BACK TO BUSNESS AS USUAL

The media this week is in love with the phrase "inflection point." For those of you, who, like me, never used that fancy phrase before Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, it means " "significant change, a turning point."  I watch and read a lot of media these days, but so far I have not come across the phrase "wishful thinking" or the word "hogwash."

The conviction of Chauvin is, I fear, better described as a "moonshot" event. The likelihood of a 17-year-old passerby turning on her smart phone and recording 8.5 minutes of a policeman killing a man is one in a million, or something close to that. Before the video of the event became public, here is how the Minneapolis police department described the incident:

"Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction

May 25, 2020 (MINNEAPOLIS) 

On Monday evening, shortly after 8:00 pm, officers from the Minneapolis Police Department responded to the 3700 block of Chicago Avenue South on a report of a forgery in progress.  Officers were advised that the suspect was sitting on top of a blue car and appeared to be under the influence.

Two officers arrived and located the suspect, a male believed to be in his 40s, in his car.  He was ordered to step from his car.  After he got out, he physically resisted officers.  Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.  Officers called for an ambulance.  He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.

At no time were weapons of any type used by anyone involved in this incident.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been called in to investigate this incident at the request of the Minneapolis Police Department.

No officers were injured in the incident.

Body worn cameras were on and activated during this incident.

The GO number associated with this case is 20-140629."

The release was issued based on computer logs of the officers' report of the event. The Police Department author of the press release had not seen video of the event when he published his report because, he said,  it would have taken "several hours" to get body-camera footage.

What is the likelihood that Derek Chauvin would be spending tonight in jail if that 17-year-old had not recorded  8.5 minutes of his assault on Floyd?

The racists (read Fox News) and, I presume, millions of its adherents, do not see this as a triumph of justice. They do not see it as an inflection point. They see it as mob rule. To them, it's political. Blacks are bad, whites are good. Jim Crow is with us.

Why did eminent jurists such as Ann Coulter and Tucker Carlson insist Floyd died of a drug overdose, -- to use Coulter's sympathetic legal analysis, "enough fentanyl to kill an entire team of Budweiser Clydesdales."

  

Why did Tucker Carlson tell his millions of viewers that "there was no physical evidence that George Floyd was murdered?" and "The autopsy showed that George Floyd almost certainly died of a drug overdose."

Coulter and Carlson were defaming the dead. The autopsy specifically found Floyd's death was a homicide  --"the killing of one person by another." And it listed the means of the homicide: "law-enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression."

If Fox, Coulter, or Carlson has apologized, or even corrected the record of their offensive remarks, I missed it. Let me know, please.

The wingnuts will rail on for while about publicity, etc., but Chauvin is going away for a while. My guess is 15. Just a guess.

Next up are the three officers who aided and abetted Floyd's murder. I see it as a simple question:

 If those three law officers happened upon a perpetrator who was in the process of murdering a defenseless prostrate civilian, they would have had a legal duty to intervene and try to stop the killing. The fact that the perp had a badge and gun changes nothing. 

Take em away.

A bientot.

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