Tracker

Armed Counterprotesters Are Menacing BLM Rallies Across America Anti-racism protests in smaller towns—particularly on the West Coast—have attracted armed counterprotesters who monitor, harass, and sometimes even attack marchers. Protests and violence in large cities over the death of George Floyd have dominated national news networks. But in smaller towns across America, counter-protesters are showing up to monitor or harass—and in some cases assault—peaceful demonstrators. And in places like Snohomish, Washington, and Missoula, Montana, some of these agitators have been heavily armed as they stake out protests against police brutality. https://www.thedailybeast.com/blm-rallies-across-america-are-being-menaced-by-armed-counterprotesters (And if you think America is not teetering on the edge of civil war, you are wrong)

Department of Justice’ deploys rogue force of unidentified armed militia to patrol DCPhoto via Sen. Chris Murphy / Twitter. On the heels of law enforcement gassing peaceful protesters at the White House Monday, a rogue force of armed unmarked militia has been patrolling Washington, D.C. for days. The militia members, likely numbering in the hundreds if not thousands, have been photographed guarding the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and on Wednesday were seen forming a perimeter outside the White House, as if it were under siege. Apparently, Donald Trump’s bunker “inspection” didn’t bring him the requisite level of safety he desired. https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/department-of-justice-deploys-rogue-force-of-unidentified-armed-militia-to-patrol-dc/

Trump’s ‘American Führer’ fantasy: Yale psychiatrist says the president’s ‘displays of false strength’ foreshadow plan to question election results A Yale psychiatrist who has repeatedly sounded the alarm on President Donald Trump’s mental health warned that his “displays of false strength” foreshadow his reaction to the November election if he loses. https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/trumps-american-fuhrer-fantasy-yale-psychiatrist-says-the-presidents-displays-of-false-strength-foreshadow-plan-to-question-election-results/

Over at Salon.com, political columnist Chaucey DeVega has posted a frighteningly ominous interview with Aleksandar Hemon who has been sounding warnings about Trump and his supporters for several years and has predicted the current crisis in American Politics. Not a comfortable but an enlightening read. https://www.salon.com/2020/06/03/novelist-and-screenwriter-aleksandar-hemon-on-the-magnitude-of-catastrophe-facing-america/

Well, his tackle and sack totals will not suffer very much.

Three ‘Boogaloos’ Conspired to Hijack George Floyd Protest and Spark Bloodshed: Feds Anti-government extremists allegedly plotted to incinerate a power station and cause flaming mayhem at Las Vegas protests. Nevada District Court: Three Nevada men with prior U.S. military experience and links to a right-wing extremist group conspired to set off explosives at a recent protest against police brutality to “create civil unrest and rioting” and spark violence between police and protesters, federal prosecutors say. Stephen Parshall, alias “Kiwi,” Andrew Lynam, and William Loomis are each being held on a $1 million bond for terrorism-related charges. According to a complaint filed by the Nevada U.S. Attorney’s Office, the group was “potentially planning terroristic activity” when they brought Molotov cocktail materials to a Las Vegas protest over the death of George Floyd. All three have identified themselves as members of the “Boogaloo” movement, an extremist group that dreams of sowing discord to spark a violent uprising and government overthrow, according to prosecutors. The group also boasts military training: Lynam is described as a member of the Army Reserves, Parshall was a Navy sailor, and Loomis was an enlisted member of the Air Force.

White House Deletes Tweet Claiming Jewish Center's Security Barrier Is Actually an Antifa Setup Zach Gibson/Getty The official White House Twitter account circulated a video on Wednesday afternoon falsely claiming antifa had placed bricks and stones on sidewalks to incite violence amid widespread protests over the death of George Floyd. The video, which has since been deleted, was actually of a year-old security barrier outside a Jewish community center in Los Angeles meant to protect against anti-Semitic car attacks. https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-deletes-tweet-claiming-jewish-centers-security-barrier-is-actually-an-antifa-setup (More of the Trump/GOP racist/fascist attitudes are leaking out)

Republican Michigan Lawmaker Said He’d ‘Load Up a Few More Mags’ for Protesters Emily Elconin/Reuters A Republican Michigan state lawmaker threatened people in his district who protested police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s alleged murder. On May 30, Gary Eisen, a state representative who owns the concealed-carry education business Michigan Personal Protective Training, captioned a photo of gun magazines posted to his Facebook page: “I was at my shop this morning working, and an older guy came in. We started talking about the protesters and the riots... He said, ‘You know all those protesters are Liberals’ I said ‘how do you know that’ .... he said ‘Liberals look for trouble and civil unrest and Conservatives PREPARE for it’ hmm, so i thought maybe I will load up a few more mags…” Demonstrations organized by the local NAACP and Black Lives Matter chapters began two days later. He told the Port Huron Times-Herald he “just made a joke.”

Trump to Sean Spicer: ‘I’ve Done So Much for Religion’ During a 22-minute “interview” on Wednesday that started with Sean Spicer defending his former boss against charges of racism and ended with the president praising his former White House press secretary’s performance on Dancing With the Stars, Donald Trump addressed his awkward bible photo-op that followed police tear-gassing peaceful protesters earlier this week. Asked by Spicer what message he was trying to send with his church visit, Trump first said he did it because “somebody suggested it was a good idea” before insisting that “everything was handled really well” and that “religious leaders loved it.” When Spicer asked him if he’s “grown in his faith” during his time in office, the president said, “So I think maybe I have, from the standpoint that I see so much that I can do. I've done so much for religion.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tells-sean-spicer-ive-done-so-much-for-religion

Bill Barr Takes Charge of Trump’s Crackdown as the Military Tries to Back Away As President Trump continues to try and drum up support for his call for states to “dominate” protesters and beef up police presence against them, Attorney General Bill Barr and a team of senior Justice Department officials have quietly taken the lead on disrupting the protests and going after the petty criminals who may be using the demonstrations as cover. It’s been a controversial move, even within Barr’s own department. One federal prosecutor called Barr’s most high-profile effort to quell the unrest “politically-charged [and] bogus.” A senior law enforcement official called it “a political ploy to make being anti-Trump look like terrorism.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/bill-barr-barr-takes-charge-of-trumps-crackdown-as-military-tries-to-back-away?ref=home

He may not have a functioning brain, but at least he has some self-awareness.

Flies, after all, are drawn to manure.

Trump has been known to exaggerate. For example, he has said he is a human being.

DOJ grants the DEA sweeping authority to investigate George Floyd protestors: report President Donald Trump has been drawing widespread criticism for his vow to use military force against the George Floyd protests, inspiring many to argue he sounds more like a dictator than an elected official. Under this cloud, a troubling BuzzFeed report found that the Drug Enforcement Administration has been granted a new authority to “conduct covert surveillance” and gather intelligence information on protestors. https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/doj-grants-the-dea-sweeping-authority-to-investigate-george-floyd-protestors-report/ President Donald J. Trump walks from the White House Monday evening, June 1, 2020, to St. John’s Episcopal Church, known as the church of Presidents’s, that was damaged by fire during demonstrations in nearby LaFayette Square Sunday evening. (Official White House

GOP senator horrifies readers with a new authoritarian call in the New York Times It’s a simple headline: “Send in the troops.” But its meaning is clear, and it’s deeply disturbing. That’s the title the New York Times gave to a new op-ed written by Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, one of the most militaristic and hawkish members of Congress. He had previously caused a stir this week by calling for the military to be unleashed on protesters with a “no quarter” order — meaning that they would take no prisoners and simply kill at will. Cotton later said he had been speaking metaphorically. https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/gop-senator-horrifies-readers-with-a-new-authoritarian-call-in-the-new-york-times/

The fact is Slatten has been given exceptional protection from justice. The US government first intervened on Slatten and the fellow Blackwater guards’ behalf to protect them from prosecution in Iraq, passing the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act on October 4, 2007, ensuring that US mercenaries, no matter where they were operating and what crimes they committed would be prosecuted, leniently, in US courts. For now, Slatten remains behind bars, as do Slough, Liberty and Heard, whose sentencing hearings are scheduled for September 5. However, the possibility remains of a Presidential pardon. It was reported in May that President Donald Trump had “made expedited requests” for pardon papers for several soldiers, including Slatten, accused of heinous war crimes. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/17/slif-a17.html

FBI finds no evidence ‘indicating Antifa involvement’ in DC protest despite Trump’s claims: report NBC News The FBI found no intelligence “indicating Antifa involvement” in violence surrounding Sunday’s protest near the White House despite President Donald Trump’s attempts to cast blame on radical leftists, according to an FBI situation report obtained by The Nation. An FBI source told the outlet that other situation reports, produced daily by the FBI since the weekend, have similarly shown no evidence of Antifa involvement.

I would be interested to learn what punishment they actually received. I am surprised to know that they were actually brought up on charges.

I would like to know who thought a restaurant there was a good idea.

And........?

It happened to you, too?

And no one was ever charged because Blackwater 's mercenaries are not answerable to any court.

Federal Prison Officers Brought in to Patrol D.C. Streets The Justice Department has sent special operations teams from the Bureau of Prisons to support the Trump administration’s response to protests in Washington, D.C. and Florida. In a statement to The Daily Beast, a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson confirmed that they had deployed Crisis Management Teams in response to the protests. The teams include Special Operations response teams, “which are highly trained tactical units capable of responding to prison disturbances, and providing assistance to other law enforcement agencies during emergencies.” Officers from the Bureau’s Disturbance Control Teams, which “specialize in crowd control scenarios,” have also been deployed. Speculation about the presence of special response teams from the agency grew online as residents and reporters noted the presence of law enforcement officials in tactical equipment placed around the city, many of whom refused to identify which agency they worked for. In one photo shared by MSNBC correspondent Garrett Haake, officers with shields labeled “corrections” and a shirt with an apparent Federal Bureau of Prisons Disturbance Control Team patch formed a perimeter preventing protesters from approaching the White House. Twitter users also noted officers wearing uniforms with logos for the Bureau of Prisons Special Operations Response Team station by the Washington Convention Center on K Street. “Per the request of the Attorney General, the BOP has dispatched teams to Miami, Florida, and Washington, D.C.” the Bureau said. https://www.thedailybeast.com/bureau-of-prisons-officers-brought-in-to-washington-dc-to-respond-to-george-floyd-protests (Another line crossed and America is well on its way to being a banana republic)

The best that can be hoped for is that the diehard GOP voters will be so revulsed by trump's antics that they will decide that Trump is the wrong kind of Republican- after all he was a Democrat first.

Use of Military Medical Helicopter to Target Washington D.C. Protesters to Be Investigated Earlier this week, shocking footage showed a medical helicopter hovering dangerously close to protesters in Washington, D.C. in a maneuver that aviators described as a “show of force.” On Tuesday, Major Gen. William J. Walker, commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, announced that he’s opened an investigation into the incident. https://www.thedailybeast.com/use-of-military-medical-helicopter-to-target-washington-dc-protesters-to-be-investigated?ref=home (Trump has shown repeatedly that he would have no hesitation in ordering police or troops to open fire on protesters)