The big news today—and it is indeed big news—is that the Trump administration has announced it will be sending federal officers into Chicago, and perhaps other cities run by Democrats, ostensibly to fight crime there. The move mirrors what the administration has done in Portland, Oregon, where unidentified officers from Customs and Border Protection operating under Trump’s Executive Order to protect monuments and federal property have clashed with local protesters, sometimes grabbing them off the streets and forcing them into unmarked vans. They have fractured a man’s skull and broken another man’s hand; both men were protesting peacefully. The official Department of Homeland Security’s own list of complaints about what it calls “violent anarchists” runs heavily to graffiti and minor vandalism, which local police say they can handle without federal intervention.
What to say! When this started in France we went out and bought yellow security vests. We organized with friends in the local area to go "en bloc" to all the protests in Paris wearing our jackets....away from the violence of course....and otherwise the yellow vests had pride of place and highly visible to all in the car when driving. When it started 80% of the population supported the movement. The government was frozen in its tracks and before massively back-peddling and giving in. There 5 things for all of you to do: buy your yellow vests , organize with your friends, coordinate with other groups across the nation, get out on the streets to support the Mums and organize a massive turnout for November!
I saw a live feed from Portland last night and the street was absolutely packed with peaceful, masked protesters singing We Shall Overcome. United we stand, divided we fall.
"Tonight the Wall of Moms waved their hands above their heads as they softly sang a new lullaby: “Hands up, please don’t shoot me.”"
I feel like we are living in a dystopian science fiction horror movie or an alternate timeline. A rhetorical question but HOW is he allowed to do the things he has been and is currently doing that benefit himself and his cronies?? It is challenging some days to have hope that the situation can improve after November..
I can't say that I did not anticipate this stuff happening. In fact I didn't think it'd happen this late in the game. But here we are.
Godwin's law ("as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1") no longer applies. Hell, Godwin himself said -- in 2015! -- "If you're thoughtful about it and show some real awareness of history, go ahead and refer to Hitler when you talk about Trump." With the arrival of the DHS goons armed to the teeth to protect statues, I think a "real awareness of history" leads one to conclude that we are witnessing the dawn of our own home-grown SS and Gestapo.
What to do? I think that flooding Congress with outraged communications is a start, but it's already far too late for it to do much good, especially given the fecklessness of Democratic leadership under Pelosi and Schumer. I DO hope that the protests continue to grow in Portland, and that Chicagoans prepare to give the unmarked little plastic camo soldiers a hearty "welcome" too. If they come to NYC they also better be prepared for a long slog, costly to the Federal government's image.
Which brings me to concluding thoughts on patriotism. I have long thought that devotion to a place, its norms, customs, institutions, and people, is best imagined as a web of concentric and intersecting circles. Family, neighborhood, school, university, church, town, county, state, nation -- these all play a role shaping and enjoining our loyalties, but the further one goes out to more peripheral circles, the more qualified one's loyalties become. This is a matter of empirical fact, but also is usually as it should be too. The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre once quipped that the modern nation-state sees itself as a deliverer of goods and services, but also as a repository of transcendent good that demands one sacrifice one's life for it when called to. "It's like being asked to die for the telephone company." Now this is vastly overstated, something for which MacIntyre is well-known among philosophers. But in light of the Federal government becoming de facto the Trump regime, and in light of its injustice and cruelty coupled to sheer incompetence, I can, speaking for myself, say my loyalty to it has been severely curtailed. (This regime ordering teachers to return to class even outstrips MacIntyre's joke: It's like being asked to die for Sprint or Cablevision or any other bad ISP.)
But don't fuck with my hometown. I have my yellow shirts cleaned and pressed.
I think I'll go find a yellow shirt today in preparation for the stormtroopers coming to Atlanta. (And I wonder if the local police union will support the neo-fascists like they have in Chicago.) As a 64 year old Dad, I would consider it an honor to be shot dead by federal goons while protesting peacefully. As the Chief said in "Little Big Man," today is a good day to die.
In a perverse way, Trump has been the best thing that could happen to us. I'm pretty sure that a majority of the people here did not used to worry about the state of the republic before 2016 the way we do now (that's not a criticism - it's normal to expect that normality is the norm). Most of those moms in Portland weren't out demonstrating there 50 days ago. "Captain Portland" wasn't out there. But now it grows and grows. People are realizing what's really important, and that it was all taken for granted.
Back on Christmas Eve,, 1776, the idea there would be a United States of America at all was hanging by a thread. Thomas Paine was commissioned by George Washington to write something that might inspire his troops for what was to come that night, when they crossed the Delaware to attack the Hessians in Trenton Barracks. Paine wrote:
"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God."
And afterwards, they crossed the river and hid freezing in the snowy woods, and the next morning they took the surrender of the Hessians. And America was saved.
What's bothering me is the Dep't. of Homeland Security was created during George W. Bush's administration to coordinate intelligence after the 9/11 attacks. It struck me as somewhat ominous at that time, a little too nationalistic, with homeland echoing fatherland in my mind. Now here we are, almost 20 years later, and DHS agents are being used by a power mad president as a federal police force, sent uninvited to cities under opposition control, over riding local police functions, and detaining and injuring people without due process. This creeping authoritarianism is extremely alarming.
Given the Chicago FOP directly invited the Feds, breaking their chain of command, would it be possible for the mayor and city council to strip them of their charter? Also, how about firing the author(s) of that letter for insubordination? Cops really have no business violating their chain of command, and there must be some way for the city of Chicago to address this level of lawlessness in their police department.
The Trumpian base are mostly uneducated, ignorant people that he has gaslighted into faithful support. The majority can’t spout fact.. only FOX rhetoric. They hold many positions all around us everyday. My son is a Marine and says they are imbedded around him on his base and are vocal in their Trumpian blind support. So I imagine they are deeply rooted in Police forces also.
I see bad things coming. This is not the world I want to leave to my grandchildren. I don’t look good in yellow but it will become my uniform if necessary. I’m 60 years old and ready to pick up my leaf blower to end this insanity.
Jacksonville, FL sheriff spoke out yesterday saying he does not have the means to protect the city during RNC next month. He said there’s a complete lack of communication with planning. Nothing is figured out yet, so he cannot create a security plan. Funding is disappearing. He’s reached out for help from neighboring areas, getting only a little. At first I applauded him for speaking out, but now I’m worried that it’ll become a reason for these federal troops to come here with their tactics. That they will say they were invited.
We need to take notes from the Portland Moms to be prepared when federal stormtroopers appear in our cities and towns: Yellow shirts, bicycle helmets, sunflowers, leaf blowers, and songs.
I think our October Surprise is going to be the declaration of martial law and a suspension of the November election, possibly supported by McConnell. I find yesterday's news (and Saturday's letter from the police union president) terrifying.
I said it yesterday, but it bears repeating. Corona Don and his thugs are building out their version of the German Schutzstaffel (SS), or Pinochet's DINA (secret police). His acting director of Homeland Security aspires to becoming the next Heinrich Himmler or Colonel Manuel Contreras.
Okay. This is so far beyond enough, the word that comes to mind is FUBAR. A savvy lawyer friend suggested this morning that we the people contact our states' AGs and mayors, and also AG and mayor of Chicago. The goal? Join Oregon's lawsuit against the visibly fascist, Republican-backed-trump administration. I've wondered for some time whether it's possible to launch a class-action suit against R-b-trump. This may be as close as we'll get before November 03. One of the most egregious deficiencies of Dems (IMO) is its insistence on being perpetually reactive rather than pro-active. That has not served us well, particularly in the reign of R-b-trump. And while we're at it, let's (possibly offensive military word alert) bombard! the U.S. Senate (all y'all know who you are) with expressions of support for getting off their individual and collective sit-upons to protect and defend this nation. Hello?! And finally (fat chance!) this: When POTUS speaks, he is campaigning on our dime. I believe that the left is entitled to follow-up air time every single time he opens his mouth. With it's most hearty-voiced, no nonsense speakers (which, sorry to say, deals out Pelosi and Schumer). So, yeah. Finally.
The Acting Deputy of DHS is Ken Cuccinelli. Prior to his current role in protecting statues with military personnel in Portland, he was the attorney general of Virginia where he harassed climate scientist Michael Mann. Cuccinelli made false accusations against Mann that were clearly motivated to discourage climate scientists from speaking out about their research.
What to say! When this started in France we went out and bought yellow security vests. We organized with friends in the local area to go "en bloc" to all the protests in Paris wearing our jackets....away from the violence of course....and otherwise the yellow vests had pride of place and highly visible to all in the car when driving. When it started 80% of the population supported the movement. The government was frozen in its tracks and before massively back-peddling and giving in. There 5 things for all of you to do: buy your yellow vests , organize with your friends, coordinate with other groups across the nation, get out on the streets to support the Mums and organize a massive turnout for November!
I saw a live feed from Portland last night and the street was absolutely packed with peaceful, masked protesters singing We Shall Overcome. United we stand, divided we fall.
"Tonight the Wall of Moms waved their hands above their heads as they softly sang a new lullaby: “Hands up, please don’t shoot me.”"
I feel like we are living in a dystopian science fiction horror movie or an alternate timeline. A rhetorical question but HOW is he allowed to do the things he has been and is currently doing that benefit himself and his cronies?? It is challenging some days to have hope that the situation can improve after November..
I can't say that I did not anticipate this stuff happening. In fact I didn't think it'd happen this late in the game. But here we are.
Godwin's law ("as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1") no longer applies. Hell, Godwin himself said -- in 2015! -- "If you're thoughtful about it and show some real awareness of history, go ahead and refer to Hitler when you talk about Trump." With the arrival of the DHS goons armed to the teeth to protect statues, I think a "real awareness of history" leads one to conclude that we are witnessing the dawn of our own home-grown SS and Gestapo.
What to do? I think that flooding Congress with outraged communications is a start, but it's already far too late for it to do much good, especially given the fecklessness of Democratic leadership under Pelosi and Schumer. I DO hope that the protests continue to grow in Portland, and that Chicagoans prepare to give the unmarked little plastic camo soldiers a hearty "welcome" too. If they come to NYC they also better be prepared for a long slog, costly to the Federal government's image.
Which brings me to concluding thoughts on patriotism. I have long thought that devotion to a place, its norms, customs, institutions, and people, is best imagined as a web of concentric and intersecting circles. Family, neighborhood, school, university, church, town, county, state, nation -- these all play a role shaping and enjoining our loyalties, but the further one goes out to more peripheral circles, the more qualified one's loyalties become. This is a matter of empirical fact, but also is usually as it should be too. The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre once quipped that the modern nation-state sees itself as a deliverer of goods and services, but also as a repository of transcendent good that demands one sacrifice one's life for it when called to. "It's like being asked to die for the telephone company." Now this is vastly overstated, something for which MacIntyre is well-known among philosophers. But in light of the Federal government becoming de facto the Trump regime, and in light of its injustice and cruelty coupled to sheer incompetence, I can, speaking for myself, say my loyalty to it has been severely curtailed. (This regime ordering teachers to return to class even outstrips MacIntyre's joke: It's like being asked to die for Sprint or Cablevision or any other bad ISP.)
But don't fuck with my hometown. I have my yellow shirts cleaned and pressed.
I think I'll go find a yellow shirt today in preparation for the stormtroopers coming to Atlanta. (And I wonder if the local police union will support the neo-fascists like they have in Chicago.) As a 64 year old Dad, I would consider it an honor to be shot dead by federal goons while protesting peacefully. As the Chief said in "Little Big Man," today is a good day to die.
In a perverse way, Trump has been the best thing that could happen to us. I'm pretty sure that a majority of the people here did not used to worry about the state of the republic before 2016 the way we do now (that's not a criticism - it's normal to expect that normality is the norm). Most of those moms in Portland weren't out demonstrating there 50 days ago. "Captain Portland" wasn't out there. But now it grows and grows. People are realizing what's really important, and that it was all taken for granted.
Back on Christmas Eve,, 1776, the idea there would be a United States of America at all was hanging by a thread. Thomas Paine was commissioned by George Washington to write something that might inspire his troops for what was to come that night, when they crossed the Delaware to attack the Hessians in Trenton Barracks. Paine wrote:
"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God."
And afterwards, they crossed the river and hid freezing in the snowy woods, and the next morning they took the surrender of the Hessians. And America was saved.
What's bothering me is the Dep't. of Homeland Security was created during George W. Bush's administration to coordinate intelligence after the 9/11 attacks. It struck me as somewhat ominous at that time, a little too nationalistic, with homeland echoing fatherland in my mind. Now here we are, almost 20 years later, and DHS agents are being used by a power mad president as a federal police force, sent uninvited to cities under opposition control, over riding local police functions, and detaining and injuring people without due process. This creeping authoritarianism is extremely alarming.
Given the Chicago FOP directly invited the Feds, breaking their chain of command, would it be possible for the mayor and city council to strip them of their charter? Also, how about firing the author(s) of that letter for insubordination? Cops really have no business violating their chain of command, and there must be some way for the city of Chicago to address this level of lawlessness in their police department.
History repeats itself all over the world. And our own CIA helped to establish this one example force:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAVAK
The Trumpian base are mostly uneducated, ignorant people that he has gaslighted into faithful support. The majority can’t spout fact.. only FOX rhetoric. They hold many positions all around us everyday. My son is a Marine and says they are imbedded around him on his base and are vocal in their Trumpian blind support. So I imagine they are deeply rooted in Police forces also.
I see bad things coming. This is not the world I want to leave to my grandchildren. I don’t look good in yellow but it will become my uniform if necessary. I’m 60 years old and ready to pick up my leaf blower to end this insanity.
I wonder if his plan is to have those forces based in "Democratic" cities in November to "protect" against voter fraud?
Jacksonville, FL sheriff spoke out yesterday saying he does not have the means to protect the city during RNC next month. He said there’s a complete lack of communication with planning. Nothing is figured out yet, so he cannot create a security plan. Funding is disappearing. He’s reached out for help from neighboring areas, getting only a little. At first I applauded him for speaking out, but now I’m worried that it’ll become a reason for these federal troops to come here with their tactics. That they will say they were invited.
We need to take notes from the Portland Moms to be prepared when federal stormtroopers appear in our cities and towns: Yellow shirts, bicycle helmets, sunflowers, leaf blowers, and songs.
https://twitter.com/mrolmos/status/1285427135746764800?s=21
https://twitter.com/mrolmos/status/1285441191954137088?s=21
I think our October Surprise is going to be the declaration of martial law and a suspension of the November election, possibly supported by McConnell. I find yesterday's news (and Saturday's letter from the police union president) terrifying.
I said it yesterday, but it bears repeating. Corona Don and his thugs are building out their version of the German Schutzstaffel (SS), or Pinochet's DINA (secret police). His acting director of Homeland Security aspires to becoming the next Heinrich Himmler or Colonel Manuel Contreras.
Okay. This is so far beyond enough, the word that comes to mind is FUBAR. A savvy lawyer friend suggested this morning that we the people contact our states' AGs and mayors, and also AG and mayor of Chicago. The goal? Join Oregon's lawsuit against the visibly fascist, Republican-backed-trump administration. I've wondered for some time whether it's possible to launch a class-action suit against R-b-trump. This may be as close as we'll get before November 03. One of the most egregious deficiencies of Dems (IMO) is its insistence on being perpetually reactive rather than pro-active. That has not served us well, particularly in the reign of R-b-trump. And while we're at it, let's (possibly offensive military word alert) bombard! the U.S. Senate (all y'all know who you are) with expressions of support for getting off their individual and collective sit-upons to protect and defend this nation. Hello?! And finally (fat chance!) this: When POTUS speaks, he is campaigning on our dime. I believe that the left is entitled to follow-up air time every single time he opens his mouth. With it's most hearty-voiced, no nonsense speakers (which, sorry to say, deals out Pelosi and Schumer). So, yeah. Finally.
The Acting Deputy of DHS is Ken Cuccinelli. Prior to his current role in protecting statues with military personnel in Portland, he was the attorney general of Virginia where he harassed climate scientist Michael Mann. Cuccinelli made false accusations against Mann that were clearly motivated to discourage climate scientists from speaking out about their research.