RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/06/02/whats-trump-got-to-do-with-the-george-floyd-riots/

On Monday, Trump delivered remarks on the situation. He said that a “small minority of folks who’ve resorted to violence in various forms, whether out of genuine anger or mere opportunism, are putting innocent people at risk, compounding the destruction of neighborhoods that are often already short on services and investment. … I saw an elderly black woman being interviewed today in tears because the only grocery store in her neighborhood had been trashed.” He said “let’s not excuse violence, or rationalize it, or participate in it.”

Almost everything connected George Floyd’s tragic death and the subsequent riots involve Democratic leaders. So naturally, President Donald Trump is taking the blame.

Start at the beginning. George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, a liberal city (the New York Times calls it “one of America’s most liberal cities”) in a liberal state (that hasn’t voted for a Republican for president since 1972). 

In 2017, Larry Jacobs, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, observed that “In Minneapolis, we have one of the most liberal activist agendas in the U.S. They are seeking to accomplish at the municipal level what isn’t being done at the federal level.”

Even that wasn’t liberal enough for city dwellers, who booted out a liberal mayor in November 2017 for an even more leftist mayor, Jacob Frey. He ran promising more affordable housing and, if you can believe it, improved police-community relations.

Meanwhile, almost every city where riots have broken out is a deep blue enclave that has been run by Democrats for many years. In fact, all but a handful voted for Hillary Clinton by wide margins — New York, for example, went 64% for Hillary, Chicago, 67%, Los Angeles, 69%,  Portland, 64%, San Francisco, 82%. In Minneapolis, Hillary got 57% of the vote. The riots also appear to be aided and abetted by professional left-wing agitators.

You’d think that those most responsible for maintaining law and order would bear the brunt of the criticism for the ongoing mayhem, wouldn’t you?

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/06/illusion-peaceful-protestors-bruce-thornton/

Last week we watched the sorry spectacle of aimless destruction supposedly in response to the death of a black man at the hands of the police. The predictable script from Ferguson and Baltimore was reprised, the same bumper-sticker empty slogans brandished, and the same pointless destruction and looting occurred that were worse than useless for solving the injustice the protestors supposedly want remedied.

Just as predictable was the media coverage, which mixed ratings-bait lurid footage of the violence with clichés like “peaceful protestors,” youthful passionate idealists moved by righteous anger over racial injustice, but compromised by “outside agitators” exploiting the tragedy for their own nefarious extremist ends, most likely alt-right and white supremacist ones. And, of course, the blue-state mayors and governors whose appeasing riot-control protocols worsened the riots while frantically trying to avoid blame and exploit them for their own political aims.

What is missing, as usual, is the truth about these protests and their alleged causes––They’re all about politics, not justice.

One thing that is obvious from watching the footage is that these riots have become a rite of passage for the college-age demographic, a sort of “woke” spring break memorialized by cell-phone cameras, selfies, tweets, Instagram, and Facebook postings. The other cohort comprises the shock-troops of left-over leftism like Antifa, the same bougie thrill-seekers and political illiterates who filled the ranks of Occupy Wall Street and the other international outfits that regularly protest at meetings of the IMF and G7.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2020/06/01/george-floyds-brother-condemns-riots-calls-for-destructive-unity-to-end-n479504

Terrence Floyd, the younger brother of George Floyd, condemned the rioting that’s happening nationwide.

Floyd spoke with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America, and described his brother as “a gentle giant” who “was about peace” and a “motivator” who “always saw the lighter, the brighter side of things.”

He added that the riots and violent protests are “overshadowing” his brother’s memory. “They may call it unity, but it’s destructive unity.” Terrence explained that his brother “would want us to seek justice” but would want people to channel their anger “another way.”

“It’s OK to be angry, but channel your anger to do something positive or make a change another way because we’ve been down this road already.”

“The anger, damaging your hometown is not the way he’d want,” he added.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-nothing-matters-rioters/

It was a funny thing over the weekend. You could turn on CNN and find officials deploring the violence in Minneapolis. You could hear rapper Killer Mike exhorting his fellow Atlantans “to be better than burning down our own homes.” You could listen to George Floyd’s girlfriend, who said that seeing Minneapolis in flames would have devastated her slain beau.

And then you could log on to Facebook and find people lionizing the riots as the next Boston Tea Party.

It’s hard to think of anything more privileged than social media armchairs excusing violence against our poorest and most vulnerable neighborhoods. But so it goes in the Nothing Matters quarter of America. This weekend saw the unrest that began in Minnesota spread across the country. In Louisville, vandals smashed windows and attacked restaurants and hotels. In Washington, D.C., the White House was briefly locked down amid rowdy protests outside. In Oakland, two federal officers were shot; one died. And in Minneapolis itself, the arson and looting continued, drawing out the largest National Guard mobilization in Minnesota history.

All this was done ostensibly to express fury over the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman, as well as other episodes of brutality against African Americans, the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville and the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. Yet there was something else at work too. Officials estimated Saturday morning that only 20 percent of the rioters in Minneapolis were actually from Minnesota, and while that was later walked back, reporting confirms that the city has become a bug light for out-of-state anarchists and agitators. Pittsburgh’s police chief, meanwhile, said protests there had been hijacked by “white males” dressed in black. And in Rochester, where cars were flipped over and set ablaze, police blamed “anarchists” and “paid protesters.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-lancets-politicized-science-on-antimalarial-drugs-11591053222?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

“Lancet’s decision to publish the study with little apparent scrutiny also suggests politics may be influencing its scientific judgment. An unsigned editorial in May criticized President Trump’s “inconsistent and incoherent national response” to the pandemic and asserted that “Americans must put a president in the White House come January, 2021, who will understand that public health should not be guided by partisan politics.” The Lancet editors should focus on healing themselves.”

President Trump has often mentioned hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for Covid-19. Last month he announced that he was taking the antimalaria drug, also known as HCL, as a prophylaxis after two White House staffers tested positive for the virus. Mr. Trump’s critics in the press seem to be on a mission to discredit the therapy. Now a prestigious medical journal may be joining in.

The Lancet published a study on May 22 that purported to find a 30% increased risk of death for hospitalized Covid-19 patients treated with HCL or chloroquine, a related treatment. “Study says drug hailed by Trump is harmful,” the Washington Post reported. The World Health Organization suspended its HCL trial. France, Belgium and Italy announced they would prohibit the drug for the treatment of Covid patients.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2020/06/01/two-nyc-corporate-lawyers-charged-in-failed-molotov-cocktail-attack-on-nypd-n2569817

Two Brooklyn lawyers, including an Ivy League graduate corporate attorney, are facing federal charges over accusations they tossed a Molotov cocktail into an NYPD vehicle early Saturday morning during a protest over the police killing of George Floyd.

Colinford Mattis, 32, a corporate lawyer and member of Community Board 5 in East New York, was charged along with fellow attorney Urooj Rahman with the attempted attack on an empty police cruiser parked outside the 88th Precinct station house in Fort Greene.

[…]

Authorities say Rahman, 31, tossed a bottle filled with gasoline through a broken window into the cruiser just before 1 am Saturday but the Molotov cocktail failed to ignite. Rahman jumped into a van driven by Mattis and they sped off, court papers allege.

The attempted torching was captured by video surveillance cameras outside the precinct stationhouse on DeKalb Ave., according to court papers.

Cops gave chase and stopped the van nearby on Willoughby St. They found the makings of another Molotov cocktail in the back seat along with a gasoline container, authorities say.

“No rational human being can ever believe that hurling firebombs at police officers and vehicles is justified,” said Brooklyn U.S Attorney Richard Donoghue.

This isn’t about Floyd anymore, folks. Maybe for a millisecond, it was and that’s sad—because there appear to be protests mostly in smaller urban and suburban areas where it is peaceful. There’s also footage of officers voicing support for the protests and praying with the activists. As for the mob, however, President Trump has to make moves to put it down. It’s been nearly a week of chaos. It’s time to re-establish law and order. 

https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/01/minneapolis-rioters-burned-one-of-americas-most-beloved-independent-bookstores-to-the-ground/

Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s were legendary among the community of science fiction, fantasy, and mystery readers—and now they’re gone.

Venerable Minneapolis science fiction and fantasy bookstore Uncle Hugo’s and its sister store in the same building, Uncle Edgar’s, which specialized in mysteries, were both burned to ruins last Friday night by rioters.

The store took its name from two major awards in the genre fields, science fiction’s Hugo awards, and mysteries Edgar’s. Independent bookstores are a threatened American institution, and Uncle Hugo’s was considered a flagship operation. Owner Don Blyly was noted for his ability to adapt to modern bookselling conditions and serve an audience of devoted genre readers. With most independent book shops, the margins are low and often owners are in the business as much for love as for money. For Don Blyly, it doesn’t matter anymore.

The books are burned. His shop is gone.

“There was a call from the security company around 3:30 this morning that the motion detector was showing somebody in the building. I threw on clothes and headed over there,” said Blyly in an email. “When I was 2 blocks away, I received a call that the smoke detectors were showing smoke in the store. Every single building on both sides of Chicago was blazing and dozens of people dancing around.”

Uncle Hugo’s was located at 2864 Chicago Avenue, in Minneapolis. Blyly pulled into the parking lot belonging to the dentist office next door to his shop. Flames were already leaping out the front windows of the Uncle Hugo’s side of the store.

“It looked to me like they had broken every window on the front of the Uncles and then squirted accelerant through each broken window. It looked hopeless to me, but I went around to the back door to see if I could get to a fire extinguisher. As soon as I opened the back door a wave of very thick black smoke poured out, so I quickly closed the door again.”

https://spectator.org/misquoting-mlk-to-legitimize-violence/

It was inevitable that George Floyd’s death would spark protests against police brutality and that mendacity would characterize the attendant media coverage. True to form, the press affected dismay when the demonstrations devolved into violence, yet reported the riots with obvious approbation. The most obscene example of this was the widespread use, in headlines and ledes, of an out-of-context Martin Luther King quote suggesting that the civil rights leader would have condoned the mayhem. USA Today, for example, ran a feature story bearing the following title: “ ‘A riot is the language of the unheard’: MLK’s powerful quote resonates amid George Floyd protests.”

This grotesque misrepresentation of Dr. King’s views is only possible by cynically cherry-picking eight words from a 1966 interview during which he repeatedly emphasized that violence was counterproductive to the progress of the civil rights movement. Mike Wallace interviewed him for “CBS Reports” on Sept. 27, 1966, and the primary topic of discussion involved divisions within the movement concerning overall strategy. The myth that King had somehow endorsed violence went mainstream in 2013, when “60 Minutes Rewind” posted a clip from the Wallace interview and irresponsibly titled it using the same out-of-context quote. The interview transcript begins with this unambiguous statement:

KING: I will never change in my basic idea that non-violence is the most potent weapon available to the Negro in his struggle for freedom and justice. I think for the Negro to turn to violence would be both impractical and immoral.