— from Office of Governor Inslee —
Today, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan received confirmation that the Department of Homeland Security’s Border Patrol Tactical Unit has demobilized and left the Seattle area.
Last week, Gov. Jay Inslee and local officials expressed significant concerns regarding the deployment of an undetermined number of federal forces to Washington state, without the consultation or consent of state and local officials. On Friday, Durkan, King County Executive Dow Constantine, King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes delivered a letter to U.S. Attorney Brian Moran, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security seeking clarification on the intended scope of their potential actions in Seattle.
“This demobilization means Washingtonians no longer have to worry about the White House’s aim to provoke confrontation and undermine peaceful protests,” Inslee said. “Those peacefully protesting have raised the public’s consciousness of the urgent need for racial justice, and I have no doubt they will continue to use their voices to call for action. We must continue making progress toward a better and more just Washington for everyone.”
“The president’s actions to target and ‘dominate’ Democratic cities through the use of federal forces is chilling. It has increased violence in Portland, Seattle and other cities across the country, which was what the president intended. Policing decisions in Seattle should be made by Chief Best – not Donald Trump, and we can rest assured that they will be,” Durkan said. “We will continue to heed this moment in history and to work with the community to make systemic and generational changes to make Seattle more just.”
“The apparent swift departure of Trump’s uninvited and unneeded federal forces is a welcome turn of events. Federalism and the rule of law don’t take a break during a presidential election, and the people of King County should be proud of our unwavering support for one another and the Constitution,” Constantine said.
“The specter of inappropriate and unwarranted federal intervention loomed over our heads, so it’s a relief that the infusion of federal law enforcement officers has left Seattle,” said Holmes.
“We should all be outraged at the nightly specter we see in Portland of an unaccountable military force that answers only to the president using excessive force on moms, veterans and citizens with a legitimate grievance against their government,” Satterberg said. “They made everything worse there and they have no exit strategy. This is good news for Seattle, but let’s not lose focus on Portland.”
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“’…This demobilization means Washingtonians no longer have to worry about the White House’s aim to provoke confrontation and undermine peaceful protests,’ Inslee said…”
Antifa and Anarchist demonstrators rioted, wrecked, looted, and burned, but Governor Inslee is worried that federal police forces “provoked confrontation and undermined peaceful protests.”
Give me a break! There was no “peaceful protest.” Instead, there was rioting, wrecking, burning, and looting. Because of that, federal cops were there to protect federal buildings. Our buildings.
But if you want to focus upon the really peaceful protesters — the ones who were not rioting, burning, and looting — then tell me why they remained in the area while rioting wrecking, looting, and burning was going on.
By sticking around, they declared themselves joined to the rioters, tacitly adding their weight and credence to all of the illegal destructive acts that the rioters and wreckers were having such fun doing.
I am speechless. Fortunately Steve Henigson spoke for me.
We can do so much better than crass partisanship and ignorance of logic and humanity. We are flirting with well-meaning disaster.
I want to know how our local candidates see the teetering of our enlightened civilization.
Steve, I’ll let you in on a secret, “Antifa” as portrayed, is not a thing, it’s just the latest ambiguous boogeyman used by the cheeto-dusted bloviator to foment existing fears, prejudices and hatred so prevalent in his base.
Kind of interesting that the supposed “Antifa” guy who was breaking windows and trying to escalate violence in Minnesota turned out to be….
wait for it….
A right wing white supremacist.
Doesn’t ‘antifa’ stand for, ‘anti-fascist?” If so, I’ll have what they’re having. Yes, the Titanic is sinking and even the upper cabin passengers will have to deal.
Steve, You must not be drinking the socialist cool aid….
Nope, he clearly prefers the fox brand kool aid, in “oppression orange” flavor I presume…
Black Lives Matter (the organization) is represented on its own informative website which anyone can evaluate and discuss. There are plenty of sources for information about philosophical and applied Critical Theory and revolutionary Social Justice. Where can I find antifa, authoritatively or self-described, if its media portrayals are inaccurate?
George Floyd protests started rightfully under the Black Lives and anti-brutality movements. What most Americans think are civil rights issues overdue for immediate reform have been steered into the necessity to dismantle the constitutional U.S. Can any win for the country result from the Trump/Biden ticket?
Paige, you can’t, because “antifa” isn’t an organization.
Luther, I am not a Trump-eter, and I don’t pay any attention to Fox “news,” since every media source has an agenda nowadays, so please don’t label me according to your false assumptions.
I suggest that you not try to be an apologist for Antifa. It disingenuous. They are a thing, all right. As I understand it, they even have a flag.
But worse than that, although they label themselves as “anti-fascist,” they certainly use the Fascist playbook. They wreck and burn the property of those who disagree with them. Thus, there is a strong whiff of Kristallnacht in their behavior.
And your canard ploy of trying to shift blame from your Antifa buddies onto some other group just won’t swim or fly. It’s a lie.
Steve, fox news or no, your sources are suspect, you are regurgitating right wing myths regarding antifa. First it was the “outside agitators” trope, then when disproved by arrest records it became the “antifa” trope now also disproven via post arrest interrogation.
law enforcement has chosen the language of violence as their common tongue, the logical consequence of that choice is that protesters are learning to speak their language. Violence begets violence.
“In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience”
~Stokely Carmichael
“And your canard ploy of trying to shift blame from your Antifa buddies onto some other group just won’t swim or fly. It’s a lie.”
Actually it turned out to be one of your right wing buddies, not antifa:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53579099
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/us/umbrella-man-minneapolis-protests.html
truth hurts…
Does Steve even realize that it’s the anarchists, not Antifa, that are raising hell? Or is he reading out of the Trump playbook?
Luther says, to excuse the wreckers and arsonists, that “violence begets violence.”
But I was taught, and I still believe that, “two wrongs don’t make a right.”
…And, you’ve just proven my point: These are not “peaceful protests.” Never were, never will be.
Furthermore, these violent, anti-social acts alienate more people than they convince. They could even adversely swing an election.
And, Dan, so you’re now saying that Antifa is indeed “a thing”? Does Luther know?
Attorney General Barr testifying at House Judiciary Committee if you missed it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieDUnUX9PhM
Steve, if you want to believe antifa is the bogeyman under the bed, more power to you. I find it especially ironic that you don’t seem to connect the dots; the folks who will ultimately infringe upon your deeply fetishized 2nd amendment rights from whence the majority of your world view seem to emanate, won’t be antifa, or anarchists, it will likely be the same feds who’s violence and violation of the rights of protesters you find perfectly acceptable.
Luther: This is my last communication here.
I am tired of your ad-homiem attacks and faulty, unfounded assumptions.
This isn’t a discussion. It’s a one-way diatribe. And I don’t do those.
Bye, bye.
Steve, You’re spot on, a waste of time!