No due process for you

June 15th, 2020 Monday morning at 5:30 a.m.

Its Monday and that is all I am going to say,

In my lifetime there have been monumental events that happened that have shaped the future of our country in innumerable ways. We have lived through natural disasters like we have never seen before in all the Hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes that have killed thousands and rode roughshod over the landscape reshaping it. Events like Katrina and the Northridge quake among many others, for example, made headlines for their abilities to cause upheaval we were not prepared to deal with and the damage the events caused when it happened. Some of the things those kinds of events pointed out were how unprepared we were for the after events as well. What happened to the 200,000 people who were uprooted from New Orleans overnight and were shipped to other places to live based on what space they had available on a bus for example. How many people died as a result of the Interstate highway falling flat and pancaking their cars in California after the Northridge Quakes in the 90s?

The after-effects of natural disasters that we had convinced ourselves we were prepared for almost always caught us by surprise. We are still trying to recover from the disastrous fires in California brought on by 200 years of mismanaging our forests to make them pretty for home buyers. The same things happen in Yellowstone National Park from time to time, the only difference is we can't really get to those trees effectively to put the fires out and because of that, the forest manages them by burning them periodically, which turns out to encourage new growth.

In my lifetime I've seen shootings that rocked the world, from the assassinations of our national and civil leaders like JFK and MLK to shootings of two other Presidents, Gerald Ford who they missed, and Ronald Reagan whom they didn't. George Wallace and Larry Flynt were both reviled figures in American life and both were shot by a couple of madmen who thought they would make a difference by killing them. It turns out all the shooters thought they had good reasons, even the killer of Bobby Kennedy thought he was doing the work of God and it turns out he is just another idiot with passion who somebody else wound up and sent out into the world to do evil. Lee Harvey Oswald, whatever the truth was about him, was a pathetic figure who didn't amount to much and didn't live long enough to be celebrated, and James Earl Ray was just another stupid ass with a rifle who spent the rest of his life in prison as a result. They didn't accomplish much beyond taking a human life. None of those people were effective in their own lives however Squeaky Fromme became a household name after she took a shot at Gerald Ford. The only thing these idiots really changed was the security levels around the leadership in America.

We went through upheavals and rioting about the Vietnam war and about the beating of Rodney King that at the end of the day, I don't think a single Korean grocer who was put out of business through firebombing and rioting would stand and tell you it was worth it. Not a one. All of the lives lost in the riots in Watts and the property destroyed in that mess accomplished really very little. They marched and demonstrated in every major city and on Washington DC to protest the American involvement in the war in Vietnam and you could argue that those protests were a major factor in why we ended the war.

As I watch the spontaneous demonstrations that occurred as a result of the death of George Floyd at the hands of that idiot policeman, I really see two different things occurring. Beyond the political reactions to the events, I see on the one hand a peaceful rise of the people who want change as it relates to the treatment of minorities focusing on our black citizens. On the other, I see an insidious criminal threat bent on destruction for destruction's sake. I see determined people fighting back at racism and then concurrently using the demonstrators as a blanket, I see gangs of thugs and mobs of violent individuals taking the opportunity to burn and loot and destroy in the name of racism. They are not the same thing. They are not the same groups. You see demonstrators, not rioters coming back at 8:00 a.m. the next morning to start cleaning up the mess left by rioters in their neighborhoods. You don't see demonstrators painting ACAB all over everything, damaging monuments, breaking windows and threatening the people, and then robbing those around them.

I can understand and get behind the need for change. I can allow for and understand the need for the end to a system that treats you like a criminal before you've been charged with a crime. I can see all of the changes that are needed whether I totally agree with them or not, I can see why there needs to at least be a conversation about it.

I do not support rioting for change. I do not support looting for Justice. I challenge anyone to detail one time it has ever worked to change society for the better. It just doesn't work and never will. I don't know how you can see it differently, aside from the adrenaline rush one would get running from the police and yelling one's fool head off I see no advantage to burning down an apartment building. I also see no point in screaming "Defund the Police" when you know damn good and well you and nobody else wants to live in a society where there is no police presence. It's a dumbass argument. The people in Minneapolis may have a long and proud tradition of making their liberal voices heard, however, I am having a hard time understanding just who they think they are going to call once they have run off all of their experienced Police Officers and Firefighters. I mean are these people really dumb enough to think that a social worker with a pad of paper is going to solve disputes or investigate property crime or be any kind of deterrent to a criminal gang who takes advantage of this nonsense, and they eventually will, its what crooks do.

Trust me, It's gonna happen, then who do you call? Don't even think about calling your city councilman because he will continue to be protected by his armed security force in his gated community, and he will have no answers for you.

It's a tough time to be a policeman or woman right now. I am glad I didn't go into that profession because I am not cut out for the patience it would take to deal with all the videotaping idiot sidewalk judges that are monkeying with our society at the moment. Cops are under attack from every angle and for dozens of reasons. Some of those reasons make sense and I have to tell you, I do not agree with most of them and most of them are just political expediency. Elected officials are changing the landscape under their feet as they walk from their cars and they don't know who is going to judge next. What do they rely on? Superiors? Training? Statements from the Mayor? The President? Man, it just never lets up and the drumbeat gets louder every day. Police Officers that have enough time in for the pensions are retiring all over the country. Maybe it won't be enough to hurt anything but it is a damn shame to have to end your career on this kind of a downward slide. It sucks.

I really don't see why ANYONE would have the desire to be a cop right now. Hell. no one supports you, you arrest vandals and the prosecutors declined to charge them, Hollywood wants to post the bail of the most serious offenders, Mayors all over are declining to defend their officers and most of them that can act before the officer in question has a chance to defend him/her self.

Here is some absolute irony for you. In Atlanta, the mayor is being sued by the police she just fired. Guess why? Because she denied the cops due process, the same thing that liberals and others like her have been yelling at the cops for taking away from black citizens forever. So it's mucho ironic, the cops don't get due process and get fired by the Mayor who got into office promising due process to everyone.  Apparently, that is everyone except the police.

Insanity.

I'm pissed.
Protect the Police. Make them better.
Sure OK , De-militarize them, then train them, better equip them and pay them more and hire more cops. But Defund them?
What kind of dumbass are you?

BigMike