Minneapolis is a Warzone

How's that going to play in the bible belt?

Minneapolis, May 30, 2020:

A few days ago, I received and accepted an invitation to join a Facebook group that was coordinating neighborhood watch efforts in Minneapolis. One of my friends was one of the group admins and also a homeowner, so I knew the group was legitimate. Sunday, the group changed its name due to concerns that it might attract attention from police or racist organizations. Two hours ago, I watched a video posted to that group that showed Minneapolis citizens being dragged off their porches and taken into custody because they were in violation of the curfew, even though the curfew doesn't extend to porches. Now that Facebook group is gone, video and all. Maybe the admins took the site down, or maybe I got booted out despite being friends with one of the admins. I never posted there, but I considered it a useful resource when trouble broke out in my area on Friday.

mc wrote: How's that going to play in the bible belt?

Any "Christians" who support Trump should acknowledge to themselves that their real religion is White Supremacy.

bfkiller wrote: Having a calm crowd dispersed with tear gas and rubber bullets to enable an eye-rolling photo op is maybe the most despicable / pathetic act Trump has done in a long, long list of despicable / pathetic acts. It blows my mind that more Republicans don't denounce that prick.

Supposedly, he wanted to show how tough he was after reports of him hiding in his bunker came out.

Quite honestly, I find assaulting peaceful protesters, exercising their rights, so he could stage a photo op to be a despicable act of a tyrant.

Charlie Pierce on Trump:

"A mewling tub of unresolved psychological flotsam, with the moldy stench of the bunker still clinging to him, thumping his bloated chest and threatening martial law while, just up the street, police and soldiers were deployed as special effects against peaceful protestors so this plump and odious little man could inflate his withered mushroom at the expense of a once-great republic."

If you think he's going to shake his head and leave the White House peacefully when he loses, you are out of your mind.

We elected a tyrant.

jeb wrote: If you think he's going to shake his head and leave the White House peacefully when he loses, you are out of your mind.

We elected a tyrant.

I'm amused that you think there will be an election for him to lose.

Gregarius wrote:

jeb wrote: If you think he's going to shake his head and leave the White House peacefully when he loses, you are out of your mind.

We elected a tyrant.

I'm amused that you think there will be an election for him to lose.

Putin doesn't just cancel elections. He cancels his opponents. Who we gonna vote for after Biden drops dead in late October?

Shellhead wrote: A few days ago, I received and accepted an invitation to join a Facebook group that was coordinating neighborhood watch efforts in Minneapolis. One of my friends was one of the group admins and also a homeowner, so I knew the group was legitimate. Sunday, the group changed its name due to concerns that it might attract attention from police or racist organizations. Two hours ago, I watched a video posted to that group that showed Minneapolis citizens being dragged off their porches and taken into custody because they were in violation of the curfew, even though the curfew doesn't extend to porches. Now that Facebook group is gone, video and all. Maybe the admins took the site down, or maybe I got booted out despite being friends with one of the admins. I never posted there, but I considered it a useful resource when trouble broke out in my area on Friday.

Group was back up by lunch time. But now I can only read some of the comments while the rest are hidden. The rising anti-police sentiment has the group currently debating who they should call if they catch white supremacists or others in the act of setting fires or delivering notes that threaten minorities. Most of the group doesn't have a good answer except contact somebody from the group and definitely don't call 911 because that might get minorities shot. But then what? Citizen's arrest? A vicious beating? What if the suspects have guns?

This is the central problem that we all must face. We can't have a civilization without laws, and we need some sort of law enforcement to back those laws. But the nature of law enforcement work is unpleasant and sometimes dangerous, so there will always be a tendency for law enforcement to become too violent and to close ranks against any external criticism. But without anybody enforcing the laws upon law enforcement personnel, we end up with a highly organized group of fascists who won't follow our laws. We need better quality cops with better supervison and improved accountability, but how do we get there when the police union will impede all progress?

One of the rare political positions I hold that unites in opposition both my right-wing family (mostly law enforcement) and my left-wing in-laws (mostly teachers) is that I think public employee unions ought to be abolished. I think they are anti-democratic. You already get to vote for the person who best represents your interests, and then you go organize against them anyway? Fuck that.

[edit: 7am snarky unionist response - this isn't the time or place, deleted.]

Although I was (mostly) joking about the election, one thing of which I am certain fills me with dread: we will never be rid of Trump. Not as president, but as a never-ending source of trolling, division, and mayhem. He will be on Twitter forever. He will be on Fox News forever. He will never shut up, never stop grabbing the spotlight, never stop embarrassing our country. It makes me sick to my stomach. I can only hope that his ability to effect any actual harm will be revoked in November.

He's 73 and not exactly health-conscious. That does limit the definition of "forever" a bit.

There's still Jr.