"Revolution for the hell of it"

"This week, Minneapolis will be ground zero of the legal news cycle. All eyes will be on the downtown court house."

Okay - tip of the hat to Abbie Hoffman for (hopefully) letting me use the title of his book from the 1960's. It is a good title for (maybe) what is about to go down. How so? Today starts the Derick Chauvin trial. It will get national attention. However, there is much trepidation about the outcome. Like - will there be a repeat of last summer's riots if Chauvin walks? Or, will there be a repeat of last summer's riots if Chauvin is convicted of something less than murder? Or, will there we riots just for the hell of it, whatever the outcome is. Or will there be peace?

A lightly reported story this morning was what happened last night in Oregon. Just like in January, when a mob tried to take over the national capitol, a mob of folks (described as Antifa), tried to take over Oregon's capitol. This story, as serious as it was, was largely ignored by the MSM. It was a yawner for them. However - if it had been the Proud Boys instead, it would have been in the news cycle, 24 X 7.

What does that story have to do with the Chauvin trial? Plenty. This week, Minneapolis will be ground zero of the legal news cycle. All eyes will be on the downtown court house. Are there bad apples in town from parts unknown, that are just waiting to lite the match? I would say the tinderbox in Minneapolis is much more flammable than the one in Oregon. In other words, what happened in Oregon last night, might just be a harbinger of things to come when the trial is over, and the verdict is adjudicated. 

I think the most sage advice I have heard as of late, was someone of public importance saying to stay out of downtown during this trial. It should be considered to be a danger zone. Hopefully, the trial will be over, and there will be no violence nor damage. The normal citizens who live in Minneapolis deserve such an outcome. But if I were a betting man, I would not be betting much at all on that outcome. History could easily repeat. 

It is ironic to me that this trial will be starting during the holiest of seasons for both Christians and Jews. Will that matter to anyone who has a desire to riot and destroy? I don't know. I am however, reminded about a poem I wrote when I was overseas, as our country was being torn apart in the 1960's:

Here I stand, a man among men,

I know no evil, I practice no sin.

But I burn, destroy, kill, and maim

It's funny, I don't even know my name.

I sully the land where peace had trod,

Some call me man, but I call me a god.