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0421blog
Nation Exhales
The whoosh you hear is the collective exhalation of breath by millions of white Americans but it was not necessarily in the joy of justice served in the Derek Chauvin guilty verdict but rather a huge sigh of relief that at least for now, the white world had dodged a fusillade of black rage and expression of anger.
Meanwhile, blabbermouth, fascist wannabe and former, former president Trump, who is the preference for most Republicans to run again in 2024, and who most Republicans believe was robbed of re-election, had no comment on the landmark verdict on his website. Trump declining comment is about as rare as a sighting of a black footed ferret in Garfield.
And while they applaud the verdict as a sign of justice, various Republican states are moving full bore ahead on racist laws to restrict African Americans from voting, states are coming up with new laws to prosecute peaceful protesters and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she will be holding another gun lottery with the happy winner getting a brand, spanking new AR-pistol.
While many herald the verdicts as vindication for months of Black Lives Matter (BLA) protests over the police killing of unarmed African Americans, Republican lawmakers are claiming that “rioting” protesters last summer caused massive property damage and injuries when it has been shown the demonstrations actually involved little property damage or police injuries. The GOP reaction has been laws passed in Oklahoma and Iowa granting immunity to drivers whose vehicles strike and injure protesters in public streets. Under a GOP proposal in Indiana, anyone convicted of unlawful assembly would be barred from holding state employment, including elected office. In Minnesota, a proposal would prohibit anyone convicted of unlawful protesting from receiving student loans, unemployment benefits or housing assistance. In Kentucky, the State Senate passed a bill that would make it a crime to insult or taunt a police officer with “offensive or derisive” words or gestures that would have “a direct tendency to provoke a violent response.” Not to be outdone, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who wants to be the second coming of Trump, signed a bill he’s called “the strongest anti-looting, anti-rioting, pro-law-enforcement piece of legislation in the country.”
Please don’t forget that all the smoke and mirrors thrown up by Republicans cannot mask the total dread they feel because people of color will soon overtake whites as the dominant racial group in the U.S. and that is the overriding concern of so many Republicans who still have unabashed hope and support for Trump to maintain white dominance.
Many Republicans around the country have gushed in support of a righteous verdict and but at least Rep. Greene and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., were consistent with their racist histories. Greene said the verdict was a result of “threats” made by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. and Greene called for her expulsion from Congress and McCarthy filed a motion calling for her censure.
Lawyers for Chauvin said they have moved for a mistrial because of comments made over the weekend by Waters. She said in Minnesota that protesters need “to get more confrontational” if Chauvin was found not guilty but Chauvin’s lawyers said that Waters was “inciting violence” and influencing the jury.
“Maxine Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis — just as she has incited it in the past,” McCarthy said in a tweet late Sunday evening. “If Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi doesn’t act against this dangerous rhetoric, I will bring action this week.” McCarthy evidently didn’t consider Trump’s pre-Capitol riot comments as “dangerous rhetoric” and neither did Greene.
“BLM has now proven itself to be the most powerful domestic terrorists organization in our country,” Greene tweeted. “After Maxine Waters threats could there have been any other verdict?”
By the way, Greene, the yahoo from Georgia who believes that Democrats kidnap and eat children, and is a Trump ally to the end, has raised $3.2 million toward her 2024 re-election campaign, more than the individual campaign of McCarthy and nearly every other member of House leadership.
President Joe Biden drew criticism for commenting on the trial before the verdict was out. Biden had the utter audacity to say that there was “overwhelming evidence” for what he called “the right verdict.”
Kayleigh McEnany, a one time mouthpiece for Trump, was righteously riled up and had the audacity to scold Biden for “inflaming tensions.” She has been as silent as a church mouse on whether Trump should be held accountable for inflaming tensions that lead to the Capitol storming.
“There’s so much hurt, so much pain. And I think it’s the role of the president of the United States to stay back, to not inflame the tensions” McEnany said, with crocodile tears streaming.
Tucker Carlson, host of a popular Fox show, said that politics “intruded at every level of this (Chauvin) case” as the Trump apologist cast doubt on the jurors.
“Everyone understood perfectly well the consequences of an acquittal in this case,” Carlson said. “After nearly a year of burning and looting and murder by BLM, that was never in doubt.”
Another Fox right wing talker, Sean Hannity, interviewed Newt Gingrich who said the case has shown that “Democrats are undermining the ability of police to function” and that some Democratic policies are “getting Americans killed.”
Greg Gutfeld, the host of a new Fox News late-night talk show “Gutfeld!,” said he was “glad” that Chauvin was found guilty because his neighborhood was looted once and he wanted “a verdict that keeps this country from going up in flames.”
Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., said Chauvin’s actions were “sickening and irrefutable — he was a bad cop. Today’s decision is justice for the Floyd family” but he couldn’t leave it there and added, “However, (Derek) Chauvin is no reflection of the vast majority of men and women in blue who protect our freedoms with dignity, honor, and courage.”
And let’s not forget the words of Jenna Ellis, a former lawyer for the Trump campaign, who said Chauvin was convicted “to pay for the sins of White people collectively.”
“True and meaningful justice has been reinvented to mean ‘social justice’ — the political and cultural retribution for viewpoint sins of the day,” Ellis said. “Derek Chauvin is White, George Floyd is Black, so Chauvin is implicitly and automatically guilty of racism, so he must be punished.”
Far right wingnuts haven’t wavered a bit and for more on their thoughts, hold your noses and take a visit to bitchute.com, a video hosting service known for accommodating far-right individuals and conspiracy theorists, and for hosting hateful content. The platform was created in 2017 to allow video uploaders to avoid content rules enforcement on YouTube, and some creators who have been banned from YouTube or had their channels barred from receiving advertising revenue. Bitchute.com reports on “The truth about the trial,” “Antifa seen mobilizing in Seattle on April 21,” “David Icke (Holocaust denier, conspiracy theorist par excellence) issues emergency warning to humanity” and “Verdict reached in Chauvin trial, America is being divided and conquered.”
