Rioting in America

    Rioting and protests are occurring across the United States.  They are tied to two specific incidents - the deaths of two African-Americans in two different cities in two different states.
   One was a young woman, an EMT paramedic, at home, asleep in her bed, in Louisville, Kentucky.  She shared the apartment with her boyfriend.  Louisville police had a "no-knock" search warrant for the apartment, entered, and the boyfriend shot a gun at the 3 policemen.  Breonna Taylor was shot 8 times with police weapons while sleeping in her own bed in her own apartment.  This happened on 13 March 2020, but did not reach national attention until her family filed charges against the Louisville Police Department in the middle of this month.  Breonna was 26 years old.
   On 25 May, the Minneapolis Police Department received a call from Cup Foods, where an employee had returned a $20 bill to a customer stating that the bill counterfeit.  The man, George Floyd, left his purchase on the counter and left the store.  According to a local radio station, the way a statement was worded about the transaction, it sounded "as if a forgery" had been committed.  Four policemen confronted Mr. Floyd, who did not resist arrest (shown by several outdoor surveillance cameras) and surrendered to police.  He was hand-cuffed and placed on the pavement.  Multiple people passing by stopped and filmed the incident.  A police officer knelt upon George Floyd's neck for a total of 8 minutes and 46 seconds.  At the beginning, he was yelling "I can't breathe!", and finally was calling, "Mama!"  He stopped moving and calling out for a full 2 minutes and 53 seconds before the police officer removed his weight from Floyd's trachea.  The police then called for an ambulance.  Multiple people steeped forward to try to help Mr. Floyd, but were told by the three other police officers present that they would be pepper-sprayed and charged with assisting a criminal.  George Floyd was pronounced dead at the scene once the ambulance arrived.  George was 46 years old.
   Both of these incidents follow close to the shooting death of un-armed Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African-American who was jogging near Brunswick, Georgia.  He frequently jogged in the area of his neighborhood.  On 23 February 2020, however, he was pursued by three men in two vehicles.  The first two men, a father and son in a truck, confronted the young man, after the third man used his car to keep Arbery between the two vehicles.  The third man then filmed a part of the confrontation.  Arbery was shot three times at close range with a shotgun, taking the loads in his chest.  A local police investigation was conducted, but nothing was done.  A copy of the video showing the confrontation was released on You  Tube and it went viral.  Seventy-four days after the shooting occurred, the father and son were arrested.  Several days later, the man who filmed the shooting was also arrested.           ---------
    Last night, after violent protests in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd, Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States of America, took his phone in his fat, sweaty hand and once again tweeted to the world.  (This after getting angry with Twitter for fact-checking his crazy lies about massive illegal voting if mail-in ballots are allowed - and after signing a toothless executive order against Twitter and Facebook yesterday.)
   Trump tweeted a 2-parter: " I can't stand back and watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will snd in the National Guard & get the job done right.....  ...These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen.  Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"
   Twitter obscured the offending message - the second part only - on Trump's profile with the following warning: "This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible."
   The official White House Twitter account later re-tweeted Trump's post about looting and shooting.  It also was marked with a warning.
   "We've taken action in the interest of preventing others from being inspired to commit violent acts," Twitter said in a statement on its @TwitterComms account.  It said the company had kept Trump's tweet live "because it is important that the public still be able to see the Tweet given its relevance to ongoing matters of public importance."
   ----  The Minneapolis police officer who was filmed kneeling on the neck of George Floyd has been arrested; the other three officers have been fired....
    And that's the way it is, on the last Friday of May 2020......