We have now crossed our own Rubicon River ! Who the hell are these guys ? What force do they represent ? What accountability do they have ? Who oversees them ? They refuse to say what force they are ! They don’t have name badges and so we don’t know their names ! We don’t know who oversees them ! How can there be accountability for these people when we don’t know what force they represent or their names ? The President of the United States has called for active US Military, not simply the National Guard, to be deployed in the streets of our country ! Because the Republican US Senators refuse to hold the president accountable or even comment on these acts or the response of retired General, they emboldened dictator Donald Trump continue his march across our liberty in an unabated fashion. Trump called on this force to use helicopters and tear gas and rubber bullets against peaceful protesters who protested the murder of George Floyd by a group of four police officers including Derek Chauvin who placed his knee on the neck of the victim for nine minutes.
All of this is antithetical to the US Constitution . Donald Trump is acting like a third world tyrant or dictator and the only people who could hold him in check are acting like utter cowards. They should be ashamed of themselves. As long as the republicans in the US Senate refuse to hold him to account, he will continue farther and farther down this road. This is the danger of the US Constitution’s opposition to representing the will of the majority of Americans [The president is not chosen by the winner of the popular vote, but rather by who wins the electoral college. There are 2 senators for Wyoming with a population of 5 people and 2 senators for California with a population of 39 million; the number of senators is not based upon population. In terms of the US House of Representatives, the congressional districts are badly gerrymandered to benefit republicans. The majority of justices on the Supreme Court were picked by a republican president who did not win the popular vote.] How will Donald Trump be held accountable for the next five months ? And if he tries to postpone the election, the republicans will not oppose him then either. If they had any courage and integrity at all, they would be lambasting the president for calling for the active US Military to be deployed to our streets and for an unnamed and unlabeled force whose members have no insignias and no name badges and the use of helicopters and tear gas and rubber bullets against peaceful protesters. The fact that they have no comments on any of this or General Mattis’ words demonstrates that there is no line that they will not allow Trump to cross. He owns them, lock, stock, and barrel.
This no longer looks like a democratic republic, a nation of laws. Nobody has told us who this force is. There can be no justification for not giving names of these people. This is unprecedented in the history of our country. The acts of Donald Trump are those of a strong man dictator. If the republicans in the US Senate had held Trump accountable in the impeachment hearings, we would not be here. The Republicans are as guilty as Trump.
If this unnamed and unmarked force is the Federal Bureau of Prison , then they are being used inappropriately.
.The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals. The current director of the Bureau of Prisons is Michael Carvajal
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.The people protesting are not incarcerated individuals. Therefore, this agency is being used inappropriately. Here is a link that gives the bio of Michael Carvajal.
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.On their home page, it says that they are responsible for the care and custody of incarcerated individuals.
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.Our agency is responsible for the custody and care of federal inmates
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.I saw a patch for them. Their uniforms should show the patch.
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.A search I performed yielded this :
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How do I file a complaint against the Federal Bureau of Prisons?
The Section can also be reached by telephone (202-514-6255 or toll-free at 877-218-5228) or fax (202-514-0212 or 202-514-6273). Answers to other frequently asked questions about the complaint process can be found on our Frequently Asked Questions page.
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.Based upon the information here, Attorney General Barr is using this force illegitimately if these people are from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Without knowing what the force is, there can be no accountability for the force as a whole. It prevents citizens and those in government from knowing who the force is and who is in charge of the force. Without knowing the force, we don’t know what the legal parameters are for the use of the force; we don’t know what they can and cannot do legally. This prevents accountability for whoever is using the force, likely Attorney General Barr. Without identification markers including name and rank, anybody who acts inappropriately cannot be held to account. There cannot be an unnamed force with unnamed members of that force out in the streets of the United States of America. This is a direct threat to our freedom as Americans.
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.Here is what the NY Times had to say about this:
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Unidentified Federal Police Prompt Fears Amid Protests in Washington
The Trump administration has deployed phalanxes of officers in riot gear and no identifiable markings to police demonstrations in the capital. Democrats want to know who they are.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s aggressive deployment of officers donning riot gear with no identifiable markings has increased tensions with protesters, raised the specter of a “secret police” force and prompted Speaker Nancy Pelosi to demand that President Trump identify the federal forces he has put on the streets of the capital.
Demonstrators in downtown Washington say federal officers in generic riot gear have refused to identify themselves or display identifying features, and the deployment of federal law enforcement is supposed to get even larger this weekend.
Congressional Democrats say the administration’s use of ambiguous tactical teams is infringing on the rights of the protesters. Senators Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, and Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, introduced legislation mandating that law enforcement officers and members of the armed forces identify themselves and their agency. “The practice of officers operating with full anonymity undermines accountability, ignites government distrust and suspicion, and is counter to the principle of procedural justice and legitimacy during this precarious moment in our nation’s history,” Ms. Pelosi wrote.Mr. Barr on Wednesday night further empowered those teams from the Bureau of Prisons with the authority to make arrests at the demonstrations. “The United States would normally condemn this tactic if used by dictators of other countries, and its use here directly threatens our democracy,” Mr. Murphy said. “Americans have a right to know who is patrolling their streets, and to have recourse if their massive power is misused.”
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This is completely and totally unacceptable. This is third world brutish dictator activity. Again, without markings or badges identifying the force, rank, and name of the person wearing the uniform that is part of the force, how do we know who they are and how are they to be held accountable if they act illegally. How do we know that this is even legal ?
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.Perhaps as a response to Trump’s response to the death of George Floyd as well as his mismanagement of the pandemic leading to 108,000 deaths and 25% unemployment, Trump is seeing some slippage even in his base.
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The PRRI poll also finds big slippage among another key demographic:Currently, 37% of white Catholics hold favorable views of Trump, a significant drop from 49% across 2019, and a substantial downward trend from a high of 60% in March and 48% in April.Among white Americans without a four-year college degree, views of Trump have continued a downward trend. The proportion who hold favorable views of the president decreased to 47% from 54% in April and 66% in March.The poll finds that 41 percent of Americans overall view Trump favorably, while 55 percent hold an unfavorable view. There’s been a slide among Republicans: 83 percent view him favorably, down from 90 percent in April. And among independents, 35 percent hold a favorable view, down from 43 percent.
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.Even a relatively conservative Fareed Zakaria stated the following :
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Trump’s Republican enablers are complicit in the state of our democracy ! But the American system does not work through magic. It needs its other leaders — judges, bureaucrats, generals and, above all, politicians — to speak out when they see blatant abuses of power. Some have done so — most recently senior military leaders — but one gaping hole remains. That is the one inside the president’s own party.
On Monday evening, in Lafayette Square, in the shadow of the White House, police in riot gear descended upon a peaceful protest — which is explicitly protected in the Constitution — and disbanded the demonstration using force and weaponry, including pepper balls, smoke canisters and rubber bullets. The protesters were not violating a curfew or committing acts of violence. The police used brute force on law-abiding citizens so that the president could stage a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church.
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.The brilliant Eugene Robinson adds :
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.Trump is uniting Americans — against him ! The first time I witnessed the use of tear gas and brutal force against lawful, peaceful protesters was in Chile during the reign of military dictator Augusto Pinochet. The shocking abuse of state power we saw near the White House on Monday reminded me of that place and time — and made clear the peril we now face. That sort of thing doesn’t happen here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Except this week, in Lafayette Square. After mounted police, flash-bang explosives, rubber bullets and tear gas had cleared a path for him, President Trump preened and strutted to his Dear Leader photo op like a wannabe Pinochet, trailed by his wannabe junta — Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, Attorney General William P. Barr, daughter Ivanka Trump and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was, absurdly, wearing camouflage fatigues as though he were in Baghdad or Kabul, not downtown Washington. But his authoritarian, call-in-the-troops response to the protests over George Floyd’s killing shows — as if more evidence were needed — how dangerous he is to the very idea of America !Separating the protesters from Lafayette Square and the White House beyond was a line of federal officers, clad in riot gear, who wore no insignia or name tags that would allow them to be identified and held accountable for anything they did during the demonstration. Behind them were military-style troop carriers; behind the vehicles, a hastily erected black chain-link fence. If all of that was intended to intimidate, it spectacularly failed
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.Even if every Senate Republican except Mitt Romney fails to act to protect our democracy and ensure our November elections for president on down, there are too many of us for Trump to get away with it. The true base that would be okay with Trump delaying the election is only 35% of the country and the remaining 65% of us will not stand for it. He could not get away with it. There is no legal way apart from a constitutional amendment which could not pass to move the election. We will have our election in November and we will boot this thug out on his ass and he will be prosecuted by Leticia James and by our new Attorney General for the United States of America. In the meantime, I intend to call the telephone number for the federal bureau of prisons and ask if their members are out on our public streets and if they are, to complain about the lack of identification. I also intend to call the White House and leave a blunt, but intelligent message about using an unnamed forced with unnamed members of that force on public streets and using helicopters and tear gas and rubber bullets against peaceful protesters which is against the first amendment !
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.The telephone number for the White House is :
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- Phone Number: 1-202-456-1414 (Switchboard) 1-202-456-1111 (Comments)
- TTY: 1-202-456-6213. 1-202-456-2121 (Visitor's Office)
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.Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
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Our election is on November 3, 2020 !
The United States will hold its 59th presidential election on November 3, 2020. Incumbent President Donald Trump (R) is running for re-election. The winner of the 2020 presidential election will be sworn into office on January 20, 2021.
Go Joe Biden ! Go Democratic Party !