I was wrong. They used rubber bullets AND tear gas.
Mr. Freedom Lover found a group of peaceful protesters exercising their rights to be inconvenient, so he sics the troops on them to get his picture taken. What’s next? Axe handles? Fire hoses?
That’s right, and it provided photographic evidence to the entire world that Trump is an out-of-control despot.
But this is something else.
If peaceful protesters are treated unjustly during the daylight hours, the despot is harmed. But if peaceful protesters stay out after dark and the despot has the opportunity to frame them for crimes (looting and arson) that’s actually committed by his own agents, then the despot is helped.
I don’t want to see the despot helped.
So much for refusing illegal orders.
I think protestors are going to catch on to the tactic quite fast.
If they protest peacefully during the day, silently raising their fists, taking knees, etc. then go home before the sun goes down, it leaves only the rabble rousers behind with their slips showing.
Won’t be so easy to pretend to be antifa when all the boogaloo bois are in jail.
I hope you’re right about them catching on.
I argued this on Twitter today. I got a lot of flack from followers I believe to be genuine American resisters, about ‘not giving in’ and similar expressions of defiance—as if protesting after dark were necessary to the cause of justice.
I didn’t encounter any arguments to that effect that I found convincing.
I hope I’m right, too.
It’s notable the difference in the demeanor of protestors in Minneapolis tonight, after George Floyd’s brother spoke movingly this afternoon and calmed the waters. He entreated the crowd to not loot or tear apart their community, pointing out that if he wasn’t doing it, upset as he is, then the protestors could channel their energies more productively, too. He asked people to use their voices wisely. And to vote.
It seems to have had an impact – at least, so far.
IIRC, rioting in DC is a federal crime. This statute was applied during the inauguration protests. No doubt will be used again, sweeping up people who thought they would check out a peaceful protest on a Monday night and find themselves facing federal felony charges the next morning by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sure, they might get acquitted, but they might go bankrupt paying attorneys to get the charges dropped.
There may be other statutes at the president’s disposal.
The sad truth is, nobody knows what would really stop him if he said “Fuck it, I am the Constitution” in this situation. The Constitution and the Congress have given the president an awful lot of power over the years, and because there are always questions that the laws don’t answer and situations lawmakers never quite anticipated, nobody - not even the sharpest legal minds - could tell you with any certitude where this ends. And that’s because we’re drifting right into a political crisis.
Look! I have a bible in my hand! Can you see it? Let me hold it above my head so you can!
The best part is there is a Trump Tweet: “Ted Cruz is a cheater! He holds the Bible high and then lies and misrepresents the facts!”
I thought Trump was against American carnage?
Now, I get it that this administration does not much care for limits and such. Still, are there not limits on what police/soldiers can do to protesters? The insurrection act kind of evokes an insurrection. Peaceful protesters ain’t that, so how is it kosher to gas them and fire rubber bullets as if it is a riot?
The church behind him must have anticipated his presence because it’s boarded up. Yeah, I know, possibly in advance of protesters. But If this had been planned in any way shape or form they certainly could have protected the church.
In his ‘speech’ today, at the end he was going to go worship or something. I thought he was going to his golden American Standard throne (or perhaps it’s a Kohler).
I wonder where they stole the Bible from?
As Putin knows, Trump is the perfect straight man for many a joke. Trump thinks pissing into the wind is good policy. It’s fucking pitiful.
There had been a fire in that church, hence the boarding.
How many times has he gone to church (or pretended to go to church) since he took office? How many times did he go to church in the prior decades (aside from his weddings)?
“I had a strong shower this morning. Very powerful elements of golden!”
“I am number one!”
When having your church set on fire by rioters is the second worst thing to happen to it in 24 hours…
The Secretary of Defense has declared our United States to be a “Battlezone”. If you don’t think the shit has hit the fan, then you don’t know shit.
The Cat in the Hat?