I was pleased yesterday for a brief moment when I chanced upon Senator Kamala Harris making a national address. She offered the counter-argument to Trump hours before the final night of the Republican National Convention. Her speech was about a lot of things – the pandemic, Trump’s failures of leadership, and she made a case against Trump which was made by many during the DNC: Trump is simply incompetent. That was the crux of Michelle Obama’s speech too. Regarding the early days of the pandemic, Kamala said, “Donald Trump froze. He was scared. And he was petty and vindictive.” She said Trump “doesn’t understand the presidency” and he makes it “all about him.”
She said the only purpose of the RNC is “to soothe Donald Trump’s ego, to make him feel good. But here’s the thing: He’s the President of the United States, and it’s not supposed to be about him. It’s supposed to be about the health and the safety and the well-being of the American people.”
Perhaps even more notable than all of that – which were just statements of fact about Trump’s thin-skinned narcissistic nature – was Senator Harris speaking about the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Trump and his Nazi lackeys are making Blake’s shooting all about “riots” and “Blue Lives Matter” and they’re turning a terrorist like Kyle Rittenhouse into some kind of white supremacist MAGA folk hero. Kamala emphasized this: Jacob Blake was “shot seven times in the back in broad daylight in front of his three young sons.” She said “the shots fired at Mr. Blake pierced the soul of our nation. It’s sickening to watch. It’s all too familiar. And it must end. Thankfully, he is alive today. But he is fighting for his life and he shouldn’t have to be.” Kamala and Joe Biden have both spoken to members of the Blake family and she stood up for the protesters, invoking the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
She also said the cop who shot Jacob Blake needs to be prosecuted. So… you know, I don’t want to hear anyone f–king say that “both sides are the same.” One side wants cops to shot every brown and black person they encounter, no questions asked. The other side wants to prosecute murderers hiding behind badges.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
This really explains why Deranged Pumpkin looked like someone shoved a dozen valium pills down his throat last night. Someone on his staff was shook by Sen Harris’s speech yesterday afternoon. It was fantastic and on point.
She’s right.
No kidding ! And should never be a cop again, and jail time..
I’m starting to be so happy about this ticket, she really compliments Biden’s strengths
The right wingers think walking is punishable by death, apparently
Anyone who comes in here victim blaming and spouting right wing talking points will get banned.
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Thank you!
I applaud you for your courage to address what is right and to not tolerate plain ignorance and stupidity. Standing Ovation!!!!
Thank you, CB.
*** it seems the comment I responded to got deleted – not sure whether it warranted that but I’ll leave that to the mods
Ryan – being a bad dude, or even reaching for a knife, should not be punishable by death without trial. How does being a bad dude, or reaching for a knife, make him culpable, as if he forced highly trained and more heavily armed cops to pull the trigger seven times?
If his shooters weren’t cops, we’d be calling this attempted murder. It wouldn’t pass the sniff test for self-defence. And cops of all people should be able to handle these situations without resorting to lethal force. Health workers – without training or weapons – frequently deal with equally dangerous situations without resorting to violence. And you best believe if a doctor shot a patient in the back seven times they’d face prosecution, whatever the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Lethal force should be the last resort and cops who pull the trigger a moment sooner should have to answer for that, just like doctors have to answer for harm to patients – it’s called professional accountability.
In front of his kids. HIS KIDS. I will NEVER get over that. Children are taught that police are here to protect us all, and they had to watch a “protector” attempt to murder their father. Shooting him in the back like a f*cking coward. That image will likely never leave those kids’ minds. It wasn’t enough to destroy Jacob Blake’s body, he had to destroy those kids’ innocence, too. That cop deserves to rot.
Edit: Does anyone know if there are legit fundraisers to help out with Blake’s care, or his kids’ therapy or education (or what the hell, even just a trip to Disney World or something)?
The Go Fund Me page for Jacob Blake had raised over $1.4m in its first two days. Google it and you can probably find it. It’s legit.
Edit: As of today his GoFundMe page states:
$1,993,600 raised of $2,000,000 goal
Thank you! Between my fiance and I, my 3 brothers and their wives, and my dad and stepmom, they can add another $1200 to that.
God, that picture they use on the Go Fund Me page is killing me. The sweet little faces on those boys…knowing what some of them witnessed…it’s heartbreaking and infuriating. And now we learn that Jacob Blake is handcuffed to his hospital bed. Because, you know, paraplegics are such a flight risk.
@Miranda – You’re quite welcome.
Fortunately, Jacob Blake’s father pointed out the horrible fact of his son’s leg being cuffed to his hospital bed to the media and it was removed. Yes, that leg. One of the pair that doesn’t work any longer.
I’m glad that the March on Washington, commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which was given 57 years ago to this day, provided a forum for many of the African American families of recent victims. There was an exceptional turnout, and the majority of people were masked and distanced. MLK’s son also spoke, and his granddaughter did as well. Let me tell you, I think she -at 12 years old- did a much better job with her speech than the president did last night in his 70-minute (a record for any acceptance speech) Rant of Lies.
The March on Washington tribute was in stark contrast to the event DT held in front of a live crowd outside in New Hampshire, also held today. The Trumpster crowd was NOT socially distanced, and very few were masked. It was not until it was announced over the P.A. system that the crowd must comply with the state law that people began putting on their masks – while they booed. #Covidiots
For the life of me I cannot understand how this crap continues. It is so unjustI just can’t even find the words to articulate how horrific this is. Black people brown people people of color can’t even go outside without fear of being hunted shot permanently injured or killed. And as we know with Brianna Taylor she didn’t even have to leave her house she didn’t even have to leave her bed. I read somewhere and I don’t know if it’s a legit article or not that the KKK and the alt-right have infiltrated the police department’s all over the country and have been doing so for years and growing in numbers. Whether or not it’s true given what’s going on every day and has been going on every day for years It’s certainly believable. I feel so sad and despondent I can’t even articulate my thoughts properly. Sorry for rambling