lawsuit, Saying It Is Political

We’ve seen plenty of kids being used as pawns for the Cult of Climastrology to file lawsuits to attempt to force Everyone Else to live a certain climate cult life. Sure, the kids say they are Believers and have been since they were very young, but, come on, someone taught them this stuff, someone instilled the brainwashing, and someone is paying to run these lawsuits

Florida judge rejects children’s climate change lawsuit, citing “political” issue

A Tallahassee judge on Monday ordering the dismissal of a climate change lawsuit brought by eight children who wanted to argue the governor and other top leaders have promoted pollution that imperils their future.

“I still believe in my heart of hearts that the people through their elected representatives will eventually get this climate thing right,” said Leon County Judge Kevin Carroll. But he rejected the case before it could go to trial because he said it delved into matters better left for the Legislature. “We can’t rely on judges to be dictators of public policy because, at the end of the day, a dictator in a black robe isn’t any better than a dictator in a suit or in a military uniform.”

The case, Reynolds v. State of Florida, was filed in 2018 when Sen. Rick Scott was governor. Lawyers more recently added the current administration, including Gov. Ron DeSantis and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, to their complaint.

The eight children, now between the ages of 12 and 22, contend that the state is endangering their constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by supporting industries built on fossil fuel emissions, which scientists say worsen global warming.

The judge is entirely correct. It is political policy, not something that a judge should be deciding, at least at this point. It’s something for the legislators and the voters, and, don’t forget, while a lot of people say they believe in anthropogenic climate change and want to do something in theory, in practice they do not want to spend much of their own money nor give up their freedom and choice nor fossil fueled lifestyle. If the kids really want to make a difference, they should get all their kid friends to give up all the trappings of a modern life.

Read: Bummer: Florida Judges Dismisses Kids’ Hotcoldwetdry Lawsuit, Saying It Is Political »

Washington Post Notes White Instigators Responsible For Much Of The Mayhem

They can’t quite get around to noting which party these white instigators vote for

White instigators are to blame for much of the mayhem, officials say

“What did I tell you?” a voice cried out as the camera recording mayhem in downtown Pittsburgh settled on a white man, clad in all black, smashing the windows of a police vehicle.

“It is not black people,” the onlooker called to the crowd before addressing the vandal directly: “What are you doing?”

What he was doing, authorities later alleged, was inciting riots on Saturday as the city — like dozens of others across America — was swept up in sustained unrest over the death of a black man in police custody. Demonstrations have spread from Minneapolis, where a white police officer pinned his knee on the neck of George Floyd, to scores of cities, some of which have been looted and set ablaze.

Police identified Brian Jordan Bartels, 20, of Allison Park, Pa., as having “kicked off” the escalation in Pittsburgh, one of several examples of peaceful assemblies against police violence creating opportunities for pandemonium. While at heart the gatherings have been an appeal for racial justice, they also have attracted a diverse array of people with other grievances and agendas who have co-opted the moment, accelerating what has been a national unraveling as the country reels from a pandemic that has put more than 40 million people out of work.

In most American cities, people of all races appear to be participating in the violence, vandalism and looting, particularly in Minneapolis, where a crowd burned the police department’s 3rd Precinct building last week and vandals were seen smashing windows and stealing items from stores. Multiracial coalitions also have marched peacefully. But in some cities, local officials have noted that black protesters have struggled to maintain peaceful protests in the face of young white men joining the fray, seemingly determined to commit mayhem.

Yes, these young white liberals, who don their black garb and talk about anarchy (and wanting more government, not understand what anarchy means) and cause problems before heading back to university on their parents dime. These aren’t Trump voters

Some local officials were even more blunt. After reviewing footage of the weekend’s events, Jenny Durkan, the mayor of Seattle, said she feared the black community would shoulder the blame for havoc others caused.

“It is striking how many of the people who were doing the looting and stealing and the fires over the weekend were young white males,” Durkan (D) said in an interview.

Well, let’s be honest: there were quite a lot of black faces involved, as well. We saw the videos. Some are definitely mostly black for the looting. That’s a different story from who started the violence and engaged in violence. I saw plenty of young black males throwing bottles at the Raleigh police both Saturday and Sunday nights.

But from Baltimore to Sacramento, black protesters also were filmed protecting storefronts and placing their bodies before police barricades to preserve principles of nonviolence, and to prevent backlash disproportionately aimed at them. Videos emerged, too, of them confronting white demonstrators who had usurped the mantra of “black lives matter,” which gave birth to a movement for racial justice and police accountability, in seemingly random acts of defacement.

“Don’t spray stuff on here when they’re going to blame black people for this,” a black woman said in challenge to two vandals outside of a Starbucks in Los Angeles.

Sadly, this was less the norm. It seemed that in most case people just walked away, not wanting to be involved. And we saw plenty of video of blacks getting violent.

Similar questions have become acute from Austin, where a racial justice group on Sunday canceled a planned assembly for fear of violent escalation by unaffiliated activists, to Fargo, N.D., where police questioned four men carrying assault rifles to a protest site in a bid to protect businesses. In Denver, police officers commandeered firearms from anti-government gun enthusiasts who self-identify as “Boogaloo boys,” part of a far-right militia movement.

“These are people who are agent provocateurs,” Chas Moore, the executive director of the Austin Justice Coalition, said of the extremists joining the protests. He canceled his group’s demonstration, originally planned for Sunday, after the chaos of Saturday night. “These are extremists and anarchists, not right or left. They want complete annihilation of the system, and they’re at the forefront of the fires and the breaking of vehicles.”

Au contraire. If the news and Democrats could specifically blame white supremacists and/or Trump voters they would. But, they can’t. Members of the Proud Boys were pictured in Raleigh downtown on Saturday before the protests (unlike Antifa, they had no problem with their photos being taken, and they weren’t wearing masks). You know that if they were seen during the Saturday protests that they would have been followed to see if they caused problems. Same in other cities. These were left wing agitators. People who call themselves Antifa or anarchists or part of the Black Bloc. Perhaps Democrats should be controlling their own, but, these are the folks the Democratic regime empowered to be their muscle, to cause problems.

Here in Raleigh it was peaceful Monday. There was a protest march during the day, and then almost everyone went home for the 8pm curfew. A few stuck around for a few minutes to make a point, then left. There are no reports of looting and stuff from overnight. Not seeing any reports of problems in Fayetteville or Charlotte, either. In other big liberal cities, though, they blew off curfew, and, heck, many were violent during the day Monday.

Most of the people doing this are not Trump/GOP voters. The Washington Post forgot to mention that.

Can we open the economy now?

Read: Washington Post Notes White Instigators Responsible For Much Of The Mayhem »

Bummer: States Are Concerned Coronavirus May Doom Their “Climate Crisis” Projects

Suddenly, states are realizing that they can’t just spend willy nilly on projects to solve a fake issue when a real issue crops up

States Warn That Virus May Doom Climate Projects

Connecticut is preparing to build a first-of-its-kind underground flood wall. Virginia has planned an intricate system of berms, pump stations and raised roads to keep the flood-prone city of Norfolk dry. Louisiana has broken ground on a new community for people forced to flee a village on its sinking coast, the country’s first government-resettled climate migrants.

Projects in 13 cities and states, which were part of the Obama administration’s push to protect Americans from climate change after the devastation from Hurricane Sandy, are now in jeopardy because of the coronavirus pandemic, state and local officials warn. And they need Republicans in Congress to save those projects.

That would be the Superstorm Sandy (which was not an actual hurricane when it hit those northern states) which we were told would be the new normal, and hasn’t had a recurrence.

On Monday, officials are expected to tell lawmakers that the coronavirus will prevent them from meeting the conditions of a $1 billion Obama-era program for large-scale construction projects that defend cities and states against climate-related disasters. That money must be spent by the fall of 2022.

Missing that deadline, which officials say is likely because of delays caused by the coronavirus, would mean forfeiting the remaining money, scuttling the projects. States and cities have been moving swiftly in the design phases and to secure permits since the Obama administration awarded the funds in 2016. Officials will ask Congress to extend the deadline for construction by three years, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The New York Times.

“Without an extension, any funds not spent by the deadline will be canceled and projects will remain unfinished,” the letter reads.

If this is so important, why don’t the states and municipalities ask all those Believer citizens and supporting companies to chip in? Surely, members of the Cult of Climastrology would have no problem ponying up their own money for this, right? Lots of money.

Read: Bummer: States Are Concerned Coronavirus May Doom Their “Climate Crisis” Projects »

If All You See…

…are horrible fossil fueled vehicles, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Chicks On The Right, with a post on white virtue signalers excusing the violence.

Read: If All You See… »

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