Gaseous Debate
Various media outlets reported that security fired teargas and shot rubber bullets to clear a path for a Trump photo op at St’ John’s Church.
The Federalist made a big issues out the the alleged “lies” claiming it was not teargas but rather smoke canisters.
Supposedly the Federalist represents actual journalists.
Senior National Security Correspondent Alexander Marquardt had this to say.
I believe Marquardt but the key point is that it is irrelevant whether the clearing mechanism was smoke canisters or teargas.
That counterattack is used to hide what is really importtant.
Three Pertinent Facts
- Trump staged ridiculous photo op that brutally backfired
- The protest was peaceful until Trump wrecked it
- Trump crossed a dangerous line
538 Gets the Significance
Two things distinguish Trump’s action from those mayors’. First, the people in D.C. were not in violation of the city’s 7 p.m. curfew — the tear gas was used about 20 minutes before the curfew went into effect, and it seems to have been used for no other purpose than to clear the protesters out of Trump’s walking path.
Second, the president of the U.S. allowing the use of tear gas on civilians protesting peacefully is simply a bigger deal than a mayor or governor doing it. The fact that Trump has used tear gas on protesters could lead to its use by more officials, too.
This is another instance, though, where norms and democratic values have not always aligned. While the First Amendment protects the right of people to freely assemble and petition the government for the redress of grievances, government interference with this right is not uncommon. But the escalation we saw from the White House on Monday is.
It’s not just that the president’s actions violated the right of people to protest, either. How he did this — by using law enforcement officials — matters too. By encouraging the police and military to take on the protesters across the country, Trump has crossed a crucial and dangerous line.
Today or Yesterday?
Trump cannot tell the difference between today or yesterday or a peaceful protest and a fire.
Seeking Calm
I asked for a calm speech from the president and got this response.
Somehow I missed the part where criminals invaded the White House and beat up Melania Trump.
Ridiculous Straw Man
The Day Trump Lost The Presidency
That bastion of liberal new media known as the American Conservative writes The Day Trump Lost The Presidency.
I believe that yesterday was the day that Donald Trump lost the presidency. After days of urban rioting, the likes of which America hasn’t seen in over fifty years, the President of the United States finally deigned to show himself and address the nation. He gave a pro forma address in the White House, then, law enforcement personnel having gassed peaceful protesters to clear the way for the president to walk across the park to St. John’s Church, Trump strolled over, stood in front of the church holding a Bible, for a photo op. A conservative white Evangelical pastor friend texted me his disgust:
This is the act of a weak man who is left with nothing but to stand in front of a church flashing a Bible like a gang sign to get conservative Christians in line. It is pathetic. Today I see that he is going to visit a DC shrine to St. John Paul II — a purely political stunt. As a believing Christian, Trump’s cynicism disgusts me viscerally.
Senator Ben Sasse Blasts Trump
“There is a fundamental – a Constitutional – right to protest, and I am against clearing out a peaceful protest for that treats the Word of God as a political prop.”
Sasse is a Republican senator from Nebraska.
Something Changed
https://twitter.com/mattklewis/status/1267846167422996480
Finally!
Matt Lewis pickled up on it. Lewis is a Senior Columnist for the Daily Beast.
Something changed last night. I am hearing from conservative friends and relatives in states like WV, VA, and SC who are finally done with Trump. One is writing in “Romney-Mattis.” Another one is voting Biden. He just told me, “I want him [Trump] crushed.”
The American Conservative picked up on it as well. So did Senator Sasse. There is more.
Senator Tim Scott Lectures Trump
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the nation’s most prominent black GOP official, tells Politico “If your question is, Should you use tear gas to clear a path so the president can go have a photo opp, the answer is no.”
Ghost of Spiro Agnew
Senators Duck Questions Part 1
Senators Duck Questions Part 2
Senators Duck Questions Part 3
Trump Could Find Little Support From Senate Republicans
Even they have finally had enough.
Senator Tim Kaine
Former Top Military Officials Chime in
Please Note that Trump’s Actions Shocked Generals
Former top military officials also took issue with Trump’s use of U.S. soldiers to counter demonstrators.
“It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel — including members of the National Guard — forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president’s visit outside St. John’s Church,” retired Gen. Mike Mullen, a former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in an extraordinary op-ed in the Atlantic. “I have to date been reticent to speak out on issues surrounding President Trump’s leadership, but we are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent.”
Another former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Gen. Martin Dempsey, was similarly bothered by Trump’s actions.
Retired Gen. Tony Thomas, former head of Special Operations Command, said Trump’s promise to flood the streets of America’s cities with U.S. soldiers is “not what America needs to hear.”
General Dempsey
https://twitter.com/Martin_Dempsey/status/1267591325354012672
“America is not a battleground. Our fellow citizens are not the enemy. #BeBetter“
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
“This evening, the President of the United States stood in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, lifted up a bible, and had pictures of himself taken. In so doing, he used a church building and the Holy Bible for partisan political purposes.“
Representative Jason Crow
James N. Miller Resigns
James N. Miller, Defense Science Board Member and former under secretary of defense for policy from 2012 to 2014 resigned today.
Here is a portion of his Letter to Defense Secretary Esper.
Dear Secretary Esper,
I resign from the Defense Science Board, effective immediately.
When I joined the Board in early 2014, after leaving government service as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, I again swore an oath of office, one familiar to you, that includes the commitment to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States . . . and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”
You recited that same oath on July 23, 2019, when you were sworn in as Secretary of Defense. On Monday, June 1, 2020, I believe that you violated that oath. Law-abiding protesters just outside the White House were dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets — not for the sake of safety, but to clear a path for a presidential photo op. You then accompanied President Trump in walking from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church for that photo.
I must now ask: If last night’s blatant violations do not cross the line for you, what will?
As a concerned citizen, and as a former senior defense official who cares deeply about the military, I urge you to consider closely both your future actions and your future words. For example, some could interpret literally your suggestion to the nation’s governors Monday that they need to “dominate the battlespace.” I cannot believe that you see the United States as a “battlespace,” or that you believe our citizens must be “dominated.” Such language sends an extremely dangerous signal.
You have made life-and-death decisions in combat overseas; soon you may be asked to make life-and-death decisions about using the military on American streets and against Americans. Where will you draw the line, and when will you draw it?
Sincerely,
James N. Miller
I Cannot Remain Silent
Mike Mullen
, Seventeenth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says I Cannot Remain Silent.
It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel—including members of the National Guard—forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president’s visit outside St. John’s Church. I have to date been reticent to speak out on issues surrounding President Trump’s leadership, but we are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent.
I remain confident in the professionalism of our men and women in uniform. They will serve with skill and with compassion. They will obey lawful orders. But I am less confident in the soundness of the orders they will be given by this commander in chief, and I am not convinced that the conditions on our streets, as bad as they are, have risen to the level that justifies a heavy reliance on military troops. Certainly, we have not crossed the threshold that would make it appropriate to invoke the provisions of the Insurrection Act.
Furthermore, I am deeply worried that as they execute their orders, the members of our military will be co-opted for political purposes.
Even in the midst of the carnage we are witnessing, we must endeavor to see American cities and towns as our homes and our neighborhoods. They are not “battle spaces” to be dominated, and must never become so.
Too many foreign and domestic policy choices have become militarized; too many military missions have become politicized.
This is not the time for stunts. This is the time for leadership.
Not the Time for Stunts
The resignation, the Tweets from generals and a bishop, and the refusal of Republican Senators to support Trump, all say the same thing.
Something changed, and changed for the better: Even Republican Senators are sick of Trump.
Most of those Senators are cowards as evidenced by “late for lunch, no comment, did not see the news clip lies.”
But they will no longer defend him.
Trump’s Bubble Just Shattered
This is not the time for stunts, but stunts are all Trump has. His time is up.
Correction
Trump is holding the bible correctly although it appears to be upside down. Initially I questioned if that was the case.
Mish
The country is now dividing into those who think looting and burning are just minor messes on the side and what is REALLY going on is a tyrannical cry-baby Trump dispersing crowds with military muscle, which is terrible
and
those who see the country being held hostage by well organised anarchist cells using peaceful protest as cover for establishing mob rule. If you bend the knee to them, they might relent until later that night.
It looks like they did indeed clear a path for the President to walk to the church, not with tear gas and rubber bullets as reported but smoke bombs, and in so doing also picked up quite a bit of the weaponry these ‘peaceful protesters’ had stashed for the riots they were going to start after curfew, but no matter: tear gas and rubber bullets is the initial story, and the initial story is all that matters these days – the image is set.
A President trying to stand firm for Law and Order after the Nation Capital’s landmark Church had almost been burned to the ground the night before, is only a ‘photo op.’ This of course is an accurate perception for those who have decided that Trump is an imposter etc. But for those who deplore the violence – which is as manipulated as were the unnecessary covid lockdowns – they see a different picture, namely an elite willing to stop at nothing to rub out the American First agenda which was the first political sea-change in more than a generation benefiting Main Street over Wall Street.
So unless Trump can pull off a miracle again (and he does have a track record so..), the big questions are:
Is Heartland Small-Town and rural America going to surrender to mob rule, and later a globalist-run surveillance state culture? Will there be a civil war or not? Will the US remain a single country or not? Will anyone care or not? Will the inner cities turn into third world hell holes or not?
If I had to guess it’s going to be EITHER Trump finds a way to quell all this (probably due to exposing high levels of coordinated treason), or the country is going to break apart. Heartland America will not accept elite-led mob rule that has taken away their livelihoods and rights. If things break down, people will vote with their feet, some moving to Red States with private property, others moving into Blue Urban zones, into gated communities or friendly low-income barrios.
But one thing is for sure: either way there are going to be far more deaths, suffering and poverty thanks to all this. People inflamed by political ideology or conviction do a huge amount of damage. They are right, you see, so anything they do is also right. Intellectuals who keep thinking this is mainly or only about whether or not Trump gets elected and whether or not people see through his phony act are going to be in for a big surprise: their comfortable world will be no more. They will never be safe again, not really, and few families will survive intact such a wrenching civil war – no matter how well or poorly it plays out.
Oh and also, baby boomers will almost certainly lose their life savings. The Big Bank elites have a way of cleaning people out that way, plus they are perfecting viruses very good at targeting the retired populations to accelerate the process! But that’s okay, a worthy sacrifice: as long as we get rid of Trump who Matthis has told us is a ‘danger to the Republic’ (and we trust everyone who rose up to the heights in the military-industrial Amerikan Empire complex, don’t we?!), it’s all worth it. We will be doing the ‘right thing’ – anything to ensure we don’t have to endure four more years of a steadily growing economy with low unemployment, truly terrible!
When I saw that pic, I thought…it’s Michael Dukakis in a tank wearing a helmet all over again. He should back out and let Mike Pence make a run for it.
I had the same visceral gut reaction when I saw him with the Bible in front of the church, his presidency is over at this point, morally and practically it was over at that moment, he lost any legitimacy he had left.
He was already on shaky ground with the handling of the protests/leadership, but to engage in such a stunt at such a crucial moment in the time for the country was simple madness/narcissism.
Now you begin to see the self serving distancing by his lackeys, such as Esper who can see the game is over and it’s time to salvage what he can of his reputation. There is nothing courageous in what any of his current lackeys are doing by distancing themselves at this moment, it’s simple self serving, he is done and they know it.
The DC police also attacked reporters, including Australian reporters in front of that DC church. It’s a huge story in the UK and in Australia. It’s the video watched around the world of US police attacking Australian journalists – and brutally beating them. Australia’s Prime Minister is involved now. The video is horrific. The cameraman is sitting with his camera and the officer hits him hard with his shield and then punches him in the face with his fist. As the female reporter tries to escape, an officer slams her in the back with his beating stick. She explains that it was worse than what was taped and they are battered and bruised. The Australian reporter called it tear gas – not that it matters. Beating people and firing at them and is more than enough to obliterate people’s basic human rights.
If you are in front of the skirmish line when it begins to move, you need to move.
You can’t say “I am a reporter” and think they are going to take the time to check your credentials when they are grossly outnumbered by a crowd with known hostile actors hiding within. It simply doesn’t work that way.
The fact is that in a situation like that, the cops know only who the other cops are. Everyone else has to be moved and if they won’t move willingly, they get shoved, pushed, and hit with a baton until they do. If they still refuse, the get dragged behind the line, subdued, and cuffed for arrest.
The reasons for this are obvious and anyone with a press pass knows the deal: do not get caught at the skirmish line when it’s moving.
Most people will forget in a few weeks and even more by the election. It’s unfortunate but that’s how it is. If the Dems won’t allow a debate, they have a great chance to take the WH. If they do debate, then we are back at the Hillary/Trump campaign. We do know that when it comes down to the wire Trump will be in all the important states politicking his fanny off, just like last time. Will it be enough? Don’t know and neither does anyone else! Trump’s time may be up, but the choice is not that comforting. A career politician what will he really have to add to our current predicaments.
Millions of likely Democrats don’t vote – so as long as these millions of people don’t bother to participate then Trump wins again.
The convention should elect Pence in his place.
King Donald has turned this country into a kingdom, and most republicans and his supporters will vote for him again. No wonder most empires or kingdoms are not defeated from outside, but from inside.
What kingdom? Every time #resistance Democrats have abused the court system to attempt to block what ever Trump wanted to do. Trump has responded in court each time, instead of as a king would have done, ignored the court.
Sullivan has no justification to not drop the case against Flynn. The newly released evidence shows he was set up by corrupt government officials.
It is interesting that the other day, two lawyers were caught firebombing in New York.
What kingdom was it that they sought to impose?
Mish, in the 15+ years I’ve read you, this post will go down not only as the greatest post you have ever written, but it should be given space at the Smithsonian Institute. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
The former head of the RNC, Michael Steele, says you all have to stop waiting for Republican Senators and Congress members to hold Trump accountable. I hope everyone with a microphone starts and ends with these words – “VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! The most unlikely voters are young people and people of color. If they want change – then they have to change by showing up to vote. We need informed people who show up on November 3rd and who hold all elected officials accountable to fight to make our Constitution a reality.
“The Federalist made a big issues out the the alleged “lies” claiming it was not teargas but rather smoke canisters. “
This what the right-wing nutjobs do. They find a minute aspect and then use it to negate the entire point. It is done all the time with the weapon type.
For example: It was not an AK-47, but an AK-74 copy that only operates in single-shot mode so the killer did not mow down 20 people with an assault rifle.
If you don’t understand the difference between smoke and tear gas, you’re not adding anything of value to the discussion. The difference is more drastic than night and day and comparing that to the difference between two different types of rifles is just ignorant.
Please note that there are cops in the videos not wearing gas masks. Trust me – if they were using tear gas, every cop within 75 yards of the area would be wearing a mask.
“The Federalist made a big issues out the the alleged “lies” claiming it was not teargas but rather smoke canisters. “
“This what the right-wing nutjobs do. They find a minute aspect and then use it to negate the entire point. It is done all the time with the weapon type.”
njbr’s video posted below, shows the police were not were not wearing gas masks, a dead giveaway that it wasn’t tear gas. That is not a minor point, considering the claim was that Trump had protesters gassed to go to a church for a photo op. Nor is it a minor point that the video of Trump does not show the same scenery as where Trump walked to the church. The video of the protesters was recorded elsewhere.
who cares? the stock market is rocketing upward! Life has become better, comrades, life has become more cheerful
Stalin 1935
Is this news bullish?
If after everything Trump has done in his first three years hasn’t propelled republican senators to grow a backbone and vocally criticize Trump, I seriously doubt that a little abrogation of the constitution is going to motivate them now. The desire for power amongst most outweighs any desire for the greater common good. Though the democrats would have done better most of them also let their desire for re-election outweigh ethics. An article I read many years ago Beware The Psychopath, My Son helped me make more sense out of most political decisions that benefit the few. https://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/beware-the-psychopath-my-son/
I believe there is a shocking truth behind what is happening now. Global riots are not about George Floyd, or racism. They are about destroying America, and everything it used to stand for.
It is entirely about the globalist-socialist agenda, which hinges on getting rid of the extreme nationalist: TRUMP. To put it in plainer terms: the USA is being played for fools by globalists who want to see themselves in control in much the same way as the EU.
Today’s riots are no different to most of the politically biased events that have dominated the media for the last three-plus years. Before that, remember the concerted efforts of the Obama Administration to derail his election, for example, his use of the IRS, and the role of the DOJ/FBI in Russia-gate…. With the mass media on the globalists’ side, any debate is quickly squelched. Critical thinking has stopped. Even staunch supporters have doubts.
The above has been clear to me since the ‘impossible’ happened and Hillary was not elected. To date, the mass media has not had a single good word for Trump. They decry as one voice: TRUMP MUST GO, and the fools listen and fall in step.
He is not a globalist and he is not-controllable–ergo he becomes dangerous to the status quo. Proof: he resists man-caused global climate change–they can’t tolerate that. He minimizes the UN. He renegotiates trade agreements, reins in China, and the globalists are furious.
You want a controllable President–elect Biden. And then emasculate yourself as a country.
Only time will tell if I am right. By then, it will be too late.
Trump is still controlled by Putin. Literally everything is playing out as Putin wanted. Time has already told you are wrong. Trump will try to march the military through the streets of Washington DC but it isn’t gonna work. They will end up killing citizens and it will backfire on Trump. This isn’t Russia.
“Trump is still controlled by Putin.”
That comedy routine is getting old, C.O. Even the Comedy Store here in L.A. has moved on to other comedy material.
I wish it were RJ. I doubt anyone here has studied Putin as well as me. This is very similar to how he changed Russia from a democracy under Yeltsin back to an authoritarian nation under him. Trump is a Putin suckup because his hotels were saved by Putin through Deutcsche Bank laundered money. I suspect military tanks will try to be rolled out into the streets of Washington DC as the next move by Trump. Straight out of the Putin playbook. So predictable.
Always with the excuses for this obese orange snowflake. The bad old globalists weren’t powerful enough to prevent his election, but are powerful enough to thwart him at every turn, and are powerful enough to steal the next election, despite losing their puppet president and puppet senate. Do you even read the idiocy that dribbles down your chin onto the page?
That fact that you must resort to name calling diminishes the credibility of your comment. It is one of the things I truly dislike about Trump. Truly smart people do not resort to name calling–they will ‘take you down’ and you won’t even realize it.
Meanwhile, study recent US history. Dissect it for yourself. List every politicized event of the last 5 years, its causes, media influences, and outcomes. What you will see is a stymied president, with global and US government forces arrayed against him. BTW, I am not saying Trump is right. What I am saying is that the preponderance of the evidence suggests there is an external agenda for the USA.
And now you’re butthurt because my comment wasn’t politically correct. A perfect circle of sanctimonious stupidity.
You are not thinking critically. Instead, you are mouthing the mass media position. Putin is ex-KGB, perhaps the best of the best. He is Rasputin and Machiavelli; he does not want a strong leader in the US. He wants a weak leader who will give in to Russia’s trade needs. This would be Hillary, btw.
A few days is nothing. A few decades, perhaps. And then the winner writes the history.
To be honest, I think Trump is not smart enough to do what needs to be done. By that I mean, he must be seen to be doing the right thing, while he does what needs to be done.
Trump isn’t a nationalist, he’s a narcissist. After the 2016 campaign promises went out the window, all he seemed to care about were lowering interest rates, markets going up, and jawboning with Iran while becoming even closer to Saudi Arabia and Israel. How is any of that MAGA?
It’s true that Trump isn’t totally controlled like the career politicians, but that lack of control is meaningless when he doesn’t want to do anything that would fix our problems. If anything, he wants to step on the accelerator and hasten our inevitable demise. While that may not be such a bad strategy in the long run, it’s completely contrary to what his supporters believe, that he’s somehow saving us by racking up debt even faster than his predecessors, even before Covid-19.
At least give him credit for being the national narcissist!
“They are about destroying America, and everything it used to stand for.”
But no longer do. Even in the slightest.
We’re a totalitarian shithole now. Like Venezuela. One of those guys. Not something worth preserving even the tiniest trace of.
The convention should elect Pence as the nominee.
Well said, Captain! This is indeed far larger a stage than most are considering, and this US election goes far beyond the typical R vs B Uniparty parody.
I give T a little more credit. I think things have been building for a while to a more overt struggle between what can simply be called nationalists versus globalists, or sovereign states versus some sort of international soviet – basically two classes, elites and everyone else. But during a struggle like this, it’s ‘wartime consiglieri’ time and you need someone who knows how to fight hard and, if necessary, dirty. Certainly the Dems-Globalists fight dirty, though the press refuses to point this out and their supporters erect cognitive shields – using dainty words like ‘peaceful protestors’ and ‘take a knee’ to provide convenient cover. But he has already shown remarkable skill and resilience to have endured what has already been thrown at him. In a way, the current emerging stand-off was inevitable.
Either he is indeed the man for the times as his many supporters hope, or he isn’t. But one thing is for sure in my mind: those arrayed against him are far, far worse than he and what he has been doing thus far, and I think the people so eager to see him fall are extremely short-sighted.
Time will tell. Large things like this, manipulated or not, have a way of playing themselves out. Unfortunately, things usually end up worse. If all the revolutions and wars since the 1790’s have taught us anything, it should be that. At the same time, progress has marched on apace, and with all the many beautiful things destroyed and millions of lives lost to violence and enforced poverty, many good things have happened too, so hopefully this will be the same.
But I’m not counting Trump out yet. For every General who stands up to denounce him, that’s one more little sub-network of globalist power exposing itself to the population. If they fail to turf him out, they are finished.
In any case, the Trump Period is giving us some of the most exciting Reality TV Republic episodes, isn’t it? Let’s just pray it doesn’t end like the JFK series of which this is a continuation with many of the same alphabet agency and secretive elite Bad Actors.
All you Trumpers watch this video….sure looks like gas to me.
Your leader lies and you swear to it….
Since I was a child
I’ve tried to be what I am not
I’ve lied and I’ve enjoyed it all my life
I lied to my dear mother
To my sisters and my brother
And now I’m lying to my children and my wife
Big Hat, no cattle
Big head, no brain
Big snake, no rattle
I forever remain
Big hat, no cattle
I knew from the start
Big boat, no paddle
Big belly, no heart
“All you Trumpers watch this video….sure looks like gas to me.”
I suggest you look at the fact that the police officers at :19 into the clip were not wearing gas masks.
So much for it being gas.
It was smoke and pepper balls.
And yes, if it had been tear gas, ALL the officers in the area would have been wearing masks.
Yes, njbr is being a propagandist. No tear gas.
I also noticed in the video that where the protesters were, was a different location than the route Trump walked to the church. There was no church visible in that protester section of the video.
I won’t be surprised if the RNC circles the wagons and nominates Pence for President in a last ditch effort to look sane again. The silent support for Trump is going to come back to haunt the Republican party if they don’t act soon. Can you imagine a super-majority of Democrats in the Senate ? They would remove Trump nominees at every court level including a recall of both judges at the Supreme Court.
I don’t see any sanity in the Democratic Party.
After all, they support ANTIFA, a violent group that uses fascist tactics.
“I don’t see any sanity in the Democratic Party.”
Exactly, and that makes me wonder if any high ranking Democratic Party operatives had a hand in these coordinated protests. Unfortunate as that might be, it does not mean they will not be successful in winning the election, especially if President Trump continues to tweet about “dominating” protestors with force or if he goes to any more locations where federal police pelted citizens with pepper balls and smoke bombs to clear the area. All Democrats really need for a Fait Accompli is for the stock market to crash big in 3…2…1…
Speaking of which, I am a bit surprised the stock market has not already reacted more negatively to President Trump’s dimming re-election prospects.
The cops used these tactics first. I see less sanity in the Republican party. They should change their letter to (C) for Coward. Trump was in the White House bunker being a Coward when this started. His followers are cowards too.
Seems to me that if ANTIFA was actually anti fascist, they shouldn’t be using fascist tactics and the Democratic Party should not be supporting them.
Some 60 Secret Service agents were injured by “peaceful” protesters. Your bunker comment is rather clownish.
Stop trying to change the topic like Trump. This is about a cop strangling a citizen to death and 3 other cops watching. Trump is a loser just like his supporters because he couldn’t come up with the goods when it counted. People could give two shits if the White House burns down at this point and Trump is sleeping.
Trump is trying use the Putin playbook but it won’t work because this isn’t Russia:
Former military leaders and democracy experts condemned the use of force against citizens. Retired Adm. Mike Mullen wrote in The Atlantic that Trump had “laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country.” Kori Schake, a former Pentagon official and Republican policy adviser, said, “If we were seeing this in another country, we would be deeply concerned.” Gail Helt, a former C.I.A. analyst, told The Washington Post: “This is what autocrats do. This is what happens in countries before a collapse. It really does unnerve me.”
“Kori Schake, a former Pentagon official and Republican policy adviser, said, “If we were seeing this in another country, we would be deeply concerned.”
Let me guess, another never-Trumper?
Where has all the concern been for the autocratic Democrat governors during the Covid pandemic? What the Democratic governors did is what autocrats do.
Good job equating a pandemic to gassing citizens for a photo op. Well done. When this blog gets flooded with the likes of you, I know the Trumpers are really worried. They show up here in droves every time Trump does something more idiotic.The joke is gonna be on you in the end when audio is revealed of what idiots he thinks his supporters are.
Yep – change the subject again. Did his actual quotes hurt your widdle feewings?
These riots solidified Trump’s base for sure. When people see Trump debate Biden, they will move to Trump. Unfortunately, that’s the best the American people will get, but I take law and order over chaos. Wouldn’t be surprised to see some Democrat introduce a reparations bill that Brain Dead Biden would endorse. Create more chaos and hate in the country. I saw absolutely no creativity or common sense amongst Democrats in primaries. Just more politically correct hog wash. End this nonsense and move forward.
We don’t have law and order, and trumpty is in full control of the Executive and Legislative branches, maybe even the Judicial. We’ll see how that tax return case that they’ve been deliberating shakes out.
We COULD have had law and order now, if trumpty had just told Barr to lean on the Minneapolis clowns that tried to cover this and gotten those cops charged appropriately a week ago. Then make some conciliatory noises about how we aren’t gonna let this happen again, shut his fat mouth, and go golfing.
Instead he threatens the American People with military force… and like true Americans, they came back even harder against the government, while he hides in the basement with the lights off, hoping they’ll go away.
If he keeps pushing, the guns are coming out, and those pretty lines of police are going to be easy targets.
“but I take law and order over chaos”
The Trump Administration is one of the most chaotic and corrupt in recent memory. Have you not been paying attention?
The Democratic party is going to regret its early celebrating. Today’s headline is how looters murdered a 77 yr old man guarding his friends store. When the smoke clears on this entire period, the protesters will be seen as the accomplices of the rioters and the looters, because in fact that is what they are. They are laying the camouflage and the cover for the people who do the killing and destruction. No one glorifies the riots in history, and no one wants to admit being responsible.
How can the protesters/rioters justify placing the life of a convicted felon who was in in the process of committing a crime above the lives of innocent law abiding citizens simply trying to protect their property and businesses.
Go ahead and continue to put a convicted criminal on a pedestal, while ignoring the innocent people being murdered as a result of your actions… Let’s see what the public opinion is in 6 mos.
The population will pick law and order. Nobody wants riots and looting. Democrats were silent or made token speaches. Disgusting. Where was Pelosi and Schumer? You have a Democrat in Minnesota endorsing Antifa. Are they out of their minds???
Law and order has not worked out too well from what I can see in the streets. Law and order doesn’t mean police and military get to stop peaceful protest. And in case you didn’t realize it, the government is a SERVANT of the people. So far the population is picking peaceful protest. It is only the extremes, of which there are not many remaining, picking law and order, which is killing civilians by kneeling on their necks.
Heh, okay let’s see in 6 months what the voting “middle” thinks of Trump’s lack of leadership on a deadly virus and lack of leadership against police brutality.
I have lived through this before, I doubt if you can say the same. Trump will not be held responsible for the killings of scores of people we now see happening. He will not be held responsible for the billions of dollars in destruction which will result in even more economic decline.
This is very similar to the environment in 1968 when the Democratic convention self destructed into violence and riots. The Democrats will be seen as the supporters of the riots and social unrest and when things are looked at in their entirety, the loss of life and tragedy caused by the riots will overshadow the killing of Floyd and make it as inconsequential as the beating of Rodney King.
The violence we see now will continue. It will continue because it is being subsidized by the Democratic party. The people instigating the violence now feel powerful and will continue to do so until this cycle runs its course. The American people will become angry about the senseless violence and they will blame the Democrats for supporting it. The Democrats are on the wrong side of this, and it will bite them badly when the election gives the people the chance to voice their disgust with the killings, beatings, looting, and arson that are devastating the lives of so many innocent Americans.
It depends on how the protests turn out, and how Democratic politicians appear to respond. Trump has already proven to be tone-deaf on the issue of police brutality. Will Democrat politicians be seen as condoning riots? Too early to predict that is the way this will go.
Thank you for proving my point. The way the protests will turn out is now clear to everyone except the liberals.
Let me connect the dots. The police and their unions are now under fire. Do you honestly believe they are going to stand by passively and allow their power to be diminished?
The police have been through this before, and they have a play book. If you have been watching, the police have been spending their time rounding up curfew violations while letting the rioters and looters pretty much get away with their crimes. This is on purpose. They are emboldening the criminals knowing the looting and crime spree will get worse as days pass.
They will continue to let crime get out of hand, and criminality spread until the public forgets about Floyd, and demands an end to the crime that will engulf liberal cities nationwide.
The police will say they are powerless to fight the crime because their hands are tied and they are undermanned and under equipped to handle the now out of control situation. Public attention will shift from social inequality to public safety as roaming gangs victimize both cities and suburbs.
By November, no one will even remember who Floyd was, they will instead be consumed with the nightly reports of ever spreading violence as crime becomes the new crisis of 2020. Democrats will be backpedaling as they attempt to defend their attack on police and their siding with the protests which will be blamed for the ongoing crime spree. People will vote for law and order and the Democrats will be on the wrong side of the issue just as they were when they got their heads handed to them in 1968.
Big difference between 1968 and now, is that in 1968 most Americans still owned something. And, among those, most had actually worked for what they owned.
Today, most own nothing. Hence have little to lose from looting and vandalism to begin with. While those few who do own something, themselves obtained it by no other means than The Fed and government looting the rest on their behalf.
The looting which have stolen Americans’ lives’ work over the past 50 years, have not been conducted by Hobgoblins, Antifas, Mexicans, Chinese, Bogeymen bahh, blah. But instead by the free shit army of abject nothings which the Fed’s debasement redistribution has benefited.
And while the (not so) Great American Indoctrinati may not have the insight to realize exactly how that theft and looting went down, there are limits to have far it can be taken, before they at least start smelling a rat.
People have as much opportunity today as they ever had. What they do not have is work ethic. Millennial’s are pathetic. They have had everything handed to them their whole life and expect something for nothing. My social security record began when I was 12 yrs old, and I worked steadily every summer from that time on until I finished school. What America truly needs is a depression on the scale of 1929 to teach these panty wastes what hard times really are. Perhaps then they would get off their lazy backsides and learn to provide for themselves.
“My social security record began when I was 12 yrs old, and I worked steadily every summer from that time on until I finished school.”
Because your generation were still naive enough to believe some of that money was saved.
It wasn’t. It was stolen, in order to have loot to hand to the free shit army who never did a lick of productive work, while still being handed “ownership” and control of everything from houses to American once-was industry without doing a single productive day’s worth of work in order to earn any of it
. So, in effect, all your work and social security contributions, attributed to nothing more than paying for hookers and blow for connected free shit army leeches doing makework on “Wall Street” and other FIRE rackets. As well as to building craters in Baghdad. That’s it. That’s all your “doing the right thing” ever contributed to.
Millennials, with the benefit of hindsight, see that. They very much realize you haven’t put aside a dime for retirement by handing money to the FIRE rackets who then promptly stole it and spent it. Since if you had, they, the Milennials, wouldn’t have to be starring into a government gun barrel, while being robbed in order to make up for the lack of any savings at all on your behalf.
So why should they bother repeating that sorry life arch? Work their rear off in order to have their value-add stolen by a bunch of useless free shit army leeches? Why not instead just join the free shit army themselves, and let others play the role of patsies in the rackets?
And a troupe of monkeys will fly out of your butt and present the works of Shakespeare.
The blue and red teams don’t “regret” anything, they’re playing a game. It’s their supporters that should be full of regret after squabbling with each other over minor issues while the country was looted (by Fed cronies, not petty vandals in riots).
…..no question Trump is finished! Just look at what Kent State did to Nixon’s ’72 reelection attempt.
There is a huge difference between today’s looting and pillaging, while pretending to protest George Floyd’s death, and resisting a war that was rapidly falling out of favor, with the foolish shooting of four students, and wounding 9 others, on a university campus.
I think Trump may be finished, but for all the wrong reasons. He was the first president since Reagan to take a stand against the ‘status quo’ that runs this country. Instead of twittering, he should’ve been flushing public servants–there are far too many Democrats in public service–they run the country despite how the people vote.
“He was the first president since Reagan to take a stand against the ‘status quo’ that runs this country.”
In what alternaverse, does going further trillions into debt, specifically to bail out the idiot members of “the ‘status quo’ that runs this country,” constitute taking a stand against them and it?
Tweeting random dumb stuff while doing nothing of value , is not “taking a stand.” It’s just tweeting dumb stuff and doing nothing of value.
End the Fed and all activity taxation, Default on all debt, Gold at $20/oz and the only tender for official payments: That’s doing something meaningful about ending, or even changing, “the ‘status quo’ that runs this country.” Not the mindless, braindead continuing on unabated, with the exact same rank idiocies which all his predecessors have involved themselves in for over a century.
Trump has shown no indication he is sentient enough to understand what “the ‘status quo’ that runs this country.” even is. Much less sentient enough to do anything about it. Just like Biden’s brother-in-dementia, Reagan. Talk a big talk, impress downright morons on TV, then continue unabated with bailing out the usual free shit army of nothings, with money robbed by debasement from their betters. That’s all any of them have ever done, and will ever do.
“Trump staged ridiculous photo op that brutally backfired”
Sums it all.
There was no tear gas used. If anyone was “coughing up a lung” it was because of the pepper-loaded paintballs – which were used and probably in large numbers.
Contrary to popular belief, cops don’t like to use tear gas because it’s too difficult to control and a pain in the ass even for those wearing masks. Much easier to shoot smoke grenades and pepper balls. Enough of the crowd starts to tear up and cough because of the pepper, everyone sees that, sees the smoke and thinks “tear gas”. Then they run away from the skirmish line. Which is the point.
And the response was touched off at about 1833 which is right about the time Trump was getting ready to hit the podium. At that time, some members of the crowd began throwing rocks, frozen water bottles, and some sort of liquids into the skirmish line. Some went after the weapons being carried by officers. These actions appear to be timed to allow the media to watch the Park Police and NG “clear peaceful protesters” from the park while Trump was speaking.
And the media did not disappoint. Lemon over at CNN was positively apoplectic. “…we are teetering on the edge of a dictatorship!” LOLOLOL What?
This is like the Allegory of the Cave happening in real time. A large number of people are staring at the wall while the media dances in front of a fire casting the shadows they want you to see as the “real world.”
You want the cops to stop pushing protesters out of areas? It’s simple: The “peaceful protesters” need to begin policing their own ranks. If someone gets violent, they need to shut them down. Use words first and if that doesn’t work, mob them, subdue them, and hand them over to the police. If they do this, the cops will begin to learn who they can trust on the other side of the line. Otherwise, when the violent elements act up, you will all be in the same boat because without uniforms, you all look the same to them.
Why does it matter whether Teargas or Pepper spray was used?
It doesn’t.
How many times does a former Chair of Joint Chief of Staff make that claim? 3 Republican Senators speak out against the President?
Someone on the Defense Board resign the way he did?
So hide behind your Gaseous take.
What are you hiding behind?
“And the response was touched off at about 1833 which is right about the time Trump was getting ready to hit the podium. At that time, some members of the crowd began throwing rocks, frozen water bottles, and some sort of liquids into the skirmish line. Some went after the weapons being carried by officers. These actions appear to be timed to allow the media to watch the Park Police and NG “clear peaceful protesters” from the park while Trump was speaking.”
Exactly.
Yes it matters whether it was tear gas or pepper balls. Anyone who has experienced both would tell you that they would choose the latter every single time. Pepper balls are irritating and uncomfortable but the effects wear off quickly. Tear gas can be incapacitating – vomiting, nausea, disorientation, dizziness…etc. It’s a hundred times worse.
Fankly I thought the Park Police showed tremendous restraint by using smoke and pepper balls and pushing people out of the area given the actions of those who instigated the response.
And I couldn’t care less about the opinions of a bunch of political hacks and appointees. They can resign in droves if they want to. That – and their opinions – prove nothing.
You know what matters? THE TRUTH. And that is what should matter to you, the rest of the commenters here, and the media establishment.
All those people you say are resigning and pissing and moaning are doing so to cover their ass because they can see with their own eyes that in today’s world of The Cave – the truth doesn’t matter anymore. So they are hedging their bets. Most of them were probably anti-Trump in the first place. Half the Republican party hates him and would like nothing better than to see him fail.
You can be against Trump – I don’t care. I don’t like him or any other politician. But you owe it to others and yourself- and to the people like the Park Police who are doing their best in an AWFUL situation that they had no part in making – to be truthful when you report something.
“given the actions of those who instigated the response.”
“They were being attacked by an unknown number of hostiles”
Any evidence for this? Surely some of iPhones captured the hostilities of which you are certain.
And surely the troops did not start using chemicals to disperse the crowd before curfew because of a chain of commands going back to Trump wanting to get to the church while the light was still good for his photo-op with God.
Hahahaha!
I don’t spend my time roaming all over the internet looking for specific video footage to justify what I saw with my own eyes while watching the live coverage.
Furthermore, there are no shortage of videos of the protesters throwing all kinds of things all day. Do you think they would suddenly stop because Trump was about to speak?
And I can guarantee you that the Park Police – knowing the president is speaking less than 200 yards away, are going to treat any sort of attack a bit differently than they would were he safely inside. That is a courtesy they would extend to any president.
And I love the way we’ve switched from “gas” to “chemicals” now. Is that part of the narrative falling apart? That had to hurt for them to see their own video footage showing cops without gas maks… I mean, I suppose the fake smoke and powdered pepper could be called “chemicals” but then again, so can water. So I am not sure what the point is. Neither the powdered pepper nor the smoke are hazardous or lethal. Which is pretty much why they are used.
Listen – if you can’t understand the point of view and actions of a watch captain – facing an unknown number of violent actors hiding in a crowd of protesters when the president is speaking nearby, then I can’t help you. Their job doesn’t allow much room for failure because if they fail, the line breaks. And as I said before, you don’t want to see the results of that.
It’s very simple: If you want to peacefully protest, then you need to police your own ranks to ensure that any asshats who do anything untoward are taken care of. Because if you do not, and the order is given for the line to move, you are in the same boat as the aforementioned asshats. Because the cops cannot tell you apart.
That’s a very verbose deflection, impressive! So: NO evidence of ANY provocation that might somehow kinda sorta justify the clearing of protestors from Lafayette Square by force before curfew. Got it.
Yep. It was all so Trump could accomplish two goals simultaneously:
It’s funny how everyone is always so quick to invoke Occam’s Razor until it intrudes on their narrative.
Believe whatever you like – I don’t really care.
Okay so…
Just for shits and giggles I searched around for a few minutes. I was pretty sure I’d not find much because no one – not the media and certainly not the protesters – is going to post any footage showing anything that might shift the narrative against them.
I was right. In fact, nearly all media outlets were using the same set of footage that starts by showing a sea of protesters in an intersection, when suddenly a couple of booms go off to the right of the camera. Of course the operator then pans right to show protesters running away as clouds of smoke fill the air. Then – depending on the outlet using the footage, there were different cuts to different scenes from other videos attempting to show people in various forms of distress as – according one reporter – the “fog of tear gas filled the streets”…
Lost on that reporter – and the rest of them apparently – is that were those grenades actually tear gas, the people wandering around among them without a gas mask would have been – in very short order – gasping, spitting, crying, wailing, and in many cases vomiting their guts up. As would the police/National Guard troops they showed calmly walking through it without masks. So yeah.
So we’er going to go with “chemicals” now guys…
However, I was pleasantly surprised to find one snippet of video, taken in the aftermath (I am guessing between 7 and 730 PM based on the amount of natural light) by some little-known vlogger I don’t know and don’t care about. What I do care about however, is her description of what happened and how they got to that point…
It’s really short so please, watch the whole thing but pay particular attention to what she says started the whole mess – bearing in mind this was shot while it was happening…
And if you care to look for yourself, there are also several other private videos where beginning around 6 PM, you can hear the police/National Guard on a loudspeaker warning the crowd that the curfew was at 7 PM and that they would begin moving to disperse everyone prior to that time.
Also not shocking to me is that none of these reporters know the first thing about what any of the devices being used actually are. They just claim that it’s “tear gas” and “flash bangs”…
The “booms” you’re hearing are two things – 1) the sound of the projectile being shot from a 40 MM grenade launcher (yes, it’s freaking loud) and 2) the sound of the device itself detonating prior to releasing smoke (also loud). There were no flash-bangs used – the detonation sounds completely different. The smoke itself is not toxic at all and unless you put your face right in it and breathe it, it won’t even make you cough that much.
The pepper balls are .68 caliber paintballs shot from a air-charged paintball gun. They are loaded with about 2 grams of powdered capsacian derived from chili peppers. The primary effect is burning eyes, but if it gets on your skin, it will feel like a load of icy hot. Each one has an “effective range” of about 150 feet if you’re shooting at a single target with nothing around it. Outside, on the street in a crowd of people, the true effective range is probably about 10 feet – which means everyone within 10 feet of the person it hits, or where it hits the ground is going to experience something from it. Naturally, those farther away will feel it less. YMMV
As for the “use of chemicals” and those trying to equate smoke grenades and pepper balls as somehow the same as tear gas is laughable. It’s easy to convince someone who’s never experienced real tear gas that they are “close enough to be the same” but the reality is that they are MILES apart. Most people will recover from a pepper ball (or even pepper spray) in anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes. Actual tear gas can have you incapacitated for 30 minutes and feeling like you’ve been run through a meat grinder for two to four hours and in some cases an entire day.
I’m sorry that all of this seems so devastating for all the snowflakes out there watching on television and the internet, but this is how crowd control works in the real world.
If you won’t police your own, then the choice left to law enforcement is to either let violent actors – hiding in YOUR crowd – do what they want when they want, or for them to do their jobs and move the entire crowd – including you – by using non-lethal force.
But don’t worry – you’ll look cool on TV or YouTube and chicks dig guys who stand up to “the man.”
So I have twice tried to post the YouTube video link and it’s not showing up in any of my browsers or phone.
Here is it cut to pieces – just copy, paste, and eliminate the spaces:
www. youtube. com/watch? v=zDQjmElzbVI
Thanks, good find.
You mention that some members of the crowd started attacking the police right when Trump was about to hit the podium. That cannot have been coincidence. Based on the timing, it is very likely this was set up by someone to cast the President in a bad light. The correct thing for the President to have done, had he known what was happening, would have been for him to cancel the whole outing. Yes, the Park Police showed restraint compared to what they could have done, but they will correctly receive zero sympathy and understanding for that because they were not merely defending themselves. They were also taking control of a public area from the public so that some propaganda photos could be snapped. It was their assignment and their job, but they will not get any sympathy for performing it for the purpose of propaganda. Also, those propaganda photos are worse than worthless now. They will a have negative effect on public opinion every time they are shown.
The likely truth is, Trump and the Park Police got played and it does not look good.
The point I am making is that Trump probably didn’t order the park cleared. He probably told the Secret Service he wanted to go to the church and they were probably scrambling trying to figure out how to do it.
Furthermore, the Park Police likely had no idea that he was going to the church. The protesters didn’t know. The reporters in the press pool didn’t know. It isn’t like they posted it on Twitter. Almost everyone there was shocked.
The actions of the violent protesters were deliberately timed and the Park Police response was proper given the situation. They were being attacked by an unknown number of hostiles hiding in a group of peaceful protesters with no way to separate the two. They are outnumbered by a huge margin. The President is speaking less than 200 yards away. The proper response is to use the least amount of force possible and move EVERYONE – peaceful or not away from the area as far as possible and set up a new skirmish line.
That is what they did. And they did it using smoke, pepper balls, and bodies with riot shields. There was NO tear gas. There was no “gas” of any kind – just smoke.
And people in media or influential blogs like this making false statements because they think it “hurts Trump” ARE criticizing the Park Police because it was THEIR response.
What if because of all this criticism – designed to hurt Trump – the next time this happens, the duty officer hesitates to give the order to push and the skirmish line breaks as a result?
Trust me, the response will not be pepper balls and smoke grenades….
I hope that you are right, Mish.
“This is the charged, the dangerous moment, when everything must be re-examined, must be made new, when nothing at all can be taken for granted.” James Baldwin
Would Jesus cleared out protesters with tear gas to pose with a Bible–not his Bible?
I think my conclusion that Trump is nothing more than a con man was proven with one photo op. Had he ever shown any sign of true Christian witness, I might be less suspect of what just happened. He is an empty suit and an empty soul. He cares nothing about Christians and our God other than for a source of votes.
America has a saying that if you can fake sincerity you’ve got it made. By that definition Trump is the worst con man ever. Trump is just a thug.
It is the Democratic Party that supports ANTIFA
Both Republican and Democrats are corrupt. Only morons think one is better than the other.
Changing the subject? How lame.
That suit isn’t empty, it’s groaning at the seams with lard.
Not quite convinced….. Stock market’s up big.
That’s one achievement that Trumps everything else. Pun intended.
“Military police clear a path for Trump photo op.”
What i don’t see is tear gas and rubber bullets being fired, in that photo. Last night KTLA “News” had no video of protesters at the church being tear gassed. With all the cell phones that exist now, KTLA should have had some video of that- but there was none.
Here ya go with video :
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and some of his supporters are claiming authorities did not use tear gas against people in a crackdown outside the White House this week. There’s evidence they did.
Law enforcement officials shy away from describing crowd-dispersing chemical tools as tear gas; it evokes police gassing citizens or the horrors of war. But giving those tools a more antiseptic name does not change the reality on the ground.
Federal institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense have listed tear gas as the common term for riot-control agents. Whether the common or formal term is used, the effects on people are the same.
“They didn’t use tear gas,” Trump said Wednesday on Fox News Radio. The U.S. Park Police denied using tear gas, yet acknowledged deploying a pepper compound, which the CDC and other scientific organizations list as one form of tear gas.
Authorities, who came from more than a half-dozen agencies besides the Park Police, set loose several wafting compounds, causing people to cough and gag as they scattered, their eyes red and streaming in some cases. They displayed the results of exposure to tear gas — tears, for example.
“Tear gas is anything that makes you cry,” said Dr. Lynn Goldman, dean of the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, speaking of chemicals used in crowd dispersal. “Pepper spray is a tear gas. But there are all kinds of other ones, too.”
Compounds that are listed as riot-control agents make people temporarily unable to function by irritating their eyes, mouth, throat, lungs and skin, the CDC says. They are “sometimes referred to as ‘tear gas,’” says a CDC fact sheet.
The Handbook of Toxicology of Chemical Warfare Agents also uses tear gas as an informal umbrella term for riot-control agents and cites pepper spray as one kind. In the unrest near the White House, officers shot plastic balls with pepper powder from what looked like souped-up paintball guns, and dispersed other compounds in a stinging fog.
The book also says riot-control agents are “popularly referred to as ‘tear gas’ or ‘pepper spray.’” It says they may be combined with an explosive substance in grenades, released in a smoke of particles from handheld devices or sprayed in a solution.
The disabling effects of tear gas are designed to be short-lived, but the CDC says prolonged exposure “may lead to long-term effects such as eye problems including scarring, glaucoma, and cataracts, and may possibly cause breathing problems such as asthma.”
An Army research institute paper in 2009 cites riot-control agents and tear gas interchangeably. It says tear gas is something of a misnomer, because the agents tend not to be gaseous and modern compounds can affect a wider variety of organs as well as the eyes, lungs and digestive tract that are historically the targets of tear gas.
Dr. Sven-Eric Jordt researches tear gas agents and chemical exposure injuries in his lab at the Duke University School of Medicine’s Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health Program.
He said newer compounds, which may have been used in the “pepper ball” projectiles deployed at the protest, might or might not fit a traditional definition of tear gas but are as potent and come with scant research on their safety. Any difference is semantic, he said.
“There’s been very little research on tear gas being done in the United States,” he said, and “no research backing up the use levels that are deployed now.”
Jordt said the two main categories of crowd-clearing irritants — known as CS and OC — both activate the pain-sensing nervous system sharply, which in turn can make the body more susceptible to a virus. “I’m just very concerned this might increase the likelihood of infection” in the coronavirus pandemic, he said, or trigger more extreme reactions in people who have the virus but are not showing symptoms.
“To use these highly irritating agents on protesters is not a good idea,” he said. “It’s really shocking that it is used to that extent.”
“Alexander Marquardt
@MarquardtA
✔
This “no tear gas” angle is ridiculous. I was in the middle of a crowd coughing up a lung.”
A crowd? No mention of the church.
Look to the grassy knoll! The secret that bows the conspiracy wide open is buried there!
There was no conspiracy involved in the killing of JFK.
A crowd is not the church crowd, however. The church crowd is the issue at hand.
I saw no video on the KTLA “News” last night, of protesters at the church being tear gassed during their story on that. Mish has a photo of military police officers clearing a path for Trump, but no pictures or even cell phone video of the church protestors being tear gassed.
Did you watch Marquardt’s video yet?
Holy shit, you think RonJ is interested in the truth?
Seriously!?
This has been reported by local, national and international news organizations. The location and timeframe are not in question any more – it’s been corroborated by multiple sources. If you can’t accept that Trump gassed a bunch of peaceful protesters so he could walk across the street to take a picture, you are not interested in reality nor in truthfulness. Sad.
Bravo, Mish!
The Mish TDS bubble is intact. Salt Lake City Utah was terrorized by an ANTIFA terror cell. People called police and firefighters and their calls went un answered. The people don’t care about rock throwers being dispersed from the White House while the cities are burning. Mayors and governors across the nation are applauding violent riots while they were cracking down on moms taking their kids to the park. Talk with some non-partisan moms. They’re afraid of rioters burning their house down not agitators getting tear gassed.
Can you share with how you know they are Antifa?
Ha HA! Now it’s time to reveal myself. I am Lord SOROS! Bow before me, peasants, as I reveal the power of this fully operational global sex change machine! In hours, your gender will be reversed by this powerful beam, and you will be compelled by my minions to use the wrong public restroom!
BAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!1!!1
Uh-Huh.
And this had anything to do with the crowd in DC how? Is this how you deal with something you are uncomfortable with – change the subject? Seems a toddler-like thing to do.
And if there are so many of these super-de-duper fraidy-cat moms out there, why don’t we hear from any of them? There are reporters and police all over – you’d think the message would be coming out loud and clear.
To be clear, tear gas is prohibited by the Geneva Convention as a war crime and chemical warfare.
It is not safe and often results in (permanent) injury.
km72. Trump is the main game in town. Americas future rides on the whims of this child. He is missing in action whenever leadership is required. The US economy is stuffed because his government ignored COVID for too long and missed the opportunity to control it. Now it is uncontrollable and you will be dealing with the mess for years to come. He cannot calm or unite, he only divides and creates hate. American soft power is in decline because of him. All global leaders except the tin pot dictators treat him as a fool. The influence of China and undemocratic powers has grown because of him. Another 4 years of Trump should complete the decline of the empire.
I agree that Trump is an important part of the economy as the government has unfortunately gotten bigger and bigger. That said, he isn’t the only part and like I said before I can go elsewhere to get that; Mish offers nothing unique by commenting on it.
I recommend reading some of Ray Dalio’s work on empires. America clearly began its decline long before Trump came into the picture.
Was it Soros’ fault?
“The US economy is stuffed because his government ignored COVID for too long and missed the opportunity to control it.”
Let’s see, the Democrats called Trump racist and xenophobic for restricting travel from China. Attacking Trump was more important to Democrats, than fighting Covid.
The California economy is stuffed because the Democrat governor shut it down.
Nobel prize winning scientist Michael Leavitt says that the shutdowns were a huge mistake. He brought up that herd immunity thing, again, noting that Israel had few cases, due to their lock down, but that they have no herd immunity, either, as a result. The Nobel prize winning scientist praised what Sweden did.
Your so-called expert (repeating Nobel prize winning scientist means nothing when his field is not epidemiology) should probably have a talk with Anders Tegnell to get a more current POV …
As someone who lives in the area, I take issue with point number 2 “The protest was peaceful until Trump wrecked it” Not saying that there weren’t plenty of peaceful protesters, but to say that it was peaceful is flat out false. It was not.
I have been a reader since the mortgage crisis and really enjoyed your work over that time. Unfortunately the quality of your work has deteriorated significantly lately. There are plenty of things not to like about Trump (I am far from a defender of him) but you are letting your hatred of the President get the better of you and get in the way of objective writing/posts. I would really like to see other topics, after all that is what used to be great about your blog. If not, I’m going to be moving on because you really are no different than the mainstream media and if I want to read useless garbage about Trump I can go there instead. (To be clear, I’m not saying don’t ever post on Trump but when he is a focus on half your posts it is a bit much.)
Right.
Everyone seems to loose their minds and go with their gut feeling. Lots of opinions and feelings and anger. Very little rational thinking.
Wonder where all this hate towards Trump comes from? I am not admiring him and believe he is very far from being “great” president but I don’t also see that he would deserve all the blame.
That said, I am far from convinced that he would not continue another 4 years in office.
so you live in the area but weren’t there. explain you know how peaceful that protest was?
Strongly agree ‘quality of your work has deteriorated significantly’
of course the security ahead of the president was excessive, generally if your job is to protect the president that’s all you’re thinking about. I can’t go up to, shake hands with, nor talk to him – I would be assaulted before I got to ten feet of him.
Mish, Trump’s going to win next election because of who running against him, to beat him like you so wish, trash Biden there’s got to be someone better than him.
Agreed, KM. I have been a Mish reader for years and lately it is a rehash of anti-Trump talking points. I am by no means a Trump fan, but this is same old same old stuff. Sad, I miss the old Mish.
Also interesting to see how the ZeroHedge mob and assorted nutter truckers reconcile their Trump love, their fundamental persona of champions of liberty and freedom and the use of the military to suppress democratic freedom of speech. Since they have no issues with voter suppression I imagine they will fall back on the old standard that the people affected aren’t like them and well really a bit sub-human really. Certainly not Aryans.
that is it. that has always been it. all trump is is culture war nonsense and grievances.
trumpty is their man crush and wet dream: an obese moron with power. They dream someday it could be them.
Twitter, Google and Facebook are suppressing democratic freedom of speech, as well as meddling in our democratic election.
Yet nobody is impeding the spew of stupid from you and your man crush. Such sensitive snowflakes…
Sure looks like the back of an upside down Bible. Should have got to know the props a bit better. His flunky could have put an arrow tag on it.
The ability to distinguish whether a book is right-side-up or not, requires at least some semblance of, if not necessarily literacy per se, then at least minimal understanding of something, anything. And we can’t have that in Washington.
Anyone even remotely connected with this administration should be completely ashamed of themselves. Just when you think things can’t get any worse Trump proceeds to sink to a new low. To make things worse our spineless GOP party is for the most part too scared to stand up to Trump. Allowing Trump to continue in this manner will cause the GOP serious damage for years to come. They will not be judged well by history and that will be their legacy.
The possibility of the Democrats controlling both houses and the Presidency, as they did in the 30’s and 40’s is bleak indeed, but growing increasingly likely. They will pack the court, and control all three houses, and the country can not survive that, but I see no way of avoiding it at this point. I just can’t imagine any way that the Republican Party can be reborn after Trump, and be powerful enough to win elections again for quite some time.
The next President will always leave the country worse off than the current President. That’s the only invariant in Presidential politics. So the parties will continue to take turns as Destroyer-of-America-in-Chief. Just as they have since about forever ago.
When does the “Mike Shedlock was Wrong” article come out? Can’t imagine warmonger Hillary would be any worse for the world at this point.
dude its 2020. let it go
Some humility and introspection by the US is good for the world, just not good for americans.
Hillary would have been a good president for the US but bad for the world.
Trump is a bad president for the US but good for the world… in the long run.