“Run up in here and see what happens”, a legally armed black man warned some would-be looters, as he and other African-Americans protected black-owned, Minneapolis businesses from violence-prone thieves. They guarded property and prevented looting because, as The Wall Street Journal reported: ‘Twin Cities Cops stand and watch as Buildings burn’. When protesters destroy property, and burn down police stations – as was done, in Minnesota – and commit assault and theft, then law enforcement must protect them and their property. But for awhile in Minneapolis, that didn’t happen. Why? Democrats.
As Minnesota protesters boogied to Beyonce’ and quaffed MD-20/20 they shouted, “No justice, no peace; prosecute the PO-leece.” But if such violence, theft and mindless destruction continues, innocent victims may respond with: You Loot, we Shoot. And who’d blame them? Any entrepreneurs charged with killing destructive thugs who steal TVs, IPods, etc., would be fearless defendants being harassed by justifiably fearful prosecutors.
Minneapolis firefighter Korboi Balla invested his life’s savings into his dream: Score’s Sports Bar. Mr. Balla, who is black, was to have opened his bar in mid-March. But the Covid-19 crisis delayed it until June 1. Then, on May 27, his dream was destroyed, by violent looters protesting the unjust death of George Floyd. Mr. Floyd, a black man, was killed by Minneapolis police officers; after allegedly trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill, he tried to leave the store. When police confronted him, he resisted arrest. Video evidence indisputably shows excessive force: a cop placed a knee on his head, which violates Minnesota law. As ex-GOP Congressman Trey Gowdy said, Mr. Floyd was murdered. Though unarmed when arrested, Floyd was a convicted felon who’d served prison time for armed robbery. The inhumane officer Derek Chauvin, now charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, is, rightfully, locked up. He can’t be executed, as Minnesota lacks capital punishment. But why burn and destroy their cities, and loot from businesses which employ taxpayers, and leave even LESS money for services? Creating even more victims is stupid, and undermines their legitimate cause.
As Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms admonished, “This is chaos. You’re not protesting anything, running out with brown liquor, breaking windows… burning down our community. You’re disgracing our city.” Democrats castigated President Trump for tweeting, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”, but he’s correct. Should law-abiding citizens be prohibited from arming themselves and shooting hoodlums who destroy and steal property? Shamelessly, many Democrats say yes. But what better way exists, to deter violence-prone troublemakers from committing such crimes? Law-abiding Americans will benefit from the eradication of perps who burn and wreck structures, steal, and threaten innocent lives. Racist cops who murder people should also be executed. Where’s the downside? After Calvin Horton broke into the Cadillac Pawn shop in East Lake, Minnesota, he tried to steal jewelry. After ignoring warnings from the store’s black owner, the jeweler shot him, dead. Police arrested him on murder charges; his store suffered massive damage and was looted. But that’s what happens to decent, productive taxpayers when Leftists hold power.
Inevitably, innocent victims of such unwarranted, violent destruction and theft will retaliate, and won’t be arrested, unless they’re in states governed by Democrats. Cruel cops who murder anyone must be punished to the fullest extent of the law – as should those who, irrespective of race, unjustly destroy and steal private property. But until such losers are eradicated, this mayhem will continue. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who preached nonviolence, would be aghast at what’s transpiring. That’s why law-abiding Americans, in order to avoid becoming victims, must be allowed to take out the trash.
Todd Blodgett, the author of ‘REPUBLICAN CRACKHEAD’, served on the White House staff of President Ronald Reagan, and as a campaign aide to President George H.W. Bush. He also worked for the Republican National Committee and the FBI, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Mr. Blodgett lives in Tyler, Texas and in Clear Lake, Iowa, and can be reached via his website: www.ToddBlodgett.us.
So I was just reading Todd’s article about Stop & Frisk from February 2020 in the Des Moines Register and noticed it was riddled with obvious lies and blatant lies concerning Supreme Court decisions vs Americans 4th Amendment rights. These were not mistakes or misunderstandings. Just patently false lies and I wondered if you get fact checked at all and if so how that article from February 2020 is still up because of the blatant ignorance displayed within it. You lied twice in that article and just wonder how you’ve gained respect in your field if one article is so full of lies about such a serious matter. It’s offensive and pathetic you have to lie to make a false point. Be a man and write the truth.
Thank you Todd, this is a really refreshing read compared to one-note coverage of the mass media. I wonder if those who are pushing to defund the police and criticizing the phrase “looting leads to shooting” would change their tune if a bunch of thugs decided to violently loot and destroy their property/homes.
It is frankly a stretch to claim that the phrase is a call to violence/racism. This is only if it is viewed with a biased lens in the first place. Snowflakes will probably want to ban the phrase “What goes around, comes around” too then, as they will claim that it incites a cycle of violence and hatred.
What happened to all of the comments calling out Blodgett for all of his bullshit?
Can’t handle the truth,eh.
Todd Blodgett is no BSer. He speaks and writes straight-up, and never leaves any doubt about where he stands, or how he thinks.
What are you talking about.
Looks like he triggered you and now you’re ranting like a child to try to deflect from the fact that you have no actual argument against anything he said. Deflection failed.
Just keep drinking your Kool Aid Grandpa!
It is the Racist far right Republicans that are destroying our country.
IMO
President Trump is one of the worst leaders our great country have ever had. I am not saying this because he is a Republican, if he was a Democrat I would say the same.
In my opinion, anyone that cannot see his faults as a leader is just too partisan.
Also not saying Biden is the answer, not sure, just think Trump has had his chance and has failed miserably.
I voted for Trump in the last election but will not vote for him again.
I said Trump was one of the worst Leaders ever.
Not a Obama fan either but Trump is worst in my opinion.
Then you’ll get authoritarian quid pro Joe the biggest political moocher to run in any presidential race in recent history. He and his family have made slurping from the public trough their livlihood for the last 4 decades.
got any?
How am I a racist?
Political wannabe? Not quite. I enjoyed the decades I worked in politics, and wouldn’t trade them for anything.
But for the past several years (since about 2015), I’ve chosen to focus on other things.
This includes my work (direct marketing, for a TX-based agency), writing a book,and writing Op-Ed columns for The Des Moines Register, USA Today, the Globe-Gazette, North Iowa Today, and other publications. I also live in two different states, which would make it impossible to even consider getting back – at least, full-time – into the political realm.
Better luck next time.
Too bad your good friend James Von Brunn is dead, as he would attest to your true beliefs.
Face it Blodgett, you’re just a very minor minion & lackey of the far right.
Like a good little lapdog, you just spin out the lies & rhetoric of deceit and propaganda.
You learned well the lessons of your mentor, Lee Atwater and his so called “southern strategy”.
Isn’t is amazing how Atwater regretted his deeds and beliefs once that he found out he was dying.
By the way, you need to get a new website, yours looks like it was designed by a 3rd grader.
@ Anonymous, I detest Blodgett’s right-wing views, and we agree he’s lucky that many of his former associates are now deceased. And you are partially correct about him. But you largely let him off the hook by minimizing his role in high-end hatred for profit.
The guy owned the world’s most profitable racist record corporation, Resistance Records, L.L.C. His business partner was America’s top neo-Nazi. They made millions off dollars from hate.
He helped Willis A. Carto and William L. Pierce launder major money, evade taxes, and fund hatred. That was why he came under the radar of the FBI.
Even before that, Ronald Reagan and Lee Atwater took him under their wing. They schooled him in how to use race as a salient political issue. How else does someone who is fresh out of college land a job on a President’s staff, at the White House, no less, without inordinate influence?
By downplaying Blodgett’s role(s) in the far right, you are doing exactly what Toddy Boy wants you to do. He was no minor minion.
@ J.C., stop posting lies. I was, as the other blogger stated, a very “minor minion”.
What kind of lawyer has time, during the workday, to post nonsense on this site? Isn’t there an ambulance you can go chase, or some small business you can shake down?
If you’re being paid by the taxpayers, you’re actually defrauding your employers. Buzz off, loser.
@Mason City J.D.
Looks like you and the other poster ruffled Blodgett’s feathers a bit.
Blodgett folds like a house of cards and loses it whenever he is challenged with the truth about his very skechy past.
“Buzz off loser”…how very elequent of you Blodgett.
Blodgett attempts to come across as a “stalwart and upstanding” citizen these days but all one needs to do is read between the lines and it is very apparent that he has not changed.
Democrat lawyers are the biggest slimeballs there are
Yes, Mr. Blodgett was rather unhappy with my follow-up, wasn’t he?
To give the devil his due, I don’t think he’s a racist. But he certainly did very well, financially and professionally, working for racists, anti-semites, the KKK, Holocaust deniers, and the like.
Blodgett is an entitled, privileged rightwingnut who does whatever he wants, when he wants, the way he wants. From what I know of him, when challenged, he knocks over anyone, and anything, in his way. His tutelage, under Lee Atwater, only reinforced what was always there.
My suspicion is, his FBI work was probably what he agreed to, to avoid being prosecuted, for aiding and abetting money-laundering for Willis A. Carto, William L. Pierce, David Duke, and others.
A lawyer in Mason City was in the process of filing a lawsuit against Mr. Blodgett, who had scared the bejeesus out of him and his wife, by aiming a loaded handgun directly at the couple. On the day he was to have filed, the client told him to drop the matter.
The client told his counsel, “I’m scared.” Lee Atwater was, in all probability, the most moderate of Blodgett’s mentors. This guy isn’t merely violent, he is vindictive.
@ JD – so, now, I’m the “devil”? What you wrote is false: I’ve never pulled a firearm, loaded or not, on any attorney.
Obviously, you hate Lee (Atwater), and Ronald Reagan, and other conservative Republicans, which is your right. As to some of my former business associates, have YOU ever represented a client you didn’t agree with, or dislike?
Willis Carto and William Pierce paid federal taxes. But does that mean that because you detest their views, you won’t drive on I-35, or Interstate 80 – because they were funded, partially, by Carto’s and Pierce’s tax dollars?
How about not attending football games in Ames, or Iowa City, or Cedar Falls? After all, federal dollars float their teams.
You mean attack a police officer like George Floyd did? Or Aubrey Ahmad did? Or like Breonne Taylor did? Or Christian Cooper did?
You should have said “I couldn’t care less”.
Saying that you could care less means just that, that you could care less.
But as your many asinine comments indicate, you are indeed a dumbass.
sounds like you understood what was meant
you bet. Liberals killed George Floyd.
an ignorant pos killed him. was he a liberal?
If you are a Republican, yes.
Riots in the streets. Army called in. 40 million unemployed. Over 100,000 dead.
Is Trump finished making America Great Again?
The Party & Politics of Personal Destruction (Democrats)should be ashamed of “displaying” their candidate for President. What new underlying trick is the party going to pull on America before November.
STFU & go drink your Kool Aid before Daddy Donny get mad at you. You are a fool
Hillary would have pulled a Bengazi…what difference does it make
Explain to me, and be specific, on how the president caused that. I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that, if you answer, it’s going to be really intelligent.
Sure will, that is why I will NOT be voting for Trump. Worst leader this country has EVER had by far.
Not to worry. Felons can’t vote in Iowa and you are stupid!
That’s the best comeback you got. You are a little man, just a little man.
He might be little, but he’s right!
It is time, long overdue, for actual consequences for bad behaviors to start being instituted! No more blue ribbons for showing up, no more not getting your ass slapped for not following directions, no more warm fuzzy because someone said something that upset or scared you! There is a real world out there and bad things happen! If you cause the bad thing you will be held accountable! If you experienced a bad thing you need to learn how to buck up, straighten up and keep moving forward! We need to have Law and Order by everyone and for everyone! What the hell happened to us?!
The snowflakes are trying hard to control this country.
At least the so called “snowflakes” don’t drink the orange Kool-Aid by the gallon & can think for themselves.
Really…can Joe think for himself?
so basically you agree with what’s going on in this country? just incase you miss understand, i’m talking about the violence, looting, burning, disrespect etc. spin that out now!
LOL The snowflakes are completely brainwashed and cannot even begin to think for themselves. They are the ones screaming about defunding the police, unable to understand if it actually happened they would be the first to get OWNED in every since of the word by a criminal element taking full advantage of no law enforcement presence. The average snowflake would last about 5 minutes without police around to protect them.
The RIOTERS and LOOTERS are just that. No sensitivity earned or deserved. To call these thugs anything less dishonors the innocent VICTIMS. NOT GONNA HAPPEN USE OUR JAILS FOR THESE CRIMINALS. NOW! Another media lie. God bless the innocent victims.
Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor who served as Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, for more than two decades.
Connor was a Democrat. Notice the Party, DEMOCRAT.
Let’s see how you do on the third person.
Walter Headley (Miami police chief in 1967). Headley, a Democrat.
The comment is,” “There is only one way to handle looters and arsonists during a riot and that is to shoot them on sight. I’ve let the word filter down: When the looting starts the shooting starts.”
— Walter E. Headley, Miami Police Department. 1967″
If you are going to try to start crap, at least go to the trouble to make sure that the information you use is correct. Oh, I forgot, you only have to do that if you are conservative or Republican. If your Democrat or liberal your allowed to make it up as you go. “Proof, we don’t need no stinkin proof.”
‘Anonymous’ – It would help if you fact-checked your claims prior to posting them. So, since WHEN was George Wallace EVER a Republican?
Wallace served four terms as Gov of Alabama, ALL of them as a Democrat. He also ran for President in 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1976 – each time as a Democrat.
Todd-never confuse the liberal idiot with facts. It will hurt his little pea brain.
Both Wallace and O’Connor were southern democrats. Southern Democrats were the founders of the current Republican party’s ultra-conservative agenda. They would have been tea party members.
“But what better way exists, to deter violence-prone troublemakers from committing such crimes?” How about stop killing people of color indiscriminately? That would be a much better way. How about the fact that it is being reported that white supremacist groups are behind much of the destruction?
“Though unarmed when arrested, Floyd was a convicted felon who’d served prison time for armed robbery” Why did you include this little bit of information Todd? Does it have anything to do with his murder? Or is it a justification so that the racists can say he was a bad actor? Why not include he moved to Minneapolis to get his life together?
I think the violence is wrong but indiscriminate shooting will kill innocent people. Most of the protesters are not looting and rioting.
The white supremacist claim has been completely discredited. The governor has already said he was wrong. It was local terrorist and ANTIFA. Get you facts straight. All you liberals do is lie.
The claim has not been discredited. Maybe in your mind but the Governor said the claim that ALL those arrested were out of state was wrong, but he also said the vast majority were out of state. Google white supremacists/Minneapolis. You will find many news outlets verifying the white supremacist claim.
It’s been completely discredited and the more you try to repeat it the more ridiculous and desperate you look. Here you go, please tell me which one of these looters is the “white supremacist”? [snicker]
https://www.kfvs12.com/2020/06/11/rd-man-charged-pawn-shop-looting-night-david-dorn-was-killed/
“But what better way exists, to deter violence-prone troublemakers from committing such crimes?”
Make it so that there are consequences, not a slap of the hands. You get the violence-prone troublemakers because, some one is standing up to them, before everybody has just given in. They didn’t want to deal with the idiot having a “meltdown”. They( the violence-prone troublemakers) learn that by acting out and being destructive, they get their way.
They need to be taught that it is not okay, and they will be punished, harshly.
Floyd was a violent career criminal and he died like violent career criminals usually do: Violently. He spent his life victimizing other people and it caught up to him, like it always does. Just another worthless criminal who’s demise is, on net, a positive for civilization. Why are people like you so desperate to cover up the fact he was a multiple felon with a penchant for armed robbery and home invasion? Sorry to break it to you, but the jury will find out about it just like they will find out he was wasted out of his mind on fentanyl, morphine and meth when he died, and you best believe it will matter.
100% correct, Todd.
First-time looters who get shot in the act rarely ever do it again.
I agree with Mr. Blodgett, it is time for the police to move to live ammo. It is time for the people that suffer from these jackwads to load live rounds. It is time for those who are the victims of these riots(thefts, beatings, and arson) to protect their livelihoods and property.
One of the best columns I have seen in a long time. Very glad NIT runs Mr Blodgett’s Op-Eds, he offers good solutions to our problems.
Not all violence is bad, it can be good, like the kind called for here.
Todd, your dad was my orthodontist 50+ years ago. Unless I am mistaken, the sport coat you have on, in the picture here, belonged to Doc Blodgett.
Am I right?
Yes, you are! Amazing how you were able to recall a jacket from 50 years ago! My Dad bought in Des Moines at a store called Reichardt’s, and stopped wearing it probably about 40 years ago.
After he went to go live in Good Shepherd (he has Alzheimers) in 2017, my mother found it in one of his closets at their home in Clear Lake, and offered it to me.
Thanks for the nice message, ‘ex patient’! Nice to hear from you.
Wonderful, wonderful article Mr. Blodgett sir, we always love what your thoughts.
You write like we talk and you think like we do.
We just have to get rid of these devils, this is what the good lord wants us to do.