Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Is the Camera Running? . . . “I Protest”

The Headlines read:

“Elderly Man Shoved to the Ground by Police during Protest.”

“75 Year Old Man Injured, and Hospitalized Following Police Assault”

These were the headlines on 6/6/20 after a video taken by an NPR affiliate in Buffalo on 6/4/20 documented the “assault.” I have learned that headlines, especially in our local paper can turnout to be misleading, all the while not being a total lie. Because of my Doubting Thomas nature, before I formed an opinion, I viewed the video. In fact I viewed it multiple times. Was the “gentleman” shoved? . . . Yes, he was. 

Was he your protypicitcal frail elderly senior? No, far from it, as he appeared to be somewhat thin, but a head taller than either of the policemen involved. 

The article implies that this innocent senior was minding his own business during a protest . . . let’s be clear he was clearly the initial aggressor, walking directly up to the advancing police officers, shortly after the local curfew was being enforced.

The “elderly” man was Martin Gugino, a 75-year-old long-time activist, known by many in the community. (info “conveniently” not included in the entirety of the headline story.) “Inadvertently” also left out of the WaPo story was the fact that Gugino is a member of the Latin American Solidarity Committee. Also “accidentally” left out of the story is the fact that Gugino has been arrested at rallies four times in the past. The arrests were in Orange County in 2009, at the White House in 2012 and 2013, and in 2016 at the U.S. Capitol. A spokesman said that with these prior arrests, he was not convicted.

It was initially reported the Mr. Gugino tripped, lost his balance, and fell backward, hitting his head. Again after viewing the video multiple times, to me, it appears that Mr. Gugino did lose his balance after he was shoved. (Coincidentally, I am the same age as Mr. Gugino, and perhaps much to the surprise of those presumably young WaPo writers, one’s balance at 75 is not so good.) It would not take much of a shove to cause me to lose my balance, and possibly go down. However, at my age, I no longer put myself in situations, where I could potentially get shoved, lose my balance, and go down.

Which brings me to the question: 

“Was this a set-up?”

Was it just serendipity that an NPR camera just happened to be at the perfect angle to capture this “assault?” Why was the camera focused on the known activist? Why did Mr Gugino walk directly up the officers, just after the eight o’clock curfew time? Why was he out at curfew? Why was the camera already focused on Mr. Gugino as he “innocently” approached the officers? I am usually not a conspiracy enthusiast, but this entire episode is just too ‘oh, bye-the-way’ convenient, especially at a sparsely attested protest.

Think about it!

In addition, I think that there should be some sort of insurance offered for seniors who insist on attending protests, as the chance of some injury has got to be higher than for those much younger protesters. Perhaps antifa could offer such a policy to “elderly” protest attendees. Until such a policy is offered, I do not think that I will be attending any of these protest rallies!


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