08:59 – Barbara has posted a report on her trip up to Cape May, New Jersey. She got home yesterday morning about 9:15 a.m., after spending the preceding night at Al’s and Frances’ house in Winston. Colin and I were both delighted to see her return home. In an embarrassing watch-dog moment, the first either of us knew Barbara was home was when she opened the door from the garage and shouted, “Did I sneak up on you?” Colin hadn’t heard her car coming in the drive and pulling into the garage, or even the sound of the garage door going up and coming down.
When I first heard that Charlotte authorities weren’t releasing the video of the shooting, my first thought was that the video must not support their claim that the guy they shot was armed and brandishing his weapon. From reports this morning, it appears that that is in fact the case. Both the Charlotte police chief and mayor have tacitly admitted that the video does not prove their version of what happened. I don’t really doubt they’re telling the truth, but the lack of video evidence is unfortunate. Of course, even if the cops had knowingly shot down an unarmed man, that would not excuse the rioting. There’s never an excuse for rioting.
And I see that Glenn Reynolds over at Instapundit is now in trouble. It started with a tweet he made concerning a woman whose truck was blocked by rioters, who then broke into the back and looted the contents. There’s no doubt that this woman was reasonably in fear for her life. Reynolds tweeted, “Run them down”, which was good advice for anyone faced with such a situation. But the progs were predictably outraged, claiming that Reynolds was advocating going out and running down “protesters” at random. Twitter, who are in fact a bunch of twits, suspended Reynolds’ account, he’s now in trouble with the law school where he’s a professor, and USA Today has suspended his column for a month and required him to post an apology. An apology for what? Giving good advice for anyone driving when a riot breaks out and rioters block their escape?
11:24 – If you’ve just been thinking about laying in some supplies in case things get bad, now would be a very good time to get off your ass and actually do something about it.
The problem with a lot of people is that humans are very good at adapting to a new normal. If you took normal people twenty years ago and magically plopped them down into today’s environment, they’d be horrified at what’s going on. But it’s the old frog-boiling thing. Most people see another riot and just tacitly accept it as the new normal. But it’s not normal, not even close, and it really is time to get off your ass and make some preparations for bad times to come. Yes, there will be quieter times interspersed with the outrages, but the general trend is downward. You need to be in a position to feed and protect your family. Do it now.