In my last post I cited a Reuters article that showed a scan of federal arrest records found no evidence of antifa involvement in the current unrest. Since then, police depts in several major cities including NYC & LA have made basically the same statement: the vast majority of looting is being done by previously known gangs opportunistically using protests as cover for criminal activity. So, surprise, the thieving is being done by career thieves. Let me be clear, these are criminal enterprises with NO political affiliation. No anarchists, no left-wingers and certainly no antifa. This won't keep the government from continuing to misplace the blame. The FBI director recently accused antifa of inciting violence, but when pressed, he couldn't even define antifa. Trump himself, with no evidence, made this claim about a 75 yr old man who was shoved to the ground by riot police and suffered a fractured skull: “Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?". Me-heavy sigh. Mr Gugino is a devout Catholic and life-long peace advocate, scanning police equipment to cause a communication blackout is pure Sci-Fi and, really, how hard do two burly cops have shove a slight 75 yr old to cause him to fall over backwards. Twitter didn't block or flag this tweet, saying it was phrased as speculation. So, as long as you make a slimy insinuation instead of an outright accusation, it isn't libel. The problem with a specious claim like this is that it spreads and mutates, like Rashomon to the 100th power, until it gains traction and even people who aren't Trumpists start to believe it.
Helen, you are absolutely right about the campaign rally. As soon as I heard the date and site I didn't need the newsreaders to tell me this was racial provocation. Also, thank you for providing the Kimberly Jones link.
Here is another example of Trump's lack of empathy for black Americans. For three days the top leadership of our military have been discussing renaming military bases that honor Confederate generals, Ft Bragg, Ft Hood etc. Yesterday Trump said no way, we're not renaming anything. His convoluted logic was that because soldiers trained at these facilities for WWII, Korea, VN and our current wars, they can't have new names.
I apologize that my last couple posts have been a bit long-winded. I put it down to 10 weeks of self-quarantine, watching the news and reading stories on the net for hours a day and having only my wife and son to talk to.