The night of the long knives doesnât really correspond to whatâs happening in California. It was an internal cleansing of the Nazi party of the brownshirts and its leadership (mainly Rohm) who had grown too powerful within the Nazi organisation and Hitler needed them to disappear in order to placate his industrial supporters who were vital to his future success.
It was basically a very bloody internal realignment.
Indeed. But deploying the National Guard, unrequested, into a state run by the âoppositionâ, in fact the largest state run by the âoppositionâ, sure looks like a power play to me. It is not a good sign.
Indeed, it is intentionally provocative and designed to stir up passions and create a violent atmosphere. I see from this mornings reporting that it is working to an extent. Trump is already talking about âsending in the Marinesâ, but I think if he tried that, it would be disastrous for both sides.
Thatâs going to raise (yet another) interesting constitutional question since the US military canât legally be deployed against the civilian population, as I understand it. Itâll be an interesting (!) test of the military command if theyâre given an illegal order.
Gov. Newsom
Do folks think that attacking LEOs trying to arrest illegal immigrants, many of whom have carried out horrific crimes whilst inside the USA is a good thing? They arenât arresting Tesla workers because Trump and Musk have had a falling out nor for posting rap lyrics to a song they didnât write on the internet (take note British police).
Anyway, hereâs the facts (from the BBC):
â The National Guard acts as a hybrid entity that serves both state and federal interests. Typically, a stateâs National Guard force is activated at the request of the governor.
In this case, Trump has circumvented that step by invoking a specific provision of the US Code of Armed Services titled 10 U.S.C. 12406, which lists three circumstances under which the president can federalise the National Guard.
If the US âis invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nationâ; âthere is a rebellion or danger of a rebellionâ against the government; or âthe president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United Statesâ.
Trump said in his memorandum requesting the National Guard that the protests in Los Angeles âconstitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United Statesâ.
The National Guardâs role in Los Angeles will be to protect federal agents, including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and Homeland Security, as they carry out their duties.
The troops will not be conducting their own immigration raids or performing ordinary law enforcement activities against civilians.â
So the President has used a piece of law already on the books for one of its intended purposes.
The National Guard can be deployed on US soil by the State Governorâs or the Presidentâs request under certain conditions.
Think of the National Guard as the Gendarmerie with tanks and aircraft.
We were talking about the Marine Corp, quite a step up from the National Guard
That would be a breach of the Posse Comitatus Act which was amended in 2022 to include the USMC, USAF and Space Force as well as the US Army.
Like most checks and balances within the U.S system, whether itâs allowable for Federal troops to be deployed on U.S soil against U.S citizens is a bag of rats. The Insurrection Act I think gives an exception to this and the Supreme Court has already ruled that effectively the President can do whatever he likes. I canât see any of the U.S top brass refusing the order as theyâll be immediately sacked and replaced by someone who will accept it.
Whether it would ever be done is another matter.
Well, you see, we donât know if any of that is true since many of those arrested are being denied due process and, as I understand it, itâs the latter element thatâs driving the demonstrations.
In the absence of due process, none of us know what, if any, crimes they have committed.
Ultimately, neither you nor I know the true situation as all we see is how itâs reported by our news source of choice. What I would hope we can agree on is that the USA is in a pretty bad way at the moment.
Now that I suscribe to the NYT I can share this opinion piece.
Mnogohodovochka!
@Bonzocat Well Gov. Newsom summed it all up accurately, an unhinged president and a stone cold liar, the government a band of misfits and Hegseth a joke. Definitely worth watching and listening to as there is much more in there.
A) There was very little âattackingâ of LEOs going on - the protests were largely peaceful. Trump sending in the National Guard without such âhelpâ being requested by local law enforcement or the State Governor is intended to inflame the situation not calm it, and to justify more draconian action.
B) Many (if not most) of the people being rounded up by ICE are NOT illegal immigrants. They have been arrested when turning up for interviews at immigration centres, having previously registered to immigrate into the USA. Some of them have been living in the USA for many years and are fully and correctly documented, but that has not stopped them being detained.
C) the claim that these are all people âwho have committed horrific crimesâ is also false. A small minority may be criminals, but most have never been convicted of any crime. And they are being rounded up and imprisoned, or deported to El Salvador, without any legal process being carried out - no trial, no access to a lawyer, no conviction by a court, nothing.
Trumpâs ICE are operating outside the law and trampling on peopleâs basic human rights - thatâs why people in California (and elsewhere) are protesting.
Quite apart from the immediate injustice, there is a justifiable fear that American citizens will be next.
You should also compare and contrast whatâs happening in California with Trumpâs actions in pardoning the people who broke into the Capitol to try and overturn Bidenâs election, and who killed and injured policemen in the process. Apparently violence and murder are fine, if committed in the service of the Orange God.
Totally agree with you here. Once again, Dr. Cox Richardson breaks it all down for us.
Trump surely canât see out 4 years as President. Heâs an absolute dead loss, the mentality and intelligence of a 10 year old bully. He canât speak or write properly and I would think that his reading would be exceptionally slow were it put to the test. The biggest joke of a leader since Idi Amin.
But then we get J D VanceâŠ
Impassioned response from lawyer/law professor Ben Meiselas, now of the MeidasTouch, who lives in LA. Tough words from Gov. Newson.
