Biden honored fallen police officers with reference to Jan 6 riot but not the one last week

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Joe Biden participated in the 40th Annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service yesterday in Washington. Hundreds of law enforcement officers gathered to honor the fallen. This year’s memorial honored police officers who died in 2019 and 2020. President Unity took the opportunity during his speech to turn it into a political one, a one-sided political speech.

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It was nearly impossible to watch (I did) Biden’s performance without noticing what a hot mess of a speech it turned out to be. Biden stumbled and mumbled through twenty-two minutes of an odd assortment of remarks. Since he was speaking outside the Capitol, he seized the moment to include the January 6 riot in his remarks.

During the 22-minute speech, he thanked local police for thwarting the Jan. 6 insurrection where rioters attempted to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election.

Biden said he had “no hesitation” awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the Capitol police and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department. He acknowledged that 150 officers were injured in the attack and five died in its aftermath.

“Because of you, democracy survived,” he said.

Perhaps it was to be expected that January 6 was brought up because Biden is a lifelong politician who frames everything with his personal politics. Democrats are desperate to keep that day’s riot in the news to point to Trump’s supporters that participated in the riot on Capitol Hill and warn that Trump must never be in power again. In contrast, Biden didn’t bother to mention the week-long protests by a group led by Indigenous climate change alarmists on the Department of Interior, in front of the White House, and occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. An occupation? Like an insurrection? Where was all the coverage of that in the mainstream press? Joe Biden didn’t utter a peep about the hundreds of arrests that law enforcement made during the week. Why would that be? Yes, that’s a rhetorical question.

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Environmental and indigenous activists protested in front of the White House and in the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Thursday. More than 185 people were arrested between both locations, bringing the total arrested this week to over 530.

The group has been demonstrating in a week-long action known as People vs. Fossil Fuels that began on Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday. They’re demanding an end to the use of fossil fuels and for President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, housed within the Department of the Interior, is assigned with managing the US government’s relations with American Indian and Alaska Native people offering federal support to tribal nations’ governments.

Jen Falcon, who was one of the demonstrators present, said the group has been working hard all week to make their voices heard.

Here they are marching to the White House:

No problem there. However, on Thursday, they stormed the Department of Interior to get to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Their plan was to occupy the Bureau of Indian Affairs. One police officer was injured and taken to the hospital.

Police arrested dozens of protesters Thursday from People vs. Fossil Fuels trying to storm the Stewart Lee Udall Main Interior Building in Washington, D.C., as part of a weeklong demonstration against the Biden administration for not ending contracts for oil pipelines, among other demands.

Videos show a crowd of protesters on the steps of the building, with some trying to climb through the doors. The organization said “55 Indigenous people were arrested; police tased and hit multiple people with batons.” One officer went to the hospital for injuries.

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Andy Ngo noticed the similarity between this day and that of January 6.

Nope, not a single reference to the week’s protests or the injured police officer because of far-left climate change alarmists. Apparently, it is only bad and called an insurrection if it happens on one side of the political aisle and not the other. Biden has been working hard to destroy the fossil fuel industry since he came into office and he gives cover to the activists who want even more draconian measures.

Biden’s speech was an odd mix of personal reflection and political talking points. He tried to drum up support for his infrastructure bill and touted the American Rescue Act for providing funds for hiring police. He acknowledged the pain and loss experienced when an officer is killed in the line of duty.

“There’s too much pain. There’s too much loss. There’s too much at stake for your safety and the safety of those you serve,” Biden said during his keynote address at the National Peace Officers’ annual memorial service.

“The toll on this profession these past two years has been heavy,” he added. “Unless we change the environment in which the job can be done, we’re going to have trouble having enough women and men come forward who want to do the job.”

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The reason the environment is so dangerous for police today is in large part thanks to actions taken by groups like Black Lives Matter and the chaos they cause in the name of protesting in cities across the country. Police officers are demonized and face situations that quickly turn violent, all the while being filmed by bystanders with their cell phones. There is room for police reform, as Senator Tim Scott has been working on and being stopped by Democrats at every turn, but the demonization of law enforcement has increased violence and mayhem on the streets. Joe Biden didn’t go into why the police have such a difficult job and he didn’t bother to acknowledge the death of the retired police captain in St. Louis killed during a BLM protest/riot.

Biden went from his creepy, pervy whisper voice as he leaned into the microphone to going into full-on angry old man mode, yelling at his audience. As I mentioned above, it was an odd speech, even for Biden. He also did something he frequently does during speeches – he inserted the death of his son, Beau, and spoke of his military service. We can all feel sympathy for Biden over the loss of his beloved son but c’mon, man. He isn’t a Gold Star parent and there is something wrong with how he continues to speak of Beau’s death randomly during public speeches.

I hope that those attending the memorial service found comfort in Biden’s appearance. I wish I could say it translated well to his television audience but it didn’t. It was cringeworthy.

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UPDATE: (Jazz)

I had been planning on writing about this speech myself today, but when I saw that Karen had already done a fine analysis on it I decided not to. There was one additional element from the speech that I wanted to briefly touch on here, however. Another politicizing moment came when Biden took the opportunity to push his “police reform bill,” as noted by the New York Post. He called it “a call to do better, for us to step up, build trust and respect, and heal the breach we now see in so many communities.”

I was dumbfounded by this. That “reform” bill isn’t being pushed by Democrats to help the police. It’s to appease the defund the police movement and Biden was using the language of that movement to at least in part blame the police for the “breach” in our communities between law enforcement and activists. It’s the language of Black Lives Matter. Even if you truly support such efforts, is a memorial for those in uniform who gave their lives keeping the rest of us safe really the time and the place to bring it up? Particularly on the same day that a Texas Sheriff’s Deputy was murdered in an ambush? I found it to be offensive. And as the Post reported, the speech received what was described as “a muted reception” from the crowd, primarily composed of law enforcement officers and their families. Deservedly so.

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Jazz Shaw 7:20 PM | March 18, 2024
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