There are only hours to go before election day, and businesses in most major cities are boarding up in expectation of protests, riots, and God knows what else. This weekend, I passed through Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Minneapolis. It’s the…
Recently I attended my first actual social function since the Late Troubles began. We were careful; we wore masks as we dished up our catered food and set our lawn chairs a distance from one another. It was an ideologically…
On May 29, 2020, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin with third-degree murder (later raised to second-degree by Minnesota’s attorney general) in the death of George Floyd. Former Officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng,…
Minneapolis, Minn. Today marks three months since George Floyd was killed, and the Twin Cities are still reeling. The riots are done here, at least for now. The protests, however, are ongoing, gaining strength whenever a new racial outrage in…
Epigraph of the Series “ … the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition their Government for redress of grievances.” U.S. Constitution, Amendment 1 Taxonomy for the Series “If you … then you are a … ” peaceably…
One of my ancestors knew Abraham Lincoln. All right, that’s not strictly true. He was a collateral ancestor of mine, half-brother to my great-great-grandfather. An early Norwegian settler in Illinois, he was active in the Republican Party. His obituary called…
The right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. — First Amendment, U.S. Constitution “To peaceably assemble.” Protest and Force: Mutually Exclusive. Protest is peaceable. When actions are not peaceable, they…
The very first time I saw the Derek Chauvin–George Floyd video I was disgusted. I yelled at my TV screen, “Get off the guy’s neck, you #$%!” I likewise yelled at the three cops on my TV screen standing around…
The belief that police are the enemy is gripping a vocal portion of the nation following the death of George Floyd. With “Defund the police” as their rallying cry, activists have successfully petitioned officials in Los Angeles, New York, and…