What’s happening in Portland should frighten us all. Trump sent in military force to rout peaceful demonstrators over the objections of the mayor and the governor. The men in uniforms used tear gas and carried weapons to disperse crowds. The uniforms bore no identification. They arrested people and shoved them into unmarked cars. Those who were carried away never learned of any charges against them. They beat up people who got in their way and fired percussion weapons to terrorize the locals.
Is this martial law? Is It a step toward fascism? Since when does the president have the authority to send troops to occupy American cities?
The legal scholar Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) tweeted:
This is how it begins. The dictatorial hunger for power is insatiable. If ever there was a time for peaceful civil disobedience, that time is upon us.
Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times warned that it’s time to speak of fascism:
According to a lawsuit filed by Oregon’s attorney general, Ellen Rosenblum, on Friday, federal agents “have been using unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland, detain protesters, and place them into the officers’ unmarked vehicles” since at least last Tuesday. The protesters are neither arrested nor told why they’re being held.
There’s no way to know the affiliation of all the agents — they’ve been wearing military fatigues with patches that just say “Police” — but The Times reported that some of them are part of a specialized Border Patrol group “that normally is tasked with investigating drug smuggling organizations.”
The Trump administration has announced that it intends to send a similar force to other cities; on Monday, The Chicago Tribune reported on plans to deploy about 150 federal agents to Chicago. “I don’t need invitations by the state,” Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said on Fox News Monday, adding, “We’re going to do that whether they like us there or not.”
With his poll numbers sinking and the election a few months away, Trump has decided to send his armed forces into cities with Democratic mayors to “pacify” them. He said yesterday that Chicago would be next.
With the pandemic out of control, the economy teetering, demands for racial justice growing, Trump decided to change the subject and create a crisis.
“I’m going to do something — that, I can tell you,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Because we’re not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore and all of these — Oakland is a mess. We’re not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats.”
The president portrayed the nation’s cities as out of control. “Look at what’s going on — all run by Democrats, all run by very liberal Democrats. All run, really, by radical left,” Mr. Trump said. He added: “If Biden got in, that would be true for the country. The whole country would go to hell. And we’re not going to let it go to hell.”
At his inauguration in 2017, he spoke of “American carnage.” Now we understand that this was not a description of objective reality, but a prediction of what he would create as his legacy. He faces three genuine crises, which he prefers to ignore, because he doesn’t know what to do. Instead, he creates a crisis by sending in his troops—not the regular military, but forces from DHS and the Border Patrol—to occupy our nation’s cities. He thinks this will excite and please his base.
He has revealed the ugly face of fascism. This extra-legal, incendiary, authoritarian behavior cannot be tolerated. He will destroy our democracy.
He must be stopped. In the courts now, but ultimately at the ballot box, assuming he does not attempt to corrupt our elections.
The mayor of Chicago doesn’t want these troops either. How much of this is preparation for when Trump is voted out of office, and refuses to leave because he declares the total count fraudulent? Trump and Barr say mail-in voting will lead to fraud.
…………………………….
Department of Homeland Security Reportedly Sending 150 Agents to Chicago in Expansion of Federal Crackdown
Trump and other White House officials say the feds may soon be coming to other major cities as well.
C.J. CIARAMELLA | 7.20.2020 3:39 PM
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intends to send around 150 federal agents to Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reported today. The plan is an escalation of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on protests and unrest in major U.S. cities.
The planned deployment comes amid national backlash over the use of federal agents in Portland, Oregon, where news reports and videos have shown the feds beating a nonviolent Navy veteran, shooting an unarmed protester in the face with an impact weapon, and using unmarked vehicles to snatch protesters off the street. Last night, federal agents tear- gassed a crowd of moms.
Camouflaged agents from Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Marshals Service have been deployed to Portland—where protests and unrest over the police killing of George Floyd have been happening for more than 50 days—under a June 26 executive order to protect federal monuments and property. The Trump administration claims it is protecting the city’s federal courthouse and other property from “lawless anarchists” who have vandalized and attacked the building.
In a news conference this morning, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she spoke with Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on Sunday “to get a sense of what’s happened there.”
“We don’t need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the street and holding them I think unlawfully,” Lightfoot said.
Federal agents’ strong-arm tactics in Portland have led to a flurry of lawsuits, investigations, and demands for investigations from state and local officials. Colleen Connell, head of the Illinois branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), warned that similar problems will arise in Chicago.
“Make no mistake: Trump’s federal troops will not be a constructive force in Chicago,” Connell said in a press release. “As our colleagues have seen in Portland, Trump’s secret forces will terrorize communities, and create chaos. This is not law and order. This is an assault on the people of this country, and the specific protections of protest and press in the First Amendment.”…
https://reason.com/2020/07/20/department-of-homeland-security-reportedly-sending-150-agents-to-chicago-in-expansion-of-federal-crackdown/
The mayor of Chicago – a “liberal” Democrat – sent her own goon squad against a bunch of peaceful black and indigenous protesters (whom she described as “vigilantes”) headed toward Grant Park just last week, not to mention weeks of horrific police violence in May and June.
Dienne, locals control local law enforcement. Are you justifying armed federal troops occupying a city without the permission of local or state officials?
It should be obvious to us all that this is a precursor to declaring martial law and suspending the election. Unless the American Public is willing to take to the streets in massive numbers Trump will just escalate this to his benefit. It won’t be enough to sit at home and think the Legislative and Judicial Branches will take care of this. It’s an ugly choice fascism or fighting it during a pandemic.
I agree, Stuart.
Americans have sat on their hands for far too long. We have allowed their Legislature to mutate into a tool that responds only to wealth (see the Princeton study on democracy, Gilens and Page, 2014) and we have allowed the Judicial branch to place a heavy heavy hand on the scales of justice in favor of those same interests.
Remember Ben Franklin’s response, “(You have) A republic… if you can keep it!”.
If we think Trump is not already working to corrupt the election any way he can, then the only persons dumber than a Trump follower is us. CBK
Until Gov. Pritzker calls up the national guard to defend the citizens and sovereignty of the state of Illinois against the invading federal troops. Then we have a Fascist Civil War.
This is precisely what the governors should do.
You do remember that it was the National Guard who fired tear gas and rubber bullets at people standing on their own front porch, right?
Is this whataboutism? Are you OK with police from DHS and Border Patrol terrorizing demonstrators in Portland?
I was in the Chicago area in 1968. Yes, it would be ironic if we mobilized the state militias to oppose the fascist fed.
National Guard can be easily federalized by Trump. The state police, on the other hand, answer to the governor and never to the feds. I would argue that the state police have a duty to protect citizens from the goon squads.
Has Trump taken a page out of the Xi playbook? Sounds like Hong Kong
And his propaganda assault on reality looks a lot like Kim.
Chicago Tribune:
Trump expected to send new federal force to Chicago this week to battle violence, but plan’s full scope is a question mark
TUESDAY, JUL 21
Chicago may see an influx of federal agents as soon as this week as President Donald Trump readies to make good on repeated pledges he would try to tamp down violence here, a move that would come amid growing controversy nationally about federal force being used in American cities.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, for example, is crafting plans to deploy about 150 federal agents to the city this week, the Chicago Tribune has learned.
The Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, agents are set to assist other federal law enforcement and Chicago police in crime-fighting efforts, according to sources familiar with the matter, though a specific plan on what the agents will be doing — and what their limits would be — had not been made public.
“Trump’s Homeland Security”. Democrats control the House. There is a funding appropriations bill up in the House regarding Homeland Security. Democrats could stop the funding for DHS until they agree to stop using such tactics. It’s called being an opposition party. But instead they sent a sternly worded letter. https://sirota.substack.com/p/dems-sternly-worded-letter-wont-stop
Yes, Trump is awful – that is so obvious it doesn’t even need to be said, certainly not as much as it is said around here. But the fact is that the Democrats have enabled him at every turn. Those of you who think electing Democrats is going to solve our problems are going to be sorely surprised come 2021 (at which time, how, exactly, do you plan to hold the Democrats’ feet to the fire?).
Incidentally, before the feds arrived, does anyone think the Portland police were any less brutal? Same thing in Chicago, New York, Minneapolis and dozens of other “liberal” cities. The police do not report to Trump.
If electing Democrats is not going to solve any problems, what is?
ponderosa I’m listening to Biden as we speak. . . I think electing democrats will put us back on the right path . . . at least that, and in our time, that’s allot. CBK
Apparently, NOT electing Democrats and empowering right wing Republicans will solve all our problems!
It would be nice if someone could provide us with a single historical example where empowering the far right led to a progressive nirvana.
Your point being? Because Democrats are just as untrustworthy as GOPs and Trump, we should all shut the hell up, and let the fascist federal goons raze the town???
That’s not what Sirota suggests.
Electing Democrats is the way to BEGIN to solve our problems.
The way to make our problems worse is what some people did in 2016 and voted in a way that insured that instead of a federal judiciary that allowed progressive ideas to grow, this country had Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and a majority of right wing federal judges with lifetime appointments.
What people should be asking is why they still believe that things will be no worse with another 4 years of Trump appointing more Supreme Court Justices and federal judges and Barr continuing his assault on democracy?
Did the defeat of Jimmy Carter and the election of Reagan lead to a progressive nirvana? If you think so, then you should certainly vote against Biden in 2020.
Sign the petition: Tell Congress to stop Trump and his secret police!
It was bad enough when Donald Trump sent his secret police to Portland, Oregon to attack protesters and violate their constitutional rights by grabbing them off the streets.
Trump just vowed to send his paramilitary forces to do the same thing in cities across America.1 We have to stop him. Our democracy and our basic rights and freedoms are at risk like never before.
We’ve all fought hard these last four years to stop Trump’s abuses of power. But this latest step, sending secret police to American cities, is a terrifying new step. With the November elections looming, we need to reclaim our democracy and stop Trump and these federal agencies from any further violations of our basic rights. Will you help?
It’s horrific to tell you that we now have secret police in the United States — but it’s the truth. Federal officers from the U.S. Marshals Service, Customs and Border Patrol, and other agencies of the Department of Homeland Security are operating in Portland without any identification.2
Trump’s goons are grabbing protesters off the street without charge, without reading them their rights. They’re shooting tear gas and flash bang grenades at protesters, including a group of mothers who stood guard over the weekend to stop the federal violence.
Oregon’s leaders have demanded that Trump and the DHS withdraw these forces. Trump has refused. Instead he’s vowing to send his secret police to attack civilians in cities across America.3
Even worse: Trump refused to promise to respect the result of the November election despite being asked multiple times in a Fox News interview on Sunday.4I don’t have to tell you how alarming it is for Trump to say that, especially when he’s using actual secret police in our cities.
We have to put a stop to this right now. Congress has the power to act. Right now Oregon’s two U.S. Senators, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, have proposed an amendment to a military spending bill that would stop Trump from deploying his secret police.5
We also have to roll back decades of militarization of law enforcement in this country, particularly at Homeland Security, to ensure no president can ever do this again.
This is an urgent moment to protect what remains of our democracy from Trump’s authoritarian rule. Will you act now and protect our most basic rights?
Thanks for taking action,
Robert and the team at Demand Progress
Sign the petition here: https://act.demandprogress.org/sign/trump-secret-police/?source=conf-email&aktmid=tm8948027.lC-71L&akid=a49204220.2233676.BBA7xl&t=4
Well, we’ve watched for three and a half years now as Don the Con violated one democratic norm after another. But even as stupid as the man is, he’s usually had cunning enough not to cross certain lines. So, he dog whistles his racism to his base by choosing the site of the Greenwood Massacre for his first big campaign rally of the election season. But now he’s desperate. He knows that the moment he is out of office, he will be subject to a long list of criminal and civil charges from which he will not be protected by the presidential immunity that the DOJ has conferred upon him, and he’s pinned his hopes on implementing the same strategy that worked for him (barely) in 2016: engage in a culture war to appeal to the extremist right–thus the nonsense about Biden being some sort of harbinger of Socialism, confederate flags and monuments and the names of military bases, and now, this.
It’s a bold move–one I would not have imagined that even he would take. And the shocking thing is that in “the land of the free,” this use of law enforcement for completely lawless action, this clearly fascist move, isn’t being met with a hew and cry from Americans of all political stripes. Surely, one would think, use of secret police (like Stalin) or brownshits (like Hitler) or whatever you want to call them is a bridge too far.
But evidently not. And we’ve come so far down this road toward fascism that his move is being hailed on Fox, not-so-Breitbart, and other right-wing “news” outlets.
This is truly frightening.
Trump’s go-to play is to double down. He comments off-hand to the press that we need a Space Force. The idea is universally ridiculed and rejected even by his appointed Secretary of Defense. Trump’s reaction? Create a Space Force by executive order. Well, that’s his strategy for this election. Double down on his right-wing extremism, his racism, his authoritarian tendencies.
And there are many millions of us who are hoping that this proves to be the time when it doesn’t work anymore, when it’s clear, to almost everyone, that he’s gone way, way too far.
Here’s the other thing I’ve been wondering about. Trump’s handlers in Moscow aren’t as stupid as he is. They can see the writing on the wall for Don the Con. So, what will they ask him to do before the election–what last big play for Vlad by his Agent Orange?
Bob: Moscow will ask Trump to stand in a crowd without a mask on paying no attention to social spacing. That’s what he just did. CBK
I’m thinking another move re: NATO.
Rig the election while complaining loudly that the election is rigged!
How many black and brown people will show up at their polling places and be looking at lines half a mile long? For example
Diane Notice how Trump refers to both antifascists and fascists? He’s just stirring the pot, regardless. But it’s in the fascist playbook to call your enemy what they call you, even though that’s what you actually are. So Trump is covered both ways.
Two rather obvious clues are (1) Trump is putting his thugs in cities with democratic mayors and governors. (2) He says he is the law and order president who regularly breaks the laws. Oh, I forgot. Fascists only breaks laws that they don’t like. CBK
According to Sarah Kendzior, the term is “inverting the narrative”.
And if you haven’t read her book, Hiding in Plain Sight or listened to her podcast Gaslit Nation, do so. She’s been warning about these things for years now.
https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/archive
Remember when movies like Brazil and Soylent Green were implausible fictions? Good times!
Quote from Patriotic Times that was put out today:
Don’t forget: In many states, it’s now illegal to publicly worship at a church. A blatant disregard for the First Amendment. (And many state constitutions, as well.)
I saw a great message in front of a local church a while ago:
Services: cancelled
Worship: encouraged
Even a secular humanist like me can appreciate that one!
“News” from the WH today:
“Anarchists and rioters have wreaked havoc on Portland, Ore., for nearly two months. Democrats have excused and emboldened them, and they’re now claiming the real problem is that federal law enforcement has intervened to restore order . . . If radicals feel emboldened, that’s because Portland has long allowed political violence to occur with impunity,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes.
Feel the Bern!! [I still have his sticker taped to the back window of my car.]
………………………………………………………………
We are in a very dangerous moment in American history.
Last month, as you’ll recall, Trump had peaceful protestors outside of the White House in Washington, D.C. viciously attacked by federal agents who wore no identification.
As we speak, in Portland, Oregon, federal agents in combat gear and unmarked vehicles are pulling protesters off the streets and jailing them without charges, despite opposition from local and state officials.
What Trump and his allies are now doing is “normalizing” the use of federal troops to patrol and make arrests of American citizens in communities throughout the country. Today it is Portland, Oregon. Tomorrow, Trump is suggesting it could be New York City, Chicago or Philadelphia. Next, your hometown.
This is what a police state is all about.
Make no mistake about it: Donald Trump does not believe in democracy, our Constitution or the rule of law.
He is working aggressively to suppress the vote and, in the midst of this terrible pandemic, is vigorously opposing the right of citizens to vote by mail. He has ignored decisions of Congress, which is why he was impeached. He has contempt for a free press and has called the media “an enemy of the people.” He has used his office for blatant personal and political gain, running the most corrupt administration in modern American history. He has ruptured our relationships with long-time democratic allies around the world while he embraces right-wing authoritarian leaders in Russia, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, the Philippines and elsewhere.
Yes. We must all come together to defeat Trump in November, but we must also act right NOW to stop the movement toward authoritarianism and a police state.
That is why I am introducing legislation with Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon which would greatly curtail the activities of federal military forces in our communities. This bill would limit their ability to conduct crowd control to properties immediately surrounding federal buildings without the invitation of the Governor and Mayor, require federal agents to wear visible IDs, and ban them from making arrests or detentions in unmarked vehicles.
Now we need you to make your voice heard — to send a message to Congress that you are paying attention to this issue and will do everything possible to defend our Constitution, the separation of powers and the right of Americans to peacefully demonstrate.
Please add your name as a citizen co-sponsor of legislation that would force federal agents to wear visible IDs, ban them from making arrests and detentions from unmarked vehicles, and limit their ability to conduct crowd control without invitation from the Governor or Mayor.
Too many Americans fought and died to defend American democracy to let President Trump move us even further in an authoritarian direction.
And that is why I am asking you to join Senator Jeff Merkley and me in making your voice heard.
Trump’s strategy of hateful rhetoric and using a crisis to seize more power is nothing new. It has been used by authoritarian leaders throughout history.
Our job NOW is to stand together, fight back, and stop the movement toward authoritarianism and a police state.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
I kind of wish the demonstrators would just stay home until the election. They’re just giving Trump a pretext to look like America’s protector (and practice fascist tactics). If they do stay out in the streets, they should go full Gandhi so the only images of any interaction with the fed’s thugs would be harmful to Trump.
ponderosa Maybe we could persuade a few monks to burn themselves up in the public square. But really, think about it . . . Trump would probably PAY people to PRETEND to be demonstrators. They probable are already doing that. CBK
I wouldn’t be surprised.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker says Trump’s plan to send federal agents to Chicago ‘a wrongheaded move’
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday called plans for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to send federal agents to Chicago “a wrongheaded move on the part of Donald Trump, on the part of the Department of Homeland Security.”
Pritzker said he called the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security about the matter, but was told “he couldn’t possibly get back to me until about 48 hours from now.”
How many will be held until after the election? Hope many will be taken from voting lines? Sounds like an effort to keep people from voting to me.
I’m sure the survivalist militias who took over Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (also in OR) will come to the defense of the Portland protestors, because if there’s one thing they can’t abide it’s federal government overreach.
I think I see Trump’s plot to overthrow the U.S. Constitution and replace it with him in charge of deciding what the fickle laws will be.
Trump says he is going to deploy his federal thugs in their unmarked uniforms to all of the major cities where the majority of registered Democrats live. To do that he will keep repeating the lies that protestors in those cities are out of control, and use those lies to have his forces in place by November 2nd when he will declare martial law and stop the election from taking place and/or harass minorities that he knows will not vote for him to keep them from voting.
Portland was a test run to see if Trump could get away with being a brutal dictator. Trump now says he will expand his federal crackdown from Portland to Chicago and other U.S. cities like Oakland.
His lies are claiming that Democratic mayors and governors are too weak to stop violent protestors (that do not exist in large numbers and are mostly thugs/thieves and are not real protestors).
It is safe to say that Moscow Mitch and his GOP controlled Senate will do nothing to stop Trump. The only branch of government left to stop Trump is the courts leading all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Oregon and Portland have already filed the first court cases.
If the courts do not stop Trump, he will see that as his free ticket to get rid of the U.S. Constitution and replace it with him and his family dynasty resulting in a Civil War that will explode if Trump success in stopping the election or manip0ualting it with his thugs on the streets of America’s cities.
If Trump gets that far, do not be surprised, when his unmarked federal thugs arrest Hillary Clinton, Obama, and Biden first and then expand the arrests to anyone Trump and his administration thinks cannot be trusted to be loyal to their new dear leader for life Donald Trump. If it is late November and the election never took place and you hear a knock on your door at two or three in the morning, I hope you have an escape plan that includes a tunnel leading off of your property.
I wonder if any country would set up camps for American refugees running for their lives to escape Trump and his thugs. China and the EU (both nuclear powers) are the only countries with the military might to defy Trump and his thugs.
If Trump succeeds to that point, expect World War III as Trump goes after the countries that took in American refugees fleeing from the former United States known as Trumpland.
I got this from my Canadian friend. Happy reading!!! 😜
DONALD GOES TO THE VATICAN ….A little light reading
Donald took a quick trip to Rome to show his concern for the Pope:
“I met with Pope Francis today. He’s a really great pope — great, great pope.
You know he’s the leader of the Catholic Church — big church.
“I couldn’t believe it when he told me how many Catholics there are. Way more
than I thought. They have churches all over the world; some are very, very
close (so close) to my hotels and golf courses. He tells me he’s elected for
life, probably copying that Xi guy in China. Fantastic idea, though.
Fantastic. It turns out the pope is a lot like me, you never see him with his wife.
“He told me he’s infallible. I said that’s great, you’ll never have to worry
about breaking a hip. And told me about a Mary Magdalene, beautiful girl, beautiful.
Apparently a hooker. I asked him for her number. Didn’t catch his answer. I’m told
he said it in Latin. I give the guy credit because he doesn’t look Latino.
“He took me into the Sistine Chapel. Beautiful ceiling. Not the usual white stucco
stuff. I don’t think too many people even know about this place. The paintings are
great, I’m telling you. Lots of colours.
“The Pope (great guy, by the way, knows more about the Bible than almost anybody —
we got along great, I think he really likes me) told me the whole thing was painted
by this young Italian. I think his name is Mike Langelo.
“At least that’s what Francis (we’re great friends) called him, I think. Trust me,
we’re going to hear more about this guy. He’s really artistic, and everybody tells
me I have the greatest eye for the best art. It’s natural, just like my incredible
understanding of science. All the renowned scientists say they can’t believe it.
“I told Frank I’d like to buy some of Mike’s art. I asked if Mike’s done anything on
velvet. He’ll check (great guy). I’ll hang his stuff at Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower.
This Mike guy needs more exposure. He’s too much with the churches.
“He could paint my presidential portrait on the Capitol Dome. Or maybe a mural on
my big, beautiful border wall; but just on our side.
“When we left, the pope gave me a bible. Huge book. (Huge.) I told him I have the
full set. You get one for free every time you take a porn star to a hotel room.”
[pauses]
“Unbelievable. Just heard. The lamestream media is at it again. Fake news.
(Fake news.) I just saw something on TV. They claim Mike the painter died 450 years
ago. Sad. I’ve already got people looking into this and you won’t believe what they’re finding.”
Great read. Laughed a lot. Needed that. However, I think they give Trump to much credit by making him sound like he is only stupid and not corrupt. The author of the piece could have had Trump ask the Pope to sign one of his nondisclosure agreements.
Please do give a watch to Ret. Gen. Russel Honore on MSNBC tonight. And then watch it again. And again. And then do something about it.
It’s time for soldiers to disobey.
The occupiers of Portland are not soldiers. They are Border Patrol and ICE.
I read earlier this morning that the Federal law enforcement officers Trump sent in wearing unmarked uniforms only numbered 100.
Trump is too ignorant to have planned this. My bet is on William Barr coming up with a plot where the Trump administration uses a small number of these hand-picked federal law enforcement agents to stir up trouble hoping to cause riots that Trump will then use as an excuse to order in the National Guard, the Army, and/or the Marines.
What the generals and admirals refuse to obey Trump’s orders? According to the oath they take and the uniform code of conduct in the U.S. military, if the officers in command think those orders are breaking laws even by the currentpresident, they have an obligation to refuse.
If they have the conviction and courage to do it.
If you are referring to the “real” US military (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard) and not the federal law enforcement agents Trump is using in unmarked uniforms, the “real” troops will follow the orders of their officers who took an oath that says nothing about having to obey the president. The troops, that are not commissioned officers, take another oath.
Oath of Commissioned Officers
I ___, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
The troops, the non-commissioned officers, take this oath:
“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
Who will the troops obey when they get one set of orders from Trump and other order from their officers that defy Trump?
The last time The Military Times reported the Troops’ opinion of Trump was December 17, 2019.
“Half of active-duty service members are unhappy with Trump, new Military Times poll shows”
Last December, only 33% of the officers support Trump.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/12/17/half-of-active-duty-service-members-are-unhappy-with-trump-new-military-times-poll-shows/
President Trump goes one-on-one with Chris Wallace | Full InterviewPremiered Jul 19, 2020
Fox News
President Trump joins ‘Fox News Sunday’ to discuss the surge in coronavirus cases across the country, racial unrest, Joe Biden and Mary Trump’s new tell-all book.
I LOVE Borowitz!!!
………………………………..
In Major Setback for Trump, Court Rules He May Send Troops Only to Cities He Can Identify on Map
By Andy Borowitz
July 22, 2020
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In what is widely seen as a major setback for Donald J. Trump, a federal district court has ruled that he may send Department of Homeland Security agents only to cities that he can correctly identify on a map.
According to the ruling, before Trump can deploy forces to any American city, he must first indicate their intended destination on an unmarked map and cannot let anyone else take this test for him.
White House sources said that, after the ruling was announced, a furious Trump repaired to the Oval Office with a map of the United States and a Sharpie…
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/in-major-setback-for-trump-court-rules-he-may-send-troops-only-to-cities-he-can-identify-on-map?utm_source=onsite-share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=the-new-yorker
A freelance journalist, @MrOlmos, has been covering the Portland protests since their inception. By his reckoning, yesterday was day 54. The past two evenings there have been moms in yellow shirts and bike helmets, joined yesterday by dads in orange shirts and hard hats. The crowd has grown since Barr quartered these troops.
I’m sure this administration is oblivious, but it was mothers and grandmothers marching in the Plaza de Mayo whose actions led to the ouster of the military junta in Argenitina in the 80’s.
Christine Langhoff: “It was mothers and grandmothers marching in the Plaza de Mayo whose actions led to the ouster of the military junta in Argenitina in the 80’s.”
I visited the Plaza de Mayo and had the privilege to march with these mothers. I bought a pendant that was oval shaped with a scarf on it. I worked in Bolivia in 1996-97 and traveled to Buenos Aires.
…………………………………………………
Women had organized to gather, holding a vigil, while also trying to learn what had happened to their adult children during 1970s and 1980s. They began to gather for this every Thursday, from 1977 at the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, in front of the Casa Rosada presidential palace, in public defiance of the government’s law against mass assembly.
Wearing white head scarves to symbolize the diapers (nappies) of their lost children, embroidered with the names and dates of birth of their offspring, now young adults, the mothers marched in two’s in solidarity to protest the denials of their children’s existence or their mistreatment by the military regime. Despite personal risks, they wanted to hold the government accountable for the human rights violations which were committed in the Dirty War.
Carol –
I’ve just read terrible news from Aljazeera about Bolivila and Covid. Not sad to say that Jeanine Áñez has contracted it.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/bolivia-police-recover-400-bodies-suspected-covid-19-patients-200722064002429.html
I’m sure you’ve seen the harrowing movie, The Official Story about a woman who slowly comes to the realization that her beloved adopted daughter is one of the kidnapped children. Anyone else who hasn’t, ought to.
https://lwlies.com/articles/the-official-story-argentina-dirty-war/
A lesser known film, Veronico Cruz, La Deuda Interna demonstrates how the distraction of the Faulkland Islands war with the UK reaches deep into even the most rural reaches of Argentina.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092880/
Both protagonists are teachers, BTW.
Stop trump
What about serious gun control if he’s serious about protecting Americans? Oh, I forgot. Guns don’t kill people. $30 million by the NRA to Trump verifies that ‘fact’.
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1600 Daily
The White House • July 22, 2020
NEW: President Trump announces actions to restore safety and peace in U.S. cities
On June 29, 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro was shot and killed in his bed after a gunman opened fire on an apartment complex in Kansas City, Missouri.
This afternoon, President Trump announced the expansion of Operation Legend, an interagency law enforcement effort led by the Department of Justice and named after LeGend. Its purpose is to quell the unacceptable levels of recent violence in U.S. cities.
“My first duty as President is to protect the American people, and today I am taking action to fulfill that sacred obligation,” President Trump said.
🎬 President Trump: Anti-police policy and rhetoric has consequences
Attorney General Bill Barr announced the creation of Operation Legend fewer than 10 days after LeGend’s heartbreaking death. The Justice Department is now surging over 200 federal law enforcement officers into Kansas City to help curb the kind of senseless violence that took the young boy’s life.
The President announced today that the operation will expand into Chicago and Albuquerque. Over the next 3 weeks, the Justice Department plans to further expand the initiative into Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee.
In Chicago, for example, more than 300 federal law enforcement personnel will work with state and local police to help apprehend violent criminals. Just yesterday, another mass shooting in Chicago injured 15 people outside of a funeral service.
More than $61 million will be provided by the Justice Department to hire hundreds of new police officers, and about 200 federal agents and deputy marshals will be permanently reassigned to Operation Legend cities.
“We will never defund the police—we will hire more great police,” President Trump said. “We want to make law enforcement stronger, not weaker. What cities are doing is absolute insanity.”
Watch: For decades, politicians have failed law-abiding citizens