According to media reports, a hodgepodge of federal agencies are contributing to an identified goon squad roaming the streets of cities like Portland and Seattle. They are kidnapping, not arresting, protesters. Unidentified men are not policemen. No one has to go with them. No one should go with them.
They Are Not Going to Take Me
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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Resistance at that point is futile. These are trained, armed thugs. Worse, this feeds into a whole pile of psychosexual fantasies and insecurities. They LIKE doing this, and they LIKE doing it well.
Even if I had a gun at my hip as the van screeches to a halt in front of me, it will require remarkable marksmanship on my part to drop all four before any of them can return fire. And that’s part of the problem. Whoever survives will testify in court that they clearly and repeatedly identified themselves as law enforcement before slowly exiting the van, which they parked in a responsible fashion at a meter, which they put money into. I will go to prison for probably the rest of my life.
It’s counterintuitive, but what the people of Portland need to do is fire their mayor by immediate recall. They need someone in office who knows when to deputize the citizenry and arm it. And this guy clearly does not.
The Federal thugs could easily be mistaken for a self-created county posse composed of a self-styled militia operating without any authority other than that which comes from their own weaponized “constitutional” interpretation.
And with no more restraint than a lynch mob, which is pretty much how police now operate with the “amazing grace” granted to them by Federal “qualified immunity” as demonstrated in the lynching of George Floyd.
(“Grace” in the sense of a manifestation of favor, especially by a superior: It was only through the president’s grace that he wasn’t convicted of murder.)
The highly dubious premise here is that the US, in general, and the Trump administration, in particular, adhere to the rule of law.
Remember, the ultimate issue here is that readily identifiable police murder innocent people in US streets … AT LEAST 1000 times per year. It is therefore not logical to think that that non-identifiable fascist shock troops would entertain legal arguments against their intended kidnappings. Any level of physical resistance, however well justified, would trigger 10 to 50-fold retaliation in kind.
Where ARE those “well-armed militia” tyranny-sniffers now that incontrovertible governmental tyranny has taken over US cities? (Did you hear that the mayor of that “Democratic” city, Chicago, has proposed a “public/fascist partnership”?!!!?)
I’m waiting for the felonious assault charges to be brought against the people who used leaf blowers to waft the goons’ tear gas back at them.
I’ve been hearing a lot of similar talk from the other side wrt protesters and business owners. A defense attorney friend of mine chimed in on FB and told everyone to cool off because just because you can argue something doesn’t mean the prosecutor charging you with murder will drop the case. You still get arrested. You still spend time in jail. Then you try to argue to a jury that you had a right to defend yourself. If the jury agrees, great, you walk away. However, the prosecutor will try to scare you. He’ll tell you not to risk a jury and to plea bargain instead. You’ll have to decide, risk it all or take you plea and serve some time. It’s not an easy call if you’re a risk adverse person.
Ted,in addition to the extremely little likelihood of success, as explaind by others above, keep in mind the French phrase, agent provocateur. Nothing more the Trump campaign would love to see than headlines proclaiming «Violent protester fires on agents when being detained, shot dead», with the corresponding article explaining that he had been influenced byAntifa, if not TikTok….
Henri