Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news media and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Pondering the Pundits”.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

New York Times Editorial Board: Mayor de Blasio, Open Your Eyes. The Police Are Out of Control.

This is not what serving and protecting should look like.

Hundreds of protesters walked toward Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn on Wednesday night around 9 o’clock. Encountering a line of New York City police officers in riot gear, they chanted peacefully, hands in the air. Officers responded by beating them with nightsticks.

Similar scenes have played out across New York in recent days. Even as the police struggle to prevent looting and other illegal activity, the city has sent scores of armored officers to contain and confront peaceful protesters. Video footage shows officers pushing, punching and beating people, pepper-spraying people, hitting people with police vehicles.

New Yorkers have taken to the streets of the city to demand an end to police brutality, to express their pain and their hope that their voices will be heard — that their rights will be respected. All too often, the police have responded with more violence.

New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, is responsible for the city’s failure to protect the safety of its residents. As evidence of police abuse has mounted, he has averted his eyes, insisting Thursday that the Police Department uses as “light a touch as possible.” [..]

But Mr. de Blasio appears unwilling to confront the reality that the department is failing to meet the demands of this moment. Officers have been allowed to behave in a manner that disgraces their mission to protect and serve, and violates the public trust.

The mayor is allowing that to happen.

Paul Krugman: Donald Trump Is No Richard Nixon

He — and his party — are much, much worse.

On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on student protesters, killing four. The 50th anniversary of the Kent State massacre passed with little notice in a nation preoccupied with Covid-19 — but now, suddenly, echoes of the Nixon era are everywhere. And Donald Trump seems to be deliberately invoking Nixon’s legacy, tweeting out “LAW & ORDER!” in the apparent hope that it will magically rescue his political fortunes.

And given Trump’s determination to put troops in the streets of America’s cities, it’s quite likely that innocent civilians will be shot at some point.

But Donald Trump isn’t Richard Nixon — he’s much, much worse. And America 2020 isn’t America 1970: We’re a better nation in many ways, but our democracy is far more fragile thanks to the utter corruption of the Republican Party.

The Trump-Nixon comparisons are obvious. Like Nixon, Trump has exploited white backlash for political gain. Like Nixon, Trump evidently believes that laws apply only to the little people.

Nixon, however, doesn’t seem to have been a coward. Amid mass demonstrations, he didn’t cower in the MAGAbunker, venturing out only after his minions had gassed peaceful protesters and driven them out of Lafayette Park. Instead, he went out to talk to protesters at the Lincoln Memorial. His behavior was a bit weird, but it wasn’t craven.

Eugene Robinson: Trump is uniting Americans — against him

The first time I witnessed the use of tear gas and brutal force against lawful, peaceful protesters was in Chile during the reign of military dictator Augusto Pinochet. The shocking abuse of state power we saw near the White House on Monday reminded me of that place and time — and made clear the peril we now face.

Pinochet had seized power in 1973 in a bloody U.S.-backed coup. In 1988, believing himself invincible, he called for a plebiscite to give him eight more years in power. I covered the run-up to that vote. And when those calling on Chileans to vote “no” held rallies, Pinochet’s goon squads inevitably found or invented some reason to disperse the crowds with overwhelming force. The worst kind of tear gas, I discovered the hard way, was some concoction the strongman had bought from the apartheid government in South Africa.

That sort of thing doesn’t happen here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Except this week, in Lafayette Square. [..]

On Wednesday afternoon, as I visited the site where demonstrators were gassed and manhandled, I wondered whether Trump’s attempt at division might not be having the opposite effect.

The lawless law-and-order president

“We need law and order,” President Trump declared this week, calling for military and police forces to crush protests against police brutality. “LAW & ORDER!” he has tweeted four times in recent days, as his aides call for the same.

Perhaps they might consider leading by example.

This administration, after all, must be among the most lawless and disorderly in U.S. history.

An exhaustive catalogue of the Trump White House’s demonstrated contempt for the rule of law is hardly possible within my allotted column inches. But let’s consider some of the highlights, among the heaps of wrongdoing committed by White House aides, Trump Organization employees and the president himself — as well as lawbreaking outside the administration that our president has either ignored or encouraged.

Including, most recently, lawbreaking by law enforcement itself. [..]

Shortly after officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets Monday at peaceful protesters and clergy outside the White House gates, Trump called for an “overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled,” neglecting to recognize the implicit paradox of that statement.

“I am your president of law and order,” Trump declared. He conveniently failed to specify which laws — and whose order.

Michael Gerson: Trump wants to turn his opponents into infidels to be destroyed, not defeated

Jill Filipovic: Biden’s startling weapon against Trump

Finally, on Tuesday, we heard presidential remarks about the protests against police violence that are roiling the nation.

Too bad they weren’t from the actual president.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, spoke from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this morning, a city — like many across the country — where thousands have been taking to the streets to protest the latest death of an unarmed black man in police custody: George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer dug his knee into his neck for more than eight long minutes.

Biden’s speech could not have distinguished him more from President Donald Trump. While Trump seems to think chaos benefits him and acts to drive it at any turn, Biden struck a markedly different tone, issuing a call for calm, reconciliation, and understanding. “We’re a nation in pain,” Biden said. “We must not let our pain destroy us.”

In a pointed critique of the President, who has long refused to take responsibility for any of his actions and never accepts blame — even when his failed response to a pandemic has left more than 100,000 Americans dead — Biden said, “I’ll do my job and take responsibility. I won’t blame others. I’ll never forget that the job isn’t about me.”
Whatever you think of Biden — and he wasn’t my pick for the Democratic nomination — it was almost startling to hear from an empathetic, rational adult who understands he’s asking to be the public’s most prominent servant, not its petty disciplinarian.

It was a window into what a Biden presidency might look like: Hardly the stuff of progressive dreams, but also leaps and bounds better than the current nightmare of narcissism, division, and autocracy from a President primarily concerned about his ratings and anyone he perceives to have slighted him. Biden promises to listen, lead, and to try to do right by the whole country, not just the angry few who don red hats and shout the loudest at political rallies.
He may not be offering the kind of enormous progress voters like me crave. But he does promise to pull us back from the abyss.

Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news media and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Pondering the Pundits”.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

Jack Holmes: Tom Cotton Is Not Trying to Persuade You. He’s Trying to Bludgeon You.

Some arguments backing the New York Times‘ decision to publish the senator’s screed betray a dangerously naive view of how authoritarian rhetoric operates. Many more are just dumb.

After the New York Times published a fascist screed from a sitting United States senator on Wednesday, in which Tom Cotton argued—using false premises—for deploying the military to crush the ongoing protests in cities across America, a predictable argument erupted in the public square.

“Free speech!” some shouted, as if the First Amendment grants everyone the inalienable right to have their shitty opinions published in the Paper of Record and disseminated to as many people as possible. You have every right to use your speech to advocate for violent government suppression of speech, even on the eve of the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, but no one is obligated to hand you a megaphone. It’s not like Cotton could not have found some other platform from which to spew this constitutionally heinous bilge. The Times‘ decision to grant him their imprimatur, without challenging him in any way or providing readers with relevant context, is a moral atrocity. Make no mistake: his prescription would lead to the killing of American citizens in the streets of their own cities. He said so himself.

Joshua A. Geltzer, Neal K. Katyal, Jennifer Taub and Laurence H. Tribe: Trump’s authoritarianism in the streets is being matched in the courts

The Trump administration’s authoritarian behavior on the streets is being matched by its authoritarian positions in the federal courts. On Monday, as the administration used military force to push peaceful protesters out of Lafayette Square, administration lawyers filed an astonishing brief in the federal appeals court down the street, urging the court to order the trial judge to dismiss the case against Michael Flynn.

The brief represents a remarkable new position by the Trump Justice Department: The doors of federal courthouses should be closed to hearing arguments other than those advanced by the department itself, and federal judges may not even inquire into whether the administration has acted improperly. [..]

The Justice Department told the appeals court that it should take the extraordinary step of intervening in the case — before Sullivan has ruled or even held a hearing — to stop him from doing so. “Simply put, the district court has no authority to reject the Executive’s conclusion,” the department said.

In other words: “None of your business, Judge Sullivan.” The Justice Department wants the case dropped, and so that’s it — the case should just go away, no questions asked, before the American people learned what happened. [..]

It may be inconvenient, at least in Trump’s view, for the administration to have protesters at the White House. And it may be inconvenient, at least in the Trump Justice Department’s view, to have its extraordinary action on behalf of one of the president’s allies scrutinized by a federal court. But that is what our system of free speech and an independent judiciary entails — whether Trump and his enablers like it or not.

Charles M. Blow: No More Lynching!

Legislation won’t fix white supremacy. But a government response can ensure that cruelty is punished.

America is in full revolt.

A simmering pain has boiled over. Protesters are in the streets. Looters are on the prowl. Political leadership is on the sidelines.

Black people have reached yet another breaking point, tired of America’s unresponsiveness to their pain, tired of its flaying of their flesh, tired of it depriving them of equality.

Allies, of all races, have come to the black people’s side, shocked at the continuation of the cruelty, embarrassed, in many cases, by their own heretofore inaction.

This moment is enormous, packed with potential and possibility, but it must be seized. For now, people are continuing to march, to join in solidarity, to make their voices heard and bodies seen.

The rage is real. It is urgent. It is fresh.

But, as I often say, rage is an expensive emotion. Try as we might, for noble cause and righteous intent, we are physically and psychologically incapable of maintaining it. It eventually recedes.

Sherrilyn Ifill: How to Change Policing in America

George Floyd’s excruciating death at the hands of former Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin and the ensuing nationwide protests have focused the country’s attention yet again on the decades-long issue of police violence against black Americans. Many are saying that we have “been here before.” But we haven’t.

With each new video of these horrifying killings and assaults, we move to a different place—and many black people have simply had it. We are weary of having “the talk” with our children that our parents had with us. And we are appalled by America’s tolerance for black death at the hands of law enforcement. And it’s not just black people. The protests in most cities have been multi-racial, with allies from many communities expressing their outrage. An impatience, a righteous anger, and an uncompromising demand for change lie at the core of these protests.

The response to activists’ demands must be swift, decisive, and transformative. After years of focusing on training and supervision, it is time to demand action by the elected officials and policymakers who are responsible for funding police departments, managing police leadership, and making and implementing laws governing police misconduct and accountability.

Amanda Marcotte: Poor sad #BunkerBoy: Now Trump wants to edit real life, like an episode of “The Apprentice”

While the country melts down, Trump tries to reshoot reality so we won’t know he’s total chickens**t “Bunker Boy”

Whatever the specifics of what Donald Trump’s diagnosis may be, from the moment protesters started to hit the streets to denounce police brutality, one thing was certain: The president’s brainworms would direct his energies away from doing anything useful and toward the task of managing his ego, relying on the reality TV tricks he mistakes for the real work of presidenting.

And so, while demonstrations began to spread and police engaged in ruthless attacks on nonviolent protesters, Americans have been subjected to Trump trying — feebly, but at great cost to both taxpayers and public safety — to assuage his ego by demanding that his real life display of weenie-ness be “fixed” with reshoots and post-production edits.

Everything goes back to the original narcissistic injury from the past weekend: The “Bunker Boy” meme. [..]

But Trump’s bunker-hunker on Saturday, made worse by his cruel and stupid Lafayette Square photo-op on Monday, are just out there in the real world. There is no way to fling the footage into the Trash folder, or to edit the crap out of it until it sends the “right” message. Trump’s continued demands that the world act like a reality-show producer who can keep giving him mulligans only reaffirms that he is, above all things, a narcissistic moron.

Candice Frederick: The brands rushing to defend black lives used to silence us. Does it get more shameless?

Vague platitudes about solidarity aren’t enough – not from organizations that discarded Kaepernick for taking a knee

When I first noticed that there were non-black faces in the myriad protests demanding justice for the police murder of George Floyd across the world over the last few days, I thought: it’s nice to see that oppressed black people aren’t the only ones speaking out about the oppression of black people. Because generally that’s been the case. But that feeling of relief dissolved after big organizations such as the NFL and The CW, as well as stars like Lea Michele, jumped on that bandwagon to align themselves with the fight for black humanity. Because these are some of the same platforms that have silenced us. [..]

For one split moment in time, it seemed like some of these influential white entities had finally gotten the point after years of directing their attention toward the absence of accountability, which extends far beyond the court system to the big and small screens as well as our football stadiums. But because we are living in a time when black people are so fed up that they are risking their lives marching in crowds during a pandemic to demand responsibility for white supremacy, pithy statements are no longer adequate declarations of alliance.