NOTE: At some point, before bed, I read through 50+ news sources and share my findings here. If you like it, share it. If you don’t, share it. Follow my blog now to support my work or to find new reasons to complain about it. My opinions are my own. All tips are welcome as well as comments on my video series - The Jim Stroud Show.
Guilty, guilty and guilty…
Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty today of killing George Floyd. George Floyd’s death was captured on camera and by all appearances was the result of Chauvin’s knee on his neck for 9 minutes. George Floyd had an extensive criminal career. (However many others saw a different side of his personality and consider him a reformed “gentle giant.”) The video sparked an international outrage over police brutality resulting in “George Floyd Riots” (aka “fiery but mostly peaceful protests”) that produced $2,000,000,000.00 in damage, cries for defunding the police, violent police-free autonomous zones and catapulted the Black Lives Matter Movement into global prominence.
From the onset, the mainstream media formed and supported the narrative that George Floyd was a typical African American male who fell victim to another racist police officer. Mainstream media declared that the time for black men being hunted down in the streets had to stop and as a result, George Floyd’s death was a cause célèbre. Indeed, in his name, BLM flourished, politicians gained more influence for themselves, CNN’s ratings surged, the Floyd family received a $27,000,000.00 settlement and George Floyd himself was given a golden casket to rest in.
The video of George Floyd’s death convinced most people that it was a clear case of police brutality. It certainly seemed that way to me when I saw it. However, Floyd’s autopsy cast doubt on the narrative. The official report (that you can read here) says he died from cardiopulmonary arrest and that he tested positive for COVID-19. A later report said Floyd had a “fatal level” of fentayl in his system. Other cracks in the mainstream media narrative became clear from observations made from right-wing political pundits; chief among them Tucker Carlson. On August 5, 2020, Carlson pointed out facts that the mainstream media had ignored. (Click here to watch the video.)
Townhall commented on the video saying this…
During his highly rated primetime show Tuesday night, Tucker Carlson detailed new evidence in the the George Floyd case that exposes the narrative we’ve been hearing about for months.
New police body camera video shows Floyd resisted arrest for ten minutes, complained officers were hurting him before they ever touched him and shows him irate. Floyd also said he couldn’t breathe before he was ever placed on the ground, something he requested after claiming he was too claustrophobic for the back of the police vehicle.
But the main question Carlson asks is, why did this take so long for Americans to see? Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the man leading the prosecution against four Minneapolis police officers involved in the incident, has been blocking its release. The footage was leaked.
I did not follow the court trial closely so, I cannot speak on what was and what was not shared with the jury. From just this little bit of information, I am skeptical and have some doubt on what killed George Floyd. The autopsy was very clear. Floyd was on a lot of drugs. Maybe Chauvin’s action pushed Floyd over the edge? Maybe if Chauvin had not put him on the ground and held his knee on his neck, Floyd would have died at the police station instead of the street? I honestly do not know and as I said, I did not watch the trial closely. However, regardless of any doubts I have (or the jurors for that matter), a guilty verdict was expected.
It was expected from President Biden who weighed in on the case prior to conviction when he said that he was “…praying the verdict is the right verdict, which is — I think it’s overwhelming, in my view.“
It was expected from Vice President Harris who said in a CNN interview about the Chauvin trial just prior to the conviction, “…it will not heal the pain that existed for generations, that has existed for generations among people who have experienced and first-hand witnessed what now a broader public is seeing because of smartphones and the ubiquity of our ability to videotape in real time what is happening in front of our faces. And that is the reality of it.”
It was expected by the Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey who said, “Regardless of the decision made by the jury, there is one true reality, which is that George Floyd was killed at the hands of police.”
If not expected, it was certainly encouraged by Congressman Maxine Waters who told people to take to the streets if Chauvin was acquitted. (An action that might get Chauvin’s sentence overturned if the case is ever appealed.)
Vandals also encouraged such a verdict when they “…left blood and a severed pig’s head at the former Santa Rosa home of a use-of-force expert who testified on behalf of Derek Chauvin.“
Well, as fate would have it. Chauvin was pronounced guilty on all 3 counts by the jury and the crowd cheered that justice had been served.
Since this is what so many people wanted (on both sides of the political spectrum), I would think that many on the left would be celebrating. However, many prominent liberals did not. They seemed disappointed (almost angry?) at the way it all went down; wholly unsatisfied. This according to Washington Examiner…
Rep. Maxine Waters’s first reaction to the guilty verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd was not one of joy.
“I’m not celebrating. I’m relieved,” Waters, a California Democrat, told reporters soon after the jury announced its verdict.
Her initial reaction to the verdict came about an hour after House Democrats defeated a resolution from Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to censure Waters for comments she made about the trial.
In a statement, President Obama and First Lady Obama said the following…
While today’s verdict may have been a necessary step on the road to progress, it was far from a sufficient one. We cannot rest. We will need to follow through with the concrete reforms that will reduce and ultimately eliminate racial bias in our criminal justice system. We will need to redouble efforts to expand economic opportunity for those communities that have been too long marginalized.
Van Jones on CNN said that this was “one down, many, many more to go.“
This makes me wonder if the left will ever stop being outraged; if they will ever stop forcing reforms with threats of violence, cancellations and censorship until all of their demands are met. As of now, I think not. (See below.)
