There are two camps in this nation. Some believe that people are individuals, each responsible for their own actions. A police officer who abuses that should be tried in a court of law, and be punished for anything that he may be guilty of, and set free if found not guilty.
The other camp believes that any part of the process that doesn’t go their way is evidence that the system is broken. The only result they will accept is complete surrender. They are willing to commit acts of violence to achieve that goal. Anyone who defends themselves, or even injures someone while escaping the mobs intent on killing them should be imprisoned or killed. They will accept nothing short of surrender.
These two camps are completely incompatible. The only good news here is that the riots for the most part appear to be the result of financing and organization from an outside party. Pallets of bricks being delivered to street corners in advance of protests, people caught on video paying agitators. Hopefully, this is the same thing that happens every election year, and it stops when the election is over.
I have one of two fears:
1 The amount of violence is dependent upon the LEAST stable person there. Sooner or later, a person will do a mag dump into a crowd, and things will escalate beyond anyone’s control.
2 The funding and organization will stop after the election, but it will be too late: the point of critical mass will have been surpassed, and the violence will continue to escalate.
Keep preparing, keep stockpiling, keep out of the way. By all means, stay away from protests.