That’s the thing. Plainclothes / unmarked have been around forever. I had a buddy arrested this way in '96. I’m wondering if this isn’t so much the country becoming a police state before our eyes, but our eyes opening to what a police state this country has been for a long time.
Oregon’s governor makes it official (at least from her perspective):
Does that mean HLS is throwing in the towel? More likely they’re taking the show on the road. The question is, what’s the next stop on the 2020 Goon Squad tour?
Probably a state with a Trump lickspittle for a governor. Brian Kemp and Ron Death Sentence eagerly volunteer their states for the goon squad!
Tour dates announced!
All in swing states. What a shocker. Guess they don’t want to continue wasting the Goon Squad on a state that went for Clinton by 11 points in 2016.
Well, I don’t think this one is a vote winner. I suspect this will turn more moderates against the Republicans in those states.
Timex
6564
The weird thing is, the right wing was talking about how the 2nd amendment was necessary for people to protect themselves from the state, and folks poopoo’ed it, since you obviously can’t protect yourself from tanks and planes and stuff with a rifle.
But the thing is… you could protect yourself against these kinds of goons.
If everyone in the crowd is armed, the police might be a bit less likely to escalate things, since there’s then a real danger that they will literally DIE from the escalation.
But the flip side is that adding more guns into the equation might just make the whole thing more likely to blow up and turn into a Reichstagg fire.
I honestly don’t know… but I definitely feel like some of these cops aren’t as afraid as they should be, to take some of these actions. In situations where you had a bunch of armed militia folks doing stuff, the cops didn’t mess with them. Now, maybe (definitely) it was because they were white dudes… but I feel like it was probably also because they were all armed, and the cops didn’t want to start a bloodbath.
I agree, but it’s hard to think of any other rationale behind these choices.
“In order to best combat radical leftists, we need to send our forces to … Cleveland!”
And arguably it’s not meant to be a vote winner, but rather a vote suppressor (though they’re deploying awfully early for that. )
If plainclothes cops arrest someone, though, they show ID though (or should). I don’t think there is anything inherently problematic with plainclothes law enforcement when needed - the problem is the methods they are using.
Honestly, looking at how US police act, it often feels as if none of them have any training in actual police work.
Maybe the cops will get lost backstage and the people won’t have to deal with them.
KevinC
6568
I think the latter is what would happen and why more guns aren’t the answer. I think Trump and Barr would love nothing more than for one of their thugs to get shot because then they’d have their casus belli to ratched things up to 11.
I do agree with you. These thugs are acting with impunity against thousands of – luckily for them – peaceful protestors. Someone somewhere is going to light the match on this power keg and I’m really not looking forward to it. The cops will get what they have coming to them after all this abuse, but after that things will escalate into a very dangerous and ugly way.
Timex
6569
Maybe… but I think the cops THEMSELVES might be a lot less likely to push things.
Because they’re the folks who would actually be taking fire. Maybe Barr and Trump wouldn’t care, but they aren’t the ones who would be endangered.
KevinC
6570
That could be, I can see the angle you’re viewing this from. In my mind, I’m recalling all the video of those cops literally unable to sit still with all the excitement at laying some beatdown on peaceful protestors, though. I think there’s quite a few among them that would also love to see an escalation of the violence so they can really bring on the hurt.
I’m thinking of people like this dickhead:
Timex
6571
Yeah, but they’re cowards.
They want to beat up unarmed people.
They don’t want to get fucking shot in the face.
I don’t think escalating things with firearms is the answer, but this can’t be stated enough. These are tin solidiers who like to beat up on peaceful protestors so they can pretend they’re at war. They don’t actually want to be at war.
Plainclothes cops arrest people all the time. They’re usually called detectives. But they’ll identify themselves, announce the arrest, read them their rights, and take them away. They don’t go pulling up, grabbing people, and throwing them into unmarked vans like a drug cartel death squad.
Timex
6575
The thing is, I realize the danger of the situation where the government escalates in response to folks shooting back at them. And I also realize that a bunch of those cops aren’t in fact terrible people who are looking to beat on protesters.
But it seems like they’re escalating anyway.
One some level, it seems like no one in the GOP gives a shit until there are real, tangible repercussions for them.
Like that big group of armed black guys? Are the cops beating up THOSE guys? I think they are not.
Rward
6576
If they weren’t bad, then why aren’t they stopping “cops/feds/whoever” from violently grabbing people off the street, throwing them into a van and driving off to fuck knows where!
How Fucking Traumatic must that be!
Just think about How Fucking Traumatized You, Your Wife, Your Teenage Daughter, Your Son would be if that happend to any one of you.
If you’re standing on the side of the road, peacefully watching a protest and a van drives up, forces your teenage daughter into a van, shoves a fucking gun in your face, possibly beats your wife to the pavement and then drive off.
What kind of dreams is your daughter going to have for the next couple of months/years?
What kind of trust issues are they going to grow up with?
What kind of trauma is your wife going to experience?
What kind of debilitation are you going to have to deal through?
Rward
6577
I do know what you are meaning though - I hold the stance that all people are inherently good and want to do good.
Timex
6578
Well I think all the guys in that little group are probably bad. But not necessarily all the cops dealing with all the protests.
