Putting numbers to what most observers worldwide suspected, the Princeton-affiliated Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) just released ACLED U.S. Crisis Monitor, revealing that, according to its criteria, 91 percent of riots in the U.S. over the last three months were linked to the Marxist organization Black Lives Matter.
The ACLED website describes its operational parameters as providing “real-time data and analysis on political violence and demonstrations in the United States for the first time, and aims to establish an evidence base from which to identify risks, hotspots, and available resources to empower local communities in times of crisis.”
And, after defining a “riot” as “demonstrations in which any demonstrators engage in violently disruptive or destructive acts (e.g. violence, looting, vandalism, etc.), as well as mob violence in which violent mobs target other individuals, property, businesses, or other groups,”, they also defined BLM demonstrations as:
…demonstrations that have a local BLM group involved; when the main issue of the demonstration concerns the police killing of a specific Black person (e.g. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor;) when the main issue of the demonstration concerns police brutality against Black people in general; or when the demonstration is in solidarity with the movement in the USA against police brutality against Black people.
And, strangely, despite the oft-repeated mantra of pop media chatterboxes who had the gall to call rioters and torched buildings “peaceful protests” and “Mostly peaceful protests,” the ACLED team determined that BLM’s members or BLM-instigated “events” were – SHOCK – often the ones linked to person-on-person violence and property destruction.
Peter Hasson, an editor with The Daily Caller noted the study, and this salient result:
Forty-nine states, not counting Washington, D.C., experienced riots during that time period, the study found. California led the nation with 86 riots during that time, closely followed by Oregon with 79 riots during that time period, the data show.
It’s important to lay out some more of ACLED’s criteria, particularly regarding violence. According to the group:
ACLED systematically collects the dates, actors, locations, fatalities, and types of all political violence and demonstration events in the US using a methodology consistent with our global coverage of conflict and disorder around the world. ACLED also collects information on specific, contextually-relevant strategic developments that offer further insight into the political environment; these may be precursors to changes in patterns of political violence and demonstrations.
And ACLED provides more context regarding police activity it covers:
ACLED does not record all instances of violence. For example, criminal violence, defined as violence that is motivated by personal or purely criminal motives, is excluded from the ACLED dataset. Some mass shooting events fall into this category. Violence that takes place in the private sphere, such as domestic or interpersonal violence, is also not recorded in the ACLED dataset, even when these events could have wider repercussions among the public. Similarly, events that are categorized as standard police enforcement are excluded from ACLED’s coverage. These typically include incidents where law enforcement agencies appear to have used violence within the bounds of the legal constraints on their activity, either in reaction to an attempt on the life of a police officer or otherwise in the presence of a threat.
And, while stressing in its special, detailed press release that the majority of protests were peaceful, the group explains that criminals sparked 637 riots between May 26 and Sept. 12, and 91% of those riots were linked to the Black Lives Matter movement.
MRCTV’s Brittany Hughes just reported that a new poll appears to indicate that many Americans get it, and they aren’t pleased at all.
…the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that as of this week, only 39 percent of respondents said they approve of Black Lives Matter protests, down from 54 percent back in June. Conversely, the AP found a full 44 percent now say they disapprove of the ‘protests.’
And, as Paul Joseph Watson notes at Summit News:
Despite attempts to spin the riots as peaceful protests, more and more Americans aren’t buying it. ‘A majority of U.S. adults (55%) now express at least some support for the movement, down from 67% in June amid nationwide demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd,’ reported Pew. ‘The share who say they strongly support the movement stands at 29%, down from 38% three months ago.’
And Watson cogently observes that such polling data could explain the sudden reversal by prominent Democrats, who now, suddenly, decry the violence they could have – should have – noted in June.
It turns the stomach to imagine that many politicians only speak out against violence when polls indicate to them that it is politically expedient to do so. Likewise, it’s troubling to know that the pop media coddle these selectively blind Solons.
It’s even more troubling to know that this selective blindness to violence is not reserved to the actions of BLM, but also to those that AntiFA has committed for many years and to those anti-constitutional attacks on our liberties, businesses, and personal lives committed by many of those politicians. Until more Americans stand up for their rights, the violence – through rioting and legislation – will continue.