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Friday, August 28, 2020

AG Barr Speaks Out Re The Federal Courthouse In Portland

I thought this statement that Barr issued--after the 9th Circuit put a temporary hold on a District Court injunction targeting Federal LE agents in Portland--was worth reading in its entirety:


Attorney General William P. Barr issued the following statement on the Ninth Circuit's stay in Index Newspapers LLC, et al v. United States Marshals Service, et al:

“Last night, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit entered an order temporarily blocking an injunction entered by a federal district court in Portland that imposed extensive but vaguely defined constraints on federal law enforcement personnel striving to protect the federal courthouse and surrounding areas in Portland from destruction.  In practical effect, the district court’s order prevented the federal government from effectively addressing violent mobs through the general crowd-control measures that are required, and it unacceptably increased the risk of serious injury to federal law enforcement officers.  The Ninth Circuit’s decision is an important step that will allow federal officers to continue carrying out their important security responsibilities without being subject to untenable conditions.

As the Department of Justice explained in our briefing, federal officers in Portland – like law enforcement in other parts of the country – have confronted aggressive mob violence.  Behind the veil of “protests,” highly organized violent operators have carried out direct attacks on federal personnel and property, particularly the federal courthouse in Portland.  Shielded by the crowds, which make it difficult for law enforcement to detect or reach them, violent opportunists in Portland have attacked the courthouse and federal officers with explosives, lasers, projectiles, and other dangerous devices.  In some cases, purported “journalists” or “legal observers” have provided cover for the violent offenders; in others, individuals wearing supposed press badges have themselves attacked law enforcement or trespassed on federal property.  More than 200 federal officers have been injured in Portland alone.

The Portland city government has the ability to stop this.  Instead, the city government has abetted the violence through action and inaction, neutered the ability of the police department to deal with the mobs, impeded the ability of police to coordinate with federal law enforcement, and refused to pursue charges against the rioters.  By contrast, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland has charged 74 people with federal crimes arising from the Portland riots, including arson, assaulting federal officers, and destruction of federal property.  The message should be unmistakable:  The First Amendment protects the rights to speak and assemble, but not to attack people or property.  The Department of Justice will continue to fully and fairly enforce federal law against these violent rioters.”

34 comments:

  1. At some point, malfeasant public officials need to be held accountable for their conduct in regard to abetting organized riots, arson, property destruction, and criminal assault including attempted murder. It is not enough to shield these politicians from complicity by simply asserting that the voters can remedy the problem during the next election cycle. That does not stop the ongoing tangible and significant harms that are being enabled by AWOL politicians shirking their responsibilities to maintain public order and safety. The sole possibility of a future election remedy is no compensation for dead innocents and billions of dollars in property damage. Barr should consider making an example of some mayor or governor whose inaction or complicit encouragement of these attacks has been especially egregious. Let it burn is not just bad public policy, it's suicidal.

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  2. Good for him! And it is good to see what others have talked about: The change in the 9th Circuit, thanks to President Trump…

    https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-22/trump-conservative-judges-9th-circuit

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  3. "the city government has abetted the violence through action and inaction...."
    Any chance such conduct is prosecutable, e.g. for Conspiracy to deprive rights, under color of law?

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  4. I fervently hope Barr and DOJ get to the bottom of this historic Soros etc revolutionary conspiracy. People need to hang.

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  5. An important point to remember is that, if a money/organizational trail can be established by the DoJ it is only a short step to declaring BLM and AntiFa in insurrection. Vastly different than merely rioting.

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    1. Interstate transport of explosive materials is a big deal. There are a number of federal crimes associated with rioting that could come into play, including--as already mentioned--civil rights laws.

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    2. Yes, but my point being that a formal finding of insurrection, which evidence of conspiracy would prove (after all insurrection is literally a conspiracy to over-throw), changes the entire complexion of what options are available to POTUS especially viz-a-viz "permission" of governors or mayors.
      And for those who might doubt that wide-spread riots at not "insurrection" Sun-Tzu makes ample allowance for death of an enemy, being the State, by a thousand pin pricks.

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  6. It’s an insurrection, but political realities stop Trump from doing what needs to be done.

    Sigh, like his entire presidency. Not a knock on Trump.

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    Replies
    1. A second Trump term with Barr present from the get go could be vastly different.

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    2. It's August 28, but November 4 is coming.

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    3. It may not get to that point, even if DJT has the EVs, see
      https://www.Breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/08/02/democrats-War-Game-for-election-includes-West-coast-Secession-possible-Civil-War-john-podesta/ .

      If CA, OR, & WA would seek secession, I could see Trump letting them go, esp. if trying to block them would be a bloodbath.
      The main downside of doing that would be the risk, that the new country would invite other powers (e.g. the ChiComs) in.
      The main upside would be, that the rump US would be much more governable, with the Dems' lack of the 74 EVs (of those 3 states) guaranteeing the GOP holding the W.H., unless the Dems moved far right from their recent drift.

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    4. If the US could not countenance states seceding when sentiment for that was high under Lincoln’s presidency, how in the world can anyone, right or left, honest believe it would go now?

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    5. We can't afford to lose the military bases on the left coast. They'd have to be grandfathered in...not much chance of that without use of force.

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    6. True history has a way of forcing its recognition. The "unpleasantness" referred to as the Civil War (which wasn't) wasn't over slavery. Secession was about slavery. The war was about secession. Unlike the Confederacy, which had no aspirations of over-throwing the government of the U.S., The current opponents will never accept mere separation. Their goal is domination and nothing less.
      Tom S.

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    7. I wouldn’t get too excited about Podesta and the Dems’ war games. Desperate, they have to do something to keep their spirits up. This Californian says we are going nowhere. An interesting note in same Breitbart article. Podesta refused to accept the results of the 2016 election. Most of the country doesn’t even know who Podesta is/was.

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    8. Allowing America's richest states with some of its most important ports to secede will never happen, so get real. There are *no* US states that are not a mix of Red and Blue citizens so wholesale secession a la 1861 will never happen. Neither side will sign off, nor should they. The only hope I see is that Republicans finally break through the social taboo in the black community that prevents more than 10% of blacks from voting for GOP. If that preference cascade happens, the Democrats and Left are finished and our republic is saved. In that vein, extremely heartening to see the RNC really make a concerted pitch to black voters without pandering tribal politics.

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    9. Yes. Just had a conversation with a bro re that.

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    10. Yes, cautiously optimistic that Trump can break the 20% mark with black voters given his nearly 40% approval numbers from likely black voters in Rasmussen poll recently (sorry no link). I was so impressed with the minority speakers at the RNC, i may have to switch my party affiliation back Republican from Independent. This is a new Republican party I've never seen before with a chance to build a coalition that could control state and federal governments for a generation or more.

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    11. "I was so impressed with the minority speakers at the RNC ..."

      exactly what my bro was saying.

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    12. @Tschifty
      @Mark

      Totally agree. I hope Trump finds a way to get their (minority supporters) message out loud and clear...and repeatedly...to the whole country.

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  7. O/T, but a quite helpful site, about polling and other POTUS voting matters, is at
    https://forecastingIntelligence.org/2020/07/30/a-pregnant-pause/comment-page-1/?unapproved=1731&moderation-hash=473eb60cd5f9df4bfcb8b2d28e3fa463#comment-1731 .

    It discusses one of the very few pollsters, Trafalgar Group, which got both MI & PA right in 2016.
    It's boss, Robt. Cahaly, now calls Michigan a Dead Heat.

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  8. "the US could not countenance states seceding when sentiment for that was high under Lincoln", partly because, as he put it, "we all worship the same God, revere the Constitution", etc.
    Thus, when the South lost, it was possible to heal wounds.
    There was a ton of respect between, say, Grant and Lee.

    By contrast, these Lefties revere *nothing* other than their own whims, and most of them express substantial contempt for us, so we'll see no healing, only eternal hatred from them, if we try to stop them from bugging out.

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    1. They have no intention, and under no circumstance will they "bug out". They are here to own you, your children, your grandchildren, and so on. make no mistake about that.

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    2. Yes, but part of the problem was Southern intransigence.

      The South rejected any attempt at becoming Union. The South venerated the Confederacy and it’s slavery underpinnings.

      The Democrat South utterly flipped the US off. They put the former slaves as second class citizens with Segregation,

      That is all Democrat. Problem is, just like today, many Republicans were sympathetic or too afraid to oppose the US apartheid.

      Yeah, Republicans then, birthed in firebrand opposition to slavery had members who did not give a fart’s arse about slavery or what Republicanism was all about,

      - TexasDude

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    3. A small correction to your history, TD. The South was occupied by federal troops under Reconstruction for 15 years under Republican administrations. In that time, freed slaves were given citizenship and the right to vote (men anyway). Many were elected to Congress as Republicans. The change occurred with the election of 1870 between Hayes and Democrat Tilden when no clear winner emerged. The House was deadlocked to pick a winner as well until a compromise made to allow Hayes to take office in exchange for removal of federal troops from the South and end of Reconstruction. It wasn't Republican apathy but Democrats in the South and North who pressured Congress to end Reconstruction and the occupation of the South. Segregation and Jom Crow and KKK rule soon followed when troops left.

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    4. Minor correction: the disputed election was 1876.

      On "They are here to own you, your children, your grandchildren, and so on", that's quite true, likely incl. Podesta.
      At issue is, what Podesta etc. do, when their dream of *owning* us is dealt a mortal (?) blow by a DJT victory.
      Some may double-down on that dream, but many (esp. Dem brass) will start to face music, and look for a way out, of the box this brass has built.

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  9. O/T...a 'friend' shared with me a fundraising appeal he received this morning from Adam Schiff. I reprint it here in the expectation that most visitors to Mark's blog would not otherwise have an opportunity to see it:

    Donald Trump's message last night painted a dark and dystopian image of America. Not of hope, but of carnage. What he neglects to say is that it’s a carnage of his own making. Far from making the case for another term, his dismal vision has shown us the stakes for our nation, and why it’s so important we kick Donald Trump the hell out of the White House.

    Trump's illegal use of the White House as a political backdrop was a fitting image for this lawless and duplicitous administration.

    One of the few truthful statements Trump made last night was this: “At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas.”

    This is Donald Trump’s America:

    A thousand people are dying each day from the Coronavirus pandemic, with no end in sight.

    Our unemployment rate is the highest it’s been since the Great Depression.

    Climate change is ravaging our world and its effects are showing up everywhere.

    And police brutality and systemic racism are unaddressed, and ever present.

    And at every step of the way, Trump is making it worse. He is rooting for chaos, and egging on violence in the streets because he believes it will help him politically.

    Every single day, Donald Trump wakes up and strives to find new and inventive ways to divide Americans from one another.
    He revels in it.

    The stakes are high. Incredibly high. And that’s why we must elect Joe Biden.

    This loss of life was not inevitable, no matter how much Trump says otherwise. The economic hardship was not inevitable.

    It is not what it is. It is what Donald Trump has made of it through his divisiveness, deceit, and utter incompetence.

    Joe Biden will work to mend the economic devastation that Trump wrought. Joe will work to ensure all Americans have healthcare.

    Joe will work to address the damage that climate change will bring. Joe will work to rebuild back our economy, and more than that, build it back better.

    Joe will work for all of us, not just those who vote for him. And that’s the way it should be. He will work every day to heal the soul of our nation.

    And if Joe Biden’s vision for America sounds better than the dystopian, dark, and perilous vision that Donald Trump presented last night, he can use your help right now.

    We only have 65 days left and we need to leave it all on the field. Will you chip in $10 to support Joe Biden and our campaign in the final stretch?

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    Replies
    1. Next, read Mayor Ted Wheeler's letter to POTUS Donald Trump, refusing federal help and lauding the peaceful protests.

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    2. Bizarro World of old school Superman comics.

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    3. He's been getting a big taste of the peacefulness all night.
      https://www.foxnews.com/politics/portland-protesters-stage-sit-in-at-mayors-home-after-he-and-trump-trade-barbs

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    4. https://www.kgw.com/article/news/politics/mayor-wheeler-writes-open-letter-to-president-trump/283-7379a255-e34c-4f13-8e19-3c6240c7fbb8

      In refusing federal assistance, Wheeler actually says:

      There is no place for looting, arson, or vandalism in our city. There is no room here for racist violence or those who wish to bring their ideology of hate into our community. Those who commit criminal acts will be apprehended and prosecuted under the law.

      He says some other interesting things, too.

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    5. Why on earth would anyone care what Adam Schiff was putting out?

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    6. @Bebe

      Increasingly, Bebe, I don't think you and I agree on much.

      But then again, I don't live in California.

      Que serĂ¡.

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