# Minneapolis is Burning...? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589 "2020-05-28T07:45:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/321 "2020-05-31T09:14:40Z")
Lot of clips out there showing police in various cities acting like just another gang of toughs, shoving people out of their way just because, driving cars into crowds of people for no apparent reason. Maybe they’re acting like an occupying army [because they live elsewhere](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/most-police-dont-live-in-the-cities-they-serve/), or maybe they’re just assholes. Hard to tell. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/322 "2020-05-31T12:13:22Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Armored police with tanks going through Minneapolis neighborhoods ordering people to leave their yards and even their porches and get inside…and shooting at those that don’t comply fast enough. [=68.ARDZMcVqNkNc6GF5uh3QgvMitcSNdUJZIgNW5tGsprw2MyorSWuxik\_YqmLOUcJQlIY-ECeWE4DJWHGJqRWbNWwMlkR-7IIoKmkiexw4Z9pts1LXnMamDko3VYPzpzl5SvUEgEomf8yphJjczJO5wcS3AYJ3j68A7MiHOArS8G8BQXL5fGnLIJL8DNvuu-XYngrZlQ2q58yZQ3NS\_-EhRl\_Lqjba2AstOgA-peNy9Es6IYpj9batUfW54VhafuihtF1bYSNfdrZL8qptHXYCb2evfG-YXw\_EBKWdhiEAPLk\_wYtGiQPksBZla5G8oOFsEhdTOEBajWL-7UeEo7mwlvw\_N7vbDzt6bEjwgVCyrAP9VGKMMjPPUXOt2EK\_iGAZDlrP"]Link]([Minneapolis Police Shoot At People Standing On Their Porch | #BREAKING Police shoot at people as they stand on their porch in Minneapolis. WTF is wrong with these cops. They have lost their damn minds. 🤬 | By Conservatives Are Destroying Our FutureFacebook](https://www.facebook.com/ConservativesAreDestroyingOurFuture/videos/590113974964258/? __tn__ =kCH-R&eid=ARCjZZ5-jgKvVmz2C2mo52ayxgWltmHEC5W_LpJ_BQPiU8coDMb7rUeodAT0nv68pe7tdxfgmwKJve36&hc_ref=ARQT6Kgbpd5waensNFlCYMFgrnPSNKsJkj4NbqllNKhOkJSF71tCPwn9YGVUDVsqRwg&fref=nf& __xts__ )[0) That’s pretty fucking disgusting. In a different thread last week we were talking about mechanisms of suppressing the election, and asahi said by way of negating hyperbole, “I don’t think we’ll see tanks rolling down the streets of Lansing, but…” But here we are. A gaggle of military police cruising down a Minnesota street shooting at people on their own property, on the front porch of their own domiciles. This would be a great part of a multi-prong strategy to suppress voter turnout in November, which I mentioned in another thread. It seems like the COVID shutdowns aren’t enough to keep people at home, but ongong riots and military occupations sure as shit will do so. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/323 "2020-05-31T12:43:53Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > It’s common sense really. You see how Antifa and other agitators are never arrested in cities governed by the left. Why lock up your voters? They are needed in November. This is a lie and you are a liar. Just yesterday, there were dozens of arrests in NYC during the protests over the Floyd killing. Are NYC and NY State sufficiently governed by the “left” for your taste? But, this will be the last time I engage with you on this sub-topic, since you’re once again clearly trying to hijack a thread with bullshit, inflammatory broad strokes about “the left”. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/324 "2020-05-31T12:49:13Z")
The Governor of Minnesota says that 80% of the violent protesters are from out of town. Where is he getting the number from? Are 80% of the (very few) looters and arsonists arrested from somewhere else? To me, this sounds like a made up number and an attempt to get the non-violent ones to rein in the bad guys with “Hey! You’re not from here. Get out!” mentality. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/325 "2020-05-31T12:55:28Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > The Governor of Minnesota says that 80% of the violent protesters are from out of town. Where is he getting the number from? Are 80% of the (very few) looters and arsonists arrested from somewhere else? To me, this sounds like a made up number and an attempt to get the non-violent ones to rein in the bad guys with “Hey! You’re not from here. Get out!” mentality. Washington Post went through arrest records and found that 80% of them were local. This is not the way to end protests, not even violent protests. The way to end them is to remove their cause: the anguish, the rage, the despair at brutal policing. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/326 "2020-05-31T12:56:22Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Armored police with tanks going through Minneapolis neighborhoods ordering people to leave their yards and even their porches and get inside…and shooting at those that don’t comply fast enough. [=68.ARDZMcVqNkNc6GF5uh3QgvMitcSNdUJZIgNW5tGsprw2MyorSWuxik\_YqmLOUcJQlIY-ECeWE4DJWHGJqRWbNWwMlkR-7IIoKmkiexw4Z9pts1LXnMamDko3VYPzpzl5SvUEgEomf8yphJjczJO5wcS3AYJ3j68A7MiHOArS8G8BQXL5fGnLIJL8DNvuu-XYngrZlQ2q58yZQ3NS\_-EhRl\_Lqjba2AstOgA-peNy9Es6IYpj9batUfW54VhafuihtF1bYSNfdrZL8qptHXYCb2evfG-YXw\_EBKWdhiEAPLk\_wYtGiQPksBZla5G8oOFsEhdTOEBajWL-7UeEo7mwlvw\_N7vbDzt6bEjwgVCyrAP9VGKMMjPPUXOt2EK\_iGAZDlrP"]Link]([Minneapolis Police Shoot At People Standing On Their Porch | #BREAKING Police shoot at people as they stand on their porch in Minneapolis. WTF is wrong with these cops. They have lost their damn minds. 🤬 | By Conservatives Are Destroying Our FutureFacebook](https://www.facebook.com/ConservativesAreDestroyingOurFuture/videos/590113974964258/? __tn__ =kCH-R&eid=ARCjZZ5-jgKvVmz2C2mo52ayxgWltmHEC5W_LpJ_BQPiU8coDMb7rUeodAT0nv68pe7tdxfgmwKJve36&hc_ref=ARQT6Kgbpd5waensNFlCYMFgrnPSNKsJkj4NbqllNKhOkJSF71tCPwn9YGVUDVsqRwg&fref=nf& __xts__ )[0) They also shot up a tent where medical volunteers were treating injured protesters. They clearly identified themselves as such. Didn’t matter. They had to escape on foot, with one younger person in a rolling office chair due to a leg injury caused by rubber bullets. They found shelter in a basement. When they went out to their vehicles, all tires had been slashed. > [@Broomstick](#): > > The 17-year cicadas are due to emerge any day now… Well, we have murder hornets… > [@RTFirefly](#): > > Maybe they’re acting like an occupying army [because they live elsewhere](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/most-police-dont-live-in-the-cities-they-serve/), or maybe they’re just assholes. Hard to tell. Again, that racist fucker Kroll, head of the police union, fought hard against that policy when it came up in 2008, I think it was? I had two grand uncles who were Minneapolis PD. They lived in the city, because that’s what you did. I know a couple current and recently retired Minneapolis PD, none live anywhere near even the inner ring suburbs. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/327 "2020-05-31T13:21:48Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > The Governor of Minnesota says that 80% of the violent protesters are from out of town. Where is he getting the number from? Are 80% of the (very few) looters and arsonists arrested from somewhere else? To me, this sounds like a made up number and an attempt to get the non-violent ones to rein in the bad guys with “Hey! You’re not from here. Get out!” mentality. 1. Arrested people often give false addresses. I don’t know why, just to be devious. 2. I believe, but cannot prove, that civic leaders automatically lean on the “outside forces” so they don’t have to admit their utter failure to maintain a just and peaceful city. It’s sort of like how every terrorist is automatically branded a “coward” though their actions often show strong physical courage in the face of possible injury, imprisonment, torture, and death. We need to call them cowards so that we don’t have to admit that we were straight-up owned by a determined adversary who outsmarted our brave, omnipotent, world-class military. We are good and brave and fight fairly, they are weak and vulnerable and sneaky. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/328 "2020-05-31T14:02:12Z")
I brought this up the last murder that led to riots, but it bears repeating. The Stonewall Riots are celebrated as a pivotal moment in Gay Rights. The month of June is Gay Pride month because the Stonewall Riots occurred in June. Keep at it Black Lives Matter. I hope that history will reflect on these demands for basic human rights in the same way. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/329 "2020-05-31T15:19:18Z")
[Marked NYPD SUV plows into crowd of protesters who were behind a police barricade, not crossing it.](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/31/us/nypd-truck-george-floyd-protest/index.html) De Blasio excuses police behavior by saying they had no choice to protect themselves against protestors throwing water bottles. Common sense suggests that police cruisers are adequately reinforced against the force of water bottles. The protesters were not crossing the barricades. The video clearly shows that the vehicles had space to back up without hurting anyone, yet they chose to ram a crowd of people. The video clearly shows that the police vehicles were equipped with a reverse gear, because they backed up into their original position after ramming the crowd of people. The video clearly shows that the police did not feel threatened, as they returned to the same position they were in before the ramming. This was purely and simply the NYPD flexing its deadly force muscles by hurting people who posed no real danger to them. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/330 "2020-05-31T15:30:14Z")
I may not have the right mentality to be an arms dealer, but who sells tanks to police departments? Did they get a bunch of 120mm ammo to go with it? Armoured personnel carriers might possibly make sense for special police units–maybe, but not fighting vehicles or heavy armor. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/331 "2020-05-31T15:47:08Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I may not have the right mentality to be an arms dealer, but who sells tanks to police departments? Did they get a bunch of 120mm ammo to go with it? There aren’t any actual tanks. There are some up-armored wheeled vehicles, there are some armored/tracked personnel carriers that have no weapons systems, militarized or otherwise (I saw a picture of an M577, there’s probably other stuff out there). The press is incorrectly calling all this stuff “tank”, and IMO this stuff is overpowered and unjustified for the task at hand. But there aren’t any real tanks and nobody is going to be putting real tanks out there. Tanks aren’t great at urban maneuvering, they’re not suited for riot control, they tear up the roads, etc. Very expensive to operate, and they require elaborate logistics. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/332 "2020-05-31T15:50:57Z")
It’s [déjà vu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention#The_Chicago_Police_riot) all over again. > [@](#): > > The Walker Report, "headed by an independent observer from Los Angeles police – concluded that: “Individual policemen, and lots of them, committed violent acts far in excess of the requisite force for crowd dispersal or arrest. To read dispassionately the hundreds of statements describing at firsthand the events of Sunday and Monday nights is to become convinced of the presence of what can only be called a police riot.” ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/333 "2020-05-31T17:22:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > So, you’re not saying to stop protesting, but you are saying that there was no place for them to continue on protesting, so they should go home and stop protesting. > > I don’t see how context can help with that. Can’t you protest from home? I think that Zoom needs to get on that. > [@bobot](#): > > I think the police should try an experiment. Stop killing black guys for a while, if they can. Just for a while, and see how it goes. See if they prefer the results to what we have now. If that seems to work, then maybe they could also try treating them like humans deserving of dignity and respect. It’s not just enough to take you knee off a person’s neck in time for them not to asphyxiate to death, but maybe even try not putting your knee on it in the first place. Radical ideas, I know. > [@Locrian](#): > > If they had arrested the police involved in stead of just firing them, this could’ve all been avoided. Riots do nothing, except spread the virus better. And if they had fired the police before letting him murder people, then that would have been even better. > [@drachillix](#): > > Firefighting to save a structure is based on fast response times. Typical residential structures wont survive a fire thats been burning for more than 5-10 min. Commercial occupancies will have sprinkler systems that give them more time. Even then, many sprinkler systems are not capable of stopping a fire only slowing it down. > Since there is a massive backlog of fires to fight, many of them are burning for hours before FD has a chance to attack. you dont do interior attack on fully involved structures you just “surround and drown” hopefully limiting further spread to adjacent properties. With standalone buildings that have already been burning for 30+ minutes, that are not close enough to start other fires, letting them burn is pretty much the best option under the circumstances. Move on to something you might be able to save. And I assume that there is a difference in fires that start from some electrical short or smoldering cigarette in a trashcan and from fires started deliberately with accelerants. > [@MissTake](#): > > They also shot up a tent where medical volunteers were treating injured protesters. They clearly identified themselves as such. Didn’t matter. They had to escape on foot, with one younger person in a rolling office chair due to a leg injury caused by rubber bullets. They found shelter in a basement. When they went out to their vehicles, all tires had been slashed. So, thugs, then. Thugs with uniforms. > [@](#): > > Well, we have murder hornets… Oh hey, I’d forgotten about those. When are the scheduled to become the thing that pushes Covid and our cities burning down into the background? I’m thinking that late August, early September would be a great time for them to start swarming. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/334 "2020-05-31T17:39:36Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > First a virus to keep us inside. Then curfews. I wonder what’s next? Velociraptors, pretty sure. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/335 "2020-05-31T18:46:55Z")
Aye; once things escalate to velociraptors, shit starts gettin’ _real_, y’all know what I’m sayin’? ---
**Author:** ![Amara\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7993a0/32.png) [@Amara\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amara_1)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/336 "2020-05-31T20:05:48Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > It’s [déjà vu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention#The_Chicago_Police_riot) all over again. The police response in so many cities has just been horrific; if this happened overseas, we’d be (rightly) labeling it as atrocities. In fact, here’s an [op-ed](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/29/how-western-media-would-cover-minneapolis-if-it-happened-another-country/) that does exactly that. Note: this was written before the widespread attacks on journalists by police. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/337 "2020-05-31T21:28:32Z")
Dumb fuck #1 blames Antifa. An organization with no organization. Based on what evidence? This is the modern Reichstag fire. Protests against police murder attracts right wingers who loot and burn to make protesters look bad. Moron in chief blames left wing group based on no evidence. All who oppose Twitler are declared enemies of the state and rounded up. Public votes for “law and order” so that criminals stay in charge. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/338 "2020-05-31T21:29:36Z")
Faux is waving that flag for him, too. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/339 "2020-05-31T22:06:11Z")
I’m watching Santa Monica, CA, live coverage (because the Eagles SB replay is SUPPOSED to be on…) and there was some crazy shit. Gorgeous day, plenty of peaceful protesters and here come the looting assholes. They hit the 3rd street mall, and an on street reporter is interviewing someone as four jerks in blue hoodies smash the windows of a big sports store with skateboards while they are filming! Next, anti-looters, nice protestors with signs saying “NO LOOTING!”, get in between them. Then the jerks realize they’re on film (although masked), decide to leave, but not before throwing two flash bombs at the no-looters. No one was hurt, at least. Now, I’m watching a shoe store being looted near SM Bl. and 4th street. Reporter is asking them for interviews as they run out with sneakers. ---
**Author:** ![DannyBeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dannybeans/32/38_2.png) [@DannyBeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DannyBeans)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/340 "2020-05-31T22:34:53Z")
Protesters teargassed and pepper sprayed after “obstructing traffic” in Fort Wayne, Indiana. A friend of mine who was there says a couple protesters were lured into the street by a car waving a large MAGA flag out its window, and the police took it as a provocation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589.md?page=18)