2020 Protests megathread

[Ye We Can]

"Lib DEM" Mayor of Portland Oregon...

Another Night of Ted Wheeler over-reaction show in Portland Oregon...

Cops still appear to be using Tear Gas and other chemical agents against protesters in the City, not to mention various other crowd control items.....

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/06/portland-protests-against-police-brutality-continue-friday-live-updates.html


Getting to a point where anyone supports Wheeler and PDX activity quite frankly need to be removed from office immediately....

Tear Gas & Rubber Bullets are not "Non-Lethal" crowd control techniques, which our British Colonial Masters attempted to pioneer in Northern Ireland around 1970....

I don't give an eff about whatever police departments use such tactics regardless of DEM nor PUB cities, but any political figure that support such actions should be voted out of office immediately, cause quite frankly don't need that crap rolling down my neighborhood, especially from "Democratic" political leaders supporting the crooked cops in the hood at a time of righteous rage.

Mayor Ted Wheeler has announced that the Portland Police Department will end their use of controversial modern riot control techniques and rollback to a simpler time when only batons and firearms were used by police to control riots.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Neither a riot nor violent (yet) but I've been stuck outside my apartment building for almost an hour trying to deescalate a shouting match between 2 of my neighbors over this crap.

Good for you (sincerely).

This, but be careful man.

It's good. Recently lockdown-caused unemployed white ethinc industrial worker in an old glory clad "made in America" shirt apparently got cursed at today at Walmart because his shirt was "racist" and "supports murder". So he decided to come home and yell about the rioters and how we're a laughingstock country and slighty drunk Asian methodist restauranteur didn't agree. So I basically had to chainsmoke for an hr trying to get them to agree to something and then leave. After like the eighth time I reminded them that no one present supports violent rioting or the death of Floyd they finally stopped and left.

What were they arguing about, whether the riots were good or not?

Everything. Riots. Protests. Lockdowns. Cops. Trump. Obama. Church and State. Kaepernick. Democrats. Statues. The American flag. Baltimore. How foreign countries view us. Casinos. Guns. Immigration. Women clergy. A few "those people"s.

To paraphrase one of the rioters in a video I saw, a lot if this country  has "been looking for a fight for 6 months".

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/balleralert/status/1268710024605577216

 Unhinged person calls young people brainwashed for putting up signs against police brutality. Then rambles nonsense about George Soros and ANTIFA staging all this, while striking one of the girls.

 They supposedly tracked her down already and Greenwood Has Been Arrested Multiple Times Including For Battery Against a Peace Officer. Amazing.

Sounds like Florida Woman

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

What the Republicans want the whole country to look like:
https://twitter.com/itsianrussell/status/1268962943145848833

[Estrella]

"Lib DEM" Mayor of Portland Oregon...

Another Night of Ted Wheeler over-reaction show in Portland Oregon...

Cops still appear to be using Tear Gas and other chemical agents against protesters in the City, not to mention various other crowd control items.....

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/06/portland-protests-against-police-brutality-continue-friday-live-updates.html


Getting to a point where anyone supports Wheeler and PDX activity quite frankly need to be removed from office immediately....

Tear Gas & Rubber Bullets are not "Non-Lethal" crowd control techniques, which our British Colonial Masters attempted to pioneer in Northern Ireland around 1970....

I don't give an eff about whatever police departments use such tactics regardless of DEM nor PUB cities, but any political figure that support such actions should be voted out of office immediately, cause quite frankly don't need that crap rolling down my neighborhood, especially from "Democratic" political leaders supporting the crooked cops in the hood at a time of righteous rage.

Portland will have a mayoral runoff in November, so Wheeler better watch out.

What his opponent has to say:
sarah2020.com/en/policies/george-floyd-protests

[Estrella]

https://mobile.twitter.com/JulianStephen/status/1268568671426940929?cxt=HGwWgsC8...

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

What the Republicans want the whole country to look like:
https://twitter.com/itsianrussell/status/1268962943145848833

Like Florida after a hurricane?

[Meclazine for Israel]

The Australian protests were held today.

1. It was mostly suburban white people on an Instagram crusade who would avoid Aboriginal people under any other circumstances.
2. What about African Australians? They got left out by the media.

This is just a media narrative.

I dont think the Aboriginal crime rate would sustain any reasonable analysis that would show anything other than the fact that the crime rate attributable to Australian Aboriginals is proportionally much higher than their population base.

The crime rate is out of control in outback towns. Most of it is not reported. Massive levels of alcoholism, chemical dependency, sexual and physical assaults. You have children under 12 with STD's in remote populations.

The protests might be legit in the US, i cannot say, but blaming non-whites in Australia about the same issue is barking up the wrong tree.

It's because of COVID-19 restrictions and a movement on Instagram that everyone now wants to join in and make similar protests in countries without the same issues.

The media will never show the truth about everyday life in Australia like what we really see from the drunk Aboriginal population.

https://youtu.be/ZEMiUEtpWd4

https://youtu.be/h_oK_bgs164

https://youtu.be/ymqw2czq6X0

That guy is just randomly singling out Asian people for abuse and physically assaults two Asian men on a bus because they are simply Asian.

He leaves the Indian guy alone, but goes hard against the Asian people.

You wont see that ever played on the nightly news.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Ah, what the hell... I joined the protests in Berlin today.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Meanwhile, a couple of right-wing counterprotests were also held in Berlin (in this case, the picture not taken by me).


The NPD held a Blonde Lives Matter rally:




In addition, there was a "Patriotic Opposition Europe" rally at the Brandenburg Gate, where also an AfD politician appeared.

[It’s so Joever]

What the Republicans want the whole country to look like:
https://twitter.com/itsianrussell/status/1268962943145848833

Ideally, it would have looked like this back in March/April.

[Intell]

The Australian protests were held today.

1. It was mostly suburban white people on an Instagram crusade who would avoid Aboriginal people under any other circumstances.
2. What about African Australians? They got left out by the media.

This is just a media narrative.

I dont think the Aboriginal crime rate would sustain any reasonable analysis that would show anything other than the fact that the crime rate attributable to Australian Aboriginals is proportionally much higher than their population base.

The crime rate is out of control in outback towns. Most of it is not reported. Massive levels of alcoholism, chemical dependency, sexual and physical assaults. You have children under 12 with STD's in remote populations.

The protests might be legit in the US, i cannot say, but blaming non-whites in Australia about the same issue is barking up the wrong tree.

It's because of COVID-19 restrictions and a movement on Instagram that everyone now wants to join in and make similar protests in countries without the same issues.

The media will never show the truth about everyday life in Australia like what we really see from the drunk Aboriginal population.

https://youtu.be/ZEMiUEtpWd4

https://youtu.be/h_oK_bgs164

https://youtu.be/ymqw2czq6X0

That guy is just randomly singling out Asian people for abuse and physically assaults two Asian men on a bus because they are simply Asian.

He leaves the Indian guy alone, but goes hard against the Asian people.

You wont see that ever played on the nightly news.

Point 2 really makes you look stupid. I don't know why you have to link videos about indigenous people being drunk and the media doesn't report on that like they don't report on that for every single group.

[Rover]

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1268026849231286275?s=19

So bad, poor people worked all their lives, it's a sad site.

Honey, black lives matter didn't trash your store. A bunch of ignorant ass thugs and assholes sikandar use the protests as an excuse to score some quick bucks did. There's a big big difference yeah.

That's not the point though? We don't know whether it was some bigoted white nationalists trying to sabotage the peaceful protests that did this, or some professional looters, or extreme parts of the Black lives matter movement. And yes there are some extreme elements of BLM, "pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon". This lady might be wrong in blaming black lives matter for the damage done to her business, but that's not the point.
You can clearly hear from the tone of the lady's voice some real sadness and frustration rather than anger. I can't imagine how she or her co-workers are feeling after seeing their shop trashed. It took them massive sacrifices to build this business and create a somewhat comfortable life and to see it go within minutes must be soul-crushing, I hope the insurance company does cover her business. I know for a fact those insurance companies are gonna try to play dirty tricks in the book to avoid paying for the damage being done, that's how the insurance industry operates. Our insurance industry is rotten to the core and requires an urgent overhaul and reforms but that's another subject.

Rover, I'm not sure I disagree with a word you said, particularly about the anguish this woman is going through. I'm a small business owner myself, and me and my partner own the office building that are firm plus about 20 other tenants work in. I would be heartbroken if it burned down, notwithstanding having insurance and are files being almost all on the cloud. The one point I have to disagree with is when you say that's not the point. When this poor woman lambaste black lives matters for the destruction of her business oh, no matter how understandable it may be out of her grief, placing blame on a movement opposing police brutality is an accurate or Fair, no matter how heartbroken she is.

This underlies how weird the whole situation is. There is no black lives matter unified organization. Not saying I should be, but my point is the shades between a peaceful protester, a rioter who lets their anger over long simmering police brutality cross the line to axle vandalism and arson, some antifa s***stirrer, or opportunistic criminal trash using the opportunity to steal stuff with any concerns they have about George Floyd and police brutality being decidedly secondary, I'll probably all chanting the phrase black lives matter at some point in their actions. But that doesn't mean we can't or, more importantly, shouldn't distinguish between them. Lord knows Trump isn't, but we need to.

I guess I'm also being infuriated that this woman is being quickly passed around right-wing media I see as the excuse to send in the troops and have the police crack down even harder on protest based on the mistake and fallacies that most protesters are violent thugs rather than peaceful, and it's necessary to "protect" blacks from themselves. It's b******* all around, so I will call out even a disenfranchised business owner wild with grief when she's wrong. I hope they catch the SOB's who did this to her business and put them under a prison cell, FTR.

I don't disagree with anything you've just said. I think it's human nature to blame anyone you perceive the culprit, in this case, the lady perceives the BLM as the culprit. I don't agree with her because I simply don't know who are the culprits and what were their motives.

I mostly view the past week in two prisms. The first, which is the majority, basically peacefully protests seeking justice after the appalling murder of George Floyd. The second, which is the minority lawless criminals trying to hijack and sabotage the protest by looting and rioting.

I strongly agree with the principles of BLM, all of them actually. I don't see anything wrong with their aims. I didn't like the kneeling to the flag as someone who served in the military, but hey this is a free country, you can do whatever you like.

What I find most disturbing and irritating is the constant generalization of cops as "they're all bad and evil", which firstly not true and makes the person making this argument fall under the category of generalization, that's not a good look.
Law enforcement needs a massive overhaul. Anyone that loves the police and law enforcement and wants them to succeed can see that.
The conduct of a large minority of cops is disgraceful and unforgivable and in many cases, they've been given an easy pass for things average Americans can't get away with.
We can just look at what happened in Ferguson a few years ago, the entire situation was sad. I felt at the time it was a huge missed opportunity to reform law enforcement. President Obama was too conservative in his reaction, he didn't want to upset law enforcement leaders. The roots of the problem were very clear, yet sidelined. From that moment it was pretty apparent to any fair-minded observer, that if this happened again, there will be a bigger backlash.
Anti-police rhetoric has become mainstream among a significant chunk of the population. And this is bad, because how can you reform with good faith an institution you hate. One of the first symptoms of the anti-cop rhetoric is the decline of young African Americans joining law enforcement. In many parts of the US, police academies are finding it challenging to recruit young African Americans and it's becoming ever more difficult. How can you solve law enforcement racism, if you don't have enough African Americans among your ranks leading the reforms?

Regarding the last point, you will always find rightwing hacks and left-wing hacks using stories, videos, and events to make a point. In this case, it's far-right hacks. Their talking points are mostly wrong and incoherent, they shouldn't be taken seriously.

I again agree with almost all of what you said, but there's something I need to add regarding anti-police sentiment and why I think it's justified.

In criminal justice, restorative approaches are infinitely more effective than punitive ones. Sometimes, this extends to instituional reform as well, especially when said institution has the kind of collective mentality that US law enforcement has. But cute fluffy 100% restorative justice doesn't work - there need to be a few strong but well-aimed (not literal) blows of punishment for it to be effective.

I've just read this FiveThirtyEight article about how cops perceive issues of race and policing and what I think it clearly shows is that police is an institution utterly incapable of being reformed from inside and by "restorative" means. They (and not just their representatives in dealing with politicians) are clearly dishonest actors who instead of finding a compromise seek to scuttle any attempt at reform. It's only appropriate that they receive the same treatment in return.

However, we can't (and shouldn't!) just smash the whole institution of police to pieces. What we need to do is, to put it plainly, vote for politicians who have the balls to grab a gavel and use it to beat some sense into cops' heads. Yes, they need to be afraid - afraid of losing their positions, their jobs and pensions, even going to jail. Fear is good. It keeps things civil.

Only when the law enforcement is shown that their don't have the upper hand and are at the mercy of politicians will they be willing to compromise. And then they can sit at a table with them and civil society and talk about reasonable reforms. That's how we can make the police a trusted institution again.

This strategy might work or it might not, only time will tell. I still strongly believe anti-cop rhetoric will have tragic consequences.

In Mexico, the police have been demonized for a while and they do get targeted every now and then. I hope we don't get to that level in the US.

Cop is set on fire during anti-police protests in Mexico sparked by builder ‘beaten to death’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foW_9Nu8xzU&t=14s

So bad, I can't even believe what my eyes just witnessed, pure evilness.

[Badger]

The Australian protests were held today.

1. It was mostly suburban white people on an Instagram crusade who would avoid Aboriginal people under any other circumstances.
2. What about African Australians? They got left out by the media.

This is just a media narrative.

I dont think the Aboriginal crime rate would sustain any reasonable analysis that would show anything other than the fact that the crime rate attributable to Australian Aboriginals is proportionally much higher than their population base.

The crime rate is out of control in outback towns. Most of it is not reported. Massive levels of alcoholism, chemical dependency, sexual and physical assaults. You have children under 12 with STD's in remote populations.

The protests might be legit in the US, i cannot say, but blaming non-whites in Australia about the same issue is barking up the wrong tree.

It's because of COVID-19 restrictions and a movement on Instagram that everyone now wants to join in and make similar protests in countries without the same issues.

The media will never show the truth about everyday life in Australia like what we really see from the drunk Aboriginal population.

https://youtu.be/ZEMiUEtpWd4

https://youtu.be/h_oK_bgs164

https://youtu.be/ymqw2czq6X0

That guy is just randomly singling out Asian people for abuse and physically assaults two Asian men on a bus because they are simply Asian.

He leaves the Indian guy alone, but goes hard against the Asian people.

You wont see that ever played on the nightly news.

Point 2 really makes you look stupid. I don't know why you have to link videos about indigenous people being drunk and the media doesn't report on that like they don't report on that for every single group.

Some major level racism there, dude. If only we knew the plight of what goodly anglo-australian like you put up with it from those drunken Blackie's.

 I mean, racism has its degrees but yours is just ( chef's kiss).

[lfromnj]

Tom cotton was(half) right.
The proper path to deal with riots and protests was to send in the military with riot gear and tell cops to stand down. Cops have an obvious interest in opposing any reform while said reforms would likely not touch the military yet we still need some semblance of order to protect areas from the rioters.

[Intell]

The Australian protests were held today.

1. It was mostly suburban white people on an Instagram crusade who would avoid Aboriginal people under any other circumstances.
2. What about African Australians? They got left out by the media.

This is just a media narrative.

I dont think the Aboriginal crime rate would sustain any reasonable analysis that would show anything other than the fact that the crime rate attributable to Australian Aboriginals is proportionally much higher than their population base.

The crime rate is out of control in outback towns. Most of it is not reported. Massive levels of alcoholism, chemical dependency, sexual and physical assaults. You have children under 12 with STD's in remote populations.

The protests might be legit in the US, i cannot say, but blaming non-whites in Australia about the same issue is barking up the wrong tree.

It's because of COVID-19 restrictions and a movement on Instagram that everyone now wants to join in and make similar protests in countries without the same issues.

The media will never show the truth about everyday life in Australia like what we really see from the drunk Aboriginal population.

https://youtu.be/ZEMiUEtpWd4

https://youtu.be/h_oK_bgs164

https://youtu.be/ymqw2czq6X0

That guy is just randomly singling out Asian people for abuse and physically assaults two Asian men on a bus because they are simply Asian.

He leaves the Indian guy alone, but goes hard against the Asian people.

You wont see that ever played on the nightly news.

Point 2 really makes you look stupid. I don't know why you have to link videos about indigenous people being drunk and the media doesn't report on that like they don't report on that for every single group.

Some major level racism there, dude. If only we knew the plight of what goodly anglo-australian like you put up with it from those drunken Blackie's.

 I mean, racism has its degrees but yours is just ( chef's kiss).

huh?

[Person Man]

The Australian protests were held today.

1. It was mostly suburban white people on an Instagram crusade who would avoid Aboriginal people under any other circumstances.
2. What about African Australians? They got left out by the media.

This is just a media narrative.

I dont think the Aboriginal crime rate would sustain any reasonable analysis that would show anything other than the fact that the crime rate attributable to Australian Aboriginals is proportionally much higher than their population base.

The crime rate is out of control in outback towns. Most of it is not reported. Massive levels of alcoholism, chemical dependency, sexual and physical assaults. You have children under 12 with STD's in remote populations.

The protests might be legit in the US, i cannot say, but blaming non-whites in Australia about the same issue is barking up the wrong tree.

It's because of COVID-19 restrictions and a movement on Instagram that everyone now wants to join in and make similar protests in countries without the same issues.

The media will never show the truth about everyday life in Australia like what we really see from the drunk Aboriginal population.

https://youtu.be/ZEMiUEtpWd4

https://youtu.be/h_oK_bgs164

https://youtu.be/ymqw2czq6X0

That guy is just randomly singling out Asian people for abuse and physically assaults two Asian men on a bus because they are simply Asian.

He leaves the Indian guy alone, but goes hard against the Asian people.

You wont see that ever played on the nightly news.

Point 2 really makes you look stupid. I don't know why you have to link videos about indigenous people being drunk and the media doesn't report on that like they don't report on that for every single group.

Some major level racism there, dude. If only we knew the plight of what goodly anglo-australian like you put up with it from those drunken Blackie's.

 I mean, racism has its degrees but yours is just ( chef's kiss).

He probably makes a mean barbecue

[HisGrace]

Tom cotton was(half) right.
The proper path to deal with riots and protests was to send in the military with riot gear and tell cops to stand down. Cops have an obvious interest in opposing any reform while said reforms would likely not touch the military yet we still need some semblance of order to protect areas from the rioters.

Police just aren't trained to deal with events of this scale because they are so rare while the military is. People are flipping out because they think sending in the military means machine gunning everyone or blowing everyone away with tanks.

[Devout Centrist]

Tom cotton was(half) right.
The proper path to deal with riots and protests was to send in the military with riot gear and tell cops to stand down. Cops have an obvious interest in opposing any reform while said reforms would likely not touch the military yet we still need some semblance of order to protect areas from the rioters.

Police just aren't trained to deal with events of this scale because they are so rare while the military is. People are flipping out because they think sending in the military means machine gunning everyone or blowing everyone away with tanks.

What, exactly, does 'give them no quarter' mean?

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

Tom cotton was(half) right.
The proper path to deal with riots and protests was to send in the military with riot gear and tell cops to stand down. Cops have an obvious interest in opposing any reform while said reforms would likely not touch the military yet we still need some semblance of order to protect areas from the rioters.

Police just aren't trained to deal with events of this scale because they are so rare while the military is. People are flipping out because they think sending in the military means machine gunning everyone or blowing everyone away with tanks.

What, exactly, does 'give them no quarter' mean?

It obviously means that the military won’t feed parking meters for the protestors.

[GP270watch]

Tom cotton was(half) right.
The proper path to deal with riots and protests was to send in the military with riot gear and tell cops to stand down. Cops have an obvious interest in opposing any reform while said reforms would likely not touch the military yet we still need some semblance of order to protect areas from the rioters.

Police just aren't trained to deal with events of this scale because they are so rare while the military is. People are flipping out because they think sending in the military means machine gunning everyone or blowing everyone away with tanks.

 Sending in the military would be a disaster and would leave a stain on the military at a time that they can least afford it. The trend has been that less of America's population signs up for military service. You get enlisted men and women to start clashing with protestors in the streets of America and you will have the worst public relations and recruitment campaign ever. The military and civilian gap will continue to grow, this would not be good for Democracy or the country.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

What it means to "send in the military" is highly relevant. Sending it in to crush protestors is beyond the pale. But sending it in to end looting - all while leaving protests in peace - is on a very different level.

[lfromnj]

Tom cotton was(half) right.
The proper path to deal with riots and protests was to send in the military with riot gear and tell cops to stand down. Cops have an obvious interest in opposing any reform while said reforms would likely not touch the military yet we still need some semblance of order to protect areas from the rioters.

Police just aren't trained to deal with events of this scale because they are so rare while the military is. People are flipping out because they think sending in the military means machine gunning everyone or blowing everyone away with tanks.

 Sending in the military would be a disaster and would leave a stain on the military at a time that they can least afford it. The trend has been that less of America's population signs up for military service. You get enlisted men and women to start clashing with protestors in the streets of America and you will have the worst public relations and recruitment campaign ever. The military and civilian gap will continue to grow, this would not be good for Democracy or the country.

Again it depends what the military does, I absolutely believe if the military was the one controlling the riots they would have done it much better than the cops who clearly had a belief that they had to stop these protests that were directed mostly at them.

[Estrella]

Tom cotton was(half) right.
The proper path to deal with riots and protests was to send in the military with riot gear and tell cops to stand down. Cops have an obvious interest in opposing any reform while said reforms would likely not touch the military yet we still need some semblance of order to protect areas from the rioters.

Police just aren't trained to deal with events of this scale because they are so rare while the military is. People are flipping out because they think sending in the military means machine gunning everyone or blowing everyone away with tanks.

 Sending in the military would be a disaster and would leave a stain on the military at a time that they can least afford it. The trend has been that less of America's population signs up for military service. You get enlisted men and women to start clashing with protestors in the streets of America and you will have the worst public relations and recruitment campaign ever. The military and civilian gap will continue to grow, this would not be good for Democracy or the country.

Again it depends what the military does, I absolutely believe if the military was the one controlling the riots they would have done it much better than the cops who clearly had a belief that they had to stop these protests that were directed mostly at them.

And the cops aren't exactly some amazing strategic thinkers here - the more violence they use to try to stop the protests, the angrier the protesters are. They filled a fire extinguisher with petrol and now they're surprised that the fire is getting bigger, while yelling at the fire brigade to f*** off.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Quite frankly, the reason why people are freaking about "sending in the military" is that Donald Trump is President right now.

There's this Playboy interview with him from the 90s where he applauds the Chinese government for having put down the Tiananmen protests. When the current crisis began one of the first things he did was to tweet "when the looting starts, the shooting starts", followed up by similar martial strongman posturing like his infamous Church appearance. When you look at his Twitter history of the past one or two weeks everything he does is to tweet about "looters", "Antifa", "thugs", "lowlifes", and "losers". I'm not sure if he has ever adressed the peaceful George Floyd protests?

This begs some questions, like is Donald Trump *AWARE* of the fact that peaceful protests occur? Does he differentiate between peaceful protesters and looters? These are all unknown variables and I think there's a lot of uncertainty going around whether Trump would just want to shoot 'em all...

Granted, if Trump were really to give a order that would result in the miliitary shooting peaceful protestors there's a high likelihood that military commanders would refuse to carry out said order. Then again, there are probably many people who don't want make the safety of the general population dependent on the assumption that these final constitutional fail-safes would really take effect in any and all cases.