Opinion
By Jeff Childers
09-08-23
Good morning C&C, itβs Friday! Your all good-news roundup today includes: how a lifelong Minnesota democrat got instantly red-pilled the hard way; a great new Georgia indictment provides hope that the long descent into woke madness may be grinding to a halt; Matt Gaetz signals heβs going to force an impeachment vote; CNN poll shows President Peters popularity is tanking; Elon Musk attains superhero status by saving the world; and Governor DeSantis delivers a terrific anti-mandate press conference packed with stuff youβll love.
ππ¬ WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY π¬π
π₯ Letβs begin with a local-interest story that nicely frames the main action, a shocking story about the radical red-pilling of a sold-out woke democrat party official. The events were accurately summarized by yesterdayβs New York Post headline, βAnti-cop Minnesota Democratic party official left bloodied in violent carjacking β now calls for tougher crime laws.β
Oh, the irony.
Meet Shivanthi Sathanandan, the Second Vice Chairwoman for the DemocraticβFarmerβLabor Party, who once swore to βdismantleβ Minneapolisβ Police Department. Here is the Chairwoman, both before and after she crashed into reality going about 90 m.p.h.:
Chairwoman Shivanthiβs June, 2020 Facebook post will give you an idea of her previous point of view. She didnβt just want to βdismantleβ the police department. She wanted to dismantle the police department in ALL CAPS, with clapping between each word:
The date of Shivanthiβs post, June 5th, 2020, was a few days after George Floyd died on May 25th, 2020. Along with others, over the next three years Chairwoman Shivanthi would help defenestrate the Minneapolis police department.
Minneapolis, as you may recall, was ground zero for the George Floyd disaster. Itβs been over three years since George Floydβs accidental death. A New York Times article published this June reported on Minneapolisβs Third Precinct police station, which was looted and burned down during the mostly-peaceful protests over felonious Floydβs death. The Third Precinct was never rebuilt. Today, it remains a silent monument to mob rule, an abandoned, boarded-up shell, decorated with graffiti and framed with barbed wire fence.
As of this June, the Minneapolis Police Department had only 585 officers, down from 912 in 2019. As police ranks have thinned out by almost half, violent crime has soared, shocking only liberals (and people who live in Portland, but I repeat myself).
Gang violence, once only a speck of a blip on Minneapolisβ radar, in under three years has become such a rampant and destructive problem that federal prosecutors charged 45 people with being gang members in a pair of racketeering indictments in May this year β a historic first in the city.
But back to Chairwoman Shivanthi. On Tuesday, she endured what sounds like a very painful ordeal. She got violently carjacked by a gang of four masked hoodlums. In her own driveway. At home. In broad daylight. With her kids right beside her (a 4-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son).
On Wednesday, the Chairwoman uploaded a distraught, emotional post to her Facebook page. Hereβs how she described what happened:
βYesterday my children and I were violently car jacked in the driveway of our home in Minneapolis. Four very young men, all carrying guns, beat me violently down to the ground in front of our kids. The young men held our neighbors up at gunpoint when they ran over and tried to help me. All in broad daylight. Look at my face in the picture. This is the face of a mother who just had the s*** beaten out of her. A mother whose only thought was βlet me run far enough so that my kids have a chance to get away.’β
She was beaten pretty badly. Shivanthi said she had a broken leg, deep lacerations on her head, and cuts and bruises all over her body. They stole her car and abandoned it after a joyride.
In other words, the barbaric thugs didnβt even do it for the money. They just did it for fun.
Shivanthi is understandably upset. And the attacks seems to caused a kind of mental sea-change in her overall thinking about the value of local law enforcement. Hereβs how the second half of her post continued:
I have rage. These men knew what they were doing. I have NO DOUBT they have done this before. Yet they are still on OUR STREETS. Killing mothers. Giving babies psychological trauma that a lifetime of therapy cannot erase. With no hesitation and no remorse.
I’m now part of the statistics. I wasn’t silent when I fought these men to save my life and my babies, and I won’t be silent now. We need to get illegal guns off of our streets, catch these young people who are running wild creating chaos across our city and HOLD THEM IN CUSTODY AND PROSECUTE THEM. PERIOD.
Look at my face. REMEMBER ME when you are thinking about supporting letting juveniles and young people out of custody to roam our streets instead of HOLDING THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS.
And so we arrive at the crux. Yes, by all means, let us hold them accountable. Hold them in custody and prosecute them. But, Shivanthi β¦ who will do the holding and the prosecuting? Hereβs a hint:
The police will hold them accountable and prosecute them The police.
Say it with me.
Shivanthi told local news she was βnot readyβ to be interviewed about her terrifying, world-shattering experience. Itβs too bad that it took something like this to educate the Farmer-Labor Democrat about the value of a local police department.
We pray the lesson will stick and will not have been in vain.
π₯ Now, letβs look at the main action, a story packed with delicious irony. On Wednesday, the New York Post ran what might be the most optimistic story of the year, headlined, β61 βanarchistsβ indicted by Georgia AG for targeting Atlantaβs βCop Cityβ training facility.β
Earlier this year, a group of anarchic Antifa βprotestors,β an apparently loose club of militant anti-police anarchists, eco-activists and community organizers, operating under the banner βDefend the Atlanta Forest,β gathered in the early morning hours to attack a partly-built Atlanta police training facility, by sabotaging construction equipment, throwing Molotov cocktails, and firing fireworks mortars at its front gate in a skirmish with surprised officers.
They also setup heinous booby traps like foot destroyers hidden under bushes in a nearby public park:
They committed more violent acts of public nuisance, including setting some cop cars on fire, and breaking into 191 Peachtree Tower (where the Atlanta Police Foundation is located). A total of 225 βovert actsβ were cited in the indictmentβs timeline of lawlessness β starting with two defendants throwing objects and a Molotov cocktail at the Georgia State Patrol headquarters on July 5, 2020 and ending with incidents that occurred two weeks ago.
According to his announcement, Georgiaβs Attorney Republican General Chris Carr took the case before a Fulton County grand jury on August 29th. Ironically, Fulton County is the same county where local DA Fani Willis charged President Trump and all his co-defendants. Even more ironically, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, it was the same grand jury; the same people, that is, hearing various cases sequentially.
All 61 defendants were charged with RICO, the same as Trump and his co-defendants. Five ringleaders were charged with domestic terrorism, money laundering, and arson. Three defendants who organized a bail fund, last names Kautz, Maclean and Patterson, were executives with the woke nonprofit βNetwork for Strong Communities,β which funded Defend the Atlanta Forest, and were arrested back in May this year. All three now face one count of RICO and 15 counts of money laundering in the new indictment.
Hereβs the video of DA Carrβs entire announcement (12 minutes).
Pundits are contrasting the massive indictment of 61 anarchists and allies to the lack of punishment for the rioters involved in the mostly-peaceful Summer of Floyd. The Floyd hoodlums got off because the public largely sympathized with the criminals over the police. But now, in 2023, an Atlanta grand jury quickly indicted the hoodlums attacking police facilities.
Times change.
Some social media influencers are celebrating what they view as a conservative response to the trumped-up Trump cases. Turnabout is fair play! While understandable, I think that greatly misses the point. The 61 Atlanta indictees are real criminals who committed violent crimes. Itβs not like the made-up Trump prosecutions at all.
The real story is it shows some conservative DAβs are starting to bring justice to the leftβs brownshirt mafia. Unlike Minneapolis police, Georgia police see the system working correctly to protect them in doing their difficult, dangerous jobs.
Quite rationally, Atlanta doesnβt want to lose half its police force the way Minneapolis did.
Americaβs Mayor Rudi Giuliani famously cured New York Cityβs out-of-control crime problem using a βbroken windowsβ policy: they prosecuted even the smallest crimes (like breaking a window). Those small-crime prosecutions took joyriding criminals off the street before they ever got to the point of carjacking mothers in their own driveways.
The Atlanta indictment, which under RICO could lead to tracing the money right up the woke funding chain and ultimately prosecuting much bigger fish, is a sign that civilizationβs immune system is starting to recover from its pandemic auto-immune disease.
We will watch the caseβs progress with great interest.
π₯ The Hill ran a hopeful story Tuesday with the confusingly-worded headlined, βGaetz advocates forcing impeachment votes in warning to McCarthy.β
Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.) explained the story much better during a recent radio interview when he said, βI worked very hard in January to develop a toolkit for House Republicans to use in a productive and positive way. I donβt believe weβve used those tools as effectively as we should have.β
Gaetz was referring to a deal struck between the House Freedom Caucus and establishment Republicans over Kevin McCarthyβs election as Speaker. Under the tensely-negotiated agreement, McCarthy agreed to lower the threshold for a motion to vacate the chair β a move to force a vote on recalling the Speaker β from five members down to just one.
Now, Florida Representative Gaetz has demanded the House vote on commencing impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden, and vowed βif Speaker McCarthy stands in our way, he may not have the job long.β
The Hill actually asked the White House for comment, and a Biden spokesman said, βsomething something blah blah politically motivated word salad no evidence!β Or words to that effect.
Well. Letβs see the lack of evidence then.
π Things seem to be going downhill fast for President Bob Peters. CNN ran a story about its latest presidential poll yesterday headlined, βCNN Poll: Biden faces negative job ratings and concerns about his age as he gears up for 2024.β A prominent sub-title within the article blared, βMost Democratic voters wish they had an alternative to Biden.β
CNN reported that Biden is faring poorly on just about every single question they asked registered voters.
Views of Bidenβs performance in office and on where the country stands are deeply negative in the new poll. His job approval rating stands at just 39%, and 58% say that his policies have made economic conditions in the US worse, up 8 points since last fall. Seventy percent say things in the country are going badly, a persistent negativity that has held for much of Bidenβs time in office
Perceptions of Biden personally are also broadly negative, with 58% saying they have an unfavorable impression of him⦠A smaller share of the public than ever now says that Biden inspires confidence (28%, down 7 percentage points from March) or that he has the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president (26%, down 6 points from March), with those declines driven largely by Democrats and independents.
Thatβs pretty awful. And the trends are moving in the wrong direction. Biden needs to do something to change the momentum. I wonder what that will be.
π According to Business Insider, Elon Musk might actually have saved the world. BI ran a story yesterday headlined, βElon Musk blocked Ukraine’s access to Starlink near Crimea after speaking with Russian officials, biographer says.β
According to journalist Walter Isaacson, author of an upcoming biography on SpaceXβs founder, after Musk spoke directly to Russian officials and became convinced of an imminent threat of nuclear war, the founder personally intervened to block Ukraine from carrying out a massive, secret drone strike on Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet.
Basically, right before the attack, Musk ordered Ukraineβs Starlink internet service cut off, just as if they hadnβt paid their bills. Which they hadnβt, technically, since theyβre using Starlink for free. But you get the idea.
The internet service was “never meant to be weaponized,” SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell said earlier this year, referring to Ukraine’s use of Starlink for drone reconnaissance and attacks. “There are things that we can do to limit their ability to do that,” she said. “There are things that we can do, and have done.”
According to an excerpt from the book, during an interview Musk asked biographer Isaacson, “How am I in this war?” He explained, “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”
Well. I suspect Starlink also has a little something to do with a replacement digital currency, which can only possibly work as a cash replacement if there is 100% reliable connectivity everywhere all at once. But thatβs a subject for a different post.
And letβs not forget our own militaryβs role. The U.S. military is SpaceXβs biggest customer, and is probably the only reason why Elon keeps getting away with his Twitter free speech project. A New York Times article in July explained:
The federal government is one of SpaceXβs biggest customers, using its rockets for NASA missions and launching military surveillance satellites. Senior Pentagon officials have tried mediating issues involving Starlink, particularly Ukraine, a person familiar with the discussions said.
The Defense Department confirmed it contracts with Starlink, but it declined to elaborate, citing βthe critical nature of these systems.β
Anyway. It looks a whole lot like Elon Musk may be able to claim, with some justification, that he has saved the world. He might not be a real superhero, but you have to give him some credit.
π₯ Governor DeSantis held a blockbuster press conference yesterday titled βMandate Freedom,β in which he coined what may be my favorite new expression. He was talking about the possibility of new federal mask mandates, and said:
βWe see all this stuff, and we see they are not following the science. They are trying to follow a narrative. They are trying to follow an agenda. Here in Florida, we did not β and we will not β allow the dystopian visions of paranoid, hypochondriacs control our health policies, let alone our state.β
Haha! βDystopian visions of paranoid hypochondriacs!β Thatβs money! I canβt wait to use that terrific line someplace.
In this next clip, DeSantis was at his best, sparring off the cuff with a woke activist who insinuated that the Governor was somehow responsible for a recent shooting. DeSantis wasnβt having any of it, not one little bit. Enjoy:
Next up was Floridaβs amazing Surgeon General, Dr. Ladapo. In similar plain language, Dr. Ladapo expressly panned the jabs. Here is a part of his comments:
βThereβs a new mRNA covid-19 vaccine comingβ¦ thereβs essentially no evidence for itβ¦ Not only that, there are a lot of red flags. So something you donβt hear much about, but weβll be talking more about, is there are multiple studies now from around the world β Brazil, Australia, United States β that show that over time these vaccines, these mRNA covid-19 products, actually INCREASE your chances of contracting COVID-19.
Thatβs not normal.β
No. Itβs not normal. Itβs not normal at all. In fact, itβs the furthest thing from normal that any of us have ever seen. We passed normal three years ago going about 86 m.p.h. and havenβt looked back.
Have a fabulous Friday! C&C will be back tomorrow morning with a terrific Weekend Edition.
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Β© 2022, Jeff Childers, all rights reserved
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.