2020 Protests megathread

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Taxes should automatically go up in major cities where there is mass violence.

I know lots of American conservatives have a proudly "when all you have is a hammer" attitude towards tax policy, but I genuinely cannot imagine how that could possibly help.

[Fuzzy Bear Loves Christian Missionaries]

What a queen!

The mayor of Atlanta goes off on TV, full-on yelling into the camera at the rioters and looters while supporting the peaceful protestors.

How completely useless. More time scolding people for property destruction than instructing the police to stop instigating violence. These mayors aren't on the sidelines, they are in positions of power and should be held just as accountable to the deaths as the police.

Nonsense.  She did the right thing.  It is the rioters that are the present threat to fundamental rights (life, liberty, property).

The rioters are the present threat, and it doesn't take much to convince me that these rioters have very little feeling for George Floyd.  George Floyd's death is a tragic travesty, and (quite possibly) a murder with multiple accomplices.  That's not what these riots are about, however.

As a citizen, I expect my public officials to act to protect the lives and property of law-abiding citizens from rioters.  Peaceful protest is one thing; riots are another, and the bulk of protesters in Minneapolis are rioters using intimidation to (A) force the legal system to indict on demand, and (B) demonstrate their power for all to see.  Both of these things are bad for ordinary, law-abiding citizens. One officer is in jail and others are under investigation, but mob influence on the legal system is never a good thing for anyone but scumbags.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Taxes should automatically go up in major cities where there is mass violence.

I know lots of American conservatives have a proudly "when all you have is a hammer" attitude towards tax policy, but I genuinely cannot imagine how that could possibly help.

Me neither.
This delicate situation, in most facets, needs not a hammer but a chisel.

[Orwell]

Taxes should automatically go up in major cities where there is mass violence.

Burning down your own city is ing dumb. Fighting cops because of a few bad apples is ing dumb.  Using a tragedy as an excuse to loot from your fellow man is down right disgusting.

So make people who did nothing, but had their livelihoods taken from them pay more taxes. Why not make the rich pay more taxes?

[T'Chenka]

And now my home has been set on fire. This is unacceptable.

Bro, get off of Atlas and get the garden hose out.

100% seriously though, this is TERRIBLE news. Be safe.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

What a queen!

The mayor of Atlanta goes off on TV, full-on yelling into the camera at the rioters and looters while supporting the peaceful protestors.

How completely useless. More time scolding people for property destruction than instructing the police to stop instigating violence. These mayors aren't on the sidelines, they are in positions of power and should be held just as accountable to the deaths as the police.

Nonsense.  She did the right thing.  It is the rioters that are the present threat to fundamental rights (life, liberty, property).

The rioters are the present threat, and it doesn't take much to convince me that these rioters have very little feeling for George Floyd.  George Floyd's death is a tragic travesty, and (quite possibly) a murder with multiple accomplices.  That's not what these riots are about, however.

As a citizen, I expect my public officials to act to protect the lives and property of law-abiding citizens from rioters.  Peaceful protest is one thing; riots are another, and the bulk of protesters in Minneapolis are rioters using intimidation to (A) force the legal system to indict on demand, and (B) demonstrate their power for all to see.  Both of these things are bad for ordinary, law-abiding citizens. One officer is in jail and others are under investigation, but mob influence on the legal system is never a good thing for anyone but scumbags.

I agree about the influence of mobs on the legal system, on the morality of violent protest, and on the threat that riots pose.
I am not sure if I agree in regards to MSP though - the relative mix of protestors/looters/rioters is still unclear. So I reserve my judgement on that.

[Horus]

What a queen!

The mayor of Atlanta goes off on TV, full-on yelling into the camera at the rioters and looters while supporting the peaceful protestors.

How completely useless. More time scolding people for property destruction than instructing the police to stop instigating violence. These mayors aren't on the sidelines, they are in positions of power and should be held just as accountable to the deaths as the police.

She had Killer Mike up there with her backing up every word she said. I guess Killer Mike is pro cop too now? Please be quiet. Harming private businesses would be especially counterproductive here in Atlanta because (As mayor Bottoms so eloquently put it) so many are black owned.

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

The protest in Pittsburgh was peaceful for the first two hours until a white anarchist started smashing up a cop car even as black protestors yelled at him to stop.

We're beginning to see a very clear pattern. The violence and vandalism is largely being started by white leftists.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

https://nypost.com/2020/05/30/woman-charged-with-attempted-murder-of-4-nypd-cops-during-protests/

Here's someone who actually deserves the death penalty. LOCK HER UP!

[T'Chenka]

The protest in Pittsburgh was peaceful for the first two hours until a white anarchist started smashing up a cop car even as black protestors yelled at him to stop.

We're beginning to see a very clear pattern. The violence and vandalism is largely being started by white leftists.

There's no pattern of white leftists starting the violence. There are only one or two examples of it. Now, if you meant "patterns of white leftists encouraging / being involved in the violence", okay sure.

[Calthrina950]

The protest in Pittsburgh was peaceful for the first two hours until a white anarchist started smashing up a cop car even as black protestors yelled at him to stop.

We're beginning to see a very clear pattern. The violence and vandalism is largely being started by white leftists.

This matters not to some. I've been reading comments on news websites-as I like to do-and it seems like the Republican base is once again trying to focus on "black-on-black crime", blaming us for the situation that has ensued. And it seems like many of Trump's supporters want for these protesters and rioters to be put down "like dogs", violently and ruthlessly suppressed. This is exactly why nothing will be done on criminal justice reform-the backlash is inevitable, and it's too strong.

[Sumner 1868]

The protest in Pittsburgh was peaceful for the first two hours until a white anarchist started smashing up a cop car even as black protestors yelled at him to stop.

We're beginning to see a very clear pattern. The violence and vandalism is largely being started by white leftists undercover pigs.

Corrected.

[Donald Trump’s Toupée]

Ive been saying since we locked down in April that I wasn’t scared of the virus, but rather the civil unrest that would be the end result.

Well well well....

This was all so predictable.

[Horus]

Ive been saying since we locked down in April that I wasn’t scared of the virus, but rather the civil unrest that would be the end result.

Well well well....

This was all so predictable.

I'm still way more scared of the virus.

[T'Chenka]

Ive been saying since we locked down in April that I wasn’t scared of the virus, but rather the civil unrest that would be the end result.

Well well well....

This was all so predictable.

So THAT'S why they're yelling "I can't breathe" at the cops. I couldn't figure it out. Thanks.

[It’s so Joever]

Ive been saying since we locked down in April that I wasn’t scared of the virus, but rather the civil unrest that would be the end result.

Well well well....

This was all so predictable.

Why don’t other countries which enacted even stricter lockdowns have so much civil unrest?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

We cannot let our cities become the playthings of radical hoodlums. Order must be restored.
I'm so glad the national guard is in the field right now.

They already are. The radical hoodlums in question are called 'police'. (And sometimes, like in Michigan, white nationalists.) That is why there are protests in the first place. These nationwide protests that are going out of control are a giant flaming sign that American policing has failed as an institution.

[Donald Trump’s Toupée]

Ive been saying since we locked down in April that I wasn’t scared of the virus, but rather the civil unrest that would be the end result.

Well well well....

This was all so predictable.

Why don’t other countries which enacted even stricter lockdowns have so much civil unrest?

Because this isn’t ‘other countries’. Every country has mixtures of so many environmental variables. Don’t be naive.

[Dr. Arch]

It's broken out in Madison as well. Police are in full riot gear. Tear gas all over the place, and State Street is a mess right now.

Live feed here: https://wkow.com/news/wkow-live-streaming-video/?fbclid=IwAR31fJNdaRwh0WBGWzLJF6Lk8y_i1_IjYA9qOEP-8vmNSTLSdlSw0Hfb0t0

[Coastal Elitist]

Ive been saying since we locked down in April that I wasn’t scared of the virus, but rather the civil unrest that would be the end result.

Well well well....

This was all so predictable.

Why don’t other countries which enacted even stricter lockdowns have so much civil unrest?

It's because they haven't found a reason to yet. Although I saw Toronto was also having a protest which makes no sense. Here this was the perfect sparkplug and shows why you can't keep people locked down this long it makes them crazy.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Ive been saying since we locked down in April that I wasn’t scared of the virus, but rather the civil unrest that would be the end result.

Well well well....

This was all so predictable.

I'm still way more scared of the virus.

Why. You are 29 years old. Do you have asthma or diabetes? Or are you scared for others?

[T'Chenka]

Ive been saying since we locked down in April that I wasn’t scared of the virus, but rather the civil unrest that would be the end result.

Well well well....

This was all so predictable.

Why don’t other countries which enacted even stricter lockdowns have so much civil unrest?

It's because they haven't found a reason to yet. Although I saw Toronto was also having a protest which makes no sense. Here this was the perfect sparkplug and shows why you can't keep people locked down this long it makes them crazy,

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/thousands-rally-in-toronto-against-anti-black-racism-after-woman-falls-from-balcony-1.4961725

Earlier this week, relatives of Korchinski-Paquet said she was in the midst of a mental health crisis and that they called police on Wednesday to the apartment building near Bloor Street and High Park Avenue to get her help.

There is not much information about what happened next, but at some point, Korchinski-Paquet asked to go to the washroom inside her apartment and was followed in by several officers, according to her mother and brother.

She then fell to her death some time later.

[PSOL]

Ive been saying since we locked down in April that I wasn’t scared of the virus, but rather the civil unrest that would be the end result.

Well well well....

This was all so predictable.

Why don’t other countries which enacted even stricter lockdowns have so much civil unrest?

They have societal and structural glue that prevent such matters; either a combination of a strong civil society, stronger interpersonal connections, a welfare state, greater accountability in the government and/or workplace, and other obligations and contractual stuff that maintain society in a stable fashion when it’s under pressure. That’s evident in New Zealand, South Korea, Germany, Cuba, and Vietnam. Meanwhile countries like Iran, Brazil, and the United States have often contradicted or nonexistant social contracts between the elite and the masses in varying degrees.

[Pyro]

What a queen!

The mayor of Atlanta goes off on TV, full-on yelling into the camera at the rioters and looters while supporting the peaceful protestors.

How completely useless. More time scolding people for property destruction than instructing the police to stop instigating violence. These mayors aren't on the sidelines, they are in positions of power and should be held just as accountable to the deaths as the police.

She had Killer Mike up there with her backing up every word she said. I guess Killer Mike is pro cop too now? Please be quiet. Harming private businesses would be especially counterproductive here in Atlanta because (As mayor Bottoms so eloquently put it) so many are black owned.

Don't put words in my mouth. The mayor doing too little to address police violence does not equate to being "pro-cop," it equates to doing too little. Her focusing on fires instead of systematic change demonstrates a refusal to accept a functional solution. Black people have been denied justice in Atlanta, and in cities throughout the country, and it's the responsibility of people in positions of power like Mayor Bottoms to hold the police accountable. If she intended on introducing criminal justice reform, she would have done that instead of speaking down to communities so desperate to breathe that they're out in the streets during a fking pandemic. The only solution I've seen from her is to vote, and that's just not going to cut it, here.

[Calthrina950]

What a queen!

The mayor of Atlanta goes off on TV, full-on yelling into the camera at the rioters and looters while supporting the peaceful protestors.

How completely useless. More time scolding people for property destruction than instructing the police to stop instigating violence. These mayors aren't on the sidelines, they are in positions of power and should be held just as accountable to the deaths as the police.

She had Killer Mike up there with her backing up every word she said. I guess Killer Mike is pro cop too now? Please be quiet. Harming private businesses would be especially counterproductive here in Atlanta because (As mayor Bottoms so eloquently put it) so many are black owned.

Don't put words in my mouth. The mayor doing too little to address police violence does not equate to being "pro-cop," it equates to doing too little. Her focusing on fires instead of systematic change demonstrates a refusal to accept a functional solution. Black people have been denied justice in Atlanta, and in cities throughout the country, and it's the responsibility of people like Mayor Bottoms to hold the police accountable. If she intended on introducing criminal justice reform, she would have done that instead of speaking down to communities so desperate to breathe that they're out in the streets during a fking pandemic. The only solution I've seen from her is to vote, and that's just not going to cut it, here.

As a black person myself, I am absolutely outraged over what happened to George Floyd, and I can understand why these people are out on the streets, as they are. Real and systematic change needs to take place in the country. However, that does not excuse violence and rioting of the scale we've seen here. And you seem not to acknowledge that many of these people are destroying their own communities, their own businesses, and ruining the livelihoods of their own neighbors. Violence should not be met with more violence.