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Trump Administration Violating Yet More Individual Rights in Escalation Over ICE Raid Protests in Los Angeles

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We are now in the midst of what Lambert would call an overly dynamic situation, so forgive me if I omitted important information with respect to the rapidly devolving confrontation in Los Angeles between Federal forces and the National Guard versus immigrant defenders, local and state officials, Congresscritters, and witnesses. ICE has come into other blue cities as if it was ginning for a fight and it looks like it finally got one. And seems apparent that the Trump Administration is prepared to capitalize on it via using it to force through restrictions of citizen’s rights, particularly to protest, to be safe from unreasonable searches and seizures, and for immigrants, to due process.

Mind you, the protests have reached the point where the LAPD has declared downtown Los Angeles to be a “no assembly” area.1

Before we turn to what we can glean about the state of play, some key backstory. One of Trump’s very early executive orders on January 20 was to declare a national emergency at the southern border. It included tasking the heads of the Department of Defense and Homeland Security to provide a report in 90 days recommending whether to invoke the Insurrection Act. Among other things, it would allow the Administration to deploy the military against US citizens.

In the requested report, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem did not advise the use of the Insurrection Act, pointing out that border crossings had fallen markedly since Trump took office.

If you think that threat is not live now, think twice:

The immediate backstory is a bit muddy. From what I can infer, ICE sent a lot of agents to Los Angeles in what looked like a highly visible, as in provocative, show of force. One assembly point was at a Home Depot, leading to rumors that there would be Home Depot raids.2 Mind you, I have no idea why “raids” would be needed if the point was to stop casual hiring at Home Depots. Just put 2 cars with prominent ICE labels in the parking lot.

Reader raspberry jam provided this summary in comments yesterday:

I found a channel yesterday evening that was showing live footage with minimal interruptions/commentary and watched it for a few hours. There were two distinct phases of the events yesterday:

– the community reaction to the ICE raid at the Home Depot: ICE was using the Home Depot parking lot as a staging area for raids and a combination of local community angry at what they were witnessing and ICE having far too much militarized gear and not enough sense resulted in a really shocking situation where the ICE guys were doing stuff like shooting tear and chemical rounds directly at people stopped in traffic who weren’t participating in the protest. At least one person was rammed by an ICE SUV. At one point it seemed like the ICE group was cornered by the protesters for hours and LAPD/SD were refusing to go in and assist them. This is the phase where the pics/footage were taken of people lying face down on the grass (chemical round reactions because so much was being fired) and the ICE agents massed at the end of a driveway with their rifles out and firing on protesters with tear gas. The protesters, by the way, seemed extremely unorganized – lots of utterly fearless skater kids! – it absolutely was not an NGO-organized event.
– a riot a couple blocks away across a freeway bridge in Compton: after a few hours the cops began blockading/kettling the protesters into the area around the Home Depot and on the other side of the freeway (710) at the intersection of Atlantic/Alondra a riot broke out. There was also a lot of tear gas/smoke rounds fired here, or possibly fireworks being thrown by the rioters, it was pretty unclear. This looked like actual LAPD, not ICE. This is where the footage of the burning car is from. This stage seemed more like a party than a protest, car burning and gang signs at the news helicopters aside, I mean there were people standing in line at Dale’s Doughnuts watching the car burn while it was all going down.

Within an hour of the car burning I saw right wing influencer types screeching for insurrection act and shooting a hundred protesters to ‘bring order’. Later there was conflicting info about 2000 national guard members being mobilized. I don’t think 2000 NG is enough to maintain martial law in South Central. I don’t think 2000 marines are enough to do that, honestly! I think we’re going to see stuff like this all summer and beyond if they don’t dial back the ICE raids. The admin might think this is quality red meat for the base but there are a lot of unanticipated consequences they clearly haven’t thought through, like what happens when they call in 10000+ military just for LA and can’t stop the riots or protests?

Common Dreams describes incidents that led to escalation:

According to the LA Times, the Home Depot protests began peacefully until officers lobbed flash-bang grenades and pepper balls at the crowd, after which some individuals responded by throwing rocks and other objects at the ICE cars, and one person drove their vehicle toward the ICE agents.

“Many of the protesters did not appear to engage in these tactics,” the LA Times reported.

In another incident, Lindsay Toczylowski, the chief executive of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, wrote on social media that ICE agents threw a tear-gas canister at two of the center’s female attorneys after they asked the agents if they could see a warrant and observe their activities.

There are other complaints on Twitter of ICE carrying itself so as to further evade accountability:

These tweets give a sense of local reactions to the ICE operation:

10,000 would seem to be an underwhelming number…at least before things got out of hand:

Some fresh news reports before we turn to additional legal and Constitutional rights issues. From CNN’s live blog:

• On the ground: CNN witnessed police using flash-bangs and tear gas to disperse crowds, with some hitting protesters, as well as protesters setting self-driving cars on fire. Police have declared all of Downtown Los Angeles an unlawful assembly area after arresting dozens over the weekend.

• Troop deployment: About 300 National Guardsmen are on the ground after President Donald Trump deployed them to protect federal personnel and property. It’s the first time a president has called in the National Guard without a state’s request or consent in decades. Also prepared to deploy are 500 Marines.

• Trump vs Newsom: California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will sue the Trump administration over the deployment, which he and LA Mayor Karen Bass have called inflammatory.

• Why are there protests? Authorities and demonstrators are clashing for a fourth day after immigration raids in the city. Intelligence analysts believe protesters are motivated by immigration raids, deployment of the National Guard, and agitators who fit profiles of “professional rioters.”

Perhaps I have not been paying sufficient attention, but I do not recall a mainstream outlet ever before insinuating that paid agitators were fomenting violence in US protests.

From BBC’s live blog:

One of the biggest cities in Southern California is reducing its support for ICE:

Now to legal and Constitutional matters.

Deployment of National Guard. Trump called up 2,000 but as far as I can tell, only 300 are in Los Angeles now. The Hill reported that Governor Newsom intents to file suit:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said California will sue the Trump administration on Monday over its deployment of the National Guard to quell Los Angeles protests against federal immigration raids.

In an interview Sunday evening on MSNBC, Newsom said the lawsuit would challenge Trump’s federalizing of the California National Guard without the state’s consent, a move with little precedent in U.S. history….

Asked to elaborate on the lawsuit, Newsom said that under Trump’s executive order, “it specifically notes — and under what the [Department of Defense] did — is they had to coordinate with the governor of the state. They never coordinated with the governor of the state,” he said….

Later in the interview, Newsom was asked about border czar Tom Homan’s comments indicating he would not rule out arresting Newsom or Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass if they interfered in his efforts.

“Come after me, arrest me. Let’s just get it over with, tough guy, you know? I don’t give a damn. But I care about my community. I care about this community,” he continued.

It’s a certainty that any such arrest would greatly increase Newsom’s national profile and earn him macho points which he could very much use. But that payoff assumes 2028 elections.

Georgetown Law Center professor Steve Vladek took a dim view of Trump federalizing the National Guard in this manner:

President Trump’s Saturday night “memorandum” federalizing 2000 California National Guard troops is a tentative step toward abusing authorities for domestic use of the military, but a dangerous one….

The TL;DR here is that Trump has not (yet) invoked the Insurrection Act, which means that the 2000 additional troops that will soon be brought to bear will not be allowed to engage in ordinary law enforcement activities without violating a different law—the Posse Comitatus Act. All that these troops will be able to do is provide a form of force protection and other logistical support for ICE personnel.

Injury and arrest of SEIU leader; barring of Congressional oversight attempt. One high profile protestor, SEIU’s California president, David Huerta, was seriously injured in his encounter with ICE officials and had to be hospitalized and has apparently been moved into detention.

Twitter clips show that Huerta was one of several people standing in front of an ICE vehicle as it was slowly moving to get through a gate. The ICE forces threw him hard to the pavement, and his head apparently hit a curb.

I have not seen a picket line when scabs are trying to cross, but I suspect this level of “obstruction” was no worse than that level.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters attempted to visit him and other detainees and she was impermissibly barred:

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90 comments

  1. Deschain

    If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the Trump admin was using the Ghorman arc in Andor as a how-to manual.

    ‘Sir, you need protestors who you can count on doing the wrong thing.”

  2. Amateur Socialist

    Attack the lawyers, journalists, politicians and labor activists first.

    It’s all so familiar. Just like that Gaza TV show.

    1. fjallstrom

      Saw a clip from an Australian channel with a female reporter doing on the scene reporting, standing with her back to a police line. It’s generally calm, people are filming the police and the reporter is giving the general impressions bit. As the camera keeps the reporter in the centre of the image it pans the police line in the background. One could clearly see a cop aiming and then firing at the reporter. Both the reporter and the cameraman can be heard as they escape, and the reporter is hit but doesn’t appear badly damaged, so probably non-lethal ammunition.

      So yeah, attack the journalists.

      To add insult to injury, the caption from the news channel on this unprovoked and clearly documented attack on one of its reporters called it “caught in crossfire”.

  3. .human

    On the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump promised that he was not going to tolerate left-wing lawlessness on American streets and would use the full force of his presidential powers in response.

    This is precious. Right-wing lawlessness gets a pass.

    1. JonnyJames

      Whatever “left” and “right” means? The “left” are characterized by superficial identity politics (LGBTQ, immigrants, abortion, guns, religious and cultural issues. And the “right” is just the flip-side of the same coin. Heads we lose, tails we lose.

      Both the so-called “left and right” espouse right-wing, neoliberal/neoclassical economic ideology, anti-labor policies, pro-financialization/privatization, oligarchy and The Genocide of Palestine. What a great choice.

      1. Tim N

        A very good point, and always overlooked. I had a family member, a right-wing Dem, bitch about “Marxist” Dems. I told her (not for the first time) that there are no Marxists in that Party. Or Socialists ( real ones).

  4. Unironic Pangloss

    (not defending trump)….

    Trump uses well-established constitutional powers (Eisenhower actually sent the 82nd Airborne to Little Rock to enforce federal law/court in 1956)…whether “emergency” tariffs or 2025 LA.

    Dems/media screech instead of asking, “hey maybe no POTUS should have these powers.”

    not holding my breath for dems. to be circumspect about federal power; because they want that power in 2029 to wield

    1. Bsn

      I don’t think there’s a need to start with “not defending Trump” because it’s nearly all the same between dems & Repubs, they are all puppets of the “deep state”.
      Lots of people don’t realize that it was under the Biden admin that the DoD Directive 5240.01, Section 3.3.a.(2)(c) was “updated” including the use of military force against civilians being authorized.
      Section c says “(c) Assistance in responding with assets with potential for lethality, or any situation in which it is reasonably foreseeable that providing the requested assistance may involve the use of force that is likely to result in lethal force, including death or serious bodily injury. ”

      So many people, a majority in fact, voted for Trump hoping for many changes. Most of our hopes (if we had any) have been smashed and it’s more clear than ever the the president does not matter, the mafia and deep state (whatever one can label it) are in charge. Trump, Biden, Obama, Bush … they’re all puppets.

      1. urdsama

        This outcome, or one close to it, was baked in years ago.

        Trump is not the disease, he is a symptom.

    2. BrianC - PDX

      I did not think of Eisenhower. I thought first of Reagan federalizing National Guard troops in order to send them to South America on “training” missions.

      See Perpich vs Defense. From wikipedia:

      Perpich v. Department of Defense, 496 U.S. 334 (1990), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court concerning the Militia Clauses of Article I, Section 8, of the United States Constitution, in which the court held that Congress may authorize members of the National Guard to be ordered to active federal duty for purposes of training outside the United States without either the consent of the governor of the affected state or the declaration of a national emergency. The plaintiff was Rudy Perpich, governor of Minnesota at the time.

      A little different though from what I remembered. Likely not directly relevant, as it was about deciding if Congress could authorize use without consent of a State Governor…

    3. Doug

      Another instance was JFK federalizing the Alabama National Guard in 1963 to enforce the court ordered integration of the University of Alabama. The famous Gov. Wallace blocking the door scene was part of this.

      1. MFB

        I’ve just been reading Mailer’s The Armies of the Night, and the Johnson government mobilised paratroops against the March on the Pentagon in 1967. Obviously that was with the approval of the local authorities, because the local authorities in Washington in those days were nominated by the Federal government. However, it’s clear that using troops against protesters is not something invented by the man with the orange wig.

  5. Jack

    Of all the initiatives Trump has been pushing, cracking down on the border and removing illegal immigrants is one of the very few I support. But I don’t support how he is doing it. ICE could have been far more effective and removed many more illegals if they had properly planned their actions. For instance judges. Immigration judges don’t need to be approved by Congress. The DOJ hires them. I think what is happening in LA is a version of “wag the dog”. Trump 2.0 is failing on many fronts. The tariffs are a disaster. The big, beautiful bill is being shown for what it is, a sham. Trump now owns the Ukraine mess and is impotent to make anything happen. The Gaza genocide continues and US favorability ratings around the world continue to plummet. Trump is caught between a rock and a hard place on Iran. The Jewish lobby and Israel on one side, and Iran/Russia/India/BRICS countries on the other. So…he needs a win. A distraction. I think this mess is going to blow up in his face though. There are too many factors that can’t be controlled.

    1. juno mas

      And he surely doesn’t understand the Hispanic dynamic in SoCal. Statewide Hispanic/American citizens make up 40% of the population (more so in SoCal). Hispanics do much, if not most, of the essential labor in California (construction, agriculture, landscape, municipal services). The Hispanic culture has a ‘community protection’ ethic unfamiliar to Anglos. These current events could be the beginning of serious disruption to the economy (stupid) in SoCal. (One of the largest in the world.)

      Even the wealthy Beverly Hills is going to be affected as their leafy estates go unpruned by Hispanic labor. And other Hispanic small business owners who speak the language of ‘day laborers’ will surely be affected. Not to mention the ‘middle class’ suburbanites that need someone to clear the brush ahead of this years fire season. Lots of disgruntled voters, for sure.

      …and then they came for me.

      1. Unironic Pangloss

        there is no pan-Hispanic solidarity just like there is no pan-white solidarity or pan-working class solidarity.

        “Hispanic” covers everything from 3rd generation Mexican-American to Dominicans to lily-white Brazilians to Afro-Colombians and everything in between.

        This is more a class issue than ethnicity. Over the past 30 years, there have been Hispanic winners and losers, just like with every other American demographic. My 1st generation Mexican-American neighbor owns his own cabinet company, he is on the same side as a Venezuelan working the abattoirs.

        1. juno mas

          Make your own punching bag. My comment referred to what is happening in a small portion of LA with large Mexican immigrants/citizens. Two locations that I’m familiar with. I live in a city that was essentially built by ‘Hispanics’ using adobe, and is maintained by their continuing labor. You may see winners and losers, they see their community. Like I said, it is unfamiliar to Anglo’s.

        2. GS

          There most certainly is in these parts. Hispanics nationally are a wide variety of people but among the labor class and the neighborhoods that you come across in California there is a very tight community and solidarity.

      2. Tim N

        And, just think of all those National Guard troops with roots and family in the community, who are going to be ordered to beat down (and eventually kill) those friends and families. The Ruling Class always forgets that there is a relationship between a Dog and Wolf, always buried, but ready to leap out at a certain point.

        1. rob

          I also have to wonder when, or if, those “national guard”, or even “marines”… will be standing there and realizing they are more like the protesters, than the billionaires they are working for…. and start breaking ranks.
          That is when it really all comes crashing down around trump’s ego.

          You figure… almost ALL ICE agents are really a-holes to start with.. that is why they joined.; but nat’l guard and military are a lot of poor people looking for a better future… too.

    2. lyman alpha blob

      The immigration business is all just a show. Biden bent the rules or flat out ignored them to let in immigrants at an increased pace. Many of the immigrants who were fast tracked were from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. Three guesses as to why those countries were chosen, and the first two don’t count. We also had the Fed raising interest rates to try to tamp down increasing wages, because we can’t have people making a living wage now, can we?

      Trump comes in and puts on a show of deporting people, however reports say that he is actually deporting people at a slower pace than in the past. No one in any position of power gets arrested for knowingly hiring illegal workers. There’s a big backlash against Trump, and everyone cheers for moar immigration again. Rinse and repeat.

      Meanwhile wages stay low, taxes go up because there is a legal obligation to educate anyone who is within a given city’s borders, the rich get richer, and everyone continues to wonder why so many people are living in tents.

      Add in the rest of what you mentioned, and it’s all just a disaster train slowly but inexorably nearing the end of the rails.

      1. Objective Ace

        For what it’s worth, net immigration is the result of inflows and outflows. Even if Trumo is deporting at a slower rate, inflows are down significantly

        It will be interesting to see if there’s unmet labor demand and wages are forced up in the upcoming year

        1. lyman alpha blob

          Good point. And if there is an unmet labor demand, hopefully that means some of our surplus businesses will go under. The world could stand a lot less business as usual, and the exploitation and environmental degradation that goes with it.

    3. Jason Boxman

      The solution, as always, is to go after illegal employers. Problem solved. The current machinations, even carried out competently, can never achieve the scale of success that simply eliminating most employment opportunities would.

      What’s going on here, I can’t attribute definitively to malice or incompetence, but it ain’t looking good.

      2. Amateur Socialist

        I’ve been saying for 3 decades that illegal immigration can be stopped in a single day. The day a CEO is indicted for breaking the laws on the books and hiring one.

  6. Carolinian

    Here in Dixie we have many enclaves of Hispanic legal/nonlegal residents. My brother lives adjacent to one in a nearby city. Will the whiff of tear gas soon be wafting across his property?

    You could blame Kristi Noem who is obviously a complete idiot but clearly Don is pulling the strings and if he can’t intimidate Putin he at least can go after those who aren’t even here legally (and some who are) since bullies like to kick down.

    That doesn’t make Biden throwing open the doors the right approach either but treating job seekers like terrorists or criminals doesn’t exactly make all this about “justice” or the law. One begins to wonder how long before some president–presumably not Trump–has to deploy the Guard against ICE.

    So far hardly any of this seems to be happening in the Trump base red states. One wonders how they will react should that change. Some powerful economic forces now depend on undocumented labor.

    1. Kurtismayfield

      I believe the LEOs are supporting ICE more in Red states, so you don’t hear about it.

      I want to see what will happen in the next few years with immigration. If it freezes, and the labor market gets tight, will President TACO take charge and change course?

  7. Eclair

    I lived in Claremont, California, a quiet academic backwater of LA County, in 1965, during the Watts insurrection. Watched the whole thing on a tiny black and white TV set. The City was another country.

    Then, in 1992, I watched the trucks and tanks of the National Guard roll out from Los Alamitos Naval Air Base, down Katella Boulevard, heading for downtown LA and the aftermath of the Rodney King decision.

    I left Southern California in 2007, for Denver. Just in time for Occupy, where one night I watched the big black SUV’s with the SWAT teams hanging off the running boards, come screeching around the corner between Civic Center Park and the State Capitol building.

    And, perhaps the situation has changed since I left SoCal in 2007, but then, immigrants were the frantic paddling feet keeping the economy swanning along: the ‘Mexicans’ were the busboys, the cooks, the parking lot attendants, the pool cleaners, the ‘mow, blow, and go,’ guys who did the yard work, the roofers, the drywallers, the nannies, the house cleaners, the janitors. They did the jobs that enabled us to go to our high-paying jobs, hang out at Huntington Beach surfing, and not worry about taking care of our babies or mowing our lawns. Oh ….. not to mention picking all our fresh strawberries and micro greens so we could eat organically.

    1. griffen

      I’m from the east coast but well remember the riots following the verdict and aftermath in 1992. The year of 1965 riots predates my earthly arrival by only a few years. Riots and protesting and the resultant ( often heavy handed ) crackdowns in specific parts of Los Angeles are well documented. I hate to drag him into this given his lack at never finding the “true killer” but the OJ Simpson documentary on ESPN is worth watching. That’s just my initial thought and impression on catching up to speed on this topic, and I only reference the disgraced former NFL great since he retired to LA after his career, pursuing acting and working in television and film roles.

      ICE and other varied enforcement agencies of the federal government have exhibited prior form over the decades. Waco and the Branch Davidian’s compound comes to mind, if only for reference. Granted that was a particularly poor outcome for all involved, on both sides.

      1. Wukchumni

        I knew the CHP motorcycle cop: Lee Minikus, who pulled over somebody for reckless driving, and then it escalated from there into Watts Riots.

        He was a coin collector, and I remember him telling me all about how it went down.

        1. JonnyJames

          Even further back, The Battle of Rincon HIll. The Palmer Raids, US history is full of abuses of power and lawless hypocrisy

  8. Valiant Johnson

    Also pay attention to the first reported use of U.S. military in detaining and holding trespassers on the Roosevelt Reservation without Border Patrol agents on site.
    They can at any time declare a 60 foot strip along the entire California-Mexico border is part of a military base.
    This will allow for the arrest by the military of any trespasser including American citizens.
    The next step in turning up the heat

  9. JMH

    Trump is itching to use the Insurrection act. Push and push and push until you get the overt act you have been looking for and if you cannot get it, create it yourself. Reichstag Fire moment anyone?

  10. Adam1

    While I wouldn’t expect there to be any immediate issues within the US armed services, I can’t imagine being deployed in US cities against US citizens will not become a problem for the military over the longer haul. About 1/3 of active-duty soldiers are black or Hispanic and if we look at just the Army that number approaches almost 40%.

      3. EY Oakland

        US invasion of Grenada. Black soldiers in tears. Just following orders – recipe for a breakdown of the conscience.

        1. MFB

          In 1979 I was trained in what they called D-formation drills — basically marching up to a demonstration in a D-formation, warning it to disperse, and then opening fire with live ammunition.

          Admittedly that was white South African soldiers expecting to shoot at black South Africans, but I think once you’ve had the training a few times you can be expected to shoot on command no matter what the target is. Once you’re told that the enemy are traitors in the pay of foreign terrorists, why not?

      4. Mike Elwin

        Don’t forget Vietnam. Troops surreptitiously attacked their officers, undermining the generals’ plans. This was part of the reason the Pentagon adopted a strategy of “don’t get involved unless there’s a clear way in and out.” It became clear that the troops must buy into the action.

        A corollary was that public display of troops’ illicit behavior undermines the public’s support, the reason journalism was largely banned from covering the desert wars. In the streets of our cities, the behavior is fully on display.

  11. AG

    Anybody remember the 2001 Genoa protests over G8 and the death of Carlo Giuliani?

    Do US legacy media – for once – do what they are supposed to now?

    Why don´t unions call out a general strike. What the fuck are they afraid of? Their personal friendship to GOP?

    The smart thing to do now would be challenging the government and the agencies – and then, when they really start with serious violence you can call it fascism.

    (When I was doing what she does with her camera pointing at NG I was nearly arrested and that was almost 25 years ago. So her talking into the camera 50 feet away from soldiers with rifles and then uploading that so everybody can see without interference is not what I understand under fascism.)

    Only if the public sees what state force is really made for will they understand. As long as there is no counterforce the country will just watch and not react. That´s how the anti-globalist movement came into being. The world witnessed what police violence literally looks like, feels, and means.

    Well, maybe it takes a while. Trump just in. So there is time…

    1. Amateur Socialist

      I don’t understand why SEIU (at least) hasn’t already gone wildcat. It’s 2M workers so would at least be a good start even if only a fraction of them stayed out.

      Yes, wildcat strikes are technically illegal under existing law and contracts. But haven’t we learned this administration doesn’t intend to enforce those existing labor laws?

      1. JonnyJames

        What about the “traumatized worker syndrome”? Indebted workers (debt peons) wont’ have enough to service their debt, pay their rents, food, health care etc. if they go on strike. California is the most expensive state in the US now. Prices are confiscatory.

        Besides, the unions (with the possible exception of the ILWU) are largely toothless, hollow shells of what they were many decades ago.

        1. Amateur Socialist

          So you don’t start out with a full on strike. Organize a publicly announced 1 hour work stoppage. Let the members decide if they can manage to quit working for an hour or not. Let the employers decide if it’s worth firing and replacing somebody because they quit working for an hour.

          In Poland in the 80s a general strike for a half day brought down the government. It was organized without the internet, or even telephones. It happened in the face of a fairly formidable state security apparatus.

          But yeah, you have to find leadership who actually want to do their jobs. Tough one. You’d hope having the president of the union incarcerated illegally might inspire something. Still hoping here.

  12. Skip Intro

    The blowback period is getting so short. It seems like only yesterday that the Democrats were salivating over the use of the Insurrection Act against pro-Trump protesters and Trump himself. Like Chekov’s gun, now that that dusty anachronism is back on the table, it is bound to be used.

  13. AG

    p.s. This form of resistance has to be institutionalized so that government is challenged permanently and together with the people in the street the governor too would have to seize the opportunity and, well, prepare his POTUS intentions? Use it and make himself a hero for the left. That´s not gonna happen. But without some cooperation from the political elites there is danger it will be suppressed. That´s why at least all unions should make a forceful move here. And eventually some Dems might remember why they entered politics. At least in German media it´s being reported now everywhere (unlike Gaza of course.) Naturally labeled as anti-Trump. That´s why they like it.

  14. The Archivist

    The TL;DR here is that Trump has not (yet) invoked the Insurrection Act

    Correct.
    He’s exploiting Title X “authority” (for which there is no Litmus Test) to effectively usurp Chain-of-Command over the National Guard, which are normally under the control of State Governors, in peacetime.

    10 U.S.C. § 12406 – National Guard in Federal Service: Call
    Whenever—
    (1) the United States, or any of the Territories, Commonwealths, or possessions, is invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation;
    (2) there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States; or
    (3) the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States;
    the President may call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary to repel the invasion, suppress the rebellion, or execute those laws.

    Perhaps even more worrisome, however, is this:

    The New Republic

    Trump DOJ Ordered ICE to Invade Homes Without Search Warrant

    The Justice Department quietly authorized immigration agents to seize power in arresting people under the Alien Enemies Act—no warrant required.

  15. tyaresun

    On the car burning. The protesters requested service from Waymo driverless cars. When the driverless cars arrived, they were burned. Apparently, each car unit is valued at $320K.

      1. urdsama

        Giving what they got, I’d say.

        How much sympathy have these people gotten from the average US citizen?

        They are way past the point of caring how it looks from an optics/PR standpoint as so far that approach has gotten them less than nothing.

    2. XXYY

      Violent attacks and vandalism directed at driverless vehicles is something I have been predicting ever since this idea was first discussed. The driver of a car not only drives the car, but also serves as a security guard for the car. Driverless cars, on the other hand, are not only wide open to attack but are also trivial to bring to a halt and “imprison” in one place because of their safety features. The fact that anyone can call them to the site of their planned demise is just icing on the cake.

      Note that this is an even bigger problem for proposed driverless trucks, which typically carry valuable cargo. It would be trivial to hijack the contents of an 18-wheeler (and then set it on fire!) if it had no driver. Having quick reaction security forces for such trucks would quickly surpass the cost of just paying someone to drive the truck.

      Executive salivation at various unmanned technologies usually does not take security issues into account.

    3. Skip Intro

      $320k for a Waymo? What’s their ROI? Paging Hubert Horan.
      Actually, they may be glad to take the insurance money.

    4. Robert

      Requesting Waymo cars drive into the protest area was a brilliant tactic. Obviously software & Artificial Intelligence not that smart after all.

  16. Amateur Socialist

    It’s going to be difficult for Democratic leadership to explain why it’s important to protect journalists, lawyers and activists in LA but not Gaza. If anybody bothers to ask.

    1. JonnyJames

      That’s right, the rank hypocrisy on full display. The D/R uniparty don’t give a fk about human rights, free speech, the rule of law, or common decency. Immigrants are the domestic “political football”.(internal Other)
      Palestinians are the new uentermenschen, their lives simply don’t matter to most. They are less than “animals”

      The Ds cynically use the protests to pander and mobilize political support to perpetuate the spectacle and political status-quo. Both the Ds and the Rs notoriously support mass murder of children using our public resources. Nice folks eh.

      1. XXYY

        Palestinians are the new uentermenschen.

        As a matter of fact, it’s depressingly common to hear today’s Israeli and Zionist leaders describe Palestinians as “mud people”, which I recall was a term commonly used by Nazis when describing Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals in the 1930s and 40s (and probably still today).

        Dehumanizing your opponent is of course page one of the manual of how to divide and conquer the population. But it’s strange to encounter such obvious parallels.

        1. JonnyJames

          That’s for sure. How’s that for historical irony eh. You can’t make this stuff up

  17. Omicron

    All it’s gonna take is one overarmed NGman succumbing to panic, firing his weapon and inspiring his comrades to do the same, and it’ll be Kent State all over again, but on a much larger scale. I remember that day like it was yesterday, not more than a half-century ago. I am starting to reconsider my long-held opposition to current interpretations of the Second Amendment….

    1. Amateur Socialist

      I watched over an hour of streamed coverage yesterday afternoon/evening and I have to say I was rather impressed by the discipline among the LAPD. They cleared the 101 freeway of protesters without much obvious thuggery and only arresting a handful of them. Not saying we can expect the same from trigger happy NGmen but one hopes they will be constrained by the example set by LAPD/SD (so far).

      Having said that my greatest fear in the near term is some random gun nut or motorist deciding to go full on stochastic and mowing down people with automatic weapons a vehicle or both.

    2. juno mas

      Actually, the Kent State slaughter was 1970. Little more than half Century. I hope the California NG are better trained with concomitant leadership.

  18. David in Friday Harbor

    First of all, Trump remembers the Black Lives Matter movement during his first administration. This time he wants to set up a situation that will give him a pretense under which to declare federalized martial law.

    The ICE agents dressing in full combat gear to arrest a handful of dish-washers is also a “tell.”

    California Penal Code sec. 830.85 Notwithstanding any other law, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and United States Customs and Border Protection officers are not California peace officers.

    ICE agents have only limited arrest authority over protesters. They can only use force for self-defense while arresting immigration violators. They are immediately escalating to tear gas and flash-bang grenades because they can’t legally arrest the protesters. Newsom knows that if ICE arrests him the agents can be charged under California law with the felony crimes of False Imprisonment and Kidnapping.

    This entire affair is nothing but a “red meat” provocation and distraction by a 34 count felon who should still be serving out a sentence in Riker’s Island. Meanwhile, not a single employer committing wage theft by exploiting economic refugees will be arrested or charged.

    1. JonnyJames

      Good points, I would say the Gaviner will use this to promote himself for POTUS. I am told on good authority that he is a much better BSer and much more handsome than the Orange Emperor.

      (Kind of ironic that Gaviner Slickmo needs cheap immigrant labor to work on his vineyards, restaurants and retail businesses, is that a conflict of interest? Or maybe conflicts of interest are to be expected nowadays?)

      1. EY Oakland

        Gabby Newsboy, light as air. He’ll keep the mirrors in the oval office if he gets there.

  19. Tom Stone

    “The purpose of Terror is to Terrorize”, the Trump administration has made it clear that they are not bound or constrained by the Law by defying the Supreme Court.
    All that is left is force, and once you start down this path there is no turning back.
    The outcome will be chaos followed by more and more overt repression.
    I am surprised that America’s Oligarchs are so unconcerned, they don’t seem to understand that the “Rule of Law” was about protecting them and their property first and foremost.

    1. Henry Moon Pie

      “once you start down this path there is no turning back”

      I think you’re right about that, especially if normies are on the receiving end of some life disruption, which is inevitable.

      I remember trying to drive through streets full of National Guard troops to get to high school, and I remember Kent State and wept when I went to the museum on campus.

      And I think in Trump’s mind, any serious resistance is coming directly or indirectly from his Deep State enemies. And I think the Marines are there to insure the Cali NG troops do as they’re told. Just like I think Pelosi didn’t want the Guard there on 1/6 because she wasn’t sure which way they’d go.

      It’s feeling like the dawning of a new 1861. The prime actors could scoff at that now. “Too much at stake!” But that momentum thing you talk about can bring them to a flash point sooner than they think.

      And there’s so much nihilism in the air.

  20. Jason Boxman

    Why are there protests? Authorities and demonstrators are clashing for a fourth day after immigration raids in the city. Intelligence analysts believe protesters are motivated by immigration raids, deployment of the National Guard, and agitators who fit profiles of “professional rioters.”

    (bold mine)

    I love how foreign wars have come home to be visited upon us; Intelligence analysts, really? We can’t just, you know, ask people why they’re upset and protesting?

  21. GF

    “Perhaps I have not been paying sufficient attention, but I do not recall a mainstream outlet ever before insinuating that paid agitators were fomenting violence in US protests.”

    Maybe the intrepid LA Times reporters could ask the paid protesters who is paying them?

    1. JonnyJames

      Isn’t that standard practice to blame protests on “outside agitators” “foreigners” or being paid by foreigners?
      Commie infiltrators, Reds Under Your Bed! Nowadays it’s Red Chinese agents. Maybe it’s the Russians orchestrating all this eh? OMG!

      Psychological projection? The US (and UK) is the one who pays protesters, foments “color reviolutions”, orchestrate coups and “regime change” etc. The US/UK have had many many decades to perfect the process

      2. Tom Stone

        The FBI infiltrated the League of Women Voters in the early 1970’s, convinced that their antiwar stance was due the influence of RUSSIAN! money and “outside agitators”.

  22. jaredX

    If they were slamming old people to the ground and beating and hand-cuffing and carting off people because they were walking up the street carrying signs which said “Down with Trump” in a permitted march,
    I would have great concern.

    But this is not anything like that.
    I am sure that the admin was hoping for an opportunity to make that point understood.

    Kash did go over the top however.
    I hope they are paid protesters, because if there are regular people being drawn into this stupid show,
    well, that would be wrong.

    1. Amateur Socialist

      The muti hour stream I watched yesterday looked fairly diverse. Plenty of older folks among the skater kids hanging out and waving signs. I found it inspiring and somewhat encouraging that the protesters included many regular looking people at least.

      1. jaredX

        Well, there is a lot that might be said,
        but overall, I would say that this display does not benefit immigrants – I am sure that it benefits someone, but definitely not in the interest of immigrants.

  23. Wukchumni

    The wins haven’t exactly been piling up for Benedict Donald, he crows about gas being under $2 a gallon somewhere in this blessed land of automobiles, and the idea he alone was able to bring the price of eggs down by mere coercion to Henny Penny

    ‘Darling its time to get great production going, some say the greatest production, but what do I know about poultry, other than I came through for Americans.’

    Every other thing the numbskull has attempted has either been a failure or will soon be.

    Agent Orange Provocateur is all he has left in his arsenal of not much.

  24. Frank

    Looks like late stage monopoly capitalism is in turmoil.
    The employee class will have to submit in the end.

    1. amfortas the hippie

      damn.
      that;s a good little rant, right there.
      and yes, even now, there are relatively easily exploitable weaknesses.
      number one among them is that cops/soldiers are humans and Americans.
      https://x.com/ButchWare/status/1931899657527128524

      i would also recommend studying tradecraft and the various counterinsurgency doctrines…all readily available online.
      and i cant recc enough War of the Flea, Che’s and Mao’s respective tomes on Guerilla Warfare…and a WW2 era thing by a swiss military guy on the same topic(I’d hafta go rummage around to find it).
      notably, i obtained these last four at Colonel Bubbie’s Army Surplus Store, there on the Strand in Galveston.
      the operational history of the Black Panthers is also a useful thing to study.
      as is Lenin,lol.
      (Amfortas waves to NSA, yet again)
      Parallel Institutions and generally going around Them, are the order of battle.
      we amurkins are nowhere near ready for this, of course….we aint the French in 1940 or whatever.
      (and a lot of that unreadiness is due to lack of people in farming, btw)

  26. Amateur Socialist

    Just caught a short interview with the SEIU president who has been released on bail. Maybe some intrepid journalist could get the president of the Teamsters on the phone to ask what he thinks. Anything’s possible.

  27. stickNmud

    I’m a day late, but I had to add this video I saw on Mish Talk yesterday of a 2020 Trump (1st term) interview: “We can’t call in the National Guard unless we’re requested by a governor.” https://twitter.com/i/status/1932137612136915255

    https://mishtalk.com/economics/powerful-national-unions-break-against-trumps-actions-in-los-angeles/

    Btw, I did hear that SEIU head David Huerta was released by ICE, but not heard details of head injury he suffered when ICE commandos threw him to the pavement.

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