Wednesday, 21 April 2021

Republicans panic over Chauvin conviction

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Republicans panic over Chauvin conviction

It's been remarkable, but perhaps not surprising, to see how upset Republicans are at Derek Chauvin’s conviction for killing George Floyd.

John Aravosis

Apr 21

I’ve been watching the fallout from the Derek Chauvin verdict. As you know, Chauvin is the police officer convicted on three counts of killing George Floyd after pushing his knee against Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, ultimately killing him. It’s been remarkable, but perhaps not surprising, to see how upset many of the loudest Republicans are at Chauvin’s conviction.

First up, leave it to Fox News to watch the Derek Chauvin verdict and feel outraged that the man was convicted of what was obviously an unnecessary and negligent death. No, Tucker — and no, Candace — jury trials are not “mob justice.” They’re simply justice.

nikki mccann ramírez @NikkiMcR

On Tucker, Candace Owens calls the Chauvin verdict "mob justice" and declares that "this was not a fair trial. No person can say this was a fair trial."

Tucker was so upset by Chauvin’s conviction that he had a meltdown when a guest had the temerity to disagree with him:

Aaron Rupar @atrupar

Tucker Carlson had a complete meltdown tonight in response to a former New York corrections officer who criticized Derek Chauvin for using excessive force on George Floyd. Here's how the interview (abruptly) ended.

Not to be left out, right-wing agitator Ben Shapiro jumped on the bandwagon, claiming that Chauvin was convicted because the media and politicians launched an “enormous pressure campaign.” Now, my friend Lindsay Beyerstein argues that it in fact was public pressure that led to the indictment and prosecution of Derek Chauvin, and that may be the case. But Chauvin was ultimately convicted because he was clearly guilty, and the evidence proved it. Regardless, why is the far-right so upset about this particular case? The killing of George Floyd was so outrageous and unnecessary — why take a stand on this case?

Meanwhile, QAnon loon Marjorie Taylor Greene, who’s actually a sitting member of Congress from Georgia, weighed in, and managed to craft quite a conspiracy theory out of the fact that there was no violence last night following the verdict. According to Greene, the fact that DC was “quiet” last night, and literally nothing happened, proves how violent Black people are, and how legitimately scared white people are of Black people.

Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 @mtgreenee

DC is completely dead tonight. People stayed in and were scared to go out because of fear of riots. Police are everywhere and have riot gear. #BLM is the strongest terrorist threat in our county.

I still want to know what happened to Alan Dershowitz.

In other news, the police have released video of the shooting in Columbus yesterday of a teenage girl. The video appears to show a girl with a knife about to stab another woman in the chest. A number of people on Twitter are still outraged at the officer’s actions, because, they are argue: 1) The other woman wouldn’t have died from a knife attack; and 2) The officer didn’t need to shoot four times. I’m not sure how you can claim a knife isn’t a deadly weapon. As for the number of shots, I’d argue that the real issue is whether or not the officer should have used deadly force at all — and from the video, that point is certainly debatable. But arguing over how many shots he fired seems like a red herring, as one shot is already enough to kill you.

John Aravosis 🇺🇸🇬🇷🏳️‍🌈 @aravosis

I’ve decided to repost this video, since a lot of people are commenting on it without actually watching it. The girl with the knife appears one second away from murdering the other woman.

Other Interesting Stuff

I don’t know if you’ve seen this guy’s videos, but they’re amazing. He goes all over Canada and dances Banghra-style! It’s simply wonderful stuff. Here’s one below. You can check out his other videos on his Twitter account.

Gurdeep Pandher of the Yukon @GurdeepPandher

Sometimes we have to turn all the electronic devices off to disconnect from the outside world to connect with nature. From the pristine forest, I am sending joy, hope, and positivity to Canada and beyond. YouTube: bit.ly/n-atu

And this is a fun Twitter account of old Paris photos, many from a good 100 years ago. I’ve always had a place in my heart for Paris, having studied there for a year when I was 19. The photos are amazing.

Paname Paris 🔄 @ParisAMDParis

Brasserie de la Maison Blanche, rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève ca.1900 #Paris

I’ve admittedly been having some insomnia since Covid hit (even before, really). And I came across this NYT article last night that suggests a number of simple yoga poses to relax you before bed. If you can spare one of your ten free Time articles a month for the read, it might be worth it.

This gave me a chuckle — one guy’s response to being put in quarantine on arriving in Australia:

Tania Kenyon @TaniaKenyon

My partners 3rd stint in Aussie hotel quarantine is coming to an end, and so is the ‘brown meal-bag quarantine costume competition’. Unsure if creative genius or just gone mad? #QuarantineLife #COVID19

And finally, how perfect:

Oh, one more thing. For any of you who remember the amazing progressive Web site ThinkProgress, our old friend Amanda Terkel, who now is the Huffington Post DC bureau chief, came on our podcast yesterday to talk journalism and the issues of the day. It was a fun chat, you can listen here.

Have a great rest of the week. I suspect I’ll be writing again by Friday.

JOHN