Riots
January 12, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s incompetent response to the riots last summer that devastated Minneapolis, and to a lesser extent St. Paul, will never be forgotten. He waited four long days before he finally called out the National Guard in numbers adequate to end the reign of terror that had settled over the Twin Cities. Why was Walz so slow to defend public order? He openly expressed support for the aims
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January 7, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Like pretty much all conservatives, I have consistently criticized riots and other forms of political violence for many years. That includes yesterday’s Washington, D.C. riot. You can’t say the same about liberals, however. Until yesterday, one might have thought that liberals consider rioting and other forms of political violence to be as American as apple pie. You could write a book in support of that proposition, but for now let’s
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January 6, 2021 — John Hinderaker
I woke up not expecting a good day, but it turned out to be much worse. First we lost both Georgia Senate races, putting us at the mercy of the Democrats (or, more specifically, Joe Manchin) for the next two years. For an interesting analysis of why those races went South–and specifically, why fraud wasn’t the main problem–see this piece by Liam Bissainthe at Liberty Unyielding. Then, of course, we
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October 27, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Yesterday a man with a knife charged two police officers in Philadelphia. They retreated while yelling at the man to drop his knife. He continued chasing them, and they shot him. This is the video: There would be no story here if the man with the knife had been white, Asian or Hispanic, but because he was black, the city has exploded in violence. The Free Beacon headlines: “30 Officers
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October 2, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Attorney Thomas Plunkett represents former Minneapolis police officer Alexander Kueng in the Floyd murder case. Kueng is one of the four former officers charged in the case. The case is pending before Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill. The courthouse sits in downtown Minneapolis and the case is proceeding in an atmosphere of mob justice. All four defendants have moved for a change of venue. I discussed the venue issue
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October 1, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Today the Associated Press updated its Stylebook to tell reporters how they should describe riots. Basically, the AP doesn’t want readers to get the right impression: Focusing on rioting and property destruction rather than underlying grievance has been used in the past to stigmatize broad swaths of people protesting against lynching, police brutality or for racial justice, going back to the urban uprisings of the 1960s. (2/5) — APStylebook (@APStylebook)
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September 25, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Poll data, including data generated by my own organization, show that Americans draw a clear distinction between demonstrating and rioting. Large majorities have no problem with demonstrations, but strongly disapprove of riots, looting and arson. The problem is how to define what is going on around us. Democrats insist that protests are “mostly peaceful,” even as looting is rife and buildings are going up in flames. “Demonstrators” shut down highways,
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September 23, 2020 — Scott Johnson
We have previously drawn attention to Professor Gary Saul Morson’s New Criterion essay “How the great truth dawned,” Professor Morson’s New Criterion lecture “Leninthink,” Professor Morson’s New York Review of Books review “The horror, the horror,” and Professor Morson’s book Narrative and Freedom: The Shadows of Time (Steve wrote about it here). To these I now want to add Professor Morson’s First Things essay “Suicide of the liberals.” Drawing on
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September 20, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Last night, Antifa/BLM criminals (there no longer seems to be any distinction between the two organizations) ran riot in Portland for something like the 100th day in a row, stopping traffic, starting fires, and smashing and looting stores. There seems to be be little or no police presence in Portland, and no political will to restore order to the city before it becomes a dead zone. As always, Andy Ngo
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September 19, 2020 — Steven Hayward
So Democrats are having a collective freakout over the passing of Justice Ginsburg, and naturally are threatening violence and rioting if they don’t get their way, just like their threats about the election if Trump wins. In other words, more of the same of what we’ve seen the last few weeks. Here’s a sampler of some of the reactions on social media (but STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING): Meanwhile, how’s this for
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September 9, 2020 — Steven Hayward
I’m starting to think that the left might be partially right with this whole “white privilege” thing. After all, we can see from a lot of videos that a large portion—the majority in some cases—of Black Lives Matter protests consist mainly of white people. No wonder no one is getting arrested or charged. It is time to end this white privilege from criminal prosecution now. And if the left is
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September 5, 2020 — John Hinderaker
This Trump campaign ad does a great job of linking Black Lives Matter, Antifa, rioters, arsonists and Democratic Party politicians who cheer them on. It is nuclear. I assume this ad and others like it will be seen by tens of millions of voters by Election Day: The Democrats have no answer.
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September 5, 2020 — Scott Johnson
The Star Tribune is still in search of “white supremacists” allegedly involved in the the festivities in Minneapolis that followed the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day. Now the federal authorities in Minnesota have just unsealed charges against two self-described Boogaloo Bois working the scene of the riots in Minneapolis. The Star Tribune has previously profiled one of the charged defendants. These guys are militant revolutionaries who sought to
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September 4, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Federal prosecutors have started filing civil disorders charges against violent protesters in Portland, Oregon. They are filing the charges under a federal statute enacted in 1968 in response to the rioting of that era. It’s interesting, I think, that the Congress that passed this statute was controlled by Democrats. In 1968, the GOP was outnumbered in both chambers to a much greater degree than it is now. Back then, Democrats
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September 4, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Democratic politicians are now trying to distance themselves from the rioting, looting, arson and murder that have beset American cities–not because they object on principle, but because urban violence is hurting them in the polls. But is the Democrats’ disavowal of rioting and arson sincere? This short video reminds us that for years, and more intensively in recent months, Democratic politicians and celebrities have been promoting violence: The most important
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September 2, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Our friend Jean Yarbrough is the Gary M. Pendy Sr. Professor of Social Sciences and Professor of Government at Bowdoin College and the author, most recently, of Theodore Roosevelt and the American Political Tradition, 2013 winner of the American Political Science Association’s Richard E. Neustadt Prize for the best book on the American presidency. If you have ever wondered what we are to make of Theodore Roosevelt, Professor Yarbrough’s book
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September 1, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
With his standing in polls seeming to slide in the wake of non-stop rioting in jurisdictions controlled by Democrats, Joe Biden denounced violence in his speech yesterday in Pittsburgh. Here is what Biden said: And now we have to stand against violence in every form it takes. Violence we’ve seen again and again and again, of unwarranted police shooting, excessive force, seven bullets in the back of Jacob Blake. Knee
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