Did this really just happen?

[_Res Ipsa]

I keep saying they're a loose confederation of multiple leftist organizations (loosely organized), leftist ideologues, and anarchists. I don't think they're well organized outside of BLM (and that's kind of pushing it). Where their organization is manifested is through the Democratic party, which has been shifting pretty rapidly to the Left and can institute policies that are more agreeable to them. This fairly quick Democratic shift is incredibly alarming to a lot of folks, but mostly to center-Right to the hard-Right. And now we're getting very serious talk of civil war from both sides. The sheer hate and insanity* being tossed back and forth is manifesting by the overt destruction of private property, government buildings, and physical assaults is intolerable AND now we're at the brink of armed Right-wing death squads shooting Americans as a response.

*insanity - https://www.opindia.com/2020/05/woman-p ... -in-uttah/

If you read the link you'll realize fairly quickly that all those people laughing, applauding, and condoning her act isn't representative of a small group of drug addicts. They're political actors and she, a goddamn crazy person, most likely votes Democrat. Think about what means, and juxtapose it against loonytunes Rightists wanting to shoot those people and their support for a fascist. Not good.

If I'm genuinely concerned about the partisanship being displayed by both sides I don't think I'm overreacting. And I don't think anyone who votes Democrat should be sitting around tut tutting this violence or excusing it with 'yeah, but they were being heard' ____. I admit I don't know what the solution is to the cop issue because most municipalities have been becoming more militarized and it seems the only way they actually change is when this kind of thing goes down. However, here in Salt Lake City the SLCPD has been INCREDIBLY forward thinking, very transparent, and has actively sought out minorities to provide police oversight in addition to filling its ranks. And yet this still happened. Something is very wrong with that picture, and I'm simply not going to be ok with what happened in my city because the people here are ignorant of the city's outreach.

Anyway. I'm just talking. If you're reading this and responding I appreciate the interaction because your perspectives have shaped my over the years.

- Doc

I appreciate the talking, too, Doc. I don't have any good answers. I'm not sure I even have any mildly bad answers. But I do appreciate the conversation. As heated as we've gotten with each other, I learn from you, too.

Working on a big project today, but will try to get back later today.

[_moksha]

My younger brother lives in Salt Lake City. He sent me some pics from Sunday just before curfew.

Through watching the Salt Lake TV news reports, I noticed a correlation between acts of vandalism and riding skateboards.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/6/2/2 ... aved-lives

“ While Monday night’s protests in downtown Salt Lake City ended much more peacefully than Saturday night, the situation may have been drastically different if not for the investigative efforts of West Valley police and the FBI.

“They probably saved a lot of lives,” said West Valley police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku.

Two men with numerous weapons who were allegedly on their way to the protests in Salt Lake City were arrested Monday. Four weapons — including an AK-47 and an Uzi with a silencer attached — were recovered from a vehicle, Vainuku said.

In the home of Yuri Neves Silva, 27, of West Valley City, more weapons were found and seized.

Information about a potential motive was not immediately available, but police believe the two were headed to the protests to cause trouble.

“We had every reason to believe that’s what they intended to do,” Vainuku said.

Silva had posted “multiple threats of violence against police, specifically Salt Lake City police and West Valley City police” over social media and “encouraged others to take up arms against police as well, and had reportedly listed the names and addresses of specific officers to be targeted,” she said.

Silva was arrested for investigation of making a terroristic threat. Police say Silva was making multiple posts about harming police officers and was seen in one picture holding a gun, according to a police affidavit.

“In one video posted on (Sunday), the suspect made a video showing himself mocking the Salt Lake City curfew, stating, ‘Hands up don’t shoot,’” while also threatening to kill police officers, the affidavit states.

“The suspect also made comments knowing officers were trying to follow his Facebook page and he directed officers to stay at home to protect their families, otherwise ‘we will have no choice but to affiliate you with your ... colleagues and their actions.’

“The suspect also mentions a police officer who resides in his neighborhood and comments, ‘You put that cop car in the garage real quick play boi,’” according to the affidavit.

Four additional firearms were found in Silva’s home, police said.

“The suspect denied wanting to shoot police officers but admitted his Facebook posts were intended to incite people,” the affidavit states.

Christian Hernandez, 27, of Magna, was also in the car with Silva at the time of his arrest.

“The suspect admitted he was headed to the current protests in Salt Lake City,” police wrote in an affidavit.

Marijuana and “four firearms, including three long rifles and one handgun,” were found in the vehicle, the affidavit states.

Hernandez was arrested for investigation of possession of a firearm by a restricted person and drug possession.

In Salt Lake City at the state Capitol and the streets around the Salt Lake City-County Building, most of the arrests Monday were for failing to obey the city’s mandatory 8 p.m. curfew. But at least one protester was arrested for having a loaded gun, according to police.”

That’s some scary crap. I wonder how they were rounded up, because they were literally in route when they were busted. <- Note: They’re false flag white supremacists and not at all anything but that. To state otherwise makes you an idiot and a racist.

- Doc

[_Icarus]

We were all mistaken apparently. Trump was in the bunker all night for an "inspection" he says.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/Trump-bu ... tUcX6cwVIo

Glad that's all cleared up now.

[_moksha]

https://Twitter.com/FOXLA/status/126763 ... lee-2020-6

[_Jersey Girl]

Don't know if anyone posted this already. I don't have time to look.

Chauvin now has 2nd degree murder charges. The remaining 3 officers are charged with aiding and abetting. I don't know how long this will take to go to trial. I do know the murder cases that I follow typically take a year or more to go to trial but that may have more to do with the complicated forensics in those cases especially those without a body.

I'll be following this one for sure. Would be interested in viewing the video interviews with all 4 officers if they ever come online--which they probably won't in this case.

[_Jersey Girl]

Thank GOD. Mattis has issued a statement. I was concerned that Trump's theatrics were going to make Americans begin to despise and distrust their own military. Apparently this was exactly what triggered Mattis to finally speak out. Going to post the statement in it's entirety because in it, he completely eviscerates Trump.

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.

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 Trump 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.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... e-atlantic

[_Jersey Girl]

Also wanted to comment here, and I may have already--posting a couple of places about this right now--that when before Trump walked to the church and made his speech, while he is claiming that "we" are in solidarity with peaceful protesters, explosions can be heard in the background from police tear gassing peaceful protesters.

And, when during the speech, Trump claims that if governor's can't get their states under control that he'd use the power of the military and do it for them. First, this is illegal. Second, the only reason he is able to pull this off in DC is because DC HAS no governor and is headed up by a mayor.

So, he's completely full of crap on both counts.

[_Jersey Girl]

I viewed this on video but here's a text copy. Pat Robertson has a lucid moment.

"It seems 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,'"Robertson said. "But the President took a different course. He said, 'I am the "President of law and order,' and he issued a heads-up."

Robertson continued. "He said, 'I'm ready to send in military troops if the nation's governors don't act to quell the violence that has rocked American cities.' A matter of fact, he spoke of them as being jerks. You just don't do that, Mr. President. It isn't cool!"

Robertson also spoke out about racism, saying "we are one" and "God made us all."

"We've got to love each other, we just got to do that," Robertson said. "We are all one race, and we need to love each other."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/politics ... index.html

[_Jersey Girl]

Franklin Graham thanks Trump for church visit: 'God and His Word are the only hope for our nation'

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/20 ... hns-churc/

Your father is rolling over in his grave, sir.