One stereotype of a certain type of Trump supporter is an overweight paranoid stockpiling weapons against the day the “government’s jackbooted thugs” come kicking in doors.  Such a person should be facing some severely mixed feelings at the recent news that “The Trump administration is deploying law enforcement tactical units from the southern border as part of a supercharged arrest operation in sanctuary cities across the country.” (2/20/20 NYT)

This isn’t happening quietly.  The first reporters of the plan were from Caitlin Dickerson and Zolan Kanno-Youngs in the Feb 20 New York Times, but there’s been additional reporting from USA Today, LA Times, The Independent, Democracy NOW!, The Hill, US News, Al Jazeera, VOX, and many more.  And there has been significant blowback on the policy as indicated by Chantal Da Silva in the Feb 2020 Newsweek, DHS Faces Backlash For Plan To Send ‘Swat’ Teams Out To ‘Knock On Doors’ Across Sanctuary Cities,

The deployment of these heavily armed Federal acting-police fulfills every paranoid delusion the Trumpets hold dear, yet they aren’t raising a word against it.  Maybe they’re right?  After all, this will only apply to ‘criminal aliens’ instead of real people living next door, and the police’s long track record of restrained, balanced, prudent administration of justice means there’s no chance of anything going seriously wrong.

But we’re a little nervous about it, and think those numbed Trumpets need to look again at the threats and freedoms they purport to care about.  We’re not going to try to make you Furious with the dubious legality of the policy, but by looking at the weapon the US Government is now deploying within US borders… the hyper-militarized police forces lurking in every city across the country.  We’ve done several articles on the subject, some of it before Trump and some after.  But it all points to a very scary mutation of the police who were once respected and valued parts of each community. You might not be threatened directly, today, but don’t sleep well if so.  Remember there’s a reason we have the term ‘collateral damage’.

Tom Dwyer- You Have The Right To Be Pacified

There’s an old theater saying that if there’s a gun on the mantle in a play’s first act, it will be used by the third act.  For years, police around the country have been stocking their mantles with body armor, batons, tear gas, shotguns, automatic weapons, and armored vehicles.  The Battle in Seattle, Occupy, Ferguson, and thousands of smaller, unnamed actions around the country are sounding a loud warning… the mantle is full, and the third act in this drama could be pretty ugly.

Poverty, racism, corruption and more were on full display in Ferguson last month.  These issues are all inextricably linked, and combined form a broken system that at best doesn’t serve, and at worst preys upon, people who have no option but to deal with it.   From this tangled mess of civic collapse we pulled one thread to look at in more detail this month, one that we all face regardless of race, economic status, or location… the problem of Police Militarization.

Overview of the situation

What kind of weapons, where are they coming from, and where are they going?

Why is this happening?

Opinions from talking heads and public officials

Militarization around the country

What’s coming next?

What can we do to end this?

Tom Dwyer Book Spotlight- Spotlight on Police Militarization

“Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces” By Radley Balko and “SWAT Madness and the Militarization of the American Police:  A National Dilemma” by Jim Fisher

 

Tom Dwyer News To Make You Furious- Good cop, bad cop

There are few jobs tougher than being a police officer.  Day in and day out, police see people at their worst.  Every interaction they have with the public is a risk to their lives.  Sure, the vast majority are non-violent, but a cop never knows which car they pull over houses an evil jack-in-the-box with a gun and a grudge. The job means long hours, high risk, low pay, and only a small part of the respect it deserves.  Because police officers are so essential, and because they risk so much each and every day, we believe cops deserve everyone’s full and unwavering support.

Except… well, not all cops are good cops.  We don’t mean an officer that’s had a long day and is rude to someone when issuing a ticket.  We don’t even mean someone who kills someone in a split-second decision gone wrong; that’s an agonizing and unavoidable part of the job.  But, there’s an increasing number of stories and videos of cops who are just being jerks, and sometimes dangerous or even deadly jerks.  Here are links to just a few of the recent standouts from individual cops and entire agencies from across the country…

Tom’s Tidbits- What’s happening to the Rule of Law?

The Rule of Law, the quaint idea that societies should be governed by objective laws instead of the whims of individuals, dates back at least to the Code of Hammurabi in 1750 BC and predates democracy by about 1200 years.  In America we like to believe that even if our laws aren’t perfect they at least apply to everyone, but it seems there’s little reason to believe that’s true anymore, if it was ever true at all…

The Legislative push to keep you quiet.  And Compliant.

Republicans greeted the election of Barack Obama with the wise counsel and universal respect necessary to give his agenda a fair chance to succeed.  Of course that’s horse puckey; they proudly fought him at every turn.  They fought based on both real policy differences and paranoid delusions, for things he did and didn’t do, but fight they did.  And they probably weren’t wrong to do so… they were the opposition and “fighting the power” was at least part of their job.   It’s part of our job as citizens as well.  The various flavors of Tea Party protests before and during the Obama years were citizens expressing their discontent with the policy and direction of their government as they understood it… one doesn’t have to agree with their positions to recognize their right, even their duty, to protest.  Now the shoe is on the other foot and the Republicans face street protests from millions as well as much-smaller-but-still-loud protests at town halls and constituent events.  Their response?  They aren’t looking for policies that could unite, they aren’t even maintaining a dignified silence as they proceed with their agenda.  They’re making it criminal to speak out.  As Trump’s law-and-order train pulls into the station, it’s bringing with it increased powers of police and private security, decreased protections for individuals and group protests, and plans to squash dissent rather than address it.  So sit down, shut up, and get Furious as we bring you a closer look at some of the laws, both proposed and enacted, designed to enforce your compliance to The Man…