— from Thom Carnevale —
I am having a very difficult time, not because I am ill or in the financial dregs, but because of a recent news headline.
In downtown Portland, Federal police from the Department of Homeland Security, commissioned by Donald Trump, in camouflage dress, in unmarked vans are grabbing suspected demonstrators off the street, hooding them, taking them in to be photographed, fingerprinted, eye scanned, interrogated, registering them in a central database, placing them on a Federal watchlist. Has Trump adopted the policies of China, Russia, the Philippines and other authoritarian regimes? If so, will the Democratic and Republican parties stand silently while this abridgment of freedoms is saddled on a moribund American democracy.
PS – Please don’t say, an election looms. At a minimum, Trump will remain in office another six months. Even middle of the road Joe Biden has questioned whether Trump will voluntarily leave office.
What news source did this information originate from? Is it verifiable?
John Fleischer: KGW Portland, The New York Times, OregonLive.com, KATU Portland, TheGuardian.com, Washington Post, Willamette Week, to name just a few.
Please add NPR, PBS, NBC News, AP, ABC, CBS, CNN, Reuters, CNBC to the list. Gov. Kate Brown, 2 US Senators, and four House members from Oregon from asked the Trump Federal police to leave the state. Adding they were not invited and unneeded.
From today’s New York Times:
PORTLAND, Ore. — Federal agents dressed in camouflage and tactical gear have taken to the streets of Portland, unleashing tear gas, bloodying protesters and pulling some people into unmarked vans in what Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon has called “a blatant abuse of power.”
The extraordinary use of federal force in recent days, billed as an attempt to tamp down persistent unrest and protect government property, has infuriated local leaders who say the agents have stoked tensions.
“This is an attack on our democracy,” Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland said…
John Fleischer: Even Fox News has published a surprisingly balanced account of the DHS actions in Portland using unmarked vehicles and anonymous troops. Quoting from the Fox article:
“Authoritarian governments, not democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., on Twitter, along with a video of a protester being arrested and placed into an unmarked van. “These Trump/Barr tactics designed to eliminate any accountability are absolutely unacceptable in America, and must end.”
https://www.opb.org/news/article/us-attorney-oregon-investigation-portland-protester-arrests/
A frightening, if not surprising, harbinger of what’s in store for our country in the next three and one-half months.
The GOP is a lie wrapped in a flag.