This. And, I might add, history didn’t begin 50 years ago. If horses could handle WWI battlefields, if they could charge into cannon fire during the civil war, if they could trample archers in the 13th century, I’m pretty sure they can be bred and trained to deal with rioters.
Check out some videos of equine therapy...they make kids with disabilities feel wildly powerful. Really think about these things and how human beings respond to them. It might be very strange, but there is definitely a reaction to a massive animal stomping around you. At a minimum, the people on foot take notice of them, and while they are gentle as can be, it's still 5x your size. All those years of armed cavalry being the backbone of a military engagement wasn't by accident, your average human can't simply attack a horse, the animal can't and won't argue with you, and the downside is much more palpable: it's hard to know what getting shot will feel like, but getting kicked or trampled by a horse is easier to imagine. Also, you "know" a car or truck won't run over you, but a horse just might and that uncertainty is enough. Remember, in a riot, you can't really communicate. People are responsive to really base stimuli only. My first day in Baltimore was the day of the Freddie Gray riots. If that's any indication, this will leave some scars for a while. Baltimore hasn't recovered from that and it's influencing the mayoral race as we speak. Also, these rioters and looters don't see it as their neighborhood, in all likelihood they came from far away. They see it as a chance to rub authority's face in it, as payback for all the things denied to them. I've been in about a half dozen riots, and the thing I remember seeing on the faces was exuberance. The protesters are angry, the rioters are delighted.
I learned all of life's lessons from Andrew W.K. songs, it's not my fault that when applied to politics it results in civic unrest. The weirdest one was in 2014, in Keene, NH a town only famous because Jumanji was filmed there. The annual Pumpkin festival suffered a riot that year, because white people REALLY like PSL, and God help you if the pumpkins aren't orange enough....also of note, the same town was made fun of in a John Oliver episode for having an MRAP, which I vaguely recall they couldn't use in the riot for some reasons. The other weird thing...very few of them have made the news. The ones in the US did, but in places like Honduras or Indonesia, even with smartphones...crickets. I remember reading somewhere that a country like China can have as many as 35 riots per day, without it really triggering a major news event. Also, to be clear I have never (EVER) participated in a riot. Nothing about that seems fun. Weirdly, I tend to avoid crowds...
I was at UConn when the campus rioted over winning the men's and women's NCAA tournaments. Its honestly a little fun.
If I’ve watched enough Mel Gibson movies to know all you need to do as a lone person vs charging horse Calvary is duck and swing a sword at their toothpick legs or poke them with a long pointy stick. I think even the rioters know hurting a horse will get you strung up by social media these days.
Arresting that CNN crew just made things SO much worse. Now they’ve pissed of media in its entirety. Metaphoric kerosine for the literal flames. They violated their rights, held them under false arrest and the cherry on top: flat-out lied about it. Saying that they had no way to identify them as press, despite it being broadcast live in international news. ....Even with the entire world watching them, they still lie and refuse to answer for it. That’s how deep the ego is when you take low intelligence and give it lots of power.
Are trained police officers aware that strangling people to death on camera can result in somewhat of a social media backlash? There are a lot more bad/stupid people out there then any of us are willing to accept.
Those are n00b tactics. Go with Henry's strategy at Agincourt and create a choke point flanked by longbowmen. Protect the longbowmen by putting them at the edge of thick woods and drive sharpened stakes into the ground on their flanks. Let the mud do the rest.
3rd-degree murder. Which is a bit odd, but Minnesota is one of the few states that actually have that defined as a thing.
Is it just me, or does setting a police precinct on fire seem to speed up investigations against cops who kill people on camera? They usually get dragged out at least a year (even the ones like this that are recorded), this one... three days. I guess the added pressure of a city turning into The Dark Knight Rises greases the ol’ wheels, yes?
If you think fire isn't one of the world's best motivators, just bust out a lighter the next time someone is sitting in your seat and see how fast they move once the flames start licking.
I was piled on once in a bar brawl and used my Zippo on the flesh of the people pinning me. It ended the situation as fast as you explained it did. They exploded off me like fireworks.
Also manslaughter, which he's also charged with I hear. Unless they find a diary entry with something along the lines of "I want to off one of these thugs soooo bad." Theyd never be able to prove intent. But reading the definition Minnesota's 3rd degree murder dude is in for a world of hurt.