I do think (and feel) that Putin, the Saudi's and the money behind tRUMP and the Orange Nightmare were intentionally "stoking the fire" and "trying to start a race war" Just like Taylor Swift tweeted. I think he wanted to declare martial law so he can manipulate the election, but what's even more evil about him is I actually sensed he doesn't care if his supporters - or anyone for that matter is killed in the process.I don't think he will succeed, and this may even backfire on them.
Taylor Swift also tweeted that "We are going to vote you out in November" to the Orange nightmare too. Yay Taylor! She got more likes from that tweet than any other - ever.
The good part I felt over the weekend though, is that the tide is turning. I also feel that this movement will actually - FINALLY - tackle over the next 1.5 - 2 years the racism in American and it will bring great change for the good. Kindness and love will prevail. It may get worse before it gets better, but tRUMP will not succeed and he and the GOP are toast come the election.
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Beautifully said, VestraLux. We are so lucky to have you among us. @Ana we are glad you’ve joined us and warmly welcome you. We need each other as we bear witness in the days, weeks and months ahead.
The good part I felt over the weekend though, is that the tide is turning. I also feel that this movement will actually - FINALLY - tackle over the next 1.5 - 2 years the racism in American and it will bring great change for the good. Kindness and love will prevail. It may get worse before it gets better, but tRUMP will not succeed and he and the GOP are toast come the election.
Oh I hope and pray so--all of it. It is so disheartening that over 50 years since the civil rights era and black folks are still being murdered with impunity in this country.
I hope so too! My timing might be a bit off and It won't solve racism - but there will be some new laws that will be for the good.
Is that a price minorities want to pay? It's a question they might ask of themselves.
So, when you criticize the reactions of oppressed people—those who have been far more impacted by policing and the criminal justice system as a whole than you can understand—your intention falls flat.
Thank you, Vestralux for sticking with your point and putting your energy into an eloquent explanation. You are right. Ironically in Boston last night, the protestors who turned confrontational at the end of the night included a fair number of white men. I don't know who they are or why they came, but I'm going to guess that the white man I saw on the front page of the Boston Globe grappling with police -- not violently, but refusing to be pushed back down the street -- I felt that that white man was incensed about the oppression of blacks. Many whites, like you, like me, and like many who come to this forum, are angry at the oppression of our black brothers and sisters. We stand with them.
I am a hopeless half-glass-full person. I lived through the 60's and all subsequent turbulent times. While this IS tragic and painful, I see some small rays of hope. The protestors (the peaceful ones) are of all races. In some cities, (not enough), law enforcement joined in taking a knee for the nine minutes that George Floyd suffered. I am listening to numerous Black commentators with microphones in their hands on the streets across the country. Numerous Black regular contributors grace nearly every news show I watch. Joy Reid has her own show as a host, and she's terrific. I have a former President who is Black and makes us proud at every turn both here and abroad. We are not in the same place, but we DO still have a ton of work to do. We cannot let down. Police departments must purge their departments of hate. A light must be shone on exemplary departments around the country who embrace their communities with compassion. ...and there are some. Better training must follow. Finally, I find hope in the glimpses of young white people carrying Black Lives Matter signs and signs that say SILENCE IS NOT THE ANSWER, etc. They are not starting where my generation did. I have hope.
@vestralux and @Laura-f thank you for your passion. I read your posts with great interest.
These words are from a dear friend who lives in NC. She's blunt like me (also from NY - go figure haha), but she has a gift for brevity that I don't.
To the best of my knowledge, below recaps what is happening, and clearly, I am not going to capture everything as a white person, but:
1. the system continues to say black lives do not matter
2. the system also says 'stuff' is more important than black lives
3. if these four murdering cops were arrested and charged, we wouldn't be here (as well as other murdering racists that have made the news)
4. apparently taking a knee a year ago+ was a problem too
5. there are documented incidents that some of this violence and looting is done by white supremacists to incite the police more (many people are demonstrating against trump too)
6. there are documented incidents of peaceful demonstrations until police fired tear gas and rubber bullets - or worse.
I believe i have the main points, but if those in power continue to oppress, kill, or fail to protect those who are already oppressed, then we will be back here every single time.
@ Seeker4 I salute you. That is the way to go: finding the rays of hope. I pray that this really is the turning point the USA needs and do feel that with this, Covid and all the crap the world is now going through it cannot be anything less.
@ Allyn and Laura F, keep your passion going;-) It's what makes change happen.
Stay safe all.
Well said, and I have hope as well for the future. Coming of age in the era of Malcolm X, Black Panthers, AIM and the atrocious Vietnam war was quite an experience in San Francisco back when. I ran into Angela Davis a couple of times there. What a woman! Attitudah!
We were so hopelessly naive perhaps, and as Lennon once said "You say you want a revolution ...well? you know, you can count me out ..."
Having trudged through all the changes since, I feel that violent anarchy is still not the answer...
There is a better way forward, and if we do not learn from the past ... sigh.
And here we are. The exception being that the spiritual planes are sinking closer to our Earth, and the transformation cycle is deeper than ever before. Here's to ascension, and the gifts that Spirit is bestowing on us all ... hopefully the consciousness of non-violence will finally be understood.
The true revolution is within. What is happening in our 3D world is the manifestation of transformation like never before, and if the s is inside the s will come out. How else can we allow Spirit to enter?
My hope is that the new paradigm is going to manifest with as least suffering as possible.....
Thanks so much, everyone. ?
Has anyone else noticed the sudden resurgence of Anonymous hactivist posters on Twitter? Initially, I was excited (I'd seen the name flash across my mind back in the winter and thought they might be coming back), but now I'm ... suspicious.
The first thing to note is that their apparent data dump related to the rape case of a 14-year-old girl in which DJT and Epstein were co-defendants isn't new. This information, including the court documents, had already been revealed and reported (in Newsweek, I think it was) well before T was "elected." The story never gained traction during the campaign for legitimate reasons: no journalist could get the former victim to go on record, and nothing else appeared to substantiate the case.
It's a horrifying story (there were actually two child victims) and I'm personally inclined to believe it—always have. But that doesn't make it a viable news story and, again, it isn't new. Everything else they appear to be dumping in a great "Epstein & DJT data trove" also isn't new, even though they seem to want us to believe it is. They're calling for countries to investigate.
They're also claiming that QAnon and Pizzagate were sophisticated disinfo ops created to deflect and detract the truth about a global sex trafficking conspiracy among the very wealthy and powerful which was organized to convince the public that Dems were responsible. (And make people insane in the process, I guess.) This, I partly believe because it's a well-known tactic: convince the public that your opponent is guilty of the sins you yourself expect to commit with impunity. Evangelical preachers do it all day. Republican politicians do it all day. T does this all day, every day.
There's a lot more to all this, but what's interesting to our conversation here is that they're obsessively tweeting opposition to the notion that any rioters may be outside agitators. And they're pushing a steady campaign that images of kneeling police, hugging police, and anyone present to clean up after protests are propaganda and should not be accepted as real. This could be hard left anarchism, sure, but it feels far more like Russian active measures. Just like the CIA has done in other countries, Russia would see this moment as a massive opportunity and want to foment as much extremism, hostility, and discord as possible. Divide = conquer.
I do NOT believe George Floyd's murder was a Russian measure (there's a popular Twitter account, a liberal attorney, who's been hammering this idea home). That's full-tilt conspiracy thinking to my mind. But I do believe it's possible Russia is behind these Anonymous accounts and posts. Interesting that they're claiming the same to have been true about Wikileaks (we know it was) and say that this is what initially brought them down.
I believe i have the main points, but if those in power continue to oppress, kill, or fail to protect those who are already oppressed, then we will be back here every single time.
The well-known police motto "to serve and protect" is usually assumed to mean that the police are here to protect us and have a duty to do so. As much as I hate to say it, no, they do not. I am not simply spouting anti-police propaganda; this is a legal fact. There have been at least two Supreme Court decisions in the last 40 years which affirm that the police have no duty to protect citizens, even when they know that failure to do so will result in injury or death. Here is one of them:
https://www.barneslawllp.com/blog/police-not-required-protect
In the 1989 landmark case of DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the failure by government workers to protect someone...did not breach any substantive constitutional duty...(T)he Court found that the government had no affirmative duty to protect any person, even a child, from harm by another person. “Nothing in the language of the Due Process Clause itself requires the State to protect the life, liberty, and property of its citizens against invasion by private actors," stated Chief Justice Rehnquist for the majority, "even where such aid may be necessary to secure life, liberty, or property interests of which the government itself may not deprive the individual" without “due process of the law.”
There are officers and departments who will and do protect their citizens, but we all need to be aware that there is no legal requirement for them to do so.
I too am following posts by these Anonymous folk on twitter and have noticed they all seem to be very anti-Biden. For that reason (in addition to the ones you've discussed), I'm eyeing them VERY suspiciously.
Thank you! I totally left that part out. Very weird stuff going on here. Feels like a mass brainwashing operation and it saddens me to see so many swallowing it without question.
Beautiful avatar, btw.
@stargazer I humbly bow to your wisdom as well! Thank you!
@vestralux I have mad respect for your insights and spiritual gifts!
@Laura F. Keep on rocken your warrior!
I'm not on Twitter, but I think you all are onto something. As I mentioned several times, there's an article in this month's Atlantic, while very depressing, that outlines exactly what Russia has been up to and how successful they have been.
Found the post I referred to:
Very sad news.
St. John’s Church, a historic landmark opened in 1816 and attended by every president since James Madison was set ablaze in Washington DC. It is also know for its "pew of presidents". Firefighters quickly extinguished the basement fire, which police was intentionally set.
I think I misread because the last sentence is missing the word [police] said...
And so it begins ...
-- T. is calling the "liberal" governors and mayors weak for their inability to control the protests in their cities and states.
-- This morning I'd heard that T. mentioned calling out the military if the protests are not controlled.
-- W. Barr is blaming the looting, burning and destruction on extreme left-wing agitators.
I have two questions:
When in the hell are those other three police officers going to be charged?
Does anyone here think that the mainstream media will fully catch up and report on what's really going on with the protests? I'm talking specifically about the outside agitators. You’re hearing bits and pieces of such stories, but from what I can tell, it hasn’t gained much traction. I’m concerned that W. Barr is planting the seed of the “extreme left-wing,” and if that remains unchallenged, he will accomplish what he successfully managed to do with the Mueller report.