In the Public Interest
My take on the riots and violent protests:
Agent provocateurs aside, riots are an expression of hopelessness. They are an outlet for the powerless; an expression of the belief that no substantive justice can be achieved no matter what people do. Just as kneeling at a football game to protest systematic racism is "insulting flag and country", there is no way to "properly" express the outrage of this injustice. When that there is no path to justice, this leads inevitably to this kind of anger, outrage, and acting out. I'm outraged too.
Just look at the recent headlines. A man is murdered by the police in front of witnesses. Another man out jogging is hunted down and shot by racists. A woman is killed in her bed while police serve a no-knock warrant to the wrong address. The common thread? All are black.
And the police (in some places) right now are stoking that feeling with over-reaction violence against peaceful protests. I don't condone violent protest, but I believe understand its root causes. It isn't "these people want something for nothing." It's that "these people want a chance, a level playing field." I remember 1968. I was out protesting.
You want to end the violence? Make positive change for justice; hold the police both accountable and prosecutable when they overstep their legal boundaries; improve and enforce anti-discrimination laws; seek social and economic justice and opportunities for the poor and for minorities. Pass the god damn equal rights amendment. Stop discriminating against everyone who isn't just like you.
This is Trump's America. He worked hard to get us here. Let's work harder to get our America back and make it a beacon of hope.
Click on the image to download the document as a PDF file.
A downloadable copy of the US Constitution. Note: it does not state that the US is a theocracy or based in any way on christianity. It doesn't even mention god, creator, or jesus. So just stop, ok?
The more than 150-page white paper, prepared for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and shared with POLITICO, says the U.S. is still underestimating the scope of Russia's aggression, which includes the use of propaganda and disinformation to sway public opinion across Europe, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Pentagon report on Russia's Strategic Intentions from May 2019. Click on the image to view or download the PDF.
The Inspector General's report on the opening of the investigation to the criminality of the Trump campaign. In-a-nutshell: mistakes were made but opening the investigation wasn't one of them.