UK: Lord Baden-Powell statue to be torn down over Hitler ties

A statue of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting movement, is being removed by a local council because it was threatened by people who criticised his “homophobia, racism and enthusiastic support of Hitler”.

The statue was installed in 2008 and faces Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, where the decorated military leader held an experimental camp in 1907 that led to the formation of the Scouting movement the following year.

Topple the Racists, a website published by the Stop Trump Coalition in support of the Black Lives Matter protests, lists the Baden-Powell monument among more than 70 statues across Britain, which they claim pay tribute to slave traders and “racists”. The website says the Scouts founder, who was born in 1857, “committed atrocities against the Zulus"

Baden-Powell was an officer in the British army during the successful British war against the Zulus but he was no racist. He romanticised the Zulus' discipline, and courage, and adapted many of their cultural institutions to scouting. "The Scouts' War Dance" was his adaptation of a Zulu chant

His "links" with Hitler arose because there were some similarities between the Scout movement and the Hitler youth movement. Baden-Powell was invited to meet Hitler after holding friendly talks about forming closer ties with the Hitler Youth movement.

Something not usually remarked about BP is that he was clearly a closet homosexual.  He spent most of his time with men, did not marry until late in life and it was clearly agony for him to sleep with his wife. He spent most of his married life sleeping away from his wife

So as a homosexual suffering from oppression of his sexuality, he should in fact be something of a hero to the Left

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Who Speaks for the Riots' Victims?

How many homes have been destroyed in the riots of the past weeks? How many businesses?

How many Americans have died in the riots that began out of justified and peaceful protests over the killing of George Floyd?

My colleague Tyler O’Neill highlighted two of them in this piece. Their names are Princess Pope, of Dallas, and K. B. Balla, of Minneapolis. Looters burned Balla’s sports bar, which he built using his life’s savings, to the ground. And then they ran off, presumably to burn someone else’s life down.

“The night of the destruction.. whew,” Pope told a local TV station. “When I came in, it just was just so terrible. It was so terrible. I stand with the protesters, but I do not stand with the looters.” ​​

Pope makes a distinction too many politicians and the national media have failed to make. Peaceful protest is thoroughly American and is protected in the First Amendment. Rioting and looting are criminal activity, often done opportunistically while others peacefully protest for justice and police and engaged in protecting them.

K. B. Balla worked his whole adult life to get to the point where he could open his bar, but rioters destroyed his dream in minutes. Both of these victims of the looters and rioters are black. Princess Pope spent years building her Guns and Roses Boutique, only to see it looted and destroyed in minutes.

There are many victims beyond these two. They have names and faces, they have families. They’re in every major city in the country. They did nothing to warrant the violence and injustice done to them by rioters and looters.

Google “number killed 2020 riots George Floyd.” Other than a lone report from a local Fox affiliate, there isn’t much. That report has not been updated in several days. But it does list more than 20 Americans who have died because of the riots.

These are their names: David Dorn. David McAttee. Chris Beaty. Dorian Murell. Italia Kelly. Marquis Tousant. Patrick Underwood. Calvin Horton Jr. James Scurlock. Javar Harrell. Barry Perkins III. Jorge Gomez. Jose Gutierrez. Victor Cazares Jr. Marvin Francois. And there are two additional victims who as of the time or writing have not been identified. The youngest was athlete Dorian Murrell, 18; the oldest was retired police captain David Dorn, 77. Dorn was guarding his store when rioters broke in, killed him, and looted it. All of these victims were minorities, and most were black.

Patrick Underwood was a career law enforcement officer. He died literally guarding the rule of law.

“Pat was guarding the federal courthouse, a symbol of equal justice and the rule of law. During the riots in Oakland on the night of his death, it appears his death was part of a targeted attack on federal law enforcement,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy said at Underwood’s funeral.

“We pray that justice comes swiftly and completely for Pat, for George Floyd, and all victims of violence.”

But the media, along with most of the nation, is silent about these. If silence is truly violence, what does the media’s silence say to these victims and their families? The New York Times used its Memorial Day issue to print the names of 1,000 Americans killed by a mindless virus. It is ignoring the victims of the George Floyd riots.

There are many other victims. Right now a six-block section of Seattle is under the control of extremists calling the area the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ. There are 500 homes within the area the city and state have ceded to the extremists. There are businesses and jobs in that area. They’re all victims who have been left without a voice. CHAZ is under the control of an armed insurrectionist strongman who is extorting money from residents and businesses trying to continue their operations to keep their employees paid.

Who can they count on? Democratic governors and mayors have ceded their homes to extremists. Democratic candidates like Kim Olson in Texas say that “If people loot, so what. Burn it to the ground if that’s what it takes to fix our country.”

Those are Americans’ homes and their dreams and their lives. They deserve better than callous dismissal from the likes of Olson and the national media.

Thankfully both Balla and Pope will have their businesses restored. Their communities have come together, and Pope has a GoFundme and is working with local Vista Bank to get back to business. The Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce is also working with local First United Bank to help Pope and other Dallas victims of the riots including Coffney M Salon and BurgerIM. Those links go to their respective GoFundMe pages.

“We recognize how hard it is to build a small business and we are honored to play a small part in helping her come back from this,” Vista Bank President John D. Steinmetz said.

“First United Bank has been instrumental in helping the Black-owned businesses the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce sent during COVID-19 and now is no different. We appreciate their support to businesses in our communities across North Texas,” DBCC President Harrison Blair says.

Balla, a former firefighter, has raised over a million dollars to rebuild his bar, another case of Americans coming together to restore what was all too easy to destroy.

Neither Pope nor Balla sound like victims. They both sound like overcomers. They will thrive and hopefully pull many up with them.

Patrick Underwood’s sister, Angela Underwood Jacobs, directly addressed the riots during her brother’s funeral.

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, always avoid violence,” she said. “If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.”

The national media could do good by focusing on these stories and relentlessly drawing distinctions between the peaceful protesters and the violent rioters. The former seek justice for a fellow American. The latter are nihilists who want to destroy the country and they do not care what and who they have to destroy along the way.

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Sydney shows how to do it

Demonstrators stay peaceful.  No riots, no looting -- under a conservative administration

Hundreds of police officers in face masks have congregated at a banned Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney - and have warned they won't hesitate to arrest protesters. 

A rally calling for an end to Aboriginal deaths in custody - planned for Sydney Town Hall on Friday evening - was deemed unlawful by NSW Police because they weren't formally notified. 

Police officers showed up in force two hours early and protesters decided to move the gathering to Hyde Park in a last-ditch attempt to avoid authority.

'Due to the overwhelming police presence at Town Hall, we will now be starting from the Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park,' a Facebook post read.

Police followed the activists to Hyde Park at 6.30pm and immediately attempted to disperse the crowds.

One protester who had also attended Saturday's Black Lives Matter protest said there were 'a lot more police than last time'.

Protesters chanted 'we'll be back' as they were moved on by officers.

The demonstrators were moved on by police from Hyde Park at about 6.45pm. Some protesters walked to Town Hall but were again followed by officers and told to disperse.

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here. 
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