On May 25, the casual murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis as police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck, captured on film by a witness, led to protests against police brutality and the white supremacy that underpins it. The protests have lasted until today and show every sign of continuing. What has stood out about the protests is that it is the police who have been most conspicuously rioting. Their attacks on protesters with tear gas, pepper spray, flash-bangs, rubber bullets, clubs, and so on have led Americans to demand police reform.
And still 6 months to go! The damage that Trump and his people do is going to take years to recover from. Not content just to crash the economy as in '29, these guys are intent on crashing society too, making it extremely difficult to mend the divisions they have greatly exacerbated. A burnt earth strategy if i ever saw one.
When I heard him say, “Americans want law and order, they demand law and order. They may not say it, they may not be talking about it, but that’s what they want. Some of them don’t know that that’s what they want, but that’s what they want. They understand that when you remove the police, you hurt those that have the least, the most,” it immediately gave me an image of Mussolini or Hitler in some rabid speech apologizing for but still condoning the jackbooted thugs that were terrorizing the people.
I watched a Stephen Colbert clip this morning which featured a segment on Bolton's Book and an exchange Bill Barr had on Monday with a member of the press about the book still being under review and being purged of confidential material and that it hadn't been printed yet. Barr had no idea that the book had been shipped to stores and advance copies had been distributed last week. Why, even Colbert has a copy. Barr was clueless, he had a classic deer in the headlights look on his face. Every day we are bombarded with decisions made by very powerful people who don't have a a firm grasp on reality or the truth, they sit back and garbage comes tumbling out of their mouths. They make being an American downright dangerous in all levels. I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said before by millions of people but for God's sake, there has got to be a limit. And, oh yeah, don't forget...the wonderful super secret AIDS vaccine that Trump revealed to the world during his gobbledygook, gibberish filled Rose Garden Law Enforcement extravaganza on Tuesday. It's a miracle!
The police as presently constituted are unreformable. The only solution is to fire them all and start from the bottom up.
I first came to Los Angeles in June 1967. 10 days later I was a survivor of the first LAPD police riot against antiwar demonstrators in Century City when Lyndon Bastard Johnson spoke at the Century Plaza hotel. That fall I was involved in the Oakland PD's police riot against anti-draft demonstrators during Stop The Draft Week in October 1967. In April 1968, the San Francsisco Metro Squad held a riot against people gathering on Haight Street in the Haight Ashbury. That summer, the Killeen TX PD managed to never show up on Friday or Saturday nights when the Killeen goat-ropers (a good "Texanism" for dumbfuckingloserredneck) came to attack the "communists" (anti-war staff and anti-war GIs from Fort Hood) at the Oleo Strut coffeehouse. In the 80s and 90s I watched (and was a victim of) the LAPD "end of the month tickets" for minor traffic violations), that always happened in poor neighborhoods. Then there was 1992, where the video of the LAPD pig department being the LAPD pig department with Rodney King set things off. Then there was the "Ramparts bad guys". The anti-gang unit that did more damage than any gangs. Tom Parker's driver become chief Darryl Gates got replaced by "Hollywood Bill" Bratton, and all the other "reformers" who never accomplished shit, and the department is still now found guilty over the past three weeks of "police riots" over the death of George Floyd.
Four years ago I got very rapidly excused as a juror (for the last time, having finally outlived the scumbags) for saying "I wouldn't believe a member of the LAPD if he or she said it was Monday (it was a Monday), and having dated a member of the LA District Attorney's office, I wouldn't believe a word a piece of shit like you said about anything" to the Asst DA (who about croaked at being called out like that). I still like the fact that before the ADA could shut me off I cited all the LAPD's crimes, the crimes of the DA's office, and the crimes of the "politician's buttfucker in the black robes" presiding - the ex-ADA now a judge putting his thumb on the scales of justice. They had to excuse everyone they had already picked for the jury. Sadly I am now old enough they don't call me for jury duty so I can't call out the worthless scum for being the worthless scum they are.
Justice in America has always been spelled "JustUs."
HCR: Again, Mitch McConnell obstructing justice. Could we please start a conversation about the best strategy to protect the future of American government when the administration changes?
And so the American taxpayer gets to pay for William Barr to pander to an audience of one in this lawsuit against Bolton. I'm so tired of thinking, "And of course he did that" over and over every day. It's exhausting.
I'm interested in/concerned by the MSPB story. The obvious blame lies with McConnell for not calendaring the vote, but I read a story on Federal News Network a bit ago (1/24/2020, byline Nicole Ogrysko) that indicates it's more complex. The article describes some standard partisan bickering and bluster but it does appear that federal employee unions has concerns with Dennis Kirk.
The American Federation of Govt Employees headed a joint letter of opposition with ten other union to the nomination of Maunz and Kirk (but mostly Kirk):
"It was originally unclear, based upon his rather unrelated legal experience, why Dennis Kirk would even be considered for Chair of the MSPB. Through additional research we have learned of facts that leave us deeply concerned not just with the nominee’s qualifications, but also about his possible connections to other ongoing investigations. [...]
"Dennis. Kirk is a partner in the law firm Schmitz & Socarras, LLP, which specializes in representing numerous foreign corporations and 'investors,' including those in Russia. The firm’s website states that one area of representation is “regulatory compliance challenges” and includes a list of clients. One client is Sukhoi, a Russian aircraft manufacturing company with a long history of producing aircraft for the Soviet and now Russian Air Force. They also produce civilian aircraft, and like many Russian companies have historical roots in previous Soviet society. Sukhoi now has a parent company, United Aircraft Corporation, which was created in February 20, 2006 by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Presidential Decree No. 140."
Also: "In addition, there are troubling indications that Dennis Kirk’s law partner, Joseph Schmitz, served as General Counsel to Erik Prince’s organization, the Prince Group, served as a noted foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign, and claimed during the election to be in possession of the missing 30,000 Hillary Clinton emails from a client, presumably of Kirk’s law firm, known as 'patriot'. Considering this is a three-person law firm, his partner’s long history of representing the interests of Russia should be noted, and Mr. Kirk’s involvement in and/or enrichment from these activities merit further investigation."
That letter is from 2018 and the investigations it notes are no longer active, but it appears there may be some (good-cause) substance to the accusation of "Democrat obstructionism." The Senate confirmation has to be unanimous, I believe, so there's no point in calendaring a vote you know is going to fail. On the other hand, the GOP seems perfectly content not having a board, for all the distmantling-the-institutions reasons/strategies you've catalogued here over the months, and so it's no skin off their back to keep this whole thing essentially in suspense.
Trump's either going to get the nominee he wants on the board, or not have a board at all. So, I suppose the rest is, ultimately, just detail...
Thanks, HCR, for another great recap, as it is every day. And thanks for opening it up to comments. I'm also looking forward to some of the other changes you're envisioning. Your energy is enviable!
Several years ago I was a minor production person on a PBS episode called "Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton." The on-screen talent was Richard Brookhiser (National Review, biographer of William F Buckley) and they came to St. Croix where I have lived for 30 years to film a bit of Alexander Hamilton's story. Hamilton grew up here and learned business working as a clerk for the firm of Beekman and Cruger in Christiansted. Here he remained until a very passionate letter of his describing the effect of the hurricane of August, 1772 appeared in the Royal Danish-American Gazette and earned him sponsorship off the island and into a formal education.
At the time of the PBS production I was drifting well away from my once-beloved republican party, and nothing in my interactions with Brookhiser, a scion of movement conservatism, gave me any reason to alter course. But the producer was a putrid little man. I put up with his unprofessionalism, bigotry, and sneering conceit for two days before I just walked off the job, for the first and only time in my lengthy career. His name was Michael Pack.
Great care must be taken on police "reforms" to ensure that they do not become "red tape bound" functionaries who are unable to do their job of protecting fundamental liberties. They are there to protect all the people in principle all of the time and not just the local political establishment. It has taken over 40 years but the slippery slope of police reform has led police in France to stand by as spectators in Dijon for the last 4 days as a band of 250 Chechen drug dealer "political refugees" fought it out with Kalashnikovs against a similarly armed North African gang of territorial competitors. They say they had to do the police's job for them. The minister of police who was on the scene thought it best just to "encircle" those fighting so as not to endanger the police or the local population. The best intentions in the world don't always give the best results if those in charge don't know what they're doing and rely on their ideological bias
HCR: "It was a mishmash, but that was the gist." You're being far too kind. It was a steaming pile. Opposition is already focused on his possible mental issues, though I suspect drug impairment. His rambling added more evidence in support. If yesterday was any indicator for his rally on Saturday, The Lincoln Project and Sarah Cooper will be set for source material for the next month. Jesting aside, what is his objective? He continually dilutes his messages by going off script. Even though the police EO is merely for show, he could have come off as presidential had he not veered off to "My Greatest Hits." Is it simply that his handlers cannot control him or are his handlers directing the show to continually lob smoke bombs into the situation?
I love your very accurate word choice casual in referring to George Floyd’s murder. It immediately and very powerfully conjures up the image of Chauvin, hand in pocket, knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for 8.46 minutes, while his three fellow officers stand by and do nothing, all the while Mr. Floyd pleads for his breath, his Mama and his life! Then they lift his lifeless body and literally throw him onto the stretcher never once offering any aid! Their unconscionable disregard for this Black life is abhorrent and must be condemned, laws must be changed, and justice must be served!
This is off topic (kind of) but I’d be really interested in learning more about the Reagan years.
The little research I’ve done has left me slack jawed between screaming profanities at the ceiling and wanting a clearer picture of the GOP’s timeline of heinous behavior and key events leading to the current *profanity* circus of *more bad words*.
I’m also curious why there hasn’t been more comparisons between Ronnie and Donnie and if Machiavelli is face palming from the grave. So many questions.
Hoping HCR sees this *wink wink* but would love to hear from anyone else who can point me toward credible books, podcasts etc.
Barr is a genuinely frightening figure. Not that any of them AREN'T, especially Darth Realtor (my own pet phrase for DJT45). But Barr is frightening in a different way in that he is part of a clique of Reactionary Catholics who are merely using Trump to advance what is essentially an theocratic agenda. The reason why Barr is plumping for a "Unitary Executive" is not really to advance the economic interests of Trump or to provide him with amply narcississtic supply, even as he is in fact doing this. Barr is a Catholic Integralist, along with Harvard's Adrian Vermeule and Notre Dame's Patrick Deneen. Integralism was a pre-WWII French movement what in effect denied the legitimacy of the separation of church and state, and with it by implication Liberal Republican Democracy, in favor of a "Politics of the Common Good" as defined not by the consent of the citizenry but by a clerisy of sorts. This is an interesting counterpoint to a Protestant Evangelical like Pence, but like most counterpoint it is part of the same music: antiliberal, antidemocratic, antirepublican. They think that "The Handmaid's Tale" is a situation comedy. After Trump's exit -- and I dearly hope it's in January 2021! -- they will still be around to wreak havoc. Keep them in your sights.
With respect to "police brutality and the white supremacy that underpins it": I wouldn't want to dispute in any way the importance of white supremacy, but I suspect that the underpinnings of police brutality go far beyond that.
June 16, 2020
McConnell, anything but a jowl-descending patriot, thinks HE’S the king. He is as bad as trump and MUST go.
And still 6 months to go! The damage that Trump and his people do is going to take years to recover from. Not content just to crash the economy as in '29, these guys are intent on crashing society too, making it extremely difficult to mend the divisions they have greatly exacerbated. A burnt earth strategy if i ever saw one.
When I heard him say, “Americans want law and order, they demand law and order. They may not say it, they may not be talking about it, but that’s what they want. Some of them don’t know that that’s what they want, but that’s what they want. They understand that when you remove the police, you hurt those that have the least, the most,” it immediately gave me an image of Mussolini or Hitler in some rabid speech apologizing for but still condoning the jackbooted thugs that were terrorizing the people.
I watched a Stephen Colbert clip this morning which featured a segment on Bolton's Book and an exchange Bill Barr had on Monday with a member of the press about the book still being under review and being purged of confidential material and that it hadn't been printed yet. Barr had no idea that the book had been shipped to stores and advance copies had been distributed last week. Why, even Colbert has a copy. Barr was clueless, he had a classic deer in the headlights look on his face. Every day we are bombarded with decisions made by very powerful people who don't have a a firm grasp on reality or the truth, they sit back and garbage comes tumbling out of their mouths. They make being an American downright dangerous in all levels. I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said before by millions of people but for God's sake, there has got to be a limit. And, oh yeah, don't forget...the wonderful super secret AIDS vaccine that Trump revealed to the world during his gobbledygook, gibberish filled Rose Garden Law Enforcement extravaganza on Tuesday. It's a miracle!
Barr and the Bolton book @ 9:05. https://youtu.be/sxTavjEu8Yc
The police as presently constituted are unreformable. The only solution is to fire them all and start from the bottom up.
I first came to Los Angeles in June 1967. 10 days later I was a survivor of the first LAPD police riot against antiwar demonstrators in Century City when Lyndon Bastard Johnson spoke at the Century Plaza hotel. That fall I was involved in the Oakland PD's police riot against anti-draft demonstrators during Stop The Draft Week in October 1967. In April 1968, the San Francsisco Metro Squad held a riot against people gathering on Haight Street in the Haight Ashbury. That summer, the Killeen TX PD managed to never show up on Friday or Saturday nights when the Killeen goat-ropers (a good "Texanism" for dumbfuckingloserredneck) came to attack the "communists" (anti-war staff and anti-war GIs from Fort Hood) at the Oleo Strut coffeehouse. In the 80s and 90s I watched (and was a victim of) the LAPD "end of the month tickets" for minor traffic violations), that always happened in poor neighborhoods. Then there was 1992, where the video of the LAPD pig department being the LAPD pig department with Rodney King set things off. Then there was the "Ramparts bad guys". The anti-gang unit that did more damage than any gangs. Tom Parker's driver become chief Darryl Gates got replaced by "Hollywood Bill" Bratton, and all the other "reformers" who never accomplished shit, and the department is still now found guilty over the past three weeks of "police riots" over the death of George Floyd.
Four years ago I got very rapidly excused as a juror (for the last time, having finally outlived the scumbags) for saying "I wouldn't believe a member of the LAPD if he or she said it was Monday (it was a Monday), and having dated a member of the LA District Attorney's office, I wouldn't believe a word a piece of shit like you said about anything" to the Asst DA (who about croaked at being called out like that). I still like the fact that before the ADA could shut me off I cited all the LAPD's crimes, the crimes of the DA's office, and the crimes of the "politician's buttfucker in the black robes" presiding - the ex-ADA now a judge putting his thumb on the scales of justice. They had to excuse everyone they had already picked for the jury. Sadly I am now old enough they don't call me for jury duty so I can't call out the worthless scum for being the worthless scum they are.
Justice in America has always been spelled "JustUs."
HCR: Again, Mitch McConnell obstructing justice. Could we please start a conversation about the best strategy to protect the future of American government when the administration changes?
USA Today reported that after meeting with Trump (and police representatives) the families declined to participate in the signing.
And so the American taxpayer gets to pay for William Barr to pander to an audience of one in this lawsuit against Bolton. I'm so tired of thinking, "And of course he did that" over and over every day. It's exhausting.
Hello! Happy to be commenting.
I'm interested in/concerned by the MSPB story. The obvious blame lies with McConnell for not calendaring the vote, but I read a story on Federal News Network a bit ago (1/24/2020, byline Nicole Ogrysko) that indicates it's more complex. The article describes some standard partisan bickering and bluster but it does appear that federal employee unions has concerns with Dennis Kirk.
The American Federation of Govt Employees headed a joint letter of opposition with ten other union to the nomination of Maunz and Kirk (but mostly Kirk):
"It was originally unclear, based upon his rather unrelated legal experience, why Dennis Kirk would even be considered for Chair of the MSPB. Through additional research we have learned of facts that leave us deeply concerned not just with the nominee’s qualifications, but also about his possible connections to other ongoing investigations. [...]
"Dennis. Kirk is a partner in the law firm Schmitz & Socarras, LLP, which specializes in representing numerous foreign corporations and 'investors,' including those in Russia. The firm’s website states that one area of representation is “regulatory compliance challenges” and includes a list of clients. One client is Sukhoi, a Russian aircraft manufacturing company with a long history of producing aircraft for the Soviet and now Russian Air Force. They also produce civilian aircraft, and like many Russian companies have historical roots in previous Soviet society. Sukhoi now has a parent company, United Aircraft Corporation, which was created in February 20, 2006 by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Presidential Decree No. 140."
Also: "In addition, there are troubling indications that Dennis Kirk’s law partner, Joseph Schmitz, served as General Counsel to Erik Prince’s organization, the Prince Group, served as a noted foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign, and claimed during the election to be in possession of the missing 30,000 Hillary Clinton emails from a client, presumably of Kirk’s law firm, known as 'patriot'. Considering this is a three-person law firm, his partner’s long history of representing the interests of Russia should be noted, and Mr. Kirk’s involvement in and/or enrichment from these activities merit further investigation."
That letter is from 2018 and the investigations it notes are no longer active, but it appears there may be some (good-cause) substance to the accusation of "Democrat obstructionism." The Senate confirmation has to be unanimous, I believe, so there's no point in calendaring a vote you know is going to fail. On the other hand, the GOP seems perfectly content not having a board, for all the distmantling-the-institutions reasons/strategies you've catalogued here over the months, and so it's no skin off their back to keep this whole thing essentially in suspense.
Trump's either going to get the nominee he wants on the board, or not have a board at all. So, I suppose the rest is, ultimately, just detail...
Thanks, HCR, for another great recap, as it is every day. And thanks for opening it up to comments. I'm also looking forward to some of the other changes you're envisioning. Your energy is enviable!
FNN: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2020/01/lack-of-quorum-hits-3-year-mark-at-mspb-with-no-clear-end-in-sight/
Oppo letter from AFGE et al: http://www.ifpte.org/downloads/news/manager/1029c.pdf
Several years ago I was a minor production person on a PBS episode called "Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton." The on-screen talent was Richard Brookhiser (National Review, biographer of William F Buckley) and they came to St. Croix where I have lived for 30 years to film a bit of Alexander Hamilton's story. Hamilton grew up here and learned business working as a clerk for the firm of Beekman and Cruger in Christiansted. Here he remained until a very passionate letter of his describing the effect of the hurricane of August, 1772 appeared in the Royal Danish-American Gazette and earned him sponsorship off the island and into a formal education.
At the time of the PBS production I was drifting well away from my once-beloved republican party, and nothing in my interactions with Brookhiser, a scion of movement conservatism, gave me any reason to alter course. But the producer was a putrid little man. I put up with his unprofessionalism, bigotry, and sneering conceit for two days before I just walked off the job, for the first and only time in my lengthy career. His name was Michael Pack.
Great care must be taken on police "reforms" to ensure that they do not become "red tape bound" functionaries who are unable to do their job of protecting fundamental liberties. They are there to protect all the people in principle all of the time and not just the local political establishment. It has taken over 40 years but the slippery slope of police reform has led police in France to stand by as spectators in Dijon for the last 4 days as a band of 250 Chechen drug dealer "political refugees" fought it out with Kalashnikovs against a similarly armed North African gang of territorial competitors. They say they had to do the police's job for them. The minister of police who was on the scene thought it best just to "encircle" those fighting so as not to endanger the police or the local population. The best intentions in the world don't always give the best results if those in charge don't know what they're doing and rely on their ideological bias
HCR: "It was a mishmash, but that was the gist." You're being far too kind. It was a steaming pile. Opposition is already focused on his possible mental issues, though I suspect drug impairment. His rambling added more evidence in support. If yesterday was any indicator for his rally on Saturday, The Lincoln Project and Sarah Cooper will be set for source material for the next month. Jesting aside, what is his objective? He continually dilutes his messages by going off script. Even though the police EO is merely for show, he could have come off as presidential had he not veered off to "My Greatest Hits." Is it simply that his handlers cannot control him or are his handlers directing the show to continually lob smoke bombs into the situation?
I love your very accurate word choice casual in referring to George Floyd’s murder. It immediately and very powerfully conjures up the image of Chauvin, hand in pocket, knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for 8.46 minutes, while his three fellow officers stand by and do nothing, all the while Mr. Floyd pleads for his breath, his Mama and his life! Then they lift his lifeless body and literally throw him onto the stretcher never once offering any aid! Their unconscionable disregard for this Black life is abhorrent and must be condemned, laws must be changed, and justice must be served!
This is off topic (kind of) but I’d be really interested in learning more about the Reagan years.
The little research I’ve done has left me slack jawed between screaming profanities at the ceiling and wanting a clearer picture of the GOP’s timeline of heinous behavior and key events leading to the current *profanity* circus of *more bad words*.
I’m also curious why there hasn’t been more comparisons between Ronnie and Donnie and if Machiavelli is face palming from the grave. So many questions.
Hoping HCR sees this *wink wink* but would love to hear from anyone else who can point me toward credible books, podcasts etc.
Barr is a genuinely frightening figure. Not that any of them AREN'T, especially Darth Realtor (my own pet phrase for DJT45). But Barr is frightening in a different way in that he is part of a clique of Reactionary Catholics who are merely using Trump to advance what is essentially an theocratic agenda. The reason why Barr is plumping for a "Unitary Executive" is not really to advance the economic interests of Trump or to provide him with amply narcississtic supply, even as he is in fact doing this. Barr is a Catholic Integralist, along with Harvard's Adrian Vermeule and Notre Dame's Patrick Deneen. Integralism was a pre-WWII French movement what in effect denied the legitimacy of the separation of church and state, and with it by implication Liberal Republican Democracy, in favor of a "Politics of the Common Good" as defined not by the consent of the citizenry but by a clerisy of sorts. This is an interesting counterpoint to a Protestant Evangelical like Pence, but like most counterpoint it is part of the same music: antiliberal, antidemocratic, antirepublican. They think that "The Handmaid's Tale" is a situation comedy. After Trump's exit -- and I dearly hope it's in January 2021! -- they will still be around to wreak havoc. Keep them in your sights.
With respect to "police brutality and the white supremacy that underpins it": I wouldn't want to dispute in any way the importance of white supremacy, but I suspect that the underpinnings of police brutality go far beyond that.