Uninvited
The mayor of Portland in Oregon has renewed his call for federal troops to leave the US city, accusing them of abusive tactics against protesters.
“They are sharply escalating the situation,” Mayor Ted Wheeler told CNN on Sunday.
And they’re not invited. They’re imposed from above.
Sometimes that’s justified. Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock when white mobs were attacking the nine students who were integrating the high school…but then the mayor had requested the troops. Kennedy sent troops to Oxford, Mississippi to quell riots meant to keep James Meredith out of the University (“Ole Miss”), over the governor’s objections.
It was a high-stakes showdown between President Kennedy and Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett. “I’m a Mississippi segregationist and I am proud of it,” the governor declared.
…
By Saturday, Sept. 29, 1962, Kennedy was deploying federal marshals to Oxford, and Barnett was making a fiery speech at an Ole Miss football game. “I love Mississippi! I love her people, our customs,” he said. “I love and I respect our heritage.”
Football and die-hard racism and male bravado; booya.
But this isn’t that. Trump isn’t sending the feds to protect black students from raging racist mobs; on the contrary; Trump is sending the feds to terrorize and mangle protesters who are protesting…racism. This is Little Rock turned inside out.
Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Mayor Wheeler said there were “dozens if not hundreds of federal troops” in the city, adding: “Their presence here is actually leading to more violence and more vandalism.
“They’re not wanted here. We haven’t asked them here. In fact, we want them to leave,” he said.
His comments echoed those of Oregon Governor Kate Brown, who described the presence of federal troops in the city as “purely political theatre” from the Donald Trump administration.
And the theater is theater of racism, theater of fascism – not that of We Shall Overcome or Eyes on the Prize or This Little Light of Mine.
Oregon is suing.
Oregon’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against the federal government, accusing it of unlawfully detaining protesters.
In the lawsuit, Ellen Rosenblum requested a restraining order to stop agents from the Department of Homeland Security, US Marshals Service, US Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Protection Service from making any more arrests in the city.
…
The lawsuit said the actions of federal officers violated protesters’ ability to exercise their constitutional First Amendment right to assembly and, by seizing and detaining people without a warrant, also breached the Fourth and Fifth Amendment right to due process.
Protesting is allowed. Protesters have rights. Trump is a literal fascist.
Just thought this needed to be noted again. It’s exactly that.
Presidents have had a long history of tension with protestors; Wilson famously struggled with the women holding signs peacefully outside the White House, and the police were brutal to the women. But…the police. Not federal agents.
No doubt most presidents have wished they could wave a hand and the protestors would go away, but other presidents didn’t call out the feds. Dubya simply made sure they were sequestered where he wouldn’t see them; IMHO still a violation of their First Amendment rights, but less…shitty…than this.
Republicans “We need our guns in case the government takes away our rights”
Government starts secretly kidnapping US citizens.
Also Republicans “Thank you so much. We LOVE you guys”
Roj,
Well, that’s just a problem with English grammar: we lack the distinction between inclusive and exclusive first person plural.
It is sometimes argued that the 2nd Amendment was put in place to allow citizens to rise up in armed revolt against a tyrannical government. That is not a universal view, and it wasn’t popular until fairly recently. I always cringe when I see people make that argument, valid or not.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-2
After this shitstorm, I never, ever want to hear any Republican talk about how important the principles of libertarianism are. Not only are these fascist pricks running roughshod over citizens’ rights, they’re doing so in blatant violation of the claimed values of states’ rights and local rule.
You don’t understand: libertarianism is for rich conservative people, who have earned it.