The mass looting, burning and property damage in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers has been a leading story by news outlets across the country.
Despite the millions lost to theft, fire and vandalism, major media figures have been making excuses for their behavior, even comparing it to that of an armed but peaceful COVID-19 lockdown demonstration at the state capitol building in Lansing Michigan.
On Wednesday evening MSNBC's Joy Reid got the ball rolling by comparing police response to the looters, vandals and arsonists to the lack of response to demonstrators who entered Michigan's capitol building openly displaying weapons.
"White men, who can get armed up and walk into a state capitol ... that's OK. And the police are benign — they don't even act afraid," she said. "But let black people show up and protest the death of an innocent black man and suddenly ... we got to go full force."
MSNBC's Chris Hayes took the ball from his network colleague and ran with it.
Hayes observed "wildly uneven reactions to protests against death of George Floyd vs. armed militia lockdown protests," and called it "Another example of how this pandemic has been a kind of blacklight, exposing all the inequalities in American life."
GQ Magazine correspondent Julia Loffe and CNN contributor Wajahat Ali formed a brief Twitter tag team in an attempt to show the injustice of the lack of police response to the demonstration, as opposed to this week's response to the looting.
"So the time when armed protestors stormed the Michigan state capital [sic] was fine ... because they didn't take anything?" she asked.
Ali responded, "They were protesting for their freedoms to spread and catch the coronavirus! Get with the program, Ioffe."
That gave Loffe her "aha" moment. She said, "Ah, right, yes. Also they were white."
There's no question but that the long, slow strangulation of Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer with the tacit approval of three fellow officers was both shocking and sickening.
Former federal prosecutor and U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., appeared on Fox News Channel's "The Story" Thursday night and called it as he saw it.
"This is murder," he told host Martha MacCallum. "It's either Murder One, Two, or Three under Minnesota law, but it's one of the three."
That's not at issue no matter who you are. What is at issue is the response.
Dianne Binns, 70, and former St. Paul NAACP chapter president happened to arrive on the scene as a St. Paul Target store was being looted. She'd intended to purchase medication for her daughter, and was incensed at the looting and destruction, shouting, "these mother******s need to go home."
Ricardo Lopez, Minnesota Reformer senior political reporter recognized her and asked if she'd attended the rally in Minneapolis the night before.
"I went to the rally in Minneapolis on the first day after Mr. Floyd was killed, and I thought that it was going to be a rally," she said. "But after I got there, and was there about 30 minutes, I realized it wasn't a rally. It was going to be a riot. So I left."
Even those closest to Floyd were sickened by the looting, beginning with Floyd's girlfriend, Courtney Ross.
"I am heartbroken," Ross told the Star Tribune. "Waking up this morning to see Minneapolis on fire would be something that would devastate Floyd."
She added, "Floyd was a gentle giant. He was about love and about peace."
Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, was more understanding of the rioting, but nonetheless wanted things to see things settle down.
"I want everything to be peaceful but I can't make everybody be peaceful. It's hard," he told CNN, fighting back tears.
Despite these sentiments, Reid, Hayes, Loffe and Ali think it's strange that people would condemn the looting and destruction while accepting the armed demonstration in Lansing.
The difference is pretty straightforward. The Michigan demonstrators didn't destroy any property, didn't loot, and didn't injure anyone, and they didn't even break any laws.
An anomaly of Michigan law makes it perfectly legal to display firearms within the capitol building, but makes it illegal to display protest signs. Being law-abiding Michiganders, they left the signs in their cars.
But liberal media figures will make equally ridiculous arguments to excuse the next riot, just as they did in response to those in Ferguson and Baltimore.
It's what they do.
They'll never understand that looting, violence and destruction in response to a tragedy undermines the tragedy itself.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.