In Raleigh, 30 minute from me, the cops showed up in full authoritarian aggressive style and there was violence. In Durham, the cops didn't, and there wasn't. One could start to form a theory.

I pretty much don't interact with the conseratives in my family but my aunt and my dad.

I was happy to see one of my cousins who normally stays silent on these issues post something. It was very religiously bent and I didn't agree with all of it but posted encouragement.

The protests here have not escalated. There was an attempt Saturday night to try and vandalize /loot stores but that was stopped with an anonymous tip and the police presence preventer it from happening .

There was a report on Twitter that a sheriff's deputy tried to escalate matters yesterday but the city police stopped it.

I have a ton of links and videos to back up my claims when people are asking me things at work. It happened briefly yesterday. I'm not trying to get political at work but I won't be silent if someone is trying to blame all this destruction on the protesters.

I thought about going to the protest if it happens tomorrow but I don't want to be exposed to Covid 19. Our county has the most cases and I feel bad for not going but instead I'm going to focus on what I'm doing now.

I'm working on changing my tone of voice .

M and I had an intense discussion last night over dinner. Mostly about how reverse racism isn't a thing . But he agrees with the protesters and said he would go with me to the protests if I went.

I am grateful my son went to the Palm Beach protest yesterday. He had been so angry the past few days. Just filled with rage. I worried that his anger was going to be a problem will the marching, but just the opposite happened. He said he went from filled with rage to filled with hope. There were all kinds of people bringing coolers of water, and snacks. The police were supportive and protective, escorting them, closing the highway and leading the group. He was overwhelmed by the togetherness. He even said that almost everyone was masked. They did not however burn down Mar-A-Lago, so disappointment there, but I reminded him that he would likely lose it some day and maybe a decent person would remodel.

I've putzed around for 2 hours this morning. I guess I should get to work. Don't wanna. Like really at all. But just like with mowing the lawn yesterday, I know I will have a sense of accomplishment if I can get through a task, so HERE WE GO!

I immediately went from posting that to washing dishes, NOT work. bah.

Jeez, I've seen two posts from areas in either side of me regarding "precautionary measures" to protect stores from "roving bands of looters". I have not seen any news stories about looting, riots, or even protests in these areas. It's quiet and normal here, which is eerie in its own way.

I have not seen any news stories about looting, riots, or even protests in these areas.

Yay? The press is mostly reporting on looting of the big stores in SF and Walnut Creek -- Lululemon and Macys got hit! But I follow a local Oakland-based journalist on Twitter, and he posted a thread about looting of small locally-owned shops in the Fruitvale District last night, which is bad.

I would be more supportive of people looting to survive given the economic situation right now, but the sociology on this indicates that looting and violence lose public support for the underlying cause. Link. So that's not good. And it's clear that a lot of the looting is just people taking advantage of the cops paying attention to the protests, and not directly related to it. If I'm protesting police brutality, why do I have to loot Lululemon?

What I've seen says that where the police are explicitly working with the protestors(Flint and at least 1 other city) there's no vandalism and no looting. Which makes me think the looters are unrelated to the protests and just taking advantage of confusion.

All was well here, until after dark, then the instigators took over after the decent people went home.

That matches what happened here in San Antonio Saturday night.