The inevitable end result of our last 56 years

[Bob Ness]

41 minutes ago, Jeff Carter said:

This is Google’s official explanation:

“Today we became aware of an issue that impacted some navigational and site: operator queries. We investigated and have since fixed the issue,” said a Google spokesperson. “This affected a number of sites representing a range of different content and viewpoints. This issue was a technical error unrelated to the content or ideology of the sites affected.”

Makes sense. His traffic didn't seem to be very much but I wasn't looking at that really. Delisting would be for more than 24 hours though.

[Cliff Varnell]

8 hours ago, Jeff Carter said:

 

“Trump protests that he campaigned on a promise of disengagement from endless wars, but he is blocked from fulfilling the promise.

The isolation of Trump within his own government brings to mind the similar isolation of John F. Kennedy, as described in the 2008 book by James W. Douglass, JFK and the Unspeakable...

Similar isolation?

Disengagement from endless wars?

Trump moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, pulled out of the Iran nuke deal which slapped crippling sanctions on the Iranian economy, whacked the top Iranian military man — damn! where’s his Nobel prize?

Conflating Kennedy’s considered foreign policies with Trump’s whimsies is absurd.

[Bob Ness]

47 minutes ago, Robert Wheeler said:

Either that or a smart ass reporter thought Trump would take the bait. You are not very good at this Bob. 

 

Haha we'll see. She hasn't survived yet though.

[Ron Bulman]

56 years.  JFK's death had an impact on 1967 imo.  As it in turn does today.  53 years ago today.

https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/1967-detroit-riots

[James DiEugenio]

The Detroit riots were savage, among the worst in American history. It began right after the, almost as bad, Newark riots.

As a result, LBJ commissioned the Kerner Report. That report was really good as to the causes.  Some good people served on the board like Fred Harris, Jim Corman, Roy Wilkins.

 When the contents of the report got back to him, LBJ canceled the White House acceptance ceremony, and did not sign letters congratulating the members for serving.   He did not endorse the report nor did he implement its findings. 

Why? Because it said this, which, IMO,  eventually culminated in the Minny murder:

“What white Americans have never fully understood—but what the Negro can never forget—is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto,” the commission stated. “White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.” The report warned, in perhaps its most celebrated passage: “Our Nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.”

 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by James DiEugenio

[Micah Mileto]

6 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

The Detroit riots were savage, among the worst in American history. It began right after the, almost as bad, Newark riots.

As a result, LBJ commissioned the Kerner Report. That report was really good as to the causes.  Some good people served on the board like Fred Harris, Jim Corman, Roy Wilkins.

 When the contents of the report got back to him, LBJ canceled the White House acceptance ceremony, and did not sign letters congratulating the members for serving.   He did not endorse the report nor did he implement its findings. 

Why? Because it said this, which, IMO,  eventually culminated in the Minny murder:

“What white Americans have never fully understood—but what the Negro can never forget—is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto,” the commission stated. “White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.” The report warned, in perhaps its most celebrated passage: “Our Nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.”

 

 

https://media.tenor.com/images/f28d6c92bba523c3f4fc0084c1290b47/tenor.gif

[Cliff Varnell]

 

[James DiEugenio]

Second paragraph below is from an LBJ phone call with Daley:

President Johnson’s former Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, was running for president. He pushed the Kerner Report recommendations. But Johnson felt the Commission’s Vice Chair, New York Mayor John Lindsay, had pushed the Commission too far.

“And Bobby just gave me hell today for not carrying out the Kerner Commission study. Well, I didn’t realize when I appointed Kerner that this son-of-a-bitch from New York, Lindsay, would take charge."

Edited July 24, 2020 by James DiEugenio

[Steve Thomas]

5 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

Steve, clicking on the later picture/article just enlarged it, won't take me to the article.  I looked at Reuters and didn't find it.  Is there more info on some of the "agents" being mercenaries/hired guns/rent a cops from something along the line of Blackwater? 

Ron,

The article I quoted is from an earlier Douglas Caddy post

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2020-07-22/portland-invaded-by-militarized-federal-law-enforcement-lawmaker-says

The picture is from a tweet by Disinfectant Don himself.

The mercenaries line is my own, although others have expressed the idea as well.

For example, see this article by Bill Conroy The Lead Federal Agency Responding to Protesters in Portland Employs Thousands of Private Contractors

on the website:

https://medium.com/@wkc6428/the-lead-federal-agency-responding-to-protesters-in-portland-employs-thousands-of-private-db137349f8b0

"Congress needs to shine a light on the use of private security firms, including ‘Blackwater’ legacy companies, in Trump’s response to ongoing civil rights protests."

"What has not been reported widely in the media, however, is the fact that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unit that is coordinating the “crowd control” effort — an agency called the Federal Protective Service (FPS) — is composed largely of contract security personnel. Those contractors are being furnished to FPS by major private-sector security companies like Blackwater corporate descendant Triple Canopy as well as dozens of other private security firms."

Steve Thomas

[Bob Ness]

4 minutes ago, Steve Thomas said:

Ron,

The article I quoted is from an earlier Douglas Caddy post

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2020-07-22/portland-invaded-by-militarized-federal-law-enforcement-lawmaker-says

The picture is from a tweet by Disinfectant Don himself.

The mercenaries line is my own, although others have expressed the idea as well.

For example, see this article by Bill Conroy The Lead Federal Agency Responding to Protesters in Portland Employs Thousands of Private Contractors

on the website:

https://medium.com/@wkc6428/the-lead-federal-agency-responding-to-protesters-in-portland-employs-thousands-of-private-db137349f8b0

"Congress needs to shine a light on the use of private security firms, including ‘Blackwater’ legacy companies, in Trump’s response to ongoing civil rights protests."

"What has not been reported widely in the media, however, is the fact that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unit that is coordinating the “crowd control” effort — an agency called the Federal Protective Service (FPS) — is composed largely of contract security personnel. Those contractors are being furnished to FPS by major private-sector security companies like Blackwater corporate descendant Triple Canopy as well as dozens of other private security firms."

Steve Thomas

SOP these days. Right out of the Putin playbook.

[Douglas Caddy]

[Steve Thomas]

(CNN)President Donald Trump said Thursday that he's willing to send as many as 75,000 federal agents into American cities to quell violent crime, a recent campaign theme for the President.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/23/politics/trump-federal-agents-us-cities/index.html

Speaking in a telephone interview on Fox News, Trump began by saying he was ready to dispatch "50,000, 60,000 people" into American cities.

But eventually he upped the figure to 75,000 -- but said it would require local authorities asking for help.

"We have to be invited in. At some point we'll have to do something much stronger than being invited in," Trump said.

 

Steve Thomas

[Steve Thomas]

18 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

I can't wait for the next Sarah Cooper impersonation of Donald Trump explaining his cognitive test.

Steve Thomas

It was worth the wait.

Steve Thomas

[Ron Ecker]

USPS Being Sabotaged from Within?

“A formal complaint filed last week with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General by a Portland, Maine letter carrier alleges that city Postmaster James Thornton is unlawfully mandating the delay of first-class mail in order to prioritize the delivery of Amazon packages.

“The complaint, first reported Tuesday by the Portland Press Herald, comes weeks after Louis DeJoy took over as U.S. Postmaster General and wasted little time implementing "major operational changes" and cost-cutting measures at the agency that critics warned would slow mail delivery and leave USPS unable to compete with private-sector competitors.

"Before he was unanimously appointed by the USPS Board of Governors in May, DeJoy was a major donor to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. The Board of Governors is controlled by Trump appointees.”

"Without consultation or input from any of the postal unions, postal customers, or mailing community, [DeJoy] has launched a series of actions that will undermine the Postal Service and are an insult to every postal worker."
—American Postal Workers Union

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/22/maine-letter-carriers-allege-usps-leadership-willfully-delaying-mail-sabotage-postal

Well, one thing we don’t want is smooth-running, problem-free mail-in voting for the 2020 election. That would make it harder for Trump to claim voter fraud. What we want is chaos at the USPS.

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Ron Ecker

[Steve Thomas]

White House seeks advice of 'torture memos' author on powers

https://apnews.com/9b8cee4c505dda9069ea4da908c91f35

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is relying on an outlier interpretation of a recent Supreme Court decision to assert broad new powers as he prepares to sign a series of executive orders in the coming weeks.

The expansive view of presidential authority has been promoted by John Yoo, a Berkeley Law professor known for writing the so-called “torture memos” that the George W. Bush administration used to justify using “enhanced interrogation” techniques after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Yoo told The Associated Press on Thursday he’s had multiple conversations with senior administration officials in which he’s made the case that a June Supreme Court ruling that rejected Trump’s effort to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, opened the door to enormous new presidential power.

Under the court’s decision, he wrote in Newsweek, “presidents can now stop enforcing laws they dislike, hand out permits or benefits that run contrary to acts of Congress and prevent their successors from repealing their policies for several years.”

In National Review, Yoo suggested Trump could, for instance, now create a nationwide right to carry guns openly by refusing to enforce federal firearms laws and then creating a new “Trump permit” that would free any holder of local gun restrictions.

Steve Thomas