A Tale Of Two Cities...

[dales]

Ah yes, Martin Luther King, Colin Kaepernick...

One can scarcely think of one without thinking of the other...

One actually did some good for this country, while the other is a 3rd rate quarterback and an attention whore.

[rubato]

Cam Newton, by way of supporting Kaepernick, wore a shirt with a quote from MLK.

So some people do get it.




Yrs,
Rubato

[Big RR]

This is not Charlotte that's out here," he said. "These are outside entities that are coming in and causing these problems. These are not protestors, these are criminals

where have I heard this before? Outside agitators and other labels applied to MLK and his protestors? The more things change...

So, then...are you claiming the spokesman is lying, then?

Perhaps, perhaps not; I really don't know. But even if he is telling the truth--so what? people outside an area cannot have an opinion regarding what happens in that area, or express that opinion? I don't see that as a valid point worthy of discussion.

Many times when a cop is shot in the line of duty cops come from many areas (often far away from the area) to stand vigil at the funeral and express their opinions and solidarity with their fellow police officers. IMHO, this is perfectly fine. And I wouldn't give these "outside entities" any less of a chance to do the same.

You have outside "criminals" coming in? By all means arrest, rry, and punish them for their criminal acts. Otherwise, they're as welcome as anyone else to express their opinion in the US, regardless of the state.

[Bicycle Bill]

Now we've got a member of the Navy Reserve refusing to stand for the National Anthem.
http://wgntv.com/2016/09/26/navy-sailor ... al-anthem/

My understanding is that when one enlists in the armed forces they accept the fact that the military does not function as a democracy and that they are relinquishing certain rights.  Can you imagine how D-Day would have gone if, instead of issuing an order to "move off the beach" the officer in charge needed to ask "all in favor of storming the cliffs will raise their right hand"?  Ihre Beiträge würde wahrscheinlich so etwas wie folgt aussehen.

Well, there's a simple solution to this one.  It's called a dishonorable discharge and a return to civilian life (and since she is a reservist she's already halfway there).  Let this poor, put-upon activist with her high sense of what is and is not hypocrisy start earning her living off someone other than Uncle Sam.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

I don't know the details of the UCMJ here, but IMHO there is a HUGE difference between failure to follow an order in combat related to the attack, and the failure to follow what is, at most, and administrative order. Failure to follow an order in combat could result in the deaths of others, failure te stand for the national anthem, not so much.

Not that the military cannot discipline her, but I cannot see she in any way deserves a dishonorable discharge--perhaps a general one or some lesser penalty, but this is more like a sailor not wearing a hat than a refusal to storm Normandy on D Day.

And while we're at it, I am giving her the benefit of the doubt that she acted out of conscience; I have heard again and again that this same refusal to follow orders seen as immoral orders would protect us against a military coup. Do we really want to eliminate this altogether? I think it's a conversation which needs to be had.

[Econoline]

Good essay by Jim Wright now up at Stonekettle Station:

"If you go back and look at some of the arrests that were made, I can about say probably 70 percent of those had out-of-state IDs."
-- Todd Walther, spokesman for the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police, describing those arrested during the protests in Charlotte last week.

Seventy percent were from out of state.

Seventy percent of those protesting in Charlotte are outside agitators.

Seventy percent.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, September 22, 2016, police spokesman Todd Walther said with confidence seventy percent of those arrested during the violence in Charlotte, North Carolina this week were “instigators that are coming in from the outside.”

The violence in Charlotte was instigated by agitators coming from outside the state.

Not by people who actually live there.

Outside instigators.

The implication being, as it was after Ferguson, the violence isn’t a legitimate expression of rage and frustration by a population fed up with the perception of police brutality and abuse of power. That statement automatically delegitimizes the protests themselves, as indeed it was designed to do. Walther’s statement delegitimizes not the violence – or rather not just the violence, which may or may not be a legitimate and necessary expression of protest depending on your point of view – but the entire idea of black people protesting altogether. The idea that the vast majority of those arrested are confirmed to be in reality outside actors, agents provocateur, immediately taints the entire protest itself and confirms for many whites that those black people rioting in the streets of Charlotte aren’t really yelling about civil rights at all – instead they’re smashing things and lighting shit on fire because, you know, that’s what black people do.

That’s why the police have to shoot them in the first place.

There’s just one problem with Walther’s statement: it’s completely and totally false.

What?

Oh, right. You’re right, of course. There are many things wrong with Walther’s statement beyond its falseness. You’re right and we’ll get to that. Bear with me for a bit.

Walther made that statement on Thursday.

On Friday he was – in the vernacular of our times – forced to “walk it back.”

In more precise terms: he lied.

Walther acting as the official spokesman for the North Carolina police union was completely wrong, deliberately so. He lied. In reality, a full seventy-nine percent of those arrested since the violence began in Charlotte were in point of fact residents of Charlotte and all of the remainder were from surrounding areas in North Carolina. None of those arrested were from out of state. Not one.

The official spokesman for the North Carolina police union, a man you are supposed to be able to trust, lied.

During an interview with the Charlotte Observer on Friday, Walther was forced to admit his comments were “inaccurate and merely based on speculation.”

“I didn’t quote facts,” said Walther. “It’s speculation. That’s all it was.”

Speculation. Well, that part is the truth.

But then he lied again, because that’s not all it was and he knows it – or he wouldn’t have made the original statement in the first place.

Read the rest of the essay here:

http://www.stonekettle.com/2016/09/knowing.html

BTW...is it just me, or is the media use of the phrase "walk it back" to mean "admit to a lie" one of the most odious euphemisms to show up in the past few years?

[kristina]

Thanks for that, Econoline; I was thinking of posting the link to Stonekettle Station but wanted to read through the thread first.

[dales]

Cam Newton, by way of supporting Kaepernick, wore a shirt with a quote from MLK.

So some people do get it.




Yrs,
Rubato

Ah,no......not really.

[BoSoxGal]

The most awful thing about this election cycle and the police brutality protest movement is what it has revealed about the attitudes of neighbors, friends and coworkers.

[RayThom]

Now we've got a member of the Navy Reserve refusing to stand for the National Anthem.

I say give Intelligence Specialist 2nd Class Janaye Ervin* a pass on this "fashion faux pax." I will also expect her superiors to keep an eye on her if and when she enters into armed combat with a sworn enemy of the United States. Smart money says she'll respond every bit as expected due to her extensive military training and background.
(*)


Oh, and God Bless America.