Episode 19 - Jacob Blake and BLM Culture War Invasion

In this week's episode of Fate of the Union, Franklin covers the latest regarding the Wisconsin police shooting of Jacob Blake.  We go over some of the strong pieces of evidence, along with some misinformation spreading about the case.  Franklin then discusses issues of Black Lives Matter culture war in sports and COVID restriction rebellion.

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Transcript

Welcome back to Fate of the Union. It’s been a little bit since we last talked, so lets take a look at some of the biggest stories in the country, and the fate of the union. 

First, we need to talk about the latest disputed police shooting. This comes out of Wisconsin. This is from Matt Walsh over at the daily wire. “Protesters” in Kenosha, Wisconsin burned, pillaged, destroyed, and stole, all in the name of justice, of course. The most disturbing incident was the violent assault of a police officer, who was hit directly in the head with a brick during the melee. The excuse being offered for this latest round of chaos is the police shooting of a man named Jacob Blake on Sunday. At this point, not much is known about the circumstances surrounding the shooting, but a video shot from a house across the street has gone viral and prompted the widespread rioting.”

Multiple media outlets are reporting that police arrived at the scene in response to a domestic disturbance. They tried to arrest Blake in connection with multiple alleged crimes including sexual assault. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that “Online court records indicate Kenosha County prosecutors charged Blake on July 6 with sexual assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct in connection with domestic abuse,” the outlet reports. “An arrest warrant was issued the following day.”

Blake not only resisted arrest but also could not be subdued even by taser. After that, Blake disregarded police orders despite them also having their guns pointed at him, and instead walked around the front of his car and reached inside the drivers door. At that point officer unleashed seven shots. Blake is reportedly still alive but in critical condition.

Blake has a criminal history and one that includes an incident in 2015 where he needed to be subdued by police after pulling a gun in a bar. Records also reveal Blake was arrested in 2013 in Round Lake Beach and criminal trespass to a vehicle and arrested in 2012 in Zion, Ill. for domestic battery, endangering the life and health of a child and driving under the influence.

It’s also worth noting something about the sexual assault charge. There’s been a claim flying around the internet about Blake being guilty of staturory rape of a minor. But I believe that references the wrong law. You can see the stat rape charge is actually located in a section of law apart from the more general rape charges in Wisconsin criminal law section 948.02, as opposed to Section 940.  Furthermore, I was able to source the law being used to justify the stat rape charge and it’s actually a Rhode Island law, not Wisconsin.

Blake’s charge is more of a broad charge, and more along the general lines of what most people would think rape is, without the attendant circumstances of age or anything else added onto the factual background case.

We now know from the state’s initial investigation that a knife was indeed found on the car floorboard at the scene of the crime, so it appears that item in Blake’s hand is actually a knife as originally suspected.

What we are more certain of is that while the children in the car having to witness this shooting is itself, Blake has ample opportunity to avoid this fate. He disregarded officers’ warnings numerous times and proceeded to walk back to his car. He then walked around the front of the car, beginning to get out of officers line of sight. There are also reports that he had a knife on him, and you can see him holding an item in the video. If we are, in fact, met with a case in which officers were attempting to arrest Blake, he resisted arrest including a taser, and disobeyed police orders as he reached into the car, then we again see a case in which the facts simply do not add up to an unjustifiable shooting by the police.

We must remember, similar to the Rayshard Brooks case, it is not whether one personally agrees with the officer thinking he’s in danger, or if one would have acted the same way; instead, we must ask ourselves could an officer in the situation reasonably think his life was in danger when faced with the supposed threat. When facing a suspect who appears to have a knife, resists arrest and a taser shot, and disobeys officer long enough to reach into his car, I think you have to arrive at the conclusion that the officers reasonably though their lives were in danger. You have a suspect who clearly doesn’t think anything of disregarding officers and resisting arrest, and now he is reaching into his car for who knows what. Even though seven shots may sound excessive and the kids being in the car is dangerous in itself, an officer could reasonably conclude Blake posed a deadly threat after repeatedly resisting officers and then reaching into the car despite officers orders to stay still. But as has too often become the case, the further destruction of these communities will be the uncalled for response when faced with a police shooting under any circumstances, justified or not. 

As reported by Sports Illustated.com “Cameras catch everything these days, so it was of little surprise when an exchange between Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell and Mavericks star Luka Doncic was picked up on Friday night. In the first quarter of L.A.’s win over Dallas, Harrell bumped into Doncic while attempting a layup. As he ran back on defense, Harrell appeared to call Doncic a “(expletive) ass white boy.”

In response, Clippers coach Doc Rivers issued a thorroughly tone deaf statement eliding the whole point of the “if the races were reversed” sentiment. “You just have to be careful,” Rivers said. “They both were talking. I don’t think Luka was saying anything racial, but he was swearing. So they both were doing it. It’s an emotional game. It’s a playground game out there in the playoffs. I said to him, ‘Hey, I don’t think you meant anything racially by it.’ He said 'white boy,' but I don’t think there was anything racial intended. But we are in a very heightened climate and you have to be careful. Trez was the first one to say that. He said, ‘I didn’t mean that racially.’ And I said it doesn’t matter. It’s what’s perceived … make sure you do the right thing.”

To his credit, Harrel apologized to Doncic before the next game, and they appeared to bury any sore feelings over the exchange. “They squashed it,” Rivers said. “Luka, I guess, was shocked that he needed to reach out.” Now,There’s absolutely no word on Doncic being “shocked” by Harrell reaching out, but Doc Rivers being the media savant he is, peppered that in all the same. Doncic got his revenge by hitting a game winning shot at the end of OT in the next game to tie the best of seven series up at 2-2.

At least someone in sports media had the awareness to address the double standard. On Saturday, Jay Williams, the former NBA guard and ESPN analyst, went on social media and condemned Harrell’s comments.

“I can only imagine if Luka Doncic had said something like that to [Harrell] and it got caught on tape,” Williams said. “I can only imagine, during Black Lives Matter, how much of a big deal it would have been, considering today’s climate. It would have been a massive story. Luka would have lost all credibility in this space. Everybody would have been commenting on it. People would have asked LeBron about it, people would have asked Kawhi … it should be a big story. It’s unacceptable, man.” Props to Jay Williams for at least addressing in some way the glaring hypocrisy in the sports media’s coverage of this.

One final note in covid related news. As per the daily wire, Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti, who co-own Atilis Gym in New Jersey, have partnered with a U.S. Senate candidate to declare their gym an official campaign rally location in another bid to evade forced closure amid the pandemic.

“We took a stand for our constitutional rights and for the rights of all small business owners throughout the country,” Smith said, according to Fox News. “It wasn’t intended to become political. We were trying to offer a solution to a problem where the government was failing, and it turned political. And that was because of Gov. Murphy’s actions. So now we made it political just as much as he has.”

“We hope it gives us a reprieve until November 3rd,” Trumbetti said. “Everyone who comes in here will be a volunteer for the Mehta campaign, and we’ll be here to exercise our rights.”

Atilis Gym reopened in May against strict lockdown orders issued by Murphy about two months prior. Smith and Trumbetti unlocked their doors and spaced out workout equipment to give at least six feet of space, as well as capped attendance at 20% capacity.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy fined Smith and Trumbetti roughly $135,000 last week, $125,000 for violating a court order earlier in the month and about $10,500 more to reimburse the state for legal costs.

“I’m not afraid of tyrants,” Smith said. “No American should be because we outnumber them greatly and the only thing that they run off of is fear, which is why you see what you see with the media, where they’re pumping fear into the coronavirus, when they should be pumping solutions. They don’t do that. They don’t ever offer any solutions. It’s ‘wear a mask, shut up, and wait for a vaccine.’ That’s not public health and I won’t subscribe to it.”

I’m glad to hear a small business find a creative way to stay open in these crazy times. And business owners, by all accounts, who have really tried to do the right thing by keeping everyone safe but also try do continue doing business and staying open.