The right to peacefully assemble and redress your grievances to the government does not end when the sun goes down.
That said, what you have a right to do, and what is wise to do, are not always the same thing.
Or they may beaten, broken, or even killed by zealous law enforcement. They may lose their jobs, even their families, over a federal indictment, even if it was dropped before ever going to trial.
If you fire tear gas and rubber bullets, then it becomes a riot, which justifies firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Only a temporal linerealist would insist on relating cause and effect.
Are you counting golf?
Many buildings have basement windows at the ground level. Easier to break one of those windows and toss in some fire and accelerant than the first floor.
No, not plausible at all. You had Trump speaking in coherent and complete sentences.
We know Trump screams “TREASON!!!” about anyone who criticizes him. That’s old news.
We know that many people who aren’t Trump call “TREASON!!!” over a lot of things that Trump has done. That’s old news.
Many of us know that “treason” is the only actual criminal crime defined in the Constitution, where it is defined very specifically and very narrowly.(*)
Okay, now to the point: Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act to send troops to the states. The Act, as mentioned in the news, requires that governors request the president to do so before troops may be sent. If Trump sends the military into the states against the wishes of the governors, is he in fact “levying War against them”?
If Trump sends the military into the states to quell the protests against the wishes of the governors, is he in fact committing literal treason?
Apparently, the genius behind this brainstorm was Hope Hicks. It’s been roundly denounced in the media*, and by the bishop in charge of the church. What are the chances Hope gets fired? Given her age, gender and cup size I’d say: practically zero.
*Anybody want to take one for the team and see how Fox is spinning the whole bible/photo op debacle?
“But on Tuesday morning, Park Police sources told WTOP that this was not the case, arguing that the protesters were not all peaceful, that tear gas was not used, and that officers did not know of Trump’s visit to the house of worship”
I checked foxnews.com a couple hours ago just out of curiosity to see how they’d spin it. The title of an article at the time spun it in terms of Rubio defending Trump’s action, but the content of the article was surprisingly balanced, for Fox News anyway: Rubio defends Trump after criticism over St. John’s ‘photo op’
Anyway, what an amazing coincidence that park police had to quell the violent uprising just before Trump and his henchmen took their little photo op walk. I’m sure if the protesters hadn’t been conveniently cleared, Trump and co. would have just shoved through the crowd to get to the church :rolleyes:
You think they actually bought it? They’ve sufficient intelligent and sense not to fall for it. And that goes for a depressing proportion of their viewers.
Principles, moral rectitude, and basic decency, on the other hand…
The Christian Nationalists certainly loved it. They want a Strong Man with the Sword of Vengeance to restore the white race to their rightful place of superiority.
They absolutely LOVED to see Trump waving a bible in front of a church. They simply don’t care if he reads the bible, or ever goes in a church. These things are not important to the Christian Nationalists. Wielding power over the inferiors is the point for them.
I can’t help thinking that the Syrian civil war started after Assad’s forces machine-gunned a crowd of protesters.
Look at them now. Does it matter what side anyone was on when it all started? The whole place is in ruins, though Assad continues to live in luxury. Great fucking outcome.
Which is all complete bullshit, of course. Anyone watching CNN could see that the relatively small crowd in the park was completely non-threatening. Police moved in without any provocation at all.
A more conspiracy minded person might think that the police charge was suspiciously timed, coming as it did just minutes before Trump’s little law and order speech.
A matter of note: several of the most virulent leaders of Antifas have been discovered to have membership on white supremacist message boards, as part of their campaign of disinformation and extremist agitation.
But he wasn’t waving it in front of the church. He was just holding it up and showing it to people as if it was something he was trying to hock on an infomercial. Believers when they hold the bible tend to hold it close to their body, or maybe, if they’re a preacher, gesture with it to emphasize their message. With Trump it was clear that he had no idea what it was and what to do with it.
You know, I’m again struck by the idea that maybe a good strategy to counter the Trump administration is to laugh at him. I posted a thread on this a while back. While I realize there’s nothing funny about what’s happening right now, it’s clear from the article (and countless other examples) that Trump only cares about how things look, and superficially at that. He doesn’t care about actually doing anything, only the optics. Hence, stupidly conceived stunts like this.
So what do you do with someone who only cares about his image, is hopelessly vain, and whose support derives from a desperately curated image?
I say again - we should laugh at him. Thousands of people - in person and online - pointing and laughing.
Over a hundred thousand people dead from Covid-19, police effectively lynching people, and Trump has people forcibly moved so he can wave a Bible at a church? If it wasn’t so sad it would be hilarious. So I say treat it with the derision it merits. Laugh at him. Trump is a buffoon. He may even deserve our pity.
