I watched Richard Nixon get re-elected (and George McGovern lose 49 states) on a “law and order” platform. It came after protesters made the Democratic convention feature a disorganized riotous rabble in the streets outside.
The Democrats in convention this year had an opportunity to decry the looting and rioting in Democratic cities across the country. Instead, they hardly mentioned it. Their failure to address the issue forthrightly allowed the Republicans to spend four days hanging rioting and looting around Joe Biden’s neck. It will likely determine the election.
Frank Cagle
Biden has heard the criticism and is now making speeches condemning violence. Is it too little, too late?
Protesters certainly have a First Amendment right to burn the American flag. But you might as well burn your mail-in ballot while you are at it.
It is often said that the protests are “mostly peaceful.” Sorry. A protest is peaceful or it’s not. It can’t be both. Peaceful protesters have no control over agitators and thieves and it is hard for police to distinguish between the two. And Donald Trump’s base will make no effort to distinguish between the two. What the protesters will accomplish is not police reform, but the re-election of Trump.
The national media evidently think we’re stupid out here in fly-over land. MSNBC’s Rachael Maddow took it upon herself to “fact check” Republican speakers because they lie a lot. Here’s an example. Vice-President Mike Pence talked about violence in Seattle, Portland and Kenosha. Maddow broke in to introduce the mayor of Seattle who talked about what a wonderful place it is to live, and how dare the Republicans say otherwise. Meanwhile, CBS News reports that 59 Seattle police offers were injured in one night. So much for “fact checking.”
Do media apologists not realize that all the rubes out here can use Google and that local newspaper sites can inform us as to what’s going on around the country? Anybody who relies on any cable “news” site for actual news is badly misinformed.
Does anybody think that Red State America’s opinions are influenced by the National Basketball Association’s players going on strike? Lebron James is going to carry Tennessee for Joe Biden?
Democrats can point out all they want that protests, police reform and riots require nuanced explanations. You can’t put nuance on a bumper sticker.
After 2016 I didn’t think the Democrats could blow another election against Trump. But I was wrong.
No shame: There is nothing new about a man leaving his wife and children and taking a mistress. But usually such an action is kept on the down low and it’s a person who has a low profile. But Donald Trump Jr. had no problem with having his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, speak at the Republican convention. When he runs for president in 2024 will she be in the running for First Girlfriend?
Evidently Trump Jr. has the same family values as Jerry Falwell Jr.
Selective outrage: Kentucky, like Tennessee, has a Castle Law. It says you have a right to protect yourself in your home or car from an intruder. You are under no obligation to “flee.” The National Rifle Association has lobbied for such laws in several states.
Police in Louisville, Kentucky, broke into Breonna Taylor’s apartment and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, exercised his right to shoot the intruders, who were not wearing police uniforms. He shot a police officer in the leg. The police shot up the place, including the apartment next door, and killed Taylor. Walker was charged with attempted murder. The charges have since been dropped. It wasn’t because the NRA whipped up support to defend his Second Amendment rights. It was liberals and prominent entertainers who highlighted the injustice that got the charges dropped.
There may be a case somewhere when the NRA protested the denial of a black man’s Second Amendment rights, I just haven’t ever heard of it.
You may remember Philando Castile, shot by police in St. Paul back in 2016, because his girlfriend live streamed his killing on her phone. He was stopped for having a busted tail light. He told the cops he had a license to carry and that he had a pistol on him. As he reached for his driver’s license, they shot him. I remember at the time that a man with a gun permit was shot for having a gun and the silence from the NRA was noticeable.
Now that we have Castle Laws it would be good if we outlawed “no knock” warrants to prevent something like this happening again. Congress should pass Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s Justice for Breonna Act which would ban no-knock warrants. It’s not the first time a homeowner has shot an officer breaking into his house, often because they have the wrong address.
Frank Cagle is a veteran newspaper editor and columnist.