By: James Edward | 08-13-2017 | News
Photo credit: AP

Virginia's Governor Violently Ended Protests Based on Advice from Carlos Hopkins

In the wake of violent clashes between demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia, questions have arisen about the leadership of the state.

Governor McAuliffe declared a state of emergency on Saturday and violently ended the protests amidst fatalities and injuries amongst the protestors.

Calls have been heard by many on the left to declare an incident that occurred during the protest, a crash of a car in to a group of protestors, as an act of terrorism.

Our President, Donald Trump, has made multiple calls for unity during this situation, yet, the governor’s rhetoric, no doubt fed to him by his advisors, has been nothing but divisive and inflammatory as he has violently cracked down on the protests.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What is vital now is a swift restoration of law and order and the protection of innocent lives.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Charlottesville?src=hash">#Charlottesville</a> <a href="https://t.co/DB22fgnu6L">pic.twitter.com/DB22fgnu6L</a></p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/896467135391596544">August 12, 2017</a></blockquote>

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Former City Attorney and Counsel to the Governor, Carlos Hopkins, who served as the chief Military Justice of Guantanamo Bay, is the one who advises the governor on matters such as initiating a ‘state of emergency’.

But is he free from conflict of interest as he claims in his interviews? He sure has a lot of experience in dealing with “terrorists” seeing as he and his office oversaw numerous human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay where people were routinely tortured under his watch, as per the wikileaks and Edward Snowden revelations we all should remember so well.

I think being complicit in secret, unlawful torture at a secret, unlawful prison is definitely pretty bad character, is this who we want advising the governor about how to deal with regular people?

These protestors are not prisoners, and they are not “terrorists” like those at Guantanamo Bay, they are regular, everyday Americans and sometimes accidents happen when people who disagree gather in one place, but that doesn’t necessarily make it “terrorism”.

Did Carlos Hopkins arrange to have the statue of Robert E. Lee removed to create this very situation? He sure seems to have a conflict of interest considering his positions at the City Attorney's office, The Governor’s Office, and the National Guard, all of whom were involved in creating this situation and who are ultimately responsible for the chaos that ensued.

As Donald Trump said on Twitter in response to this unfolding situation,

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We must remember this truth: No matter our color, creed, religion or political party, we are ALL AMERICANS FIRST. <a href="https://t.co/FesMiQSKKn">pic.twitter.com/FesMiQSKKn</a></p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/896481262776360960">August 12, 2017</a></blockquote>

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. This is what makes America great, that we do not discriminate against a group of protesters for standing up for what they believe in, even if we disagree.

America should not have to use force against it’s own people for trying to protect a monument that is culturally relevant to them.

All of this happened because we tried to remove something people wanted, and when the people resisted, the people in power called the National Guard in to violently remove them. That is unquestionably un-American!

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<img src="http://assets.richmond.edu/articles/images/features/large/law/carlos-hopkins/carlos-hopkins_large.jpg" alt="Carlos Hopkins">

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3 Comment/s
Anonymous No. 6494 2017-08-13 : 18:47

Waving a Nazi flag and giving a Nazi salute is unamerican as well, there was a war about it, remember.

Also you know full well that the statue was used as an excuse by a bunch of scum to hide behind, after all the Nazis weren't in the Civil war, therefore making them irrelevant to the statue issue

Anonymous No. 6501 2017-08-13 : 20:27

If the statue was being used as an excuse then the authorities should have reversed their decision to take it down. Thus removing the excuse.

Anonymous No. 6502 2017-08-13 : 21:16

So basically you're saying that the government should obey anybody who throws a tantrum, hmm and how does that work, let's see. Bridge builders say, hey we built a multicoloured bridge. Side A, we want a red bridge, Side B, we want a blue one. How about half and half,? No, screams both sides, O.K, how about red one year, blue the next? No, screams the sides. Bridge builders, fuck it, we're sticking to the original plan. Wah, kill everyone, bomb the bridge scream both sides. Now there's no bridge, just a bunch of fucking losers who can't use the bombed, blackened bridge to get across the fucking river, genius.

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