Althouse: "The man whose arrest Tuesday helped spark the protests that led to two landmark statues being knocked down and a state senator being assaulted is now facing federal charges..."

June 27, 2020

"The man whose arrest Tuesday helped spark the protests that led to two landmark statues being knocked down and a state senator being assaulted is now facing federal charges..."

"... for activities that allegedly occurred a day earlier. The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Devonere Johnson with extortion after authorities say he threatened two Madison businesses unless they sent him money and his associates were provided with free food and beverages.... According to the complaint... [t]he owner of the business told the FBI that on June 22, Johnson and another man were inside the business blasting music from a boom box. The complaint states Johnson said to the owner, 'Give me money or we’ll break windows' and then added 'Venmo me money.' The owner said that he supports the Black Lives Matter movement and that he had donated money to the movement. The owner then received Johnson’s Venmo information. That’s when Johnson walked to the bar and said 'You are all KKK.' The second man with Johnson added that the owner will get a call from a number with a Chicago area code. The owner told investigators that the next time he saw Johnson was the next day, June 23. Johnson walked into the business with a bat and a megaphone and started yelling and calling people racists. The owner says... Johnson said 'I am disturbing the (expletive) out of this restaurant' and that 'I got a (expletive) bat.' The second business... owner told investigators... that Johnson... put his feet up on the bar and said 'I can do whatever I want, we got [Business 3] shut down and we’ll do the same to you'.... The complaint states that Johnson returned the next day with the megaphone and the baseball bat. He and two other men who accompanied him told the owners they wanted free food and beer 'for their troubles.' Johnson then threatened to bring 600 people to the business and burn the business down. 'We can end this now and you won’t be marked like [Business 3]' Johnson allegedly told the owners."

WMTV reports.

Here's the video of how Johnson acted on Tuesday, when he was arrested, leading to the protests in which 2 important Capitol Square statues were torn down. Here's my post about that protest. The federal case is about things Johnson allegedly did at 2 other restaurants on the previous day. The federal charge is extortion, with a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

91 comments:

R C Belaire said...: Nice neighbors y'all have in Madison - mild-mannered, welcoming.; 6/27/20, 7:00 AM
Bob Boyd said...: What makes this federal?; 6/27/20, 7:01 AM
gilbar said...: The owner said that he supports the Black Lives Matter movement and that he had donated money to the movement.

Well! There's your problem RIGHT THERE
"once you have paid him the Danegeld/ You never get rid of the Dane."; 6/27/20, 7:01 AM
Jersey Fled said...: Nice guy.; 6/27/20, 7:03 AM
mezzrow said...: “Bad men, when their parents or country have any defects, look on them with malignant joy, and find fault with them and expose and denounce them to others, under the idea that the rest of mankind will be less likely to take themselves to task and accuse them of neglect; and they blame their defects far more than they deserve, in order that the odium which is necessarily incurred by them may be increased.” - Plato

Out of the new iconoclasm, a new totalitarianism is being born. And this neo-totalitarianism has learned from the past: It has its inquisitions, its auto-da-fes, its purges and cultural revolutions, reeducation and self-criticism sessions, and above all the ostracization and ultimate erasure of dissidents.

It is true that, for the moment, this is a soft totalitarianism—a totalitarianism suited for an age of social media spectacle. But the essence is the same: The penalty for even the weakest sin is damnation, and the sin always remains unknown. The goalposts are ever-moving, and the unspecified crimes admit of no redemption. Forgiveness has become a word voiced by no one.

Perhaps most important: if the sin is unnamed, then it is also absolute. Anything can be a sin and everything is a sin. And this leaves all of us vulnerable before the inquisitors, once the mob arbitrarily turns against us. And it can always turn against us, because it demands saints, and there are no saints. They have never existed and never will. What the neo-totalitarians cannot admit is that this is a good thing. Because in being more than human, a saint cannot be human, and as such, his example is useless to us.

Read the whole thing.

https://quillette.com/2020/06/26/neo-totalitarianism-and-the-erasure-of-history/; 6/27/20, 7:10 AM
Anne in Rockwall, TX said...: He seems nice.; 6/27/20, 7:10 AM
Mark said...: Jeremy Ryan just got rearrested Thursday as well for threatening and doxxing Sheriff Mahoney, as Mahoney did not respond to his doxxing threat by releasing 'Yeshua'.

Yeshua and Jeremy seem to be brothers in mental illness.; 6/27/20, 7:15 AM
Dave Begley said...: Federal charges! The U.S. Attorney doing the job that the Dane County Attorney fails and refuses to do.

Kinda like the movie "Mississippi Burning." The local Sheriff in Mississippi failed to investigate so the FBI (and Gene Hackman!) had to come in and do the job. (The Sheriff was in on the coverup and maybe the killings of the civil rights workers.); 6/27/20, 7:15 AM
Expat(ish) said...: That narrative was poorly presented, but I think we all get the idea.

-XC; 6/27/20, 7:16 AM
Breezy said...: Shakedown 101; 6/27/20, 7:17 AM
tim maguire said...: That owner’s BLM donation may as well have paid for the bat used to threaten him.; 6/27/20, 7:21 AM
Rob said...: Johnson was using a slightly cruder version of Jesse Jackson’s business plan.; 6/27/20, 7:21 AM
wendybar said...: So in other words, he is a National Progressive hero now.; 6/27/20, 7:22 AM
Sebastian said...: So, why federal?; 6/27/20, 7:22 AM
Marcus Bressler said...: The Mob, updated.; 6/27/20, 7:24 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: Good on the Feds.; 6/27/20, 7:25 AM
Tina Trent said...: No hate crime charges Ann? Not for Devonere Johnson, not for the other rioters,
not for the mob who beat a senator in your backyard? Also no hate crime charges for the two thugs who beat a random Macy's employee in the head in Michigan. One lied to the police that the employee had used the "n" word and so he had to beat him. In reality, the employee was selected in advance for a vicious beating just for being white, was accused of using a slur, videotaped being brutalized, and the video was uploaded to the internet (and not censored) -- a game the assailants like to call "polar bear hunting."

No hate crime charges, though. And no charges at all for the accomplice. Just a white beaten person whose beating is entertainment for other animals on social media. Speech is free for them. But do you think the Macy's employee dare complain about being the victim of a race attack and keep his job? Do you think he dare speak out without fear of being targeted again at his car, or his home? Years ago this happened to my husband at Emory University. He tried to call the cops on kids cutting locks to steal bicycles, and the told him they'd say he called them "n******" if he didn't put down the security phone.

He put the phone down. They took the bikes. He kept his mouth shut, knowing he could lose his department position because of the threat. See how this works? See how these laws are racist weapons in the hands of feral mobs? See how we're all sioenced now?

What would you have done? What will you do now? Anything? Nothing? Why not protest the lack of hate crime charges? Do something. Publish something. You have a bullhorn. Use it. The next head punched or crushed with a baseball bat may be the head of someone you love.; 6/27/20, 7:25 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "What makes this federal?"

Use of the interstate phone system. Note the Chicago phone number.

Also it is interfering with businesses that are in interstate commerce. The complaint has allegations about the restaurants getting their supply of food and drink from interstate commerce.

Anyway, look at the federal extortion statute.; 6/27/20, 7:26 AM
MayBee said...: If you donate to BLM as an organization, what are you paying for?; 6/27/20, 7:26 AM
Birches said...: Excellent news.; 6/27/20, 7:26 AM
MayBee said...: I'll bet he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt on one of the days.; 6/27/20, 7:27 AM
Ann Althouse said...: The FBI has also entered the investigation of that incident the other night — the allegation that 4 white men threw lighter fluid and a lit lighter at a black woman who was stopped at a State Street intersection.; 6/27/20, 7:27 AM
Owen said...: Twenty years in prison? Really!?!

Be still, my heart!; 6/27/20, 7:29 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: When do the organizers of BLM get arrested on the same extortion charges?

For those “donations” from Madison businesses?

BLM is no different than this kid. Just slicker, better organized and supported by the media and Democratic Party. Not difficult to see where the kid got the idea.; 6/27/20, 7:30 AM
Oso Negro said...: A race war would be an interesting way to intensify 2020.; 6/27/20, 7:31 AM
SeanF said...: "Give us what we want or we'll destroy your life's work" is the entire point of the protests, isn't it?; 6/27/20, 7:36 AM
Dave Begley said...: Voters in Dane County should really take note. The county refuses to do its job, so Trump and Barr have to do it for them!; 6/27/20, 7:41 AM
Kate said...: I'm kinda surprised the business owner didn't just pay the toll. America has more stones than I thought.; 6/27/20, 7:43 AM
Jersey Fled said...: The only way BLM/Antifa types will be charged is under Federal statutes. Local DA's are complicit.; 6/27/20, 7:43 AM
Ralph L said...: I wonder who got the Feds involved. A cop annoyed at Madison's lack of action or the business owner?; 6/27/20, 7:48 AM
Temujin said...: If a guy walks into my business like that with his bullshit threatening my livelihood, my blood, sweat, and tears, my time of life- I don't spend time telling him 'I donated to BLM'. Jesus...what a putz.

I put a bullet in his knee. If he doesn't understand that part, I move my aim up.

He threatens my life, I do not negotiate.; 6/27/20, 7:48 AM
Kai Akker said...: ST, back. Great for the forum. You missed Howard that much?; 6/27/20, 7:53 AM
StoughtonSconnie said...: Ann, your 7:27 comment on the alleged lighter fluid attack makes me wonder what your thoughts are on that incident? I was telling Mrs. StoughtonSconnie yesterday that something doesn’t feel right about the story. Four white males, two in Hawaiian shirts? That’s the supposed calling card of the right-wing agitators that are supposedly infiltrating all these protests, and who miraculously can disappear despite their garish attire. Too cute by half. And this happened on a night and at a time when there were many lefty protesters and rioters in the downtown area. Are we to believe that this happened and there were literally only five people around (the victim and her attackers)? No one to try to intervene or even witness it?
My theory is that she was burned (obvious) but that it happened because she was involved in the attempted torching of the CCB. She went home, was in pain (she claims otherwise, but burns of that sort hurt - a lot), her parents took her to the hospital, knew she’d be in trouble if the actual source of the burns became known, and a racist story was born.
The thing is, I feel bad thinking that. It’s the Schroedingers Cat of feelings, I want to believe her and not believe her. I want to believe her because she’s young and I don’t want to believe someone would lie like this. But the story is just too perfect for the left narrative, and I simply don’t believe anything that the left and their stenographers in the media say at all. The demand for real racist thugs in this country is far outpacing the supply, as we’ve seen in many recent hoaxes.; 6/27/20, 7:57 AM
William said...: This obviously wasn't the first establishment in which these tactics were used, and they worked previously. Devonere Johnson sounds more like a gangster than an activist. It will be interesting to see if the other activists distance themselves from him. Probably not....The media has apparently reported on this extortion attempt, but my guess is that the news will not be highlighted or covered at all beyond today's reporting.; 6/27/20, 8:02 AM
Francisco D said...: Oso Negro said...A race war would be an interesting way to intensify 2020.

From what I can tell, BLM is more about cultural and economic revolution than it is about race. Their leftwing positions do not reflect the views of the Black community, but rather their Marxist college professors.

My sense is that Blacks are used as the face of BLM so that criticism is "racist". That magic word is important to the brain dead Left.; 6/27/20, 8:10 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Thanks Professor.; 6/27/20, 8:10 AM
hawkeyedjb said...: “We know that black people are overpoliced " said one witness to the arrest.

Sounds like the young fellow has been underpoliced to this point.; 6/27/20, 8:11 AM
boatbuilder said...: Why Federal? I don't know, but the guy does seem to be engaging in a civil rights violation.

Picture the races of the bat guy and the restaurant people and patrons reversed. Any question its federal?; 6/27/20, 8:11 AM
rhhardin said...: They're not very good at extortion. Black leaders haven't taught them anything, apparently. It has to be under cover of white values.; 6/27/20, 8:13 AM
RichardJohnson said...: Gilbar
Well! There's your problem RIGHT THERE
"once you have paid him the Danegeld/ You never get rid of the Dane."

And in Dane County, no less!; 6/27/20, 8:14 AM
Matt said...: And just like that, my blood is f'ng boiling.

*rage emoji*

Arrogant, useless, narcissistic piece of shit.

Go kiss his feet, lefty crackers.

Also, that's our word. POC can say cracka.; 6/27/20, 8:14 AM
MartyH said...: Remember when Trump said, "End it or I will" and everyone though it was a threat of violence?

This is another way to end the riots-arrest the instigators and put them away for a long time.

Barr has 500 investigations underway.; 6/27/20, 8:16 AM
MartyH said...: Yesterday I suggested that Abbul Lababidi, the owner of the struggling store on State Street, could be a persuadable Trump voter. Maybe, maybe not. You'd think the owners of these businesses would be.; 6/27/20, 8:23 AM
William said...: When a police officer screws up, his misbehavior is taken as representative of all police officers across the country. News of such misbehavior is reported in depth and the tape of the misbehavior is aired repeatedly....When a BLM activist acts in a criminal way, the news is muted because to highlight or report on such misbehavior is racist.; 6/27/20, 8:28 AM
Lucien said...: Makes you wonder whether BLM might be a RICO “enterprise”.; 6/27/20, 8:30 AM
Michael said...: BLM love some criminals, riot over arresting thugs.

And the story of whites attacking a black woman are almost certainly bullshit.; 6/27/20, 8:31 AM
Jamie said...: I decided to branch out past night and watch Martha McCallum, whom I'd never seen before. Part of her show was a segment in which she played cuts of an interview with one of the founders (I believe) of BLM. And I quote: "If this country doesn't give us what we want, we'll burn down the whole system."

I'm pretty sure that's verbatim, but if not, it's damn close. Now, it was a cut, not his whole statement - but what constructive impulse would lead someone to say those words?

I refuse to "like" or "thumbs up" or "high five" or perform any other social media ritual showing approval for anyone who uses hashtag-BKM. If my dearest friends were posting graduation pictures of their child, but accompanied them with that hashtag, I would not indicate my love of them and their child because I will not provide any show of support to the evil protection racket-cumi-Nazi-Youth that is BLM.; 6/27/20, 8:32 AM
Owen said...: These encounters, and the growing data on their common features, are wonderfully clarifying. By exposing the vicious ideology at the heart of BLM, the pure criminal glee of its thugs as they strip and rape a town to its bones, all the time throwing chaff about “racism,” the stories free us from any lingering doubt or guilt about what must be done.

Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.; 6/27/20, 8:32 AM
Mattman26 said...: He’ll never get 20 years, but I hope he gets some hard time.; 6/27/20, 8:46 AM
Phil 314 said...: It was so much nicer when they just beat you up and sole your wallet.; 6/27/20, 9:03 AM
Rory said...: I've always wondered if Michael Brown's looney behavior didn't arise because, after Michael assaulted the convenience store clerk, his thug friend had told him that the store paid its protection money and Michael should be expecting a good ass kicking.; 6/27/20, 9:03 AM
Charlie said...: I'm sure a slap on the wrist and stern talking-to will straighten this young man right out!; 6/27/20, 9:04 AM
Dude1394 said...: Glad to see the feds on it. You sure can not trust the democrat mayor to protect businesses, way to woke for that.; 6/27/20, 9:07 AM
chickelit said...: Why federal? Trying the charges will test whether there is any interstate conspiracy to coordinate and support crime. In a sense, the Feds are testing whether indeed this is a local crime. If it's not, then BLM needs their asses RICO'd.; 6/27/20, 9:11 AM
chickelit said...: Why did Madison's thug mayor specifically call out this individual for special treatment and release? That's another interesting interstate question.m; 6/27/20, 9:13 AM
Dude1394 said...: 25 agents assigned to the fake 4 white guy hate crime.
1 agent assigned to 100 BLM hate crimes.
That’s how the democrat media wants it done.; 6/27/20, 9:15 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: The attack on Tim Carpenter was also a federal crime, conspiracy against rights.; 6/27/20, 9:30 AM
Nichevo said...: Speaking of AA's neighbors...

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/383170/

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: U. Wisconsin-Madison professor cheers protesters tearing down abolitionist, women’s progress statues.

10:30 am by Glenn Reynolds

That would be...

they had a supporter in a University of Wisconsin-Madison Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies.

Professor Sami Schalk, who describes herself on Twitter as a “Sarcastic fat Black disabled queer femme,”

You know her? Pals much? Wonder what she thinks of you.; 6/27/20, 9:57 AM
Openidname said...: "William said...

"Devonere Johnson sounds more like a gangster than an activist."

Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.; 6/27/20, 10:02 AM
Big Mike said...: I want to believe her because she’s young and I don’t want to believe someone would lie like this.

@StoughtonSconnie, you’ve never dealt with two year olds, have you?; 6/27/20, 10:18 AM
Unknown said...: > The FBI has also entered the investigation of that incident the other night — the allegation that 4 white men threw lighter fluid and a lit lighter at a black woman who was stopped at a State Street intersection.

Smollet.

Wallace.

Always fakes.; 6/27/20, 10:24 AM
Bob Boyd said...: A horse walks into a bar.
The bartender says, "Why the long face?"
The horse says, "Cause you're a fucking racist!"; 6/27/20, 10:27 AM
Ray - SoCal said...: If Hate Crimes is going to be a thing,

It should be used equally, no matter the race of the perpetrator.

Including for Polar Bear Hunting / The Knockout Game.

18-year-old charged for assaulting Macy’s staffer caught on viral video

There seems to be a real double standard of justice in the US.

People assaulted at the San Jose Trump Rally due to GOVERNMENT ACTIONS, NOTHING HAPPENS! Oh, some training and an apology. 4 Years later! City Government and Police claimed immunity.

San Jose: Lawsuit over violent Donald Trump rally settled; 6/27/20, 10:30 AM
Howard said...: Shouting Thomas: Good to see you, buddy. I missed you, but was never worried.; 6/27/20, 10:41 AM
Original Mike said...: For all of the people asking "Why federal charges?", Althouse gives the how, David gives the why.

Blogger Dave Begley said..."Federal charges! The U.S. Attorney doing the job that the Dane County Attorney fails and refuses to do."; 6/27/20, 10:48 AM
DEEBEE said...: The flaccidity of the response of people around him makes me wonder if this is staged or have the blue eyes and pink lips been so cowed down.; 6/27/20, 10:59 AM
Narr said...: I dunno, did you see the size of that guy's bat?

It goes without saying that a lot of these hot and bothered pretty young wypipo are cruising for some bbc.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have any objection to pretty young wypipo cruising for bbc; sometimes the visual is quite charming.

Narr
I guess I'm not colorblind; 6/27/20, 11:20 AM
Rabel said...: "The owner then received Johnson’s Venmo [Paypal] information."

That, along with the out-of-state phone number, gave an aggressive federal prosecutor an opportunity to apply the Hobbs Act, which requires a Commerce Clause hook to make the extortion a federal crime.

Always demand cash when strong-arming the locals.; 6/27/20, 11:40 AM
Birkel said...: I hope he gets the max.
BLM wants to be the mob.
Now that let them go to prison like the mob.

Roll up their networks.; 6/27/20, 11:42 AM
mccullough said...: The Hobbs Act was passed in 1946 to make robbery and extortion affecting commerce (which is pretty much every robbery or extortion but it definitely covers a business) a federal crime.

Some Congress members voted against the act because this conduct was already criminal under every states laws.

The majority who passed the act acknowledged this, but said that local law enforcement often was not doing a good job of enforcing its laws.

Looking at these cities the last month, they are not doing a good job. They are soft.; 6/27/20, 11:43 AM
Tina Trent said...: Ann, do something or shut the fuck up. You're a goddamn constitutional law attorney. Grow up, man up, and act. Your blogging is immaterial now. Write an op-ed for the local paper.

Get out of your fucking sunrise comfort zone. Innocent people are being beaten to a pulp because of their skin color in your neighborhood. What does it take for you to stop pretending this doesn't affect you?

You coward.; 6/27/20, 11:48 AM
Tina Trent said...: Of course, innocent victims were always victimized in Madison for other reasons, and you were a coward about them too, but one might think you'd give a crap to defend your reputation to comment on this particular atrocity, because it's a popular one.

You know. Attention getting.; 6/27/20, 11:52 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Barr doing the job of the Dane County DA. Sad that it has come to this.

The people of Madison need to start suing their local officials for allowing their civil rights to be violated.; 6/27/20, 11:58 AM
Birkel said...: This was mostly peaceful extortion by a mostly unarmed man.; 6/27/20, 12:09 PM
John henry said...: Bryan Cates of Draw and Strike has a tweet thread with 30 or so similar cases of federal charges against other similar thugs.

All federal.

Good on Trump & Barr. Let these fuckers know they will not get tried by sympathetic/intimidated DAs and courts.

I suspect they will be given the opportunity to plead for a reduced sentence in exchange for information.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1276107080685039618.html; 6/27/20, 12:41 PM
MadTownGuy said...: Ann Althouse said...
"The FBI has also entered the investigation of that incident the other night — the allegation that 4 white men threw lighter fluid and a lit lighter at a black woman who was stopped at a State Street intersection."

Traffic cam at State & Gorham. Hope the recording is still available.; 6/27/20, 1:06 PM
MadTownGuy said...: Also, if cell phone tracking can be used for <a href="https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/madison/coronavirus/2020/05/02/is-your-county-staying-home--cell-phone-data-has-the-answer>contact tracing</a>, the FBI can probably use it to verify her travel before and after the hospital visit. Unless they need a FISA warrant for that. </sarc>; 6/27/20, 1:11 PM
Caligula said...: "The owner said that he supports the Black Lives Matter movement and that he had donated money to the movement."

Just as an "honest politician" is one who stays bought, an "honest protection racket" might be described as one that actually provides 'protection' one has paid for.; 6/27/20, 1:33 PM
Jupiter said...: Actually, pretty subtle, for a black thug.; 6/27/20, 1:38 PM
Jupiter said...: "He tried to call the cops on kids cutting locks to steal bicycles, and the told him they'd say he called them "n******" if he didn't put down the security phone."

You remember "The Talk" that all black parents supposedly have with their children? That's what it's about. "Any time you fuck with some cracker, and you get caught by the po-lice, just say he called you a nigger. Then they'll let you go."

The Talk.; 6/27/20, 1:52 PM
Tomcc said...: Not a good look for the movement.
First they come for the statues, then they come for the statutes. Make no mistake, this is primarily about decriminalizing criminal behavior. Reparations is only part of the equation.; 6/27/20, 2:01 PM
Jim at said...: Eventually, the citizenry won't put up with any more of this crap. And by then, it'll be far too late to put the genie back in the bottle.; 6/27/20, 2:03 PM
Tomcc said...: Once you eliminate definitive classifications for males and females, it opens up a broad spectrum of re-definitions. Right and wrong are left to the individual to determine and is entirely situation specific.; 6/27/20, 2:04 PM
Jim said...: "(she claims otherwise, but burns of that sort hurt - a lot)". . .

They threw lighter fluid on her. When Victor Galena and I were kids, we had a little game where we poured lighter fluid on our hand and lit it. The guy who could go the longest before putting his hand under hiws armpit and snuffing the flame won. I don't recall what we won, exactly or at all.

The point is that you can tolerate burning lighter fluid on your skin for a surprisingly long time, and without blistering.; 6/27/20, 2:23 PM
Original Mike said...: "Traffic cam at State & Gorham. Hope the recording is still available."

If it doesn't show Hawaiian-shirted bugaboos, I'm sure it's been deleted. And no, I am not being facetious.; 6/27/20, 2:36 PM
Original Mike said...: "Also, if cell phone tracking can be used for href="https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/madison/coronavirus/2020/05/02/is-your-county-staying-home--cell-phone-data-has-the-answer>contact tracing, the FBI can probably use it to verify her travel before and after the hospital visit. Unless they need a FISA warrant for that. "

Can't she give her permission for them to access that voluntarily?; 6/27/20, 2:42 PM
hstad said...: Blogger William said..."...When a BLM activist acts in a criminal way, the news is muted because to highlight or report on such misbehavior is racist..."6/27/20, 8:28 AM

So true - it besmirches the MSM 'fictional narrative'.; 6/27/20, 2:45 PM
Jupiter said...: Jim said...

"They threw lighter fluid on her."

Ha ha! Sure they did, Jim! You pathetic clown. Then they put a li'l noose around her li'l neck, and told her "This here's Trump country!". Then they linked arms, did a little jig, and vanished in a puff of red, white and blue glitter. It happens a lot. More and more every day. You pathetic clown.; 6/27/20, 4:43 PM
MadTownGuy said...: Original Mike said...
[Quote with corrected HTML]"Also, if cell phone tracking can be used for contact tracing, the FBI can probably use it to verify her travel before and after the hospital visit. Unless they need a FISA warrant for that. "

"Can't she give her permission for them to access that voluntarily?"

She could, if it would prove her accusation. But since the data's already being used for a legal purpose, it may not require her permission - hence my sarcastic remark about the FISA warrant.; 6/27/20, 6:38 PM
DeepRunner said...: What was once noble, in condemning racism, has now become social extortion, where the anarchy of the privileged protesters rules the day. Protest ended when the first match was lit, the first building burned, and the first business owner threatened.

Hope he does time.; 6/28/20, 12:06 AM
Tina Trent said...: A week ago, this tone-deaf blog was all about how pretty the "grafitti" was on the anti-riot-plywood (featuring vicious cop-assassins, but, hey, bygones, cops aren't really human beings). Now other non-important people like store clerks are being given brain injuries by roving gangs of racist thugs -- black klaverns of hate criminals -- and the victims' reasonable responses have been to prostate themselves and beg forgiveness.

Because they sure know mandarins like you don't have their backs.

I blame all of this on the comfortable academic classes who for decades pandered to, empowered, and excused the new black Klans growing on their campuses, so long as they fiddled loud enough to postpone being the mobs' next targets. Now some tenured peofessors get to feel what the rest of us have been feeling for 30 years and suddenly it's a disgrace and an emergency and a threat to free speech.

You people are the only people who have had speech protections -- not a freedom, a sinecure -- and what did you do with it? Nothing.

Welcome to the world you empowered and were amused by as we earned out here in the world, unprotected by the professional privileges and calculated pandering of the academic set. You, Professor Jacobson, Instapundit, Jordan Peterson: now you'll see what life has been like while you pooh-pooed us as radicals, alt-right, outside the pale, not like you. As you sheepishly voted one radical after another into your departments for jobs for life with nary a peep, then, after having overseen the destruction of all that is good about higher education with nary a peep, you retired on pensions paid by the very shopkeepers whose economic losses you've gallingly mocked here for weeks like it was some charming art project created to amuse you.

It won't end well, like all revolutions. Eventually, you'll find yourself next in line for the bus tire facial, once you've shoved everyone in front of you under the tires. And think to yourself what, if anything, will you have done to stop it?; 6/28/20, 3:26 AM