This CNN pundit's take on Ryan Lochte was the height of American hypocrisy

By Rafi Schwartz  |  August 19, 2016 | 3:34pm
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Gold medal water-doofus Ryan Lochte may have sparked an international incident between the U.S. and Brazil thanks to his evidently fabricated “I was robbed” sob story, but according to one cable news pundit, it’s Brazil that’s at fault—and for a wild, outlandish reason.

Speaking on CNN on Thursday, former U.S. Marshal Art Roderick took particular umbrage at reports that Lochte and three other swimmers were briefly held at gunpoint by Brazilian security officers attempting to impose a measure of authority on the athletes after they allegedly trashed a gas station restroom, and attempted to leave the premises.

“There was a handgun used, and he said he used it to control the individuals,” Roderick, who works as a “legal analyst” for the network, opined to host Brooke Baldwin in the clip above.

“We don’t do that here in the U.S.,” he added. Huh?

As anyone with two eyes and a brain knows, Roderick—who once dismissed armed militiamen holed up in an Oregon wildlife sanctuary as “not destroying property” and “not looting or anything” when asked why authorities weren’t dealing with them as they would Black Lives Matter protesters—couldn’t be more wrong.

First of all, nobody who lives in a country with more guns than people is allowed to tell someone from any other country that they’re being too hasty with weaponry.

More importantly, “security” personnel in the U.S. have shown themselves time and time again to be willing to pull weapons on unarmed civilians. Neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman did so when he shot Trayvon Martin to death in 2012, as did Chad Copley—who also identified himself as a member of a local neighborhood watch—when he fatally shot Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas on August 8 of this year.

In a case somewhat resembling Lochte’s, a Tampa security guard was arrested after opening fire on two men following an argument started when the officer discovered on of the men peeing in a parking garage. According to Brazilian authorities, part of the damage done to the gas station at which Lochte’s detainment occurred was also the result of negligent urination.

Which is to say that, yes, we do “do that here in the U.S.” We may not like it. It may not always be legal. But ignoring it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. It does. A lot.

Sorry Art.

 
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