#Open letter to a protester and other commentary

NYPD Transit Officers PO Ozuk, Sgt Haniff, PO Martinez and PO Geniale talk to the media at the TD 30 Precinct in downtown, Brooklyn after finding a woman in pain in the Hoyt Street subway station in Brooklyn.
Stefan Jeremiah

At The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore County Police Officer Seth Templeton writes what he’d tell an anti-cop activist if he sat down with one. He’d start by emphasizing that “for every negative news story involving the police,” the media don’t report “thousands of positive stories.” He’d tell stories of the many “good deeds” police do and explain that “not losing my temper” is “part of my job.” He would tell his side of the story “not to garner sympathy,” but to offer the activist “insight.” Yes, some officers commit “ugly, abhorrent crimes, for which they should be imprisoned” — but most cops truly “strive for good,” so demonizing “ ‘THE’ police as a whole” is wrong. After the conversation, if his interlocutor still hated Templeton, the officer would “come running” if the activist needed help. It’s his job.

Culture critic: Reflections on the Revolution

“Welcome to the American version of the French Revolution,” Jonathan Turley warns at The Hill: A sensible discussion on “race relations and justice” after George Floyd’s horrible killing has given way to “an emerging radicalism.” Calls to “defund the police,” once “the mantra of the very extreme elements in society,” are now commonplace among politicians and media elites, many of whom have “dismissed concerns about looting” while announcing their “support for antifa, a violent movement which stands against free speech.” Another “storming of the Bastille” moment came when The New York Times apologized for letting Sen. Tom Cotton express his opinion. These revolutionaries should watch out: If the French Revolution shows anything, it’s that those considered “rebels ­today are the reactionaries tomorrow.”

From the right: Trump’s John Paul II Moment

American elites sneered at President Trump for visiting the St. John Paul II Shrine amid the riots — ignoring, Ken Blackwell sighs at Townhall, “what the president was doing that day for some of the world’s most vulnerable people.” Right after visiting the shrine, after all, Trump signed a “religious-freedom executive order” that highlighted the persecution of millions of Christians for their faith, largely in Africa and the Middle East. Throughout his life and pontificate, John Paul II similarly “championed religious freedom” — hence Trump’s visit to the shrine. Sadly, “ ‘woke’ leftists,” even ­including some “religious voices,” criticized Trump anyway, claiming he was ignoring “black lives” even while he was working to “actually help black lives” around the world. That, says, Blackwell, is “shocking” — and shameful.

Protest journal: More Anti-Trump Hypocrisy

The Washington Post’s Marc Thiessen has a question: “Why is it that so many in Washington are more outraged with President Trump’s tough talk on the riots plaguing our cities than they are with the riots themselves?” Critics called Trump’s announcement he might invoke the Insurrection Act “unprecedented,” but it’s “been used by almost a dozen American presidents to put down violent unrest.” Federal security forces removed peaceful demonstrators from Joe Biden’s 2012 appearance at Wright State University. But if they do the same for Trump, “it’s a violation of the First Amendment?” And “if we saw neo-Nazis doing what antifa is doing today, no one would hesitate to declare them domestic terrorists. But because they are neo-Marxists” against Trump, “it’s a scandal.” Bottom line, Trump’s right to use tough rhetoric: “We can’t heal the country when the country is on fire.”

Economic desk: Reopen Already!

In a “stunning jobs report that exceeded all expectations,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that “the unemployment rate actually decreased by 1.4 points in May” — which, The Washington Examiner’s Tiana Lowe ­observes, was largely thanks to America’s “partial economic reopening.” The 2.5 million new jobs” are largely in “the leisure and hospitality, construction, education, health and retail sectors.” Meanwhile, as the protests make clear, “the coronavirus lockdown is over in practice,” and “science is beginning to show” that we can keep safe just by social distancing and mask-wearing. If we “reopen everything” now, we “could see one of the greatest recoveries in history.”

— Compiled by Karl Salzmann & Kelly Torrance