Huh?

Defense Secretary Esper on Trump church photo op: ‘I didn’t know where I was going’ – – NBC News

Esper also said he had “no idea” about the plan to use force to disperse protesters ahead of Trump’s staged visit to St. John’s Episcopal Church.

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Author: craigcrawford

Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.

87 thoughts on “Huh?”

  2. and in another article at wapo today:

    Barr has vowed to use federal force to help local authorities “dominate” the streets, and he has ordered Justice Department agencies to aid in those efforts.
    As in the Minnesota case, ATF is helping local police departments with arson investigations related to the unrest, while other agents are helping patrol public spaces. Conduct covert surveillance and protect against threats to public safety, share intelligence with federal, state, local, and tribal counterparts
    The surge of federal agents has been most notable in Washington, D.C., where FBI agents, U.S. Marshals and others were given patrol-like assignments to buttress the efforts of local, federal and military police as they tried to deal with a variety of protesters, rioters and looters.
    The Drug Enforcement Administration has received special permission to go beyond its standard legal mandate of investigating drug-related crimes to also investigate crimes related to the protests, according to an internal document first reported by Buzzfeed News.
    The Justice Department authorization, which lasts for 14 days, allows the DEA to conduct “covert surveillance” and share intelligence with state and local officials, as well as patrol public places and make arrests for non-drug crimes as officials see fit. A DEA spokeswoman declined to comment.
    It is unusual for federal agents to engage in street patrol-like duties, but they have been pressed into service by Barr, who has called the public vandalism and violence surrounding the protests “domestic terrorism.”

  3. Despicable. Just despicable. 

    On the coronavirus front 1051 people died yesterday. That’s a 433 person increase over the previous Tuesday. Stay tuned. We may be seeing the beginning of the Memorial Day surge. I certainly hope not. 

  7. A con artist in command of jack-booted thugs, hellbent on staying in power  no matter how it has to happen.   Mourning in America.   Hope you enjoyed your visit, Aussies.  

  10. No patriotic American should brandish or proudly celebrate the iconography of a rebellion that resulted in tremendous devastation, the loss of more than 620,000 American lives, and the continued subjugation of Black America.

  11. what the hill says about the Lincoln Project ad above:

    The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Republican super PAC, on Monday announced it will target President Trump’s record on race relations in a new TV spot.
    The group, co-founded by George Conway, the high-profile Trump critic who is married to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, will make a $500,000 ad buy in Washington, D.C., as well as in battleground states such as Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin, CNN reported.
    The one-minute spot, titled “Flag of Treason,” accuses Trump of turning a blind eye to use of Confederate iconography in support of him.

  12. pogo, you ain’t the only one foreseeing a surge

    the guardian:

    As social unrest spurred by the police killing of George Floyd sweeps America, public health officials and government departments are grappling with the fear that demonstrators and police risk accelerating the spread of the coronavirus, which also disproportionately affects minority communities.
    This is the worst possible thing that could happen,” said Dr Howard Markel, director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and an expert on pandemics. “It’s hard to know how many of those people are asymptomatic carriers, and that’s really scary.”
    Several factors could contribute to the spread, including lack of social distancing, limitations of masks, and police tactics such as use of teargas and arrests.
    […]
    Protesters or police shouting at the top of their lungs could spread viral droplets for which masks are a weak barrier. Holding hands could also spread contagion. Corralling protesters together makes social distancing impossible. And thousands of people circulating together make contact tracing all but impossible. 
    Protests have also shut down testing sites in some cities and states, including in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Jacksonville, Florida, Politico reported.
    At the same time, police tactics threaten to accelerate the spread of Covid-19. The use of teargas and pepper sprays are a public health nightmare. Both cause incessant coughing. Oil-based pepper sprays cause tears, mucus and saliva to pour from the eyes, nose and mouth. 
    Teargas and pepper spray “would be the last agent I would use during this time period, for that reason,” said Markel. “You amplify the possibility of spread.” 
    Quickly jailing protesters also holds unknown infection control risks, given the heavy presence of the virus in jails and prisons.

  15. That had to have really jacked his jaws when Pat freakin’ “appointed-by-god” Robertson told him he wasn’t “cool”.

  16. He’s on the proverbial horns of a dilemma….he done called in the big guns and mercenaries, now what’s he gonna DO with em?

  17. The governors call…..that was him talking on the fly after his call to Putin.
    Amazing lack of grace.  lol

    Vanker and Hopehicks: I know…..let’s all walk outside and Daddy, YOU hold up the Bible! I’ll carry it out there in my expensive purse bag. Quick! Somebody go fetch us up one of those bible books!

  18. not that I care, but where is mike pence?

    still in the bunker with mother?

    handing over the reins to nikki?

    last heard from him I could find was about a tweet that indystar reported on:

    On Friday, as protests erupted around the country following the killing of George Floyd, Vice President Mike Pence sent a tweet decrying the protests. But he followed it with a tweet that said, in part: “We will always stand for the right of Americans to peacefully protest and let their voices be heard.”
    However, Pence memorably and famously did not stand for the right for Americans to peacefully protest when he walked out of an NFL game in 2017 after players knelt during the national anthem. In what was pretty clearly a publicity stunt at that Indianapolis Colts-San Francisco 49ers game, Pence had done the opposite of what he was now saying in a tweet.
    Sports fans on social media called him out quickly, en masse. And now some bigger names have gotten involved.

  19. All this must lay to rest any opposition to my oft-repeated contention that the Bible is, after all, “just another book”. 

  20. Well, at least Dr. Markel is paying attention to the demonstrations and police (over)reaction and connecting it to the potential increased risk of viral transmission associated therewith. ~~~ The silver lining?  Shutting down test sites lowers the number of new cases identified. ~~~ SFB will be beating his chest over the reduced numbers because he’s a dumbshit. 

  21. Pence was all big man talk on the radio….now realizing he’s just another little PAB* trapped like a rat in a sewer of his own design.

    *punk ass B**ch

  23. I hope the media is watching Andrews AFB for arriving planes.  C-130’s have a very unique sound, and I keep hearing it.  Those can transport troops and equipment.  It is looking like SFB is going to declare his take over of the U.S. very soon.

  24. Did General Millie Vanillie think he was going to a costume party?

  25. Philadelphia takes down statue of Frank Rizzo. What will Mrs Greenspan do now?

  26. When Clinton was president he tried to start a national conversation on race.  What happened to that?   Also why haven’t we heard from Eva Jefferson Paterson?   I think she is amazing.

  28. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said Wednesday that he does not support the use of active-duty military forces in quelling countrywide unrest — a statement that puts him at odds with President Trump, who has threatened to send troops into U.S. cities.

    Trump’s warning, in response to waves of protest over the police killing of George Floyd, would require the invocation of the Insurrection Act to give members of the military the power to arrest. Esper said the measure should be used only as a “last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations.” 

    “We are not in one of those situations now,” he said. “I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.

    Cracks in the trump martial law coalition. 

  30. We should all be very afraid
    Desperate crazy man in the Whitehouse 

  31. Cuomo scores again.  expect incoming tweets from the twit.

    ALBANY, N.Y. (WIVB) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo started off his latest conference by taking a jab at President Donald Trump.
    The President recently received a flurry of criticism after photos of him posing with a Bible in front of a church across from The White House emerged.
    Just prior to the photos being taken, peaceful protesters outside The White House had been forcefully cleared away.
    Gov. Cuomo responded on Wednesday morning by reading selections of Biblical texts, including “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9) and “If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:25).

  32. love it. dead pan delivery.  you could tell he was really enjoying gigging the trump

  33. President Obama – Town Hall 5:00 PM Eastern

    Live Streamed:  https://www.obama.org/anguish-and-action/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=060320_AngAct%20Town%20Hall

    President Obama will be joined by Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, President of Color of Change Rashad Robinson, Minneapolis City Council Representative Phillipe Cunningham, and MBK Columbus Youth Leader Playon Patrick, in a conversation moderated by Campaign Zero co-founder Brittany Packnett Cunningham.

  34. don’t be surprised if there’s a suddenly called extra special prez presser at that very same time, Jamie, or another one of those flashbang bible-thumping events.

  35. Mrs Greenspan reporter and Rizzo butt kisser just said Trump will turn himself onto law and order Nixon and win
    Doesn’t Alan need you at home?

  37. Police are being arrested everywhere 
    I have had interactions with police where I have been guilty of something but I have always been let go.
     

  39. They never let me go, but then they didn’t kill me either, so there’s that…..

  40. I hope the 2nd degree murder charge in MN also allows a jury to find guilt on lesser offenses.  XR, you know anything about that up there?

  42. Brian Williams with his usual
    drivel dumping on Amy for talking about the new charges when the attorney for the Floyd family had  been talking about them all morning.   Brian no fact checking Williams. Get rid of the loser 

  43. If they come to trial, we’re going to have to move the cases to a different venue.  

  48. KGC – get stopped for DWT (driving while transgender).  One stop had multiple violations, including refusing to look at my drivers license, registration and insurance, so failure to have those was included in.  Court was no treat, but at least I did not lose my license.  You get this very nervous feeling when out and about.

  49. BB
    Mr C and I were stopped for smoking pot in a moving vehicle.  We were let go with a lecture about how we were too old to be smoking pot

  53. Mine didn’t let me go and the lecture was 1. History.  “This ain’t the sixties!” And later, after I had agreed with him, 2. Geography.  “This ain’t California!”  I agreed again. “You right about dat.”
     

  54. Sturg, having lived through the 60s to tell the story and having been to California you knew that was right on both counts?
     
    Jamie, what a great pic. Oh how the mighty have fallen (we ain’t what we once were, are we?)

  55. Just peeked in on the CNBC polls reported at RCP today.  I’m skeptical about their Florida and Pennsylvania polls – they seem counter intuitive.

  56. Having grown up in California I saw all sides of the rampant racism and the equally impassioned liberalism.

    In the 9th Grade I attended an almost all back school because prior to busing, assignments were to neightborhood schools and that is where my mother’s address put me for a few months.

    Majority of my other 21 schools were either all white or on three times either mixed Hispanic or Hispanic and Japanese.  

    In my teens I new where the Gay nightclub was in Hollywood, because during the day the teens went there for soft drinks.

    My aunt and uncle had a whole “block busting” brouhaha  when a black family tried to move into that suburban area, but five miles down the road it was Mexican and black.

    My cousins are all uptight, very white Evangelicals

    Anyway you get the picture.  Maybe fingers crossed some consciousness might be raised.  I’ve only been looking at it for over 70 years.

     

     

  57. Like Carville said, Pogo (paraphrasing):
    ”Pennsylvania has Philadelphia on one side, Pittsburgh on the other, and Alabama in the middle.”

  58. oh btw, trump’s last words will be:
     
    ”Oh, what a bullshit artist the world is losing!”
     
    (…was waiting to make that joke in context, but have grown impatient)

  60. LMFAO!  Of course he didn’t know where he was going or what he was doing.   The orange bucket of lard doesn’t even know who those WHITE folks were who were standing there. He doesn’t know anyone in his admin.
     
    About that bizaar photo op:  “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”

  63. If things keep falling apart, maybe trump will be accepting the ripper nomination for president in the kremlin.

  64. Gov Abbott on the air saying National Guard deployed because that’s what happens during a national disaster.  And yes, the way he worded it, I think he meant black folks are a national disaster.  The reporter didn’t ask him to clarify his statement.  

  66.  
    Esper has been bullied into submission by the orange bucket of lard.
     
    Quelle surprise!

  67. I was stopped for not having a light over my back license plate.  My now ex-boyfriend’s BIL was a police officer in that city.  He told me that I was actually stopped for driving a crappy, old car in a nice neighborhood.   They follow anyone who doesn’t look like they belong and pull ‘em over for anything they can find…city has to have revenue.   I was let go and told to go get it fixed. 

  68. Corey – LOL!
    TT – I heard a rattling cicada yesterday.  Seems early.  Hope it turns out that they eat murder hornets. 

  71. I figure when CC is ready or able he’ll give an update.  If he’s unable I doubt he’ll be reading my posts.  

  72. Craig, I thought of you and David when I read that a man in a neighborhood let 60 protesters who were being chased by the police into his home.  Didn’t see last night’s post.
     
    And then the owner of the house bitched because he was afraid it would be burned down.  He also commented that the renter hadn’t paid his rent. The renter said he currently has no income. Wadda mess. Good for the guy offering sanctuary.
     
    So, Craig, tell us what happened. Are you two OK?

  75. Taxes and voter fraud in one, convenient package.  Something’s gotta get him. 

  78. Maddix and Esper BOTH dis SFB on the same day. What’re the odds of THAT?

  79. A friend with a bachelors & masters in biomedical engineering said that maybe the orange bucket of lard is not sick because there’s a vaccine that he has access to.  It was just his possible thought. Could be considered fake news. But…..

  80. TT, ask your friend if maybe we’re watching the side effects of hydroxy chloroquine. He’s told us he used it. 

  83. LOL Pogo.  I think we’re seeing what was predictable when the reube senate let him go.  Now he’s unleashed. 
     
    VOTE!!!

  84. Time for everyone to stop talking about the Bible at the church thing.  It’s just another of his numerous distractions!

  85. Just realize: for every 3 Republicans that think Covid-19 is a Democratic hoax, there’s one that thinks to themselves, “Fuck, i don’t wanna die of coronavirus”. 

  87. Not sure about the alchemy behind RCP’s betting odds although it looks like an average of 6 betting exchanges, but they have now swung in Biden’s favor.  SFB has dropped from 52 to 46 % since mid April and Biden has gone from 42.6 to 49.8 over  the same period.  Their lines crossed 3 days ago.  It would seem that SFB’s feckless response to George Floyd’s killing and the resulting riots has done to him what his feckless management of the CV-19 problem could not.

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