The Four Color Media Monitor

'Those "peaceful protestors" threw molotov cocktails, injured over 50 secret service agents, set fire to a White House guard station, trashed Gucci and Chanel stores in NYC, and Slott lectures us what to think and believe.'

Slott is writing about Trump's decision to have the police use tear gas and rubber bullets on the protesters outside the White House so he could walk over to a nearby church and pose outside it with a bible in his hand. None of those protesters were doing anything violent at the time. He did it when the protest was peaceful.

According to the episcopal bishop of Washington:

"Let me be clear: The president just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese without permission as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our churches stand for.

"And to do so... he sanctioned the use of tear gas by police officers in riot gear to clear the church yard. I am outraged."

Up yours, Anonymous. This rioting and looting is unacceptable. I have friends and family in Minneapolis-St. Paul who could be affected by the violence there. The fact that people like you excuse this crap disgusts me.

Nobody is excusing the rioting and looting; but what about the news reporters and peaceful protesters who are being injured by police? Don't forget this all started in response to unacceptable violence. That officer has a history of violence; it could have been one of your friends or family with the weight of a cop in full gear crushing his neck while in the midst of a heart attack.

You use force if necessary to control rioting and looting; you don't use tear gas and flash grenades to clear a path for the president and his hangers-on through a peaceful crowd.

There was universal agreement that what Chauvin did to Floyd was wrong. People from all across the political aisle were in agreement about that. This would've been a great time to come together, but instead, people like you sweep in and divide people.

And yes, you are excusing it because you say it's in response to Floyd's death. And I've seen plenty of people who have excused the riots, including my cousin's wife.

Remember a few days ago, when you accused Avi of "whataboutism?" You're doing the same thing here. "what about reporters and peaceful protesters?" I bet you don't give a damn about all the businesses and livelihoods that have been destroyed by the riots. To you, it's excusable, because "it all started in response to unacceptable voice."

The conversation in this comments section began with a concern that the president was having military-type people use unacceptable force against a peaceful crowd. 'AgentofSHIELD' then said that rioting and looting was unacceptable, something that has nothing to do with the way the path was cleared for the president in Washington. 'Whataboutism' is changing the topic from what was done to peaceful people in Washington to what was being done by rioters in Minneapolis, as if the rioting in Minneapolis excuses attacking protesters in Washington.

"The professional wrestler she quotes further down the list says all lives can't matter until black lives do. *Ahem* Does that mean whites, Asians and Latinos can all suffer to hell in a handbasket unquestioned until the validity of black society is recognized? This is plain madness."

It is more like a tautology, or a truism. If some lives don't matter, then that means you can't say that all lives matter. You know, because some don't and only some do.

Just like if Latino lives matter and Asian ones don't, then it would be a lie to say that all lives matter.

Don't know what the validity of black society had to do with it, or even what you mean by saying it is not recognized now; the wrestler is talking about human life, not anything about social recognition.

"For over a week, after a repulsive excuse for a policeman in Minneapolis choked a black man named George Floyd to death, there've been riots that spread over much of the US, accompanied by vandalism and looting."

This skips over so much! In Israel, you probably only see the dramatic shots, so it looks like the whole country is up in flames. But most of the demos have been peaceful. There have been demonstrations in at least 6 Vermont cities, for example, with no rioting or looting, and the most to complain about was graffiti. No one really has a good overall picture yet Of who is doing the looting and rioting, just a lot of accusations and counter accusations thrown about, but some portion is not connected to the protests, either crooks deliberately taking advantage of the circumstances or the kind of opportunistic crime that always takes place in blackouts and other chaotic situations.

The other concern is that it is not just one bad cop. While he was killing Floyd, three other cops formed a phalanx around him to keep at bay the crowd, that was yelling at the guy to stop strangling Floyd. Those three have also been charged. Even former city politicians acknowledge that there is a big problem with police culture in Minneapolis. And people, including the FBI, have been warning about white supremacist groups trying to push their members into the police forces and army for years now.

"They allegedly care about George Floyd, but do they also care about the damage done to specialty stores?"

Probably a lot them don't, at least not to the same extent. But I would have thought it would be obvious why. On the scale of crimes, cold-blooded murder in full view of a crowd by a group of people to whom society has given guns is a more serious concern than vandalism. Vandalism is a crime the system can deal with, but violent crime by police officers means that the system is badly broken. A death is more serious than a broken window or stolen books. Windows can be fixed and stolen goods recovered. Outside of comic books, you can't fix a corpse.