But received a setback this week:
The government is claiming that "the chaotic atmosphere of Portland’s protests is too “volatile and dangerous” for federal police to differentiate between journalists and protesters accused of breaking the law." Somehow, that argument rings hollow:
A number of commentators are characterizing this as an attack on the free press. Well, yes -- but it's also a direct attack on the First Amendment and the Constitution as a whole.
This is Trump all the way: he doesn't like democracy. He likes strongmen and dictators -- look who among world leaders he considers admirable: Putin, Erdogan, Duterte, Kim Jong-Un, Jair Bolsdonaro. He wants to be just like them.
We'll see if this order holds -- Trump's minions will appeal, and Moscow Mitch has been concentrating on stacking the courts rather than actually legislating. One can only hope that there will be something to salvage come January.
Via Joe.My.God.
Update:
Digby has a post on the plans to deploy brown shirts to other major cities, with reports of what's been happening most recently in Portland. Trump's comments are revealing.
Federal police are now under a court order not to arrest or assault journalists and legal observers for doing their jobs, after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday that the government said it would appeal.
“An open government has been a hallmark of our democracy since our nation’s founding,” U.S. District Judge Michael Simon wrote Thursday, citing precedent from the Ninth Circuit case Leigh v. Salazar. “When wrongdoing is underway, officials have great incentive to blindfold the watchful eyes of the fourth estate. The free press is the guardian of the public’s interests and the independent judiciary is the guardian of the free press.”
To that hallmark, he added: “This lawsuit tests whether these principles are merely hollow words.”
The government is claiming that "the chaotic atmosphere of Portland’s protests is too “volatile and dangerous” for federal police to differentiate between journalists and protesters accused of breaking the law." Somehow, that argument rings hollow:
Attorney Matthew Borden told Judge Simon at Thursday’s hearing that federal police had mounted “incredible and despicable attacks” against journalists and legal observers. “A 70-year-old man marked ‘press’ from head to toe. Multiple attacks on a 17-year-old girl who stood far from the front. They shot Jungho Kim right in the press pass [with less lethal munitions] and Lewis Rolland a dozen times in the back when he was standing under a streetlight so police could see the big block letters saying he was press.
“These are not accidents,” Borden continued. “These are not inadvertent shots. These are trained marksmen and these are the actions of a tyrant. They do not have a place in Portland, Oregon and they do not have a place under the First Amendment. If you do not have the press reporting on events first-hand, then you only have the version put forth by the government. And that’s what you have under a totalitarian state.”
A number of commentators are characterizing this as an attack on the free press. Well, yes -- but it's also a direct attack on the First Amendment and the Constitution as a whole.
This is Trump all the way: he doesn't like democracy. He likes strongmen and dictators -- look who among world leaders he considers admirable: Putin, Erdogan, Duterte, Kim Jong-Un, Jair Bolsdonaro. He wants to be just like them.
We'll see if this order holds -- Trump's minions will appeal, and Moscow Mitch has been concentrating on stacking the courts rather than actually legislating. One can only hope that there will be something to salvage come January.
Via Joe.My.God.
Update:
Digby has a post on the plans to deploy brown shirts to other major cities, with reports of what's been happening most recently in Portland. Trump's comments are revealing.
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