A Guilty Verdict in Minneapolis

People across the political spectrum had all sorts of different reactions to Officer Derek Chauvin ...

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People across the political spectrum had all sorts of different reactions to Officer Derek Chauvin being found guilty on all three charges in the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Jonah says most of those reactions have been far from encouraging, “While a lot of the right-wing reaction makes me ashamed and embarrassed and infuriated and disgusted … a lot of the left-wing reaction, or a lot of the MSNBC reaction, has been very bad, too.” Plus, the gang also discusses Biden’s plan to withdraw from Afghanistan and how the news of Officer Brian Sicknick’s cause of death will affect the history of January 6, and Chris Stirewalt explains the Cook Political Report’s new Partisan Voter Index.

Show Notes:

–Derek Chauvin found guilty

–The 1619 Project 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Thank you for addressing the death of Brian Sicknick. I really appreciated your analysis and it helped me to understand some things. I’d asked for a fact check a while back based on what I’d read from Glenn Greenwald, but this was much better (not that the fact checks aren’t good but that I learned a lot more from this discussion of a nuanced issue). I really appreciated David’s comments especially. I think I’m on the same page. Honestly I wasn’t sure what to make after I read what Greenwald said. In my head I intuitively thought that I knew the Capital riot was not a tame event and that some did go in with the intention to kill Romney and Pence and Pelosi (etc.). I’d seen footage. But I found that hard to square with Greenwald’s comments about the complete reversal on Sicknick’s death. Which was why I hoped you would cover it. Anyway, a long rambling comment. But thank you.

    Also, Steve AWOL again... I’d like to see more articles by Steve if he’s interested in doing more writing.

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  2. Token Liberal

    David overlooks the fact that there have been very few American casualties of late BECAUSE of the agreement to leave. If we stay, attacks will resume. Indefinitely. One can still argue it is worth the cost, but please don't make the argument by pretending it will be like having troops in Japan.

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  3. Nick

    As a North Carolinian, dogwood till the day I die

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  4. Clair

    I have to push back on Sarah's belief that foreign policy doesn't really matter in politics. I'm going to relate an oversimplified version of my own experience. I voted mostly for Republicans until it became obvious that the Bush Administration's stated reasons for invading Iraq were bs. I became much more likely to vote for Democrats after that.

    I know that I'm not the only one who had this experience.

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  5. DJ

    Good episode. Just wanted to say I appreciate Sarah's pushing back on inconsistencies. Makes for a much richer conversation.

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    1. DJ

      Oh and I forgot to mention - comparing Afghanistan to Germany or Japan is misleading. Both of those countries completely capitulated to American occupation. and their populations went along with it. In South Korea it was basically a return to the status quo ante.

      On David's point about having an air base there, note that the US also has bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, both of which border China.

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      1. James D

        Any air base in Afghanistan would also be laughably vulnerable to Chinese rocket force attacks & dependent on Pakistan for resupply. Does anyone truly think Pakistan, China’s "iron brother", would permit the US to resupply troops through Pakistani airspace during a war with China?

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        1. Avatar photo
          Narwhal

          Especially if Pakistan gives the PRC basing rights for its navy in Gwadar.

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      2. Avatar photo
        Narwhal

        Are you sure we still have airbases in both those countries? I recently did a quick search looking for US bases in the region and from what I found we haven’t had bases in either for years.

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        1. DJ

          My mistake. I was looking at an old web page.

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  6. Mads Lindstrøm

    David French says "passed away to injuries sustained while on duty" is definitive, but it is ŃOT definitive. Was he shot with a gun? Pushed down the stairs? Accidentally fell down the stairs? Died from brain injuries following multiple strokes?

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  7. Mads Lindstrøm

    The Afghanistan discussion sounded like USA invaded two years ago. The hole history of changing strategy (sometimes seeming like there was no strategy), changing objectives, ... was just ignored. Maybe, if there had been a strategy of kill Osama, then hold Kabul indefinitely from the beginning, the voters would have bought into the project. Maybe even if there had been formulated a coherent strategy within the first TEN YEARS, the voters would have bought into the project.

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  8. Rick Needham

    Your discussion of Brian Sicknick’s tragic death was good. I would have liked to hear your opinions about the tragic death of Ashli Babbitt.

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    1. DJ

      I'd like to see more reporting on that too. I remember from the video hearing one of the insurrectionists yell "he's got a gun" several seconds before it was fired. The ferocity of people smashing on the doors reminded me of zombies.

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      Cornelius O’Brien

      I agree on wanting to see reporting on Babbitt's death. This is a subject on which the silence is deafening. From the video, the shooting of Babbitt is questionable. I'm not judging it wrongful but, not black and white. The fact that the name of the officer(?) who shot her was not released is unusual, to begin with. The lack of reporting on the case and its closing is troubling.

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    3. Avatar photo
      Cornelius O’Brien

      I agree on wanting to see reporting on Babbitt's death. This is a subject on which the silence is deafening. From the video, the shooting of Babbitt is questionable. I'm not judging it wrongful but, not black and white. The fact that the name of the officer(?) who shot her was not released is unusual, to begin with. The lack of reporting on the case and its closing is troubling.

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      1. James D

        Babbit was killed attempting to break through a door to reach Members of Congress inside the Capitol during a terrorist attack on the Capitol grounds. Respectfully, if she had been Middle Eastern and hopped up on Al Qaeda propaganda as part of an Islamist mob instead of white and hopped up on Q garbage, I don’t think anyone on the right would be exhibiting this degree of concern. It’s pure tribalism. She’s on video stating her intent to attack the Congress to overturn the lawful democratic process.

        It’s a miracle we didn’t have a bloodbath inside the Capitol. USCP and Secret Service exhibited almost superhuman restraint.

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  9. Avatar photo
    Edward Lam

    I think its interesting that the key metric they used was how many Americans have died in Afghanistan this past year. How many Afghanis have we killed this past year? Now compare that to 1960, how many bombs did we drop on Germany? and how many houses did we raid in Japan? In 1970s South Korea, how many American GI's were wearing "full kit", aka body armor, ammo and weapon to leave their bases and visit their favorite watering hole?

    The answer these last three is none, none and none. Now answer those same questions about Afghanistan. Even better, take a guess at how many years it would take to get to the point where we're not dropping bombs, we're not knocking down front doors and American GI's (and civilians) can enjoy a leisurely midday stroll through the Pech River Valley.

    Bring our boys home.

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  10. Fred Slater

    Looking forward to listening now that I see the podcast is out. For some reason, it never showed up for me in Apple Podcast this week. Maybe someone on the tech side could look into that. Thanks.

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