It begins

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“As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel, and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults, and the wanton destruction of property. We will end it now.”

[Donald J Trump invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act, which permits a president to deploy military inside the U.S. to deal with civil disorder]

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81 thoughts on “It begins”

  1. wapo:

    A law called the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the domestic use of military for law enforcement purposes without specific congressional authorization, said Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas Law School. But a different law, the Insurrection Act, provides the president authorization to do so under certain circumstances, he said.
    According to a Congressional Research Service report, the act has been invoked “on dozens of occasions” throughout U.S. history, though its recent use has been “exceedingly rare.” The act was invoked in 1992 during riots in California over the beating of motorist Rodney King, though in that instance, the state’s governor requested it.
    It was also used during the civil rights movement, including when President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the Army into Little Rock to desegregate its schools, Vladeck said. The law says the president can intervene if state authorities are unable to give their residents the protection of law.
    […]
    Former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee for president, said on Twitter, “He’s using the American military against the American people.”

  2. the October surprise comes earlier than pascale and bannon  planned.  probably meant to have begun just after the GOPer convention crowning;.  due to the murders by cop in MN & KY and the resulting peaceable protesters’ skirts to hide behind,  it was too good an opportunity to pass up.   and so the “spontaneous”  conflagrations began in unusual places across the country with an unusual assortment of actors involved.

     

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/protests-white-instigators/2020/06/01/b916bd98-a426-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html

    “What did I tell you?” a voice cried out as the camera recording mayhem in downtown Pittsburgh settled on a white man, clad in all black, smashing the windows of a police vehicle.
    “It is not black people,” the onlooker called to the crowd before addressing the vandal directly: “What are you doing?”
    What he was doing, authorities later alleged, was inciting riots on Saturday as the city — like dozens of others across America — was swept up in sustained unrest over the death of a black man in police custody. Demonstrations have spread from Minneapolis, where a white police officer pinned his knee on the neck of George Floyd, to scores of cities, some of which have been looted and set ablaze.
    […]
    After reviewing footage of the weekend’s events, Jenny Durkan, the mayor of Seattle, said she feared the black community would shoulder the blame for havoc others caused.
    “It is striking how many of the people who were doing the looting and stealing and the fires over the weekend were young white males,” Durkan (D) said in an interview.
    […]
    But from Baltimore to Sacramento, black protesters also were filmed protecting storefronts and placing their bodies before police barricades to preserve principles of nonviolence, and to prevent backlash disproportionately aimed at them. Videos emerged, too, of them confronting white demonstrators who had usurped the mantra of “black lives matter,” which gave birth to a movement for racial justice and police accountability, in seemingly random acts of defacement.
    […]
    Similar questions have become acute from Austin, where a racial justice group on Sunday canceled a planned assembly for fear of violent escalation by unaffiliated activists, to Fargo, N.D., where police questioned four men carrying assault rifles to a protest site in a bid to protect businesses. In Denver, police officers commandeered firearms from anti-government gun enthusiasts who self-identify as “Boogaloo boys,” part of a far-right militia movement.

  3. wapo:

    “I am the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and was not given even a courtesy call, that they would be clearing [the area] with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop,” Budde said.
    She excoriated the president for standing in front of the church — its windows boarded up with plywood — holding up a Bible, which Budde said “declares that God is love.”
    “Everything he has said and done is to inflame violence,” Budde of the president. “We need moral leadership, and he’s done everything to divide us.”

  4. BTW, thread picture was provided by fearless leader.  thanks, craig, but I would have chosen one of my more offensive cartoons instead.

  5. Donald J. tRump has declared war in American on ALL Americans. 
    Donald J. tRump hides behind a Bible (the contents of  which he neither understands nor believes)  as a prop to those who are foolish enough to believe in him.   If the believe in tRump, they can not also believe in God, nor in democracy and freedom.
    Donald J. tRump is a treasonous bastard. How can he be stopped from destroying America?  How can he be stopped now?   Emoluments?  New impeachment trial (quick and fast) with enough Senators who have the balls to vote against him?

  8. In an address to America’s governors Monday afternoon President Trump berated the governors for being weak, told them to dominate the streets or they would look like jerks and informed them he would activate William Barr, Bull Connor and Lester Maddox because they aren’t jerks.  “Bill knows better than anyone how to get around archaic laws by using other archaic laws, and we’re looking strongly into reanimating Bull and Lester. They knew how to handle the protesters when they tried this crap in the 60s and we just can’t find anyone who can protect their businesses and stop rioters like Lester and Bull. We have a few problems to work out before we can bring them back from the dead, but I’m naming Mike Pence to head up the project since he did a perfect job defeating the Coronavirus, plus let’s face it, he’s the whitest guy in America.”
    ~~~

  9. business insider:

    Law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets, and other tactics on Monday to clear out protesters in Lafayette Square so US President Donald Trump could have his photo taken in front of a church near the White House.
    Those protesting George Floyd’s death a week earlier in Minneapolis were pushed out of the park — which is next to the White House grounds — at about 6:30 p.m. local time, roughly 15 minutes before Trump gave remarks in the White House Rose Garden.
    As the Associated Press reported, “Tear-gas canisters could be heard exploding as Trump spoke in the Rose Garden.” According to a pool report, the area near St. John’s Church, which is across from Lafayette Square, was still thick with gas when the press arrived ahead of the president’s walk there from the Rose Garden, prompting “coughing and choking.”
    Reporters who had been on the scene earlier said protesters had not engaged in any violence before the police fired tear gas and began herding them away.
    “There was no warning. The crowd was entirely peaceful,” Jackson Proskow, the Washington bureau chief for the Canadian outlet Global News, posted on Twitter. “Trump had police move in with tear gas and horses so he could stage a photo op outside a church across the street.”

  10. How do we stop this?  The only thing I can think of is that if all black protestors stayed home, then the white terrorists who work for the Donald J. tRump terrorists organization known as the Republican Party could be arrested.  Then, peaceful protests can resume  and TALKS with them can begin.   Nobody in power is talking with them.  WTF?

  11. Seriously, RICO or anything that can legally remove this sham of a human being and traitorous American from office?   I’d settle for watching him have a heart attack in the Rose Garden. 

  13. “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.
    —Paine

  16.  

    Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
     

    Abstainer, n. A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.

     

    Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)

  19. Wapo:

    Pelosi, Schumer condemn Trump for tear-gassing of protesters outside White House

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a joint statement Monday night condemned the actions taken by federal authorities to disperse protesters who had gathered for a peaceful demonstration outside the White House earlier that evening.

    The Democratic leaders accused President Trump of being responsible for the clash, citing his decision to leave the White House and walk to a nearby church where he was photographed holding up a Bible.

    “Tear-gassing peaceful protesters without provocation just so that the President could pose for photos outside a church dishonors every value that faith teaches us,” Pelosi and Schumer said. “We call upon the President, law enforcement and all entrusted with responsibility to respect the dignity and rights of all Americans.”

    In videos of the melee, federal law enforcement officers could be seen rushing at protesters with shields and batons while rubber bullets, flash-bang devices and tear gas were fired into the large crowd.

    Ben Riley-Smith
     
    ✔@benrileysmith

     
    This was the scene tonight when tear gas flash bangs pushed protesters back 1 block from the White House. That church on the right is where Trump then posed with his bible minutes later.

    [Video omitted]

    2:53 AM – Jun 2, 2020

    See Ben Riley-Smith’s other Tweets

     “At this challenging time, our nation needs real leadership,” Pelosi and Schumer said. “The President’s continued fanning of the flames of discord, bigotry and violence is cowardly, weak and dangerous.”

    By Allyson Chiu

    Good on them.

  24. meanwhile, deja vu all over again – shades of 1968 

    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/01/why-the-stock-market-is-up-amid-chaos-in-the-streets.html

    “The market always seems heartless, without any emotion, without caring, without empathy. But that’s the nature of the market,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “The algorithms almost certainly have no shred of empathy. They’re not supposed to.”
    […]
    The Rev. Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were both assassinated. North Vietnam launched the Tet Offensive  and the 1968 presidential election featured a highly divisive contest between Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon. Protests abounded around the nation and the world, featuring the memorable raised-fist salute from John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the summer Olympic games.
    And, of course, there also was the H3N2 “Hong Kong flu” pandemic that killed nearly 100,000 Americans and millions more globally, and still kills tens of thousands a year.
    The end result for the market the year: After a 9% drop for the S&P 500 from January to March, the market rallied 24% and ended with a price gain of 7.6%. Thus far in 2020, the index is still down about 5.7% year to date, but a 36% rally off the March low has investors thinking that another headline-defying result could be on the way.
    “1968 was the year that ‘shattered America’ and many tumultuous events and violence took place in that year. And despite that, the equity markets managed to perform solidly,” wrote Tom Lee,  head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors. “1968 is a reminder that stocks and world events are not always connected.”

  25. https://kyma.com/news/politics/2020/06/02/biden-says-were-in-battle-for-the-soul-of-our-nation-in-philadelphia-speech/

    “The president held up the Bible at St. John’s Church yesterday. I just wish he opened it every once in a while instead of just brandishing it,” the former vice president and presumptive Democratic 2020 nominee said in Philadelphia.
    […]
    “When peaceful protestors are dispersed by the order of the President from the doorstep of the people’s house, the White House — using tear gas and flash grenades — in order to stage a photo op, a photo op, at one of the most historic churches in the country or at least Washington, DC, we can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle,” Biden said.
    “More interested in serving the passions of his base than the needs of the people in his care,” he said. “For that’s what the presidency is: a duty of care — to care to all of us, not just those who vote for us, but all of us; not just our donors, but all of us.”
    […]
    “I promise you this: I won’t traffic in fear and division. I won’t fan the flames of hate,” Biden said.
    “I will seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued this country — not use them for political gain. I’ll do my job and take responsibility. I won’t blame others. I’ll never forget that the job isn’t about me. It’s about you. And I’ll work to not only rebuild this nation. But to build it better than it was.”
    […]
    Biden also directly addressed Floyd’s killing, calling it “a wake-up call for our nation” as he began his speech.
    “‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.’ George Floyd’s last words. But they didn’t die with him. They’re still being heard. They’re echoing across this nation,” Biden said.
    “They speak to a nation where too often just the color of your skin puts your life at risk. They speak to a nation where more than 100,000 people have lost their lives to a virus and 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment — with a disproportionate number of these deaths and job losses concentrated in the black and minority communities,” Biden said. “And they speak to a nation where every day millions of people — not at the moment of losing their life — but in the course of living their life — are saying to themselves, ‘I can’t breathe.’”

  27. Bink, shame on you. Renee’s selections put current events in excellent historical perspective. Get out of her face.Flatus, Chief Master Sgt, USAF (Ret)

  29. Hey, if you see nothing distasteful about white cartoonists sitting around trying to think of clever ways to use the corpse of an abused minority as a prop, then i sure doubt i’ll convince you, but spare me your self-perceived moral superiority.  
     
    I left this topic in the last thread, you guys brought it back up.  My blog-conscience is clear.

  30. Sturg, only difference in those two photos is our wannabe is holding a dated (NRV), but unused, copy of the Bible, while Herr Hitler is brandishing Mein Kampf. Both seek to dominate.

  31. Just found out that a tRumper has been turned!  He finally crossed a line by abusing a Bible to sell military action against American citizens.  That’s what it took, but there will be others.  He’s the president of death and destruction.  The Republican Party is also being destroyed.  They are too afraid of the toddler tyrant’s viscous words to speak up.   Your silence and inaction will destroy you. 

  33. Thanks, Bink!
    I worked hard to find that second one…  wanted to try to offend as many as possible.  After all…   IMO, art is best when challenging one’s perspective.

  35. I can’t see mention of “Church of the Presidents” without thinking of the film, “A Man Called Peter” about Peter Marshall (May 27, 1902 – January 26, 1949) was a Scots-American preacher, pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC and twice appointed as Chaplain of the United States Senate.

  37. Investigate the white supremacists who tagging buildings and destroying property.  tRump wagging the dog by coordinating with white asshats?

  39. flatus, good thinking.  might check the rations, your meds and store some extra water just in case.

    aside from a pesky pandemic and imminent martial law being announced, it is hurricane season you know.

  41. patd…  that’s the cartoonist I was thinking about as this thing erupted.  I do have to be fair…  IMO, everyone has a right to their perspective…  including Bink and Jack.  I also thought that Jack’s post from yesterday about why he was offended was very thoughtful.
     
    What offends me about this whole affair are the white supremists, skinheads, neo-nazis, etc. etc. that are perpetrating most of the violence that we are seeing on our tvs nightly.  IMO, those actions are racist as they are doing it with the intent of getting the mostly peaceful black protestors the blame.  It’s actions that offend me.  You know the old adage….  sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

  42. omg, patd: you posted a provocative cartoon and it provoked a response.  i thought there was a good tangential discussion to be had there concerning the depiction of minorities in popular media, but apparently not, due to a phenomenon now described as “white fragility”.
     
    Everybody, here, appreciates your contributions- i still have cartoons from you saved in my phone that i shared with friends and we all enjoyed.  So, maybe not play the martyr?  It’s not a good look on you.
     
    (These are the “hard discussions” we’re supposed to be having)

  44. I will tell you what does and has offended me the last few days. That is someone who builds a strawman, hangs my name on it and then plays the martyr. There has never been an expression of offense on my part and I have not used the word until now.  The word never came up until Pat herself used it to express her aggrievement.  
    What is interesting is since Pat used it now other people are using it and it never happened. 
    So please everybody, don’t be putting words in my mouth that I didn’t use. That does offend me.
    Jack

  45. yes, of course jack and bink have a right to express their opinions which they’ve one well.  I respect their points of view.  I will do my best not to further offend anyone’s sensibilities (except for trump who I doubt has any). 

    my intentions are never to hurt any one on the trail and apologize if I have done so in my feeble attempts to comment on the conditions we now find ourselves – 106,000 + deaths from a deadly disease and the obvious threats to our democracy (both due to trump) .    the horrific murders of George  Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the terrible injustices being visited on persons of color are not separate from nor diminished in importance by pointing out these conditions. 

  47. Jack… I didn’t mean to put words in your mouth.  If anything I said or posted offended anyone…  oh well…  get over it.

  50. Find the clip today of him telling Melanie to smile….that’s a couple of tortured grimaces right there.

  52. The close-in shots of the “tear-gas” grenades shows that they are not those relatively benign munitions. What I have been able to see fired are grenades containing CS gas, a very virulent agent. It was never intended for use against orderly, peaceful demonstrations. Tear gas would contain CN gas, an agent that would cause tearing. It would convince peaceful demonstrators that they should exit the area.

  54. This is what our street looked like last night. Our neighborhood is still overrun with military vehicles and helicopters. Managed to go to sleep last night despite sound of flash bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets, thanks to Tylenol PM. 

  55. Is that why the bank had no cash last Saturday? I did not go back.
    Police did flash/bang in my old neighborhood for a long time.  I know they were there 2 hours.  The place was empty when they finally went in.  Can’t imagine sleeping through it.
    Stay safe.

  57. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/politics/george-floyd-funeral-joe-biden/index.html
    Right now, we need Joe Biden more than ever.  (We never needed tRump.) Whether or not Joe attends the service is up to the family. I wouldn’t want it to be a distraction, a security issue, or, a claim of a photo op. It would be a show of solidarity, though. Joe definitely needs to continue having discussions with community leaders and victims’ family members. This is where he shines. He’s got people skills that can’t really be taught. He’s genuine.

  58. Virginia’s governor will not send VA National Guard troops to DC “to be a photo op.”   

  60. Anyone remember what SFB did last week to divert attention?
     
    Although there is a lot of stuff going on to make you not look at the world in a pandemic of a virus without at vaccine or cure, here is a reminder.  We are at about the same point as we were in the second week of April.  And, the cases and deaths might be trending higher due to the virus hitting the maga-nuts.  Also, with all the reopening going on, rather all the ‘let’s spread disease’ going on, the down slope is going to be moving up again.  How fast and high is yet to be determined.

  65. it’s going to a million and beyond

    Good on NC Gov. Roy Cooper for not bucking to pressure from the farce-in-chief💪

  66. I got 107,506. I round down sometimes, when not exact, just to avoid accusations of exaggeration.

  67. Wow, the Federal Park Police assaulted an Australian news team.  Can’t imagine what would’ve happened to them if they hadn’t been white.   

    Hazard pay for journalists, foreign and domestic, covering what’s going on in the USA.

  68. The long, lemon-color dyed hair covers the VI VI VI on his scalp.
    Maybe it’s DCLXVI. 

  70. It’ll get to 108 soon enough.  The excess deaths haven’t been taken into account, so we know it’s actually even higher.  
    I’m surprised the racist coroner’s office didn’t test George Floyd for Covid, fudge a false positive and find that as the cause of death.  I’m still amazed that they lied to cover up for the police.   It’s science.  It should be clear reporting.   Is anyone looking into what went on with the coroner’s office?   

  71. To all the people who said. Trump won’t be that bad
    Fuck you
     
    you know who you are

  73. x -That Atlantic  article.  Wow.  I still wonder what someone, somewhere has on Lindsey.   It’s gotta be more than being flattered by attention from the (gag) popular kid for him to do a 180.  All elected officials should read it and reflect (except  tRump, who doesn’t read).  As for Pence and and any others who are actually thinking we are in biblical times and the Rapture is near, they need to stop being so arrogant.  No one shall know the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven. 

  76. Didn’t know Lindsey’s JAG military background.  Maybe he’s just a really great mole.  Nah. 

  77. Virtual convention.   It can be done well.  Everyone is so used to quarantine now, only the magaTs and their turd, tRump, will try to belittle it.   Go, Joe, go! 
    Then, the Repugz can all go to a convention hall and  get Covid, at Herr Drumpf’s command. 

  78. Of course, since Lindsey’s parents both passed when he was fairly young, and he was so bonded with the older McCain (also through the military), maybe the death of McCain as a surrogate father figure left him vulnerable to tRump’s lies, (including him in golf outings, etc.). 

  81. C’mon, Craig- you can’t post that and then leave us hanging without an update.  Trying to go to sleep, here, without worrying about you and yours.

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