Hua Guofang

policing eating itself: https://news.wttw.com/2020/06/05/police-board-president-officers-struck-me-5-times-their-batons-during-protest

Not surprising to most here https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article243320521.html

The US has had problems for a long time, many of these have been cited by yourself, @misteraven@Mercer@Dawood@lord_casekand numerous others for years on this website. Donald Trump is not the problem, he's what happens when you have a problem. Populists need a permissive environment to gain power, and that's what years of a corrupted and elitist system provided him. All who came before him deserve their share of the blame. I truly believe that the USA is at the lower-end of the slippery slide, not the top. But I have faith in the republic, it has been through tough times before and pulled through.

Even when I was a kid, long before the internet was a dream, my mum always told me not to believe everything you read. I asked her recently why she always told me that. Her response was that during the Cold War, govts of all persuasions had reasons to twist the truth and that they did that through 'the news'.

Just tried a brown ale that I brewed recently, it was only kegged 5 days ago so it still has some conditioning to go yet. But, I didn't put enough dark malt in and I can't describe the taste. It's not a red, it's not an amber and it's nowhere near dark enough to be a brown. Hope the flavour improves, I brewed 40 litres of this shit....

Some one at Fox doesn't like Tucker

Here is the actual jobs data

One of the main goals of active measures is to make what is the obvious truth unbelievable. This time around it's that the Floyd murder was staged to hurt Trump. This works on the target audience because they're often the type that don't believe that there is police brutality, that criminals are just getting what they deserve and that deaths like Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd are not examples of racism by cops (and wanna be cops). It also harnesses a pretty successful angle that's been used successfully in Europe for over 100 years, don't trust rich Jews. It's one of the most enduring narratives as it includes racism, fear, envy and a nugget of Truth. That truth is that Sorros is politically active promoting democracy, as are many refugees of the Soviet Union when the iron curtain fell. Conspiracies stick the most when you tie them to a kernel of truth and develop a narrative around it that cannot be disproved (can't prove a negative). @misteraventhis illustrates an an audience that has long been a fertile target since during the Cold War. Think of 1968 and some of the things that occurred down in the south around race. Conspiracy theories and racist memes: How a dozen Texas GOP county chairs caused turmoil within the party On Friday morning, five GOP county chairs were facing backlash for sharing racist social media posts. The Texas Tribune identified seven other GOP county chairs across the state who shared similar posts. https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/05/texas-gop-chairs-racist-george-floyd/ On Friday morning, Texas’ top Republican officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott, had condemned four GOP chairs for proliferating conspiracy theories on Facebook. The posts, from chairs of some of the largest counties in Texas, suggested George Floyd’s death was staged to erode black support for President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, a fifth chairperson posted a racist image of a Martin Luther King Jr. quote next to a banana. On Friday afternoon, The Texas Tribune identified similar posts from seven more GOP chairs across the state. Some of these posts suggested people who have been protesting Floyd’s death across the state and the country were being paid by Jewish billionaire George Soros — an oft-used anti-Semitic trope. GOP county chairs are elected leaders of the Republican Party who help oversee local elections and head up county-level meetings and events. News circulating about the first five chairs’ posts sparked concern — both internal and external — about the Texas GOP. “This is a disgusting level of ignorance that’s hard to hear from anyone, much less an elected official,” State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said in an email to the Tribune. “I’m glad to see Republican state leaders finally start to push back against this nonsense and look forward to a day when we can actually debate fact-based policy instead of constantly refuting conspiracies.” Charles Blain, the president of Urban Reform, a conservative public policy nonprofit based in Houston, used Twitter to call for reflection within the party: “I’ll say more on this later but the fact that in one day 4 Texas GOP chairs have come under condemnation for racist remarks — including MY county — should make it CLEAR AS DAY that we have a problem in this party and y’all need to talk to more black people.” The original five chairs — Cynthia Brehm in Bexar County, Sue Piner from Comal County, Jim Kaelin of Nueces County and Lee Lester from Harrison County, as well as Harris County GOP chairperson-elect Keith Nielsen — faced backlash from Democrats and Republicans alike over their social media posts. But many of the GOP officials who criticized Brehm’s social media posts as inexcusable did not return calls from the Tribune seeking comment about the more recently identified posts from the seven other chairs across the state. Nor did they comment about Facebook posts by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller that included calls to “start the race war.” Doug Sanford, the chairperson of Freestone County, Russell Hayter, the chairperson of Hays County and Jaime Durham, the chairperson of Foard County, each shared this week a fake advertisement reading “Get Paid to be a… Professional Anarchist,” with a note claiming Soros would pay people $200 for taking action. Sanford and Hayter did not respond to requests for comment, and Durham only confirmed to the Tribune that she shared the image, noting that it was posted on her personal account and declining to elaborate further. Lynne Teinert, the GOP chairperson for Shackelford County, shared on Saturday a picture of Soros with the text, “The pandemic isn’t working. Start the racial wars.” The suggestion that Soros is puppeteering political happenings behind the scenes has routinely been put forth by conservatives. Soros, who has spent billions of dollars supporting liberal and pro-democracy causes around the world, has long been a target of conspiracy theorists on the ideological right. Some of these theories use his Jewish heritage to invoke anti-Semitic tropes. “It was mostly a joke, like the murder hornets,” Teinert explained. “You know, the pandemic didn't work so the murder hornets were next. It's just one thing after another, and it was just a joke.” However, Teinert said she believes the “riots” are the result of a coordinated, nationwide effort, echoing Republicans all the way up to the White House who have blamed the demonstrations on organizations or “outside agitators.” “I do think there are organizations behind [the unrest],” she said. “It's very organized. I don't understand where they came from, smashing windows, and burning buildings, and stealing purses and, you know, I just don't understand why that's necessary. There's so much of it, and all at once at the same time. I just think it's odd.” Cindy Weatherby, the GOP chairperson of Reagan County, shared a post with a series of 21 “puzzling questions” about Floyd’s death, including “Can someone really not breathe when someone kneels on his neck and is the victim really able to speak for considerable periods of time if he can’t breathe?” and “Why did the kneeling officer appear completely cool and calm, as if he was posing for the camera?” Though she said she doesn’t believe Floyd’s murder was staged, Weatherby told the Tribune that if “humans don’t question, there’s something wrong with us.” Weatherby added she thinks some protesters are being paid, and she said the comments reflect her personal beliefs, not her role as the GOP chairperson. Shawn Tully, GOP chairperson of Red River County, shared an image Tuesday of the 1992 Los Angeles riots — when, after four white police officers were acquitted on almost all charges for severely beating a black man, people turned to violent protest. The post Tully shared features a crashed truck and a person lying on the ground, bleeding from the head. It reads, “This is why you don’t brake for ‘protesters.’” Tully did not respond to a request for comment. LaDonna Olivier, GOP chairperson from Reeves County, shared a post on Monday saying “people are trying to turn George [Floyd] into a saint” but he was a “brutal criminal.” “I’m too old, set in my ways,” Olivier said about Republican leaders in Texas asking other GOP chairs to step down over their own posts about Floyd. She added that she’s not afraid of being reprimanded since her term ends in August. “If they want me to step down I'd be glad to,” Olivier said. “My husband would be so happy.” Olivier said she is aware that some of the “theories” she shares may be untrue. “I do sort of want to persuade people but I tried to get the truth out, too. If they have a different opinion or they want to post their facts or, you know, straighten me out, I'll be glad to apologize,” Teinert said. “I have no problem with that. Like I said, I make a lot of mistakes. I say a lot of stupid things. I'm not a good public speaker. But it's a job nobody else wanted.” Asked on Friday about the conspiracy theories and racist speculation in the posts by the initial five chairs, Abbott said the problem is “narrow.” "Listen, the only point is not a broad point, but it's a narrow point, and the narrow point is this, and that is the death of George Floyd is a travesty and it's a result of a criminal act,” he told reporters at a press conference. “It should not be the subject of any of these conspiracy theories, and it's irresponsible for anyone to promote some conspiracy theories of what is otherwise a brutal act of police violence.” As of Friday evening, none of the four GOP chairs called on to resign by party members had offered to step aside, and at least two said they intended to stay. Abbott did not respond to requests for comment about whether he would also call for the resignations of the other GOP chairs. Blain, the conservative nonprofit president, told the Tribune that the state Republican Party needs to change its bylaws to allow the party’s executive committee to remove county chairs in situations like this when chairs refuse to resign. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who also chastised Brehm and Nielsen, responded to questions from the Tribune with a press release saying the party needs to call out racism. “Going forward, we know that some Democrats and their allies in the media will continue to throw out charges of ‘racism’ anytime they disagree with us on any issue,” the statement reads. “Without taking that bait, we should continue to unequivocally condemn racism where we see it in our party and in their party.” Patrick has previously faced criticism for referring to undocumented immigrants as an “illegal invasion” and boycotting a prayer led by a Muslim cleric on the floor of the Senate. James Dickey, chair of the Republican Party of Texas, issued a statement Friday afternoon calling for all five chairs originally identified to resign, saying their social media posts “do not reflect” the party’s history or values. Gerald Horne, a history and African American studies professor at the University of Houston, said he wasn’t surprised by the posts. The Republican Party, he said, has to cater to far-right “hardline fringe” voters to win elections in a polarized political arena. He added that even if the county chairs resigned, they'd likely be replaced by people who shared similar beliefs. Abhi Rahman, a spokesperson for the Texas Democratic Party, said the posts reflect the Republican Party Abbott and Patrick have built. “This is what they’ve done for years,” Rahman said. “Now, people are starting to see what kind of conspiracy theories they engage in, they see how repulsive and disgusting they are.” Last August, the Texas Democratic Party criticized Abbott for sending fundraising mailings calling to “DEFEND” the Texas border against illegal immigration. The mailings were dated a day before a deadly shooting in El Paso which targeted Hispanics. Abbott later said “mistakes were made” in his choice of rhetoric. Peniel Joseph, a public affairs professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said Abbott and Patrick don’t set the agenda as much as they reflect the beliefs and feelings of constituents who voted them into office. “Citizens are looking for their champions and for people articulating what they feel is their world view,” Joseph said. “That's what the lieutenant governor and governor represent.” But Blain cautioned against jumping to conclusions that the entire Republican Party is “racially insensitive,” he said, stopping short of viewing the dozen posts as a party-wide problem. “I don’t believe that Keith Nielsen is racist,” Blain said. “This was just a really bad post that did have very, very strong racial undertones.”

For all you chicken littles who cry Antifa every time something goes bang, here is a leading expert on extremism. She posted the comment when some one else pointed out another news article where a Guardsman was suspended from duty for expressing white supremacist sentiments on FB and noted that no cops or soldiers have been suspended for voicing Antifa support. @misteravenit's also why I pointed out that the article you posted a couple of pages back felt like it had a little bit of a rightist slant to it. Lots of evidence suggests that it's actually right-wing activists that are trying to blow up the Antifa angle, more than anything:

lol, even more cynical than the NFL

Yep. Guess the racists will just have to watch Nascar instead now, though.

Turns out the unemployment numbers were bullshit. Great.

Now, that's how you power-post. G'night, I've had enough of the world for one day.

It doesn't matter what this dude in black even did, police are not permitted to meter out punishment or revenge like this. This is text book police brutality

Surely saying lunatic shit like this has to do himself more damage than anything. But, then again, also highly likely deliberately designed to antagonise, more so than just being something stupid from a person with no moral compass.

Forgot the link: ttps://www.dailynews.com/2020/06/03/dozens-arrested-in-downtown-los-angeles-tuesday-night-after-day-of-peaceful-protests/ Look at the first pic.

@Mercerthis is all I can find right now, other than people regurgitating the pics and commenting on them. First pic down the page shows protesters running past him, it's possible the cops were shooting at protesters (in the back, as they ran away, no less...) and hit him accidentally. Not seeing anything to show that he was shot deliberately, or otherwise. Also can't see the pics in the photo collective that's cited in the reddit post you've pasted. Again, be super careful about what you believe right now. The amount of disinfo going about right now has to be at record levels. Everyone has a reason to shape the narrative.

Yeah, gotta say @Dirty_habiTit does seem a little telling that you only talk about the old man being in the wrong here. Not once have you even suggested that the cops might have been in the wrong assaulting an elderly person that posed no clear threat to them. Doesn't feel like a balanced response.

@Mercerthanks, I'll take a look. Be cautious about believing what looks 'obvious' on the internet. There is so much footage and stills being repackaged right now (of both cops and protesters doing shit) that actually occurred in other parts of the world or at other times, to suit a narrative. Be very critical of what you see and even more selective about what you believe.