9:29; Chauvin, Floyd and Gaetz

 

Nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds.

Try holding ‘downward dog’ for nearly nine and a half minutes.

Try doing it with one hand jammed into your pocket.

(Seriously. Why did Chauvin have his hand in his pocket? Searching for change? Playing pocket-pool? What?)

I digress.

It’s all been captured on video; multiple times from several angles. One or another video version of the murder has been seen around the world by millions. Can anyone honestly watch that horrifying video and assert that former officer Derek Chauvin did NOT commit murder?

George Floyd’s blood toxicology doesn’t enter into it. Neither does his prior history of arrest. Neither does anything other than Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. George Floyd’s character and track-record are of no consequence. His life was ended on that day while in the custody of the police. His life ended as Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds.

Yesterday, Genevieve Hansen, the off-duty firefighter with EMT training testified that she offered her assistance in relieving Mr Floyd’s life-threatening distress. She was denied the chance to save Mr Floyd’s life. (Let that sink in.) Ms Hansen testified that she called 911 to report a murder at the hands of a uniformed officer. She was not the only witness of the ‘arrest’ who called 911 to report the police to the police.

 Chauvin’s defense thus far is that the hostility of the small group of witnesses distracted him from the care the suspect. Really. That’s as feeble and cynical as a defense can get. There were nearly as many armed police officers on the scene as there were civilian witnesses, but the cops felt threatened?

One might laugh if cold-blooded murder was not the outcome. 

Speaking of unspeakable jokes: Matt Gaetz.

Under investigation by the DOJ.

Pardon if I smirk. Chuckle. Chortle.

Matt Gaetz is under investigation for transporting a 17-year-old girl across state lines, putting her up in hotels (all on the tax-payer dime, BTW) for the purpose of… well, best leave that to the imagination

Gaetz denies having a relationship with a 17-year old. His defense - as he tried to lay it out on Tucker Carson’s show – is that he and his family were victims of an extortion attempt. Tucker, sporting his trademarked quizzical look, seemed to be having none of it and denied, on air, recollection of a dinner which had something to do with the purported extortion attempt? Maybe?

Gaetz’s defense/alibi included his father wherein Gaetz Senior wore a wire in an FBI probe of the extortion attempt. This is the very same father who made a drunk driving charge for the younger Gaetz ‘go away’ some years ago, it should be remembered.

No charges have been made, as yet. The congressman is claiming victimhood, following the GOP play-book, and charging the Deep State (or something) with something. Maybe?

Amusement at Matt’s legal predicament may be premature. This whole magilla could be totally innocent and easily explained. Right? Matt, true to form, is making a big stink about this, which, to most observers, indicates that the stink is emanating from a much bigger cesspool. Katie Benner, Justice Department reporter for the New York Times, claims this latest stink pre-dates the purported extortion by months.

Whatever the outcome of this investigation, it’s gratifying to watch Gaetz squirm. As the Former Guy’s biggest, most vocal supporter in the House, one might see the Fickle Finger of Fate at play.  

It should be noted that Mr Gaetz was the sole vote against a human trafficking bill. Hmmm.

Matt Gaetz, in plain terms, is a massive, steaming pile of Putz. 

Gaetz, however, is not nearly as loathsome and detestable as Derek Chauvin.

This is a judgement call, most assuredly. It is. 

But, ending someone’s life is not equal to ruining someone’s life. By which I mean that murder is not the same as rape or statutory rape. Both are contemptible. Both are egregious. Both are illegal.

Yes, this may be controversial in the ‘#metoo’ generation and this is not an attempt to minimize the suffering, fear and harm caused by sexual predators. It is an attempt to bring two publicly discussed crimes into focus.

As reprehensible as Matt Gaetz is, a child of white privilege, who like his mentor, the Former Guy, was born with a silver palaver up his bum and several ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ cards tucked into his nappies, he has not been charged with murder.

(The day is still young…)

On the other vile hand is Derek Chauvin, who, as an officer of a law broke a law which is as old as human civilization itself and engraved on mythical stone by the finger of ‘god’; ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’!

While it is certainly titillating to watch Gaetz burst into flames and scurry for any cover available, we must maintain moral focus and moral outrage.

Chauvin is a murderer.

Allow his trial to proceed. He must be afforded his day in court, yet we know he is guilty of taking the life of George Floyd in a most cowardly, callous and cold-blooded manner. How many times can one watch any of the video documentation of that fatal day without reaching the conclusion that what is being witnessed is murder?

Gaetz is a steaming pile of Putz but he’s no Derek Chauvin.