Friday, June 05, 2020

FEE 'FA' FOES FUM: 'ANTIFA' IS A SUB-NAZI ORGANIZATION

The fascists now form an axis with violent mobs such as Black Lives Matter, common criminals, and demented punks smashing windows with skateboards

By Lloyd Billingsley

American Greatness
June 1, 2020

Lose the “anti” right off the top and go with “fa,” short for fascists, which is what the current rioters across the country really are. For those who may be confused, Edward Gibbon provides some helpful background in his The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Fasces or fascines were bundles of sticks the Romans would light on fire and roll down on their foes. Sometimes the Romans would use the fasces to fill up trenches and gain leverage for scaling walls and such. As a symbol of collectivism and militancy, the fasces proved an ideal symbol for the Italian fascist movement.

Benito Mussolini’s fascist blackshirts specialized in violence and constituted a Latino National Socialism that paralleled Teutonic and Slavonic versions from Hitler and Stalin. The Fascists and Communists purported to be at odds but they readily recruited from one another’s ranks. For reference, see Hans Massaquoi, son of an African father and German mother. In Destined to Witness: Growing up Black in Nazi Germany, a remarkable account, Massaquoi encounters Nazis and Fascists but finds little if any difference between them.

“Fascism is a matter of taste,” said Vyacheslav Molotov after signing the 1939 Stalin-Hitler Pact. That deal launched World War II, with the Nazis and Communist powers both invading Poland and combining their forces until June 1941. The war finished off fascism as a movement, but as Evelyn Waugh noted, leftists still used the term for anything they didn’t like. Fox hunting, for example, was “fascist.”

That remains the trend on the Left, with the addition of “racist,” “sexist,” and so forth. Among those who claim to be “anti-fascist,” violence continues to be the rule, within limits. The masked, pasty-faced blackshirts would never show up at the training camp of the Minnesota Vikings, or a reunion of Vietnam or Gulf War veterans. As individuals, the fascists never look to throw down in bars frequented by bikers, longshoremen, or ironworkers.

The fascists operate in groups and prefer to target ordinary people emerging from Trump rallies, and when a conservative speaker shows up at UC Berkeley, they wreck the place. The modern fascists, which is what they are, pick venues ruled by Democrat invertebrates such as University of California boss Janet Napolitano, New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio, and Jacob Frey of Minneapolis. Frey claimed the rioting in the wake of the George Floyd killing was the work of “white supremacists.” That is predictable nonsense, but it raises a point.

The fascists now form an axis with violent mobs such as Black Lives Matter, common criminals, and demented punks smashing windows with skateboards. Black Lives Matter has resurrected the Communist Party concept that blacks are not Americans and need their own nation. In the current conflagration, black-owned businesses have not been spared. Those who believe the United States is a completely racist, evil country do not want to see African Americans succeed. It’s all about destruction, and the pasty-faced fascists fit right in.

As Walter Sobchack observed in “The Big Lebowski,” National Socialism, at least, was an ethos. The blackshirted nihilists now burning up cities have no ethos, no ideas, and not the slightest clue. Effectively, they are sub-Nazis, deployed against innocents in the free, prosperous society they hate.

At this point, it’s got nothing to do with George Floyd.

As legitimate protesters might recall, in 2017 Minneapolis cop Mohamed Noor gunned down Australian-American Justine Damond, who had just called 911 to report a crime. Noor was charged with third-degree murder and in May 2019, drew a sentence of 12-and-a-half years in prison.

That should have alerted city bosses to dangerous cops like Derek Chauvin, now charged with murder and manslaughter for the death of Floyd, which his fellow cops did nothing to stop. If people think Chauvin deserves a lot more than 12 years, it is hard to blame them.

Thursday, June 04, 2020

WHEN SCHOOL REOPENS

DEF SEC OPPOSES TRUMP PLAN AND FORMER DEF SEC EXCORIATES THE PRESIDENT

Trump's own Pentagon chief publicly tells him NOT to use the Insurrection Act to deploy federal troops - as president tweets 'get tough, police' after ordering combat Task Force 504 to D.C.

Daily Mail

June 3, 2020

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters Wednesday he was opposed to invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act to send the U.S. military to impose control of cities – even as the president talked tough on Twitter and ordered an infantry battalion to Washington, D.C.

Esper made the public statement of opposition to the idea after the White House publicly floated it on Monday – and after the administration took heat for the use of tear gas and rubber bullets to clear protesters out of Lafayette Park just before Esper joined President Donald Trump at a photo-op.

'I say this not only as secretary of defense, but also as a former soldier and a former member of the National Guard,' Esper told reporters at a Pentagon press conference as he announced his position.

'The option to use active duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations,' he said.

__________

Mattis goes after Trump: The president ‘tries to divide us’

By Lara Seligman

Politico

June 3, 2020

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis broke his silence on the conduct of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, blasting him and top military leaders and saying he is “angry and appalled” with the events of the past week.

“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership,” Mattis said in a statement sent to reporters Wednesday evening.

This marked Mattis' first public criticism of his former boss since the retired Marine Corps general resigned in late 2018 over Trump's decision to pull U.S. troops from Syria.

While he did not cite any other officials by name, Mattis harshly criticized Pentagon leaders, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, for their handling of the military response to race-related protests across the country.

Even as Esper reversed a decision to send home active-duty troops on alert to respond to unrest in the national capital region on Wednesday, Mattis argued for deploying the military at home only on “very rare occasions,” and only at the request of state governors.

“We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose,” he wrote.

He cited Esper’s decision to pose in a “bizarre photo op” outside St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., after Attorney General Bill Barr ordered the clearing of protesters on Monday night. Esper said on Wednesday that he hadn’t known ahead of time that the photo op was happening.

Mattis called the decision to clear protesters in Lafayette Square an “abuse of executive authority” and said that Americans should “reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”

Mattis also urged the public to reject Esper’s characterization of American cities as a “‘battlespace’ that our uniformed military is called upon to ‘dominate,'” referring to the defense secretary’s comments comments to governors on Monday. (Esper said on Wednesday that in retrospect he would have used different language “so as not to distract from the more important matters at hand or allow some to suggest that we are militarizing the issue.”)

Mattis noted that when he joined the military, he took an oath to support the U.S. Constitution, and “never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens.”

Militarizing the response to civil unrest, as Mattis proclaims “we witnessed in Washington, DC,” sets up a “false conflict” between the military and civilian society, he said.

A White House spokesperson and multiple Pentagon spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Mattis’ statement.

ROSENSTEIN, PART 2

by Bob Walsh

Well, I watched some of the Rosenstein hearing yesterday. It was pretty much as expected. The real interesting thing IMHO is that he flat-out admitted that he basically winged the FISA applications that he was supposed to have carefully reviewed before they were forwarded to the FISA court. He said he never even read all of the submissions, let alone carefully reviewed him.

So, was he complicit in a fraud against the court or merely grossly incompetent? Senator Cruz referred to it as the Sgt. Schultz (John Banner) defense. ("I saw nothing, I heard nothing, I know nothing.") He didn't seem to be impressed by it. I can't say that I blame him. I wasn't impressed either. I guess you feel you can half-ass fraud and conspiracy if you are confident your girl Hillary will get the brass ring and sweep everything under the rug.

So, what will be the fallout? I am still hoping for heads on a spike, but I am expecting something between jack and diddly.

DOW CLIMBS UP ANOTHER NOTCH

by Bob Walsh

Yesterday the DJIA closed above 26,000 for the first time since the plague struck. That isn't unrestrained wonderful, but it isn't too shabby either, considerign it bottomed out at 18,000 and some change from a high of over 29,000. The stock market does not seem overly concerned about the current wave of riotous bullshit across the country.

EDITOR'S NOTE: What really counts is the number of unemployed and that number is staggering.

DOG THROWER GETS A NEW TRIAL

She Isn't Crazy Enough

by Bob Walsh

Regular readers might remember I wrote ages ago about Wakeen Best. She was convicted of breaking into a car, removing a chihuahua from the car and tossing it off of the seven story parking structure. The dog didn't survive.

Ms. Best wanted to defend herself. The judge believed, after speaking with her, that she was not capable of effectively defending herself and refused permission. She appealed and the state appeals court says she gets a new trial and gets to defend herself.

She was rambling and unknowledgable in the law, and regularly interrupted proceedings, but was neither mentally incompetent nor illiterate. Among other things she could not differentiate between the right to a speedy trial and the right to a jury trial.

According to various Supreme Court and lower court decisions as long as a defendant is not illiterate and is made aware of the dangers of self-representation they get to defend themselves, even if they are stupid and malignant assholes.

SUE THE BASTARDS

CA LEGISLATURE RELYING ON A VISIT FROM THE MONEY FAIRY

by Bob Walsh

The legislature of the formerly great state of California does not like Governor Newsom's idea of, among other things, cuts in state workers salary or layoffs of state workers.

Instead the legislative budget proposal will rely on several billion dollars that they will pretend they will get via a visit from the money fairy, so they can pretend they are submitting a balanced budget.

Whether the money fairy, currently Donald Trump, is going to kick down billions of dollars to California when the state government has many times told him to go take a flying fuck at a rolling donut, is IMHO highly questionable. But it doesn't matter as long as they pretend it will happen they can sort-of justify believing that it will happen. Stoner logic.

CHARGES FILED AND BUMPED UP IN MINNESOTA

by Bob Walsh

Yesterday the MN. A.G. announced that the charge against the officer in the George Floyd case was being bumped up to Second Degree Murder. At the same time they announced that the three other (former) officers who were present at the scene were being charged as well, though as I pound this out on the keyboard the specific charges against those three have not yet been released.

HAS LA FINALLY GOTTEN TIRED OF THE BULLSHIT?

by Bob Walsh

About 2,700 people have been arrested in LA the last few days. About 2,500 of these were for curfew violations or failure to disperse. About 200 were for burglary, looting and assault.

I strongly suspect most of the curfew violators were cited and released.

LA County has a 6 pm curfew in effect which is maybe helping things smooth out. Maybe.

STOCKTON ARRESTS LOOTERS

by Bob Walsh

The local constabulary here arrested two men after a high-speed chase from a looted jewelry store.

A bit after midnight on Tuesday morning the cops responded to the Eastland Plaza shopping center on North Wilson Way. They saw a group of people looting the store. They pursued one of the get-away vehicles for about eight miles until the bad guys unsuccessfully negotiated an offramp at Eight Mile Road when a post jumped out in front of their car, bringing them to a stop.

Wayne Brooks, 23, and Daniel Ruffin, 24, are now guests of the people facing charges of burglary, looting and conspiracy. They should be arraigned at about the time you read this as the criminal courts are more-or-less back up and operating in San Joaquin County.

The store suffered about $30,000 in losses and damage in the attack.

THERE ARE OTHER THINGS GOING ON

by Bob Walsh

It is Wednesday as I write this. If all goes well former Assist A. G. Rosenstein is going to be questioned today by the Senate Judiciary Committee about his oversight of the so-called Russian Collusion Investigation. It will be interesting to see what he says on the record, under oath, about how much, or how little, actual evidence there was to support this particular piece of attempted character assassination.

COPS GO POWER MAD AND BADGE HEAVY

By Tom Moran

Howie, you were a cop for a long time. When’s the last time you heard or read about a white man being pulled from his Mercedes near his home on River Oaks Boulevard, being handcuffed, put on his face and had a police officer keep a knee on his neck for nine minutes?

Some of what we see is racism but a lot of what happens is that police officers go power mad and badge heavy and their departments let them get away with it. After all, they are THE LAW.

Take everyone’s favorite narc, Gerald Goines. Long before he lied on a search warrant affidavit and got two people killed, he was a blight on law enforcement.
In the early 1990s, I was representing a lot of indigent defendants and I saw a lot of police reports with Goines’s name on them. The typical scenario was that a group of black men would be standing in someone’s front yard about midnight talking. Goines would roll up, demand they produce picture IDs, then bust those who didn’t have them. Usually at least one would have a rock of crack on him.

The problem was that there is no law generally requiring a US citizen to carry any kind of ID except for special circumstances such as driving. And, by that time the Supreme Court had twice ruled that police had no general right to demand that anyone identify themselves unless there were facts that the person had committed or was about to commit a crime. And, the legislature passed a law saying no one has to identify (give their name, address and date of birth) themselves unless they are LAWFULLY detained or arrested.

Uniformly, the prosecutors would offer my client probation that day and I had to tell them their arrest was illegal and they could sit in jail for a few months to win or they could plead guilty and go home that day.

Was/is Goines a racist? Well, he’s African-American but he could still hate blacks who live in the Third or Fourth Ward. There’s no doubt that he was a badge heavy cop who didn’t give a damn what the law said.

He and a lot of other officers have a feeling of entitlement because they wear a badge and carry a gun.

In my opinion, police training and culture creates an “us or them” attitude coupled with police officers’ attitudes that the most important thing is “officer safety.” We saw a perfect example of this just last week when a Fort Bend County deputy sheriff shot and killed a uniformed Fort Bend deputy constable while both were searching a vacant house. The deputy sheriff saw something moving and he shot.

When I was a soldier, my soldiers had rules of engagement that generally prevented them from just firing up anything they thought might be a danger to them. In Iraq, where I did not serve, cell phones were used to set off IEDs. Should a US soldier be allowed to kill anyone making a call on a cell phone? I don’t think so.

I expect my police officers to do exactly what I expected soldiers under my command: make sure a potential target is a danger to you or others. Don’t just shoot. Yes, my soldiers were risking their lives by holding fire. I never expected my soldiers to get killed. I expected them to risk their lives. Why should police be different.

Police officers owe everyone they deal with a duty to treat them with respect. They aren’t going to get respect until they give it.

One last thought on feelings of entitlement by police officers. When I was a kid growing up in Austin, the man who lived two doors down was a retired Houston police officer. He was jealous of the veterans benefits my father received which he did not. He thought he should have gotten them because during World War II, he was deferred from the draft because he was a police officer patrolling Houston and risking his life every day.

On the other hand, he slept in his own bed every night along with his wife. He had access to three hot meals a day, hot showers and clean clothes. And, he got a pretty good pension from the City of Houston for the rest of his life.

In 1943, my father got on a ship not knowing where he was going and not knowing when — if ever — he would ever see my mother again. He was being sent someplace where there were people with tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns and rifles whose job was to kill him. Because of my father’s job and age, he wasn’t in the infantry and his war was still pretty reasonable when it came to danger and privations. On the other hand, he was in London when V-1 and V-2 rocket were dropping on the city.

After all these years, I’ve never gotten over that retired police officer’s feeling of entitlement.

COP TO REPORTER: 'GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE YOU PIECE OF SHIT'

Cops have 'attacked 120 reporters and arrested more than 33 during George Floyd protests: Bill de Blasio says journalists should 'never be detained' as news crews claim they are being shot at and roughed-up by police during the chaos

By Luke Kenton

Daily Mail

June 3, 2020

Reporters and news photographers across the country have described being harrassed, arrested and having projectiles shot at them by police while covering demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd over the last week, as tensions rise and trust erodes.

The US Press Freedom Tracker said that as of Tuesday afternoon, 211 press freedom violations have been reported since May 28.

More than 33 journalists have reported being arrested, 143 assaulted and at least 35 reporters have had their equipment damaged while covering the protests. Nieman Lab reported that 120 of those assaults were made by police.

‘Although in some incidents it is possible the journalists were hit or affected accidentally, in the majority of the cases we have recorded the journalists are clearly identifiable as press, and it is clear that they are being deliberately targeted,’ Nieman Lab reported.

In New York City last night, NYPD officers surrounded, shoved and yelled expletives at two Associated Press journalists covering the protests.

Portions of the incident were captured on video by journalist Robert Bumsted, who was working with photographer Maye-E Wong to document the protests in lower Manhattan.

The video shows more than a half-dozen officers confronting the journalists as they filmed and took photographs of police ordering protesters to leave the area near Fulton and Broadway shortly after an 8pm curfew took effect.

An officer, using an expletive, orders them to go home. Bumsted is heard on video explaining the press are considered ‘essential workers’ and are allowed to be on the streets. An officer responds ‘I don't give a shit.’ Another tells Bumsted ‘get the fuck out of here you piece of shit.’

Bumsted and Wong said officers shoved them, separating from one another and pushing them toward Bumsted's car, which was parked nearby.

At one point Bumsted said he was pinned against his car. He is heard on video telling the officer that Wong has his keys and he needs them to leave the area. Officers then allowed Wong to approach and the two got in the vehicle and left.

Both journalists were wearing AP identification and repeatedly identified themselves as media.

‘They didn't care,’ Wong said. ‘They were just shoving me.’

In response to the footage of the incident, NYPD officials said they would review the matter ‘as soon as possible’.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio urged the NYPD Wednesday to investigate why members of the media were being detained and accosted while covering the protests.

'No journalist should be detained, ever,' de Blasio warned.

In response, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea claimed that protesters in the city were falsely identifying themselves as reporters in attempts to escape punishment, confusing officer's efforts to control the crowds.

'We've had some people purporting to be press that are actually lying,' Shea said Wednesday. 'Maybe these things take too long to resolve. We're not perfect - we do the best we can in the situation and whether its essential workers or press.

'The reality is, in chaotic situations - these things take a few moments to sort out,' shea continued, adding that his department have 'full respect for the press'.

Journalists have faced aggressive police and protesters during demonstrations across the U.S. over the killing of Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died after a white officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd's neck in Minneapolis.

Many reporters, photographers and other members of the press said the treatment they’ve experienced over the last week has reflected an erosion of trust in the news media that has seeped from the top down, beginning with the Trump administration and the president’s claims of ‘fake news’ and journalists being the ‘enemy of the people’.

‘This story, in particular, it seems journalists are really being targeted by the police,’ Barbara Davidson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, told the New York Times. ‘That’s not something I have experienced before to this degree.’

It’s common in autocratic countries for journalists to be arrested during protests and riots, but seldom seen in democracies –particularly in the United States, where freedom of the press is guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Last Friday, Minnesota State Patrol officers arrested a CNN journalist live on air. The same day, a TV reporter in Louisville, Kentucky, was shot at my police using pepper bullets.

In the first incident, CNN’s Omar Jiminez was put in handcuffs and led away from his team of producers at 5.11am CT on Friday after the team was moved down the street by police in riot gear.

According to one of his colleagues, the crew was told he was being arrested for refusing to move when he'd been told to but he was heard live on air telling the officers: 'Put us back to where you want us - wherever you'd want us we'll go. Just let us know.'

Jimenez told them they were live on air with CNN and was put in handcuffs.

He asked: 'Do you mind telling me why I am under arrest sir? Why am I under arrest sir' then was led away.

Two of his colleagues from the same team were also arrested. The trio were put in a police van and were driven to a precinct but were released around 90 minutes later after CNN President Jeff Zucker and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz intervened.

Minnesota State Police has since claimed on Twitter the crew were released once they 'confirmed' they were reporters - which they'd already declared live on air, minutes before Jimenez was put in handcuffs.

Just hours later in Louisville, WAVE 3 News reporter Kaitlin Rust and photojournalist James Dobson were struck by pepper balls fired by an LMPD officer who appeared to be aiming at them as Rust covered the protests.

‘I’m getting shot! I’m getting shot!’ Rust chillingly exclaimed on air.

The news anchor from inside the studio asks Rust if she’s ok, to which she replied: ‘Rubber bullets, rubber bullets.’

Early Saturday, a Fox News reporter was pummelled and chased by protesters who had gathered outside the White House.

Fox’s Leland Vittert was rattled following the Washington attack that he said was clearly targeted at his news organization.

‘We took a good thumping,’ he later recalled of the incident.

During a live take he was interrupted by a group of protesters who shouted obscenities directed at Fox. Flanked by two security guards, he and photographer Christian Galdabini walked away from Washington’s Lafayette Park trailed by an angry group before riot police dispersed them.

Vittert said there were no markings on him or the crew’s equipment to identify them as from Fox. But he said during the demonstration, one man continually asked him who he worked for.

Virrert didn’t answer, but the man found a picture of the reporter on his cell phone and shouted to other protesters that he was from Fox.

‘The protesters stopped protesting whatever it was they were protesting and turned on us,’ he said, ‘and that was a very different feeling.’

He compared the incident to being chased away from a demonstration in Egypt during the Arab Spring in 2011, by a group who were shouting, ‘Fox News hates Muslims’.

Freelance journalist Linda Tirado, 37, was left blind in one of her eyes while photographing a protest in Minnesota the same day, having been struck with what she believed was a rubber bullet or a marking round.

Tirado had been lining up her next shot, when she put her camera down for a moment and suddenly felt her face ‘explode’.

Tirado told DailyMail.com: 'Protesters said police were tear-gassing. I put on my goggles and respirator.

'It was pretty chaotic - people were moving in every direction. Then I kind of felt my face explode.'

The mother of two young girls, who had also photographed the protest in the city the night prior, added: 'I put up my hands and shouted "I'm press, I'm press."'

With her eyes filled with blood, protesters 'acted as my eyes when I couldn't see past the blood and the swelling' and got her to hospital.

'I was in surgery 20 minutes after that,' she told DailyMail.com after returning from hospital on Saturday. 'I woke up this morning with an eye patch on.'

Doctors have told her she is going to be left with scarring on her face and will be permanently blind in one eye - although she hopes in the future she may be able to gain the ability to see light and shadows through the damaged eye.

Similarly, KPCC reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez was struck in the throat by a rubber bullet while he was interviewing a protester in Long Beach, California.

Just as Rust and Tirado reported, Guzman-Lopez believes the officer deliberately aimed at him.

‘I talked to him for about a minute and just as I was finishing talking to him — right after I said: “Thank you,” I heard a pop and I felt something, you know, the bottom of my throat and I saw something bounced onto the ground, and then I ran,’ he later recalled.

‘Nobody else in that intersection was doing anything like I was doing there…I was obviously interviewing someone.’

At a press conference on Monday, Long Beach's Mayor and Chief of Police addressed the incident and apologized to the reporter.

‘I've personally also communicated with him, apologized to him as well, and we'll look forward to discussing that in the days ahead,’ Mayor Robert Garcia said.

In Detroit, Mayor Mike Duggan was also forced to apologize to journalists from the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News who were seemingly targeted by police.

Duggan’s apology also came during a Monday press conference, saying: ‘They had a lot of courage to be on the other side of the police-line with the protestors, and I apologize to you.’

Detroit News reporter Christine MacDonald told her station she had been filming an arrest on Sunday at Grand Circus Park when she was handcuffed by an officer.

As dozens of other journalists have reported, she repeatedly identified herself as press, telling the officer she had credentials. Despite this, she was escorted to the officer’s squad car and detained briefly before being released.

Meanwhile, Free Press reporter JC Reindl posted on Twitter that he was chased down by a Detroit police officer during a protest on Saturday. The officer pepper-sprayed him in the face, despite the Reindl holding up his press badge to show he was a reporter.

Mayor Duggan called the editors of both outlets to discuss the incidents that inhibited the reporters’ ability to cover the protests.

‘We need to work together to make sure that the media has clear identification,’ Duggan said, according to Detroit News.

‘We do respect the heroism that you showed the last three days and I want all the reporters to know that we are going to make adjustments to use every opportunity to keep you safe,’ he added.

In the late night drama at Lafayette Park, our team (@Joshrepp on camera) was sprayed with pepper spray though we were away from protesters and clearly press (camera, microphone, etc). 3 hours later my arm was still burning. Others got it far worse.

Yesterday, an Australian reporter for Sunrise was accosted by police in Washington DC.

An officer was filmed using his shield to smash Amelia Brace's cameraman Tim Myers in the middle of her live cross to the studio before another officer hit her in the back with his baton.

Brace said they were both hit by rubber bullets prior to the altercation, as police used batons and tear gas to push hundreds of protesters back away from the White House.

Brace shouted, 'We're media!' as officers targeted her and Myers.

'Cameraman Tim Meyers and I are both okay. Pretty bruised, but okay,' Brace later told Channel 7.

CNN’s Josh Replogle and Alexander Marquardt had been covering the same protests near DC’s Lafayette Park in the early hours of Wednesday morning when he and his crew were pepper sprayed by the National Guard.

‘An otherwise peaceful day ends with unrest,’ Marquardt tweeted. ‘I really don’t know how that helped anything.

‘Our team was sprayed with pepper spray though we were away from protesters and clearly press (camera, microphone, etc),’ he continued in a thread. ‘3 hours later my arm was still burning. Others got it far worse.’

AT LEAST 60,000 NEW YORKERS DO NOT ADMIRE THEIR SANDINISTA-LOVING MAYOR

Petition to impeach Mayor Bill de Blasio gains support amid protests

By Carl Campanile

New York Post

June 3, 2020

Critics of Mayor Bill de Blasio are circulating an old, fanciful petition calling for his impeachment amid outrage over riots and lootings in the city during protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

The online Change.org petition — “Impeach de Blasio” — garnered more than 60,000 signatures and growing Tuesday night. Organizers are seeking 75,000 backers.

The petition was started last year, but thousands signed onto it Tuesday as controversy raged over protests engulfing the city that have triggered clashes between participants and police officers and reports of vandalism and damage to retail stores.

But critics are just venting their frustration. De Blasio will not be impeached.

He is term-limited and will complete his term at the end of 2021.

“Mayor Bill de Blasio is destroying New York City. We cannot have him continue as mayor for the next two years. The people of NY want change, and now is the time to act before it becomes any worse. This is not about being conservative, left, etc. This is about radical politics that are harming the city and being neglectful of New Yorkers,” the petition said.

“Crime is low? HA! It might appear that way because police cannot do their job. He ended Stop and Frisk,” the petition says.

One indication that the petition is being revived is that it mentions that de Blasio is running for president. He ended his presidential campaign last September.

De Blasio spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein responded, “The mayor is focused on keeping New Yorkers safe and reopening the city — not this nonsense that doesn’t represent the values of this city.”

KAPERNICK'S FREEDOM FIGHTERS CONTINUE TO BREAK INTO STORES AND LOOT

U.S. Cities Again Roiled By 7th Night Of Protest That Turned Violent

LAPPL News Watch
June 3, 2020

The streets of American cities filled with protesters, looters and violence against and by police late Monday, the seventh day of unrest after the police killing of George Floyd.

The mix of events do not make for easy summary. Across the country, large gatherings of protesters channeled their anger and frustration into marches and calls to stop police violence against black people. Some used that anger and frustration to break into stores and loot.

There were moments of unity amid the chaos: Some police chiefs and officers listened to protesters’ issues and knelt in shows of solidarity. In contrast, other departments rolled out heavily armed officers and used tear gas, rubber bullets, riot shields and batons to disperse people exercising their rights.

Some departments did both. By the end of the night, several officers were struck by gunfire and by vehicles, and many more people were arrested.

DEA INTO THE FRAY

DOJ Grants Expanded Powers Allowing DEA to Monitor George Floyd Protesters

By Daniel Villarreal

Newsweek

June 2, 2020

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has given Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) temporary power to "conduct covert surveillance" and intelligence gathering to enforce any federal crimes committed by people protesting the death of George Floyd, the black man killed in police custody on May 25.

The two-page DOJ memorandum first reported on by Buzzfeed News gives the DEA 14 days to assist law enforcement officers during the ongoing police brutality protests. The sweeping powers were authorized by U.S. Attorney General William Barr.

Usually, DEA officers are legally constrained to keep their enforcement activities to situations involving federal drug crimes.

However, according to the memo, DEA Special Agents and Task Force Officers are now allowed to conduct "covert surveillance" and "protect against threats to public safety;" share intelligence with federal state, local and tribal legal authorities; intervene as federal law enforcement officers to protect both participants and spectators in the protests; and engage in investigative and enforcement activities including but not limited to conducting interviews, conducting searches and making arrests for violations of federal law.

"Drug enforcement agents should not be conducting covert surveillance of protests and First Amendment protected speech," Hugh Handeyside, a senior attorney for the ACLU told the publication.

"That kind of monitoring and information sharing may well constitute unwarranted investigation of people exercising their constitutional rights to seek justice," Handeyside continued. "The executive branch continues to run headlong in the wrong direction."

On Monday evening, President Donald Trump laid out a strategy to take military action against looters and rioters involved in the ongoing nationwide protests happening in Floyd's name.

Trump called rioters who are looting and destroying property during the protests against police brutality and judicial racism "domestic terrorists" and said that he told state governors earlier in the day to deploy the National Guard in large enough numbers to "dominate the streets." He also promised to deploy military forces in each state if governors don't comply.

Furthermore, Trump promised severe criminal penalties for protests organizers, any identified members of Antifa—a loosely defined left-wing movement that takes its name from a shortening of "anti-fascist"—and other "instigators."

"My administration is fully committed that for George and his family justice will be served. He will not have died in vain," Trump said on Monday. "But we cannot allow the righteous cries and peaceful protesters to be drowned out by an angry mob. The biggest victims of the rioting are peace-loving citizens in our poorest communities and as their president, I will fight to keep them safe."

As of Monday, protests have occurred in over 30 U.S. cities and at least 25 have imposed curfews and/or activated their National Guard forces.

Trump's comments on Monday marked the first time he had publicly made in-person comments about the protests. Early last Friday, Trump referred to protesters as "thugs" and made a statement seeming to endorse shooting looters associated with the protests.

However, by Friday evening, Trump said, "We have peaceful protesters and support the rights for peaceful protesters—we can't allow a situation like happened in Minneapolis to descend further into lawlessness, anarchy and chaos."

ON THE BRINK OF THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

There is terrible police violence in Israel and violent cops need to get more than slaps on the wrist. We need to remember that the police force is not an army and civilians are not the enemy

By Avi Dabush

Israel Hayom

June 3, 2020

Let's admit the truth. The images from the Unites States, while appalling, are also providing some of us a bit of solace. After all, what's happening over there can't happen here. At least that's what we tell ourselves.

In Israel things are different, we say. Cops don't choke people to death, and violent riots, like the ones currently unfolding on our television screens, don't really happen here.

One reality can never fully be compared to another. Yet still, patting ourselves on the back on this issue might conceal a bitter truth which must be addressed: police violence in Israel is a real problem for many of us.

Remember Yanki Rosenberg? He was the young, autistic, ultra-Orthodox man who was beaten to a pulp by police officers around a year ago. After a few months, the Police Internal Investigations Department closed the case against the officers involved. And what about Solomon Teka? The protests that erupted in the wake of his killing also turned violent on the fringes. There's no justification for violence, but the moment that populations and people feel no one hears them and they have nothing to lose, things become dangerous for us all. "A Riot is the language of the unheard," said Martin Luther King Jr.

Let's also discuss Yacoub Abu al-Kiyan, who was killed in Umm al-Hiran. The police's unequivocal tone insinuated he was a dangerous killer, an agent of the Islamic State terrorist organization. The truth that later emerged, however, told a completely different story: al-Kiyan, a teacher by profession, was horrifically and unnecessarily shot to death in an incident that also claimed the life of police officer Erez Levi. Al-Kiyan was left to bleed to death after he was withheld medical treatment. What about the investigation into the officers who pulled the trigger you ask? It was closed.

There exists a common denominator for all of these incidents: The victims were all "other" Israelis. We don't tend to view Israeli society as Haredi, Arab or Ethiopian- only if we were born into one of these groups. Therefore, the struggles these communities have with police violence are often "secluded."

Are you familiar with John Rawls' "veil of ignorance" exercise? What would happen if we could all imagine ourselves reborn into a different group? What if we could truly ponder stepping into the shoes of a Haredi person, a woman, a Sephardic, Arab or Ethiopian person? Israeli society is an ensemble, not a monolith.

There is terrible police violence in Israel. We give the police its legal authority, which it sometimes abuses. We're not talking about what happens over there in the US. It happens here, in our exemplary little country.

The bad news is: It could get worse. Our situation could become similar to the situation in US. The good news: We can fix what we've ruined. We fix it through proper training and education. We can create a new "spirit of leadership." There's a connection, even if not a completely direct one, between the Public Security minister's declaration that anyone who tries harming a police officer is putting his life at risk, and the shooting death of the autistic Arab man in east Jerusalem.

The previous police commissioner's bold statement about over-policing in the Ethiopian community is important, but not enough. We must find the way, and the tools, to reduce over-policing and itchy trigger fingers, particularly when it comes to targeted populations. We need to remember that the police force is not an army and civilians are not the enemy.

There must also be a stick with which to deter certain police behavior. The fact that the Police Internal Investigations Department closed its investigations goes beyond the pale. When this department becomes a tool for whitewashing crimes, it's obvious that immediate change is imperative. Those pontificating day and night about the plundering of the justice system are turning a blind eye when violent cops get a slap on the wrist instead of losing their jobs or doing jail time.

We are on the brink of the American abyss. Let's take a few steps back.

AMERICANS WOUNDED OR KILLED BY PALESTINIANS CAN SUE IRAN AND SYRIA

U.S. court orders Iran, Syria liable for attacks in Israel

Associated Press

June 2, 2020

A U.S. court has ruled that Iran and Syria are liable for compensation for American citizens wounded and killed in a series of attacks by Palestinians in Israel, including the killing of a U.S. Army veteran.

Judge Randolph D. Moss in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Americans wounded and killed in seven attacks carried out by Palestinians were eligible for damages from Iran and Syria because they provided "material support" to militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The court has not yet determined the amount of the damages. The order was posted online Sunday by the federal courts.

Syria, Iran and the Iranian Ministry of Information of Security, all named as defendants in the civil case, did not take part in the proceedings.

Collecting the damages will be a challenge. American courts have ordered the government of Iran to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to families of Americans killed by Palestinian militants before.

But since Iran and the U.S. have no formal diplomatic relations, collecting the damages has remained elusive.

Taylor Force, a U.S. Army veteran, was studying in Israel in 2016 when he was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assailant in Tel Aviv. Congress later approved the Taylor Force Act, which withholds funding to the Palestinians that it said was used to reward the families of attackers.

Wednesday, June 03, 2020

PUTTING COPS KILLING BLACKS IN ITS PROPER PERSPECTIVE

Whether justified or not, every time a white cop kills a black man, the BLM rabble and white liberals would have you think racism was behind the killing

By Howie Katz

Big Jolly Times
June 2, 2020

The death of Houston native George Floyd by the knee of a Minneapolis cop has left the US with what can best be described as an insurrection. What started out as a peaceful protest in Minneapolis morphed into assaults against the police, the burning of businesses and police cars, and widespread looting in more than 40 cities from coast to coast and from north to south.

Black Lives Matter and white liberals would have you think racism was behind the killing of Floyd as they do just about every time a white cop shoots dead a white man.

Whenever an unarmed black man is killed by the police, the hue and cry goes up that he was killed because he was black. Here are some of the most notable cases.

In August 2014, NY cops tried to arrest Eric Garner, a 400-pound giant. During a struggle when he resisted arrest, officer Daniel Pantaleo applied what appeared to be a choke hold while Garner uttered the now famous words: "I can't breathe." Pantaleo was never charged by the DA or the Feds, but he was unjustly fired and stripped of his pension in August 2019 at the insistence of Sandinista-loving Mayor Bill de Blasio.

In August 2014, Michael Brown Jr., who had committed a strongarm robbery at a convenience store a short while earlier, was shot dead by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson as he tried to defend himself from a physical assault by the 300-pound giant.

In October 2014, Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke shot dead Laquan McDonald as he was walking away from the police. This was clearly an unjustified shooting and Van Dyke was convicted of 2nd-degree murder and several counts of aggravated battery with a firearm.

In November 2014, Tamir Rice, a 12-year old boy, was shot and killed by Cleveland police after officers mistook his toy gun for a real weapon.

In April 2015, Walter Scott was shot in the back while running away from North Charleston, South Carolina officer Michael Slager after a traffic stop for a broken taillight. This was clearly an unjustified shooting and Slager was deservedly charged with murder.

Also in April 2025, Freddie Gray died of a spinal cord injury a week after he was tossed into the back of a Baltimore police van. The officer driving the van was charged with 2nd-degree "depraved-heart" murder and five other Baltimore cops were charged with various crimes, including manslaughter. One officer's trial ended in a mistrial and two others were acquitted. Charges against the remaining three were then dropped.

And now we have the killing of George Floyd, a Houston native who had been twice convicted of armed robbery. Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was clearly wrong when he kept his knee on Floyd's neck for seven minutes after Floyd begged the cops to stop because he could not breathe.

The killings of Laquan McDonald and Walter Scott were clearly unjustified and George Floyd's death was unintended, but in all the cases listed above, there is no evidence the men were killed because they were black.

Let's take a look at the number of whites, blacks and Hispanics shot dead by cops in 2017. 2018 and 2019.

In 2017: 457 whites, 223 blacks and 179 Hispanics.

In 2018: 399 whites, 209 Blacks and 148 Hispanics.

In 2019: 370 whites, 235 blacks and 158 Hispanics.

During those three years, there were a total of 667 blacks shot dead by the police as compare to 1,711 people who were not black.

Another way of looking at it is that blacks make up only 12 percent of the US population, but from 2015 – 2019 they accounted for 26.4% of those that were killed by the police. In other words, the police killed blacks at about twice their rate in the general population. Does that indicate that cops are a bunch of racist bastards? Of course not! The disparity results from the fact that blacks commit a disproportionate amount of crime.

So, let's put cops killing blacks in its proper perspective. There are some 800,000 law enforcement officers in the US. They have to deal with countless thousands of incidents every day, some of the incidents being perceived as a deadly threat to the officers. Cops have been ambushed numerous times, mostly by black men, the most notable ambush being the killing of five Dallas police officers by a black man in July 2016.

The BLM rabble, liberals and the media continuously make a big deal out of cops shooting unarmed black men. But an unarmed man can overpower and kill a cop with his bare hands or may be perceived to be armed and an imminent threat to an officer's life. Many years ago, two white Houston cops approached a black man who had been acting erratically in the street during the middle of the night. He shouted "Hey, I've got something for you" and pulled an object out of his pocket which he pointed it at them. In the dark, the two cops perceived the object to be a gun and killed him. The 'gun' turned out to be a bible. Tragic as this deadly incident was, the two cops were justified in shooting the poor man.

Yes, there are racist cops just like there are racists in the general society. But that does not necessarily mean racist cops discriminate against blacks.

There are no protests or riots over the daily slaughter of blacks by blacks in Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles and other US cities.

Every so often a white cop among 800,000 law enforcement officers kills a black man. And sometimes when that happens, half the country sinks into chaos like now with the Floyd killing. The hoodlums who have been looting stores, setting buildings and police cars afire, and attacking police officers are encouraged to do so by Colin Kaepernick who calls them freedom fighters.

US law enforcement is accused of being beset with institutional racism by none other than former President Barack Obama. That's a terrible accusation when there is little if any proof that white cops kill blacks because they are black.

TRUMP BAILING ON N.C. CONVENTION

by Bob Walsh

President Trump announced yesterday that the Republican Convention to nominate him for president is being moved out of North Carolina because the powers that be there are unwilling to guarantee him that the convention will be held under more or less normal non-restrictions.

Several other states are already volunteering to pick up the convention with zero or near-zero restrictions.

CURFEW IS WORTHLESS IF IT IS NOT ENFORCED

by Bob Walsh

As I write this, about 730 pm on Tuesday, both NYC and DC are WAY past their curfew. As far as I can tell the civil authorities are doing absolutely nothing to enforce their curfew.

That being said the military has moved 1,500 active duty troops into DC, presumably to increase security at various federal locations. (Isn't the whole district a federal location?)

The "protesters" are still getting slightly froggy near (but not too near) the White House. There is more impromptu fencing and the crowds sometimes shake the fences, sort of like monkeys in the zoo. They haven't started throwing shit. Yet.

It still isn't obvious whether or not Trump will actually attempt to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807. Maybe Red Bill deBlasio is hoping the "demonstrators" (rioters) will run out of bricks and gasoline before he runs out of cops and buildings.

The Israelis have an interesting way of dealing with such things. They use Ruger 10-22 rifles fitted with suppressors firing sub-sonic ammo and kneecap "protesters." It's hard to be too much of a pain in the ass if you are in great pain and can't walk. However, we don't do that. Probably.

BIBLE-THUMPING PHOTO-OP BITES TRUMP IN THE ASS

Trump blasted for photo op in front of riot-damaged church

AFP

June 1, 2020

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump spurred fresh outrage on Monday after police used tear gas to clear protesters from outside the White House so he could pose for photographs at a nearby church damaged during civil unrest.

The move earned him a sharp rebuke from the city mayor, the Episcopal bishop, and leading Democrats including former vice president Joe Biden, who decried the use of force merely "for a photo."

Trump's visit to the historic St John's Church, across the street from the White House came after he delivered an address denouncing vandalism that has followed anti-racism protests that have gripped the country for a week.

As he spoke, law enforcement – including military police – could be seen firing tear gas to clear peaceful protesters in Lafayette Park, outside the White House, so the president could walk over to the church.

Known as "the Church of the Presidents," St. John's was sprayed with graffiti and partially damaged by fire during unrest on Sunday.

"We have a great country," Trump declared just outside the Episcopal church, where he held up a Bible. He did not answer questions from reporters before leaving again.

The backlash was swift.

Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate in the November election, slammed Trump for "using the American military against the American people," after the president vowed to order an army crackdown on the sweeping civil unrest.

"He tear-gassed peaceful protesters and fired rubber bullets. For a photo," Biden tweeted late Monday. "For our children, for the very soul of our country, we must defeat him."

Biden also announced he would speak on Tuesday in Philadelphia "on the civil unrest facing communities across America."

Washington's mayor Muriel Bowser called the move "shameful."
"I imposed a curfew at 7pm," she tweeted.

"A full 25 minutes before the curfew & w/o provocation, federal police used munitions on peaceful protestors in front of the White House, an act that will make the job of @DCPoliceDept officers more difficult."

New York governor Andrew Cuomo also expressed outrage over the incident.
"What the president did today was he called out the American military against American citizens," Cuomo tweeted.

"He used the military to push out a peaceful protest so he could have a photo op at a church. It's all just a reality TV show for this president."

The visit enraged Washington's Episcopal bishop, Marian Budde.

The president did not seek permission for the visit, she told CNN, condemning his use of a Bible, failure to pray, failure to acknowledge the agony of Americans and decision to use tear gas on protesters to make the visit.

"I am outraged... we distance ourselves from the incendiary language of this president," she said.

"I just can't believe what my eyes have seen tonight... I had no idea," she added.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Before he became president, Trump rarely if ever went to church. Now he goes to church only because that's what the president is supposed to do.

Even Trump's most ardent supporters will have to admit the bible-thumping photo-op in front of the church was a really dumb move.

SENILE JOE PROMISES HE WILL CURE THE NATION OF RACISM

Joe Biden Slams Trump, Calls for Addressing ‘Systemic Racism’

By Susan Milligan

U.S. News & World Report

June 2, 2020

Joe Biden blasted President Donald Trump as being "part of the problem" in flaming the flames of hate and national division, pledging in a major speech on race relations Tuesday to heal a wounded nation and address the enequities that have sprung from "systemic racism."

"It's a wake-up call for our nation. For all of us,' the Democratic presidential nominee said in Philadelphia, the day after Trump walked through a park cleared of protesters by tear gas and rubber bullets to raise a bible for a photo op after pledging to use the U.S. military to thwart demonstrations across the nation.

"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! — in one of the most historic churches in the country, or at least Washington, D.C. – we can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle," Biden said.

"The president held up the bible at St. John's church yesterday. I just wish he opened it once in a while instead of raising it," the former vice president added tartly. "If he opened it, he might have learned something."

Biden's remarks came nearly 12 years after his former boss, President Barack Obama, made a seminal speech on race relations and the mixed feelings the nation was experiencing in considering whether to elect the country's first African American commander-in-chief.

But while Obama was seeking to reassure voters that he would not be a radical president interested in pitting whites and blacks against each other, Biden had a different mission: pledging to calm a nation that still, more than 150 years after the abolition of slavery and a dozen years after Obama was elected, is mired in racial tension and rage over the death of an African American man, George Floyd, who died after a white police officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee to Floyd's neck, ignoring his pleas that he could not breathe.

Biden called out Trump for his "self-absorption" and "selfishness," saying the president has "turned this country into a battlefield riven by old resentments and fresh fears. He thinks division helps him. His narcissism has become more important than the nation's well being. … Is this where we want to be?"

"I promise you this – I won't traffic in fear and division. I won't fan the flames of hate. I'll seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued our country, not use them for political gain …. I'll take responsibility, not blame others," Biden said.

Biden's address occurred at a historically stressful and painful time for the country. As protests continue around the country – sometimes with looting, violent confrontations with police and arrests of credentialed journalists trying to cover the events – Americans are also grappling with the global coronavirus pandemic.

Tuesday is primary election day in Pennsylvania, and normally would be a moment of glory for Biden, a Scranton native close to formally sewing up the Democratic nomination. Instead, voters had to contend with not only civil unrest – which has Philadelphia under an evening curfew – but worries about contracting a potentially deadly illness.

Biden also called for police reforms, including a national ban on "choke holds" to disable a suspect. It was a sign of how far, and how quickly, the issue has moved.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, in 2015 said he would veto a bill banning the tactics. Last weekend, he said he would sign such a bill as long as it allowed police to use it in a "life or death situation."

"It's going to take more than talk," Biden said in Philadelphia, where protests and looting had been occurring nightly. "We've had protests before. We've got to now make this an era of action."

Nor should Americans have to wait until he is elected, Biden said. "If (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell can bring in the Senate to confirm Trump's unqualified judicial nominees, who will run rough-shot over our Constitution now, it's time to pass legislation that will give true meaning to our Constitutional promise of Equal Protection under the law," he said.

The address was an important one for the former vice president, who needs to mobilize the progressive wing of the party but who has been forced to run a virtual campaign, making it harder for him to get media coverage during the pandemic. Tuesday's appearance marked the fourth time in eight days that Biden has ventured outside to meet with voters or community leaders.

Biden's relationship with African Americans has been strong but nuanced. The fact that Biden was eager to serve as second-in-command to the nation's first African American president has elevated him among many in the community.

Overwhelming support from African American voters in the February South Carolina primary turned his then-flagging campaign around and started the surge that made him the presumptive Democratic nominee. He has met with African American leaders – most recently, at a church in his home town of Delaware –
and has a plan, "Lift Every Voice," meant to improve economic, health, educational and criminal justice conditions for African Americans.

Yet there is also a sense that Biden is not his former boss, Barack Obama, and many black voters, especially young activists, are looking for more. As a septuagenarian white man who bested several African American primary foes for the presumptive nomination, Biden is under heavy pressure to select an African American woman as his running-mate.

Asked directly last week if he would select a black woman, Biden told MSNBC that he had already committed to selecting an African American female as his first Supreme Court selection. Biden committed in February to picking a woman as his running mate, and says he has more than one African American woman on his list of contenders. But he has declined to commit to an African American, saying that race cannot be the only consideration.

Biden continues to vastly out-poll Trump among African Americans; a CBS/YouGov poll released Tuesday morning showed Biden with the support of 83% of black voters, compared to 6% for Trump.

But activists say Biden needs to do more than be the alternative to a president widely disliked by African Americans. Lower turnout among black voters in Michigan, for example, was part of the reason Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton narrowly lost the state to Trump in 2016.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Biden is a Texas blivot - 20-pounds of shit in a 10-pound bag.