Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is charged with murder

BREAKING NEWS: Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is charged with the murder and manslaughter of George Floyd after he knelt on his neck for eight minutes in video which has sparked violent protests nationwide

Derek Chauvin, the officer seen kneeling on George Floyd neck during his arrest, has been taken into custody

Commissioner John Harrington announced Chauvin was arrested by state prosecutors on Friday afternoon  

It comes after Minneapolis was left in ruins following third night of riots and protests over Floyd's death 

Chaotic scenes and protests also unfolded across several states including New York, Colorado and Ohio

Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with murder after he knelt on the neck of black man George Floyd in a video of his arrest that sparked violent protests across the country.  

The 44-year-old white cop was arrested by state investigators on Friday afternoon and was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced. 

His arrest comes a day after prosecutors had warned there was 'evidence that did not support criminal charges' in the case, saying they needed to prove Chauvin had used 'excessive' force on Floyd. 

Freeman said the charges were laid after the state were able to 'gather the evidence that we need.' He did not have immediate details but said a criminal complaint would be made publicly available later.

He also highlighted the 'extraordinary speed' in charging the case just four days after Floyd's death, but also defended himself against questions about why it did not happen sooner. 

As for the other three officers who were fired alongside Chauvin over Floyd's death - J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao - Freeman said the investigation is ongoing and prosecutors chose to focus on the 'most dangerous perpetrator'. 

The charges come after three days of riots and protests that erupted across Minneapolis - and several states - demanding justice for 46-year-old Floyd. 

n widely circulated footage, Floyd was seen on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back as Chauvin pinned him to the pavement until he lost consciousness and later died. 

As news of Chauvin's arrest broke around the country, protesters in Minneapolis were seen chanting: 'One down, three to go' and 'all four got to go', while in Florida, crowds rallied outside a town home belonging to the former cop.   

Floyd family attorney Ben Crump, who was among the first to call for criminal charges to be laid against Chauvin in the wake of Floyd's death, said the move is 'a welcome but overdue step on the road to justice' and demanded he be tried for murder in the first degree. 

'We expected a first-degree murder charge. We want a first-degree murder charge. And we want to see the other officers arrested,' Crump said in a statement. 

'We call on authorities to revise the charges to reflect the true culpability of this officer. The pain that the black community feels over this murder and what it reflects about the treatment of black people in America is raw and is spilling out onto streets across America.

'While this is a right and necessary step, we need the City of Minneapolis – and cities across the country – to fix the policies and training deficiencies that permitted this unlawful killing – and so many others – to occur.'

US Attorney General William Barr meanwhile said he is 'confident justice will be served', calling the videos of Floyd's death 'harrowing to watch and deeply disturbing.'

The Justice Department and FBI are conducting an investigation to determine whether federal civil rights laws were broken.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Friday acknowledged the 'abject failure' of the response to this week's violent protests which left Minneapolis in ruins after hundreds of businesses were looted and destroyed, and the Third Police Precinct was burned to the ground. 

As riots raged on, President Trump threatened to 'assume control' of Minneapolis with military intervention, warning 'thugs' 'when the looting starts the shooting starts', in a tweet that was flagged by Twitter for 'glorifying violence.'

Trump tried to clarify his comments following Chauvin's arrest in another tweet saying he intended to call for peace on the streets to avoid further deaths. 

'Looting leads to shooting, and that's why a man was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Wednesday night - or look at what just happened in Louisville with 7 people shot. I don't want this to happen, and that's what the expression put out last night means.... 

'It was spoken as a fact, not as a statement. It's very simple, nobody should have any problem with this other than the haters, and those looking to cause trouble on social media. Honor the memory of George Floyd!'

The message followed an earlier tweet in which Trump urged to 'REVOKE 230!' after signing an executive order Thursday seeking to strip social media giants of their legal protections, potentially exposing them to a flood of lawsuits. 

Twitter would flagged the president's incendiary tweet hours after he announced the order.   

Walz told reporters earlier that Trump's tweets were 'not helpful'. 

'I did speak to the President. At that point in time, it was in the process where I said we were going to assume control of this and it was unnecessary,' he said. 

Governor Walz said the state would take over the response and asked citizens to show respect and dignity to those who are suffering.

'Minneapolis and St. Paul are on fire. The fire is still smoldering in our streets. The ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, of anguish unheard,' Walz said, adding. 'Now generations of pain is manifesting itself in front of the world - and the world is watching.'

The governor cited a call he received from a state senator who described her district 'on fire, no police, no firefighters, no social control, constituents locked in houses wondering what they were going to do. That is an abject failure that cannot happen.'  

'We have to restore order...before we turn back to where we should be spending our energy - making sure that justice is served,' he said. 

'We cannot have the looting and the recklessness that went on [last night].' 

His comments came the morning after protesters torched a police station that officers abandoned during a third night of violence. 

Livestream video showed protesters entering the building, where intentionally set fires activated smoke alarms and sprinklers. 

The governor faced tough questions after National Guard leader Major Gen. Jon Jensen blamed a lack of clarity about the Guard´s mission for a slow response. 

Walz said the state was in a supporting role and that it was up to city leaders to run the situation. 

Walz said it became apparent as the 3rd Precinct was lost that the state had to step in, which happened at 12:05 a.m. Requests from the cities for resources 'never came,' he said.

'You will not see that tonight, there will be no lack of leadership,' Walz said 

On Friday morning, nearly every building in the shopping district around the abandoned police station had been vandalized, burned or looted. 

National Guard members were in the area, with several of them lined up, keeping people away from the police station.

Dozens of volunteers swept up broken glass in the street, doing what they could to help.

Dozens of fires were also set in nearby St. Paul, where nearly 200 businesses were damaged or looted. 

Protests spread across the US fueled by outrage over Floyd's death, and years of violence against African Americans at the hands of police. 

Demonstrators clashed with officers in New York and blocked traffic in Columbus, Ohio, and Denver. 

In Southern California, nine people were arrested after rocks were thrown at businesses, vehicles and officers during a protest in Fontana where about 100 people moved up and down a thoroughfare and blocked traffic. 

Police said an unlawful assembly was declared and the crowd was ordered to disperse but some persisted.  

Elsewhere in the region, demonstrators gathered outside Los Angeles police headquarters but there was no repeat of Wednesday evening's action in which protesters blocked freeways and attacked two Highway Patrol cruisers.

Chaos also spread over in New Mexico where four people in Albuquerque were taken into custody near a protest after gunshots were fired from a vehicle. There were no reports of injuries from the gunshots and it wasn't clear whether that incident was related to the protest. 

Albuquerque police used a helicopter and tear gas to disperse a crowd of people after several police cars had windows broken out during an confrontation with 'an angry mob.' Department spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said no injuries were reported. 

In New York City, NYPD officers were seen brawling on the ground with protesters as at least 70 people were arrested in the Big Apple. 

Protesters in Ohio smashed the windows of the statehouse in downtown Columbus and raided the building and demonstrators damaged a police cruiser in downtown Los Angeles. 

Over in Kentucky, seven people were shot in downtown Louisville during a protest demanding justice for black woman Breonna Taylor who was shot dead by cops back in March, as the Floyd case reignited tensions between cops and the African-American community.   

President Trump waded in on the escalating violence in Minneapolis in the early hours of Friday as he warned he would step in and take over if officials fail to bring the rioting under control. 

He blasted the 'Radical Left Mayor' Frey saying he needs to 'get his act together' while slamming protesters for 'dishonoring the memory' of Floyd and warning 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts'.

'I can't stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.....,' the president tweeted.  

'These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!'

Speaking in the early hours of this morning, Mayor Frey fired back at the president and said: 'Donald Trump knows nothing about the strength of Minneapolis.'

'Weakness is refusing to take responsibility for your own actions. Weakness is pointing your finger at someone else during a time of crisis,' he said.  

'Is this a difficult time period? Yes, but you'd better be damn sure that we're going to get through this.'

Frey said he understood the 'pain and anger right now in our city', but added that 'what we have seen over the last several hours and the past couple of nights in terms of looting is unacceptable'. 

The mayor revealed it was him who had decided to evacuate the Third Precinct after determining that there were 'imminent threats to both officers and public'. 

'The symbolism of a building cannot outweigh the importance of life, of our officers or the public. We could not risk serious injury to anyone,' he said. 'Brick and mortar is not as important as life.' 

Minneapolis city officials issued a warning for protesters and residents to flee the scene of the Third Police Precinct as gas lines were cut because 'other explosive materials are in the building'. 

'If you are near the building, for your safety, PLEASE RETREAT in the event the building explodes,' the city government wrote in a Twitter update shortly before midnight.  

Protesters broke into the police precinct at around 10pm, smashing up windows and setting fires inside. 

As flames engulfed the building, protesters gathered out the front chanting 'I can't breathe' - some of the last words Floyd said before he died. 

Minneapolis Police released a statement saying that officers had fled the scene: 'In the interest of the safety of our personnel, the Minneapolis Police Department evacuated the 3rd Precinct of its staff. Protesters forcibly entered the building and have ignited several fires.' 

=========

Timeline: George Floyd's death at the hands to Minneapolis police sparks nationwide protests  

Monday, May 25

Cell phone video shows George Floyd, handcuffed and pinned to the ground, with one police officer - Derek Chauvin - kneeling on his neck for eight minutes.

Floyd, 46, is heard pleading: 'I can't breathe', as he is arrested by four cops for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store. He later died. 

Tuesday, May 26

Four Minneapolis officers involved in the incident, including Chauvin and Tou Thao, are fired. Minnesota Mayor Jacob Frey says it is 'the right call'.

As calls mount for the cops to face murder charges, the FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension launch an investigation. 

That night, the first of several protests over Floyd's death take place in Minneapolis, with protesters shouting: 'I can't breathe!'

These words echo Floyd's plea to officers but the phrase also became a rallying cry in 2014 after the death of Eric Garner, another black man who was killed in police custody during an arrest for the illegal sale of cigarettes.

Wednesday, May 27

Protests continue into a second night in Minneapolis and spread nationwide to Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee.  

As anger mounts, the protests become violent with one person in Minneapolis shot dead, stores are looted and buildings are set on fire. 

Police in riot gear fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the thousands of protesters demanding justice for Floyd. 

Mayor Frey called for the officer's to be charged and said 'I want to see justice for George Floyd.' 

It is revealed Chauvin been subject to at least 12 conduct reports since 2001.  

Thursday, May 28

A third night of protests with demonstrations in Minneapolis, Memphis, Louisville, Phoenix, New York City and Columbus, Ohio. 

Protesters burn down the Third Precinct building while 500 National Guards are dispatched to the riots in Minneapolis. 

At least 70 New Yorkers are arrested after clashing with the NYPD.

Protesters in Ohio breached the city's courthouse and shots were fired at the Colorado State Capitol.  

Friday, May 29 

President Trump blasts ‘radial left Mayor’ Frey and warned ‘thugs’ that ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts’ on Twitter.

The phrase comes from former Miami Police Chief Walter Headley in 1967 when referring to ‘slum hoodlums’ who he believed took advantage of the Civil Rights Movement.

Twitter flags Trump’s tweet for violating its rules about glorifying violence. It comes mere days after the president was fact-checked, sparking a row with the social media giant.

Black CNN Reporter Omar Jimenez is arrested on live TV while reporting on the riots in Minneapolis

Officer Chauvin is charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter over Floyd's death.

The Ickabog JK Rowling

The Ickabog

JK Rowling

Chapter 1

King Fred the Fearless
Once upon a time, there was a tiny country called Cornucopia, which had been ruled for centuries by a long line of fair-haired kings. The king at the time of which I write was called King Fred the Fearless. He’d announced the ‘Fearless’ bit himself, on the morning of his coronation, partly because it sounded nice with ‘Fred’, but also because he’d once managed to catch and kill a wasp all by himself, if you didn’t count five footmen and the boot boy.

King Fred the Fearless came to the throne on a huge wave of popularity. He had lovely yellow curls, fine sweeping moustaches and looked magnificent in the tight breeches, velvet doublets, and ruffled shirts that rich men wore at the time. Fred was said to be generous, smiled and waved whenever anyone caught sight of him and looked awfully handsome in the portraits that were distributed throughout the kingdom, to be hung in town halls. The people of Cornucopia were most happy with their new king, and many thought he’d end up being even better at the job than his father, Richard the Righteous, whose teeth (though nobody had liked to mention it at the time) were rather crooked.

King Fred was secretly relieved to find out how easy it was to rule Cornucopia. In fact, the country seemed to run itself. Nearly everybody had lots of food, the merchants made pots of gold, and Fred’s advisors took care of any little problem that arose. All that was left for Fred to do was beam at his subjects whenever he went out in his carriage and go hunting five times a week with his two best friends, Lord Spittleworth and Lord Flapoon.

Spittleworth and Flapoon had large estates of their own in the country, but they found it much cheaper and more amusing to live at the palace with the king, eating his food, hunting his stags, and making sure that the king didn’t get too fond of any of the beautiful ladies at court. They had no wish to see Fred married, because a queen might spoil all their fun. For a time, Fred had seemed to rather like Lady Eslanda, who was as dark and beautiful as Fred was fair and handsome, but Spittleworth had persuaded Fred that she was far too serious and bookish for the country to love her as queen. Fred didn’t know that Lord Spittleworth had a grudge against Lady Eslanda. He’d once asked her to marry him, but she’d turned him down.

Lord Spittleworth was very thin, cunning, and clever. His friend Flapoon was ruddy-faced, and so enormous that it required six men to heave him onto his massive chestnut horse. Though not as clever as Spittleworth, Flapoon was still far sharper than the king.

Both lords were expert at flattery, and pretending to be astonished by how good Fred was at everything from riding to tiddlywinks. If Spittleworth had a particular talent, it was persuading the king to do things that suited Spittleworth, and if Flapoon had a gift, it was for convincing the king that nobody on earth was as loyal to the king as his two best friends.

Fred thought Spittleworth and Flapoon were jolly good chaps. They urged him to hold fancy parties, elaborate picnics, and sumptuous banquets, because Cornucopia was famous, far beyond its borders, for its food. Each of its cities was known for a different kind, and each was the very best in the world.

The capital of Cornucopia, Chouxville, lay in the south of the country, and was surrounded by acres of orchards, fields of shimmering golden wheat, and emerald-green grass, on which pure white dairy cows grazed. The cream, flour, and fruit produced by the farmers here was then given to the exceptional bakers of Chouxville, who made pastries.

Think, if you please, of the most delicious cake or biscuit you have ever tasted. Well, let me tell you they’d have been downright ashamed to serve that in Chouxville. Unless a grown man’s eyes filled with tears of pleasure as he bit into a Chouxville pastry, it was deemed a failure and never made again. The bakery windows of Chouxville were piled high with delicacies such as Maidens’ Dreams, Fairies’ Cradles, and, most famous of all, Hopes-of-Heaven, which were so exquisitely, painfully delicious that they were saved for special occasions and everybody cried for joy as they ate them. King Porfirio, of neighbouring Pluritania, had already sent King Fred a letter, offering him the choice of any of his daughters’ hands in marriage in exchange for a lifetime’s supply of Hopes-of-Heaven, but Spittleworth had advised Fred to laugh in the Pluritanian ambassador’s face.

‘His daughters are nowhere near pretty enough to exchange for Hopes-of-Heaven, sire!’ said Spittleworth.

To the north of Chouxville lay more green fields and clear, sparkling rivers, where jet-black cows and happy pink pigs were raised. These in turn served the twin cities of Kurdsburg and Baronstown, which were separated from each other by an arching stone bridge over the main river of Cornucopia, the Fluma, where brightly coloured barges bore goods from one end of the kingdom to another.

Kurdsburg was famous for its cheeses: huge white wheels, dense orange cannonballs, big crumbly blue-veined barrels and little baby cream cheeses smoother than velvet.

Baronstown was celebrated for its smoked and honey-roasted hams, its sides of bacon, its spicy sausages, its melting beefsteaks, and its venison pies.

The savoury fumes rising from the chimneys of the red-brick Baronstown stoves mingled with the odorous tang wafting from the doorways of the Kurdsburg cheesemongers, and for forty miles all around, it was impossible not to salivate breathing in the delicious air.

A few hours north of Kurdsburg and Baronstown, you came upon acres of vineyards bearing grapes as large as eggs, each of them ripe and sweet and juicy. Journey onwards for the rest of the day and you reached the granite city of Jeroboam, famous for its wines. They said of the Jeroboam air that you could get tipsy simply walking its streets. The best vintages changed hands for thousands upon thousands of gold coins, and the Jeroboam wine merchants were some of the richest men in the kingdom.

But a little north of Jeroboam, a strange thing happened. It was as though the magically rich land of Cornucopia had exhausted itself by producing the best grass, the best fruit, and the best wheat in the world. Right at the northern tip came the place known as the Marshlands, and the only things that grew there were some tasteless, rubbery mushrooms and thin dry grass, only good enough to feed a few mangy sheep.

The Marshlanders who tended the sheep didn’t have the sleek, well-rounded, well-dressed appearance of the citizens of Jeroboam, Baronstown, Kurdsburg, or Chouxville. They were gaunt and ragged. Their poorly nourished sheep never fetched very good prices, either in Cornucopia or abroad, so very few Marshlanders ever got to taste the delights of Cornucopian wine, cheese, beef, or pastries. The most common dish in the Marshlands was a greasy mutton broth, made of those sheep who were too old to sell.

The rest of Cornucopia found the Marshlanders an odd bunch – surly, dirty, and ill-tempered. They had rough voices, which the other Cornucopians imitated, making them sound like hoarse old sheep. Jokes were made about their manners and their simplicity. As far as the rest of Cornucopia was concerned, the only memorable thing that had ever come out of the Marshlands was the legend of the Ickabog.


Chapter 2

The Ickabog

The legend of the Ickabog had been passed down by generations of Marshlanders, and spread by word of mouth all the way to Chouxville. Nowadays, everybody knew the story. Naturally, as with all legends, it changed a little depending on who was telling it. However, every story agreed that a monster lived at the very northernmost tip of the country, in a wide patch of dark and often misty marsh too dangerous for humans to enter. The monster was said to eat children and sheep. Sometimes it even carried off grown men and women who strayed too close to the marsh at night.

The habits and appearance of the Ickabog changed depending on who was describing it. Some made it snakelike, others dragonish or wolflike. Some said it roared, others that it hissed, and still others said that it drifted as silently as the mists that descended on the marsh without warning.

The Ickabog, they said, had extraordinary powers. It could imitate the human voice to lure travellers into its clutches. If you tried to kill it, it would mend magically, or else split into two Ickabogs; it could fly, spurt fire, shoot poison – the Ickabog’s powers were as great as the imagination of the teller.

‘Mind you don’t leave the garden while I’m working,’ parents all over the kingdom would tell their children, ‘or the Ickabog will catch you and eat you all up!’ And throughout the land, boys and girls played at fighting the Ickabog, tried to frighten each other with the tale of the Ickabog, and even, if the story became too convincing, had nightmares about the Ickabog.

Bert Beamish was one such little boy. When a family called the Dovetails came over for dinner one night, Mr Dovetail entertained everybody with what he claimed was the latest news of the Ickabog. That night, five-year-old Bert woke, sobbing and terrified, from a dream in which the monster’s huge white eyes were gleaming at him across a foggy marsh into which he was slowly sinking.

‘There, there,’ whispered his mother, who’d tiptoed into his room with a candle and now rocked him backwards and forwards in her lap. ‘There is no Ickabog, Bertie. It’s just a silly story.’

‘B-but Mr Dovetail said sheep have g-gone missing!’ hiccoughed Bert.

‘So they have,’ said Mrs Beamish, ‘but not because a monster took them. Sheep are foolish creatures. They wander off and get lost in the marsh.’

‘B-but Mr Dovetail said p-people disappear, too!’

‘Only people who’re silly enough to stray onto the marsh at night,’ said Mrs Beamish. ‘Hush now, Bertie, there is no monster.’

‘But Mr D-Dovetail said p-people heard voices outside their windows and in the m-morning their chickens were gone!’

Mrs Beamish couldn’t help but laugh.

‘The voices they heard are ordinary thieves, Bertie. Up in the Marshlands they pilfer from each other all the time. It’s easier to blame the Ickabog than to admit their neighbours are stealing from them!’

‘Stealing?’ gasped Bert, sitting up in his mother’s lap and gazing at her with solemn eyes. ‘Stealing’s very naughty, isn’t it, Mummy?’

‘It’s very naughty indeed,’ said Mrs Beamish, lifting up Bert, placing him tenderly back into his warm bed and tucking him in. ‘But luckily, we don’t live near those lawless Marshlanders.’

She picked up her candle and tiptoed back towards the bedroom door.

‘Night, night,’ she whispered from the doorway. She’d normally have added, ‘Don’t let the Ickabog bite,’ which was what parents across Cornucopia said to their children at bedtime, but instead she said, ‘Sleep tight.’

Bert fell asleep again, and saw no more monsters in his dreams.

It so happened that Mr Dovetail and Mrs Beamish were great friends. They’d been in the same class at school, and had known each other all their lives. When Mr Dovetail heard that he’d given Bert nightmares, he felt guilty. As he was the best carpenter in all of Chouxville, he decided to carve the little boy an Ickabog. It had a wide, smiling mouth full of teeth and big, clawed feet, and at once it became Bert’s favourite toy.

If Bert, or his parents, or the Dovetails next door, or anybody else in the whole kingdom of Cornucopia had been told that terrible troubles were about to engulf Cornucopia, all because of the myth of the Ickabog, they’d have laughed. They lived in the happiest kingdom in the world. What harm could the Ickabog do?

A Stern Rebuke to those in Christ who follow hard after wolves

“A Stern Rebuke to those in Christ who follow hard after wolves”

Pauly Hart

8:25, Wed, May 6, 2020

Belief in the globe earth is ultimately Satanism.

I am often asked why I believe the earth to be the shape the Bible declares,
and why I believe NASA to be liars.

Don't you know that "NASA" in Hebrew means: "to deceive?"

What man has created in his folly is in direct contradiction to the Word that was given to us
by the Intelligent Designer Himself.

To give the idea that the Biblical earth is something like what Carl Sagan declares as
“the pale blue dot” to the masses, is to slap the handiwork of the Creator in the face,

Belief in the globe earth is anti-Christ.

The Bible declares the earth to be fixed. Nasa says the opposite.

The Bible declares the earth to be immovable. Nasa says the opposite.

Did you know about Operation Paperclip? Did you know NASA is a NAZI program?

The Bible declares that the earth was created. On day two, a firmament was created.

The Bible declares the firmament to be the crowning example of God’s handiwork.

The firmament is a bowl, slapped down on top of dirt.

Did you know that “earth” means “dirt” in Hebrew?

Belief in a non-domed earth is inevitably unGodliness.

Genesis 1:1 declares God created the heavens and the earth.

Obviously from this verse alone, we can deduce that the earth is not part of the heavens.

John 3:16 declares that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.

What is harder to believe? That there is only one Son or only one world.

Satanism has a stranglehold on the masses.

The only “aliens” to ever visit earth were spiritual beings.

If they were angels, they called themselves angels.

If they were fallen angels, they called themselves something else.

Heaven is up. Sheol is down. There are no variations of direction. Up is up and down is down.

Learning good Biblical exegesis will help you determine how to interpret the Word.

Moses never used metaphors and neither did his protege, Joshua.

Tell me how the sun stood still for Joshua and move backwards for Hezekiah.

Because the earth is Lord’s and the fullness thereof.

May your day be filled with joy and cheer.