12 Years Later
Netanyahu Is Out
June 15, 2021

A coalition Israeli government was elected to replace Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. It is great news because Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister for the past twelve years, was bad for all of Israel and the middle east. Any leader who starts wars for personal gain and power is not an actual leader.

What's next for the coalition government?

Certainly they need to clear out twelve years of corruption. The banner above says, “End Israeli Apartheid.” That would be great. To say End Oppression is also a good motto, wherever you are, whether it is Jerusalem or Minneapolis. Voter rights and a truer democracy would also be good. And its military needs to be integrated. Do I know how tough all of that would be? Yes, I do.  

I sometimes fall into the shorthand notion of the Two-State Solution. It sounds simple enough. Too simple. As simple and as stupid as a wall. The Two-State Solution is no solution. It is just more division. Israel needs more communication, more talk, more cooperation, more compassion, and way less fear.

Sunday was a good day for Israel and Palestine. May there be many more.

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Music Associations: The Beatles - Come Together  vs.  Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall



 














32 Years Later
The Sea of Humanity & Tiananmen Man
June 5, 2021 (or May 36, 2021)



Communist dictatorships fear nonviolent demonstrations and mass protests, because that's their origin story, and 1989 was a banner year for change. The Chinese student and worker protests in May of 1989 were brutally squashed in June of 1989, like people on bicycles under tanks.

Ancient history? Hardly. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) remains frightened of its people, of an uprising. On the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, a white-washing campaign has hit the Internet to make records of the massacre harder to find.

But not impossible.


Beijing Massacre — Slide 1

Students gathered for pro-democracy reforms around China after the sudden death of reformer Hu Yaobang. The largest student gathering was at Tiananmen Square in smoggy Beijing. Tiananmen Square is the largest public space in the world, created on an inhuman scale. The monumental public buildings that line the edges and the vast, treeless spaces in between speak of the insignificance of the individual before the might of the state. Fill it with protesters and the inhuman scale of Tiananmen is tipped to a sea of humanity.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 2

Reform protesters gather in Tiananmen Square on May 4, 1989. While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had silenced previous demonstrations, the violent retaking of the square on June 4, 1989, was so brutal that it has since become known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre. It was a massacre, but nearly all of the thousands of deaths occurred outside the square itself and in other parts of the city. It could more accurately be called the Beijing Massacre but the symbol is Tiananmen Square. We still don’t know how many people died there, as the Chinese government has done everything in its power to suppress and forget about the activities that took place that day. The estimates are that a minimum of 10,000 people were killed. The most specific, credible number is 10,454 killed.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 3

A pro-democracy movement leader talks into a microphone as he gives a press conference in Tiananmen Square. According to The Independent, a secret British cable from the time (slide 37) alleged that a minimum of 10,000 people were massacred that day. Those who were merely wounded were simply bayoneted to death as they pleaded for mercy. Victims were then incinerated — and “hosed down the drains.” Much of the collective understanding of this historic violence and the surrounding Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 has been based on presumably false data from the CCP.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 4

Before the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, the CCP was desperate to quash what they saw as “bourgeois liberalism,” a broad phrase suggesting several kinds of resistance to the government’s strict and repressive political doctrine. China’s educated youth were fed up with that very repressiveness as well as the country’s wealth being funneled to corrupt leaders at the top only for price inflations and poor job prospects to burden the masses. Hu Yaobang, a general secretary in the CCP since 1980, had been encouraging the government to listen to its citizenry. He fought from within to sway his peers into supporting democratic reforms and providing the youth with more opportunities. By 1987, he was ousted, and forced to resign. On April 15, 1989, he died — and became an immediate martyr to those fighting for his cause. Tens of thousands of students organized a protest at Tiananmen Square on the day of Hu’s funeral, April 22. While similar efforts were undertaken in cities across China, Beijing’s demonstration was the focal point of this national movement. At the same time, countless journalists were in Beijing to report on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s arrival that May. Soon after, it was no longer just a student protest; the number of protesters in Tiananmen Square reached 1 million — and garnered global media coverage.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 5

Waving banners, high school students march in Beijing streets near Tiananmen Square on May 25, 1989, during a rally to support the protest against the Chinese government.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 6

Regular workers, regular people joined the protests. This picture was from May 24, 1989. Pilots had their banners. The army and navy were there. Doctors and nurses waved their banners. Journalists had banners promoting the right to tell the truth.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 7

A chalk board in Tiananmen Square declares, “Victory belongs to us forever!” in English for the western journalists.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 8

Riding motorcycles and waving flags, Chinese workers parade through Beijing streets on May 18, 1989, in support of student hunger strikers.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 9

Students from a Beijing nursing school attend to hunger strikers during the protests.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 10

Paramedics evacuate an ailing hunger striker from Beijing University at Tiananmen Square, as students enter the fifth day of hunger strikes.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 11

Demonstrators cart the “Goddess of Democracy” to Tiananmen Square on June 1st. The statue was loosely based on the Statue of Liberty to represent their desire for a more democratic rule in Communist China. Once erected in Tiananmen Square, this proved to be the last act of defiance by protesters before the massacre began.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 12

Crowds of people watch the unveiling of the “Goddess of Democracy” sculpture in Tiananmen Square. Protesters usually topple statues. They usually don't put new statues up.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 13

Banners wave while the “Goddess of Democracy” statue looks on. Is she holding ice cream? It looks like ice cream.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 14

The CCP declared martial law on May 20 and mobilized at least 30 People's Army divisions from five of the country's seven military regions. As many as 250,000 troops were eventually sent to Beijing. The army's entry into the capitol was blocked in the suburbs by throngs of protesters.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 15

Tens of thousands of demonstrators surrounded military vehicles, preventing them from either advancing or retreating. PBS Frontline 2410 - April 11, 2006 (transcript).

Beijing Massacre — Slide 16

Local residents lectured soldiers and appealed to them to join their cause. They were asked why the People's Army should be attacking the people. “Brother soldiers, you should be defenders of the people.” PBS Frontline 2410 - April 11, 2006 (transcript).

Beijing Massacre — Slide 17

Locals also provided soldiers with food, water, and shelter. And ice cream. From PBS Frontline 2410 - April 11, 2006 (transcript).

Beijing Massacre — Slide 18

Beijing residents provided soldiers with food, water, and shelter.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 19

Seeing no way forward, the CCP ordered the army to withdraw on May 24th, regroup at bases outside the city, and rearm (with AK-47s and type 56 rifles with bayonets).

Beijing Massacre — Slide 20

On the fourth of June, just before the massacre, pro-democracy reform demonstrators pulled barricades across Changan Avenue in order to try and hold up People's Army soldiers fighting their way towards Tiananmen Square.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 21

“Does this bus go to Tiananmen?” Demonstrators overturn a bus in front of a burning truck on Changan Avenue in order to try to hold up soldiers.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 22


Beijing Massacre — Slide 23

How many People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers does it take to beat a man and his bicycle?!? Obviously from the fourth of June 1989.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 24

Buses and vehicles burn as demonstrators retreat down Changan Avenue during the Tiananmen Square massacre on the fourth of June 1989.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 25

I'm not showing this. What you are not seeing is a dead soldier with uh... an open mind. On the fourth of June, the People's Army did not just kill over 10,000 civilians. The People's Army also killed 27 of its own soldiers. Judging from the reaction of some of the civilians, that may have happened in the picture that would have been here. War is a disgusting hell. I once played paintball and shot my own teammates. It was ugly but nothing like this.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 26

What you don't see here is another picture of a thoroughly dead soldier. The number of different ways this soldier was killed (hanged, gutless, burned, impaled) screams out that this was the PLA at play. He had to be one of the 27.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 27

A wounded protester is carried away.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 28

A wounded protester is carted away.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 29

What I'm not showing here is a large pile of bodies in a corner of the Capitol hospital. This photo that is not shown is credited to Dario Mitidien and Getty Images.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 30

Bodies and bikes litter the streets of Beijing on the fourth of June 1989.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 31

More bodies and bikes litter the streets of Beijing on the fourth of June 1989.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 32

Still more bodies and bikes litter the streets of Beijing on the fourth of June 1989.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 33

Barriers, buses, and destruction litter the streets.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 34

An armored personnel carrier with flattened bicycles stuck to its side, near Tiananmen Square on June 4th.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 35

Bicycles flattened by tanks.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 36

Buses flattened by tanks.

Beijing Massacre — Slide 37

Previously secret cable from Sir Alan Donald (then British ambassador to China) from June 5, 1989 described the events of the previous 2 days. “The atrocities against thousands of pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square had been coordinated by the 27 Army of Shanxi Province. The 27 Army APCs [armored personnel carriers] opened fire on the crowd before running over them. APCs ran over troops and civilians at 65kph [40 miles per hour]. The bodies were [repeatedly] run over... and remains collected by bulldozer.”

Tiananmen Man — Tank Man — Slide 38

This photo of Tank Man near Tiananmen Square on the fifth of June 1989 was taken by Associated Press photographer Terril Jones using a Nikon F-801 SLR camera. Tank Man is the fourth smallest man in the picture near the bus on the left. The bicyclist may be the same bicyclist that rode over to Tank Man after the confrontation with the tanks. This is a great picture, only revealed to the world in 2009.

Tiananmen Man — Tank Man — Slide 39

This photo of Tank Man near Tiananmen Square on the fifth of June 1989 was taken by Stuart Franklin and gives a sense of scale to this lone man defiantly stopping a column of tanks after all the events of the preceding weeks.

Tiananmen Man — Tank Man — Slide 40

This photo of Tank Man near Tiananmen Square on the fifth of June 1989 was taken by Jeff Widener AP, from a sixth-floor balcony of the Beijing Hotel, using a Nikon FE2 camera through a Nikkor 400mm 5.6 ED-IF lens and TC-301 teleconverter. Or else it was taken by Charlie Cole AP, who was also photographing from a balcony of the Beijing Hotel. I'm not certain.

The story of Tank Man is a short story. You don't have to sit down for this one. After the horrendous massacre of over 10,000 people in Beijing in June of 1989, an unknown man was crossing Changan Avenue with his jacket and a white plastic bag of groceries. He sees more than a dozen type-59 tanks coming down the wide road. He stops in front of them. They stop in front of him. He yells at the front tank. He waves his arms. They move to go around him. He gets back in their way. The tank shuts off its engine. He continues to yell at them. He climbs the tank and yells at them. He climbs down the side. They start back up. He gets back in their way. People come and escort him away. (Tank Man video by CNN)

The defiance.

The strength of character.

The will to say, “Enough is enough.”

Great.

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Music Association: Staind - So Far Away




















Protesters Blame Netanyahu
May 23, 2021


Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem last night. Protesters said that Netanyahu is leading Israel into chaos to prevent a changed government.

Organizers referred to recent violence in Israel and the Operation Guardian of the Walls, placing blame with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and saying “the sane majority demands a change” from Netanyahu's leadership. They called on political leaders to work to create a unity government in Israel that would lead to national peacemaking and save Israel from Netanyahu's dangerous leadership.

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Music Association: Eric Clapton - Change The World








Protests for Palestine
May 22, 2021


Global protests in support of peace and Palestine are taking place today and tomorrow.

The locations and links are listed at Samidoun - Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity, with 53 protest locations in the United States today.

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Music Association: Aerosmith - Walk This Way









More Than 230 Dead In Gaza, 12 Dead In Israel
Israeli Cease-Fire
May 20, 2021


Egypt negotiated a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas effective at 6 p.m. U.S. central time tonight and 2 a.m. Friday morning in Israel.

As of tonight, the Israeli aerial and artillery campaign killed more than 230 people in Gaza, half of them civilians. Rockets from Gaza killed 12 people. Israeli shells damaged Gaza hospitals, schools, electricity, water, sewers, roads, and tunnels. One five-foot, Israeli unexploded rocket damaged a bedroom and flattened a bed.



It's election season again in Israel. Twelve-year Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a multi-count corruption trial and a re-election campaign.

So of course, the military conducts a new wave of Palestinian colonization, and after Palestinian demonstrations, bombs Gaza (the Gaza concentration camp). Netanyahu is wagging the dog. More than 242 people are dead so that Netanyahu can get re-elected.

On Sunday's Face The Nation, John Dickerson asked Netanyahu, “You are under investigation for bribery, fraud, breach of trust. You've also had some difficulty — four failed attempts — to put together a government in the last 23 months. This leads to the criticism that your current actions are basically an effort to stay in power.”

“That's preposterous,” Netanyahu insisted and then told an irrelevant story about a soldier who “died in my arms.”

The Gaza bombings are a military campaign for right-wing votes.


Unfavorable Reactions To The Conflict

Yesterday at the U.S. House of Representatives, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Pocan and Rashida Tlaib introduced a resolution to block a $735 million sale of precision-guided weapons to Israel.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez said, “We have a responsibility to protect human rights.”  We should “not be rubber-stamping weapons sales to the Israeli government as they deploy our resources to target international media outlets, schools, hospitals, humanitarian missions, and civilian sites for bombing.”

Israel should be required “to respect basic Palestinian rights,” she said.

In the U.S. Senate today, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a similar resolution to block weapons to Israel. Senator Sanders said, “At a moment when U.S.-made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we cannot simply let another huge arms sale go through without even a congressional debate. I believe that the United States must help lead the way to a peaceful and prosperous future for both Israelis and Palestinians. We need to take a hard look at whether the sale of these weapons is actually helping do that, or whether it is simply fueling conflict.”

At a special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly today, Secretary General António Guterres called for a halt to the bloodshed and destruction. “The fighting must stop immediately,” he said. “I appeal to all parties to cease hostilities now, and I reiterate my call on all sides for an immediate cease-fire.”

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity. Lobbying and other tactics against BDS were revealed in a 2018 exposé (Full video, part 1, part 2, part 3, & part 4).

And at Last Week Tonight (last weekend), John Oliver offered a Peace Plan in an envelope, which is more than Jared Kushner ever had.

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Music Association: Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall
Previously on Hopes and Dreams
#BoycottApartheid, #FreePalestine, #End the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine












Nuanced
May 16, 2021


The problem with the lifting of mask mandates is in the details.

Most of the headlines and announcements say the masks can come off after the second shot of a Covid19 vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna). However, the second shot isn't fully effective until two weeks after it was administered.

If someone is coughing up a storm, I'm not going to go up to them maskless and talk about the stormy weather.

The mask mandates had to be lifted not for individuals and not to follow sensible science. The mask mandates had to be lifted in a bigger, societal picture. The vaccines will only protect people for so long. How long? It is more than six months and more than eight months. It might be a year; it might not be. The CEO of Pfizer said there will be Covid19 booster shots next year.

While over half of Americans have been vaccinated, the masks come off to encourage the other half of the country and to put them at risk to supposedly cause them to get vaccinated.

It's like a traffic light in the middle of the night.

It's not that it helps the one lone car on the road stuck at a red light while everyone else sleeps. Whether vaccinated or not, mask removing will not help the individual. It might help their business or their ability to get teachers to babysit their kids. And removing masks helps the villains who insidiously want to breathe their Covid19 breath on others.

If people had everyone's best interests in mind and at heart, mask mandates wouldn't be necessary. People would be wearing masks. It's a pandemic.

Half of the reason I wear a mask is for me and half is for you.

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Music Association: The Spaniels - Stormy Weather








Star Wars Day
Who Got Shot First?
May the Fourth be 2021


I'm not much of a Star Wars fan or a Star Trek fan or a Star Tribune fan. But since today isn't Star Trek day or Star Tribune day, I'll give two three reasons that I'm not a Star Wars fan.


If those reasons aren't enough, there are plenty more reasons in the Star Wars universe, including the who-shot-whom-first nonsense.

I once knew an elderly wife who would remind her elderly husband to shoot himself. (He had daily medications.) “Have you shot yourself?” she would ask.

I've been vaccinated.

The United States has more vaccines than it has people wanting to be vaccinated. According to some polls, not enough Americans want to get their shots, and the United States may not have enough immunized people to reach herd immunity. That means there will be third doses of the vaccines next year. The masks will stay on. And the health, entertainment, and hospitality industries will continue to suffer.

The pandemic will continue until the covidiots are ready for it to end.

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Music Association: Erich Korngold - King’s Row & Gustav Holst - The Planets - Mars, the Bringer of War
see link for details of the Star Wars music cues


   









After the Trial of Derek Chauvin
What's Next?
April 22, 2021


The Derek Chauvin guilty verdicts have delivered a brief sigh of relief for the people of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Chauvin is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25th at 1:30pm CT. The murder of George Floyd was a group effort, and the other three former Minneapolis 3rd Precinct officers are scheduled to stand trial March 7, 2022. Before then, there will be a Federal civil rights trial of Derek Chauvin. Then there's the trial of former Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police officer Kim Potter who killed Daunte Wright. And then there's the next Minnesota police murder that hasn't happened yet but will.

People should be prepared to be the next Darnella Frazier. She used a smartphone to upload video directly to Facebook. Another option is ACLU’s Mobile Justice app. Send your video directly to them while witnessing police misconduct, discrimination, or voting rights violations. Being a witness makes a difference. People with an iPhone can tell Siri, “Siri, I’m getting pulled over,” and it automatically starts a video recording using your front-facing camera.

Pretextual traffic stops must end. Issues like air fresheners hanging from rearview mirrors should either be addressed through traffic camera mailings or not addressed at all.

The University of Minnesota Department of Computer Science is using buggy code to attack the Linux Kernel. How does that help, you ask? I'm asking the same thing.

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Music Association: Paul McCartney - Another Day






















The George Floyd Murder
The Trial Of Derek Chauvin
April 20, 2021


The jury found Derek Chauvin guilty on all three counts for the murder of George Floyd today at 4:07pm CT.

The racism of policing, the judicial system, and American society must end.


Darnella Frazier is my hero.

From the GoFundMe page for the Peace and Healing of Darnella:

“Darnella Frazier, the brave young woman who filmed the murder of George Floyd, deserves peace and healing. In addition to the trauma of watching a black man be murdered by police, she has had to deal with trolls, bullies and ignorant people harassing her online. It took unbelievable courage for her to stand there and bear witness to such an awful tragedy.”

Darnella Frazier filmed the murder of George Floyd by former officer Derek Chauvin, even while Chauvin stared her down, trying to intimidate her. Her video and still images from her video were instrumental in the trial, and she also testified against Chauvin at the trial.

Thank you, Darnella Frazier.

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Music Association: Van Halen - Right Now












The George Floyd Murder
The Trial Of Derek Chauvin
April 19, 2021


The prosecution is making its closing arguments in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.

The trial is about life and the right to live and the contempt of life by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Many businesses throughout the Twin Cities are boarded up to protect property. This is the first trial in Minnesota history to be televised, and the closing arguments are being covered live by all five local channels.

George Floyd's last words were, “Please, I can't breathe.”

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Music Association: The Police - Every Breath You Take






















The Daunte Wright Murder
Policing the Police
April 12, 2021


What are we now — the Florida of the North?!?

“Oh Shit! I just shot him!”

Yes, officer, you did. That's what pulling the trigger at point-blank range does. And what was this all about? An air-freshener?!?


Yesterday, a Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police officer shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black father, during a traffic stop by confusing (?!?) a gun and a tazer. The police officer, a police union president and 26 year police veteran, supposedly mistook her gun for a tazer.

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Music Association: B.J. Thomas - Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
Movie Association: Police Academy
Acronym Association: WTF




 





The George Floyd Murder
The Trial Of Policing
April 11, 2021


Two weeks have passed in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Witness and body cam videos provided front row seats to the murder of George Floyd. Witness testimonies have shown bystanders seeing Chauvin's suffocation of George Floyd and they spoke up but have felt guilty for not having done more to stop Chauvin.

Ranking police officers testified repeatedly that Chauvin was acting outside of police procedure, as if Chauvin was one bad apple in an orchard of sweet, unblemished fruit.

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said there was nothing reasonable about Chauvin keeping his knee on the handcuffed suspect’s neck for 9½ minutes. “Once Mr. Floyd had stopped resisting, and certainly once he was in distress and trying to verbalize that, that should have stopped,” Arradondo said. Lt. Richard Zimmerman, who leads the Minneapolis Police Department's homicide unit, said Chauvin's use of force while George Floyd was already pinned down and handcuffed was “totally unnecessary.”

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Jody Stiger testified that Chauvin was inflicting pain on George Floyd, while he was handcuffed and pinned on the pavement. Stiger said officers' body-worn camera video showed Chauvin using “his right hand and appeared to use a pain compliance on Mr. Floyd's hand.” Chauvin appeared to be “squeezing fingers or bringing knuckles together, which can cause pain or pulling the hand into the cuff, which can cause pain as well.” Sgt. Stiger pointed out that “the handcuffs were not double-locked; they can continue to ratchet tighter as the person moved” while George Floyd was in the prone position and not resisting.

Many commentaries have said that the Police are not on trial here in Minneapolis. But it is. Black lives matter and should even to the police. Far too long, the blue wall of silence has gagged any decency and destroyed evidence of police misconduct. A compost heap of bad apples have been shielded behind police badges.

Maryland has just canceled its police bill of rights.

The police should have liability insurance and licensing, not their own bill of rights and not qualified immunity.

The trial continues tomorrow.

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Music Association: The Osmond Brothers - One Bad Apple
Tv Association: “See that sign? It says, Apple sauce.”









The George Floyd Murder
The Trial Of Derek Chauvin
March 29, 2021


Opening statements began today in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.

A bystander video was played by the prosecution. The defense tried to sell the idea that George Floyd happened to die of unrelated medical issues while Chauvin kneeled on Floyd's neck.

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Music Association: Van Halen - Right Now












The George Floyd Murder
Jury Statistics
March 12, 2021


On Tuesday, three jurors were selected. On Wednesday, two jurors were selected. On Thursday, one juror was selected. Today is Friday.

If I were designing a bar chart, the X axis would be days of the week, the Y axis would be number of jurors, and the bars would be represented by jury chairs stacked on top of each other.

Jury selections continue today in Minneapolis for the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

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Music Association: Badfinger - Day After Day











The George Floyd Murder
Jury Selection
March 9, 2021


Jury selection began today in Minneapolis in the case of the George Floyd murder, the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

The voir dire of potential jurors has two fundamental problems: bias due to lack of diversity and a required ignorance about a case.

One of my favorite movies is 12 Angry Men, a 1957 jury room drama filmed in 19 days. It has everything: expert cinematography, dynamic characters, a study of arguments, rationale of emotion, actors wearing their own clothes, a knife fight -- it has everything, except diversity. The cast was quite white and male. The jury room has a men's room and a women's room off of it, not that they needed a women's room.



The murder case before the 12 Angry Men didn't have video from multiple sources like the George Floyd murder. It didn't have national attention or (to a point) global attention. It didn't have a jury representational of Minneapolis.

The trial of Derek Chauvin, facing murder and manslaughter charges, has video and witnesses of him kneeling on George Floyd's neck for nine minutes. George Floyd and Derek Chauvin both worked event security for the El Nuevo Rodeo nightclub with Floyd working security from inside while Chauvin worked security outside. The videos include more than 18 minutes from Officer Alex Kueng's bodycam and 10 minutes from Officer Thomas Lane. They were the first two police officers to arrive on the scene after a complaint that Floyd had attempted to pass a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at Cup Foods, a store in the Powderhorn Park section of Minneapolis.

George Floyd is lying on the road with Chauvin's knee pressed on his neck with Lane and Kueng helping to restrain Floyd.

He says he can't breathe over and over again and calls for his mother but his voice slowly gets weaker as his life drains away.

“Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead,” he says at one point.

Kueng is seen nonchalantly picking a pebble from the squad car tire with his right hand as he restrains Floyd's legs with his left.

As his knee presses the life out of Floyd, Chauvin, the most senior officer on the scene, asks rookies Lane and Kueng if they are okay. “My knee might be a little scratched but I will survive,” Lane answers. When Floyd continues to wail that he can’t breathe, Kueng is heard telling him. “You’re fine. You’re talking fine.’

 Floyd replies: “I'll probably just die this way.”

“I'm through,' Floyd says. “I'm claustrophobic. My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts. I need some water or something, please.”

“Then stop talking. Stop yelling,” Chauvin replies. “It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.”

As Floyd stops moving Chauvin keeps his knee on his neck, despite complaints from a small crowd that has gathered.

“Check his pulse,” one man says repeatedly. “You call what you are doing okay?!?”

But the other officers do little to stop Chauvin. At one point Lane asks: “Should we roll him on his side?” But Chauvin replies. “No, he's staying where we've got him.”

“Okay,” Lane says. “I just worry about the excited delirium or whatever.”

“Well, that's why we got the ambulance coming,” Chauvin says.

By the time EMTs arrive, George Floyd is dead.

 

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Music Association: The Police - Every Breath You Take
Transcript from Daily Mail











George Floyd




Covid-19




Trump Timeline (PDF)



Voter Suppression


Music Videos

Landmine Hopscotch


Superman


Impact Investing



Holiday Gifs of Cats and Kittens Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4   Part 5  




Southdale Hennepin Library,  Edina Library  


Wonder Woman


Food Fraud