It is late afternoon, Tues., April 20. Derek Chauvin has just been found guilty of both manslaughter and murder. Literally 99% of my acquaintances will no doubt be thrilled. But it is not the sentiments of the majority or indeed sentiment of any sort that ought to arbitrate over such rulings. I am not suggesting Chauvin was not guilty of a woeful lack of both compassion and discretion in dealing with George Floyd. I am not suggesting he ought to be totally exonerated. But if “reasonable doubt” is still a valid legal principle, and I believe it is, surely the fact that Floyd was ranting, before anyone so much as touched him, “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” has to be taken into account in assessing Chauvin’s actions. I know there are bad cops. But those who have never risked their lives in the sort of dire confrontations which members of that profession experience on a regular basis, ought to be very circumspect in passing judgment. Chauvin, unaware that his captive was loaded with fentanyl, had every right to assume Floyd was feigning his distress in an attempt to escape custody.
Two things I can say with absolute certainty: I lack the wisdom to pontificate on what ought to have been Chauvin’s fate. But I also know, without an iota of doubt, that the ruling that has just come down is a product of mob rule, a product of the mass hysteria provoked relentlessly by A.O.C., Rashida Tlaib, Maxine Waters, Kamala, Antifa, B.L.M., CNN, MSNBC, etc., etc. As Tucker Carlson said in a discussion with Candace Owens on the implications of the verdict, the disdain for the very concept of a “fair trial” fomented by each of the above is inarguable evidence of a Civilization in Decline.
Candace of course agreed. Citing the almost nightly violence in cities such as Portland, she accuses the Left of having endorsed a reign of terror, of creating a cultural climate in which it is perfectly clear to all those foolish enough to express contempt for the narrative espoused by Antifa and B.L.M., that their neighborhoods might be next; indeed perfectly clear to the jurists in charge of Chauvin’s fate that should they not rule appropriately, American cities will burn.
A supporter of Donald Trump, Candace is appalled that the Democrats who sought to have the former President impeached for inciting his followers to “peacefully” and “patriotically” march on the Capitol in support of their Democracy, have refused to denounce Maxine Waters who has on more than one occasion used brazenly incendiary language in her promotion of violence. Nancy Pelosi, of course, has said Waters need not apologize for her recent comments in Brooklyn Center. Waters herself, in a wonderful display of the sheer arrogance and intellectual bankruptcy of the Left, played the predictable race card, suggesting her Republican accusers were probably trying to raise money from the KKK and White Supremacists!
But the ultimate absurdity to Candace was Pelosi’s celebration yesterday [it is now Wed.] of George Floyd as a martyr in the cause of racial justice! Is this not a literally demented misrepresentation of the facts? Did Floyd intentionally sacrifice himself on behalf of any cause? When, Candace asks, did the Values of our Culture degenerate to the point that a major political figure would elevate a recidivist criminal and chronic drug addict to the same level as the truly moral, truly courageous Martin Luther King?