Left wing activists did a July fourth noise protest outside an ICE detention center where they shot off fireworks. One of them went rogue and left the main group and vandalized the facility with spray paint. Police were called, and this man and the officer had a shootout. The officer was shot, but not killed.
The Trump administration successfully charged the activist group with terrorism and gave them lengthy prison sentences.
The group’s ideology was used to claim that they were all terrorists, even though it looks like one guy got into a shootout and there wasn’t an actual plan to shoot anyone.
Most of the group is guilty of trespassing and illegally shooting off fireworks. Some harbored the shooter on the run. One guy was convicted of terrorism charges and he wasn’t even there; he was convicted of terrorism because he had left wing material in his vehicle. Lengthy terrorism convictions in response to these actions are acts of tyranny. I’ve advocated prosecuting protestors who regularly cross the line into illegal activity, but, they should be prosecuted for what they have actually done, not Trumped up terrorism charges.
The prosecutors overcharged under directives from the Trump administration.
Some of the left break the world into oppressors and the oppressed, and when they see a group as a member of the oppressed, members of that group can rape, burn, steal, and kill…and neither punishment nor concern is warranted.
The French riots started with typical left wing protesters that legitimately protest. Black bloc anarchists took advantage to skillfully attack police and other locations. As the protests dissipated, there were people everywhere, and it is hard for police to be everywhere at once. Once a level of chaos starts, young hoodlums realize they can get away with shit, and they come in to loot. They loot because they are poor, because looting is fun, and possibly because they are angry about something ideologically.
The protestors are mostly white, and so are the black bloc, but the hoodlums contain many minorities.
Many of these hoodlums were born in France. They were the children of immigrants, not recent immigrants. To the extent that they are angry, it is about historical oppression, failed integration, and anti-colonialist ideology.
The police were undermanned because they underestimated what would happen. A few weeks ago Paris had 15k cops when the Pope visited. For these protests, Paris had 5k.
The far right just want to blame recent immigration, which had nothing to do with the protest nor violence. The left wants to pretend like immigration and race played no role.
The level of crime, breaking into stores, breaking into residences, rioting, destruction…was really bad. Way worse than recent comparisons.
France needs to make serious fiscal cuts, but the people would likely rebel if they tried it…so the country is kind of fucked, and if a political solution is not found, eventually the bond market will sink France.
The government has charged many ICE protesters with crimes, but many of these prosecutions have fallen apart, indicating that the charges were more about government intimidation than legitimate criminal justice.
Ironically, right-wing nationalists that claim to focus on the priorities of their own country, are heavily funded and aided by foreign oligarchs and dictators. CPAC and the Heritage Foundation receive such foreign funding. Before Trump’s rise, Russia scouted Trump as a talent that could help them.
“Pahlavi allies have crafted a hefty plan for a post-Islamist Iran, called the Iran Prosperity Project. It envisions an emergency phase in the wake of the regime’s fall during which Pahlavi and his aides say keeping the country stable will be crucial. But that emergency phase plan also gives the leader of the transition — presumably Pahlavi — significant power that makes some activists nervous.
While Pahlavi has long called for a secular democracy in Iran, he has also said Iranians should decide what type of government they want. The Prosperity Project envisions Iranians eventually having a choice between a “democratic monarchy” and a “democratic republic.””
“They batter bodies with rubber bullets and sear eyes with pepper spray. They lob tear gas and explosive flash-bangs at chanting crowds. They smash car windows. They shove people to the ground. They ram vehicles and point their guns.
Federal officers carrying out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in cities across the country have shot 13 people with guns. But far more often, they have used harsh tactics to scare or repel those they see as getting in their way. The officers, masked and kitted out with military-grade armor and rifles, have faced down peaceful protesters and people who have threatened, obstructed or attacked them, with methods that are less deadly than guns but still inflict grievous injuries. Hundreds have been hurt, and courts in at least four states have found that officers used force inappropriately and indiscriminately.
NBC News reviewed dozens of incidents since the spring and found that Department of Homeland Security officers have repeatedly deployed “less lethal” weapons in ways that appear to violate their own policies or general policing guidelines, unless they believed their lives were in danger. The review was based on interviews with lawyers, experts and protesters who were injured as well as witness statements, documents from criminal and civil cases and videos taken at protests.”
“Menendez’s order bars Homeland Security and ICE officials involved in Operation Metro Surge from “using pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools against persons who are engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity.” The judge also prohibited federal agents from stopping vehicles following them, as long as those vehicles are maintaining a safe and “appropriate” distance.
“The First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly — not rioting,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters. We remind the public that rioting is dangerous — obstructing law enforcement is a federal crime and assaulting law enforcement is a felony.””