Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans Have No Excuse for Not Doing Something about White Supremacist Violence
Last I checked, the following Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have criticized white supremacists, violence, and/or Trump’s appeasement of the former in Charlotteville.
Chuck Grassley, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair:
What ” WhiteNatjonalist” are doing in Charlottesville is homegrown terrorism that can’t be tolerated anymore that what Any extremist does
Orrin Hatch, President pro tempore:
We should call evil by its name. My brother didn’t give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home
Their tiki torches may be fueled by citronella but their ideas are fueled by hate, & have no place in civil society.
Lindsey Graham, Chair of Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism:
The South Carolina Republican called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to go to Virginia and “personally handle domestic terrorism investigations” and alleged civil rights abuses by the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis “who took this young woman’s life.”
Graham was referring to Heather Heyer, 32, who was killed when a car ran into a group of counter-protesters Saturday in Charlottesville where white supremacists and neo-Nazis were holding a “Unite the Right” rally. Many more were injured.
Graham additionally proposed the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security form a task force on the threat of white supremacist groups and report back to Congress with potential solutions for cracking down on them.
“This is an opportunity for the Trump administration to come down like a hammer on white supremacists,” Graham said during a news conference in his Columbia office. “And I hope they do.”
John Cornyn, Chair of Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration and Senate Majority Whip:
No place for the bigotry & hate-filled violence in
#Charlottesville. These actions should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
And (update, from August 17):
We’ve all been shocked that the unhealed wounds of the nation’s racial divide flared up in such a surprising and disturbing way,” Cornyn said in a Chronicle interview. “I think the president had an opportunity to send a message that would unite America behind our common resolve to heal those wounds and unite our country, and unfortunately I don’t think he did that.”
Ted Cruz, Chair of Subcommittee on the Constitution, who while Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, had a hearing on the importance of naming Islamic terrorism Islamic terrorism:
It’s tragic and heartbreaking to see hatred and racism once again mar our great Nation with bloodshed. Heidi’s and my prayers are with the loved ones of those killed and injured in the ongoing violence in Charlottesville. The First Amendment protects the rights of all Americans to speak their minds peaceably, but violence, brutality, and murder have no place in a civilized society.
The Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists are repulsive and evil, and all of us have a moral obligation to speak out against the lies, bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred that they propagate. Having watched the horrifying video of the car deliberately crashing into a crowd of protesters, I urge the Department of Justice to immediately investigate and prosecute this grotesque act of domestic terrorism.
These bigots want to tear our country apart, but they will fail. America is far better than this. Our Nation was built on fundamental truths, none more central than the proposition ‘that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.’
But,
“One of the things we’re seeing going on is the media and the Democrats are, to the surprise of no one, demagoguing this issue and using it for political advantage,” Cruz said. “So, in the media’s telling, they want to tar and feather any Republican, any conservative, and paint us all as these crazy racist nutbags.”
Jeff Flake, Chair of Subcommittee Privacy, Technology, and the Law):
We can’t accept excuses for white supremacy & acts of domestic terrorism. We must condemn. Period.
Under our Constitution, there simply are not that many people who are in a position to do something about an executive branch in chaos. As the first branch of government (Article I), the Congress was designed expressly to assert itself at just such moments. It is what we talk about when we talk about “checks and balances.” Too often, we observe the unfolding drama along with the rest of the country, passively, all but saying, “Someone should do something!” without seeming to realize that that someone is us. And so, that unnerving silence in the face of an erratic executive branch is an abdication, and those in positions of leadership bear particular responsibility.
Ben Sasse, Chair of Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts:
“I refuse to accept that mankind is tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism… Unconditional love will have the final word” -MLK
“My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.” -Abraham Lincoln
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator with…unalienable Rights”
These people are utterly revolting–and have no understanding of America. This creedal nation explicitly rejects “blood & soil” nationalism.
Violence and hatred are never the answer.
There are 20 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, 11 Republicans and 9 Democrats. Of the Republicans, eight have made statements at least condemning the violence in Charlottesville, even if Cornyn and Kennedy, among others, are obviously issuing empty condemnations.
If even two of the Republicans who’ve made statements condemning the right wing violence in Charlottesville are serious — or more specifically serious about actions that DOJ must take, as in comments that both Lindsey and Cruz made — then they’ve got the numbers to make it happen.
They’ve got the numbers to force DOJ to refund the Life After Hate program, which white supremacist Seb Gorka’s wife Katherine defunded. They’ve got the numbers to ask Jefferson Beauregard Sessions whether his DOJ will treat this act of terrorism as terrorism. They’ve got the numbers to ask whether FBI ignored warnings of surging white supremacism.
Republicans often complain that there’s nothing they can do about their unmanageable President. This is one case where that’s patently false.
I think that with Beauregard no longer on the committee, it will be easier for them to do this.
Read these statements leading to an excuse to increase criminalization of all protests at the Federal level as defined by the executive in power, as ALEC legislators have already done in several states and as Trump has called for in the past.
Hi GG, We’re on the same page here. The 1st amendment protects speech, not the sensibilities of those exposed to it. Some speech is guaranteed to be offensive. We have lived with neo Nazis, the KKK, et al for my entire lifetime and survived their odious speech just fine. Suddenly they’re terrorists, WTF?
Long long ago when I started assembling with others and petitioning our government to help it see the error of its ways in VietNam the politicians and the nation supported the war. Their statements were as transparently self serving as the ones quoted above. Their characterizations of us as dirty commie hippies and what we were saying and doing were every bit as pejorative. Seems nothing much has changed in the intervening 50 years.
In the end we also found that much of what violence there was around the peace movement was instigated by FBI infiltrators and stooges to make us look bad. Humm, we’ve heard court testimony for decades about FBI infiltration of the KKK. Wonder how many violent wingers and antifas there would be if not for the FBI infiltrators and stooges?
The bully boys and girls of the right wing and antifa wound each other up on line for months for a rumble in C’ville. The cops failure to step in and maintain order greased the riot. Most of what we hear about are the armed and violent right wingers, NAZIs, KKK, Terrorists!
I am posting a link to a NYT article “Who were the counterprotestors in C’ville“. The lead picture is antifa men and women armed with what in any other circumstances would be decried as “assault weapons!”. Is “the resistance” abandoning the 1st amendment for the 2nd? Is firepower the new in thing? I encourage all to look at the pics and read the article. The pictures are too big so I am not posting them directly out of respect for ew.
The second picture is clergy lined up arm in arm and back to back to keep the warring sides apart. That is the job the cops should have been doing but failed to do.
The third picture shows the conflict between armed and armored rioters when the antifa blocked a street that lawfully permitted protestors were using to get to the park. That was the direct outcome of police failure, and it was not the Nazis vs Ann Frank as commonly depicted. The chief has said his cops were dressed in regular uniforms so instead of intervening they had to leave the riot to get their riot gear. Sounds like official non feasance, but politically convenient. It made for great propaganda theater.
It seems that many, politicians and “the resistance”, are opportunistically exploiting the murder of a woman for partisan political and personal purposes. That is every bit as despicable as anything that the KKK has to say, and as protected. Is this a great country, or what?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/us/who-were-the-counterprotesters-in-charlottesville.html
Since the GOP controls congress, there is not much real control of neo Nazi violence actually occurring. Good to hear that some counter demonstrators were visibly armed as well as the neo Nazis no shots fired. Armed individuals know that firing a weapon is the end of their life as they know it. The NYTimes picture may or may not be actual arms. Anti-fa likes to use water guns and such. Still waiting on more video of counter demonstrator violence. The only one is self defense AFTER the high speed (first part edited out by InfoWars) crash that murdered one woman. So far right wing violence, one murdered 19 injured, another Tiki torch victim in the ICU, and a mob scene of stick marchers beating on a black man. And you have got to believe there was more than InfoWars filming that day because instigated violence is the goal of all these “marches”. Journalists have written stories about Trump appointees, ex state Trump campaign managers, having supported people in this movement on a small 4 figure scale. You have Trump political operatives organizing, filming and supporting the movement. You have political operatives who have flipped from BLM to Bernie to Sputnik and Trump and making friends with hackers who supply Wikileaks. Whenever I see a masked individual attack an alt – right individual (when arrested, guess what, alt-right declines to bring charges) I ask were they paid to do that, they certainly are not helping the left because the next thing you know a peaceful demonstration is declared a riot and the tear gas is fired and/or the attack is on world wide media. Nationwide to date the number of alt Reich protestors detained is a small fraction of anti Trump protestors detained. Wonder what that is about. Conversely conservatives are in denial larping up “those were Jewish actors”, or that political operative went from Occupy to Unite the Reich and must be paid by someone. Their narrative is this is all to make Trump look bad and that impeachment would be a coup. Reports from Virginia via social media are that alt Reich home invasions of project homes went on before and after the march.
Whoever the puppet masters I think we agree it is outright manipulation and seems to be a justification of limiting 1st amendment rights which both demonstrators and counter demonstrators have and which Trump wants to limit. Certainly plays to emotionally manipulating conservatives, Trump’s geek gamer hacker squad, racist felons, and racists on meds that make their illness worse. When it is bat shit crazy, like harassment of electoral college members or calling for denial of free speech to nut jobs instead of just counter demonstrating with the nut jobs, then I have to suspect it is a disruptive false flag operation.
VICE News was filming [via Esquire]:
Thanks, Harpie. That’s very interesting footage.
You‘re [and greengiant] welcome!
Thanks Harpie, worse than I thought. Second while people were turned away at the border coming to the women’s march, the alt-Reich is working a scam where Canadian and Swedish neo-Nazis come to these events as journalists. Third, the only reasons I can see why Trump did not throw these guys under a bus is that Trump is doing destructive manipulation or Trump believes what Infowars, Breitbart, or Finkelstein’s theHill feed him. As seen inTrump’s rallies and 2017 demonstrations it takes only one political operator or crazy to get all the pro Trump media coverage. Fourth if you want to check out Trump’s team start here. https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec
Greensboro North Carolina, 5 dead, 1979, no criminal convictions by all white juries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensboro_massacre
They won’t name the name (as Charlie Pierce points out as a necessary step, http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a57052/trump-detractors/) because they run in fear of the vocal base that is unhinged and well armed. Keep in mind that GOP primaries have led to the TEA Party and general wingnuttiness, because everyone to the left is crushed. Even “relatively” effective congresscritters like Cantor (who would never be considered a tree-hugger) were deemed insufficiently dogmatic and turfed out. That is the reality of the GOP, having painted themselves into this political corner. If they stand up as Americans, they get primaried by a well-funded (Kochs, Adelson and Friess, among others) nut job with Sinclair media running the publicity with the must-run ads. They never make it to the general unless they appease the base.
That’s why you see Dean Heller of Nevada trying to pick his way as a consistently conservative voting Senator with just enough window dressing to avoid getting creamed in the general election (but not well enough, he’s getting primaried by Koch-funded Danny Tarkanian, Tark the Shark’s son), as well as the ‘isn’t is deplorable’ statements from the GOP establishment. There might only be 30% of the electorate as hard-core Trumpies, but they all vote in GOP primaries. I’ll be more impressed if the Congressional GOP actually does something that will rein Trump in.
I did find it interesting that Pence cut short his trip to ‘stand by Trump’, because in my view as a cynic, his best play is to ride in after Trump immolates himself politically as a fresh start with hopefully not too much of a track record of misbehavior. The first Pence plan I saw was for Trump to hold on until January 21, 2018 when Pence can leverage ten years (assuming re-elections) as POTUS but the tweets will ruin that plan A. Perhaps this is a sign of Plan B for a 25th Amendment solution.
Since this is completely new ground, maybe the lawyers here can educate us on this question:
Does the time spent as “Acting President” count against the 22nd Amendment time limit?
Amendment XXII (Amendment 22 – Presidential Tenure)
1: No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
2: This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures ofthree-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.
Actually the criminalization of protest has been going on for a while, and something like 15 GOP states have passed laws excusing cars running over protesters for one reason or another (fearing for their life is a favorite excuse). That’s why JeffBo wants the Dreamhost names, because he’s got a little list.
Our keys are: who JeffBo really goes after, current lip service notwithstanding. Second: what will Caesar Disgustus do to lash out, since even in his bubble I’m sure he feels the circle closing after the CEO advisory boards disbanded. Before we all get too caught up in the who-dumped-who debate more appropriate for middle school, realize that Trump will still call those CEOs behind the scenes when he wants something. The CEOs want access and insider information on upcoming policies (that’s the real reason they stayed) and so I would expect them to take the call if it comes. The optics of disbanding these are worse than the actual outcome for the WH, given how much C.D. touted the ‘best people’ theme in this “administration”.
Sessions is tipping his hand….
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/sessions-slams-chicago-sanctuary-policies/
“…putting our national security and our collective futures at grave risk.”
A former CIA director, John Brennan, weighs in, and has very strong words about #UnfitForOffice
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/16/politics/john-brennan-letter-wolf-blitzer-trump/index.html
“Wolf:
Just watched your interview with Senator Blumenthal when you mentioned that you lost all four of your grandparents to the unspeakable evil of Nazism. I just want to extend my sympathies not only for their deaths but also to you and your family–and countless others–for the pain inflicted today by the despicable words of Donald Trump. Mr. Trump’s words, and the beliefs they reflect, are a national disgrace, and all Americans of conscience need to repudiate his ugly and dangerous comments. If allowed to continue along this senseless path, Mr. Trump will do lasting harm to American society and to our standing in the world. By his words and his actions, Mr. Trump is putting our national security and our collective futures at grave risk.
Compare Donald Trump’s reaction to the current protests and conuter-protests conflict to his reaction to the “Syria Sarin” incident, where, on little more than first wind of rumors, and cooked “news” reports, he shot off a shot-gun blast of tomahawk missiles.
Consider his response to North Korea, too, where he has only shot off flights of brash words. An outrageous response, and over-response, but not destructive.
And now a measured response…
Donald Trump definitely appears to be developing self-control and becoming more statesmanlike. His progress is step-by-step, but it is in the right direction…
And the response by the nit-wit and nut-ball contingent, the constant kibbitzers who would run the United States’ government from the side-lines and over shoulders (I would write ‘if they could’, but they couldn’t, even if they were let to try)… To Trump’s stunningly stupid missile assault they were enthusiastic: “He’s “presidential”! To the North Korea situation they are antsy: “Come on! Shit or get off the pot! ”
To the Charlottesville eruption they are embarrassed: “Oh, for Christ sake! Reasoned responses! He’s being Rational! The World will think we’re Pussys! Impeach! Impeach! Impeach!!”
I find it very heartening.
Also very amusing…
Trump had to move rapidly on the Asad Sarin gas attack because the Assad apologists were coming out of the woodwork spiunning their alternate realities and pure BS. The US military reported the full story of their months long investigation into multiple gas attacks prepared by Assad’s same gas team and delivered by the same pilot/general but the earlier attacks all used chlorine. This gas group was tracked multiple ways including satellite, radar and human spotters noting daily movements.
Trump’s loud clear message to NK may frighten some people who are used to newspeak and indecision but Kim seems to be listening and has canceled the missile display around Guam. The Chinese are also responding positively with new economic pressure on NK.
The Clintonite hawks foolishly thought they had somehow captured Trump in their agenda when he slapped Assad but they were mistaken and lost again. After their repeated loses they now think this Nazi scare will help them become powerful again but those days are gone and the only people listening to them are their own snowflakes.
wayoutwest,
You wrote: “Trump had to move rapidly on the Asad Sarin gas attack because the Assad apologists were coming out of the woodwork spiunning their alternate realities and pure BS.”
Your statement is, to quote your statement, “pure BS”. A total crock of justificatory horse-shit.
There is NEVER a justifiable need for any kind of an aggressive assault against another nation response to ANY provocation. It is noted here, since your statement indicates you extremely ignorant in regard to international affairs, that there is a difference between ‘defensive’ and ‘aggressive’ in assaultive (attack) responses. It is also noted, again for your indicated needed benefit, that the U.S. had no dog in the pit in the fight in Syria where the 59 Tomahawks were shot “from th hip” in an idiot’s response for an idiotic reason. The act was pure international aggressive war physical aggression, unprovoked use of deadly force against a sovereign nation, with no effort made to determine truth of reports or information. Wherefore, the action was internationally illegal. It was also fundamentally childish and confirmatory of the United States being a nation that has not ever grown up, and, because of the nature of the governments and the governing installed by “Democracy” every four to eight years, which and who may, as illustrated again and again, change the course of the U.S. and reverse policies on whimsy (historically recorded long before Trump became a president), can never, and will never, become, or be, more than a loose cannon, reckless and rogue nation ricocheting between wind-powered policy shifts.
Note that “spinning”, that you noted “coming out of the woodwork” is verbal exercise.
In a world of adults verbal exercises, even ones generating “alternate realities”, which are compositions of words, are answered in the same medium, with alternative word compositions demonstrating logical, reasonable and rational analyses that refute the word-generated alternative realities spun by the spinners.
Your complaint is that your word “spinning” efforts, and those of your ascribed ‘military’,ascribing your preference for a “reality” failed, and fail, to provide anything able to ‘gel’ into something solid enough to support any weight, including the in-the-real-world-necessary weight of physical evidence.
Trump’s loud bombast against ‘NK’ was loud, but never clear. It was all blow. All effort to intimidate. All purposed to inundate with flash-bang and smoke legitimate responses by proximate nations to the U.S. threat-deployment of the unnecessary and aggressive THAAD system. North Korea’s response was defensive, and appropriate. China’s response, using the NK raised controversy to take measure of the U.S.’s millitary potential, was intelligent. China’s position, that media-moggies assert ‘pressured’ NK, that China will aid NK if NK is attacked, but will not if NK aggresses, has been unchanged since, or rather, through the entire duration of, the Korean War.
Jong-un Kim’s bombastic threat to obliterate Okinawa, was an international master-stroke, since Okinawans already hate having U.S. military bases making their island a potential strike target. So Kim did not have to ‘back down’, he, instead, recognized the Okinawans’ being used as a ‘human shield’ by the U.S. and made a decision placing their welfare first, in effect, raising the question to Okinawans, “Does the U.S. do that?” The U.S. lost on the public relations front, and gained nothing on any other front, since NK remains missile-armed and a nuclear power. And one almost near enough to the North American continent that it could bombard Anchorage, AK with fireworks, if it wanted to for a laugh on some future Fourth of July.
I usually enjoy your comments and i thought you would appreciate more accurate information about Asad’s gas attack program.
Your retreat to some model ‘international affairs’ reeks of accomidation especially because this Sarin use on civilians by Assad was supposed to have ended with the Russians deal with Obama.
Trump didn’t attack Suyria he put on a display, with warning, to change abberant behavior and it has worked so far with one reminder that we are watching Syrian behavior closely.
I see you are succeptable to the delusion that the US would or could invade NK or ever has. Kim has a million man army while the US has about 30k soldiers on the border but we are the threat. Trump’s rhetoric frightens people used to mealy-mouthed Newspeak but it has informed Kim of his limits when he threatens his neighbors. He backed down and abandoned his extreme threatening position which is progress however small. China is the real target of Trump’s rhetoric and they are showing responsible behavior towards their neighbor, the mad kingdom they helped create.
Weren’t the “Supremacists” the peaceful protesters who had obtained a permit and were legitimately voicing their concerns in peaceable assembly, when “Counterprotesters” appeared to assault them, violently expressing and demonstrating their “outrage”?
Seems to me there was a comparable case in North or South Carolina some thirty years ago where it was the Ku-Klux-Klan that organized the violent counterprotest against peacefully assembled protesters and, in that case, they were held responsible for the violence they instigated.
May I suggest that today, with the KKK having learned to behave and to participate as legitimate protesters, obtaining permits and exercising their Constitutionally spelled out rights, it is more than only rude and stupid to champion the violent conterprotesters and condone their attacks and assaults as if they were acceptable, or even ‘righteous’.
It is saying to the “Supremacist” protesters, “Being peaceful and obeying the law permits attacks and assaults, which are condoned and celebrated, unlike yours were back in the old days when you used to do that, before you learned civilized ways.”
It says, “Whatever you do you are going to be wrong, and you do not have rights.” It says, “We who hate you are always going to be superior to you and have superior rights, which include a right to abuse you.”
It says to the rest of us that all that work done in the old peace-activist days, to bring the Klan and Nazis and everyone together into the tent, to teach all to leave their pasts in the past, to become peaceful and civil and utilize the same civilized forms and forums “Our system” provides for all of us, is going to go down the drain…
It is going down the drain now. It is going very quickly. Undoing always takes less time than doing.
The irony in Nazis and the KKK playing by the rules and being attacked is profound.
C’ville is smelling more like a set up as more information dribbles out. A NYT article featuring pictures of antifa men and women armed with ‘assault rifles’ has not gotten much attention. The Times picture of antifa blocking Market street so people could not get to the rally at the park and causing a riot is very low profile too.
The police chief’s statement that his men were in regular uniforms so had to leave the riot to get their riot gear was jaw dropping. That conflict was apparently what inspired the cancellation of the park demonstration permit.
Later, failure to do crowd control around the Water St. parking lots where many on both sides left their cars is equally inexplicable. It set the stage for murder.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/us/who-were-the-counterprotesters-in-charlottesville.html
lefty665,
I would say “It set the stage for manslaughter.” Instead of for “murder”. With the counter-protesters being aggressors and having entered the precinct of a lawful protest illegally, the dead and wounded contributed to their own injuries, and the inappropriate action, to ‘push them back with a car’ (likely how the action will be characterized by the defense) was a ‘perhaps inappropriate’ reaction, the driver’s responsibility ameliorated by his frustration (on top of the frustration that brought the protesters to protest, the perceived wrong of respected heritage being devalued and deprecated for apparent political purpose…
The local police might have more of a problem, since their role was not a reversal of the comparable Greensboro Massacre event, where protesters demanding action for “Brown-Lung” victims were the legal protesters and the KKK group were the antagonistic aggressors. In that case the local police let the parties go to shooting. The death that was recognized wrongful in that case was that of a ‘non-combatant’. The folks, on both sides, who carried guns to the event were viewed as contributors to their own injuries, knowingly taking chances coming armed.
Cloudflare kicks DS to curb. Unprecedented action by Cloudflare. They normally do not want to take sides, but when attacked by innuendo…
http://gizmodo.com/cloudflare-ceo-on-terminating-service-to-neo-nazi-site-1797915295
“I realized there was no way we were going to have that conversation with people calling us Nazis,” Prince said. “The Daily Stormer site was bragging on their bulletin boards about how Cloudflare was one of them and that is the opposite of everything we believe. That was the tipping point for me.”
And now DS is netless. Russia says nyet.
https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-neo-nazi-website-russian-domain-daily-stormer/28680409.html
President Trump better hope none of these GOP Senators get it in their head to become Independents. What is the downside to any of “Flake” Jeff Flake, Dean Heller, Lisa Murkowski, & Susan Collins becoming independent and asking the Dems to clear the field against them? They could probably do that AND demand one of them as Senate leader. You have to get off the Crazy Train early, not late. Look at what happened to Charlie Crist in Florida. He parlayed being a popular governor into a house seat with his hemming and hawing. If he went the Angus King route a year earlier, he’d be in the Senate instead of Rubio.
If Trump pardons Arpaio, that would be another clear indicator about who he’s going to protect: America or his base.
I think we all know the answer….
There seems to be some confusion about whether or not the counter protesters had a permit. According to the Memorandum Opinion By: Hon. Glen E. Conrad, United States District Judge in Jason Kessler, Plaintiff, v. City of Charolottesville, Va, et al., Defendants, they did.
They did for McGuffey Park and Justice Park (near where the lady was mowed down by the supremacist. Link is here:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/16/1690648/-Antifa-DID-have-a-permit-Copy-provided
Permit:
https://www.scribd.com/document/356483336/2017-Public-Demonstration-Unity-and-Love-Free-Speech-August-12-2017Certificate-of-Approval#from_embed
Also, from the article:
Charlottesville spokeswoman Miriam I. Dickler told Moyer that only one permit was issued for Emancipation Park — the one received by white nationalists staging the “Unite the Right” rally. However, counter-protesters did not need permits to protest that rally, she said.
“Please bear in mind that people do not need a permit to enter a public park, even when another event is scheduled to take place there, nor are they required to have one to be on streets or sidewalks adjacent to or outside the park,” Dickler said in an email.
Thanks for that!
Big Deal:
WSJ: ACLU Changes Policy on Defending Hate Groups Protesting With Firearms
[Executive director says violence and guns at Charlottesville rally spurred new stance]
I’ll agree about the big deal, but the mechanics of implementation will be harder than the ACLU thinks.
For example, Patriot Prayer is doing a gig here in SF at Crissy Field (8/26 on Federal land – the Presidio) and they are claiming they do not allow extremists. only “moderates”. The interviewer didn’t get names about who Joey Gibson considers as “moderate” but if the ACLU goes to court on their behalf (the City has no say here) what is to stop the 3-precenters, KKK and Identity Europa (etc., etc., et al) thugs from showing up? I also seem to remember seeing something about some of the protests being “delayed” due to “alt-left” threats of violence (but no evidence was ever presented….).
The media is the battlefield. Fed property are perhaps easier to get a demonstration permit. Anyways, the Fed areas are firearm free zones not to mention what I suspect are arcane rules in CA and SF. Not an open loaded carry like Charlottesvile. Besides snitches, agents and instigators on both sides will be in attendance. the DHS will arrest at will anyone they don’t like stepping onto federal ground. Those ALEC and others in favor of criminalizing protest are prime suspects in false flag provocations of tens amidst thousands of counter protestors. Watch for the favored foreigners attending and video taking everywhere. Something spooky about the lack of videos from Charlottesville besides the few pictures of bloodied counter demonstrators. I think the web is cleansing the Nazi flags and for some other searches related to Putin’s team, Sony of India, ( Yes can you believe that? ) is doing DMCA takedowns of search results.
For my two cents the NYTimes cry against the 2nd amendment is hubris. Open carry worked very well in Dallas and Charlottesville confrontations. The only terrorism was carried out by an individual. Any side can try to criminalize protest.