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A thread of pictures from the Seattle Autonomous Zone aka Free Capital Hill.
Same place you saw the man with the rifle a few nights ago.

Edit: 24/7 cam of the intersection at the heart of FCH.

Edit: Apparently they’ve gone with Capital Hill Autonomous Zone as the “official” name and even streams of the place are now referencing C.H.A.Z. instead of Seattle as their location.

4862

Also, too:

4863

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I kicked over a QAnon/White Supremacist beehive on Twitter.

Wonder how long before the direct death threats start? Right now they’re using the vague ones.

4865

Portland Sacred Fence being dismantled by the crowd.

4866

Whats the holiest of fences actually protecting?

4867

An intersection near the Justice Center building.

They’ve drug away like 100 feet of it at this point it looks like from another stream.

Edit: Now they’re just carrying pieces of it around.
And chanting “Our Fence,” which is kind of hilarious (big chant at these thing is “Whose Streets? Our Streets”).

4868

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Usually this is when the tear gas starts, but they “aren’t allowed” to use it.

Edit: Flashbangs have arrived.

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Paywalled to heck and back on that one.

4872

Easiest way to read is it make a dummy google account and log in with that account when prompted (that’s how I read it; pasting the link in a different browser or deleting NYT cookies used to work but apparently the NYT has upgraded their IT staff.) I could paste the whole thing I suppose, but that feels wrong.

<-- Failed rebel.

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That story is amazing, in particular the details like:

  • the DOD were terrified that Trump would order active duty Army forces to oppose protesters, so they deliberately leaned on the Guard as a way to keep the Army out of it;
  • they assumed if they could be aggressive enough with Guard forces against protesters, Trump would be appeased and the Army would be saved;
  • since the DC Guard is only 1200 people, they basically begged states to send Guard troops to DC and of course it was red states who complied;
  • pallet loads of live, lethal ammunition were stored in the DC Armory, marked for use by each of the Guard units and ready for rapid deployment;
  • because the DC National Guard reports directly to the DOD rather than a state governor, they got pushed rapidly into the streets, often with no idea what they were supposed to do there;
  • Guard members without military vehicle licenses were pressed into service driving armored vehicles because there was no one else to do it;
  • One guard commander asked for orders from DOD in writing, was promised them but never got them, and now no one admits that any order was given at all;
  • DC Guard troops were present at the infamous battle of Lafayette Park, but they were told just to stand behind the cops and never told about the attack, and were surprised when it began.
4875

I think one of the fears the military has of the Army getting involved is they might not choose the side of the police, or they might disagree on who needs protection. That’s very dangerous.

I think in these times it would be very easy to view Trump’s orders as unconsitutional, especially with the knowledge that he is likely to lose, and the next administration might charge you for following orders.

4876

On the other hand their reasoning seems to be: It would be absolutely intolerable and wrong to oppress the citizenry with these military folks right here, and the only way to prevent that is to oppress the citizenry with those military folks over there.

4877

That has to be a parody video. I don’t believe it’s real.

4878

Yes, it’s a parody. He is a comedian using a right-wing persona kind of like the Colbert Report.

4879

Trump about to go to Twitter-war with his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff I guess. This will be fun to watch.

“I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it,” he added.