The post American riots: Protesters leave but looting continues in Los Angeles first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

When the police pull back, violent crime — against blacks — spikes.

While the depraved murder of George Floyd should outrage us all, I believe it continues a misdirected focus on police killings, particularly of unarmed men. According to the Washington Post database, in 2019 there were 249 blacks killed by the police: 165 had guns, 33 had knives, and only 14 were unarmed. In 2016, Harvard’s Roland Fryer released a study of racial differences in police use of deadly force and found no evidence of bias in police shootings. His conclusions have been echoed by researchers at the University of Maryland and Michigan State University.

By contrast, in 2018, according to FBI statistics, there were 7,406 black homicides. When Floyd was murdered over the Memorial Day weekend, there were 85 shootings and 24 deaths in Chicago. Black Lives Matters, however, has shown little public concern over any of this violence. Indeed, an article in the influential black magazine The Root outright defended black activists’ refusal to talk about these homicides:

It is the repeated sleight of hand used to distract and drown out the voices of Black Lives Matter. It is an oft-used “alt-right” refrain and . . . the weapon of choice for the black practitioners of respectability politics.

In 2019, the titular leader of the Black Lives Matter, Shaun King, did make an exception and publicized a non-police murder of a black American. In Houston, a seven-year-old girl was killed in a drive-by shooting, in the same way that other victims are killed every year. What distinguished the murder of this child was that it initially appeared that the perpetrator was a white man. Upon hearing about this, King flew to Houston and immediately raised a $100,000 reward for information leading to the killer’s capture. He did receive such information that led to an arrest. To King’s surprise, the killer turned out to be a black man whose gang was retaliating for a previous incident but shot at the wrong car.

Building effective community-police relationships is crucial to lowering homicide rates and reducing the significant racial bias in nonlethal use of force. Despite the current rhetoric, many recent reforms have been quite effective. While police misconduct (and biases) can never be completely eliminated, we can learn from cities where police-community relations are strong.

Criminologist David Kennedy guided Pittsburgh’s launching of a new initiative that better modeled the focused deterrence approach he pioneered and implemented in a number of cities, including Boston. Through community leaders and other neighborhood informants, Pittsburgh’s Group Violence Intervention Unit (GVI) identified more than 500 high-risk offenders. Once a high-risk offender is identified, an officer will visit the offender as well as his or her parents or grandparents. At the meeting, the visiting officer says, “We know what’s going on. You — or your son or grandson — is a shooter.”

If the offender continues to commit crimes, Pittsburgh deals with him harshly. However, if he wishes to turn his life around, services are provided. The GVI unit works with job-training and placement programs, local faith-based organizations, mental-health experts, and multiple families – and housing-related services to help suspects change their lives — “to leave the life.” GVI volunteer coordinator Cornell Jones noted that tattoo-removal services are also offered if needed, because “it’s hard to get any job if you have ‘thug life’ tattooed on your forehead.”

Successes in Camden, N.J., do not fit neatly into the Black Lives Matters narrative. “Its transformation was sparked by corruption and soaring crime, not police brutality,” Los Angeles Times reporter Chris Megerian noted this week. “Leaders wanted to put more cops on the street, not defund the police.” The force expanded from 250 to 411 police officers, about 55 per percent white, reorganized at the county level. The key was new leadership that began implementing the same policies that have proven effective in Detroit, Boston, and other cities.

Las Vegas also demonstrated the value of a community-police partnership. Formerly incarcerated, Jon Ponder created Hope for Prisoners, a prison re-entry program that relies on a mentoring alliance made up of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) and other local criminal justice agencies. Now, more than 65 officers mentor by sharing their stories of success as well as their personal challenges with ex-offenders. The program concludes with a graduation ceremony at LVMPD Headquarters.

Station Casinos and the Raiders Stadium construction site, among others, have agreements with Hope for Prisoners to hire graduates. Since its inception, the program has an employment rate of 76 percent while experiencing an 8 percent recidivism rate. “Hope for Prisoners is one of the most successful prisoner re-entry programs in the country,” Assistant Sheriff Charles L. Hank III said in LVMPD’s 2018 annual report.

Police reforms are not easy, and they are not always successful, but better policing can be accomplished when police are partners in devising and implementing desired changes. By contrast, the fiercely antagonistic approach of the “Defund the Police” movement is less likely to develop the changes necessary and instead may be a catalyst for increased homicide rates.

In a new paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Tanaya Devi and Fryer found that when police were investigated following incidents of deadly force that had gone viral, police activity declined and violent crime spiked. Fryer recently told the Wall Street Journal that, in such circumstances, police effectively pull back, becoming less proactive, and curb their interactions with civilians. He concluded, “My estimates show that we lost a thousand more lives, most of them black as well, because of an increase in homicides.”

We should not excuse or overlook police abuse, but it’s unfair and unwise to demonize the police. Criminal-justice reform should focus on reducing black homicide rates and, to be most effective, must find a way to develop collaborative relationships with law enforcement. Too many lives are at stake to let the “defund the police” movement stand in the way.

ROBERT CHERRY — Mr. Cherry is a professor emeritus at Brooklyn College and a member of 1776 Unites.

Source: https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/defund-police-movement-risks-increased-black-homicide-rate/

The post Which Black Lives Matter? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Live PD, one of cable’s biggest hits, had been off the air since last week, and was canceled Wednesday night by A&E. –A&E

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Key insights:

• Police programming, both scripted and unscripted, is among broadcast and cable’s most-watched shows.
• The call for change is coming from within the industry, as well.

Television has become the latest industry to reexamine itself in light of the national protests against police brutality and racial injustice following the May 25 death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed in Minneapolis police custody.

With the protests continuing and the cries for social justice intensifying, several outlets are pulling shows and movies that no longer seem appropriate. Tuesday night, Paramount Network canceled the long-running reality series Cops, while A&E has benched its own popular police docuseries, Live PD. And HBO Max has pulled the classic film Gone With the Wind, with plans to reinstate it down the road “with a discussion of its historical context,” the streaming service said in a statement.

Update: Wednesday night, A&E canceled Live PD, and released the following statement: “This is a critical time in our nation’s history and we have made the decision to cease production on Live PD. Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments.”

The protests have prompted action by several major industries. Among them: Bon Appétit editor in chief Adam Rapoport stepped down Monday after allegations of discrimination at the outlet and a photo of him in brownface surfaced. And more than 600 Black advertising professionals—representing Black talent from nearly every major agency in the country—penned an open letter Tuesday demanding meaningful action and outlining the steps agencies can take to make the advertising industry more equitable.

The cancellation of Cops came as the series had been set to return for Season 33 this past Monday. After delaying the premiere a week in light of last week’s protests, a Paramount Network spokesperson said Tuesday night in a statement that the series has been shelved for good: “Cops is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return.”

Cops has been a TV staple since it debuted on Fox in 1989. It aired for 25 seasons, and later ran for six more seasons on Spike TV, which was rebranded as Paramount Network in 2018.

But now the show is gone for good: Paramount Network has already scrubbed all mention of Cops from its website. However, the Cops channel on ViacomCBS sister outlet Pluto TV, the free, ad-supported streaming service, remains active for now, according to a Pluto TV spokesperson.

Paramount Network joined ViacomCBS’ other cable networks in going dark for eight minutes and 46 seconds early last week, which was the length of time that Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck.

Meanwhile, another reality series focusing on police officers in the field, A&E’s Live PD, was also pulled from the schedule last weekend—its 300th episode was supposed to air Saturday, but now the series has been canceled.

Tuesday night, the day before it decided to pull the plug, the network told Adweek it was unlikely the series will return this week, but no official decision had been made yet.

However, Live PD host Dan Abrams tweeted Tuesday night that the show will indeed be returning, noting that “All of us associated with the show are as committed to it as ever. We are still discussing some specifics but I want to assure the #LivePDNation that we are not abandoning you.”

Live PD had been one of cable’s biggest hits, spawning five spinoffs and at one point propelling A&E to nine consecutive quarters of network ratings growth in its key adults 25-54 demo. As Adweek wrote last October, the show, which is hosted by Dan Abrams and follows police officers around the country live for three hours on Fridays and Saturdays, has made A&E the No. 1 cable network during those days in the same demo (in live-plus-3), lifting the network 20 spots from its prior ranking before the series debuted in 2016.

Last month, ahead of its upfront talks, A+E Networks renewed Live PD for an additional 160 episodes. Paul Buccieri, president of A+E Networks Group, told Adweek at the time that Live PD had adapted to the pandemic “because it’s live, because we can be very nimble with the show.” Recent episodes have featured guests such as Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who spoke about the Covid-19 crisis.

The protests are causing some outlets to reevaluate their movies as well. On Tuesday, HBO Max removed the 1939 film Gone With the Wind—set on a Georgia plantation during and after the Civil War—from its service. That came one day after director-screenwriter John Ridley, who won an Oscar for writing the drama 12 Years a Slave, had suggested such a move in a Los Angeles Times column, writing, “it is a film that, when it is not ignoring the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color.”

An HBO Max spokesperson said in a statement that “Gone With the Wind is a product of its time and depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society. These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible.”

Gone With the Wind will return to HBO Max “with a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions, but will be presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.”

TV’s social justice overhaul could have an even broader impact. Some critics have wondered if scripted police shows, which usually portray cops as heroes and Black people as criminals, should be canceled—or at least significantly overhauled—in light of the demands for change.

So far, there have been no such plans. Aside from NFL games, those police procedurals are among TV’s most popular programming. The three most-watched broadcast dramas last season were all CBS police procedurals: NCIS (averaging 15.3 million per episode), FBI (12.6 million) and Blue Bloods (12 million).

Still, at least one procedural creator thinks change is necessary.

“When I hear Hollywood colleagues playfully pondering whether or not we’re doing enough to address the image of the hero cop that has been entrenched as a procedural staple, the answer is clear: hell fucking no. There’s a ton of work we still have to do. The question is, how sincere will we be about putting in that work?” Aaron Rahsaan Thomas, who co-created S.W.A.T. for CBS, wrote in a column for Vanity Fair.

He continued, “We, as creators in Hollywood, have to be willing to expand the point of view from which these stories are told. Instead of focusing simply on what makes our jobs easier and more convenient, real change requires hard and sometimes uncomfortable work, conversations, and consideration. Failure to do this can have real-life consequences. Ultimately, efforts to improve can and will lead to better TV shows, more nuanced cop procedurals, and, who knows, maybe even impact real-world interactions between police and community.”

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Jason Lynch@jasonlynch

Jason Lynch is TV/Media Editor at Adweek, overseeing trends, technology, personalities and programming across broadcast, cable and streaming video

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Source: https://www.adweek.com/tv-video/tv-cancel-cops-livepd-gone-with-the-wind-black-lives-matter-protests/

[Disclaimer]

The post Networks Pull Police Docuseries, Gone With the Wind Following Racial Injustice Protests first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Who dares not take a knee? It’s beginning to look as if much of society is ready to give up.   All the networks are bowing down, in all their woke righteousness.   They’re all running statements declaring a stance with Black Lives Matter, which now has apparently become allied with the anarchists.   The cable news networks have aligned themselves with the rioters they call “peaceful protesters,” explaining day and night how their “anger” is righteous. Anyone who doesn’t join the cause, take a knee, and come down on the side of the abolition of police is “part of the problem.”

They’ve canceled the TV shows Live PD, Cops, and suspended Paw Patrol, which is a doggy cartoon.   The networks will not stand for any positive portrayal of law enforcement. It disputes their insistence that ALL police are racist.   In fact, these programs dispute the racist, communist slogans that we must all acknowledge as reality. So you’re not allowed to see them anymore.   Take that!

After multiple funerals, memorial services and finally the burial of George Floyd, the protests continue. Not one American approved of the slow-motion murder, and the idiot cop who perpetrated the act will pay with his life.   Nobody, but nobody believes it will be otherwise.   But the “protests “ continue to insist that ALL police are racist and must be disbanded.

Not that logic has any quarter these days, but how is it that we’re lectured and warned around the clock that we must fall into line and agree that ALL police are racist because of the act of one idiot cop, but we must not believe that “peaceful demonstrations” have anything to do with the rioting and looting and burning that we’ve witnessed in liberal cities from coast to coast.   If the protesters can’t be blamed for the looting and destruction, then surely all police can’t be blamed for the actions of Derek Chauvin.   But logic plays no part in the destruction of western civilization.   The important thing is that EVERYBODY SUBMIT!

It looks like almost everyone is doing just that.   The NFL has become a virtual booster of the BLM, Colin Kaepernick position. What!   Even Nascar has given in?   All the networks and news outlets have taken a knee.   A whole bunch of Senators posed in their masks, down on one knee (except of course Nadler, who couldn’t.  Hopefully we’ll never find out why).   Some had a terrible time trying to get back up, but it’s probably racist to have noticed. Mrs. Pelosi is demanding that statues be removed from the Capitol, while her constituents are tearing them down all over the country.

Military installations must be renamed, because, you know, many were named after historical figures the communists want removed from memory.   Street names must be changed. School names must be abolished. The demands are endless, and they’re just getting started.   It’s like the early stages of the French revolution, and they’ll eventually turn on each other for not being radical enough.

It was known at least two days before any mainstream outlet carried the news, and even then they had to report it because President Trump made it the subject of his own comments. Even now, the mainstream news only reports it because the Washington governor and Seattle Mayor are telling him to mind his own business.   That must cheer the souls of the communist mob that has taken over Seattle’s City Hall, a police precinct and six blocks of downtown Seattle.   It appears they’ve declared their own communist Utopia.   If water and electricity are cut, it probably won’t be long until they come slinking out. It will likely be in the middle of the night, as they try to escape the nightmare they’ve created, without being caught. For now the city is under their control. /the mayor and governor are OK with the insurrection!   President Trump told them to get it under control or he’d intervene.   They told him to get lost, and the media is cheering.

Who will bring the insurrection under control?   Will the communist anarchists take over other cities?   The Seattle police have already retreated and let this bunch of radical ideologues occupy downtown. Watching the behavior of police in nearly every place the “protests” have turned into riots is not very reassuring. But it’s not their fault, it’s the fault of the mayors and governors who’ll undoubtedly end the employment of all who don’t submit, including the police.   We’ve seen examples of police prostrating themselves before the raging mob. The media outlets and big corporations are firing everyone that offends the rioters.   If that’s the way this is going to go, you can kiss the USA goodbye.

We’ve got a revolution underway in the United States.   It’s as if we’re back in the 1960’s with the Black Panthers, Symbionese Liberation Army and the radical communist “intellectuals.”   The only difference is they’ve got hundreds of thousands who’ve been indoctrinated by government-run schools and mis-educated by radical university professors who’ve been working hard to turn America’s kids into raging lunatics.

They’ve got to somehow make all this about President Trump.   But he was just a kid when the anti-American, anti-Western civilization ideology took hold in the United States.   Our nation is somewhere between the French Revolution and the Maoist rebellion. This time it’s in the land of the FREE, that is if we all submit to the illogical nonsense.   How long have all the statues they’re tearing down been standing?   How long have military bases carried the names that the left now finds intolerable? You mean we had EIGHT LONG YEARS of a black presidency, and none of this was offensive then?

America should have been absolved of all accusations of RACISM for having put up with Barack Obama and all his anti-American clap-trap.   Meanwhile he placed a bunch of globalist, pro-gay, anti-American figureheads in the top ranks of every alphabet agency.   They’ve done everything within their power to subvert, accuse and prosecute President Trump or any who dare support him.   None of it got him out of office.   Not “Russia, Russia, Russia.” Not the Ukrainian phone call and fraudulent impeachment.   Not the Bat Flu.

Now they’ve got to destroy everything. And nobody’s getting in their way. We can’t fight against this onslaught of evil, except to denounce it, understand WHY they want to rage and destroy. Our only choice us to trust in their ultimate enemy, God Almighty, to make sure it all ends well…one way or the other.   Have a great Sabbath. God is infinitely stronger than the skinny anarchists and those who would bow down to them. If we don’t stand against this godless revolution, how are we going to refuse the Mark of the Beast?   The masses won’t. Are we the only ones?

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 12 June 2020 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Maybe some protester means well.  But the screaming, cursing mob holding hundreds of police hostage while cities are systematically looted and burned is aiding and abetting the rampaging criminals.  The Senator is no doubt proud that hundreds of criminals were released on account of the viral panic that news organizations are still pushing, albeit feebly.  Bail reform was supposed to be a great improvement to the judicial system.  At present, it means that thieves and arsonists are freely doing what they do.  Apparently it was done of the basis of compassion and racial justice, but looks like a huge mistake right about now.  But Chuck is proud.

Is there some doubt that at least a portion of the rampaging gangs that have torn American cities asunder were put back on the streets just in time?  The Senator must be very proud.  He’s undoubtedly proud of all the other sanctuary cities that put the wants and needs of criminals way ahead of the security of law-abiding citizens and proprietors of formerly successful businesses.  

It was almost as if the Mayor of New York held the police at bay while the city burned.  We hesitate to divine motives, but the fact is New York’s most glamorous districts were reduced to poverty while news reporters stood in their masks with cameras rolling.  The looting went on hour after hour with no sign of any interference by law enforcement.  Later we learn that there were some few hundreds of arrests, but the looters and rioters were immediately returned to the streets, thanks to the last time the legal system was “reformed.”  Few if any are removed from the problem at hand.  

Mad Dog Mattis finally lived up to his name.  President Trump chose his top generals and advisors without litmus tests regarding their personal leanings.  He expected everyone to behave professionally and live up to universal expectations of high standards.  He thought they’d suspend any personal persuasions, performing their sworn duties on behalf of the United States.  Boy was he wrong!  Several of these “highly respected” professionals have shown themselves to be anything but.  They keep their heads down, grumbling privately about the president until they arrive at what they believe to be an opportunity to do maximum damage.  Then the long knives come out.  Mad Dog suggested the mayhem we’re seeing is the logical result of three years of immature leadership, directing his comments at the President.  So, what was the reason for Ferguson?  Was it Obama’s fault?  The ignorant protesters still act out the “hands up don’t shoot” fallacy.   Even though it was proven to be false, the media continued to show great deference.  They keep talking about the need for a conversation.  But this has gone way beyond a discussion.  

Mad Dog provided additional red meat to the angrily sneering “news” reporters.  He’s bolstered their case allowing them to rub his military rank and service in everybody’s face while basking in the reflected glow of his intemperate comments. What former general attacks the President who promoted him so enthusiastically?  The deep state undoubtedly cheered.  At least Mad Dog gave them a little temporary cover.  If there’s any shred of justice left in America, they’d better enjoy the moment.

Then there was the case of Mark Espers.  He’s publicly stated his disagreement that the President would use the military to protect national monuments in Washington D. C., many of which have already been vandalized with slogans of the mob.  Isn’t it great when those to whom the president entrusted important responsibilities defy him in public?  

Now we’re supposed to worry about the Constitutional powers of the President to protect national monuments with the military, many of which have already been vandalized and fouled with nonsense slogans?  Who does he think he is?  How dare he call out the soldiers and Humvees to protect the symbols of America?  Doesn’t he realize that someone might be upset?  We’re all upset!  It’s obvious the mob would break or topple every national symbol.  They’d burn down the White House with President Trump inside, such is their wild-eyed rage.  And they’re righteous, according to the media.  No, the only “right” and equitable thing to do would be to join the protest.  If the media had their way, we’d all go taunt some policeman while our buddies plunder the lives of those who worked for a living.  That is until the “authorities” told them they couldn’t!  What happened to the quarantine?  We were told we’d be putting everybody in “danger” if we so much as leave the house.  But we’re expected to display great deference and sympathy toward the mob burning up the lives of the law-abiding.

Violent mobs don’t have to stay home.  They don’t have to worry about going to work, work is still closed in the cities with large protests, and the government will now make it possible to survive without working.  They can stay up all night if they want.  They no longer have jobs.  Everyone else is quarantined!  Nobody better dare get in the way of the rampage, because those jumping around in the faces of police are right, according to nearly every source of news.  Their feelings have been hurt! You’ve got million-dollar ball players pretending to cry on national television because we don’t understand how “hurt” their feelings are.  Make it a river.  But then, where were the tears?  Pinched up faces don’t move us much.

How dare we respect the flag?  How dare we love the United States?  Don’t we realize how racist we are?  Don’t we realize that all the stealing is not really stealing at all?  It’s “symbolic taking,” and we have to support it if not contribute to it.  The news media has taken a knee, and they’re demanding we all do.  Say that you respect the flag?  You’ll be attacked, should they know your name.  The anarchists are blowing up ATM machines, as many as 50 reported in Philadelphia alone, using dynamite.  One idiot blew himself up in the process.  And the uh, “protesters” have defaced nearly every memorial in D. C.

They’re arguing that the president is pushing beyond his authority to invoke the Insurrection Act used by several Presidents over the last hundred years.  It was most recently used by President Bush Sr. in response to the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles.  Is this current situation not infinitely worse?  Back in the day Los Angeles was a significant concern.  Today, law and order in the United States is breaking down completely, and Chuck Schumer is proud.  Maybe he just wants to be the last one they loot and burn.

Imagine how proud he’ll be then.

It seems that the riots and looting is starting to recede.  But don’t worry, another crisis has been planned, and another one after that.  The only shame is that the coronavirus panic murdered the economy, and we’re all supposed to feel good about it.  The “news” media is still pushing the virus.  Commercials are still advising that we stay home and stay safe.  They think we’ll continue doing business with them?

Russia collusion was a scam, and one that no-one has paid for, except for those who were falsely accused and broken by attorney’s fees.  The Ukraine phone call impeachment was utter nonsense, despite the bug-eyed dumbster (Adam Schiff) to which we were all subjected.  The reaction to the virus was all out of proportion to reality, but we’re going to be herded around by idiotic rules for the foreseeable future. Much to our amazement, the President must have been legitimately spooked by the dark predictions of medical professionals.  He stood by while the economy was destroyed, even before the rampage started, and that’s a huge disappointment.  Any suggestion that America might recover is enough to start another round of rioting.  As we’ve realized for some time, those who hate this nation won’t be satisfied until it’s utterly destroyed.  Sadly, that’s a real concern.  We were right when we warned that things might get ugly.  We didn’t know how right we were. 

Calls to defund police departments are gaining steam.  In Minneapolis, they’re talking about disbanding the police department completely.  Imagine how peaceful the metropolis will be when there are no police.  Come to think of it, that’s exactly what we’ve been watching!  America has some serious problems all right.  They have nothing to do with racism, but they have everything to do with the hideous sins that political correctness regards as national values. Have we forgotten that “values” like these got Sodom and Gomorrah burnt up?  Forget about hurting the feelings of the mob.  Why do you think we’ve been left vulnerable to these violent, America-hating leftists?  And one more thing.  They hated America long before the advent of President Donald Trump.  This play-book was created by the radical movement clear back in the ’60s.  One of the most prominent of them (Bill Ayers, Weather Underground) was Obama’s mentor. He’s been teaching…we wonder what.  They were ready to destroy everything in the name of… yep, police brutality.  Racial inequality.  We lived through some idiotic episodes, and here they come again.  This time with two generations of miseducated miscreants, taught by ’60’s era radicals.  Nice.

Source: https://www.garnertedarmstrong.org/not-proud/

The post Not Proud first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Demonstrators protest on June 6, 2020, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, over the death of George Floyd. Alex Brandon / AP

WASHINGTON — Thousands of people gathered outside Washington, D.C., monuments and the White House on Saturday protesting the killing of George Floyd, years of unanswered calls for police reform and President Donald Trump’s use of military personnel in response to largely peaceful demonstrations.

“I’m tired of the racism. Just tired,” said Rochelle Grate, a 58-year-old information technology specialist from Fort Washington, Maryland, who described the Saturday protest as “beautiful, peaceful and diverse.”

“This is different,” she said about the protests seen around the country over much of the past two weeks since Floyd, a black man, was killed in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25. “It snapped people not of color to say ‘Man, this is real and I’ve been blind to it.’”

After more than a week of protests in Washington, city officials said they expected Saturday to be the largest demonstration yet with the potential for tens of thousands of people taking to the streets.

“We anticipate the largest demonstrations with regards to numbers that we’ve seen in the city to date,” said D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham at a press conference on Thursday. “And we anticipate that the protesters will continue to be as peaceful as they have been over the past couple of days.”

Newsham said no arrests have been made during protests since Tuesday.

Earlier in the week police officers had lined the perimeter to Lafayette Square, moving closer to the fenced-off crowd as protests grew more rowdy.

There was no police line in Lafayette Square on Saturday and no cops were seen in the blocks surrounding the White House as people danced, painted signs, and marched around downtown. The demonstration remained peaceful hours after the time when just days ago a curfew would have been in effect.

Protests in the District at times turned more violent last weekend as police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators outside the White House last weekend after some protesters threw water bottles and bricks across a barricade at law enforcement officers. Some protesters set fire to cars and broke the windows of office buildings in the blocks surrounding the White House.

The tension between protesters and law enforcement in Washington peaked on Monday when police and federal officers forcibly removed peaceful protesters from the street across from the White House so President Donald Trump could take a picture in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, a congregation known as the Church of the Presidents, which was damaged by fire during demonstrations on Sunday.

Protesters gather outside the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, June 6, 2020, for another day of demonstrations following the death of George Floyd.Lauren Egan

Later on Monday, military helicopters were seen flying low over protesters. The D.C. National Guard has opened an investigation into the use of the helicopters.

“I’ve only felt fear once and that was on Tuesday when I went out to vote,” said Tom Roucche, 61, a D.C. resident who said he had to pass through hundreds of law enforcement officers to get to his polling location for the District’s primary earlier this week. “I felt we were living … somewhere not the U.S.”

“But I’ve never felt fear in the crowds,” said Roucche. “This has been great to see.”

Pamela Reynolds, a 37-year-old teacher from Washington who protested last weekend, said she could see the difference between Saturday and earlier protests.

Medical workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic march down 16th towards the White House on Saturday, June 6, in a show of support for those protesting George Floyd’s death.Lauren Egan / NBC News

“It was scary, heavy. It wasn’t this,” said Reynolds. When asked what changed the atmosphere, Reynolds said it was the arrests of the Minnesota police officers charged in Floyd’s death. “This feels powerful, like it may make a difference.”

People paid tribute to other victims of police killings outside the White House fence Saturday, tying their names to the fence and placing handmade signs along the walkway. Birthday balloons were left in honor of Breonna Taylor, the former EMT worker killed by police inside her Louisville, Kentucky, home who would have turned 27 on Friday.

“We now have allies,” said Che Washington, 30, a school counselor in D.C., pointing to how diverse the crowd was on Saturday. “Now it feels like everyone is fighting, they’re at least trying. It’s an affirmation to what we’ve been feeling.”

Trump’s actions on Monday motivated even more people to join in peaceful protests outside the White House, with thousands of demonstrators showing up throughout the week to call out aggressive policing tactics, racism, and the militant approach the Trump administration has taken in response.

Demonstrators outside the White House on Saturday paid tribute to other people killed by police, including Breonna Taylor, who would have turned 27 on Friday. —Lauren Egan / NBC News

On Thursday the White House erected new fencing around its perimeter, adding to the 8-foot fence that was put up around the entrance to Lafayette Square earlier in the week. The parks immediately surrounding the White House, normally accessible to the public, are expected to remain blocked off until next week.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said it was a “sad commentary” that “the house and its inhabitants have to be walled off.”

“We should want the White House to be opened up for people to be able to access it from all sides,” she added.

Uniformed military personnel walks into the secured White House area ahead of a protest against racial inequality in reaction to the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Washington, on June 6, 2020. Lucas Jackson / Reuters

Many D.C. residents have also expressed anger over Trump’s use of federal forces in the city, complaining that the presence of Humvees, Army helicopters and armed soldiers every few blocks has turned the city into a military zone.

Since D.C. is a territory and not a state, the District does not have the authority to override Trump’s use of the military and other federal forces.

On Friday, Bowser, who has been critical of Trump’s actions, renamed a street in front of the White House “Black Lives Matter Plaza” and had “Black Lives Matter” painted along the road in big yellow letters.

Bowser also took to Twitter on Friday night to ask governors to remove their National Guard from D.C., writing that they were brought “without my knowledge and not at my request.”

Unlike more recent large D.C. protests, such as the recent Women’s March or March for Our Lives, Saturday’s events were not organized by a single group and did not include a formal speaking program with a stage and a microphone.

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A Minneapolis liquor store going up in flames on May 28, three days after George Floyd’s death in police custody. –  KEREM YUCEL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Peter Killen was getting a bad feeling watching the local news on Friday night.

On his TV at home, he saw a familiar gas station. A fire was visible in the distance. It seemed to be near the warehouse where Killen, the owner of four bars in Minneapolis and the surrounding area, leased space for spare equipment.

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In an interview on “Fox & Friends” with host Brian Kilmeade, Webb said that he agreed with the outcry about both Floyd’s death and police violence, but also knows that the country needs law and order to bring justice for those wronged.

As large-scale peaceful rallies have marched through city streets mostly unhindered, confrontations with police have often devolved into chaos and violence overnight, when rioters and looters come out from the shadows and protesters defy curfew orders.

2 NYPD COPS SHOT, ANOTHER STABBED DURING ‘UNPROVOKED’ ATTACK

New York City police officers watch protesters calling for justice over the death of George Floyd, Wednesday, June 3, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on May 25. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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On Wednesday evening, amid a torrential thunderstorm, two New York Police Department officers were shot and one was stabbed in the neck.

“This past weekend in drive-by shootings over 80 Chicagoans shot — predominantly black. Who investigates those cases? In Philadelphia there is a 14-year-old girl, a young black girl missing. Who looks for her?” asked Webb. “The police are there to protect the community. They are there to protect the community from rioters, from looters, not to protect the looters and the rioters from the community.”

“We need law and order in this country. We need a structure that works,” he emphatically stated.

“I hear the cries. I agree with the cries against police brutality. We all do. Americans [are] united on that,” Webb asserted. “But, these Hollywood elites are just that. As a matter of fact, they are dangerous because others may think that what they suggest or say actually makes sense.”

“So, let’s remove the police and use the example from Lubbock, Texas, where an armed man shows up with a long gun with the looters saying he is going to take out any MAGA supporters. The police and the law enforcement officials stepped in on that one. He is under arrest with federal charges,” he told Kilmeade. “If the police and law enforcement are not there, who takes him on? Do you think he is going to fire into the crowd selectively or indiscriminately? This is ridiculous.”

Webb explained that Black Lives Matter, “a dangerous farce,” is to blame for anti-police rhetoric and the deaths of those officers lost.

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“There are dead cops in New York. There are injured cops all around this country because of Black Lives Matter, and that has taken us to where we are today,” he added. “And, anyone pushing for that – again, to the American people, these are dangerous elitists who live in their bordered walls and homes where they don’t have to deal with the things in society that you do.”

“We need an honest conversation in this country,” Webb concluded.

Julia Musto is a reporter for Fox News Digital. You can find her on Twitter at @JuliaElenaMusto.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/media/david-webb-blasts-the-stupidity-of-black-lives-matter-wanting-defund-police-departments

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Soldiers from Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York have been ordered to be ready to deploy within four hours if called, according to three people with direct knowledge of the orders. Soldiers in Fort Carson, in Colorado, and Fort Riley in Kansas have been told to be ready within 24 hours. The people did not want their names used because they were not authorized to discuss the preparations.

The get-ready orders were sent verbally on Friday after President Donald Trump asked Defense Secretary Mark Esper for military options to help quell the unrest in Minneapolis after protests descended into looting and arson in some parts of the city.

TWIN CITIES RIOTING CONTINUES AS MINNESOTA GOVERNOR CLAIMS GUARD, POLICE RESPONDING

Trump made the request on a phone call from the Oval Office on Thursday night that included Esper, National Security Adviser Robert O’ Brien, and several others. The president asked Esper for rapid deployment options if the Minneapolis protests continued to spiral out of control, according to one of the people, a senior Pentagon official who was on the call.

FILE – In this March 18, 2020, file photo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper speaks as President Donald Trump listens during a press briefing with the coronavirus task force, at the White House in Washington. The government’s $3 trillion effort to rescue the economy from the coronavirus crisis is stirring worry at the Pentagon. Bulging federal deficits may force a reversal of years of big defense spending gains and threaten prized projects like the rebuilding of the nation’s arsenal of nuclear weapons. Esper says the sudden burst of emergency spending to prop up a stalled economy is bringing the Pentagon closer to a point where it will have to shed older weapons faster and tighten its belt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

”When the White House asks for options, someone opens the drawer and pulls them out so to speak.” the official said.

The person said the military units would be deployed under the Insurrection Act of 1807, which was last used in 1992 during the riots in Los Angeles that followed the Rodney King trial.

“If this is where the president is headed response-wise, it would represent a significant escalation and a determination that the various state and local authorities are not up to the task of responding to the growing unrest,” said Brad Moss, a Washington D.C.-based attorney, who specializes in national security.

“If this is where the president is headed response-wise, it would represent a significant escalation and a determination that the various state and local authorities are not up to the task of responding to the growing unrest.”

— Brad Moss, Washington attorney specializing in national security.

Members of the police units were on a 30-minute recall alert early Saturday, meaning they would have to return to their bases inside that time limit in preparation for deployment to Minneapolis inside of four hours. Units at Fort Drum are slated to head to Minneapolis first, according to the three people, including two Defense Department officials. Roughly 800 U.S. soldiers would deploy to the city if called.

Protests erupted in Minneapolis this week after a video emerged showing a police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck. Floyd later died of his injuries and the officer, Derek Chauvin, was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter on Friday.

The protests turned violent and on Thursday rioters torched the Minneapolis Third Police Precinct near where Floyd was arrested. Mayor Jacob Frey ordered a citywide curfew at 8 p.m. local time, beginning on Friday. In that city, peaceful protests picked up steam as darkness fell, with thousands of people ignoring the curfew to walk streets in the southern part of the city. Some cars were set on fire in scattered neighborhoods, business break-ins began, and eventually there were larger fires.

The unrest has since spread across the country, with protests, some violent, erupting in cities including Washington DC, Atlanta, Phoenix, Denver, and Los Angelas.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ordered 500 of his National Guard troops into Minneapolis, St. Paul, and surrounding communities.

But a Pentagon spokesman said Walz did not ask for the Army to be deployed to his state.

“The Department has been in touch with the Governor and there is no request for Title 10 forces to support the Minnesota National Guard or state law enforcement,” the spokesman said, Title 10 is the U.S. law that governs the armed forces, and would authorize active duty military to operate within the U.S.

Alyssa Farah, the White House director of strategic communications, said the deployment of active-duty military police is untrue.

“False: off the record – title 10 not under discussion,” said Farah in an email response. No off-record agreement was negotiated with The Associated Press.

The 16th Military Police Brigade forwarded the AP’s questions to the Defense Department.

The three officials with direct knowledge of the potential deployment say the orders are on a classified system, known as the Secret Internet Protocol Router or SIPR for short.

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Active-duty forces are normally prohibited from acting as a domestic law enforcement agency. But the Insurrection Act offers an exception.

The Act would allow the military to take up a policing authority it otherwise would not be allowed to do, enforcing state and federal laws, said Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas School of Law professor who specializes in constitutional and national security law.

The statute “is deliberately vague” when it comes to the instances in which the Insurrection Act could be used, he said. The state’s governor could ask President Donald Trump to take action or Trump could act on his own authority if he’s determined that the local authorities are so overwhelmed that they can’t adequately enforce the law, Vladeck said.

“It is a very, very broad grant of authority for the president,” he added.

Associated Press reporters Lolita Baldor, Michael Balsamo, and Zeke Miller contributed to this story.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/at-trump-request-pentagon-puts-military-police-on-alert-to-go-to-minneapolis

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