Welcome to the second half of the year. Unfortunately, it looks like we’re dragging the first half of 2020 with us into July.
The unrest in our country has taken a dangerous turn in the last couple of days. After protests, looting, rioting, arson and the destruction of civic monuments, it seems like there’s been a surge in direct confrontation between the rioters and the public.
A couple of days ago I posted a video of attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey brandishing guns as they defended their home after a mob trespassed into the private, gated community where they lived. Here’s another video of the incident.
On Monday in Provo, Utah (pop. 116,500), the mob tried to stop an SUV at an intersection. When the vehicle continued to move, a militant moved up to the car and fired at least once at the driver and then again after the SUV crossed the intersection. The driver was apparently injured by the gunshot.
A “protester” took a shot at an innocent motorist. But wait! There’s more. Here’s another video of another car being attacked, same location.
Forget your mother’s admonition not to run with scissors. These people are insane. I mean it. They’re lunatics. They’re jumping on moving cars, running alongside them grabbing mirrors trying to get them to stop. Why? Are they hoping to have a rational discussion with the driver? Do they want to spray paint the vehicle with inspiring quotes? What gives?
In St. Louis, MO, Catholics were praying the rosary during a rally at the King Louis IX statue that BLM wants to tear down. A black man in a blue bandanna, Terrence Page, said he got agitated because he believes the people defending the statue are terrorists who needed to be met with force.
Oh.
So it’s okay now to independently decide that someone is a terrorist, and just because you say so you can beat the living daylights out of them?
These are just a sampling of what’s happening across the U.S. It’s clear that this movement is devolving into something much worse than its original claim over police brutality. It’s irrational and unsettling because there is no reasoning with someone who’s not thinking clearly or not at all.
Violence has been part of the rioting since it started at the end of May, but it seemed to be mostly confined to the cities. I’m not sure we can safely assume that’s true any more.