OT: Cops kill George Floyd

[thebuzzardman]

Just a heads up to anyone who has friends or family located in Washington, D.C. who may be out protesting

DC is the only jurisdiction Trump can fully mess with right now as it has no governor. In the 50 states a governor is the one who calls in troops, not the president. But in DC the President can kind of do WTF he wants

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Dan Friedman is journalist who publishes in Mother Jones

There is no such thing as DOJ troops

What this means is Barr and Trump probably have contracted with black ops to patrol the DC streets

IOW, these are not law enforcement or military. They have no identifying emblems or insignias. These are rogue people sent in by the WH to throw down. These are probably guys who work for Erik Prince

So if you know anyone protesting in DC, warn them to be EXTRA CAREFUL. Trump is really pushing the envelope now

First off, your warnings and take on Trump in DC are accurate and no issue there.

Also, those guys MIGHT be "contractors" from Prince, but DOJ has several departments in it that have a paramilitary component, or can have it:
http://www.allgov.com/departments/department-of-justice?DepartmentID=573

Off the top of my head:
FBI (they have tactical type units)
DEA (see above, seems less likely to be used in this case)
ATF - now there's a group I could see being used
Federal Bureau of Prisons - Another I could see being asked to "spare some manpower" for this, and also, like ICE, I think much more aligned with Trump in it's leadership and personnel.
US Marshals - have tactical types, not so sure enough to be used here
US Capitol Police - they generally look like cops, but are Federal and have the security of congress as primary mission
https://www.uscp.gov/the-department/our-mission

Two VERY likely groups


ICE - Not part of DOJ, but VERY in line with Trump
Border Patrol - see above

Oh, and looky here:
https://www.rollcall.com/2020/06/01/immigration-agencies-to-assist-law-enforcement-amid-unrest/

The two biggest immigration enforcement agencies at the Homeland Security Department confirmed Monday they will deploy personnel and resources to support local, state and federal law enforcement in U.S. cities where civil unrest over police brutality continues to simmer.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the DHS agency that deports undocumented people from inside the United States, confirmed to CQ Roll Call that it would add to the boots on the ground nationwide.

ICE “fully respects the rights of all people to peacefully express their opinions,” Danielle Bennett, an agency spokeswoman, told CQ Roll Call via email.

“In light of civil unrest taking place across the country, ICE personnel and Special Response Teams have been deployed to protect agency facilities and assets in support of the Federal Protective Service and assist local, state and federal law enforcement partners, as needed,” Bennett said.

Customs and Border Protection also threw its weight behind law enforcement. CBP “continues to assist our law enforcement partners in supporting peaceful protests,” acting Commissioner Mark Morgan said in a tweet Sunday. “But as we have seen, these ‘protests’ are anything but peaceful.”

Morgan noted that an officer with Federal Protective Services, the security division within DHS, was shot and killed while guarding a federal courthouse in Oakland, Calif., amid a protest. The motive behind the shooting was not clear, however.

BP and ICE are the closest things Trump has to Brownshirts. Especially BP.

OK, I don't know the full story and you may be right they are actual employees of a federal department, but wouldn't ICE have some uniform identifiers? These guys have no identifiers at all and they may not even have identical standard issue uniforms or shoes.

I could be wrong that every legit unit from a specific department of the government has these elements, but these guys definitely sound and look like they are contractors. When asked by the reporter, they were vague in their response which the reporter contrasted with the response from other personnel in neighboring locations. Others were forthcoming, these guys were not.

Anyway, seems like goons.

Well, yeah, they COULD be contractors. I was just pointing out there are a bunch of people the feds can call on to look all paramilitary. Including at least 2 who have shown strong ties to Trump and who can also spare the bandwidth, in terms of forces.

But yeah, no badge is weird and shaky as hell.

[thebuzzardman]

A google search of the picture brings up "Erik Prince". Lol.

I guess because of a lot of speculation they might be Blackwater, or whatever their name is now.

Off to the reddit thread to see if I can sort of learn anything.

[ellobo]

First off, your warnings and take on Trump in DC are accurate and no issue there.

Also, those guys MIGHT be "contractors" from Prince, but DOJ has several departments in it that have a paramilitary component, or can have it:
http://www.allgov.com/departments/department-of-justice?DepartmentID=573

Off the top of my head:
FBI (they have tactical type units)
DEA (see above, seems less likely to be used in this case)
ATF - now there's a group I could see being used
Federal Bureau of Prisons - Another I could see being asked to "spare some manpower" for this, and also, like ICE, I think much more aligned with Trump in it's leadership and personnel.
US Marshals - have tactical types, not so sure enough to be used here
US Capitol Police - they generally look like cops, but are Federal and have the security of congress as primary mission
https://www.uscp.gov/the-department/our-mission

Two VERY likely groups


ICE - Not part of DOJ, but VERY in line with Trump
Border Patrol - see above

Oh, and looky here:
https://www.rollcall.com/2020/06/01/immigration-agencies-to-assist-law-enforcement-amid-unrest/





BP and ICE are the closest things Trump has to Brownshirts. Especially BP.

OK, I don't know the full story and you may be right they are actual employees of a federal department, but wouldn't ICE have some uniform identifiers? These guys have no identifiers at all and they may not even have identical standard issue uniforms or shoes.

I could be wrong that every legit unit from a specific department of the government has these elements, but these guys definitely sound and look like they are contractors. When asked by the reporter, they were vague in their response which the reporter contrasted with the response from other personnel in neighboring locations. Others were forthcoming, these guys were not.

Anyway, seems like goons.

Well, yeah, they COULD be contractors. I was just pointing out there are a bunch of people the feds can call on to look all paramilitary. Including at least 2 who have shown strong ties to Trump and who can also spare the bandwidth, in terms of forces.

But yeah, no badge is weird and shaky as hell.

I have no idea who those dudes are, but I can definitely see agencies operating outside the normal scope of their mission wanting to hide that fact. Why are DEA or ATF officers being deployed against protesters? They probably don't want to be asked or have to answer that question, so if they can deflect by saying DOJ, I can see why they would try to do that.

[thebuzzardman]

OK, I don't know the full story and you may be right they are actual employees of a federal department, but wouldn't ICE have some uniform identifiers? These guys have no identifiers at all and they may not even have identical standard issue uniforms or shoes.

I could be wrong that every legit unit from a specific department of the government has these elements, but these guys definitely sound and look like they are contractors. When asked by the reporter, they were vague in their response which the reporter contrasted with the response from other personnel in neighboring locations. Others were forthcoming, these guys were not.

Anyway, seems like goons.

Well, yeah, they COULD be contractors. I was just pointing out there are a bunch of people the feds can call on to look all paramilitary. Including at least 2 who have shown strong ties to Trump and who can also spare the bandwidth, in terms of forces.

But yeah, no badge is weird and shaky as hell.

I have no idea who those dudes are, but I can definitely see agencies operating outside the normal scope of their mission wanting to hide that fact. Why are DEA or ATF officers being deployed against protesters? They probably don't want to be asked or have to answer that question, so if they can deflect by saying DOJ, I can see why they would try to do that.

Yup. At least 3 people from the DEA leaked the memo to the press. They weren't comfortable the agency was put in that role.

So, via reddit to a few twitter accounts to the original source, it's fairly certain these guys in the picture were Bureau Of Prisons Riot Cops.

Obviously, as others have pointed out, begs the question why they didn't ID their job. I'd say they were told not to say because the optics and the reality of prison riot cops deployed against protesting citizens doesn't look all that swell.

[thebuzzardman]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/cia-veterans-who-monitored-crackdowns-abroad-see-troubling-parallels-in-trump-handling-of-protests/2020/06/02/7ab210b8-a4f6-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html

The scenes have been disturbingly familiar to CIA analysts accustomed to monitoring scenes of societal unraveling abroad — the massing of protesters, the ensuing crackdowns and the awkwardly staged displays of strength by a leader determined to project authority.

In interviews and posts on social media in recent days, current and former U.S. intelligence officials have expressed dismay at the similarity between events at home and the signs of decline or democratic regression they were trained to detect in other nations.

“I’ve seen this kind of violence,” said Gail Helt, a former CIA analyst responsible for tracking developments in China and Southeast Asia. “This is what autocrats do. This is what happens in countries before a collapse. It really does unnerve me.”

Helt, now a professor at King University in Tennessee, said the images of unrest in U.S. cities, combined with President Trump’s incendiary statements, echo clashes she covered over a dozen years at the CIA tracking developments in China, Malaysia and elsewhere.

Other former CIA and national security officials rendered similarly troubled verdicts.

Other former CIA and national security officials rendered similarly troubled verdicts.

Marc Polymeropoulos, who formerly ran CIA operations in Europe and Asia, was among several former agency officials who recoiled at images of Trump hoisting a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington after authorities fired rubber bullets and tear gas to clear the president’s path of protesters.

“It reminded me of what I reported on for years in the third world,” Polymeropoulos said on Twitter. Referring to the despotic leaders of Iraq, Syria and Libya, he said: “Saddam. Bashar. Qaddafi. They all did this.”

The impression Trump created was only reinforced by others in the administration. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper urged governors to “dominate the battlespace” surrounding protesters, as if describing U.S. cities as a foreign war zone. Later, as military helicopters hovered menacingly over protesters, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, toured the streets of the nation’s capital in his battle fatigue uniform.

“As a former CIA officer, I know this playbook,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) said in a tweet. Before her election to Congress last year, she worked at the agency on issues including terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

One U.S. intelligence official even ventured into downtown Washington on Monday evening, as if taking measure of the street-level mood in a foreign country.

“Things escalated quickly,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of his job. He emphasized that he went as a concerned citizen, not in any official capacity. After seeing tear gas canisters underfoot, he said, he “knew it was time to go” and departed.

Former intelligence officials said the unrest and the administration’s militaristic response are among many measures of decay they would flag if writing assessments about the United States for another country’s intelligence service.

[nedleeds]

I have been out in the street marching all day today in the massive rallies in nyc, don’t believe anything you hear, we are united and we were peaceful, don’t buy into divisive narratives the people are your friends and neighbors and we aren’t going to let a fascist regime brutalize and dominate us. Say their names. George Floyd breonna Taylor tony mcdade Sandra Bland and on and on.

Black protesters have said there are outsiders starting trouble,

Sent from my SM-N960N using Tapatalk

100% how it went down in Atlanta on Friday. Not a brick was thrown, not a spray paint can used, no punches until about 5pm when white masked clowns showed up. Same playbook they ran about a year ago on Tech campus with Scout Schultz protest. Organized in real time using our prosecution immune tech friends from Facebook / Twitter and wechat.

Black people brought signs, these other folks brought bricks, bleach, spray paint and threw gasoline over the whole thing.

[Clyde_Style]

Well, yeah, they COULD be contractors. I was just pointing out there are a bunch of people the feds can call on to look all paramilitary. Including at least 2 who have shown strong ties to Trump and who can also spare the bandwidth, in terms of forces.

But yeah, no badge is weird and shaky as hell.

I have no idea who those dudes are, but I can definitely see agencies operating outside the normal scope of their mission wanting to hide that fact. Why are DEA or ATF officers being deployed against protesters? They probably don't want to be asked or have to answer that question, so if they can deflect by saying DOJ, I can see why they would try to do that.

Yup. At least 3 people from the DEA leaked the memo to the press. They weren't comfortable the agency was put in that role.

So, via reddit to a few twitter accounts to the original source, it's fairly certain these guys in the picture were Bureau Of Prisons Riot Cops.

Obviously, as others have pointed out, begs the question why they didn't ID their job. I'd say they were told not to say because the optics and the reality of prison riot cops deployed against protesting citizens doesn't look all that swell.

No, it doesn't look good. Bad optics are no ID marks or turning off body cams before wading into crowds with your baton swinging which just got a police chief fired for their lack of oversight.

The only good optics right now is transparency. Anything else means they are doubling down on suppression tactics meant to scare or harm, but not subdue with minimum force required.

What we should be watching out for now is whether Trump tries to go over the governors' heads and incite the Insurrection Act and send in military to specific cities.

That is not required, but for Trump those are the optics he understands in the framework of campaigning the rest of the way as the law and order president.

Some have warned that the suburban female voters will go back to Trump because of riot fears, but most polls taken since the unrest started show the gap between Biden and Trump widening so it is probably not a winning move by Trump after all.

As I said, my nephew said half of the military think Trump is a disgrace. I'd expect that number is considerably more the higher you go in the military ranks. Yesterday, an Admiral Mullen who was the chairman for the joint chiefs of staff condemned Trump's photo op stunt:

"Whatever Trump’s goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country, gave succor to the leaders of other countries who take comfort in our domestic strife, and risked further politicizing the men and women of our armed forces."

Simultaneously, Air Force General and former CIA director Michael Hayden called the current Secy of Defense Esper an "azzhole" for participating in the photo stunt.

In sum, senior military overall are probably pretty offended by the lack of protocol and unconstitutional conduct by Barr and Trump.

(ASIDE: Ivanka, Jared and Hope Hicks were part of the brain trust that thought it was a good idea to gas peaceful protestors outside the White House to clear the way for Trump to march to the church. The bible was Ivanka's idea. It came out of her handbag. Yet none of them even considered what Trump should say when he held up the good book. They just thought it was a cool visual. Naturally, he had nothing to say so he just held it up like a dork. Derp!)

Meanwhile, Biden has been making strong public appearances and speaking very well (without teleprompters). He's much better in these live situations than when he was cooped up at home. He is making solid statements of support, shows real empathy and he is committing to justice reforms. People need to stop with the senility BS and pay attention. He's providing a solid front to unify behind and the protest movement is only going to grow now so collaboration is in the air, both on the ground and politically.

I have been sad, but I'm more hopeful now than I've been in a long time. I think the protest movement will be strong and will grow in size and diversity and we'll see the biggest public marches in decades before November. Police can't stop this. They can't and they won't. Everybody needs to work together and it will lead to the other side of the bad penny we have in the WH right now.

The GOP is destroying itself and the inversion of the current situation will lead to reforms and a hard reset politically. They tried to rig the system to stop the demographic tide to retain control and they will lose. This is a multi-cultural nation and it will remain that way. This is the fulcrum. Tip the scales of justice now and we'll be better off soon.

Don't buy into the malarkey that everybody is cut from the same corrupt cloth and both parties are the same. If you believe that you were brainwashed. It's not true. Nothing's perfect, but the zeitgeist is now going to push the Democratic party farther left than at any time in our lifetimes. As long as we keep our chit tight and work together. You push the nonsense memes and the bad guys will win so support the ticket, stay frosty and keep your eyes on the prize. These bad times will pass.

[Clyde_Style]

I have been out in the street marching all day today in the massive rallies in nyc, don’t believe anything you hear, we are united and we were peaceful, don’t buy into divisive narratives the people are your friends and neighbors and we aren’t going to let a fascist regime brutalize and dominate us. Say their names. George Floyd breonna Taylor tony mcdade Sandra Bland and on and on.

Black protesters have said there are outsiders starting trouble,

Sent from my SM-N960N using Tapatalk

100% how it went down in Atlanta on Friday. Not a brick was thrown, not a spray paint can used, no punches until about 5pm when white masked clowns showed up. Same playbook they ran about a year ago on Tech campus with Scout Schultz protest. Organized in real time using our prosecution immune tech friends from Facebook / Twitter and wechat.

Black people brought signs, these other folks brought bricks, bleach, spray paint and threw gasoline over the whole thing.

Antifa is a meme that is easily co-opted to smear peaceful demonstrators. All we know right now is white people dressed in black arrive from out of town to sabotage protests by committing acts of vandalism and destruction. In some instances it is local kids being stupid, but thus far the anecdotal evidence is there are coordinated actions of this sort.

Even the dumbest anarchist understands those actions get twisted for political finger pointing purposes. And I don't think an anarchist who actually reads Goldman or Bakunin wants the blame to fall on the left or blacks or the poor.

So these actions are done by either

(a) really, really dumb MF'ers who love chaos in the video game sense with zero ideological considerations; or

(b) false flag operators who seek to stoke unrest to create a boogeyman left wing target to blame.

Trump grandstanding by saying he'd declare Antifa a terrorist organization was the surest indication it was (b).

[robillionaire]

Black protesters have said there are outsiders starting trouble,

Sent from my SM-N960N using Tapatalk

100% how it went down in Atlanta on Friday. Not a brick was thrown, not a spray paint can used, no punches until about 5pm when white masked clowns showed up. Same playbook they ran about a year ago on Tech campus with Scout Schultz protest. Organized in real time using our prosecution immune tech friends from Facebook / Twitter and wechat.

Black people brought signs, these other folks brought bricks, bleach, spray paint and threw gasoline over the whole thing.

Antifa is a meme that is easily co-opted to smear peaceful demonstrators. All we know right now is white people dressed in black arrive from out of town to sabotage protests by committing acts of vandalism and destruction. In some instances it is local kids being stupid, but thus far the anecdotal evidence is there are coordinated actions of this sort.

Even the dumbest anarchist understands those actions get twisted for political finger pointing purposes. And I don't think an anarchist who actually reads Goldman or Bakunin wants the blame to fall on the left or blacks or the poor.

So these actions are done by either

(a) really, really dumb MF'ers who love chaos in the video game sense with zero ideological considerations; or

(b) false flag operators who seek to stoke unrest to create a boogeyman left wing target to blame.

Trump grandstanding by saying he'd declare Antifa a terrorist organization was the surest indication it was (b).

there are people that are insisting on pushing this disinformation narrative of divisiveness to sow discord among the protesters it's highly transparent

https://www.businessinsider.com/white-nationalist-identity-evropa-twitter-antifa-looting-2020-6?amp&__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR18mnq2wlIJvVN1Rb5iosd0--Q4ZX7f8EcRefKNSqIHJUr1uiy90njvIFE

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/videos-threats-few-signs-protests-have-been-stoked-outsider-extremist-n1220451

[HarthorneWingo]

Read on Twitter

this is another bad one I saw. we are going to need to learn from the lessons of protests we have witnessed around the world and start using helmets goggles and other protective gear as they are trying to injure and maim peaceful protesters

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article243193481.html

They damn near blinded one of my closest friends on my birthday out here with a rubber bullet. People need to stay in the house if they got no gear at all on, the cops will not hesitate to harm you that's kinda what's being protested in the first place.

I hear the police are aiming for people eyes.

[Fat Kat]

Read on Twitter

[Clyde_Style]

100% how it went down in Atlanta on Friday. Not a brick was thrown, not a spray paint can used, no punches until about 5pm when white masked clowns showed up. Same playbook they ran about a year ago on Tech campus with Scout Schultz protest. Organized in real time using our prosecution immune tech friends from Facebook / Twitter and wechat.

Black people brought signs, these other folks brought bricks, bleach, spray paint and threw gasoline over the whole thing.

Antifa is a meme that is easily co-opted to smear peaceful demonstrators. All we know right now is white people dressed in black arrive from out of town to sabotage protests by committing acts of vandalism and destruction. In some instances it is local kids being stupid, but thus far the anecdotal evidence is there are coordinated actions of this sort.

Even the dumbest anarchist understands those actions get twisted for political finger pointing purposes. And I don't think an anarchist who actually reads Goldman or Bakunin wants the blame to fall on the left or blacks or the poor.

So these actions are done by either

(a) really, really dumb MF'ers who love chaos in the video game sense with zero ideological considerations; or

(b) false flag operators who seek to stoke unrest to create a boogeyman left wing target to blame.

Trump grandstanding by saying he'd declare Antifa a terrorist organization was the surest indication it was (b).

there are people that are insisting on pushing this disinformation narrative of divisiveness to sow discord among the protesters it's highly transparent

https://www.businessinsider.com/white-nationalist-identity-evropa-twitter-antifa-looting-2020-6?amp&__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR18mnq2wlIJvVN1Rb5iosd0--Q4ZX7f8EcRefKNSqIHJUr1uiy90njvIFE

Yeah, it is pretty obviously part of their playbook.

You do have to allow for ignorance to play into it. A video of two white girls tagging a wall with BLM could really just be two incredibly stupid girls.

But the overall gist is clear. Antifa is a conceptual plaything of the right. Funded by George Soros naturally.

It doesn't mean there wasn't actual teams of skate punks showing up in Portland to throw down with MAGA crews. The whole idea of organized violent confrontations is not really something limited to any ideology (though my Trump friend is in love with saying the left is ultra-violent with Antifa being Exhibit A)

There could have been any number of genesis stories for different street gang factions showing up to rallies or protests, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter if they were formed or aided and abetted by Putin's nutsack, the deep state, Charlie Chan or Steve Bannon. It is irrelevant, because the whole point is it is not organizational in nature. If there is a gang of fukwits who show up to events then that's what they are, a gang of fukwits, not representatives for millions of other people.

That anybody thinks you can demonize the left by the actions of dozens of aholes is ludicrous, but you get MAGA types slurping it up nonetheless. That's how easy it is. Hannity knows it. Trump knows it. So they love Antifa. They go to sleep clutching Antifa dolls they love this meme so much

It's a joke really, but there are definitely creeps out there disrupting protests to make any resistance look like the behavior of irresponsible people when it is very few who behave like this

There will always be looters. Looters are punks. I can guarantee you that very few people who loot have ever voted in their life.

Agitators bank on looters amplifying their actions. That's what chaos agents do. They do bad stuff and then wait for the other fools to fill in the blanks

[robillionaire]

Also this curfew thing needs to stop immediately, last night they went out of their way to make it much harder for people to get home almost like they wanted a reason to escalate on people, they locked the bikes, wouldn't let people get on the subways blocked off the entrances etc. So your only option was to walk and at that point you are in danger. I got lucky and managed to jump on the subway right before the police blocked it off. They actually attacked some guy working in a covid unit who had just left his job at the hospital because they thought he was a protester. My wife works in a covid tent in the bronx that closes at 8pm and it is worrying

https://www.thedailybeast.com/even-medical-workers-fighting-covid-say-cops-are-attacking-them-at-george-floyd-protests

[Capn'O]

Here we go...

Read on Twitter

[robillionaire]

Here we go...

Read on Twitter

really glad to hear this. may justice be served

[Fat Kat]

Read on Twitter

[HarthorneWingo]

My mom's side of the family is all from Philadelphia and I spent 30 years there going to Temple and then working. I am very familiar with Frank Rizzo so I'm happy to see this.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/philadelphia-removes-frank-rizzo-statue_n_5ed795bdc5b67ef9fa369f3d

[HarthorneWingo]

Read on Twitter

Oath Keepers

[HarthorneWingo]

Here we go...

Read on Twitter

really glad to hear this. may justice be served

I'm still holing out for Murder 1.

[Clyde_Style]

In general, expect any number of false flag operations to occur between now and November, because all Trump has got left is pushing the meme of domestic terrorism committed by left of center factions.

The other thing to be concerned about is post-election violence. When Trump loses, he will try to overturn the results and when that fails he will try to incite a rebellion. He knows NYS has a grand jury ready to indict and even arrest him so he will be going from Pennsylvania Avenue to a court room.

Once the more extreme locked and loaded MAGA heads come to terms with the reality their Fourth Reich is going down in flames some of them may go Jihadi on the rest of us. I expect the transition period between the election and the inauguration will be very dangerous as long as a vanquished Trump is fuming in the WH for another 10 weeks.