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The MoA Week In Review – Open Thread 2020-43
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
American Spring:
Tanya Kerssen @tkerssen – 2:37 UTC · May 31, 2020
Share widely: National guard and MPD sweeping our residential street. Shooting paint canisters at us on our own front porch. Yelling “light em up” #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #JusticeForGeorge #BlackLivesMatter –> video
Elizabeth Murray @elizabethmurra – 4:33 UTC · May 31, 2020
'Light 'em up – light 'em all up' — the EXACT phrase used as a kill order in the US Army's Apache helicopter attack on Iraqi civilians in the 'Collateral Murder' video released by @wikileaks – with no accountability, it has all come home.
In the 'collateral murder' incident U.S. troops killed a Reuters photographer.
From last night there are more than two dozen reports of direct police attacks on well identified media. Police are shooting with pepper balls, rubber bullets and tear gas directly at camera teams. The rubber bullets are aimed at the head. One photographer lost her eye. There were at least three arrests of legitimate reporters who held up their press cards. In the other direction a Foxnew camera team was attacked by protesters.
One wonder what the police hope to gain from this strategy.
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Other issues:
Russiagate:
George Galloway @georgegalloway – 15:00 UTC · May 29, 2020
EXCLUSIVE | The Podesta files were leaked, not hacked. #Russiagate #USPolitics #HillaryClinton WATCH THIS: buff.ly/2ZGIR4O
Boeing:
Dominic Gates @dominicgates – 19:46 UTC · May 27, 2020
On the day when Boeing announces 12,000 U.S. job cuts, the company's president in India touts Boeing's new $200M engineering and technology campus going up in Bengaluru.
Boeing’s India operations to be largest outside US
http://toi.in/4yGiHZ/a24gk via @timesofindia
Syria:
The FSA War Criminal and the CIA Asset Inside Islamic State – Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
Russia:
Kino Klassika provides old Russian/Soviet films and TV series with English subtitles
Tip: RED FRONT – 75 Years of Russian War Cinema – Kinoklassika
India:
The Pillage of India – NYRB
Use as open thread …
Posted by: juliania | May 31 2020 21:06 utc | 80 The previous thread comments reported on the violence in San Francisco. I hope RS Hack is okay.
I’m fine, thank you for the concern. But it seems quiet here. I’m not hearing any sirens at the moment. Haven’t bothered yet to look at the local news to see what’s going on. Heard the helicopters earlier, but they seem to have left now (oops, wrote that too soon – they’re back.) We were supposed to have a curfew tonight from 8PM to 5AM.
Just looked this up:
1:29 p.m. Curfew excludes homeless, medical needs, journalists: Exemptions to San Francisco’s overnight curfew include the homeless, journalists and people who can show officers “that they are in such place for the sole purpose of traveling to a home or workplace or to obtain medical assistance,” as well as government emergency and response workers, a statement from Mayor London Breed’s office said Sunday. Everyone else has to be inside from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. as of Sunday night.
Hah, they exempted the homeless from the lockdown, now they exempt them from the curfew! This city absolutely will not do anything about the 17,000 homeless. The city wanted 14,000 hotel rooms to house them during the lockdown, they only got 2,000, and only 1,000 are occupied. What a circus…
And this:
12:13 p.m. State will send 200 officers to assist SF: California officials will send 200 additional law enforcement officers from across the region to assist in enforcing San Francisco’s overnight curfew, said Police Chief Bill Scott. Scott warned residents to stay inside, though he did not address how the 8 p.m.-5 p.m. curfew would be enforced. “If you’re not exempt, don’t be outside,” he said.
Celebrities get involved…
2:07 p.m. SF religious leaders call ‘kneel-in’ protest: Actor Jamie Foxx will join traditional black church leaders, rabbis and NAACP and civic leaders for a peaceful “kneel-in” outside San Francisco police headquarters, aiming to highlight “a violent and utterly unacceptable pattern of behavior by police everywhere, including our own city, that put the lives of people of color at risk of their lives from the very individuals who are sworn to protect them.” The event is set for 11 a.m. Monday at City Hall
And here is more proof that the goal is to make *any* sort of criminal act an act of “terrorism”:
2:24 p.m. Federal official suggests attack at Oakland federal building fits pattern: Ken Cuccinelli, deputy secretary of Homeland Security, suggested the fatal attack on a security guard at the federal building in Oakland was part of a pattern, telling reporters the government knows of threats against other police stations and federal buildings.“When someone targets a police officer or a police station with an intention to do harm and intimidate, that is an act of domestic terrorism,” he said.
So any time someone shoots at a cop or even punches a cop, they’re going to be charged with “domestic terrorism.” I suspect that my “the only good cop is a dead cop” will eventually get me charged with “terrorism” (especially in light of my criminal record which they can use to support such a charge.)
When I was inducted into the Florence Federal Correction Institution in Colorado, the intake psychologist reviewed my file and asked me, “What were you intending to do those Presidents?” I thought, “yeah, right, asshole, I’m going to say something to get me another Federal charge.” So I said nothing.
It’s always been a Federal crime to advocate the violent overthrow of the US government. It’s been mostly unenforceable, or selectively enforced. After this series of events, I suspect we’ll see it enforced much more in order to suppress dissent even more.
18 U.S. Code § 2385. Advocating overthrow of Government
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, § 2, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 87–486, June 19, 1962, 76 Stat. 103; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)
Well, I’m not going to stop advocating precisely that – although I’m quite aware that, again as Percival Rose says, “That ain’t gonna happen.”
“Also, old hippie and William Gruff had some cogent remarks at the end of the previous thread.”
Alas, I responded to oldhippie – which is mostly a waste of time dealing with an obvious troll, whom I now also suspect of being a hasbara agent given that a Google search produces *no* such person posting anywhere else (in contrast to my name, which is all over the Internet on many topics.)
I usually appreciate Gruff’s remarks as being rational and commonsense.
Some more notes from the local news:
2:37 p.m. Cities with protests number at least 75: At least 75 cities have seen protests in the recent days of fury following the death of George Floyd at police hands in Minneapolis, the New York Times reports. More than two dozen mayors imposed curfews, the first time so many have simultaneously issued such orders in the face of civic unrest since 1968 when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
So we’re now officially “back in the Sixties.”
3:09 a.m. LA wakes up to military on streets: Downtown Los Angeles emerged Sunday from a night of flames and looting to see five National Guard military Humvees parked at 3rd and Hill streets and L.A. Guardsmen in full combat gear standing outside shattered storefronts, the Los Angeles Times said. Scores of Guardsmen toted M-4 rifles as they patrolled along Broadway. The morning light revealed the damage from the days before: broken windows, trash-strewn streets and graffiti-tagged buildings.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 31 2020 23:15 utc | 106
We’re under curfew now in San Francisco. It sounds like a spotter plane is making repeated passes over the city, undoubtedly spotting for the police.
From the press:
By Sunday night at 5 p.m., crowds were assembling near Salesforce Tower, and police began lining up against boarded-up buildings early Sunday evening on Market Street near the Powell Street cable car turnaround and at the Westfield San Francisco Centre, where a fire was set on Saturday night.
6:15 p.m. San Jose Police officer under investigation for conduct during protest response: A San Jose Police officer has been taken off street duty after a video of him cursing at protesters went viral on social media, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said in a Sunday news conference. Videos posted to Twitter showed Officer Jared Yuen saying, “Shut up, bitch,” and, “Let’s get this motherf—–,” while facing a line of people protesting the police killing of George Floyd on Friday. One video had been viewed 2.2 million times as of Sunday evening. San Jose Police chief Eddie Garcia said Sunday the incident is under investigation and Yuen is “going to be accountable for his actions and he’s going to have to deal with the consequences.” Garcia said: “I’m not happy with his actions. I’m sure if Jared was sitting here, he’d be embarrassed as well. But I will tell you, I know Jared. He’s a good kid. He made a mistake. He let his emotions get the better of him. He’s put his life on the line for this police department at many an occasion. So we’ll take all of that into consideration.” Liccardo said all complaints against law enforcement stemming from protests will be investigated in partnership with an independent auditor. “I found the video of Officer Yuen particularly disturbing and his conduct a sharp contrast with what was otherwise overwhelmingly admirable professionalism in our department,” Liccardo said. “In my view, that officer allowed his emotions to undermine his professional duty to the public.”
6:08 p.m. Crowd gathers outside Best Buy in Pleasant Hill: Perhaps 50 people, many dressed in black and carrying backpacks, were trying to break into the store. No police were visible.
Many BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) stations closed, including the Civic Center, Walnut Creek, Oakland 12th Street, etc.
And here we have SF’s Mayor touting the same story-line about “outside agitators” (and yes, they exist, but they’re not the cause.) I think all the mayors are reciting from a playbook issued from Washington (or Wall Street).
4:50 p.m. Mayor London Breed condemns ‘organized agitators’ in SF, says protesters at her home showed ‘blatant racism and hate’: Speaking in the Mission District, Mayor London Breed said officials “feel the hurt and the pain” of those protesting the death of George Floyd while also speaking passionately against people “who are coming to our city for the sole purpose of destroying our city.” Breed spoke specifically about protesters who gathered outside her home Saturday evening. “What bothers me the most is the fact that there are organized agitators that do this for a living all over the country. They go to various places and they try to incite a riot. And let me tell you, yesterday I had some protesters – I didn’t get to see them, but sadly I saw the videos. And — all white people yelling ‘Black lives matter,’ protesting in front of my house,” Breed said. “But that didn’t bother me as much as the taunting of me coming outside with firework torches in their hands looking like what used to happen when the KKK would show up to black peoples’ houses to burn their houses down.
“Don’t come for me. Cause I’m not the one. Don’t bring the fire. Cause I’m not the one. Don’t get it twisted. Cause I’m not the one. Cause I know what that is. I know what that is, disguised in activism. That’s not activism. That is blatant racism and hate.
“You can disagree with my policies, you can not like me, you can protest me at city hall all day every day. But don’t come for me like that. Don’t come to my house. Because at the end of the day, what’s more disrespectful is the fact that we have people who are not black chanting ‘Black lives matter’ and don’t mean it – and don’t mean it.
“Your words mean nothing if your actions are something else. Stop turning ‘Black Lives Matter’ into a joke because it’s not. It’s born out of pain. It’s born out of disrespect and racism. Don’t turn ‘Black Lives Matter’ into a joke. Because it’s not a joke.”
So in other words, she’s saying that because some white people think “black lives matter”, they must be racists turning that slogan “into a joke”. I call bullshit. There may well be some people doing that – but there may well plenty of whites who believe that black lives matter, especially in San Francisco, a notoriously liberal city.
Unrest spreads to Bay Area suburbs: Walnut Creek declares curfew, woman shot
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 1 2020 3:33 utc | 157
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