Althouse: "Appreciate the article but the sanitizing and glossing over of the serious crimes including assaulting a pregnant woman with a gun does a disservice to reporting reality."

June 9, 2020

"Appreciate the article but the sanitizing and glossing over of the serious crimes including assaulting a pregnant woman with a gun does a disservice to reporting reality."

"He need not be perfect for all of us to mourn and demand change but by manipulating the life story we lose the ability to educate many who don’t see the problem as they focus on the spin versus the real story - his murder."

The second-highest-rated comment at "George Floyd, From ‘I Want to Touch the World’ to ‘I Can’t Breathe’/Mr. Floyd had big plans for life nearly 30 years ago. His death in police custody is powering a movement against police brutality and racial injustice" (NYT).

Also highly rated: "I am confused. I believe the autopsy report said he was high on fentanyl and methamphetamine. This seems relevant to the full picture yet is not mentioned in the meticulously researched article."

I've read the NYT for more than 50 years, and I don't believe I have another option for reading a real newspaper here in America. I've always been looking out for the propaganda. In fact, I was taught to that by my high school history teacher, whose class included required daily reading of the NYT. After the ousting of James Bennet a few days ago, you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda. I can't say I'm surprised to see this sanitized portrait of George Floyd, but I want to go on record saying that this is bad.

And it's bad not only as bad journalism, but it's bad on the subject of police brutality. It doesn't matter that the man who died had big dreams of the future or professional-level athletic ability. The police shouldn't be executing anybody.

170 comments:

I Callahan said...: No offense, Professor, but we've all been saying this for years. The NYT IS a propaganda organ, and always has been. They've just gotten worse, to the point where you're finally recognizing it.; 6/9/20, 7:58 AM
Fernandinande said...: The police shouldn't be executing anybody.

If people could cause another person to have a heart attack by kneeling on them lightly enough to not cause any visible injury, it'd be a really popular murder method: no sign of foul play. But for some reason it never happens, just as it didn't happen here.; 6/9/20, 8:01 AM
rhhardin said...: The police didn't execute the guy at all.

The video shows you want somebody wants to show you, not what happened.

How much weight is on the knee? You can't tell. Most likely just enough so that the guy knows it's there. An inducement not to go violent yet another time.

You watch it with confirmation bias. Great propaganda but not great observation.

Look for the context. Not shown, videos they don't want you to see.; 6/9/20, 8:01 AM
rhhardin said...: The last mile of the funeral cortege will be in a horse drawn thingy, as is done with all fallen great black men.; 6/9/20, 8:02 AM
Abdul Abulbul Amir said...: “ The police shouldn't be executing anybody.”

That sounds awfully close to that racist, “All lives matter.”; 6/9/20, 8:04 AM
gspencer said...: "This seems relevant to the full picture yet is not mentioned in the meticulously researched article."

You mean, "NOT PARTICULARLY meticulously researched article."; 6/9/20, 8:04 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "No offense, Professor, but we've all been saying this for years."

I do take offense, because I have been saying the same thing the entire time I have written this blog.

You can't seem to get the message that: 1. I have no better place to go, and 2. I am interested in the details of how the bias and propaganda takes place.

People like you are just telling me to stop my project. You're being obtuse about me. I'm not "finally recognizing" anything here, but could you perhaps finally recognize what I am doing here?; 6/9/20, 8:04 AM
Michael W. Towns, Sr. said...: I suppose I don't understand the idea that you "have no better place to go." The New York Times is a joke of a newspaper. It's American Pravda. Surely you have options.; 6/9/20, 8:06 AM
rhhardin said...: Feelings are apparently like a dense fog. Women have to learn to fly on instruments under appropriate circumstances.

The chief trick on flying by instruments (T&B, airspeed, altimeter) is ignore completely what it feels like is happening. Nail the turn with the rudder, center the ball with the airleons, speed with the elevator, altitude with the throttle. It feels like your turning left or right, ignore it. It's wrong. Trust the instruments.

Instruments are stuff you've learned, assuming you've learned anything.; 6/9/20, 8:07 AM
TreeJoe said...: There's nothing wrong with editorials and opinions presented as editorials and opinion. Which is why Cotton's Op-Ed was exactly what a large global journalism outfit should be presenting - competing opinions and facts not commonly discussed (i.e. that the military has been used domestically on MANY occasions and usually with better results than the police quite frankly - and without the community animus that often comes with using LOCAL POLICE to disperse LOCAL RIOTS).

But this is propaganda, pure and simple. It's not news. When you sanitize relevant facts because they don't fit the narrative you wish to promote, you become propaganda.

I wish there was some independent organization who could actually call out and rate outfits that pursue propaganda but present themselves as factual news. I'm not aware of a single "journalism" outfit that could rate better than a C or D in following well established journalistic practices.; 6/9/20, 8:08 AM
Static Ping said...: The New York Times has admitted that they are an overt propaganda arm that will no longer tolerate dissenting opinions. They have not only abandoned journalism but they have abandoned basic American rights and freedoms in favor of left-wing conformity. I appreciate your desire to read a real American newspaper, but the New York Times is neither American or a newspaper in any meaningful way. It is corrupt to the core, servicing an audience of the left, the far left, and those that hang on for the sake of the ideal that the New York Times once claimed to champion but has hastily abandoned in public for all to see.

I sympathize with your grief.; 6/9/20, 8:08 AM
Bob Boyd said...: After the ousting of James Bennet a few days ago, you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda.

Actually, I would expect the exact opposite. I would think the propagandists would feel any such pressure that may have remained, had finally been lifted.; 6/9/20, 8:08 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: "After the ousting of James Bennet a few days ago, you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda...."

I would not think that at all.

If they wanted to show "high journalistic principles" the ousting of James Bennet would not have happened.

If they wanted to show what their actual principles are, then they did exactly that.

You're pining for an old boyfriend who was never even the man you wished him to be.

I am Laslo.; 6/9/20, 8:09 AM
narciso said...: Just like they obscured the truth in sanfird baltimore and ferguson.; 6/9/20, 8:10 AM
Craig said...: I've always been looking out for the propaganda. In fact, I was taught to that by my high school history teacher, whose class included required daily reading of the NYT.

Well, those days are gone. Nowadays, countering propaganda with facts is seen as racist -- something we should never teach the children.; 6/9/20, 8:11 AM
rhhardin said...: The NYT is doing the great man schtik. Pandering to blacks is done for the entertainment of their white readers, who pander to blacks themselves. It's fashionable.

More interesting is not the NYT to readership relation (unless you want to diagnose the errors women make every time without apparently realizing it) but the actions of the blacks they feature and how it's kept from coming off as a comically inept imitation of white people.

It's a genre boundary problem.; 6/9/20, 8:12 AM
Craig said...: "The science is clear" is the new way of teaching children to think.; 6/9/20, 8:12 AM
narciso said...: Someone who is an authority in these matters

https://lawofselfdefense.com/george-floyd-criminal-complaints-medical-examiner-report/; 6/9/20, 8:13 AM
Dave Begley said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/9/20, 8:13 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: I think commenters and those that supported it on the website are the kind of people Mitt Rommney and other republican/center-right/centerist politicos are positioning themselves to try and take advantage of. Almost none of these people will ever be on the right, but they do see deep problems on the Left that they do not want to be part of. Policy-wise I think they want it reigned in slightly, so still on the left but more center-left. But I think it is deeper than that and they see problems with fundamental values. Lots on the left at best now only have truth as a secondary value. They see nothing wrong with misrepresenting or obfuscating certain things if it helps their policy ambitions. But these people have no other real party to turn to. Because the Republicans are also unacceptable. I think Mitt Romney is hoping he can form a centrist party and peel off these disaffected lefties as well as more center-right people on the Republican side, like Murkowski, and Collins. Conceivably a sizeable enough centrist party even if they never hold a majority or even plurality of seats could be a Kingmaker or wield tremendous power if their choice of which party to caucus with determines which party controls each house.; 6/9/20, 8:14 AM
Lawrence Person said...: "After the ousting of James Bennet a few days ago, you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda."

No, I would not think that.

The New York Times is not objective news, and hasn't been for quite a long time. Their business model is cocooning the hard left with stories that validate their worldview.

Waging "Social Justice" is now their central goal, facts be damned, as the 1619 Project indicated.; 6/9/20, 8:16 AM
Darrell said...: Reading the NYT makes Althouse a superhero, not a villain. Hip waders are part of her costume, of course.; 6/9/20, 8:19 AM
Gordon Scott said...: Dave Begley,

You're confusing "should be" with "we're doing what out subscribers want, which get us subscribers, which gets us ad revenue. The NYT is one of the very few newspapers left for whom that is true. They still have substantial numbers of paying customers and that means they have advertisers, which is where the real money is.

Newspapers are not in the news business. They're in the advertising business.; 6/9/20, 8:21 AM
Clyde said...: Althouse, you may believe that the New York Times is the only option you have for reading a "real newspaper" in America, but it's becoming ever more apparent that it no longer is the classically liberal newspaper you once read in the past. It is now a propaganda outlet, like CNN and MSDNC. The crossword puzzles you so enjoy may be the only thing left that isn't "woke," and trust me, that will also end soon. The purges have begun and soon it will only be Red Guards left at the Gray Lady. I'm sorry for your loss.; 6/9/20, 8:22 AM
narciso said...: The new york times is the enemy of civilization they gave hitler an op ed in 1941 when he was planning the final solution. They have given a platform to maduro erdogan putin the head of the taliban, they were fidels presskit stalins whitewasher.; 6/9/20, 8:22 AM
Automatic_Wing said...: The police shouldn't be executing anybody.

Let's not be overdramatic. They didn't execute him. At worst, they treated him more roughly than they should have, there was no intention to kill him. Aren't you always lecturing us that words mean things?; 6/9/20, 8:23 AM
Unknown said...: He ODed, after refusing to get in the car.

That is not "executing".; 6/9/20, 8:25 AM
Dave Begley said...: For better or worse, the NYT is the leading national newspaper in America. It sets the agenda for the news. The TV news cribs all the time from the NYT. The facts are that the NYT has many reporters and pages. My local Omaha paper is just a shell of its former self from just five years ago.

The above is why the NYT has to be half-way fair and objective. It is a huge disservice to the nation if the NYT is just leftwing propaganda. That's why the firing of Bennet was so huge.

The whole world saw the cop's knee on the neck of Floyd and him saying "I can't breathe." The autopsy said he didn't die of strangulation. He was full of drugs and had other medical conditions. Whether the cop actually murdered Floyd is a jury question, but the narrative is already set.

And Callahan et al. don't attack Ann personally. This a forum of ideas. I hate it when people call Ann a Marxist or liberal. Not fair.; 6/9/20, 8:25 AM
Iman said...: The New York Times is a joke of a newspaper. It's American Pravda. Surely you have options.

She’s taking one for the team... she’s walking point... MEDIC!!!; 6/9/20, 8:26 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: George Floyd was trying to pass counterfeit $20 bills. I think that activity must be stressful for a person's heart.

Such stress was compounded when the store employees came out to his car and demanded that he return the carton of cigarettes that he had bought with a counterfeit $20 bill. The stress was compounded further when the police arrived to arrest him.

Plus, he had ingested a combination of drugs that was likely to cause a heart attack.; 6/9/20, 8:30 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda."

-- Unfortunately, I do not think that. I think they are actually pressured TO skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda, as can be seen from the recent op-ed blow up.; 6/9/20, 8:32 AM
Kevin said...: After the ousting of James Bennet a few days ago, you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda.

That’s more wishful than cruelly-neutral thinking.

I understand your project but the credits are rolling and the hoped-for plot twist never materialized.

Another great American institution was destroyed.

Next up, higher education.; 6/9/20, 8:33 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "You can't seem to get the message that: 1. I have no better place to go"

-- A sad truth about the state of journalism in America.; 6/9/20, 8:33 AM
Calypso Facto said...: I got the NYT accidentally delivered to my house on Sunday (must've been a mix up with a neighbor somewhere) and, having not read one through in years, I was amazed at how uniformly subservient to all the popular progressive tropes it has become, thoroughly whitewashed of any critical thought or dissent. The only effort that seems to go into writing in its pages now, is deciding how to manipulate the information presented to advance the chosen narrative. Even the mini-biography of Wallace Stegner in the Book Review dripped with the author's social commentary, ruining it for me.

Certainly turning George Floyd's story into a hagiography is this kind of shallow gloss, and the lack of depth makes it cartoonish. Also in the rush to create sympathy for George and his "professional-level athletic ability", isn't the Times actually helping the cops' defense by pointing out that trying to restrain a 6' 7", 260 pound, super-athletic professional bouncer, and violent felon, who's high on fentanyl and meth might make the officers fearful for their safety and require extraordinary measures?; 6/9/20, 8:34 AM
narciso said...: Bennett wrote that notorious memo that diwnplayed palestinian bombers kristof was responsible for stephen hatfills ordeal friedman was probably responsible for geageas imprisonmemt in beirut for a decade; 6/9/20, 8:36 AM
Michael K said...: "After the ousting of James Bennet a few days ago, you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda...."

The mob that ousted that editor would not know "high journalistic standards" if one bit them on the ass.; 6/9/20, 8:36 AM
cacimbo said...: I also learned about media bias from my high school history teacher.She was disgusted by media coverage of Ford when he tripped coming down airplane steps. The media had the public convinced that the athletic Ford was a klutz.She pointed out that FDR had to be lifted on and off trains in his wheelchair - yet the media never published a bad picture of FDR.; 6/9/20, 8:37 AM
Jim Gust said...: Try the Washington Examiner, or the Boston Herald. Even the NYPost is better than the Times.; 6/9/20, 8:40 AM
Michael K said...: Blogger rhhardin said...

The police didn't execute the guy at all.

The video shows you want somebody wants to show you, not what happened.

The will to believe is so great and the knowledge of toxicology is so small, it is hard to see any other outcome. Except, of course, among people who know about things like this. And nobody is interested in their opinion.; 6/9/20, 8:40 AM
Big Mike said...: I've read the NYT for more than 50 years, and I don't believe I have another option for reading a real newspaper here in America.

Then in the comments:

You can't seem to get the message that: 1. I have no better place to go,

It might help if you actually looked for a better place to go. But if you really mean

2. I am interested in the details of how the bias and propaganda takes place.

Then I remind you that you fell pretty hard for their propaganda regarding Trump back in 2016. So maybe you’re not as good at it as you think you are. Also you won’t pick up on propaganda by omission of “inconvenient truths” without broadening your reading to include news sources that take you out of your comfort zone.; 6/9/20, 8:43 AM
Sebastian said...: "you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda."

You would think that if you are a nice liberal woman. You wouldn't think that if you are a cynical conservative who can see what he's observing.

"I can't say I'm surprised to see this sanitized portrait of George Floyd, but I want to go on record saying that this is bad."

It's so sad they're so bad. Anyway, the sentiment is appreciated, but at some point the lamentations about prog badness become a form of enabling. Here's a bad thing, and OMG, here's another bad thing. It's so sad.

"It doesn't matter that the man who died had big dreams of the future or professional-level athletic ability. The police shouldn't be executing anybody"

Well, it matters in creating a martyr, to very slightly offset the prog tendency to turn thugs into heroes, as if to humiliate blacks just a tad more. And careful there, ma'am, shouldn't be executing anybody is dangerously close to saying that all lives matter.; 6/9/20, 8:44 AM
wendybar said...: Journalism is dead. Newspapers are dead. Activists posing as Journalists killed their own profession.; 6/9/20, 8:46 AM
wendybar said...: You may as well read Alex Jones World Net Daily...it is about as accurate as the NYT's and WAPO anymore. If he spews conspiracies...what do you call THEIR lies and deceit??; 6/9/20, 8:47 AM
Pookie Number 2 said...: I have no better place to go

Better than intentionally dishonest is a low bar.; 6/9/20, 8:52 AM
Chest Rockwell said...: "I don't believe I have another option for reading a real newspaper here in America."

I go to WSJ daily. They seem to me to enforce a hard line between Editorial and News.; 6/9/20, 8:52 AM
Jupiter said...: "The police shouldn't be executing anybody."

Oh, was that the subject under discussion? Whether the police should conduct executions? That sounds like serious stuff.; 6/9/20, 8:57 AM
I Callahan said...: This deserves a full-throated response, because it's so off the mark it's laughable.

I have no better place to go, and 2. I am interested in the details of how the bias and propaganda takes place.

If the only reason you read the NYT is because you know it's propaganda, then you would have mentioned this a long time ago. But you didn't. And as for "no better place to go" - there are a lot of conservative-leaning media outlets out there that will give a full picture of any story so you'd have something to compare to the NYT's propaganda. I seldom (if ever) see any links to any of these news sites in your posts. They're almost always WaPo or NYT. The focus of this blog has always been current events. Are you now saying it exists to point out propaganda?

People like you are just telling me to stop my project. You're being obtuse about me. I'm not "finally recognizing" anything here, but could you perhaps finally recognize what I am doing here?

This is but a knee-jerk emotional reaction. No one is telling you to stop anything, least of all me. But that said - what IS your project? Why not be forthright about it and just say it? I've been reading your blog every day for at least the past 10-12 years or so, and up until today, you've not put much focus on the fact that you only read the NYT because it's propaganda.

So pardon me if I believe this response by you falls a bit flat. No disrespect intended.; 6/9/20, 8:58 AM
bobby said...: Keep watching the news. The police didn't execute anyone.; 6/9/20, 8:58 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “ https://lawofselfdefense.com/george-floyd-criminal-complaints-medical-examiner-report/“

Sure, Floyd had great dreams when he was young. We all did. And he died In police custody. But he was also a petty criminal who had been in and out of jail and prison for decades, the longest stretch, five years, for a brutal home invasion. Moreover he died with THC, meth, and fentanyl in his system - the latter in a high enough dosage that he may well have died anyway from the fentanyl alone. People die every day from less.; 6/9/20, 8:59 AM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: The NYT has been a propaganda outfit since at least the 1930s with their reports from Walter Duranty. Good Ol' Walter reported that all was good in the Ukraine while people were starving because of the Bolchevick effort to eliminate the Kulaks.

No news report from the NYT can be relied upon. Slanted verbs are always used. Details will be omitted and fiction inserted. Non-existent "anomynous" sources will report "damning" storylines. This also applies to the "unbiased" Washington Post.; 6/9/20, 8:59 AM
brylun said...: @Ann: I learn so much from your posts and the comments here. Please keep it up, if you can!; 6/9/20, 8:59 AM
Glenn Howes said...: I used to read the New York Times as well. Enjoyed reading long form articles over lunch. But I couldn’t stomach the distortions and the situational ethics, actually rage quit after they outed the terrorist tracking SWIFT system explicitly because they didn’t like George Bush.

The WSJ has a left wing news staff, but they are comparatively disciplined, why not migrate there?; 6/9/20, 9:01 AM
Craig said...: With their actions in recent years, the media is teaching kids and young adults that lies and propaganda are good, as long as the cause is just. Where does that lead our society 20 years from now?; 6/9/20, 9:02 AM
Unknown said...: Ann, you don't feel you have another newspaper option besides The New York Times?

The Wall Street Journal has impeccable reporting, fascinating editorials, and weekend arts sections that rival the NYT. Truly, the weekend edition is outstanding.; 6/9/20, 9:02 AM
gerry said...: AA, re:NYT being propaganda and rejecting it for that reason, you are about 100 years too late. It's been a dishonest tool for a long time.

How many Ukranians have to he starved to death before fashionable totalitarianism is no longer acceptable to intellectuals?; 6/9/20, 9:02 AM
mccullough said...: Perhaps it’s time for the better than nothing standard to be applied to The NY Times.; 6/9/20, 9:02 AM
Francisco D said...: The police shouldn't be executing anybody.

Execution is a willful, planned and intentional act. What evidence do you have that the Minneapolis cop behaved in that manner?

What evidence do we have that the cop was racist?; 6/9/20, 9:05 AM
Greg the class traitor said...: After the ousting of James Bennet a few days ago, you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda.

Then you missed the entire point of the ousting.

The POINT of the ousting was "screw your 'journalistic principles', you are here to support the Revolution, and nothing else will be tolerated."

The only shock is that they're allowing comments that aren't fully in line with the Revolution, for now; 6/9/20, 9:09 AM
Martin said...: "After the ousting of James Bennet a few days ago, you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda."

No, that would imply they thought they did something wrong or at east questionable.

They are proud of getting rid of Bennett, and expect that signal to be received and understood by everybody else.; 6/9/20, 9:09 AM
Nonapod said...: you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda.

The problem for the NYT is that these days if you don't give your audience what they want, they will seek it out elsewhere. And it doesn't seem like their readership currently wants things like accuracy, fairness, unbiased objectivity, and anything that could reasonably be called "high journalistic principles". Those sort of things wouldn't retain their readers. By and large they are demanding propaganda.; 6/9/20, 9:10 AM
hombre said...: All of a sudden, due to “technical difficulties,” the comment section on this article is no longer available. LOL!

Evidently, it is becoming more difficult for this rag to rely on the ignorance of its readers. The comments before censoring displayed the usual lefty silliness, but a few too many readers were commenting on Floyd’s habitual, sometimes violent, criminal history.

It is unlikely that anyone will be fired for the deceptive omissions in the article or the premature cancelling of the comments.; 6/9/20, 9:11 AM
MadisonMan said...: Surely you have options
Yet you list no suggestions. I see so many blue NYTimes plastic sleeves in my neighborhood every morning. That there is no great alternative says a lot.; 6/9/20, 9:12 AM
Professional lady said...: It comes down to this to me, no matter who is being detained, the police are not judge, jury, and executioner.; 6/9/20, 9:13 AM
gerry said...: AA, re:NYT being propaganda and rejecting it for that reason, you are about 100 years too late. It's been a dishonest tool for a long time.

How many Ukranians have to he starved to death before fashionable totalitarianism is no longer acceptable to intellectuals?; 6/9/20, 9:14 AM
Todd said...: "Appreciate the article but the sanitizing and glossing over of the serious crimes including assaulting a pregnant woman with a gun does a disservice to reporting reality."
"He need not be perfect for all of us to mourn and demand change but by manipulating the life story we lose the ability to educate many who don’t see the problem as they focus on the spin versus the real story - his murder."

Now that is ROFLOL funny! Someone wanting to harsh the narrative with actual reality! That is SO 1980s! Likely responses include "OK Boomer" and the ever popular "No, cause shut-up".; 6/9/20, 9:14 AM
Ken B said...: Better than nothing is a high standard. Is the NYT really better than nothing?; 6/9/20, 9:15 AM
ColoComment said...: Most of my neighbors have, like myself, foregone the pleasure (not) of reading a newspaper. I'm not sure where some of those folks now get their news (maybe nowhere....)
I take neither a newspaper nor news magazine, nor have a TV, but rather I synthesize what I read on a variety of news web sites, diverse commentary blogs (including LOSD, that narsiso mentions), and selections from news aggregators.

I used to like the WSJ, esp the op/ed page, before the Murdoch boys got their grubby hands on it. But after a bit of time, I thought the business coverage had declined, and the only part of the [newish] weekend sections that I read was the book reviews.
When I perceived the WSJ swinging anti-Trump, I could no longer justify the [huge, to me] expense and indulgence of it, and did not renew.; 6/9/20, 9:16 AM
Jerry said...: The NYTimes sees the Truth as THEY want it to be.

And that 'Truth' is what they'll sell you.

Just like Pravda in the unlamented USSR.

And it used to work, when there was no other option to get information.

But the days of the 'Newspaper' are coming to a close - and when it does that Times you recall so fondly will be like looking at your HS yearbook, at the crushes you had at the time.

Now? 50+ years later? None have aged well.; 6/9/20, 9:16 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Every day we learn how the hack-D narrative pimping press leave facts on the floor to protect their narrative and drive the message for The Party.; 6/9/20, 9:21 AM
Howard said...: Another failure of right wing conservative to compete in the free market. Supply and demand is the greatest equalizer. Life is unfair, the universe is indifferent, everyone gets the leans.; 6/9/20, 9:23 AM
curt said...: Try the Wall Street Journal. The news pages have a leftist slant but are not nearly as detached from reality as is the NYT. At least not yet... .; 6/9/20, 9:24 AM
AllenS said...: "You can't seem to get the message that: 1. I have no better place to go" -- Althouse

That sounds exactly like what an abused wife would say about why she does not leave her abusive husband.; 6/9/20, 9:24 AM
Mark O said...: Well, here we are. The New York Times is a greater threat to free speech than the worst characterization of Donald Trump.; 6/9/20, 9:25 AM
RMc said...: You can't seem to get the message that: 1. I have no better place to go

Good God, woman, there's a thousand places to get news these days; it ain't 1950 anymore.; 6/9/20, 9:25 AM
Mrs. X said...: It’s a problem, for sure. As far as I know, the Times is still the paper of record; no other newspaper matches it in terms of reputation and reach. If the Times says something is news, then it’s news. My liberal friend with whom I sometimes discuss politics always wants to know where I read some fact of which she is unaware, and she is completely dismissive of anything not reported by her “approved” sources. Even my conservative friends read the Times and generally believe what they read. I neither believe nor read the Times anymore, but I think it’s unreasonable for people to ask Ann why she bothers with them. It’s a worthwhile project to see what the people who trust the Times as THE news source are being fed. I’m grateful that she does this for us.; 6/9/20, 9:26 AM
Fernandinande said...: https://lawofselfdefense.com/george-floyd-criminal-complaints-medical-examiner-report/

That "someone in authority" doesn't say much of anything, but it was interesting to see the charging documents.

"Official documents"

"Officer Lane asked Mr. Floyd if he was "on anything" and noted there was foam at the edges of his mouth."

They didn't notice him dropping a small bag (about 2"x2") filled with a white substance as he was seated next to the wall. It's quite obvious in the video if you know where to look. I think he was either buying our selling from his car, which is why the other two people were in the car but wandered off when the cops showed up.

"Mr.Floyd told the officers that he was not resisting but he did not want to get in the back seat and was claustrophobic."

The front seat of another car was A-OK though - what a kidder!

"The ME listed the cause of death as “[c]ardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression,” and concluded the manner of death was homicide.

The words and phrases "homicide", "murder", "cause of death", are not in the document; "death" appears in two places, the time of death and:

"Signs associated with fentanyl toxicity include severe respiratory depression, seizures, hypotension, coma and death."

Is "respiratory depression" the same as "can't breathe"?

And Floyd may have been having a seizure when he was foaming at the mouth and when he "stiffened up and fell to the ground".

After all, he had a fatal level of fentanyl in his blood, and they asked if he was "on anything" but apparently he said he wasn't.; 6/9/20, 9:27 AM
Greg the class traitor said...: To my conservative compatriots here:

The cops killed George Floyd. They did so because the guy kneeling on him was a power hungry thug, and because the other three weren't willing to call him on his games.

There was no freaking reason to hold him down that way for nine minutes, other than that a bully and thug got his rocks off by being able to do that to someone.

Is the NYT a worthless pile of garbage? yes, it is. Are the protests and riots and the babbling about "systematic racism" unjustified / garbage? Yes, they are.

Do the four officers involved in George Floyd's death deserve to have their lives destroyed over it? Yes, they do.

"If he hadn't been in such bad shape, they could have gotten away with it" is not a defense, it's an indication that this garbage human being of a cop probably has done this before, and gotten away with it. I'm glad those hypothetical other people survived, but I'm angry if he's gotten away with it before.

The proper response to "respect my authority" is "F you". People who can't handle that shouldn't be cops. Shouldn't be trusted by society to ever have lethal power.; 6/9/20, 9:28 AM
Gary said...: The privilege and racism that forces some people to see this article as sanitizing a biography are sad to see. Were any of the facts glossed over or left out? Only with those already with a preset bias against the NYT and BLM.; 6/9/20, 9:28 AM
Craig said...: "America is Racist" is now the state religion. George Floyd is a martyr, along with the other familiar names.

The "protesters" (faithful worshipers) are allowed to "protest" (go to church), but Christians are not. The State has made that clear.; 6/9/20, 9:30 AM
William said...: The protests were mostly peaceful and the article was mostly meticulously researched.... I gave up on the NYT years ago. I think the price was the sticking point. They charge too much for their slanted truths.....I still subscribe to The New Yorker. They frequently have one or two articles that are worth reading and that don't criticize Trump......I suppose there were some good things about George Floyd's life and he didn't deserve to die under such circumstances. But he was on meth and passing counterfeit bills. He's not quite Rosa Parks. He's not even Eric Garner.; 6/9/20, 9:31 AM
Geoff Matthews said...: They're doing the same thing that was done to Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. Accentuate the positive, hide the negatives, and cry Racism, Racism, Racism.
But there is no evidence that this was racially motivated. And Floyd was critically flawed. And if it turns out that he died of heart failure, and not asphyxiation, what happens next? A man with meth and fentanyl in his system died in police custody, and while sad, is hard to turn into a crime. You could argue gross indifference, and manslaughter could be argued, but not murder.; 6/9/20, 9:33 AM
Michael said...: Police did not execute Floyd.; 6/9/20, 9:34 AM
Greg the class traitor said...: Professor Althouse:

If you want to spend your time engaging in the project of understanding how the dishonest Left pushes its propaganda on the rest of us, by all means, keep on reading the NYT, it's a great source for that.

Just please, stop expressing surprise that they are dishonest hacks who are deliberately and often obviously attempting to suppress any fact that conflict with their "narrative."

Bennet was canned because the people running the NYT wanted to make it explicit to everyone there that no deviations from the narrative will be allowed. Expressing surprise that their article about George Floyd left off obvious facts just makes you look bad. It makes you look like you're just not willing to understand what's happening.

That's a bad look; 6/9/20, 9:34 AM
Fernandinande said...: How much weight is on the knee? You can't tell. Most likely just enough so that the guy knows it's there.

They were just doing a standard restraint after Floyd pretended to be claustrophobic, and isn't it obvious that a cop wouldn't calmly suffocate or strangle someone as he's being filmed from a few feet away?; 6/9/20, 9:35 AM
hombre said...: Fair is fair. To correct my earlier comment, the Times has restored its comment section.; 6/9/20, 9:36 AM
Koot Katmandu said...: I agree Ann. George Floyd was murdered in the street. That is enough there is no need to make him into a saint. But that is what the left does. During this virus many were not allowed to have funerals or even see their loved ones in the hospitals before they passed. But now it OK for thousands to gather. We are insane. It is a firing offense to say all lives matter.; 6/9/20, 9:41 AM
Original Mike said...: "After the ousting of James Bennet a few days ago, you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda."

The pressure on the people of the NYT is the opposite. Conform or get fired.

The NYT abandoned even the pretense of high journalistic principles a long time ago. They don't even try to hide their agenda.; 6/9/20, 9:42 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: Have you considered that there is no "real" newspaper in the USA today? I'd argue that the WSJ--at least until recently--was a "real" newspaper with a limited focus. The Los Angeles Times ceased to be a serious newspaper almost 20 years ago. The New York Times has become a parody of Pravda--or is it the Pravda of parody.

For a lot of us the way to get US news is to look at the large English newspapers. Admittedly the Manchester Guardian is simply NYT East, but the Daily Telegraph and some of the other papers have good US coverage. And then of course there's the blogosphere as a source of news--and a lot of opinion.

What's missing today in what passes for "news" is even minimal coverge of local issues. What's happening on the city council,or down at the School Board. What has your local state assemblyman or congressional representative done? You'll never hear that in the absence of a good local newspaper. And there are no good local newspapers.; 6/9/20, 9:48 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: And execution is an intentional killing. Do you believe the officer intended to kill George Floyd?; 6/9/20, 9:49 AM
Rick said...: The police shouldn't be executing anybody.

What convinces you Chauvin intended to kill Floyd?; 6/9/20, 9:53 AM
c365 said...: So he had 90% blockage in primary side of his heart that sets the pace for a heart beat.

He appears to have sickle cell disease.

Those two factors certainly wouldn't justify him being killed, but would suggest his body would respond abnormally when restrained.

He was on a few drugs which would suggest that he makes and would make bad decisions when encountering police.

The officer clearly didn't know if he was being tricked into letting him up so he could run again. "I can't breath" can't be a get out of jail and escape code.

That said, the officer is guilty of bad judgment. He continued to try to restrain the man using his own force, when he should have gotten the help of one of the other officers to just put him in the back of the car. That bad judgment, mixed with the underlying condition lead to Floyd's death.

But the officer couldn't have known Floyd's body struggled to get oxiginated on a good day, let alone one when he's filled with drugs.

It's a tough call to charge with manslaughter. Firing to demotion or unpaid leave seems the bare minimum.

The legal charges are mob motivated.

Police departments should probably update their use of force policies to assume most people are out of shape and on the verge of dying from heat disease. It's true for half the country.; 6/9/20, 10:03 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: If I understand the Althousian logic, only the New York Times can commit bad journalism. The Washington Times has the sentence you want to see in the New York Times. But what is the bad journalism here? The NYT identifies the crime for which he was convicted. You want it described as a home invasion, but that’s the propaganda.; 6/9/20, 10:05 AM
Birkel said...: Something better than the NYT is a very low standard.
My standard is do not trust any source that does not link to the primary materials.
Hyperlinks are free.; 6/9/20, 10:06 AM
Hey Skipper said...: I've always been looking out for the propaganda.

From the very beginning, whenever the NYT referred to Michael Brown, his name came with "unarmed teenager".

Never with "unarmed 6'5" 255lb teenager who had just engaged in assault and theft, had attempted to take the officer's service weapon, and refused commands to stop when charging the officer."

Now, I grant that makes for a long sentence. But objective journalism requires reporting all the relevant facts at a given level of detail, not eliding almost all of those that matter.

And the NYT is even worse in the realm of climate. For example, in 2016, the NYT ran this story: Flooding of Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Already Begun.

It's about Tybee Island, off the coast of Alabama. Which is, in fact, becoming increasingly subject to flooding.

Completely left out of the story, although I found it within seconds, are tide charts showing that the rate of sea level increase has been constant as long as tides have been measured there, since 1855 if memory serves.

Every story the NYT runs on race, gender, or climate — never mind Trump — is propaganda, to the point of full-throated lying.

And most of its readers, or at least those who post comments, are transparently vile people with astonishing anti-bodies to facts and reason, kind of like the OpEd page.

Compare with a WSJ article on a similar subject. The difference in tone is palpable.

Unfortunately, the WSJ just doesn't have the breadth of the NYT, although, given the utter collapse of journalistic standards at the NYT, that breadth is probably harmful.; 6/9/20, 10:07 AM
Hey Skipper said...: People like you are just telling me to stop my project. You're being obtuse about me. I'm not "finally recognizing" anything here, but could you perhaps finally recognize what I am doing here?

Apologies. As my previous comment shows, I had failed to take that on board.; 6/9/20, 10:09 AM
Eleanor said...: "I have no better place to go". The lament of battered and abused women everywhere.; 6/9/20, 10:11 AM
Hey Skipper said...: @Laslo:

I would not think that at all.

If they wanted to show "high journalistic principles" the ousting of James Bennet would not have happened.

If they wanted to show what their actual principles are, then they did exactly that.

Here's the tell: in all the hysterical objections to Sen Cotton's article, not one actually offered a direct quote with any rationale on why it was objectionable. Not one.

See also: James Damore.; 6/9/20, 10:13 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Floyd’s death was a murder, an execution? I must have missed the trial. I didn’t miss the ME report that determined that he didn’t die from strangulation, and that he suffered no trauma to his neck or throat. In fact, it specifically does not claim that Floyd’s death was any crime at all.

It’s SOP to pepper the words “suspected” and “alleged” throughout crime stories, even when there’s ample physical, photographic, eyewitness, and other evidence of a crime, and a suspect’s guilt, but Chauvin is already declared guilty by the New York Times that has publicly disavowed journalistic ethics, and has declared anti-white racism as its guiding principle.

Presumption of innocence has been replaced by the scientifically refuted concept of “implicit bias”, and Chauvin’s actions have been determined racist, without evidence. He cannot get a fair trial in Minneapolis, and should be set free. “It’s better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer” doesn’t apply when that person is white and must suffer for all the sins of all whites ever,just as his own are added to the catalogue.; 6/9/20, 10:29 AM
Nancy said...: I am amazed at the stupidity of the Left. Their argument shouldn't be "The police killed a saint" but rather "Whatever you do unto the least of these..."

I once read a similar claim that Christianity would be in a much stronger position if after the crucifixion, the Holy One had declared "No, he wasn't my son -- but he is now!"; 6/9/20, 10:33 AM
Nancy said...: Ann, please try the Wall Street Journal!; 6/9/20, 10:34 AM
JAORE said...: Someone who is an authority in these matters...

Stop using FACTS!

FWIW when I saw the video I was confused because the knee was not on the throat or the carotid artery. But when the guy lost consciousness the cop became negligent. He should have been rolled over immediately and medical attention given. It might not have been enough to save him, but it was clearly negligent. And so arrest seems appropriate.

FWIW, a LEO family member told me the same thing. He also said it's not uncommon for the drugs he'd loaded into his system coupled with stress to lead to a heart attack.

Too late, though the alt-facts are established.; 6/9/20, 10:37 AM
Ice Nine said...: >>Ann Althouse said...
You can't seem to get the message that: 1. I have no better place to go, and 2. I am interested in the details of how the bias and propaganda takes place.
People like you are just telling me to stop my project. You're being obtuse about me. I'm not "finally recognizing" anything here, but could you perhaps finally recognize what I am doing here?<<

I really don't care what you read, but "better places to go" for what exactly? To study bias and propaganda?

You could easily study it by reading -- you know, to balance your "interest" in bias and propaganda out -- *conservative news sources*. National Review, Weekly Standard, Washington Examiner come to mind. All biased but fwiw less biased to the right than the NYT is to the left. How 'bout Wall Street Journal -- way less biased to the right than the NYT is to the left.

Or maybe the answer to my question is that you want to "go to" a place of almost no bias, in which case the Christian Science Monitor would serve the purpose well...and you wouldn't have to countenance those icky conservatives. Of course your purported "project" would suffer with a non-biased source. But then, frankly, the commenters here being decidedly non-obtuse, it is unlikely that any of them believe that's why you read the NYT anyway (just guessing).; 6/9/20, 10:37 AM
Michael The Magnificent said...: George could have used real money to buy his cigarettes, and he'd be alive today. But HE chose not to.

George could have given the cigarettes back, as he was asked to by the clerk, and he'd be alive today. But HE chose not to.

Or George could have let the clerk hold onto his cell phone while George got some real money, and he'd be alive today. But HE chose not to.

George could have complied and gotten into the back of the squad, and he'd be alive today. But HE chose to claim he was claustrophobic, refusing to get in the squad.

Make bad choices, you get bad results, no matter what color your skin is.; 6/9/20, 10:44 AM
Ray - SoCal said...: George Floyd Jail / Prison Record:

1998 - firearm robbery - 10 Months Jail
2002 - cocaine offenses 8 Months Prison
2002 - Trespassing - 30 days of prison
2004 - cocaine offenses 10 Months Prison
2005 - cocaine possession conviction - 10 Months State Jail
2007 - 1st degree assault and armed robbery - 5 Years Prison (released 2014).

https://thecourierdaily.com/george-floyd-criminal-past-record-arrest/20177/; 6/9/20, 10:49 AM
Greg the class traitor said...: Blogger Chest Rockwell said...
I go to WSJ daily. They seem to me to enforce a hard line between Editorial and News.

If by that you mean they have an honest and conservative Editorial page, and an utterly dishonest left wing "news" department that resists any effort from the Editorial side to keep them honest, you would be correct.

If you mean their news side isn't left-wing propaganda and garbage, you are , sadly, incorrect

As i discovered when i made the mistake of subscribing to them; 6/9/20, 10:53 AM
Clyde said...: Greg the class traitor said...
...
The only shock is that they're allowing comments that aren't fully in line with the Revolution, for now

Those are all registered commenters. The New York Times has all their information, which they will no doubt share with the proper authorities when the appropriate time comes to deal with thought criminals. They will all get the bullet to the back of the head when the time comes.; 6/9/20, 10:55 AM
Inga said...: “The police shouldn't be executing anybody.”

And that is the bottom line, literally.; 6/9/20, 10:58 AM
Inga said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/9/20, 10:58 AM
Greg the class traitor said...: Howard said...
Another failure of right wing conservative to compete in the free market. Supply and demand is the greatest equalizer. Life is unfair, the universe is indifferent, everyone gets the leans.

No, Howard, it's an example of what happens to a country when you have a fifth column that is eager to destroy the country, and will do anything to achieve its goals. While the defends continue to allow themselves to be bound by the normal rules.

Fox News has been the ratings leader for a long time, because people want honest news. Now, even Fox is refusing to give people honest news, and often following the Left wing bandwagon, because they allowed some lying sock of garbage lefties in, and let them progressively ruin the place.

What you don't appreciate is that eventually we're going to stop be willing to play by the normal rules, and switch to the 9mm rules; 6/9/20, 11:01 AM
Jeff Brokaw said...: “... you would think the NYT would feel extra pressure to show that it will pursue high journalistic principles and not skew things to please the people who are demanding propaganda.“

You might think that. I harbor no such illusions.

The media is in the propaganda business 24x7x365. Their dedication to some noble truth mission is laughable.

Once you understand that everything else lines up.; 6/9/20, 11:02 AM
NMObjectivist said...: "The police shouldn't be executing anybody."

This looks like an accidental killing to me. Maybe negligent, maybe careless, maybe reckless. But not intentional in the sense that the cop desired Floyd's death. Not an execution. But you know that, Ann.; 6/9/20, 11:06 AM
Otto said...: Many of us stop reading the NYT years ago. It was never our political ideology but it had news. Then when it went off the rails we just quit and found other sources.
Ann has the same political ideology as the NYT and even though she recognizes the paper has turned to crap she can't give it because of her political ideology . Her saying a liberal newspaper has turned to crap would obviously incriminate her political ideology.
And the last thing Ann would do is give up her liberal ideology. That she holds dear. She has no other religion.; 6/9/20, 11:07 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: The only mistake Chauvin made was deciding to arrest a Black. Had he learned NOTHING in this post-Trayvon world?

A lot of cops have been quitting recently, but I’d LOVE to be a cop now; I’d simply draw a paycheck and never arrest a black suspect. It would be like being unemployed, but not having to worry about my compensation running out.

Chauvin was the lead officer on the scene, AFAIK, which is probably why he took the lead action, but he should have delegated that role to the black, or half-black cop on the scene — your circus, your monkey.; 6/9/20, 11:08 AM
Greg the class traitor said...: Blogger c365 said...
The officer clearly didn't know if he was being tricked into letting him up so he could run again. "I can't breath" can't be a get out of jail and escape code.

That said, the officer is guilty of bad judgment. He continued to try to restrain the man using his own force, when he should have gotten the help of one of the other officers to just put him in the back of the car. That bad judgment, mixed with the underlying condition lead to Floyd's death.

No, the officer is guilty of being a thug.

Knee on neck, drive his face into the ground. Assert your power and authority over those "lesser" than you.

Who is "lesser than Chauvin?" Everyone not on Chauvin's current team. If you think he wouldn't have done that to you, if you in any way challenged his authority over you, you're dreaming.

This wasn't about racism, it was about power, and about Chauvin's eagerness to abuse his power. And about the rest of the officers willing to let him get away with it.; 6/9/20, 11:11 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Althouse has been highlighting the propaganda of the NYT for years ? That would have been my last guess but I admit I tend to skim over her overly long analyses of NYT & WAPO BS.; 6/9/20, 11:12 AM
Greg the class traitor said...: Thanks for that link, Left Bank:

At his worst, Mr. Floyd was a drug addict and ex-con who did hard time for a 2007 robbery in which he terrorized a pregnant black woman, and absentee parent to his older children, one of whom didn’t recognize him when his photo appeared two weeks ago on television.

So, what about that sentence is incorrect? What about it are you claiming shouldn't have been published?; 6/9/20, 11:15 AM
Yancey Ward said...: I have noted several times over the last several days that Althouse has explicitly accepted that Floyd was, indeed, murdered (And, now, executed?).

The only thing any of us can say with any real evidence supporting us is that he died in custody of the police officers at the scene. I have watched all the videos of his arrest- all of them. He claimed to have trouble breathing before Chauvin arrived on the scene. I can't tell from the videos how hard Chauvin's knee was pressed into the neck, and so cannot say that the neck compression was even the cause of the death beyond a reasonable doubt- in other words, you can't even prove that Chauvin committed manslaughter at this point in time.; 6/9/20, 11:16 AM
Yancey Ward said...: At MarginalRevolution, Tyler Cowen highlighted this bit of the NYTimes ethics for their journalists:

"the company’s journalists 'may not march or rally in support of public causes or movements” or publicly take positions on public issues (emphasis added by Y.Ward). It adds, “doing so might reasonably raise doubts about their ability or The Times’s ability to function as neutral observers in covering the news'.”

That bit was the funniest shit I have read in a while. Not a single journalist at the NYTimes apparently obeys their own ethics guidelines.; 6/9/20, 11:21 AM
mezzrow said...: Sensemaking.

I read the NYT almost completely on a daily basis from the mid-70s to about 2005 or so. It was part of my sensemaking apparatus to define the world by global as well as local standards.

I changed, so did the world at large, and so did the NYT. Though our interests differ, I appreciate Althouse sharing the ways that her quest for sensemaking is at odds with what the NYT currently has to offer.; 6/9/20, 11:22 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “Never with "unarmed 6'5" 255lb teenager who had just engaged in assault and theft, had attempted to take the officer's service weapon, and refused commands to stop when charging the officer."”

Slight correction - 295, not 255, pounds. Making him not just very big, but massively big. Big enough that two rounds of .40 S&W hollow point to the arm, followed by two two the torso, didn’t do more than just daze him for a moment. He then shook it off, and charged again, only stopping when hit by two more to the top of his head (showing his head lowered, as he charged Officer Wilson). He was a poster child for why you often have to shoot bears in the head to stop them. Indeed, he was the size of a moderately sized male black bear around here. Bigger than any of the females.; 6/9/20, 11:26 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “ What you don't appreciate is that eventually we're going to stop be willing to play by the normal rules, and switch to the 9mm rules”

Unless, of course, you are dealing with quiet giants like Big Mike Brown. Then, 10 mm solid cast may be more appropriate. But 9 mm is more than sufficient for most of the AntiFA fascist thugs. Except that they seem to be armoring up, obtaining body armor and ballistic helmets, etc. 5.56 may be more reasonable now.; 6/9/20, 11:31 AM
Kyzer SoSay said...: "I've read the NYT for more than 50 years, and I don't believe I have another option for reading a real newspaper here in America."

Your snobbery has blinded you. I get better coverage of real stories from the Morris Herald than you do in the NYT.; 6/9/20, 11:33 AM
Michael said...: They don’t offer much about the “aggravated assault. Odd. You would think a pistol in the stomach of a pregnant woman he was robbing would be a detail of interest to the reading public.; 6/9/20, 11:35 AM
Lincolntf said...: The Wall Street Journal is far superior to the NYT, both in quality of writing and "feature" sections. We get it home delivered here in North Carolina, I assume it's available in Wisconsin, too. Give it a try, Ann Althouse, I think you'll find it more than acceptable as an alternative to the decrepit Times.; 6/9/20, 11:35 AM
MD Greene said...: The New York Times squandered its credibility on "news" reporting years ago. (I speak as one who has tilled those fields.) The WSJ is still pretty good, but that's about it in national news.

As the business model -- give people ads next to the news they want to read -- evaporated with the advent of the internet, news on paper or online cleaved into interest-group outlets dependent on the good wishes of true believers of various political, religious and other affiliations.

I do not care about our politics, but I do care about honest dealing. Real news is over, at least for the moment.

The problem with the George Floyd situation is this: Once you have a man handcuffed and lying on his stomach in the street with four different armed officers watching over him, he is no longer a threat. If you wish to transport him to the hoosegow, you can do so at your leisure. There is no need for any immediate action unless the point is humiliation. It is not the job of the police to humiliate people but only to secure public order.; 6/9/20, 11:39 AM
Michael said...: I am embarrassed to say that I too take and occasionally read the NYT. A habit of fifty years. I take it online now missing the old days of the fat Sunday edition laid out on the coffee table or across the bed. Lasted most of the day. Now I muse on the headlines and marvel at how consistently they have an anti Trump theme. They are shameless. The book reviews which are a reason I keep paying have turned to crap.; 6/9/20, 11:43 AM
Sam L. said...: "I've read the NYT for more than 50 years, and I don't believe I have another option for reading a real newspaper here in America." I don't find the NYT a "real newspaper", no matter how much it may appear to be.; 6/9/20, 11:45 AM
tcrosse said...: I posted this in another thread, but it bears repeating. It's an analysis of why
prosecution of the four officers won't be easy.; 6/9/20, 11:52 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: George Floyd died from atrial fibrillation.

During atrial fibrillation, the heart's two upper chambers (the atria) beat chaotically and irregularly — out of coordination with the two lower chambers (the ventricles) of the heart. Atrial fibrillation symptoms often include heart palpitations, shortness of breath and weakness.

I myself almost died of atrial fibrillation on January 27, 2020. I became upset about a political issue on television. Suddenly I could not breathe, and a few minutes later I lost consciousness. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where I spent eight days. My aortic valve was replaced.

Nobody was kneeling on my neck, but I could not breathe and I lost consciousness. My heart might have continued to fibrillate, and I might have died within a few minutes. However, a policeman came into my home and gave me oxygen within a few minutes.

If I actually had died, then nobody should have said that I was executed.; 6/9/20, 11:56 AM
LA_Bob said...: Greg the class traitor said, "No, the officer is guilty of being a thug."

My sense is Derek Chauvin is in some measure a sociopathic bully. He walks a fine line between "firmness" and excessive force. He has had an above average number of complaints filed against him. My guess is the MPD would have loved to get rid of him, but he didn't quite do enough to make that easy given the police union and other government job protections. They kept their fingers crossed and hoped for the best. They lost.

"Knee on neck, drive his face into the ground. Assert your power and authority over those "lesser" than you."

This is not so clear. It is in fact extremely unclear. Chauvin and the other officers are almost certainly familiar with the technique and have used it before. That is information we need to know.

Part of the "defund" movement is a recognition too much is often expected of police. They are not sociologists, family counselors, or medical experts. The Floyd situation may have involved abuse, poor judgement, bad luck, or some mix of all three. This is a damned complicated situation.

The trial is sure to be hell. What defense attorney wants this case given the near-certainty of death threats? Just the makeup of the jury is sure to be a huge battle.

The verdict...OMG.; 6/9/20, 11:59 AM
Francisco D said...: Greg the class traitor said ... This wasn't about racism, it was about power, and about Chauvin's eagerness to abuse his power. And about the rest of the officers willing to let him get away with it

It is also about incompetent leadership at the MPD.

I spent many years assessing police officer candidates for various cities, towns and government posts. The purpose of psychological assessment is to rule out guys like Chauvin because they are a lot of trouble. He was not only a bad hire, but his bad behavior was tolerated, with the assistance of the union.

Police departments started using psychologists for hiring decisions back in the 70's. The main reason was to avoid law suits from cops "tuning up" suspects with their batons. Departments look for candidates who will follow procedure and not try to administer "justice" with creeps like George Floyd.; 6/9/20, 12:04 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: George Floyd died from atrial fibrillation.

Floyd used a counterfeit $20 to buy a carton of cigarettes. Two store employees came out to his car and demanded that he give back the carton of cigarettes. When Floyd refused to do so, the store employees called the police.

One police car came and then a second police car came. Floyd was placed into one police car, where he obviously suffered a heart attack -- atrial fibrillation. His heart was beating erratically and so was not pumping blood efficiently.

The policemen therefore pulled him from the police car and called an ambulance. While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, the policemen held Floyd down in order to minimize Floyd's physical movements.; 6/9/20, 12:15 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I see the recommendation of the WSJ and I do check it out occasionally. It has a business focus, and that’s not my topic.; 6/9/20, 12:21 PM
FullMoon said...: Even after cops arrested in Floyd case, pics and vids of police kneeling on necks while arresting rioters. Even one older vid of a white guy dying while cops make jokes thinking he is asleep.Gonna imagine standard but uncomfortable procedure that rarely results in death.
To me, when a big muscular black guy starts embarrassingly calling for mamma, something is wrong.

Regarding Althouse and NYT, seems every time she references it, she does so in order to point out how wrong their story is.; 6/9/20, 12:23 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: The problem with the George Floyd situation is this: Once you have a man handcuffed and lying on his stomach in the street with four different armed officers watching over him, he is no longer a threat. If you wish to transport him to the hoosegow, you can do so at your leisure. There is no need for any immediate action unless the point is humiliation.

I guess this makes intuitive sense to a lot of people, but I don't think cops are trained to view the situation the same way. I'm sure there have been lots of instances where a cuffed suspect jumps up and kicks someone or head butts someone or whatever. Maintaining positive control over the suspect, even when cuffed, is probably something they're supposed to do.

We'll find out more at the trial about how the cops deviated from department policies and their training. I'm sure that there were deviations and maybe that will be enough to secure a murder conviction. Time will tell.; 6/9/20, 12:28 PM
Lincolntf said...: Just a suggestion, buy a physical copy of the weekend edition of the WSJ. A heckuva lot more than just business is covered. I converted my Democrat in-laws to the WSJ from the Washington Post a few years ago, they still thank me for my insistent suggestion (and they still vote Democrat). The online links to WSJ are almost invariably business/economy related because they are considered an authority in those areas, but in reality, at most 15-20% of the daily paper is devoted to Biz.; 6/9/20, 12:31 PM
I Callahan said...: o, the officer is guilty of being a thug. Knee on neck, drive his face into the ground. Assert your power and authority over those "lesser" than you. Who is "lesser than Chauvin?" Everyone not on Chauvin's current team. If you think he wouldn't have done that to you, if you in any way challenged his authority over you, you're dreaming. This wasn't about racism, it was about power, and about Chauvin's eagerness to abuse his power. And about the rest of the officers willing to let him get away with it.

Sounds like someone had one too many run-ins with the law, and is incapable of being objective. Or, someone who's been reading Reason for too long.

Look, you obviously have your issues with cops. The fact is you weren't there, a video doesn't explain everything, and you can't see inside someone's heart, so your opinion is just that: an opinion. My suggestion is that you either join the force, or spend a couple of days on the job with a cop so you'll get some perspective, because based on the above, you have none.; 6/9/20, 12:39 PM
Michael K said...: The problem with the George Floyd situation is this: Once you have a man handcuffed and lying on his stomach in the street with four different armed officers watching over him, he is no longer a threat. If you wish to transport him to the hoosegow, you can do so at your leisure. There is no need for any immediate action unless the point is humiliation. It is not the job of the police to humiliate people but only to secure public order.

You (and I) have not yet seen the body cam videos. I wonder why they have been suppressed? Maybe they don't fit the narrative. The guy was 6-6 and well over 200 pounds. What if he was still struggling until Chauvin kneeled on him? I would not be flabbergasted if the videos got "lost" like Epstein's cell video.

If I was full of meth and fentanyl and had a bad heart, I would probably not struggle with cops. Maybe the meth did it.; 6/9/20, 12:39 PM
Michael K said...: Who is "lesser than Chauvin?" Everyone not on Chauvin's current team. If you think he wouldn't have done that to you, if you in any way challenged his authority over you, you're dreaming.

I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming of the Rodney King cops who saved his life as Melanie Singer was about to shoot him. And then they went to prison.; 6/9/20, 12:41 PM
cubanbob said...: For those of you who have seen the movie Stalag 17 will get the reference to our Hostess.

Scene, POW camp, later 1944. All Army Air Force sergeants. One prisoner who has been captive 19 months recieves a letter from and tells another prisoner:

"I believe it. My wife says, "Darling, you won't believe it, but I found the most adorable baby on our doorstep and I've decided to keep it for our very own. Now you won't believe it, but it's got exactly my eyes and nose." Why does she keep saying I won't believe it? I believe it! I believe it."

Althouse believes it (the NYT). As for us commenters here, there is no point in arguing with her. She believes. Also it's her blog. However if you read the Times for the obituaries,the wedding annoucements, the weather and sports you're problem on safe grounds.; 6/9/20, 12:41 PM
Unknown said...: Re the NYT
We are missing the agitation aspect of their work

Expanding on these notions in his pamphlet What Is to Be Done? (1902), Vladimir Lenin stated that the propagandist, whose primary medium is print, explains the causes of social inequities such as unemployment or hunger, while the agitator, whose primary medium is speech, seizes on the emotional aspects of these issues to arouse his audience to indignation or action. Agitation is thus the use of political slogans and half-truths to exploit the grievances of the public and thereby to mold public opinion and mobilize public support. Propaganda, by contrast, is the reasoned use of historical and scientific arguments to indoctrinate the educated and so-called “enlightened” members of society, such as party members.; 6/9/20, 12:42 PM
cubanbob said...: By the way, why is the word execution used when discussing the varying degrees of murder? An execution is a lawful punishment. It bastardized the language like undocumented alien.; 6/9/20, 12:44 PM
bagoh20 said...: How did the cops execute Floyd if he died from Covid-19? He had it. He died. Covid killed him. That's government policy. Now lets move on.; 6/9/20, 1:01 PM
Ice Nine said...: >>Mike Sylwester said...
George Floyd died from atrial fibrillation.
I myself almost died of atrial fibrillation<<

I'm sorry but, what can I say, that is categorically untrue. George Floyd did not die from atrial fibrillation and you did not almost die of atrial fibrillation.

People do not die directly - or suddenly - from atrial fibrillation (Afib). It, in itself, is not at all life-threatening. When it kills, Afib kills indirectly by causing thromboembolic strokes which are sometimes fatal. That usually occurs days to weeks after onset of Afib. Afib as the arrhythmia itself is relatively innocuous. There is no doubt, however, as in your case apparently, that it can make you feel terrible.

(I do know what I'm talking about - I have had Afib myself for years; I am monitored constantly for it and have gone for weeks with it, as many other Afib patients have as well; I have treated Afib patients in the ER hundreds of times - none of them remotely near death, which is always the case.); 6/9/20, 1:05 PM
Bilwick said...: I look forward to the mural of Saint George Floyd ascending into heaven, there to be greeted by Saint Trayvon and other martyr-saints of the Stupid Left.; 6/9/20, 1:06 PM
Bilwick said...: Wait a minute: did our hostess finally get a clue that the NYT ("a former newspaper," as Andrew Klavan always adds) MIGHT be biased?; 6/9/20, 1:08 PM
Joan said...: Better than intentionally dishonest is a low bar

... the NYT consistently trips over.; 6/9/20, 1:17 PM
bagoh20 said...: How about just forget about newspapers? Do you still use your buggy whip?

There is no way to read the NYT without absorbing some poisonous misdirection. Every source has some bias, but the poison is pervasive at the times, and their gravitas makes it more dangerous. It's present in so many different places and ways that it cannot be compartmentalized. You know it's there, but you won't resist. You're addicted to something harmful to your brain. Your pusher supplies all the big names, and gets invited to all the best parties, but that doesn't make what he's pushing safe for your brain.; 6/9/20, 1:17 PM
rhhardin said...: The WSJ became a lifestyle paper in the 90s, presumably after a female audience.

It's a little more annoying to read because it still claims a serious newspaper status and it's not.; 6/9/20, 1:22 PM
bagoh20 said...: When Floyd stopped moving, it was the responsibility of the cops to get off him and evaluate his condition, and render CPR if needed. It's the same as if they shot him. They don't get to keep shooting after the threat is gone. All of us would expect that from them if it was us or a loved one. You could be restrained by the cops for having a seizure, or bad drug reaction. Would you want them to just sit on you for two and half minutes after you stop breathing?; 6/9/20, 1:24 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Crazy Jane at 11:39 AM
Once you have a man handcuffed and lying on his stomach in the street with four different armed officers watching over him, he is no longer a threat.

If a person is suffering from atrial fibrillation, he should not be thrashing around, trying to stand up or struggling unnecessarily.

Rather, the person should calm down and minimize physical movements, so that his heart can recover its normal beating.

In this particular case, the police officers were correct to remove him from the police car and immobilize him until the ambulance arrived.; 6/9/20, 1:46 PM
mikee said...: My son sent me an amusing conspiracy theory about how Floyd and his killer supposedly both worked previously at the same nightclub, and how $800,000 in counterfeit cash supposedly was being held in the precinct house, and supposedly how the precinct house was burned & Floyd killed to cover up the theft by police of the $800k in funny money. Like I said, amusing. Supposedly.

I, for one, cannot imagine a better newspaper to use to teach high schoolers about pernicious propaganda methodology than the New York Times.; 6/9/20, 1:50 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Ice Nine at 1:05 PM
George Floyd did not die from atrial fibrillation and you did not almost die of atrial fibrillation.

An article from Cardiac Rhythm News

Sudden cardiac death is the most common cause of death in atrial fibrillation patients

An analysis from the ENGAGE AF-TIMI 48 trial has found that sudden cardiac death was the single most common cause of death and accounted for about a third of all deaths and nearly half of all cardiovascular deaths amongst 2,349 atrial fibrillation patients.

The report, published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association ... calls for the need to “examine treatment modalities in addition to anticoagulation” to reduce sudden cardiac death rates in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Recent data suggest that atrial fibrillation is independently associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death. “In patients with established atrial fibrillation treated with anticoagulation, sudden cardiac death accounts for >20% of all deaths. In addition, patients with atrial fibrillation have, on average, a 2.5-fold increased risk of sudden cardiac death or ventricular fibrillation compared with patients without atrial fibrillation,” ....; 6/9/20, 2:03 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Ice Nine at 1:05 PM
People do not die directly - or suddenly - from atrial fibrillation (Afib). It, in itself, is not at all life-threatening. When it kills, Afib kills indirectly by causing thromboembolic strokes which are sometimes fatal. That usually occurs days to weeks after onset of Afib. Afib as the arrhythmia itself is relatively innocuous.

An article from The Oklahoma Heart Institute

Atrial Fibrillation Linked to Sudden Cardiac Death

Atrial Fibrillation (AFib), the most common heart arrhythmia affecting up to 5 million Americans, is now linked to an increased risk for sudden cardiac death, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The association was studied in two population cohorts, finding the risk triples for those with incident AFib and doubles after the onset of AFib. Researchers believe this study confirms AFib should no longer be viewed as “a benign condition.” ....

Oklahoma Heart Institute cardiac electrophysiologist, Dr. David Sandler, agrees with the researchers’ comments, “Not only does atrial fibrillation predispose to stroke, heart failure, and death, but the arrhythmia per se may increase the risk of death from ventricular tachyarrhythmias ...."; 6/9/20, 2:09 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “George Floyd died from atrial fibrillation.”

“During atrial fibrillation, the heart's two upper chambers (the atria) beat chaotically and irregularly — out of coordination with the two lower chambers (the ventricles) of the heart. Atrial fibrillation symptoms often include heart palpitations, shortness of breath and weakness.”

Which is why it is going to be very hard to convict the lead officer of either 2nd or 3rd Degree Murder.

2nd Degree Murder is for show. The officer was up charged based solely on public opinion, and not on the facts. It is essentially felony murder where the underlying offense is not subsumed by the Murder charge. So, you can’t get to felony murder by shooting someone, being prosecuted for armed assault, and that being the predicate for the felony murder. That is because the armed assault is subsumed into the murder charge. The DA got cute here, and seems to be making the argument that there were two actions, or inactions. But, as that article pointed out, the MPD Use of Force guidelines essentially allowed that level of force be used to force recalcitrant prisoners to submit.

3rd Degree Murder is closer. In most states, a Depraved Mind homicide is considered 2nd Degree, but not in MN, where it has been broken out as 3rd Degree. If MN hadn’t done so, they likely would have charged it as 2nd Degree, and the public would have been happy. And it might be viable, if Floyd had died of strangulation. He didn’t. He died of atrial fibrillation, which almost killed Mike Sylwester in January. Who didn’t have a knee on his neck, but more importantly, very likely didn’t have high levels of Meth, and near fatal levels of fentanyl in his blood. Was this really a fentanyl OD? Or, maybe, since the atrial fibrillation involved rapid and irregular beating of his heart, it could have been the meth instead. Either (or both together) causing the atrial fibrillation would require that the prosecutors prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the lead officer recognized what was going on, and essentially did nothing. Worse, because that really only gets them to manslaughter, and not Depraved Mind 3rd Degree Murder. And reports of some foaming at the mouth suggests that maybe Floyd was already ODing at the point that the knee was placed on his neck. The key here is that the state is going to have a hard time showing that the knee to the neck caused the death, and if it triggered it, that removing the knee from the neck promptly would have saved Floyd’s life - because it probably wouldn’t have.

As to accomplice liability for the other three officers that isn’t going to work either. They were very junior to the lead officer, who was showing them how it was done, subduing a very large, recalcitrant, arrested suspect who refused to comply with their request to get into the police car. They were in no position, job wise, to openly defy the senior officer at the scene. Ostensibly, everything was within policy. This is where experience comes in, and that was something that they really didn’t have.; 6/9/20, 2:16 PM
Anthony said...: I think he was deliberately overcharged to guarantee he'd get off. Ellison knows from the autopsy report that Floyd didn't die of asphyxiation, he died of drug-induced heart failure. This way, he (Ellison) gets to look like the hero for CHARGING CHAUVIN WITH MURDER!!!11! ELEVENTY!!!11!!!1 and then when he gets off he can play the whole race card again.; 6/9/20, 2:23 PM
MD Greene said...: Automatic_Wing said: I'm sure there have been lots of instances where a cuffed suspect jumps up and kicks someone or head butts someone or whatever. Maintaining positive control over the suspect, even when cuffed, is probably something they're supposed to do.

This may be so, but Floyd's hands were cuffed behind his back. In that moment, he could not use his hands to lever himself into position to jump up or to kick someone. If the goal was to keep him from jumping up -- presumably by rearing back on his knees -- it would have been more sensible to apply pressure on his knees or his back. It also would have been safer, particularly after the man started saying he couldn't breathe.; 6/9/20, 2:31 PM
Lincolntf said...: rhhardin, how so? I'm looking at today's edition, and it does have more "Life and Arts" crap than I'd like, but I don't have to read those articles, and I don't think they displace the hard news. Plus, the WSJ crossword puzzle is more fun (but not as hard, which sucks) than the NYT's.; 6/9/20, 2:52 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: The Floyd family pathologist, Dr Michael Baden, hired by their attorney Benjamin Crump, of course found that asphyxia was a cause of his death. Dr. Baden, of course, is the pathologist that Crump always hires when he is prosecuting a wrongful death case.

From the Star Tribune:
https://www.startribune.com/george-floyd-autopsy-report-released-he-tested-positive-for-covid-19-in-april/571000102/

The key difference between the medical examiner’s findings and those of the autopsy arranged by the [Floyd] family is whether Floyd died from asphyxia.

The medical examiner made a point last week to say no, while the second [Baden’s] report’s findings focused heavily on asphyxia being caused by officer Derek Chauvin pinning Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes with his knee while officer Thomas Lane put his weight on the 46-year-old’s back and constricted his chest.

Before releasing its full report, the Medical Examiner’s Office summarized in two public disclosures that Floyd died as a result of “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” It also listed “arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease,” as well as fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use as “other significant conditions.”

The medical examiner appeared to back his conclusion that Floyd was not asphyxiated by listing a host of injuries that were absent, in particular petechiae, or pinpoint-size red spots caused by broken blood vessels that can be a sign of asphyxiation.

Also highlighted in the report was that the autopsy failed to find “life-threatening” injuries to Floyd’s neck near his head, spine, chest, brain, skull or related to the larynx.

Along with having tested positive for COVID-19, these latest disclosures from the autopsy also revealed:

• Blunt-force injuries to Floyd’s face, shoulders, hands, arms and legs.

• Bruises on his wrists from the handcuffs.

• One rib was broken during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

To summarize - Floyd’s heart stopped. Crump and Baden, of course, claim that to have bee the result of the neck compression. The ME Essentially said that there were a number of other things, ranging from heart problems, through heavy fentanyl and meth use that could have caused his death, and there was an absence of neck and other damage that would strengthen the case for the neck restraint having killed him.

Let me also note that significantly lower dosages of fentanyl in the blood than Floyd had at his death have killed people in the past.; 6/9/20, 3:06 PM
Tina Trent said...: The real problem with that article is that it is an obituary.

They don't do obituaries for a running front page news story. This was just part of media efforts to pump up the three-city-tour-funeral and encourage more riots. All the radio stations and tv stations interrupted programming to run a criminal's funeral today. They showed the whole thing. Why? Reporters want more riots. It's sickening. Meanwhile, the murder rate is exploding in big cities. Also rape and assault rates. How many people will die because we're demonizing policing? I predict years of chaos, thousands dead.

I don't think the officer will necessarily be found guilty of murder. It was not an "execution." What about waiting for the trial?; 6/9/20, 3:06 PM
Ice Nine said...: Mike Sylwester said...
Ice Nine at 1:05 PM
>>George Floyd did not die from atrial fibrillation and you did not almost die of atrial fibrillation.
>An article from Cardiac Rhythm News

Key words: "linked; "possible causal association;" "*may* increase the *risk* of death from ventricular tachyarrhythmias" (*ventricular*, not atrial); etc. Causation is not demonstrated by these two studies as the authors acknowledge. Also, the studies found "predictors" (mostly comorbidities) that were associated with sudden cardiac death in patients with AFib, not direct cause from the AFib itself.

Please recall that I said that people do not die directly from Afib itself. These two recent studies' findings are not inconsistent with that.

Anyway, I am not a cardiologist/electrophysiologist so I'm not going to argue the point...just a retired ER doc who has seen a whole lot of AFib patients in extremis, none in risk of dying. And I can tell you that these associations in these recent studies are not the common wisdom among doctors. They may of course lead to studies that do show primary arrhythmia causation of sudden cardiac death but that is down the road a bit. Good for them.

This declaration remains nonsense, however: "George Floyd died from atrial fibrillation." As for your specific case, I leave that between you and your doc.

I applaud your doing your homework on this, btw.; 6/9/20, 3:54 PM
Howard said...: ventricular fibrillation is more acutely fatal arrhythmia than afib. I had constant afib for 15-months and lived to tell the tale.; 6/9/20, 4:09 PM
Nicholas said...: What happened to the NYT's "fact checkers"? Given the day off to recover from the trauma of the Tom Cotton OpEd?; 6/9/20, 4:30 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: I had constant afib for 15-months and lived to tell the tale.

6/9/20, 4:09 PM

It clearly affected your brain, Howie.; 6/9/20, 4:48 PM
Mr. Forward said...: "I've read the NYT for more than 50 years, and I don't believe I have another option for reading a real newspaper here in America."

The option you are looking for is the old New York Times that was the last word on everything, contained only the Truth, and was handed down from on high. So you do have an option.; 6/9/20, 5:16 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I like the WSJ and think it offers the straightest reporting available. It's not particularly bloggable though with it's very strict paywall. Then again, people blog the WaPo, and it's similarly walled off.

You could go to the completely opposite lens of the NYT and read The Epoch Times where Trump is loved.; 6/9/20, 5:19 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: This is fun: MONEY LAUNDERING: GLOBAL DONATIONS TO BLACKLIVESMATTER.COM FUNNELED TO DNC:
Democrats openly conducting illegal money laundering operation in the name of saving black lives

Democrats appear to be raising funds internationally using BlackLivesMatter.com as a money laundering operation in violation of campaign contribution laws.

One just needs to follow the money to reach this conclusion.

Firstly, the Black Lives Matter website bills itself as a “global organization” whose mission is to “eradicate White supremacy.”...

Upon clicking the “Donate” button on the Black Lives Matter site, you’re redirected to an ActBlue donations page, which is further revealed in fine print at the bottom of the page.

ActBlue is a “nonprofit technology organization” that “enables Democrats, progressive groups, and nonprofits to raise money on the Internet by providing them with online fundraising software,” according to its Wikipedia page.

ActBlue claims to be tax exempt organization and all donations to it are tax-deductible. The terms and conditions also link to ActBlue and mention “Campaign Finance Laws.”

Where does the ActBlue money go? Just take a look at its 2020 expenditures:

The vast majority of ActBlue’s expenditures go to Democrat or far-left campaign contributions.
1. Bernie 2020............................................ $186,780,034
2. Biden For President ................................$119,253,857
3. Elizebeth Warren Exploratory Committee $93,478,053
4. Pete For America .....................................$78,100,960
....

You ask how can that be legal, an international web site funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to Dem candidates? Part of is that the FEC hasn’t had a quota since before a complaint was filed that the Crooked Hillary campaign engaged in massive ($100 million) campaign finance violations by funneling contributions through 43 state parties, while controlling all of the bank accounts. FEC commissioners are appointed in pairs, one Democrat and one Republican. Schumer has refused to name one of theirs for more than three years now, and without a quota, they can’t operate, so haven’t. Oh, and Schumer, through BLM and ActBlue, has gotten $31,067,413 for the Democratic Senatorial Committee he runs.; 6/9/20, 5:21 PM
Fernandinande said...: The police shouldn't be executing anybody.

Come to think of it, none of the four police are accused of killing anybody, because it's obvious they didn't actually kill anybody.

In the charging documents posted by narcisco,

https://lawofselfdefense.com/george-floyd-criminal-complaints-medical-examiner-report/

they're charged with legal murder and such because someone died while the police were supposedly committing felonies, not because they actually killed anyone, just as purse-snatcher can be charged with murder if someone has a heart attack during a purse-snatching.; 6/9/20, 6:29 PM
DEEBEE said...: Ann, isn’t your repeated unrequited expectation of “reasonable behavior” from NYT the classic definition of insanity?; 6/9/20, 7:47 PM
PaoloP said...: "The police shouldn't be executing anybody."

But it's also wrong to say that the police "executed" Floyd: he was not killed on purpose, he was involuntarily killed by abuse of force. It's different, and you always pay attention to the use of words.; 6/10/20, 3:37 PM