The Patriot Post® · The War on Cops

There was rioting in the Minneapolis suburbs and in other cities across the country Monday night. The violence was triggered after Officer Kim Potter, a 26-year law enforcement veteran, shot a young black man during a traffic stop over the weekend.

Authorities in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, say she meant to use her Taser, but accidentally pulled her firearm. You may have seen video of that incident by now. But there are other videos you haven’t seen.

Like the video of Officer Eric Talley rushing into a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store to stop a mass murderer who killed 10 people. Officer Talley died in the line of duty.

You haven’t seen the video of the Capitol Hill police officers who were intentionally driven into by a radical black Muslim. Officer William Evans was crushed to death.

You didn’t see the video of a Long Island police officer who was attacked with a knife at a traffic stop Saturday night. Or the video of the two Utah deputies who were both shot in the face that same day.

You didn’t see the video of Monday’s gun battle that lasted over an hour and stretched for miles in western Georgia. Before it was over, three police officers were shot.

You didn’t see the video of the police officer who was shot Monday at a Tennessee high school while engaging an armed student.

The media deliberately focus on the relatively rare examples of police mistakes, making it look like there is a war on minorities. But there is in fact a war on police. Remember the left-wing demands to “defund the police”? They haven’t stopped.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib says the solution to what happened in Brooklyn Center this weekend is no more policing and no more incarceration. That’s insane! Several cities tried slashing their police budgets, and it backfired. Crime is surging.

All over the country, police departments are reporting mass retirements. So consider this: How much would you have to be paid to do the job that police officers do every day? What would the country look like if Rashida Tlaib gets her way and we wake up one more morning to find there are no police?

The Left’s Toxic Atmosphere

We can have a debate on reforming law enforcement, but it’s extremely difficult in the toxic atmosphere that the left has created. Case in point: Curt Boganey, the city manager of Brooklyn Center, was abruptly fired Monday night. His offense? He supported due process for Officer Kim Potter.

During a press conference Monday, Mayor Mike Elliott made it clear that he wanted Officer Potter fired. Asked for his thoughts, Boganey said, “All employees working for the city of Brooklyn Center are entitled to due process with respect to discipline.”

That’s it. But by 6:30 Monday night, Boganey was out of a job. The mayor and the city council fired him.

When did supporting the right of due process become controversial or cause for termination?

The fact of the matter is that Boganey was sacrificed to the mob. At least one council member told local reporters that she “voted to fire Boganey out of fear of potential reprisals from protestors if she did not.” Council member Kris Lawrence-Anderson added, “He was doing a great job. I respect him dearly.”

But apparently just not enough to respect his right to free speech and due process!

Meanwhile, there is a steady drum beat from the political left insisting that the biggest threat young black men face is being shot by police officers. No it isn’t.

According to a study by the University of Michigan, the main causes of death for young black men are in order: Accidental death, suicides, homicides, heart disease, and cancer. As this editorial explains, crime, not the police, is the major threat plaguing the black community.

But woke Hollywood stars, who sit in their gated communities, wag their fingers at law enforcement and tweet their disdain for the men and women who protect us all. And left-wing politicians denounce the criminal justice system as systemically racist, while also suggesting that we abolish the police and our right to self-defense.

The Vultures Circle

While Biden and the left continue their race-baiting policies that daily increase divisions in our country, America’s enemies are circling like vultures. From Beijing to Moscow to Tehran, tyrants smell weakness in Washington, DC.

President Xi of communist China demonstrated his disdain for Biden by sending 25 warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense zone, the largest incursion yet. The “probe” included 18 fighter jets, four bombers, and a couple of anti-submarine aircraft. If China reabsorbs Taiwan, the U.S. is done in the Pacific.

Is it a coincidence that at the same time Russia’s Vladimir Putin is massing tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine? Russia hasn’t moved this many troops into position since 2014, when Obama/Biden were running the show. Apparently, Biden/Harris doesn’t scare them either.

Meanwhile, at the Pentagon, Biden’s appointees are monitoring the social media posts of U.S. military personnel to see if any of our brave men and women in uniform are “too right-wing.” Other senior officers have been assigned the task of integrating transgendered personnel into the ranks.

So while America’s serious adversaries prepare for war, our military leadership is busy trying to please America’s “woke” leftists who hate the military.

This won’t end well.

Fauci’s Follies

Dr. Anthony Fauci needs to stop doing interviews. He’s rapidly losing all credibility. He has frequently been wrong and flip-flopped a lot. Whether he realizes it or not, he is now undermining the whole reason people get vaccinated in the first place.

For example, last month Fauci was warning about a fourth COVID surge. Two weeks later, he was downplaying the risks of a fourth surge due to the success of the vaccination campaigns.

But while speaking on MSNBC this weekend, Fauci suggested that vaccinated people should avoid eating at indoor restaurants, and he was still urging extreme caution for those who have been vaccinated. If that’s the case, what’s the point of the vaccination?

It’s absolutely clear that the impact of his remarks on the already decimated restaurant industry, and those who supply it, never crossed his mind.

Well, that was Sunday. Monday, Dr. Fauci was doing damage control.

Speaking with Wolf Blitzer on CNN, Fauci was a bit more balanced, saying that the risks for fully vaccinated people were “very low” and that eating indoors ultimately was a personal decision based on the level of risk someone is willing to take.

Once again, Fauci is proving why public health advice should be only one of the factors that a president and public officials take into consideration.

By the way, what about that fourth surge? Well, according to the latest CDC data, the seven-day average of cases ending April 11th was 67,653. That’s up about 27% from a month ago. But it’s still down more than 70% from the January peak just three months ago.

So why is all the news focusing on another surge? The real story should be the massive decline in cases.