Biblical and Constitutional Politics

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June 2020 Commentaries

By Gary F. Zeolla

These commentaries are continued from May 2020 Commentaries.

This page contains non-Coronavirus commentaries.
For my commentaries about the Coronavirus crisis, Coronavirus Articles and Commentaries.

Trump at St. John’s Church

White House: Trump church visit akin to Churchill WWII role

    “after peaceful protesters were forcibly cleared from the area around St. John’s Church”

       The media continues to repeat this lie, even though it has now been proven to be false: The protestors were not “peaceful,” and tear gas was not used, despite media claims that they did. The United States Park Police released the following statement:

      “no tear gas was used …

      “At approximately 6:33 pm, violent protestors on H Street NW began throwing projectiles including bricks, frozen water bottles and caustic liquids. The protestors also climbed onto a historic building at the north end of Lafayette Park that was destroyed by arson days prior. Intelligence had revealed calls for violence against the police, and officers found caches of glass bottles, baseball bats and metal poles hidden along the street…

      As many of the protestors became more combative, continued to throw projectiles, and attempted to grab officers’ weapons, officers then employed the use of smoke canisters and pepper balls when protestors did scatter from the area”  Fox News: Park Police defends actions clearing protesters near White House, says ‘no tear gas was used.’

6/4/20

NFL commissioner Goodell says league was wrong for not listening to players on racial issues

      When Colin and other players began kneeling for the National Anthem, and the NFL did nothing to stop it, that was the final straw leading to my losing interest in professional sports. The inability of the MLB and the players to get negotiate a deal to have even a shortened baseball season this year due to greed on both sides demonstrates the other reason I lost interest. A bunch of whining millionaires who have lost all touch with reality. This statement by the NFL commissioner only worsens that perception. Just play ball and leave the politics for outside the stadium.

            For more on my thoughts in this regard, see the article I wrote about the kneeling at that time: Lifelong Steelers Fan, But Will I Keep Watching?
6/20/20

DA’s office drops charges filed against 39 Pittsburgh protesters

      I was taking a shower after my workout when I heard a report about this on a local radio station. I literally shouted at my phone, “What? You have got to be kidding me!”

      The title of this article is misleading, but that is par for the course for the media. They are constantly conflating peaceful protesters and rioters.  The former is Constitutionally protected speech. The latter is lawlessness that needs to be punished.

      By not doing the latter, it makes the former more difficult. The “message” of the protestors gets drowned out by the violence. As such, you would think the peaceful protesters would be in the forefront of complaining about this ridiculous act on the part of the DA. But I guess disdain for the police is keeping them from siding with the FOP.
6/9/20

Trump administration opposes extending enhanced unemployment benefit

       “The $600 payment, which is in addition to normal unemployment benefit … but is no longer needed as the economy begins to recover.”

       “The money, included in a government relief package enacted in late March, has helped millions of workers stay in their homes and pay bills”

      I have been wondering how so many people could afford to take off of work and spend hours on end, day after day protesting. But then I remembered the federal government was paying people $600/ week to not work. What that means is, those of us who have been working have been paying the protestors via our tax dollars. But the Labor Sectary is right. It “is no longer needed.” If thousands can pack the streets for protests, then they can safely go back to work. And when they do, that should be the end of these protests.
6/10/20

George Floyd Funeral

‘He is going to change the world’: Funeral held for Floyd

      “More than 500 mourners wearing masks against the coronavirus packed a Houston church”

      For three months, normal people have not been allowed to hold funerals with more than ten people. Some have even been arrested for holding services with more than that. But now I guess the Coronavirus (CV) just magically knew that George Floyd was special and would not infect anyone at his funeral.

      Sadly, the virus was not so smart when it came to the DC National Guard. Several of them just tested positive for the CV. If any of them die, you can blame their deaths on the rioters that caused their services to be required. Well, at least I will. But I doubt the media will.

      “’The president talks about bringing in the military, but he did not say one word about 8 minutes and 46 seconds of police murder of George Floyd,’ said the Rev. Al Sharpton.”

      The President spoke in this regard in his speech on May 30 at the Kennedy Space Center. Trump said he had expressed his condolences to the family of George. He condemned the actions of the police officers, saying the AG and DOJ were already investigating the case. He expressed support for the peaceful protestors, but he also condemned the violence.

      Later that day, after not airing the President’s speech, media pundits condemned the President for not making these very points he had just made! It was a deliberate deception, and Al continued that lie here.
6/10/20

Brooks, Floyd, and Rose

Former Pittsburgh officer sees difference in police killings of Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd

      I completely agree with all points Officer Sheldon makes in this article and video, except about Antwon Rose. I’ll be writing much more about all three cases later.
6/18/20

Ferguson Effect in Pittsburgh

Police: Woman found shot dead outside McKeesport bar

      This is one of four shootings in the Pittsburgh area just last night. It sounds like the “Ferguson effect” has already hit Pittsburgh. For those how don’t know, the Ferguson effect refers to police not actively pursuing violent criminals and crime rates rising as a result after the “Hands up don’t shoot” myth in Ferguson, MO a few years back. I feared we would see a rise in violent crime here in Pittsburgh after all of the rioters were left go uncharged, and it looks like that is happening.
6/18/20

Confederate Statues

Birthplace of Stonewall Jackson will not remove his statue

       This is exactly how I recommended the controversy over Confederate statues should be settled a while ago. It should be voted on by the residents of the community or their legislatures who have to look at the statues all of the time. It should not be deiced by radical outsiders coming in and causing a commotion, then leaving. And it definitely should not be decided by rioters tearing down the statues. The latter are criminals, who should be prosecuted and forced to pay to replace the statues.
6/18/20

Pittsburgh-area protests commemorate Juneteenth, demand racial justice and equality

      “There, some protesters hoisted piñata-like models into a tree. One was a police vehicle and the other was an elongated pyramid with the words ‘Kops & Klan go hand in hand’ painted in red.”

      It is rhetoric like this that keeps fair-minded people from supporting this movement.
6/20/20

Trump crowd grows, clashes with protesters ahead of rally

      The headline makes it sound like there was violence. But as you read the article, you see there was only “verbal clashes.” And when I watched a particular cable news station this morning, there was no mention of any problems, just peaceful Trump-supporters camping out, waiting for the rally to start. If there is any violence, it will be Antifa and their ilk that starts it, not Trump-supporters. But news outlets like the Trib will probably lie and make it sound like the opposite.
6/20/20

Rayshard’s girlfriend wanted for arson

Trib Live/ AP. Woman wanted after Atlanta Wendy’s burns in shooting protest

       “On Saturday, a restaurant owner and a historically Black university in Atlanta announced that they will provide full college scholarships to his [Rayshard Brooks’] four children.”

       Kudos to this restaurant owner and university, as they are showing greater care for Rayshard’s four children than he did.

       What this article from the AP does not mention is Natalie White was mentioned by Rayshard in the bodycam video. He refers to her as his girlfriend. He says he had been at a hotel with her. That was Rayshard confessing to committing adultery with her, in complete disregard of his wife and four daughters. But the media has never mentioned this fact, as it would hurt the narrative of Rayshard being this innocent victim.

       I will have much more to say on this shooting in a forthcoming book and why this point of Rayshard’s adultery is so important. But I wanted to mention it here, as the media hasn’t.
6/21/20

Trump supporters, protesters face off outside Oklahoma rally

    “Turnout at the rally was lower than the campaign predicted”

     I heard on NBC Radio news this morning that the reason the arena was not full is 100,000s of teens on Tic Tok ordered tickets, but of course, did not go. That kept those who wanted to go from getting tickets. Easy remedy to prevent that stunt, charge for the tickets.
6/21/20

Trib Live/ AP.  1 man dead, 11 people wounded in Minneapolis shooting.

    Ferguson effect.
6/21/20

Protesters demand end to police in Pittsburgh Public Schools

      “Kenny Mitchell said having police in his son’s school scares him. His son is a sophomore.”

      How about just teaching your kid to respect the police rather than to be afraid of them? Statistically, there is no reason for that attitude.

      Police were placed in public schools in response to the wave of school shootings. But now that we have not had a major school shooting in a few years, people seem to forget that threat. But take the police out, and we will again see school shootings start up again. Then these same people will be complaining about the lack of security in the schools. Do they really think those “guidance counselors” will stand up to a shooter with an AK47? But a brave police officer will.
6/23/20

AP sources: White House aware of Russian bounties in 2019

      “said Trump was not — and still has not been — briefed on the intelligence assessments because they have not been fully verified.”

      “The officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the highly sensitive information.”

      “The officials would not name the specific groups or give specific locations in Afghanistan or time frames for when they were detained.”

      Once again, we have unsourced information being used to trash Trump. But in this case, these leakers should be tracked down and prosecuted for this illegal act.

      The Pentagon also released a statement that this intel was “not credible.” Yet liberals seem to want us to start a war over it. Isn’t that what caused the whole mess in Iraq, acting on false intel?
6/29/20

“Chokeholds”

Pittsburgh Council proposes ban on use of chokeholds by police

    Former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino, in his June 17 podcast, went into great detail about different types of “choke holds.” Some are potentially lethal (trachea holds), some are not (carotid artery holds). He describes how the latter can be used to safely bring a resisting perp into compliance. He further said that in the Rayshard Brooks video, you can see one of the officers ready to apply a carotid artery hold, but then pulls back, probably because flashes of George Floyd came to mind. But if he had applied the hold, the incident would have ended there, and Rayshard would still be alive. Dan said is what is needed better training, which requires more funding, so cops know how to apply these non-lethal holds.

    I seriously doubt any of these council people know the difference between trachea holds, which can be lethal, and carotid artery holds, which are not lethal. They should bring in a MMA champ and learn some basic MMA techniques before passing laws about matters they know nothing about.

Police Mag. Reconsidering Carotid Control

    To be clear, I am not a MMA fighter, but I am a former wrestler. If I was in that scrum with Rayshard Brooks, he would not have gotten back up. In which case, he would still be alive. I know that, as back in the day, I got into scrums with drunks. No matter how much bigger they were than me, once I got them down, they did not get back up. But giving such training to cops requires increased funding, not reduced funding and passing silly laws like this one.
6/29/20

These commentaries are continued at: July 2020 Commentaries.

June 2020 Commentaries. Copyright © 2020 By Gary F. Zeolla.

The First Impeachment of Donald J. Trump

    This three-volume set covers the impeachment of Donald J. Trump that occurred over the fall of 2019 to the winter of 2020.  It was yet one more attempt to oust the President from office by Democrats, who never accepted he won in 2016. A complaint about a phone call between President Trump and Ukraine President Zelensky led to an impeachment inquiry to begin in early September 2019. Along the way, the corruption of Joe Biden that Trump wanted investigated and which led to the impeachment inquiry is discussed.

The above commentaries were posted in June 2020.

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