April 22, 2021 • 39 mins
Today we talk yesterday about the possibly surprising verdict in the Chauvin trial, and not much else.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Worst Year Ever, a production of I Heart
Radio Welcome Together Everything. Oh wow, Hello everybody. Welcome to
(00:22):
a day of the week, of a month of a year,
and that year is the worst year Ever, which is
whatever year you are in right now. My name is
Cody Johnston. Oh that was so good. Cody. You didn't
even plan that. You just went with it, just open
your mouth and a great intro came out. I'm Katie Stole.
(00:42):
I wrote your compliment for me, but thank you you did.
I am a different persons, were all three separate but
connected to different folks. Internet ineffable strings of personal solidarity,
emotional complimentarity. Also it's true complimentarity award. It might be,
(01:06):
it might be, it should be, and will be, it
can be. And a Moira Rose. I'm guessing you guys
haven't seen ships Creek. Uh, she's wonderful and she also
the great test is low. I didn't do a good
made up word. She's great at making up words. I'm not.
We have not yet started the show, really, Oh, I
(01:30):
beg to differ. I think it started and ended by
everybody piece out signing off. UM So today, Hi, we're
talking about the news that most people were probably talking about,
which is the result of the chauvin trial. Um, the
murder of George Floyd for the Chauvinists. Yeah, that was good.
(01:55):
That sounds like that sounds like a title right there.
I had that one in the fucking in the chamber
for I don't know months, But I didn't want to
tell it that he got convicted because it was going
it would be import in poor taste if he got convicted,
or I just wouldn't feel like joking. But now I
do feel a little bit like joking. It's time. It's
(02:15):
time to smile a bit about the news. Um, do
you mind if we use that at the title, Sophie,
let's use it as the title if you chauvinists, something
like that day. Um, he did it, he was convicted.
He was convicted. Was they convicted? The ship out of him? Um?
(02:36):
For the murder that he committed in public with cameras.
You know, it's one of those The real lesson here
is that in America, if you murder a man over
the course of nine minutes while a number of people
filmed from multiple camera angles, and then millions of people
take to the streets to protest that murder, and burned
(02:56):
down sizeable chunks of a number of cities. Then and
eventually you will see justice if you are a cop. Yeah,
that's all it takes. That's all it took. Let's all
feel hopeful that that's all it took. The world. It
could be better, especially since a lot of us, even
(03:18):
though that was the case, we're waiting for them to
not do the right thing. Oh yeah, I think we're
all surprised. I was kind of expecting. I was after
after his colleagues kind of turned on him, right when
the blue wall of silence broke, I was like, Okay,
he's getting convicted on something, um, because his his his
(03:39):
fucking supervisor wasn't going to go testify against him if
there wasn't a wide consensus that this motherfucker among cops,
that this guy had to go away for the good
of the job. Um. But I kind of expected him
to get like the manslaughter and found innocent on the
I certainly didn't expect him to be found guilty of
murder too, Yeah, which is great, Like he did murder
(04:03):
a guy. Yeah all three Yes, I would agree with you,
Cody for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Watching it after the first
one was red I was like okay for the for
the other two, yeah, so it was, although after the
first one got red, got red was red. Uh. I
(04:25):
did feel a little wild flame of hope. I was like,
is this going to happen? And it did? And I
didn't go ahead, Robert, Oh no, I mean I know, continue, Katie.
I mean, I was really just wrapping up that same thought.
I do that a lot, is Um, I'll start a
(04:45):
thought and just kind of hope that the words come
out in a way that makes sense. So, yeah, you know,
you can't know when words will or won't happen. That's
not how words work. But I think what we're all
saying is it was an emotional verdict. I mean, I
mean you could just feel people even if you weren't
(05:06):
around anyone. Oh god, yeah, no, I mean I I
teared up, like I got it. I was on a run, um,
and I made sure that I was out running with
the sun shining on me because I didn't want to.
I was kind of bracing for the worst and I
didn't want to be like sitting at my desk in
an office when I found out that he was going
to get to go home or something. Um, And I
(05:28):
I pulled up Twitter to refresh the feed, and before
the feed refreshed, I just saw um that the guilty
on all three counts or some variant of that was trending,
and it was like, oh my god, Um, okay, okay,
and yeah. Then I then I cried um because it
was you know, I watched so many people get hurt
(05:57):
so badly, not just because darre Ck Chauvin murdered George Floyd,
but that was the inciting incident too, a lot of stuff, um,
and seeing that at least, at fucking least, he is
not going back to his house, he is not going
(06:18):
handcuffed and walked out after the verdict was read with
incredibly with his bail revoked. Yeah, and after all of
the scary ship that's been happening in Minneapolis this week,
with the fucking National Guard being brought in and just
like this, the sheer amount of police in Philadelphia them
calling out the Guard before any protests even started, like
(06:39):
just to in the midst of all this police state
bullshit to see confirmation that yes, there is you can
go too far, like a cop can go too far
for the system to back it. And it takes again
millions of people throwing their bodies into a meat grinder.
But there there we found the line. Now do we
feel hopeful that this line being established helps acts as
(07:07):
a deterrent in the future. Um. I have to think
it scares them to some extent. I mean, and I
think as much as the actual I don't know, Like
it's it's one thing. They certainly haven't slowed up on
murdering people. UM. So it's it's too early to say, Like,
clearly the mass nationwide protests didn't well, I don't know,
(07:30):
a lot of cops have been quitting since last year,
and I think that those are the ones who could
be deterred. Are the ones who are like, well, funk it,
this ain't this, ain't this, ain't me no more. Um,
I have to think. So, I don't think protests were
ever going to deter the monsters like Chauvin, right, Um,
the people who are are out there looking to cause
(07:52):
harm as opposed to just kind of callous to the
harm that they cause. I I would say, I think
it has to make some of those guys think twice.
I would suspect if they're not idiots, they have to
be looking at Chauvin and being like well, fuck, UM,
I at least have to be more careful when they're
when I'm out in public and broad fucking daylight and
(08:13):
there's a camera in my face. UM. I don't know
how much you know. We've talked about this in the
episodes of Bastards we did on police training on on
David Grossman. So much of their training folcuses around not
hesitating to use deadly force. Um. And in fact, there's
even cases of There was a North Carolina cop in
two thousand and sixteen who got fired because, um, he
(08:37):
came to the scene of a suicide call guy with
a gun. Uh. The guy had a gun, but as
the cops said, like I knew immediately he was not
a threat to anyone. He was in mental distress and
the guy the cop tried started talking with the guy
to try to talk him down. Two other cops arrived
and shot him dead. Um. And then the cop who
had been trying to talk to this guy down got fired.
(08:59):
Um because he hadn't shot and he was supposed to.
He did sue that apartment in one like dollars. But
that that's I make that point because so much of
why there's two different kinds of police killings. Right, there's
the police killings that are people are trained to do
to react way too with way too much deadly force
(09:21):
m because they believe it will protect them or because
they've been taught that that's how you protect yourself when
your fellow officers. And then there's the police violence that's
like a guy like Chauvin, where he just some of
them just want to murder people and have a badge
while they do it. Um. I think I'm hoping that
the people who just want to murder will this will
dissuade them at least from committing those crimes in the open.
(09:42):
They have to be more careful now, I think is
the verdict. But I don't know how this affects the cops.
The majority of police killings are not guys with a
murder bonner. They're people who have been taught all that
matters is whether or not you're scared, and if you're scared,
you can kill people. UM. I don't know how much
this impacts that, you know, because this was not that
Chauvin was not afraid for his life. You know, he
(10:03):
had his knee on a guy's neck for nine minutes.
It's not a dude, sees a kid in the dead
of night, there was gunfire earlier. He shoots the kid.
Turns out the kid was unarmed. That's a different kind
of killing. I'm not saying it's it's more acceptable, but
it's a different thing. And I don't know that this
verdict will make that less likely, right. Um. It's also
(10:24):
just sobering when you look at the fact that I mean,
obviously this is a win. The majority of cops just
are not convicted for the things that you know, as
you just laid out. Yeah, if there is a way
to wiggle out of the verdict, they will find it.
You know. It's it's part of the issue was that
(10:45):
there was a high profile case. It needs to be
high profile case in order to two Yeah, have this happened? Um,
I mean I think part of it is they fucking
lit the third They the third precinct down. I don't
think that's a non factor in why this went this
way at all. Yeah, and uh, Dante right being killed
(11:08):
last week ten miles away. I mean, all eyes are
on this, I mean this case, this trial, this area,
the city, and I mean this does at the stage
for was her name Kim Cooper, And Yeah, I'm sorry
(11:31):
to all that Kim Cooper's out there, Um, you know,
for what will happen with her trial? UM yeah, I
mean it's incredible that he's been the verdict came out,
but it's obviously not lost on any of us that
this is only the seventh on duty cop to be
convicted of murder out of fifteen thousand police killings since
(11:52):
two thousand and five. I did want to read. I'll
give credit where it's due. Um. Jake Tapper tweeted this, Uh,
(12:14):
it was the original. Yeah, it was the original press
release from the Minneapolis Police after George Floyd's murder. Um.
And it's it's real interesting to read. Just in terms
of thinking any time in the future you see a
press release from the police, think about how accurate this
one was, and and apply that to whatever press release
(12:35):
you see come out of this. Yeah. Um, Minneapolis. On
Monday evening, shortly after eight pm, officers from the Minneapolis
Police Department responded to the block of Chicago Avenue South
on a report of a forgery in progress. Officers were
advised that the suspect was sitting on top of a
blue car and appeared to be under the influence two
(12:56):
officers arrived and located the suspect and Mayle, believed to
be in his forties, in his are he was ordered
to step from his car. After he got out, he
physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect
into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.
Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin
County Medical Center by ambulance, where he died a short
time later. At no time were weapons of any type
(13:17):
used by anyone involved in this incident. Your knees are
a weapon, yeah, I mean, and also there's no talk
about that. There's no there's not even to talk about restraint.
Just officers were able to get the subject in handcuffs.
After that he was transported to you know, I mean,
and you're so right speaking of the thirteen year old
(13:39):
who was murdered. I mean, they outlined in their statement
saying that the suspect was holding a gun when he
was not in fact holding a gun. Uh talked about
us on even More News last week. But it is
gutting to watch that video see that hands up, um,
don't want the shooting to day in Columbus, Ohio. Yeah,
(14:03):
it's sixteen year old girl. A fifteen year old girl shot. Um,
which happened. I think the shooting happened while they were
reading the during Yeah, in Columbus, Ohio. Um. And then
the other police statement, what what what were they saying
the NYPD this weekend, something about, uh, somebody through a
(14:27):
molotov cocktail out the window during a traffic stop when
it was like a cup of water, cup of water.
But that was that was also an official statement from
the police. So you know, it's fun. Should we talk
about some other kind of responses, like maybe Nancy Pelosi's
(14:51):
Oh sweet Christ, Yeah, someone happened in front of them. Yeah, yeah,
I can, I can, I can fu. I can play
the audio, I can s a yeah, we should have
the audio in here. Here's Nancy Pelosi's beautiful face. Let's roll.
Thank you, George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice,
(15:14):
for being there to call out to your mom. How
how heartbreaking was that call out for your mom? I
can't breathe. But because of you, and because of thousands
millions of people around the world who came out for justice,
your name will always be synonymous with justice. Yes, Nancy
(15:38):
Pelosi explaining how God, by being murdered George Floyd gave
his life. Here's the thing, it's a horrible way to
say this, awful way to say it, and like obviously
like she meant so terrible at this won't be in
vain for dying. But first, but like the justice she's
(15:59):
talking about is the murderer getting convicted. So like she's saying,
thank you for sacrificing yourself so that the guy who
killed you can get convicted. They're like, they're just opposed statements.
They do not work together. If the justice would also
be like, well, now you can't like killed by the
cops because of this reason, like or not, Like yeah,
(16:23):
it's amazing because you could say the non offensive and
accurate version of that without committing Danny. I get it.
She's a politician. They don't like to do things that matter.
There's a way to even say that that no one
could get angry at you for, which is this is
a terrible tragedy, but we're not going to let his
death be in vain. You know, there you go shore,
you go there, and you don't even have to do anything.
(16:45):
You can keep being Nancy Pelosi and keep being useless.
And it's not just Nancy Pelosi. I've seen other things
of like you know, I I don't have an example
off the top of my head, but there's a really
crean is Worthy way of approaching talking about this as
if this is good. Actually yeah, I mean something like
(17:08):
like like the Las Vegas raiders posting I can breathe
for fuck off again, don't post ship you guys suck.
But like, again, this isn't like justice. It's like the
bare minimum of justice. It's not it's not problems not
(17:28):
doing those things. It's saying like you sacrifice yourself so
that the thing that happened I had, Like it's just again,
it's like the system. I will make one point that
I've thought about throughout the trial. Okay, and I this
is a separate point from what we were just talking about,
But think you of social media. I've seen a lot
(17:50):
of posts of like, we don't need a trial to
know that Derek Chauvin uh killed George Floyd, or I
didn't need to take the some x amount of days.
And look, I agree, we all know that that's true.
But we do like trials. We like that he's going
through trial. We like that he gets convicted of all
(18:11):
three counts publicly and you know, unanimously for everybody to see.
I don't know if yeah, it's good that it's good
that he got it's good like justice is that George
Floyd didn't die. Just the police don't act like this
and do this and get away with it all the time,
and things are going to actually change. Um, it's not
(18:33):
that they punished the guy who did the thing to
the guy who allegedly sacrificed himself so that the thing
could happen. It's just very frustrating justice. It's it's it's consequences. Yeah,
that that that that is what this is is we
(18:54):
decide as as a society, after an enormous amount of
violent struggle, that this is the sort of thing, this
specific I shouldn't say this is the sort of thing
because a lot of cops are still getting away. This
specific crime had to have legal consequences, like we we
we fought as a nation to ensure that this this
man and maybe his accomplices would be specifically punished for
(19:18):
this crime. And the hope and the responsibility we have
is to ideally make sure that other people are also
face consequences as a result of this, That the system
that allowed Derek Chaubin to do what he did and
to get away with a lot of violence before he
killed George Floy, that system also suffers consequences. That would
(19:38):
be nice. All we know right now is that he's
going to suffer consequences. Um so even yeah, even the
like warped set, like the way she's saying in the sentiment, like,
even that's not true. Yeah, Um, but enough about Nancy Pelosi.
She's not gonna do anything. Um but I mean I
(20:03):
don't know, Yeah, I don't know. We'll come back and
we'll talk about I don't know, cops killing people more
or protests or something. Um, we'll talk. But we're definitely
gonna talk well together everything. Yeah, we are back from
(20:29):
that break, trying stuff out, and we're gonna talk about
some news things. We sure our friends. So in terms
of like what the reaction is gonna be, I have
some friends in Minneapolis. Um, it sounds like hopefully there's
going to be a big kind of party slash morning
(20:51):
kind of irish wake sort of situation in the streets.
We'll see if the fucking cops and the National Guard
go ape ship on it. If they're smart, they'll let
it happen. But also it's possible people will um, people
will will go off you know. Um, I don't know.
I I suspect in Portland there's a thing a protest
slash celebration plan for tonight. I don't know what's going
(21:15):
to happen. It being Portland's one of two things is possible.
It could either be a lot of people show up
and more or less it's kind of like what happened
after the election, where a bunch of people come together, um,
and there's a you know, uh, just sort of an
acknowledgment that like, hey, the thing that needed to happen happened,
and it's horrible that the thing that caused this also happened. Um,
(21:39):
let's all be together. Or it's possible that people will
will break more windows and light some ship on fire.
It's always possible that people will light some ship on
fire and break some windows. Maybe someone will throw a
water bottle and then in the way that they react, yeah, yeah,
we'll see. I mean in Portland, things have moved towards
(22:01):
a lot of um um, fairly small hundred to two
hundred people focused direct actions, with a lot of emphasis
on property damage, both to police property and to businesses. UM,
because we haven't really had a big a mass protest
in a while, so if a lot of people show up,
that'll be interesting. Um. But I I think there's an
(22:23):
attitude among kind of the more extreme abolitionist activists that, UM,
you shouldn't ever kind of let up on the pressure
and UM it's always the time to to to break
more ship um, which you know is a is a
strategy we can debate the efficacy of. UM. I don't
know what's going to happen tonight. My hope is that
(22:45):
people like take a minute and just kind of let this,
let this one sink in. But people don't do whatever
whatever it is they're going to do. Um. The govern or,
the mayor has already cleared a state of emergency. The
National Guard are on standby. I'm sure the police are
on a high alert. Yeah, everywhere they're they're fucking circling
(23:06):
my house, tractical alert. And yeah. Yeah, So I don't
know what's going to happen. My hope is that it's
My hope is that people like kind of just take
a night to grieve and also, um B relax a
little bit. Not relax, that's the wrong word. UM, take
satisfaction that reflect that there among the achievements of sort
(23:33):
of the protesting and rioting and whatnot last year, one
of those achievements was that, UM, the fucking state had
to throw this guy under the bus. They I think
that's really but that's why his colleagues testified against him.
They were fucking terrified of another last year. And UM,
and that's a win. And I think a productive thing
(23:56):
for protesters and and activists in particular to to to
focus on now. I don't know. I think there's this
I see it in Portland. UM. And again I'm not
here to tell anyone what the right or the wrong
thing to do is. But I think a productive thing
to do would be to focus in the immediate future
more on kind of building UM resilient systems of mutual aid. UH,
(24:19):
just because I think, I don't know, I don't UM,
I don't. I don't think the continue. I think there's
a time and a place protesting wise for property damage.
I don't think it always achieves the ends that people
UM think it will. And I think sometimes it's okay too.
I think we're in this interesting position on the left
(24:40):
where the right wings street movement has taken a serious
and kind of devastating hit recently. UM, and the right
wing political movement is also on it's on a on
a back foot. It's it has not taken nearly as
much of a hit, but it's not UM, it's not
where it was even ten months ago. Oh UM. And
(25:01):
I think it behooves us to take advantage of this
sort of period of weakness, relative weakness, for them to
build a stronger base as opposed to focusing just on
kind of directly confronting the state, UM providing alternatives to it.
I think that's a wiser long term strategic goal to accomplish.
(25:26):
I think it will actually, UM, I think number one,
the next time it's necessary, the next time a lot
of people take to the streets, it will make that
movement more durable. But I also think it's just is
something that it sounds better to a lot of people.
You can get more people on board, you can kind
of bring them onto the movement, bring them on to
left wing politics in a way that UM, kind of
(25:47):
the more extreme protests aren't necessarily going to turn these
people off, but it's not going to get them active.
There the other kind of work, the real work, that
laying the groundwork, preparing, Yeah, organizing and being ready for
the next moment of action. Yeah, there's there's a lot
of focus I see, particularly within anarchist circles, I mean
(26:10):
anarchist crois. There's always a lot of mutual aid work,
but there's a lot of I think because people have
gotten traumatized and also got into this rhythm of fighting,
this focus on fighting the state, and I think at
the moment, one of the best things you can do
to fight it is provide people alternatives to the state
in addition to just kind of attacking symbols of state power.
(26:32):
And in fact, I think that providing alternatives, particularly in
our present moment, is probably a better way of building
power right now. That's my my thinking the matter and
demonstrating to people what is possible. And you're right, it's
not it's not. The moment of extreme heightened tension, where
(26:53):
there's lots of different information and stories being floated, is
a time when you can actually talk with people and
have conversations and change and change, make changes. I'm feeling sad.
I wanted to say that, like there was a relief
and I felt emotional, just like we all discussed when
the verdict came in. I'm just feeling so sad, uh
(27:16):
for this past year and a half, for the trauma,
proud of everybody who's shown up and and done stuff
and and marched and burnt things, and you know, it's
just I'm sad. I don't know that this isn't a
good point. I wanted to acknowledge it because I think
(27:38):
that we're all feeling it. This episode feels very somber
to me. I think we've all been watching all this
thing unfold for so long, and there was a relief,
And it's also not a relief because I don't know
what changes are happening. I'm people are being murdered as
we speak, black people, brown people. So I'm acknowledging it
(28:00):
because I think that some of our listeners probably are
feeling that right now. It's um end of pivot. Yeah,
I mean, and I don't want anything I've said to
come across as saying like if you're doing anything in
the streets besides morning or you know, celebrating or whatever tonight,
that it's wrong and don't. I think there's a wide
(28:21):
variety of perfectly acceptable reactions to this. UM. I hope
people are still capable of taking some joy in um,
some joy in doing damage to the thing that they hate. Absolutely,
(28:42):
there's something to be proud of two yeah, and this result,
absolutely and there is joy. But all of your feelings
right now are value yeah yeah, yeah, literally any reaction
to this, um, other than being angry that Chauvin was convicted.
I don't know what you're doing listening to you? Why
why are you still listening to this podcast? What has
(29:05):
been going on with you for a year? You're all
welcome here. It's fine. There's a Yeah, there's amazing footage
of George Floyd's family reacting to the to the verdict. UM,
and yeah, I mean nothing, you know, there's no there's
(29:29):
no This doesn't fix anything, but it is. UM. It's
like when, um, you know, in a video game, when
you've you've got one of those kind of one of
those kind of video games like like I think a
side scrollers the term for it. You've got those bad
guys that have like a bunch of different pieces and
you have to shoot off the different pieces, and when
you do enough damage like that little the thing in
the center of them starts to glow and then you
(29:51):
can shoot that and that's how that's how you take
out the bad guy. Like we we we we blew
off like a like a chunk of armor. And now
there's like fifteen second where um, the car serrale systems
big glowing weak spot is pulsing. UM. And I don't know,
I don't want to like, I don't think it's ass
(30:11):
as limited a time frame as that, but it is
a situation where, um, all the reactions we've seen in
the last week, you know, is as much of a
as much of a massive show of force as we
saw in in Minneapolis, as we saw in um um uh,
as we started to see in Philadelphia, as we've started
to see in d C. You know, I think there
(30:32):
were like thousands of cops out for like a hundred
and fifty protesters there as much of a like, I
think that the kind of escalations and deployed force that
we saw prior to the verdict were signs of fear.
They were they were the system going, oh God, we can't,
we can't do this again, not again, please um. And
(30:53):
it was I mean that's not how they framed They
framed it more as like a like we have to
crush this thing before it gets started again. UM. But
the fact that, like the fact of the matter is,
um last year was was rough for them, um it
and and there have been consequences. You know, we're on
two states that have restricted qualifying immunity now UM saying
(31:16):
that they abolished it as an entirely accurate but it
is a meaningful restriction. And at least one city UM,
I think at Denver, UM. And we're we're seeing more
bills put up throughout the country UM to at least
restrict police power. There's growing pushes within the Democratic Party
to have Biden reverse the ten thirty three program, which
(31:38):
I think is something people should really push on. That's
the flow of military grade weapons to the police. Biden
is on track to do it at least as much
of not more than Trump. That doesn't need to happen.
He's still early on and if he were to take
action quickly, that could be a lot of police militarization
slowed down. UM. And I think there's opportunity to do
(32:00):
all of that. And I think more than anything, again,
the fact that multiple Minneapolis police officers testified against Derek Schaubin.
Is a sign that they're scared. They recognize they're in
a precarious position. They're at least aware of the times
(32:20):
and like what they they're placing it the a changing
that the times they are doing. Yes, yeah, um and
yeah stuff like that. Also there will be a backlash
from the police there all yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
But and Ben Shapiro is angry. Um what was his
hot take? Saw? God didn't was it? Was it? Lester Holt,
(32:42):
who's who's tweets? Don Lemon, Don Lemon um Don Lemon
posted like justice is done or something like like that
account when the verdict came in, and Ben Shapiro said,
I bet he wouldn't be saying that if the opposite
had happened. And it's like, what even is that point? Yes,
saying justices served a mistake and what Uh? It's like
(33:11):
a guy comes in, a plumber comes in to fix
your sink, and you're like, thank you for fixing my sink,
and someone says, you wouldn't be saying that if he
hadn't fixed your sink. No, I guess I would, right.
That's why his voice is so important. I have a
theory after hearing that just now. He tweeted that because
(33:31):
he's secretly happy about it. But he didn't want to
tweet you, didn't want to admit it, so he just
came up with some obscure bullshit to tweet that sounded critical. No,
he's also he's also he's also talking on his show
withdrew of people about how there's like no evidence that
racially motivated at all. Completely, that wasn't the trial. The
(33:55):
trial wasn't whether or not Derek Chavi. It was did
he murderer? Guy? We're inferring, um. But yeah, that's what
I feel like sometimes. It's it's very sweet, though, Katie,
that you give you give him the benefit of the doubt, Like, no,
that was naive. I was just reacting in real time
(34:18):
without having other information. No, No, that's nice. That's nice
because it is one of those things like fuck. I
would say, for all of the disagreements I have with
a lot of people in my family who are more conservative,
I don't know none of my none of my right
wing family members think Derek Jovin isn't a murderer like
it was. It was that bad, you know, Um, it
(34:39):
was that bad a video. Even people who are reflexively
defend the cops were like, Jesus that Ben Shapiro, Well
except for the fascist, you know, the fascist. The fascist
did what fascists do. But I think most people who
are just actual conservatives were like whoa, yeah, exactly right
(34:59):
on that point. I mean, my conservative relatives have watched
watched this trial very closely, and everyone's just like, he's
a murderer. Yeah. I was watching news Max, uh, pretty
much all day for the first time it's in. I know,
I don't I don't know why. It was just a
choice I made. I was very interested to see how
(35:21):
they talk about it and then uh, their reaction after
the fact awful through through there. It's not a good channel. Um.
But even like Madison Cawthorne was on and he was like, yeah,
it appears as though you know, there was I'm I'm
glad there was justice against uh, someone who might have
been a bad cop. And it was like, so so
(35:41):
fucking close, man, why do you have to add that? Um,
it's just they can't. They can't, like they're incapable of
like getting to that point. They know, they know, but
they they can't even do that. Um, we can't do
that as a country, or at least as this I
don't like, we don't this is this US was as
about as close outside of pot legalization, about as close
(36:04):
like this specific trial, not the broader question of like
police reform, but this specific trial was as close to
like even Trump was like, well, that guy looks like
he committed murder. You don't even get Trump. If you're
a cop and Trump won't defend you from killing a guy,
you really stepped out a lie. They're still they're still
(36:26):
going out though Candis Owens is on Tucker right now.
It wasn't a fair trial. Everyone on news Max is
talking about how it was. At one point the guy
is fucking little twerp was talking about how yeah, if
it were any other day, uh you know, uh it
was just uh ne on the neck the next day
(36:47):
it would be a stiff neck anyone, if an older
brother can tell you that. So they're like they're now
they're on overdrive. Now. Yeah, no, they're gonna be doing horrible,
horrible like it's it's going to continue to be a nightmare.
Um yeah, but many people across the nation who are
(37:09):
not on television, uh agree. So that's something with who
with us are with them with with like the idea
that the cup killed that guy, it was murder, but
you were saying I veered it away towards Actually the
media is being awful, But I think it's a valid
point and good point to point out. They're like, yeah,
I know people saw what was going on, and he
(37:32):
just said that I'm always right, and I think it's
a great way to end the episode. Um, except for
when she gives the Shapiro the benefit of the depth.
But that's just I'm sweet and so marce of ideas
marketplace of ideas. Some people think Ben Shapiro is a monster.
(37:52):
Some of us think he's merely incompetent. You know all,
let's think he's incontinent. I don't cut it, cut it.
It's not a good joke. It was and sometimes sometimes
I've become my dad really quick and really alarming. The
only comment I'll make on that is that, you know,
(38:14):
Ben Shapopiro's poops are like like a little mouse's. You know,
you almost said Ben, I did, I did, But like
size wise, they have to be like you know, like
if you've ever if you've really lived out in the
country and like a mouse, gett in your house and
stuff to eat. Those little pellets, those little bit compressed
pellets like a Gerbil or something made like Stewart little
like Stewart little. That's the size of Ben Shapiro's big poops,
(38:39):
you know, when he's proud, when he's going to bring
This isn't a short joke. It's just a Ben Shapiro joke.
It's a Ben Shapiro joke. It's just a generally tiny joke. Ye,
it's just a little baby boy. It's fine. I don't know, Like, look,
we're not I'm not proud of of making those jokes
about Ben Shapiro, but I'm not going to take the fine.
Yeah we can. There's no way to edit that out. Yeah,
(39:03):
episode everything so dumb, Everything so dumb, and it's got
to get duma. I tried. Dan. Worst Year Ever is
a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
My Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Worst Year Ever, a production of I Heart
Radio Welcome Together Everything. Oh wow, Hello everybody. Welcome to
(00:22):
a day of the week, of a month of a year,
and that year is the worst year Ever, which is
whatever year you are in right now. My name is
Cody Johnston. Oh that was so good. Cody. You didn't
even plan that. You just went with it, just open
your mouth and a great intro came out. I'm Katie Stole.
(00:42):
I wrote your compliment for me, but thank you you did.
I am a different persons, were all three separate but
connected to different folks. Internet ineffable strings of personal solidarity,
emotional complimentarity. Also it's true complimentarity award. It might be,
(01:06):
it might be, it should be, and will be, it
can be. And a Moira Rose. I'm guessing you guys
haven't seen ships Creek. Uh, she's wonderful and she also
the great test is low. I didn't do a good
made up word. She's great at making up words. I'm not.
We have not yet started the show, really, Oh, I
(01:30):
beg to differ. I think it started and ended by
everybody piece out signing off. UM So today, Hi, we're
talking about the news that most people were probably talking about,
which is the result of the chauvin trial. Um, the
murder of George Floyd for the Chauvinists. Yeah, that was good.
(01:55):
That sounds like that sounds like a title right there.
I had that one in the fucking in the chamber
for I don't know months, But I didn't want to
tell it that he got convicted because it was going
it would be import in poor taste if he got convicted,
or I just wouldn't feel like joking. But now I
do feel a little bit like joking. It's time. It's
(02:15):
time to smile a bit about the news. Um, do
you mind if we use that at the title, Sophie,
let's use it as the title if you chauvinists, something
like that day. Um, he did it, he was convicted.
He was convicted. Was they convicted? The ship out of him? Um?
(02:36):
For the murder that he committed in public with cameras.
You know, it's one of those The real lesson here
is that in America, if you murder a man over
the course of nine minutes while a number of people
filmed from multiple camera angles, and then millions of people
take to the streets to protest that murder, and burned
(02:56):
down sizeable chunks of a number of cities. Then and
eventually you will see justice if you are a cop. Yeah,
that's all it takes. That's all it took. Let's all
feel hopeful that that's all it took. The world. It
could be better, especially since a lot of us, even
(03:18):
though that was the case, we're waiting for them to
not do the right thing. Oh yeah, I think we're
all surprised. I was kind of expecting. I was after
after his colleagues kind of turned on him, right when
the blue wall of silence broke, I was like, Okay,
he's getting convicted on something, um, because his his his
(03:39):
fucking supervisor wasn't going to go testify against him if
there wasn't a wide consensus that this motherfucker among cops,
that this guy had to go away for the good
of the job. Um. But I kind of expected him
to get like the manslaughter and found innocent on the
I certainly didn't expect him to be found guilty of
murder too, Yeah, which is great, Like he did murder
(04:03):
a guy. Yeah all three Yes, I would agree with you,
Cody for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Watching it after the first
one was red I was like okay for the for
the other two, yeah, so it was, although after the
first one got red, got red was red. Uh. I
(04:25):
did feel a little wild flame of hope. I was like,
is this going to happen? And it did? And I
didn't go ahead, Robert, Oh no, I mean I know, continue, Katie.
I mean, I was really just wrapping up that same thought.
I do that a lot, is Um, I'll start a
(04:45):
thought and just kind of hope that the words come
out in a way that makes sense. So, yeah, you know,
you can't know when words will or won't happen. That's
not how words work. But I think what we're all
saying is it was an emotional verdict. I mean, I
mean you could just feel people even if you weren't
(05:06):
around anyone. Oh god, yeah, no, I mean I I
teared up, like I got it. I was on a run, um,
and I made sure that I was out running with
the sun shining on me because I didn't want to.
I was kind of bracing for the worst and I
didn't want to be like sitting at my desk in
an office when I found out that he was going
to get to go home or something. Um, And I
(05:28):
I pulled up Twitter to refresh the feed, and before
the feed refreshed, I just saw um that the guilty
on all three counts or some variant of that was trending,
and it was like, oh my god, Um, okay, okay,
and yeah. Then I then I cried um because it
was you know, I watched so many people get hurt
(05:57):
so badly, not just because darre Ck Chauvin murdered George Floyd,
but that was the inciting incident too, a lot of stuff, um,
and seeing that at least, at fucking least, he is
not going back to his house, he is not going
(06:18):
handcuffed and walked out after the verdict was read with
incredibly with his bail revoked. Yeah, and after all of
the scary ship that's been happening in Minneapolis this week,
with the fucking National Guard being brought in and just
like this, the sheer amount of police in Philadelphia them
calling out the Guard before any protests even started, like
(06:39):
just to in the midst of all this police state
bullshit to see confirmation that yes, there is you can
go too far, like a cop can go too far
for the system to back it. And it takes again
millions of people throwing their bodies into a meat grinder.
But there there we found the line. Now do we
feel hopeful that this line being established helps acts as
(07:07):
a deterrent in the future. Um. I have to think
it scares them to some extent. I mean, and I
think as much as the actual I don't know, Like
it's it's one thing. They certainly haven't slowed up on
murdering people. UM. So it's it's too early to say, Like,
clearly the mass nationwide protests didn't well, I don't know,
(07:30):
a lot of cops have been quitting since last year,
and I think that those are the ones who could
be deterred. Are the ones who are like, well, funk it,
this ain't this, ain't this, ain't me no more. Um,
I have to think. So, I don't think protests were
ever going to deter the monsters like Chauvin, right, Um,
the people who are are out there looking to cause
(07:52):
harm as opposed to just kind of callous to the
harm that they cause. I I would say, I think
it has to make some of those guys think twice.
I would suspect if they're not idiots, they have to
be looking at Chauvin and being like well, fuck, UM,
I at least have to be more careful when they're
when I'm out in public and broad fucking daylight and
(08:13):
there's a camera in my face. UM. I don't know
how much you know. We've talked about this in the
episodes of Bastards we did on police training on on
David Grossman. So much of their training folcuses around not
hesitating to use deadly force. Um. And in fact, there's
even cases of There was a North Carolina cop in
two thousand and sixteen who got fired because, um, he
(08:37):
came to the scene of a suicide call guy with
a gun. Uh. The guy had a gun, but as
the cops said, like I knew immediately he was not
a threat to anyone. He was in mental distress and
the guy the cop tried started talking with the guy
to try to talk him down. Two other cops arrived
and shot him dead. Um. And then the cop who
had been trying to talk to this guy down got fired.
(08:59):
Um because he hadn't shot and he was supposed to.
He did sue that apartment in one like dollars. But
that that's I make that point because so much of
why there's two different kinds of police killings. Right, there's
the police killings that are people are trained to do
to react way too with way too much deadly force
(09:21):
m because they believe it will protect them or because
they've been taught that that's how you protect yourself when
your fellow officers. And then there's the police violence that's
like a guy like Chauvin, where he just some of
them just want to murder people and have a badge
while they do it. Um. I think I'm hoping that
the people who just want to murder will this will
dissuade them at least from committing those crimes in the open.
(09:42):
They have to be more careful now, I think is
the verdict. But I don't know how this affects the cops.
The majority of police killings are not guys with a
murder bonner. They're people who have been taught all that
matters is whether or not you're scared, and if you're scared,
you can kill people. UM. I don't know how much
this impacts that, you know, because this was not that
Chauvin was not afraid for his life. You know, he
(10:03):
had his knee on a guy's neck for nine minutes.
It's not a dude, sees a kid in the dead
of night, there was gunfire earlier. He shoots the kid.
Turns out the kid was unarmed. That's a different kind
of killing. I'm not saying it's it's more acceptable, but
it's a different thing. And I don't know that this
verdict will make that less likely, right. Um. It's also
(10:24):
just sobering when you look at the fact that I mean,
obviously this is a win. The majority of cops just
are not convicted for the things that you know, as
you just laid out. Yeah, if there is a way
to wiggle out of the verdict, they will find it.
You know. It's it's part of the issue was that
(10:45):
there was a high profile case. It needs to be
high profile case in order to two Yeah, have this happened? Um,
I mean I think part of it is they fucking
lit the third They the third precinct down. I don't
think that's a non factor in why this went this
way at all. Yeah, and uh, Dante right being killed
(11:08):
last week ten miles away. I mean, all eyes are
on this, I mean this case, this trial, this area,
the city, and I mean this does at the stage
for was her name Kim Cooper, And Yeah, I'm sorry
(11:31):
to all that Kim Cooper's out there, Um, you know,
for what will happen with her trial? UM yeah, I
mean it's incredible that he's been the verdict came out,
but it's obviously not lost on any of us that
this is only the seventh on duty cop to be
convicted of murder out of fifteen thousand police killings since
(11:52):
two thousand and five. I did want to read. I'll
give credit where it's due. Um. Jake Tapper tweeted this, Uh,
(12:14):
it was the original. Yeah, it was the original press
release from the Minneapolis Police after George Floyd's murder. Um.
And it's it's real interesting to read. Just in terms
of thinking any time in the future you see a
press release from the police, think about how accurate this
one was, and and apply that to whatever press release
(12:35):
you see come out of this. Yeah. Um, Minneapolis. On
Monday evening, shortly after eight pm, officers from the Minneapolis
Police Department responded to the block of Chicago Avenue South
on a report of a forgery in progress. Officers were
advised that the suspect was sitting on top of a
blue car and appeared to be under the influence two
(12:56):
officers arrived and located the suspect and Mayle, believed to
be in his forties, in his are he was ordered
to step from his car. After he got out, he
physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect
into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.
Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin
County Medical Center by ambulance, where he died a short
time later. At no time were weapons of any type
(13:17):
used by anyone involved in this incident. Your knees are
a weapon, yeah, I mean, and also there's no talk
about that. There's no there's not even to talk about restraint.
Just officers were able to get the subject in handcuffs.
After that he was transported to you know, I mean,
and you're so right speaking of the thirteen year old
(13:39):
who was murdered. I mean, they outlined in their statement
saying that the suspect was holding a gun when he
was not in fact holding a gun. Uh talked about
us on even More News last week. But it is
gutting to watch that video see that hands up, um,
don't want the shooting to day in Columbus, Ohio. Yeah,
(14:03):
it's sixteen year old girl. A fifteen year old girl shot. Um,
which happened. I think the shooting happened while they were
reading the during Yeah, in Columbus, Ohio. Um. And then
the other police statement, what what what were they saying
the NYPD this weekend, something about, uh, somebody through a
(14:27):
molotov cocktail out the window during a traffic stop when
it was like a cup of water, cup of water.
But that was that was also an official statement from
the police. So you know, it's fun. Should we talk
about some other kind of responses, like maybe Nancy Pelosi's
(14:51):
Oh sweet Christ, Yeah, someone happened in front of them. Yeah, yeah,
I can, I can, I can fu. I can play
the audio, I can s a yeah, we should have
the audio in here. Here's Nancy Pelosi's beautiful face. Let's roll.
Thank you, George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice,
(15:14):
for being there to call out to your mom. How
how heartbreaking was that call out for your mom? I
can't breathe. But because of you, and because of thousands
millions of people around the world who came out for justice,
your name will always be synonymous with justice. Yes, Nancy
(15:38):
Pelosi explaining how God, by being murdered George Floyd gave
his life. Here's the thing, it's a horrible way to
say this, awful way to say it, and like obviously
like she meant so terrible at this won't be in
vain for dying. But first, but like the justice she's
(15:59):
talking about is the murderer getting convicted. So like she's saying,
thank you for sacrificing yourself so that the guy who
killed you can get convicted. They're like, they're just opposed statements.
They do not work together. If the justice would also
be like, well, now you can't like killed by the
cops because of this reason, like or not, Like yeah,
(16:23):
it's amazing because you could say the non offensive and
accurate version of that without committing Danny. I get it.
She's a politician. They don't like to do things that matter.
There's a way to even say that that no one
could get angry at you for, which is this is
a terrible tragedy, but we're not going to let his
death be in vain. You know, there you go shore,
you go there, and you don't even have to do anything.
(16:45):
You can keep being Nancy Pelosi and keep being useless.
And it's not just Nancy Pelosi. I've seen other things
of like you know, I I don't have an example
off the top of my head, but there's a really
crean is Worthy way of approaching talking about this as
if this is good. Actually yeah, I mean something like
(17:08):
like like the Las Vegas raiders posting I can breathe
for fuck off again, don't post ship you guys suck.
But like, again, this isn't like justice. It's like the
bare minimum of justice. It's not it's not problems not
(17:28):
doing those things. It's saying like you sacrifice yourself so
that the thing that happened I had, Like it's just again,
it's like the system. I will make one point that
I've thought about throughout the trial. Okay, and I this
is a separate point from what we were just talking about,
But think you of social media. I've seen a lot
(17:50):
of posts of like, we don't need a trial to
know that Derek Chauvin uh killed George Floyd, or I
didn't need to take the some x amount of days.
And look, I agree, we all know that that's true.
But we do like trials. We like that he's going
through trial. We like that he gets convicted of all
(18:11):
three counts publicly and you know, unanimously for everybody to see.
I don't know if yeah, it's good that it's good
that he got it's good like justice is that George
Floyd didn't die. Just the police don't act like this
and do this and get away with it all the time,
and things are going to actually change. Um, it's not
(18:33):
that they punished the guy who did the thing to
the guy who allegedly sacrificed himself so that the thing
could happen. It's just very frustrating justice. It's it's it's consequences. Yeah,
that that that that is what this is is we
(18:54):
decide as as a society, after an enormous amount of
violent struggle, that this is the sort of thing, this
specific I shouldn't say this is the sort of thing
because a lot of cops are still getting away. This
specific crime had to have legal consequences, like we we
we fought as a nation to ensure that this this
man and maybe his accomplices would be specifically punished for
(19:18):
this crime. And the hope and the responsibility we have
is to ideally make sure that other people are also
face consequences as a result of this, That the system
that allowed Derek Chaubin to do what he did and
to get away with a lot of violence before he
killed George Floy, that system also suffers consequences. That would
(19:38):
be nice. All we know right now is that he's
going to suffer consequences. Um so even yeah, even the
like warped set, like the way she's saying in the sentiment, like,
even that's not true. Yeah, Um, but enough about Nancy Pelosi.
She's not gonna do anything. Um but I mean I
(20:03):
don't know, Yeah, I don't know. We'll come back and
we'll talk about I don't know, cops killing people more
or protests or something. Um, we'll talk. But we're definitely
gonna talk well together everything. Yeah, we are back from
(20:29):
that break, trying stuff out, and we're gonna talk about
some news things. We sure our friends. So in terms
of like what the reaction is gonna be, I have
some friends in Minneapolis. Um, it sounds like hopefully there's
going to be a big kind of party slash morning
(20:51):
kind of irish wake sort of situation in the streets.
We'll see if the fucking cops and the National Guard
go ape ship on it. If they're smart, they'll let
it happen. But also it's possible people will um, people
will will go off you know. Um, I don't know.
I I suspect in Portland there's a thing a protest
slash celebration plan for tonight. I don't know what's going
(21:15):
to happen. It being Portland's one of two things is possible.
It could either be a lot of people show up
and more or less it's kind of like what happened
after the election, where a bunch of people come together, um,
and there's a you know, uh, just sort of an
acknowledgment that like, hey, the thing that needed to happen happened,
and it's horrible that the thing that caused this also happened. Um,
(21:39):
let's all be together. Or it's possible that people will
will break more windows and light some ship on fire.
It's always possible that people will light some ship on
fire and break some windows. Maybe someone will throw a
water bottle and then in the way that they react, yeah, yeah,
we'll see. I mean in Portland, things have moved towards
(22:01):
a lot of um um, fairly small hundred to two
hundred people focused direct actions, with a lot of emphasis
on property damage, both to police property and to businesses. UM,
because we haven't really had a big a mass protest
in a while, so if a lot of people show up,
that'll be interesting. Um. But I I think there's an
(22:23):
attitude among kind of the more extreme abolitionist activists that, UM,
you shouldn't ever kind of let up on the pressure
and UM it's always the time to to to break
more ship um, which you know is a is a
strategy we can debate the efficacy of. UM. I don't
know what's going to happen tonight. My hope is that
(22:45):
people like take a minute and just kind of let this,
let this one sink in. But people don't do whatever
whatever it is they're going to do. Um. The govern or,
the mayor has already cleared a state of emergency. The
National Guard are on standby. I'm sure the police are
on a high alert. Yeah, everywhere they're they're fucking circling
(23:06):
my house, tractical alert. And yeah. Yeah, So I don't
know what's going to happen. My hope is that it's
My hope is that people like kind of just take
a night to grieve and also, um B relax a
little bit. Not relax, that's the wrong word. UM, take
satisfaction that reflect that there among the achievements of sort
(23:33):
of the protesting and rioting and whatnot last year, one
of those achievements was that, UM, the fucking state had
to throw this guy under the bus. They I think
that's really but that's why his colleagues testified against him.
They were fucking terrified of another last year. And UM,
and that's a win. And I think a productive thing
(23:56):
for protesters and and activists in particular to to to
focus on now. I don't know. I think there's this
I see it in Portland. UM. And again I'm not
here to tell anyone what the right or the wrong
thing to do is. But I think a productive thing
to do would be to focus in the immediate future
more on kind of building UM resilient systems of mutual aid. UH,
(24:19):
just because I think, I don't know, I don't UM,
I don't. I don't think the continue. I think there's
a time and a place protesting wise for property damage.
I don't think it always achieves the ends that people
UM think it will. And I think sometimes it's okay too.
I think we're in this interesting position on the left
(24:40):
where the right wings street movement has taken a serious
and kind of devastating hit recently. UM, and the right
wing political movement is also on it's on a on
a back foot. It's it has not taken nearly as
much of a hit, but it's not UM, it's not
where it was even ten months ago. Oh UM. And
(25:01):
I think it behooves us to take advantage of this
sort of period of weakness, relative weakness, for them to
build a stronger base as opposed to focusing just on
kind of directly confronting the state, UM providing alternatives to it.
I think that's a wiser long term strategic goal to accomplish.
(25:26):
I think it will actually, UM, I think number one,
the next time it's necessary, the next time a lot
of people take to the streets, it will make that
movement more durable. But I also think it's just is
something that it sounds better to a lot of people.
You can get more people on board, you can kind
of bring them onto the movement, bring them on to
left wing politics in a way that UM, kind of
(25:47):
the more extreme protests aren't necessarily going to turn these
people off, but it's not going to get them active.
There the other kind of work, the real work, that
laying the groundwork, preparing, Yeah, organizing and being ready for
the next moment of action. Yeah, there's there's a lot
of focus I see, particularly within anarchist circles, I mean
(26:10):
anarchist crois. There's always a lot of mutual aid work,
but there's a lot of I think because people have
gotten traumatized and also got into this rhythm of fighting,
this focus on fighting the state, and I think at
the moment, one of the best things you can do
to fight it is provide people alternatives to the state
in addition to just kind of attacking symbols of state power.
(26:32):
And in fact, I think that providing alternatives, particularly in
our present moment, is probably a better way of building
power right now. That's my my thinking the matter and
demonstrating to people what is possible. And you're right, it's
not it's not. The moment of extreme heightened tension, where
(26:53):
there's lots of different information and stories being floated, is
a time when you can actually talk with people and
have conversations and change and change, make changes. I'm feeling sad.
I wanted to say that, like there was a relief
and I felt emotional, just like we all discussed when
the verdict came in. I'm just feeling so sad, uh
(27:16):
for this past year and a half, for the trauma,
proud of everybody who's shown up and and done stuff
and and marched and burnt things, and you know, it's
just I'm sad. I don't know that this isn't a
good point. I wanted to acknowledge it because I think
(27:38):
that we're all feeling it. This episode feels very somber
to me. I think we've all been watching all this
thing unfold for so long, and there was a relief,
And it's also not a relief because I don't know
what changes are happening. I'm people are being murdered as
we speak, black people, brown people. So I'm acknowledging it
(28:00):
because I think that some of our listeners probably are
feeling that right now. It's um end of pivot. Yeah,
I mean, and I don't want anything I've said to
come across as saying like if you're doing anything in
the streets besides morning or you know, celebrating or whatever tonight,
that it's wrong and don't. I think there's a wide
(28:21):
variety of perfectly acceptable reactions to this. UM. I hope
people are still capable of taking some joy in um,
some joy in doing damage to the thing that they hate. Absolutely,
(28:42):
there's something to be proud of two yeah, and this result,
absolutely and there is joy. But all of your feelings
right now are value yeah yeah, yeah, literally any reaction
to this, um, other than being angry that Chauvin was convicted.
I don't know what you're doing listening to you? Why
why are you still listening to this podcast? What has
(29:05):
been going on with you for a year? You're all
welcome here. It's fine. There's a Yeah, there's amazing footage
of George Floyd's family reacting to the to the verdict. UM,
and yeah, I mean nothing, you know, there's no there's
(29:29):
no This doesn't fix anything, but it is. UM. It's
like when, um, you know, in a video game, when
you've you've got one of those kind of one of
those kind of video games like like I think a
side scrollers the term for it. You've got those bad
guys that have like a bunch of different pieces and
you have to shoot off the different pieces, and when
you do enough damage like that little the thing in
the center of them starts to glow and then you
(29:51):
can shoot that and that's how that's how you take
out the bad guy. Like we we we we blew
off like a like a chunk of armor. And now
there's like fifteen second where um, the car serrale systems
big glowing weak spot is pulsing. UM. And I don't know,
I don't want to like, I don't think it's ass
(30:11):
as limited a time frame as that, but it is
a situation where, um, all the reactions we've seen in
the last week, you know, is as much of a
as much of a massive show of force as we
saw in in Minneapolis, as we saw in um um uh,
as we started to see in Philadelphia, as we've started
to see in d C. You know, I think there
(30:32):
were like thousands of cops out for like a hundred
and fifty protesters there as much of a like, I
think that the kind of escalations and deployed force that
we saw prior to the verdict were signs of fear.
They were they were the system going, oh God, we can't,
we can't do this again, not again, please um. And
(30:53):
it was I mean that's not how they framed They
framed it more as like a like we have to
crush this thing before it gets started again. UM. But
the fact that, like the fact of the matter is,
um last year was was rough for them, um it
and and there have been consequences. You know, we're on
two states that have restricted qualifying immunity now UM saying
(31:16):
that they abolished it as an entirely accurate but it
is a meaningful restriction. And at least one city UM,
I think at Denver, UM. And we're we're seeing more
bills put up throughout the country UM to at least
restrict police power. There's growing pushes within the Democratic Party
to have Biden reverse the ten thirty three program, which
(31:38):
I think is something people should really push on. That's
the flow of military grade weapons to the police. Biden
is on track to do it at least as much
of not more than Trump. That doesn't need to happen.
He's still early on and if he were to take
action quickly, that could be a lot of police militarization
slowed down. UM. And I think there's opportunity to do
(32:00):
all of that. And I think more than anything, again,
the fact that multiple Minneapolis police officers testified against Derek Schaubin.
Is a sign that they're scared. They recognize they're in
a precarious position. They're at least aware of the times
(32:20):
and like what they they're placing it the a changing
that the times they are doing. Yes, yeah, um and
yeah stuff like that. Also there will be a backlash
from the police there all yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
But and Ben Shapiro is angry. Um what was his
hot take? Saw? God didn't was it? Was it? Lester Holt,
(32:42):
who's who's tweets? Don Lemon, Don Lemon um Don Lemon
posted like justice is done or something like like that
account when the verdict came in, and Ben Shapiro said,
I bet he wouldn't be saying that if the opposite
had happened. And it's like, what even is that point? Yes,
saying justices served a mistake and what Uh? It's like
(33:11):
a guy comes in, a plumber comes in to fix
your sink, and you're like, thank you for fixing my sink,
and someone says, you wouldn't be saying that if he
hadn't fixed your sink. No, I guess I would, right.
That's why his voice is so important. I have a
theory after hearing that just now. He tweeted that because
(33:31):
he's secretly happy about it. But he didn't want to
tweet you, didn't want to admit it, so he just
came up with some obscure bullshit to tweet that sounded critical. No,
he's also he's also he's also talking on his show
withdrew of people about how there's like no evidence that
racially motivated at all. Completely, that wasn't the trial. The
(33:55):
trial wasn't whether or not Derek Chavi. It was did
he murderer? Guy? We're inferring, um. But yeah, that's what
I feel like sometimes. It's it's very sweet, though, Katie,
that you give you give him the benefit of the doubt, Like, no,
that was naive. I was just reacting in real time
(34:18):
without having other information. No, No, that's nice. That's nice
because it is one of those things like fuck. I
would say, for all of the disagreements I have with
a lot of people in my family who are more conservative,
I don't know none of my none of my right
wing family members think Derek Jovin isn't a murderer like
it was. It was that bad, you know, Um, it
(34:39):
was that bad a video. Even people who are reflexively
defend the cops were like, Jesus that Ben Shapiro, Well
except for the fascist, you know, the fascist. The fascist
did what fascists do. But I think most people who
are just actual conservatives were like whoa, yeah, exactly right
(34:59):
on that point. I mean, my conservative relatives have watched
watched this trial very closely, and everyone's just like, he's
a murderer. Yeah. I was watching news Max, uh, pretty
much all day for the first time it's in. I know,
I don't I don't know why. It was just a
choice I made. I was very interested to see how
(35:21):
they talk about it and then uh, their reaction after
the fact awful through through there. It's not a good channel. Um.
But even like Madison Cawthorne was on and he was like, yeah,
it appears as though you know, there was I'm I'm
glad there was justice against uh, someone who might have
been a bad cop. And it was like, so so
(35:41):
fucking close, man, why do you have to add that? Um,
it's just they can't. They can't, like they're incapable of
like getting to that point. They know, they know, but
they they can't even do that. Um, we can't do
that as a country, or at least as this I
don't like, we don't this is this US was as
about as close outside of pot legalization, about as close
(36:04):
like this specific trial, not the broader question of like
police reform, but this specific trial was as close to
like even Trump was like, well, that guy looks like
he committed murder. You don't even get Trump. If you're
a cop and Trump won't defend you from killing a guy,
you really stepped out a lie. They're still they're still
(36:26):
going out though Candis Owens is on Tucker right now.
It wasn't a fair trial. Everyone on news Max is
talking about how it was. At one point the guy
is fucking little twerp was talking about how yeah, if
it were any other day, uh you know, uh it
was just uh ne on the neck the next day
(36:47):
it would be a stiff neck anyone, if an older
brother can tell you that. So they're like they're now
they're on overdrive. Now. Yeah, no, they're gonna be doing horrible,
horrible like it's it's going to continue to be a nightmare.
Um yeah, but many people across the nation who are
(37:09):
not on television, uh agree. So that's something with who
with us are with them with with like the idea
that the cup killed that guy, it was murder, but
you were saying I veered it away towards Actually the
media is being awful, But I think it's a valid
point and good point to point out. They're like, yeah,
I know people saw what was going on, and he
(37:32):
just said that I'm always right, and I think it's
a great way to end the episode. Um, except for
when she gives the Shapiro the benefit of the depth.
But that's just I'm sweet and so marce of ideas
marketplace of ideas. Some people think Ben Shapiro is a monster.
(37:52):
Some of us think he's merely incompetent. You know all,
let's think he's incontinent. I don't cut it, cut it.
It's not a good joke. It was and sometimes sometimes
I've become my dad really quick and really alarming. The
only comment I'll make on that is that, you know,
(38:14):
Ben Shapopiro's poops are like like a little mouse's. You know,
you almost said Ben, I did, I did, But like
size wise, they have to be like you know, like
if you've ever if you've really lived out in the
country and like a mouse, gett in your house and
stuff to eat. Those little pellets, those little bit compressed
pellets like a Gerbil or something made like Stewart little
like Stewart little. That's the size of Ben Shapiro's big poops,
(38:39):
you know, when he's proud, when he's going to bring
This isn't a short joke. It's just a Ben Shapiro joke.
It's a Ben Shapiro joke. It's just a generally tiny joke. Ye,
it's just a little baby boy. It's fine. I don't know, Like, look,
we're not I'm not proud of of making those jokes
about Ben Shapiro, but I'm not going to take the fine.
Yeah we can. There's no way to edit that out. Yeah,
(39:03):
episode everything so dumb, Everything so dumb, and it's got
to get duma. I tried. Dan. Worst Year Ever is
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