George Floyd
I want to be very clear about my own feelings about what happened to George Floyd. It was horrifying and ghastly. To witness a man pleading for his life and the callous disregard of the officer was positively sickening. I am glad the officers have been fired and charged criminally.
Indya vs. The Left
Mayor Indya Kincannon evidently doesn’t realize she can’t move far enough to the left to suit the City Council Movement. Indya’s first reaction has been to attempt to placate the City Council Movement, although they are having none of it. The CCM was unhappy with Kincannon’s first budget as mayor. Utilizing all the usual feel-good phrases employed constantly by the far left, the CCM was unhappy Kincannon gave a modest increase to the Knoxville Police Department. Keep in mind, all of this occurred before the George Floyd incident. The CCM has hijacked the word “community” and only through the most basic definition of the word—a group of any size—they refer to themselves as “the community,” not a community. Well, the CCM’s most recent press release was almost laughable. The CCM refers to “an unprecedented 30 comments” about Kincannon’s budget from “community members” who wanted to change the spending priorities. Okay, let’s be clear here, so city council members have never heard from more than 30 people on any issue, ever? Seems doubtful to me. Of course these comments poured in over a period of three weeks, which averages 10 comments per week. Wow. And just think, when then-superintendent of schools Jim McIntyre was urging the county commission to implement the largest tax increase in the county’s history, there were enough calls and protests from folks to collapse the County-County Building email and telephone systems. At last check, there are more than 187,000 people living inside the City of Knoxville, so a community of 30 people isn’t even a bee’s sneeze in a hurricane.
I can’t really find any fault with Indya Kincannon’s budget, it seemed reasonable, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. There had been a strong rumor before that budget was submitted that Kincannon intended to ask the Knoxville City Council to raise taxes. Considering 2021 is an election year, it seems doubtful Indya will ask the council to raise taxes then.
I’ve never accused Indya of having much experience and maybe there’s hope she and the socialists aren’t ever going to be on the same page. Those folks won’t be happy until they replace Indya with a socialist mayor.
Indya The Peacemaker
Speaking of Indya, the mayor had a special opinion column in the Knoxville News-Sentinel last week saying she’s against racism, injustice and police brutality. Good to know, Indya. I don’t recall Kincannon uttering a peep when a group of police officers, during the administration of Mayor Madeline Rogero, beat the living daylights out of a homeless man, which prompted a lawsuit, which could have surprised nobody. To the best of my recollection, none of the officers were charged with anything. The taxpayers were charged with a huge bill for damages.
It was a Republican, Victor Ashe, who created and instituted the Police Advisory and Review Board.
He Doth Protest Too Much
Just so we are clear, I believe in the right to protest peacefully. Burning, looting and destroying other people’s property are criminal acts and ought to be prosecuted. If I get mad because someone I know was wronged, I don’t have the right to run out and burn down somebody’s momma’s hair salon.
David Hayes, former and future candidate for the Knoxville City Council, took a page out of his running mate Amelia Parker’s playbook and wrote a version of events that cast him as the hero. Hayes has had his share of scrapes with law enforcement and, according to the Knox County Election Commission, has failed to complete the financial disclosures required by Tennessee state law. Those were due a long time ago and one has to wonder if the mainstream news media would have chided or written about another candidate failing to follow state law? It’s a small thing I suppose, but it is punishable by hefty fines levied by the State Registry of Election Finance. Maybe David could have done what former Knox County Commissioner Amy Broyles did: go to Nashville, cry like a baby and get off the hook without paying a substantial fine.
Hayes wants to be a lawmaker but seems to feel he is above the law. Hayes also defends rioting and destruction of property in the name of struggling for “liberation.” While claiming to defend “working class youth”—and last anybody could tell, David Hayes doesn’t work an actual job—he managed to insult city public workers in one of his last statements. While claiming “solidarity” with public service workers, Hayes praised them for quickly cleaning up the mess made by those seeking liberation, but he couldn’t help but noting it really wasn’t that much of a mess and likely was more work than public service workers usually do. Well, power to the people and there’s some real solidarity for you. You public service workers don’t really work that hard, an assessment made by someone who doesn’t work at all.
David Hayes said “property damage has historically been inevitable [sic] when a large population is oppressed.” So there’s that. But fear not for there’s a pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow! David tells us, “If we can make our communities whole, we can prevent this damage.” Can we really?
“Cap” Dorn
My guess is you’ve not read a word or heard about another African-American life lost recently. David Dorn was a retired police captain and former police chief who was murdered in St. Louis by looters. Dorn, called “Cap” by his friends, was 77 years old and worked as a security guard at Lee’s Pawn & Jewelry store when he was killed. Dorn was remembered by colleagues as the kind of man who would have sacrificed his life for others.
Fact Check
It’s is becoming less and less astonishing that the mainstream news media just ignores facts when printing and broadcasting whatever it wishes or twisting information to fit its narrative. Andrew McCarthy had an interesting piece in National Review recently. McCarthy reported how Stastica.com ignored its own published graphs to make false claims and push a false narrative. Did you know almost twice as many white people are killed by police than black people? Almost 75% of those killed by police officers are white. Here are the numbers by year recently:
2017: 457 whites killed 223 blacks killed
2018: 399 whites killed 209 blacks killed
2019: 370 whites killed 235 blacks killed
2020: 42 whites killed 31 blacks killed
Did That Just Happen?
Pretty odd that the very same people telling Americans they were subject to fines and possible arrest for not social distancing or wearing masks had almost nothing to say when people gathered, not to protest peacefully, but riot. Nor did they riot while socially distancing. Imagine that.
