This week, John McWhorter and I are talking about George Floyd. Why this again, and why now? Both of us watched Liz Collin and JC Chaix’s new documentary, The Fall of Minneapolis, which brings to light some startling evidence about the circumstances surrounding Floyd’s death and Derek Chauvin’s conviction on murder charges. The film showcases previously unreleased body cam footage from the police’s encounter with Floyd and evidence deemed inadmissible by the Chauvin trials judge that, John and I believe, renders the commonly accepted narrative about Floyd’s death incoherent. The documentary is free to watch online, so you can judge for yourself. But we both came away convinced that, absent further evidence to the contrary, Chauvin was likely not responsible for Floyd’s death.
My only reservation is that the official autopsy report has been available since the trial, and that the footage released at the time clearly showed Floyd saying "I can't breath" WHILE wrestling two officers in the back of the police car. (People who are short of breath cannot wrestle). This evidence was ignored by the media, but wasn't particularly hard to find, even at the time.
[Time 29:00] John comments on “denial” as potentially interfering with logic function among some who watch “The Fall of Minneapolis”. I share John’s concern. Normal people are allowed to respond illogically to evidence in the documentary film. But, not those people in “Category A”: Mayors, Governors, Elected/appointed officials, directors, news media, everyone in public health and everyone in psychology/APA.
Without authorization, I assign APA the role of rescuing its reputation from titanic-status. APA could do televised PSA and press release on:
“Logic, perception and understanding reality”
“Social bias and subsequent mis-understanding of fact.”
“They lied. He died of cardiac arrest.”
“Discussion of disagreement- that thing that humans need to do.”
Without authorization, I assign Equity mayors/governors the role of televised PSA:
1. To confess knowing about top secret Equity project: Defund Police - a year and a half or more before finally publicly announcing “Defund” on June 01, 2020.
2. To confess that random Equity email to all employees in 2019 was secretly intended to persuade employees to politically align with BLM during 2020 protests/riots.
3. To confess that 2020 Violent protests/rioting/looting/burning were largely due to activist propaganda and City-Gov/state-gov illegally performing role of “Ministry of Propaganda for BLM”
4. To confess that police violence has declined over 30 years and race-bias is much much lower than elected officials had claimed.
5. To reveal the on-going role of Equity directors with regard to police departments across the nation.
6. To reveal “who did what” In cities where a police precinct was surrendered to enraged rioter mobs. Don’t forget to include any relevant city-gov planning that may have occurred prior to George Floyd.
7. To inform public of other top-secret Equity projects that were/are hidden from public.
8. To announce termination of Equity Program by Dec 31, 2023.
Correction: drug overdose deaths did not decline from 2018-2019 in the U.S.; the absolute number of deaths increased from 2000-2017, was relatively stable from 2017-2019, and then increased dramatically in 2020.
Unlike McWhorter, I am a doctor, but I’m not a pathologist so I don’t want to common on the specific cause of death question that he raised.
However, I am an addiction doctor and a public health physician, and if it’s true that this week’s subject died of his addiction and not by being asphyxiated by a police officer, it has a number of important implications. It still reflects a widespread failure of public policy. It doesn’t exclude racism as being some part of the analysis. And it illustrates to an even greater extent how detached media narratives are from reality.
Drug overdose deaths were on the decline for a decade before 2020, but increased dramatically (~50% nationally) during that year for obvious reasons. America was never doing a great job with the addiction problem, but the lockdowns and other restrictive measures harmed the people dealing with addiction in many ways. In the most direct sense, many of them lost access to medical treatment and turned to the streets for drugs just as fentanyl was being seeded throughout the American drug supply, vastly increasing the lethality of street drugs. People also lost their jobs, their education, and were separated from families and social networks. Economic deprivation and social isolation were disastrous for everyone, but they were especially harmful to people who were already struggling. The doom-driven news and constant government and media lies likely contributed to an atmosphere of despair.
The George Floyd moment is often cited as a turning point for people who realized that when public health authorities who previously demanded that everyone stay inside and locked down suddenly approved of disorderly and usually maskless public gatherings. But how’s this for irony: what if, instead of being murdered by a racist police officer, what if George Floyd actually died *because of public health*?
I don’t think George Floyd is a saint, but I did find his story really telling.
As I recall, he grew up in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Houston. He was raised with his siblings by a single mother. He got a sports scholarship but didn’t make it to graduation. Maybe he partied too much, maybe he wasn’t prepared academically, but he washed out. He returned home where he got involved with criminal activity, his large size was intimidating. He did drugs, he was in and out of jail. He fathered some kids that he didn’t raise. Eventually, he matured a bit, found religion and tried to be a positive influence in his community. He moved to MN to get away from bad influences to do better, clearly that didn’t work out so well.
So not a saint, but a kind of relatable guy of which there are many in this country. Kids who grow up without the tools to be successful and make good choices. To me, it’s just sad.
The documentary is very credible and powerful. I’m shocked that neither New York Times, nor even WSJ have noticed it. John: why don’t you write about it in your NYT column?
(1) On June 01, 2020; the secret intent of supposedly random Equity email indoctrination suddenly became obvious to city workers across the country. Intent was to teach us to align with BLM during George Floyd protests.
(2) Mayors knew about Equity Program’s “Defund”project since late 2018 but kept a secret from employees/public until June 2020.
(3) Police officers going to work in 2020 in 100 cities- not knowing that Equity directors were sneaking around looking for a police officer to throw under the bus.
(4) Mayors telling the public a lie that “police are bad and dangerous and racist.” Each mayor needs to fix that lie.
(5) Mayors secretly abolishing free speech and due process; confusing employees, parents and residents.
(6) Mayors continuing with yet more secret projects hidden from public until after completion.
(7) Mayors allowing Equity to continue making crazy and authoritarian changes to police work.
(8) Mayors locking out residents and treating city as private property of activist-Left dictatorship.
Public health institutions contribute to the police-civilian problem by:
(a) Refusing to apply our harm reduction strategy. If applied, the message to civilians would be- “To minimize harm to self, cooperate during arrest.”
(b) Refusing to acknowledge civilian behavior as relevant to arrest outcome, although every public health therapist tells patients “It takes two to dance” for non-police interaction.
(c) Refusing to acknowledge psycho-social challenges of emergency police work.
(d) Refusing to concern ourselves with societal mental health needs during time of crisis. On June 01, 2020; instead of telling the public that circumstances of death are better understood after the court trial, we were saying and typing “He was murdered.”
(e) Endorsing activist “Unnecessary Stop” concept, which obsesses over seeking reasons why police should not stop a civilian on foot or in car. This concept actually confuses civilians about arrest procedure.
I have advice for protesters. Next time, protest against the hospital, instead. Police kill 1,000 civilians per year in the planet’s 3rd largest country. We in public health kill 250,000+ each year with medical errors.
I don't need to watch the Documentary because I watched the trial as you all should have done before making proclamations. That's the problem; this is a religion and the media is the church!
I wrote a long reply yesterday that I so WISH Glenn and John would read, but in this conversation they are still missing the point, as is some of the folks here in this discussion. The jury was charged to answer one question, and one question only---could they agree that without doubt Chauvin's knee was THE cause of Floyd's death. This would entail ignoring all of the evidence about his health, the fact that he had ingested fetynal, etc. How could anyone eliminate these other factors as being a very likely reason for his death? They weren't asked to judge Chauvin's character; they weren't asked if they thought the knee was a contributing factor, it was if Chauvin's knee, without doubt, was THE thing that caused his death. YOu could hate Chauvin, but that was not the question. How anyone could say yes without a reasonable doubt those other factors had no factor in his death???? If the jury aquitted him, the city would have burned down. They knew that. In some ways, they had little choice for their own personal safety would be at risk. It's all so disgusting that NOONe, sees this? This is the media's fault. This is why I stopped watching legacy media. It's selling you a story and most people buy it without doing any independent work. I did that work, I knew the truth. I had to keep silent.
Someone help me out here. I remember a lot of people being duped about the 9/11 attack by Loose Change, and one should be skeptical of these documentaries. At the ~59 minute mark, they show a shot of the MRT applied to the shoulder blade, and then just at 1:00:18 mark, they show the knee directly on the neck (you can at least see the knee passing the border of Floyd's tank top on the right shoulder. I've heard it argued that it was poor technique, in that you don't kneel directly on the neck. Why not go over these specifics in the documentary? I'm sure there is a lot of valid shenanigans that went on and that the death could have been unrelated to Chauvin's tactic, but how am I to be sure that the drugs along with a poor technique couldn't have caused Floyd's death. Ultimately, I'm not convinced either way and am not prepared to give a definitive opinion either way, and not sure how John and Glenn can be.
As an anti-war protester (peaceful, legal) for 30 years + Rodney King protest in LA (1992):
(1): In 1992, protest/riots occurred after the trial, not before.
(2): From strategy perspective- a police station is the last thing protesters would want to attack unless you are crazy. You could get arrested or shot. It would basically be suicide. Someone with credibility had to inform protesters that they would be safe during their attack at police station. I suspect that “someone” was city hall perhaps via a 3rd party.
(3): Why were protesters so angry? On 2020 June 01 Monday when I went to work; all 7,750 employees in my department of public health received a DEI email saying that Floyd was “murdered” - (before the trial had even begun.)That would make a normal person angry.
I thought this was one of your better discussions. I listened to most of it , only watching the last 10 minutes. The despair on Glenn’s face was palpable, which wasn’t apparent on the audio. Perhaps being older than either of you, it is easier for me to be cynical. Ask yourself, who did the story about Floyd’s death and the trials and convictions of the policemen benefit? Biden and the democrats by energizing the Black and youth vote? The DEI industry ? Ellison’s political ambitions? FYI , I am an equal opportunity cynic.
Remember Eric Hoffer. All movements start as a cause, morph into a business and end up as a racket.
Kudos to Glenn and John for this.
My only reservation is that the official autopsy report has been available since the trial, and that the footage released at the time clearly showed Floyd saying "I can't breath" WHILE wrestling two officers in the back of the police car. (People who are short of breath cannot wrestle). This evidence was ignored by the media, but wasn't particularly hard to find, even at the time.
[Time 29:00] John comments on “denial” as potentially interfering with logic function among some who watch “The Fall of Minneapolis”. I share John’s concern. Normal people are allowed to respond illogically to evidence in the documentary film. But, not those people in “Category A”: Mayors, Governors, Elected/appointed officials, directors, news media, everyone in public health and everyone in psychology/APA.
Without authorization, I assign APA the role of rescuing its reputation from titanic-status. APA could do televised PSA and press release on:
“Logic, perception and understanding reality”
“Social bias and subsequent mis-understanding of fact.”
“They lied. He died of cardiac arrest.”
“Discussion of disagreement- that thing that humans need to do.”
Without authorization, I assign Equity mayors/governors the role of televised PSA:
1. To confess knowing about top secret Equity project: Defund Police - a year and a half or more before finally publicly announcing “Defund” on June 01, 2020.
2. To confess that random Equity email to all employees in 2019 was secretly intended to persuade employees to politically align with BLM during 2020 protests/riots.
3. To confess that 2020 Violent protests/rioting/looting/burning were largely due to activist propaganda and City-Gov/state-gov illegally performing role of “Ministry of Propaganda for BLM”
4. To confess that police violence has declined over 30 years and race-bias is much much lower than elected officials had claimed.
5. To reveal the on-going role of Equity directors with regard to police departments across the nation.
6. To reveal “who did what” In cities where a police precinct was surrendered to enraged rioter mobs. Don’t forget to include any relevant city-gov planning that may have occurred prior to George Floyd.
7. To inform public of other top-secret Equity projects that were/are hidden from public.
8. To announce termination of Equity Program by Dec 31, 2023.
Correction: drug overdose deaths did not decline from 2018-2019 in the U.S.; the absolute number of deaths increased from 2000-2017, was relatively stable from 2017-2019, and then increased dramatically in 2020.
Unlike McWhorter, I am a doctor, but I’m not a pathologist so I don’t want to common on the specific cause of death question that he raised.
However, I am an addiction doctor and a public health physician, and if it’s true that this week’s subject died of his addiction and not by being asphyxiated by a police officer, it has a number of important implications. It still reflects a widespread failure of public policy. It doesn’t exclude racism as being some part of the analysis. And it illustrates to an even greater extent how detached media narratives are from reality.
Drug overdose deaths were on the decline for a decade before 2020, but increased dramatically (~50% nationally) during that year for obvious reasons. America was never doing a great job with the addiction problem, but the lockdowns and other restrictive measures harmed the people dealing with addiction in many ways. In the most direct sense, many of them lost access to medical treatment and turned to the streets for drugs just as fentanyl was being seeded throughout the American drug supply, vastly increasing the lethality of street drugs. People also lost their jobs, their education, and were separated from families and social networks. Economic deprivation and social isolation were disastrous for everyone, but they were especially harmful to people who were already struggling. The doom-driven news and constant government and media lies likely contributed to an atmosphere of despair.
The George Floyd moment is often cited as a turning point for people who realized that when public health authorities who previously demanded that everyone stay inside and locked down suddenly approved of disorderly and usually maskless public gatherings. But how’s this for irony: what if, instead of being murdered by a racist police officer, what if George Floyd actually died *because of public health*?
I don’t think George Floyd is a saint, but I did find his story really telling.
As I recall, he grew up in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Houston. He was raised with his siblings by a single mother. He got a sports scholarship but didn’t make it to graduation. Maybe he partied too much, maybe he wasn’t prepared academically, but he washed out. He returned home where he got involved with criminal activity, his large size was intimidating. He did drugs, he was in and out of jail. He fathered some kids that he didn’t raise. Eventually, he matured a bit, found religion and tried to be a positive influence in his community. He moved to MN to get away from bad influences to do better, clearly that didn’t work out so well.
So not a saint, but a kind of relatable guy of which there are many in this country. Kids who grow up without the tools to be successful and make good choices. To me, it’s just sad.
Regarding George Floyd the only thing needing to be invented was a false narrative to get a conviction in order to satisfy the mob.
The documentary is very credible and powerful. I’m shocked that neither New York Times, nor even WSJ have noticed it. John: why don’t you write about it in your NYT column?
One of my stronger triggers is “Being lied to”.
(1) On June 01, 2020; the secret intent of supposedly random Equity email indoctrination suddenly became obvious to city workers across the country. Intent was to teach us to align with BLM during George Floyd protests.
(2) Mayors knew about Equity Program’s “Defund”project since late 2018 but kept a secret from employees/public until June 2020.
(3) Police officers going to work in 2020 in 100 cities- not knowing that Equity directors were sneaking around looking for a police officer to throw under the bus.
(4) Mayors telling the public a lie that “police are bad and dangerous and racist.” Each mayor needs to fix that lie.
(5) Mayors secretly abolishing free speech and due process; confusing employees, parents and residents.
(6) Mayors continuing with yet more secret projects hidden from public until after completion.
(7) Mayors allowing Equity to continue making crazy and authoritarian changes to police work.
(8) Mayors locking out residents and treating city as private property of activist-Left dictatorship.
Public health institutions contribute to the police-civilian problem by:
(a) Refusing to apply our harm reduction strategy. If applied, the message to civilians would be- “To minimize harm to self, cooperate during arrest.”
(b) Refusing to acknowledge civilian behavior as relevant to arrest outcome, although every public health therapist tells patients “It takes two to dance” for non-police interaction.
(c) Refusing to acknowledge psycho-social challenges of emergency police work.
(d) Refusing to concern ourselves with societal mental health needs during time of crisis. On June 01, 2020; instead of telling the public that circumstances of death are better understood after the court trial, we were saying and typing “He was murdered.”
(e) Endorsing activist “Unnecessary Stop” concept, which obsesses over seeking reasons why police should not stop a civilian on foot or in car. This concept actually confuses civilians about arrest procedure.
I have advice for protesters. Next time, protest against the hospital, instead. Police kill 1,000 civilians per year in the planet’s 3rd largest country. We in public health kill 250,000+ each year with medical errors.
Powerful and thoughtful. Kudos, guys!
THis isn't totally new information if you watched the entire closing argument!
I don't need to watch the Documentary because I watched the trial as you all should have done before making proclamations. That's the problem; this is a religion and the media is the church!
I wrote a long reply yesterday that I so WISH Glenn and John would read, but in this conversation they are still missing the point, as is some of the folks here in this discussion. The jury was charged to answer one question, and one question only---could they agree that without doubt Chauvin's knee was THE cause of Floyd's death. This would entail ignoring all of the evidence about his health, the fact that he had ingested fetynal, etc. How could anyone eliminate these other factors as being a very likely reason for his death? They weren't asked to judge Chauvin's character; they weren't asked if they thought the knee was a contributing factor, it was if Chauvin's knee, without doubt, was THE thing that caused his death. YOu could hate Chauvin, but that was not the question. How anyone could say yes without a reasonable doubt those other factors had no factor in his death???? If the jury aquitted him, the city would have burned down. They knew that. In some ways, they had little choice for their own personal safety would be at risk. It's all so disgusting that NOONe, sees this? This is the media's fault. This is why I stopped watching legacy media. It's selling you a story and most people buy it without doing any independent work. I did that work, I knew the truth. I had to keep silent.
Someone help me out here. I remember a lot of people being duped about the 9/11 attack by Loose Change, and one should be skeptical of these documentaries. At the ~59 minute mark, they show a shot of the MRT applied to the shoulder blade, and then just at 1:00:18 mark, they show the knee directly on the neck (you can at least see the knee passing the border of Floyd's tank top on the right shoulder. I've heard it argued that it was poor technique, in that you don't kneel directly on the neck. Why not go over these specifics in the documentary? I'm sure there is a lot of valid shenanigans that went on and that the death could have been unrelated to Chauvin's tactic, but how am I to be sure that the drugs along with a poor technique couldn't have caused Floyd's death. Ultimately, I'm not convinced either way and am not prepared to give a definitive opinion either way, and not sure how John and Glenn can be.
As an anti-war protester (peaceful, legal) for 30 years + Rodney King protest in LA (1992):
(1): In 1992, protest/riots occurred after the trial, not before.
(2): From strategy perspective- a police station is the last thing protesters would want to attack unless you are crazy. You could get arrested or shot. It would basically be suicide. Someone with credibility had to inform protesters that they would be safe during their attack at police station. I suspect that “someone” was city hall perhaps via a 3rd party.
(3): Why were protesters so angry? On 2020 June 01 Monday when I went to work; all 7,750 employees in my department of public health received a DEI email saying that Floyd was “murdered” - (before the trial had even begun.)That would make a normal person angry.
Dear Glenn and John,
I thought this was one of your better discussions. I listened to most of it , only watching the last 10 minutes. The despair on Glenn’s face was palpable, which wasn’t apparent on the audio. Perhaps being older than either of you, it is easier for me to be cynical. Ask yourself, who did the story about Floyd’s death and the trials and convictions of the policemen benefit? Biden and the democrats by energizing the Black and youth vote? The DEI industry ? Ellison’s political ambitions? FYI , I am an equal opportunity cynic.
Remember Eric Hoffer. All movements start as a cause, morph into a business and end up as a racket.
At one point Glenn wonders what we can do. We can donate to Derek Chauvin's defense fund