Bette Midler on the Portland kidnappings

[highplainsdem]

Tweeted minutes ago:

Link to tweet

Donald "Dum-Dum" Trump thinks he can bolster his poll numbers by kidnapping protesters in Portland, Oregon, and using your tax dollars to pay unidentified militarized goons to do it. Of all the horrific things he has done, this is among the worst. #PortlandKidnappings

[Rustynaerduwell]

1. No matter what Trump does,

he could start shooting protesters on every Fifth Ave, and a third of America will love it. And every one of them are going to vote. We need to get way more than half of everybody else to go to the polls to get rid of this guy. I'm afraid this is a more daunting task than we realize.

[Tumbulu]

16. You got it

Because his supporters want liberals killed and the government dismantled. Period.

[Darwin2019]

2. Horrifying Third World Stuff

Trump is a goon

[dalton99a]

3. Kick

[grumpyduck]

4. Well, I hate to be blunt, but

there are people in Congress who can help do something about this. Time to do it.

[HotTeaBag]

5. Yeah, getting on talk shows and decrying it isn't gonna move the needle.

I have to assume that *some* Republican reps and Senators are not cool with this.

[RVN VET71]

19. I think you will agree with me when I say

to hell with all of them, to the lowest pits of hell with everyone of them. If you are a Republican Representative of Senator, this is all on you, every bit of it. You cannot have a sudden "flash" of insight into the ugliness of Trump, the criminality of his administration, the terrible (and possibly permanent) destruction he and his have wreaked on the American system, on our values as a nation, on our standing as a nation among nations , and excuse yourself with a Nuremburghian "I didn't know."

There may be one or three exceptions, but by and large the entire population of elected GOP officers must stand accused. And if the Republic somehow survives, its politicians must be held to account, must be held up for public scorn and voted so far out of office that they'll need a Mars rocket to get back home.

(Among the tiny number excused I'll mention Mitt Romney -- though he was a "hero come lately" and, indeed, at one time, sought a position in Trump's administration -- and Larry Hogan, my Governor who has never ever been in bed with Trump or sought favors from him. There are some others, I know. But if there was one lifeboat on the sinking GOP ship, they'd all fit comfortably inside.)

[HotTeaBag]

23. You're right, I do agree with you.

But in this instance, I don't think (but don't know either) that this was a plan hatched where the Republican Congress members were looped in. I think it was a plan hatched by Barr/Trump/Cuccinelli and friends, and then they just went ahead with it. Granted, Republicans have been aiding and abetting every disastrous step Trump has taken along the way, but this step may well be a step too far - hard to say yet. We'll have to see how the Republicans in Congress react.

And speaking of Mitt Romney, if memory serves he was up for Secretary of State, and I for one would have been a lot happier to see him in that position than either of Trumps' picks - by far.

[RVN VET71]

26. Agree with Romney as SoS

But that is, of course, why he was not chosen. Rex the Oil Guy got the job, stripped the agency of most of its positions, and turned it into an international negotiator for big oil and the corporate-fascist sector of the economy in general. Tillerson, a very smart man -- was the perfect SoS for Trump until he wasn't. Even though clearly interested almost solely in corporate well-being, though, he was a damned sight better Secretary than the Shame of West Point currently in that position.

[stillcool]

6. nothing illegal about it...

so what can Congress do, without Republican support?

A former senior DHS intelligence officer explained that while other federal agencies are required to wear identifiers when conducting arrests—NCIS agents have to wear both marked jackets and hats during arrests, for example—that is not the case with the DHS. “The fact is, they don’t have to do anything in marked vehicles,” he said. “Such operations happen all the time and at the discretion of supervisors.”

“If it gives them a tactical advantage, they will find a way to justify it,” a current DHS official told The Nation.

But just because the practice is legal, that doesn’t mean it works in law enforcement’s favor. “It’s good for public image to have visible police presence as a deterrent,” the former intelligence officer said.
********************

‘Mission creep’ is what CBP, Border Patrol, and ICE have been engaged in since 9/11,” Budd said. “There are all sorts of interesting powers that CBP, ICE and Border Patrol have under Title 42 pandemic law, which has been triggered with Trump’s Covid-19 national emergency declaration. Even though he claims we should not be in pandemic lockdown, he refuses to lift the emergency declaration because this gives these agencies more authority. All of this is legal because of vague and broad authorities given to these agencies after 9/11.”

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/border-patrol-portland-arrest/

[Blue_true]

7. It seems there is a tendency to point a finger at Democrats and ignore the actions of republicans.

Nothing that Schiff or Speaker Pelosi does becomes a reality without the cooperation of Mitch McConnell, that is a reality.

Instead of hitting at Democrats, people should focus on removing every republican that is up for election from office in November.

[Tumbulu]

17. Yes!!!

Nothing more to say!

[Lonestarblue]

22. We may not last until November.

Something needs to be done to push back now because Trump will expand this tactic (Cuccinelli has already said so) to other cities with Democratic leaders. And at some point he’s likely to invite his right-wing self-appointed militia supporters to join his “army” and be deputized to serve as police. The militias have wanted to start a civil war to get rid of all black people for years. Trump would be fine with enabling them.

I need to learn more about the conditions under which a president can declare martial law. Trump is just too dangerous to allow him to keep doing this for the next six months.

[Blue_true]

25. Non radical Whites appear to be recognizing the danger that Trump represents to them and

everyone else.

This week alone he was forced to back away from the assault on Fauci and on immigrant students. In the last week or so, he has turned to a naked appeal to racists, inviting the Saint Louise gun waving couple to a rally, saying positive stuff about the confederate flag and saying that cops kill more White people than Black (while correct on raw numbers, the relative percentages relative to race demographics are way out of whack, cops are far more likely to use lethal violence against Black people. What his behavior will eventually lead to, IMO, is non racist Whites that vote on things like party affiliation abandoning him, as appears to have begun, it will also harden people that saw through him from Day 1.

[crickets]

9. Excellent article - deserves its own OP. nt

[2naSalit]

8. Have to agree with her. ...nt

[crickets]

10. Bette is the best. Love her. nt

[love_katz]

11. Huge kick and rec.

[PatrickforO]

12. That is number one, yeah. But a close second

is ordering hospitals to give COVID data to the Trump administration instead of the CDC.

[marieo1]

14. Gang of Thieves

DJT and his gang have ordered all kinds of dirty tricks, what will they do next. They will steal our freedoms, one by one. I hope we have enough voter power to send the whole gang packing and a lot of them to prison. I can't wait. They even have put a DJT store in our little town!!! I have heard of these stores in larger cities but was totally surprised when one went up in our town. And............who is doing it? Is it Putin's desire to own our country? I wonder.............

[Texin]

13. tRump is selecting Democratic states with women governors.

He started his Twitter rage tweeting first against Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan. Then, after George Floyd was murdered by that Minnesota cop which provoked nationwide protests. If you recall incidents of several guys slinking around in black neighborhoods and began to break windows. People were asking then who the hell those guys were. I strongly believe that they were individual DHS folks who were deployed to vandalize property there. Gretchen Whitmer has been excoriating tRump for his failure to do anything about Covid, and as more protests arose at the time, for stoking violence. The public there and across the country supported her over tRump (well, those who haven't had their brains rotted out by the kool-aide). They had weeks long verbal skirmishes and he backed off her. Now it's Oregon's turn. Kate Brown is not as vocal in calling for an end to these armed detainments of people, though she has done so in a low key manner. This has emboldened him to keep at it. You notice he's not tried to do this In California and Washington - states with males at the helm. I fully believe he's deliberately targeting women governors in blue states. And he's hoping that these protesters will start shooting and that will be his green light to declare martial law.

[h2ebits]

15. Yes, I agree with you!

+1000

[Tumbulu]

18. Agree

Except his goal is to instigate a uncivil war.

[Cryptoad]

20. bet ya a dollar to a donut that these are,,,,

Devos' Bro's band of mercenary Thugs. no telling how much we are paying them!

[iluvtennis]

21. ..and putting kids in cages,

..and throwing paper towels at the Puerto Rican ppl,
..and saying the Nazis in Charlottesville were very fine ppl,
..and calling Adrican nations shithole countries
..etc, etc, etc

[Cha]

24. TY Bette!

Mahalo, hpd