I read about the officer's wife filing for divorce and was impressed with her swift decision and support of the Floyd family. However, someone on Twitter (sorry, can't recall the person) burst my bubble and suggested the wife moved so quickly to file for divorce in order to protect assets for both of them. Who knows?
We can't know. My first thought was that she saw it as her chance to get away from an abusive spouse with less chance of violence against her or any kids they have.
I can't answer that specifically, but since when has it been difficult to bring illicit anything into the WH? Even JFK had issues.
When The Dumpster was elected, the first thing I did was subscribe to the Washington Post and the New York Times in order to support the free press and their investigative reporting. WaPo has been consistent in their reporting and I'm a huge fan of Eugene Robinson and always appreciate his point of view. The only other regular contribution I make is to this website because Jeanne and this community have helped me so much over the past three and a half years. It's a blessing to have found this like-minded choir. I may not always reply to posts, but I'm reading and appreciate them. Thank you, @Allyn for your legal commentary regarding prosecutorial issues and defense issues. @unk p, I love the new garden thread. What a good idea!
I lurk on public Twitter postings, but I don't follow anyone nor reply to anything. I think of a post as a poster on a wall - half ripped and hanging off, legible nonetheless, but almost graffiti. I had stayed off FB for 10 months last year, and would leave again but with all this self-isolation it's become a bit of a lifeline. I made sure to prune my friends list down to those who do not annoy me. I do not accept new friend requests from anyone I don't know IRL. I've been successful at participating in civil discourse, and I block anyone who turns out to be pro-regime. Zuckerberg is evil, but for now it's the only way (besides this forum) I can exchange thoughts with far-flung friends safely.
Protests are turning violent in downtown Seattle now and there are cars burning. In a few minutes, 5 p.m. Pacific, Seattle will be under curfew. I keep remembering that as light workers, we are bearing witness to the Great Turning, but it's not easy to watch. Prayers for all our communities and people of color in America.
@bluebelle and @laura-f, I had the same intuitive take on it. Who knows for sure, but she certainly didn't waste any time moving forward.
I'm having a very hard time with the Floyd matter, to the point where I felt physically ill today. I've been wondering whether Mr. Floyd is at peace ... whether he is with his mother. I can't get any sense of his state, perhaps because I feel too emotional. I'd like George Floyd, his family, and the entire racial situation to be a special focus in our meditation on Wednesday.
My thoughts are with you in the midst of a pandemic and widespread protests. It is very painful to watch. I hope that you and your families and communities are safe. May George Floyd Rest In Peace.
I have to confess that I have difficulty reading the discourse in the news since the Minneapolis protests started. I read the words ‘rioting, looting, violence’ etc. and I really don’t understand. Why is this considered violence? Why are the conditions POC, Indigenous, and the African American community in particular live in not considered violence? If one cannot feel safe at home, or just be in their car, at the park, in their neighbourhood etc without feeling a realistic fear of being put in danger (for example Amy Cooper) or killed just for existing in that space, or asking for help from authorities or the police - how is that not pervasive, insidious violence?
It troubles me because there are similar forces at play in my home country Australia, particularly when it comes to how we view our history and engage with minorities.
That then begs the question, when is a community *allowed* to defend itself, and free itself from coercive control? Why is this ‘violence’ and ‘looting’ and not a rebellion or defiance? Is it fair to describe the Resistance during WWII as violence? Would it be fair to describe the Boston Massacre and Tea Party as riots or looting?
In my view peaceful protests are successful when the party with power agrees to come to the table in good faith. Sadly, history has shown that this is often only because the alternative is armed conflict, wholesale collapse or destruction.
@deetoo I agree with you, it would be wonderful to have a special focus in our meditation group next Wednesday.
Nashville is having protests as well and they are destroying cop cars and public property. I hope everyone stays safe ?
Protests are turning violent in downtown Seattle now and there are cars burning. In a few minutes, 5 p.m. Pacific, Seattle will be under curfew. I keep remembering that as light workers, we are bearing witness to the Great Turning, but it's not easy to watch. Prayers for all our communities and people of color in America.
Cars have been burning here in Los Angeles this afternoon as well. What started as a peaceful protest in the park 5 blocks from where I live has escalated all afternoon. Patrol cars have been set on fire, and the paramilitary trucks were brought in about an hour ago. Tear gas has finally been set off.
A friend who lives down the street from me texted me that she has grabbed her cat and left town. I would consider leaving with her, but I don't know that I could get out and don't want to be trapped in my car in the crowd.
(As an aside, my cat who usually hankers to go outside on an otherwise beautiful day like today hasn't made a peep to go out since the originally-peaceful protest started at noon).
Actually, pretty interesting interview with the county sheriff a little while ago talking about the challenges of this particular situation. He commented that usually protests occur downtown and the protest leaders describe the route that the protest will take, where the civil disobedience will occur, and the arrests that they expect and in a lot of cases, request ("We'd like you to arrest 10 protesters at Figueroa and Olympic...").
Apparently, today is a free for all, and is genuine chaos.
Further to what I said earlier, an excerpt from a FB post that someone posted:
"I’ve always wanted to be a police officer. As soon as professional hockey player and R& B singer were no longer options, there was no other choice for me. I went to college, joined the army, served in Kuwait/Iraq, all to be better prepared for becoming a police officer."
And therein lies a problem. Military service should not be a plus for being what used to be called "a peace officer".
I don't know who wrote this, but some words that definitely apply to what's going on:
NEVER let them convince you that broken glass or property is violence.
HUNGER is violence.
HOMELESSNESS is violence.
WAR is violence.
DROPPING BOMBS is violence.
RACISM is violence.
WHITE SUPREMACY is violence.
POVERTY is violence.
NO HEALTHCARE is violence.
CONTAMINATED WATER is violence.
POLLUTED ENVIRONMENT is violence.
FAMILY SEPARATION is violence.
DOMESTIC ABUSE is violence.
Property can be replaced. HUMAN LIVES cannot.
May George Floyd rest in peace indeed. Maybe our resident medium @Vestralux could take a look. I was terribly upset by the murder of George Floyd and then our Wednesday night meditation helped me through that. It is the most heartbreaking thing. This poor man crying out for his mother. If you're an empath, you feel it all and you feel the heartbreak of our African American communities. These people have endured so much over the centuries. Like Native Americans and other people of color, they have been oppressed by whites and they have had too much pain to bear. So I get it. I get the protests. I protest. It's too damn much. I don't know about you, but I think this doesn't seem to be making America great again, now does it? A pandemic with over 100,000 dead, 40 million people unemployed and riots in the street-none of this is greatness.
I've been reading that outside forces, domestic and possibly foreign, infiltrated the state of Minnesota and hijacked the peaceful protests there. Some most likely connected to white supremacy. If that's true (and it sure feels that way), they are highly organized and have most likely hit many of the other cities where protests are occurring.
I grew up in Baltimore City and attended high school during the riots of 1968 after the assassination of MLK. I took public transportation to and from school, and I can still remember the bus navigating those city streets where various businesses and abandoned buildings were burned or destroyed. And the thing is, even though I was afraid and didn’t support the violence and destruction, I understood it. I was this 16-year old, somewhat naïve, white catholic girl, so I couldn't claim to understand what it felt like to be an African American living in a racist country. And yet I could feel their collective energy, their collective pain. Some of the racism went underground or was ignored over the years, until T. fully exposed the racism to the light of day. Unbeknownst to him, to be healed and transformed.
@bluebelle, I would also like @vestralux to take a look at Mr. Floyd, if she has the time and inclination.
Agreed, bluebelle, we are far from being great in this moment. Instead, I think we should be humbled, and on our knees in prayer. God help us.
@laynara YES. And as with many other places across the US this evening, THOSE PEOPLE ARE NOT FROM NASHVILLE or those respective cities. @deetoo - I have read the same thing - it's white folks who are setting fires and throwing bricks, etc. They are highly organized. Their purpose as others have said is to start a race war.
Except for a few people like civil rights leader/congressmen John Lewis, our leaders are silent. I am so grateful he is still with us and leading as best he can during this pivotal moment in time.
Here is the full statement of John Lewis.
"Sixty-five years have passed, and I still remember the face of young Emmett Till. It was 1955. I was 15 years old — just a year older than him. What happened that summer in Money, Mississippi, and the months that followed — the recanted accusation, the sham trial, the dreaded verdict — shocked the country to its core. And it helped spur a series of non-violent events by everyday people who demanded better from our country.
“Despite real progress, I can't help but think of young Emmett today as I watch video after video after video of unarmed Black Americans being killed, and falsely accused. My heart breaks for these men and women, their families, and the country that let them down — again. My fellow Americans, this is a special moment in our history. Just as people of all faiths and no faiths, and all backgrounds, creeds, and colors banded together decades ago to fight for equality and justice in a peaceful, orderly, non-violent fashion, we must do so again.
“To the rioters here in Atlanta and across the country: I see you, and I hear you. I know your pain, your rage, your sense of despair and hopelessness. Justice has, indeed, been denied for far too long. Rioting, looting, and burning is not the way. Organize. Demonstrate. Sit-in. Stand-up. Vote. Be constructive, not destructive. History has proven time and again that non-violent, peaceful protest is the way to achieve the justice and equality that we all deserve.
“Our work won't be easy — nothing worth having ever is — but I strongly believe, as Dr. King once said, that while the arc of the moral universe is long, it bends toward justice.”
Biden just came out with a statement too.
Here is a leader.
These last few days have laid bare that we are a nation furious at injustice. Every person of conscience can understand the rawness of the trauma people of color experience in this country, from the daily indignities to the extreme violence, like the horrific killing of George Floyd.
Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. It’s an utterly American response. But burning down communities and needless destruction is not. Violence that endangers lives is not. Violence that guts and shutters businesses that serve the community is not.
The act of protesting should never be allowed to overshadow the reason we protest. It should not drive people away from the just cause that protest is meant to advance.
I know that there are people all across this country who are suffering tonight. Suffering the loss of a loved one to intolerable circumstances, like the Floyd family, or to the virus that is still gripping our nation. Suffering economic hardships, whether due to COVID-19 or entrenched inequalities in our system. And I know that a grief that dark and deep may at times feel too heavy to bear.
I know.
And I also know that the only way to bear it is to turn all that anguish to purpose. So tonight, I ask all of America to join me — not in denying our pain or covering it over — but using it to compel our nation across this turbulent threshold into the next phase of progress, inclusion, and opportunity for our great democracy.
We are a nation in pain, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us. We are a nation enraged, but we cannot allow our rage to consume us. We are a nation exhausted, but we will not allow our exhaustion to defeat us.
As President, I will help lead this conversation — and more importantly, I will listen. I will keep the commitment I made to George’s brother, Philonise, that George will not just be a hashtag. We must and will get to a place where everyone, regardless of race, believes that “to protect and serve” means to protect and serve them. Only by standing together will we rise stronger than before. More equal, more just, more hopeful — and that much closer to our more perfect union.
Please stay safe. Please take care of each other.
And yet another journalist (who is a person of color) is arrested in front of other reporters while he was telling the police he was "press". He is with the Huffington Post and his press badge was visible.