When Protectors Become Gangsters

Philadelphia Police Inspector Joseph Bologna Jr., a 30-year veteran, hits Temple University student Evan Gorski in the back of the head with his metal baton.*

How do we protect our  First Amendment rights of assembly and speech when the people we’ve hired to do the protecting are themselves the very bestial, racist thugs who are beating the sh** out of peaceful “protesters"?

The last few weeks have proven that beatings, gassing, and rubber-bulleting will no doubt follow when police confront protesters or, as in Washington D.C., don their blacked-out body armor and face-shielded helmets and take off their name tags, badges, and department identification.

It matters not if the sworn protectors are local police, state police, or federal officers employed by one of a myriad of federal departments, the atrocities committed arise from the opportunity to brutalize unarmed citizens utilizing fists, clubs, or tasers; teargas; mace, pepper spray or an assortment of firearms. It also doesn’t matter to the gangster “law enforcement officers” if the “protesters” are white, black, brown, male, or female, young, or old.

What does appear to matter is the opportunity to beat the sh** out of whoever is at hand. That is the moment we have witnessed our “protectors” have metastasized into Helter-Skelter-like robot gangsters, relishing unleashing violence upon their fellow citizens.

And what of the commanders and politicians who order the sworn police officers into situations in which they can morph into gangsters? Aren’t their hands bloodier than their gangster’s creations pummeling the defenseless?

House Democrats recently passed a police reform bill  - one good effort to protect citizens. But that has already been consigned to Mr. McConnell’s DOA pile, along with hundreds of other urgently need bills.

It seems that if we are to be protected from our “protectors”, well, then, we must create our own Star Trek-like Deflector Shields or an invulnerable Gort* to do the job.

*See CBSPhilly report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5NL6UZEIlo

How US police have responded with violence to protests against police brutality -
The Guardian - Jun 12, 2020

Where is Our FDR?

FDR - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Sr.  - 1944

The Democrats must bring in the young people and the Progressives or all will be lost to the Trump-Republican-Fascists.

Frankly, I expect them to fail because they will be unable to overcome the .01% who control the party. Those are the same .01% who control the Republican Party. They present themselves through the big money donors and corporate elite – the .01% mega-wealthy.

Because the Democrats can't get it together, the USA of our high school text books will become overtly Fascist within our lifetime.

I am deeply concerned that we are heading for a civil war - Trump people vs. everyone else. Clearly the “everyone else” group does not yet know they are a “group” and are therefore non-aligned, pursuing different goals and utilizing differing tactics to reach their goals. Nor, do they know they are all targets of the Conservative-Republican disinformation apparatus.

Sadly, Democrats have not changed since Will Rogers' time… that brings to mind two of my favorite quotes:

"I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” 
“Democrats never agree on anything, that's why they're Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans.” - Will Rogers

Nothing has changed for them. What has changed is that the Republicans have once again descended into Fascism, only this time there appears to be no FDR* on the scene to save the nation from them.

Why have I come to this conclusion about the Republicans? I have attached below some text describing a “conservative” pamphlet, The Left’s Racist War Against Trump & America, by David Horowitz.

In my mind this is scary rhetoric conflating charges of racist, collectivist and totalitarian with the humanistic rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution for all people regardless of race, ethnicity, or religious belief.

The Left’s Racist War Against Trump & America
“This information in this booklet is so powerful that it completely discredits the Left both intellectually and morally. Get the political ammo you need to expose the liberal agenda against our nation and our president. In these pages, you'll find proof that:

“The Democratic Party is a racist party – now, still, as it always has been. And it is increasingly collectivist and totalitarian. It also aids and abets the advance of militant Islam, which is supremacist, totalitarian, homophobic, misogynist, anti-Semitic, savagely cruel and  murderous – and totally intolerant of all ideas that are not part of its primitive ideology."

“Black Lives Matter is an overly racist and violent group that is led by avowed communists and has allied itself with Hamas terrorists. It is an organization officially endorsed by the Democratic Party and lavishly funded by tens of millions of dollars contributed by Democratic donors like George Soros."

“An American patriotism – which is precisely not about blood and soil, [and] which is the antithesis of racism and collectivism – is what drives Trump and his presidency. … Patriotism – a specifically American patriotism – is the loyalty that unites us and makes us equal. It is this patriotism with which the political left is at war, and the reason they hate this president and are determined to destroy him."

* Why FDR? Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Sr.  overcame the 1933 right wing attempted coup d'etat, otherwise known as The Wall Street Putsch. FDR saved our nation from the last attempted Republican-Fascist takeover. Please see: https://www.npr.org/2012/02/12/145472726/when-the-bankers-plotted-to-overthrow-fdr

Vets at Standing Rock 4 Dec 2016

Today's post is about much more than a statement about our failed political system. It is about our way of life... a life worth living. Those of us who have served in the military took an oath of honor to defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We worked together to achieve our missions and learned that our personal survival was in the hands of our brothers and sisters. Today, just as our ancestors answered their call to defend their freedoms in their time, we are answering our call (4 Dec 2016) to stand with our brothers sisters at Standing Rock to help them defend their freedoms... our freedoms. We are all partners in this life. First, we agree to help each other. - RB* (Please see Here & Now interview of former Marine, Dakota Blue Serna, below.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
November 28, 2016

Water Protector Legal Collective Files Suit for Excessive Force against Peaceful Protesters

Contact:
Tasha Moro, NLG Communications Director: Email address | 212-679-5100, ext. 15

CANNON BALL, ND --Today, the Water Protector Legal Collective (WPLC-formerly Red Owl), an initiative of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), filed suit in US District Court against Morton County, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirschmeier, and other law enforcement agencies for using excessive force against peaceful Water Protectors on the night of November 20, 2016.

The class action suit, filed on behalf of persons who were injured on the night of November 20 and early morning of November 21, seeks an immediate injunction preventing the Morton County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement from using impact munitions such as rubber bullets and lead-filled "beanbags," water cannons and hoses, explosive teargas grenades and other chemical agents against protesters.

Beginning on the evening of November 20, officers from the Morton County Sheriff's Department and assisting agencies confronted peaceful Water Protectors at a bridge near the Standing Rock protest camp and within the boundaries of Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires, or Great Sioux Nation) treaty lands. Without giving any warnings or opportunity to disperse, officers fired on them with highly dangerous munitions, chemical agents, a water cannon and hoses in freezing weather. More than 200 Water Protectors were injured.

"The Morton County Sheriff's office not only violates the constitutional rights of peaceful protesters, but their actions highlight the long history of abuse against Indigenous peoples," said Brandy Toelupe, WPLC lawyer. "From the beginning, governments have used their latest technologies to take land and resources from Native nations and oppress Indigenous peoples. Sheriff Kirchmeier's actions make it clear that nothing has changed," she added.

The complaint describes the excessive force with which the nine class representatives were met while peacefully protesting. Five are Native, including two members of the Lakota Nation. Vanessa Dundon of the Navajo Nation was hit in the eye with a tear gas canister that was shot by police directly at the crowd of Water Protectors. Jade Kalikolehuaokakalani Wool had two grenades blow up near her head, knocking her down, burning her face and sending shrapnel into it, and causing her to be hospitalized. Crystal Wilson was shot with a water cannon, tear gassed and shot with a munition. David Demo was filming police when, without warning, they shot him with a water cannon and then in the hand with a munition. He was hospitalized with broken bones and was told he would need reconstructive surgery.

Gary Dullknife III saw a Water Protector knocked to the ground by a water cannon. As police sprayed her on the ground, he tried to move her away. He was shot in the chest, stomach and leg by impact munitions. Mariah Marie Bruce was peacefully protesting when police sprayed her with water cannons. She was then hit in the genitals with a grenade, and was hospitalized. Frank Finan was taking pictures when he was shot in the abdomen and knocked to the ground by a rubber bullet. Israel Hoagland--Lynn tried to help two people who had been shot with water cannons and rubber bullets and was shot in the back of his head by an impact munition. He lost consciousness, was hospitalized, and needed 17 staples for a head wound. Noah Michael Treanor, while praying, was shot by the water hoses or cannon. Once on the ground, he was shot in the head by an impact munition. Bleeding badly, he was hospitalized.

"The civil rights violations that night were deliberate and punitive," said Rachel Lederman, WPLC lawyer. "The Morton County Sheriff's Department's illegal use of force against the Water Protectors has been escalating. It is only a matter of luck that no one has been killed. This must stop."

Those concerned are urged to call local and federal agencies below to demand (1) immediate end to construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, (2) the immediate cessation and a full investigation into law enforcement abuses, (3) dropping felony charges against water protectors from the October 27 police raid, and (4) permitting the Water Protectors to stay at their current encampment until the DAPL's application to drill under Lake Oahe and the Missouri River is permanently denied.

White House: 202-456-1414 or sign the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's White House petition standwithstandingrock.net/take-action
White House Situation Room, 202-456-9431
North Dakota Governor's Office: 701-328-2200
Morton County Sheriff's Office: 701-667-3330
Morton County State's Attorney's Office: 701-667-3330
Army Corps of Engineers-Bismarck 701-255-0015

The Water Protector Legal Collective is the National Lawyers Guild legal support team for those engaged in resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. It maintains a 24/7 presence on-site at the Oceti Sakowin camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

"This weekend, a group of veterans are heading to the site to act as "human shields" for the protesters. Thousands have registered to go. Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with one of those vets, Dakota Blue Serna (@dakotabusmc), a former Marine."

* 2,000 Vets to Head to Standing Rock as North Dakota Cuts Off Emergency Services to Camps, Democracy Now!, 29 Nov 2016.

** National Lawyers Guild Files First Standing Rock Class Action Suit!,
Stephen Fox, OpEdNews, 30 Nov 2016.

*** Native Gallery MIX of JLuJan – Native American Photographer, American Indian Photography, Tribal Ceremony Images, Photographs of American Indians

Fearing Kristallnacht.2016

(This post is my letter to my brother Gary, in response to his query about how I am dealing with the recent election.)

Gary,

I am in shock*.

I understood that people did not know what they were voting for when they voted for Trump.

For many he was a joke. Others actually believed that Trump will magically, “Make America Great Again”.  I guess, for them, that means like a 1950s “America” of their imagination.

Still others see him as the ultimate outsider and identify with him. For example, many if not all, of our women friends voted for Trump, I guess out of repudiation of another Clinton in office. Trump successfully pinned onto Hillary all the "wrongs" which were committed by past "power-holders" - Republicans, Democrats, the "Oligarchs". He managed to accomplish this while being the obvious embodiment of American Predatory Capitalism. In some twisted way, people believe that is a good thing.

Why they ignored his “lack of character” is a mystery to me. How these women believe that their children and grandchildren will be positively served by President Trump is well beyond my comprehension.

Nearly everyone was fixed on Hillary’s emails and not one of these people gave a second thought to Mr. Trump’s serious legal problems, nor what will happen now that Mitch McConnell is in charge of the Senate and Ryan in the House without a shred of moral / ethical restraint under President Trump and a compliant, "conservative" Supreme Court.

As I write this I am reading that young and older people are out in the streets in NYC and elsewhere protesting the coming Trump presidency. These people have not realized that our “Democracy” is long gone. (1.) We no longer have “rights”. If they persist, they will find that out when Fascist America shows its face. (2.)

I fear the “good “days are gone and the long ugly nights full of bullying, mayhem and pain are now upon us as we near our version of Kristallnacht... Kristallnacht.2016. (3.)

Ron

*I believe that my "shock" is mainly rooted in the near universal failure of mainstream media election forecasts, models and polls to predict the election results.

1. Protests Flare Against Donald Trump’s Election, Michael McLaughlin, Sebastian Murdock, Andy Campbell, The Huffington Post, 9 Nov 2016.
2. Remember these Bill-of-Rights-busting laws remain the law of the land:
(a) the USA PATRIOT Act (Yes, Congress “repealed” the Patriot Act. But it was in name only. Now we must work to revise the Freedom Act.)
(b) the Military Commission Act and
(c) section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012. ( Go here for info links for a-c above.)
3. Don't know much about History? The truth is that what will happen to you happened before in Nazi Germany. And from your own US history, your ancestors fought the Robber Barons of old through the grassroots organization called the Chautauqua Movement. The oligarchs who rigged our America today are the descendants of the Robber Barons of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Please go here for more info about our current day The Movement.

"Don't know much about History", "Wonderful World", Sam Cooke, 1960.

Stand Up for Our Rights

This song, written by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, is perhaps even more relevant today than back in the 70s when it was originally written. It's about the Marley's fight for respect and acceptance of his Rastafarian religion in Jamaica. It reverberates for me today because I fear we will soon be fighting for our constitutionally guaranteed rights due to over reaction to the now everyday horrors we are witnessing throughout the world.

"This was the last song Marley performed; he sang it from a stool at a show in Pittsburgh on September 23, 1980. Marley's cancer had spread to his brain and it was surprising he could perform at all, but he did a 20-song set that night, closing with a 6-minute rendition of "Get Up, Stand Up," and collapsing soon after the show. He would die on May 11, 1981." http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=7609