DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek that the City of Glendale’s decision was “deeply disturbing,” and accused state officials of siding with criminals over public safety after unrest in Los Angeles.
Just so people are aware, this is the same rhetoric/same regurgitated talking points being used against “progressive” policies in blue cities within red states all over the country.
They are banking on an escalation of physical violence and confrontation that they will use as an excuse to establish a permanent federal and military force in California that will not be subject to any California state laws.
Why do I believe that? Because its how it happened in my own city to establish a permanent state police force that can’t be regulated by any city or local ordinance.
They instigate and then argue that progressive policies have resulted in an emergency and chaos, that leaves them no choice but to step in and fix things by taking control.
Frustrate and impede, just don’t help them advance their agenda by giving them the physical escalation they’re hoping for.
An “insurrection” under Trump will not be handled the way an actual insurrection was when Trump instigated it under Biden. This has been planned for a long time.
Richard Blumenthal Reveals Trump ‘Martial Law’ Fear
I hope more Americans at city and state levels will start joining cities like Glendale.
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The state believes it has a monopoly on violence. After all they’ve spent most of a century propagandizing the public with the idea that “violence is never the answer”.
It might have been well intended at first. But over the last 20ish years I’ve come to see it as a weapon. Look at France or hell, most other countries. Government tries to do some fuck shit and people riot. Farmers protest with a military parade of tractors and spraying manure on parliament. Those countries haven’t had their populations brainwashed into the belief that “violence is never the answer”. There exists an implicit threat of violence behind protest virtually anywhere on earth except the US and some other authoritarian countries.
That implicit threat doesn’t exist here. Not at all. And that is why protests nationwide comprised of multiple millions of people are routinely ignored if not actively suppressed by gov’t jackboots. And always mocked as agitators or outliers. And our government is absolutely terrified that people will realize it. It’s why Trump’s military parade is going to have 19 miles of fencing and hundreds of magnetometers. Because those at the top know the pulse of the country. They have the data. They know the causes. They’ve squeezed people more and more for decades. They’ve suppressed wages while prices grew. They’ve allowed technologies like AI to remain largely unregulated while wiping away millions of jobs that people depended on to survive in a sink-or-swim society that doesn’t value human life beyond its utility to oligarchy. They’ve ignored protest for decades. Protest does not work here because it has been intentionally defanged. There is no threat behind it.
Then a fat bloviating painted cow of a man who thinks himself a king sends out masked plainclothes agents to rendition our neighbors. To kidnap people in your community. People you know. People who’s children go to the same school yours do. People you see every single day. Your people. Its slow death by boiling. Suddenly interrupted by someone rapidly turning up the heat.
There are already “leftists” on Lemmy advocating for bullying out your voice, and calling the LA protests “riots”, as well as “violence,” when the only known violence was to waymo cars and other private property. News orgs are showing pictures of police cars being targeted from Floyd protests.
Eta: check
midlifemodlog see silencing of valid leftist voicesAuthoritarians are authoritarians, regardless of what they call themselves.
I’m kind of indecisive on the last bit. Were COVID lockdowns authoritarian? Yes, but for the greater good, imo, badly managed, but *not nearly long enough. But citizens had to eat and pay bills and rich people demanded a return to work, so we got what we got.
I would posit that while COVID lockdowns were authoritarian in nature on their face - as in the State restricting individual liberties - the context of a pandemic made those behaviors a serious threat to the public good, and the people who instituted those lockdowns were not authoritarians in principle.
We also have speed limits and other traffic laws, also in order to reduce threats to the public good. Would those be considered “authoritarian”? Not a snarky question, just something to ponder on as a comparison.
Speed limits and lockdowns are very different. In theory, a speeding violation only shouldn’t warrant jail, but it does often because paying the fine would mean skipping bills or food, which exacerbates the issue, and that’s another discussion. COVID lockdown restricted people from checking on vulnerable adults, visiting hospital patients, yet medical faculty and staff hadn’t personal protection gear and returned to their families after shifts, hence my noting it was badly managed, not to mention ubi wasn’t even considered.
You’re absolutely right. “It’s more complicated than that” is almost always the right answer, and it is here, too. My analogy was only about whether something is “authoritarian” if it ideally serves the public good. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
The way both lockdowns and traffic laws are implemented in practice is certainly problematic. I’d even say that traffic law implementation is worse, since “if the punishment is a fine, it’s only illegal for poor people.” There should have been more support for people during lockdowns, but I think that was more stupidity than malice (even if it was still partially malice).
Bruh, seriously…
Every positive change, especially when that change challenges existing power structures, must be backed up with “And we’ll fight you to the death over this.” Yes, you hope it doesn’t come to that, you hope that only the threat of revolution will be enough.
The threat won’t be enough if it’s an empty threat.
When you’re left with no other alternative, then yes. Why not try to form a coalition of Americans that will stand together against Trump before we dissolve into a second civil war where individual blue states are going against the entire U.S. government?
How about some support from other blue states and jurisdictions? Where are the calls for blue states senators and representatives to vocally stand with California, where are the mayors and city councils willing to follow Glendale’s example?
Sending people into a suicide mission without actually backing them up, is like supporting a war you’re not fighting in (yet). When it’s your turn, you will hope that others will stand with you instead of remotely egging you on to be David against Goliath.
That’s been going on a long time already, and the coalition of Americans willing to stand with fascism, or turn a blind eye to it, has only increased in size.
Fourth box.
It’s already my turn. It’s your turn, too. Look for opportunities to resist where and when you can, to whatever extent you can. Frontline soldiers make up a tiny fraction of the people necessary to win a war. You can stand with resistance, even armed resistance, in many more ways than charging into battle yourself.
They’ve already deployed troops. Blue states banding together to say “please don’t invade us” will do absolutely nothing to stop him deploying troops, especially when the only problem Trump has with Blue States is that they are Blue.
This is the beginning. He wants an excuse to declare martial law.
He’s still holding back and being strategic at this point, once he establishes a permanent military branch to oversee California that’s when shit really hits the fan.
Getting all blue states and jurisdictions to start withholding federal taxes until we have a federal government who is actually representing us again, is a much better plan than telling a bunch of civilians to go fight the military. You are literally sending people to be slaughtered and kick off a second civil war, but I’m pretty sure you’re probably fully aware of that.
He doesn’t need an excuse.
How do you propose blue states “withhold federal taxes?” I pay my federal taxes to the fed directly, not through my state. Do states have mechanisms to prevent their citizens and businesses from doing the same?
I’m not sending anyone to do anything. I’m just pointing out that if a military is gathering at your city that’s a clear sign of you being invaded, and that asking them nicely to stop will accomplish nothing. In this case the first military to show up in the city is the US military, not a foreign one, but that’s not a difference worthy of distinction.
Feel free to stop paying your taxes if you want, but no rights were ever won or secured without violence (no distinction here about whether that’s on or by protestors).
Protesters Urged Not To Give Trump Administration Pretext For What It Already Doing
He already sent in the marines, what more do you want? He wont stop untill every democrat is dead…
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