President Donald Trump has sent up to 4,000 National Guardsmen and 800 Marines to Los Angeles to combat and contain what he says is widespread, wanton violence. Remember, this is the man who asked if soldiers could shoot protesters in the leg. Trump is a petty little tyrant who loves to foment violence as he sits behind the safety of his desk in the Oval Office. I am of the opinion that the Toddler King is deliberately trying to stir things up so he can declare martial law. This will allow him to rescind many of the Constitutional protections we have. If this happens, there will be bloodshed in the streets of not only Lost Angeles, but other major cities.
The LA police department is more than capable of handling what have largely been peaceful protests. We must not forget that Trump is opposed to protests. Just today, he warned people that if they protested his big, beautiful birthday parade on June 14, that their opposition would be met with violence.
We must never forget that soldiers are trained to use lethal force to eliminate their enemies. Simply put, they are trained to kill. Soldiers are not peacekeepers. War has never begotten peace. At best, it brings, for a time, a cessation of hostilities. Only peace begets peace.
What troubles me — well, hell, lots of things deeply trouble me these days — is that millions of Americans think it is okay for Trump to illegally use the military to advance his political and personal agenda. Years ago, Polly and I took her parents to Mexico. We took a drive around Juarez, the murder capital of Mexico. As we were driving down the street, three soldiers, armed with assault rifles, came around the corner, scaring the shit out of my mother-in-law. She immediately demanded to be returned to the United States, which I gladly did. Seeing soldiers with assault rifles on Mexican streets is not uncommon. In the United States, however, we don’t often see such things. We live in relative freedom and safety. Trump doesn’t want us to feel free and safe. He wants us to fear whatever “enemy” he has conjured up. Most of all, he wants us to fear him. What concerns me is Trump’s base; you know, the millions of Americans who seemingly are blind or indifferent towards his lawlessness. January 6 showed us what can happen if you stir up a crowd of zealots. Imagine what happens if he does this on a national level? Civil war is possible, even likely, if we do not neuter the MAGA movement and elect leaders who take seriously their pledge to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Morning,Bruce. I’m glad that you covered the crazy situation in LA. We had curfew kick in at 8 pm, with buses and trains not running suddenly out of the blue, people told they had to get their own transportation. Not walking around downtown is one thing, but turning the trans back is another! I dread tomorrow. Not real fond of Mayor Bass and Newsom the governor,even so it was insane to hear that DT may have them arrested.
Take care, Yulya. I know things like this cause real problems for you. ❤️❤️
Aww, thanks Bruce ! I appreciate your kind words, and tonight I’m inside,I figured the curfew isn’t over. Too soon for that, the protests are on for another night. There’s copters overhead as I write this now. At least our latest heat waves are gone for the moment,lol.
Yulya, I hope you are OK.
The Fake Tab Fūhrer is like a pyromaniac who becomes a firefighter to put out the conflagrations he causes—and proclaim himself a hero.
Thanks, MJ. The Yam is all jazzed for his Putin Parade this Saturday. I do suspect that our siege here and the weekend fiasco are related. Anything goes. Stay safe and stay on top of news updates. Things overseas aren’t getting better.
Take care, Yulia! That’s frustrating to ve caught in a curfew you weren’t made aware of and had to navigate.
It looks like Trump specifically was escalating this to fuck around with a blue state governor to show power. We’re having protests in NY City but no one is calling the National Guard. I guess Trump isn’t fucking around with NY because he has property there? I don’t know. But he could have provoked us here and chose LA instead.
Personally, I think he’s doing this to bolster a narrative of lawless blue states that need martial law, the firm hand of government, so he can justify terrorizing the entire country with his authoritarianism.
Hey,thanks,ObstacleChick ! Yeah, there’s no doubt to many people that this is a dress rehearsal for Rex 84 somewhere down the road.. Mayor Bass even said that she thought this even is an experiment,maybe. I’d say it certainly is. Rounding up 3,000 people a day proves that it’s doable. Reporters were attacked by law enforcement,those foam bullets can really hurt you, rip holes in flesh. It wasn’t random. We should try to lay low when we can, especially to the weekend. Stay safe and avoid the cities, if possible!
You are completely right about soldiers doing policing. You have heard this from me before. I visited Europe when we were still in the Cold War and I was a child/teenager and went from West Germany, thru East Germany to both West and East Berlin. I saw the differences in the way people behaved. In West Germany people were open and talkative. In East Germany people seemed to be closed up in shells.
Trump is trying to make us like East Germany was even if he has a different label for it.
We need to keep doing everything to contain him and get Republicans out of power because even if the Democrats are not great they are better than Republicans turning us into a country like East Germany where we cannot challenge anything the government rulers want.
Barbara, I had the East Berlin experience in 1989 just before the wall came down. I was arrested by the “Vapos” once on the way to Berlin and once on the way back. Both times for trivial things but the fine had to be paid to the cops on the spot. Any idea of due process was not a consideration. It wasn’t corrupt cops though as they gave me proper receipts which I kept as souvenirs of my adventure behind the iron curtain. It was a bitter taste of authoritarian government and a practical example of what the right to due process means to our everyday lives. It means anyone with a badge and a gun is judge and jury on the street, just as ICE agents are behaving now. I don’t favor illegal immigration but due process and simple decency demands that anyone detained have the chance to prove their identity and immigration status. Anything less and any of us can be kidnapped and deported or disappeared.
Spot on Bruce. I also had the Juarez experience in 1959. A scary lawless place in retrospect.
Soldiers confronting protesters re-kindles my outrage at the murders of Kent State Students by the Ohio National Guard. It’s remembered as painfully as the day I learned about it. It’s what can and does happen when heavily armed warrior trained soldiers are set against unarmed civilians. Soldiers are trained to confront an enemy and civilians always lose confrontations with warriors. We truly live in dangerous times. While Adolf Hitler was almost respectable in the early days of his reign, the similarities with what is happening here and now are too many to ignore. History shows how quickly freedom can disappear, as it did in the Third Reich. We are (mostly) not like the 1930s German people. We have our long tradition of freedom and democracy and we are armed to teeth and as you say, civil conflict is possible, I’d say, even probable. In my estimation, all it will take is warriors confronting civilians and someone starting to shoot, exactly like at Kent State. If such an event takes place here in California, I fear the shooting will not be one sided and will surely escalate.
Fai warning. They better keep their rioting in La and up north in places like New York and Chicago. Try that in a small town. Try it down in Dixie and their ass has had it!
See you at your town’s pride rally. Make sure you wear your rainbow skirt and your “I Love Obama” g-string. You will know me by my tee shirt that says “Revival Fires Loves Anal 🍆. Call 567-696-9696 for a Fucking Good Time.” That’s not me, you scream! I’m just judging you by your fruit, Revival Fires, and that shows you love anal and scat. 🍆🍆🍆
I like to think I’m pretty open minded but IMHO that “revival” person adds no positive value to your blog Bruce. Maybe I just need to expand my interests? I seriously doubt it.
I occasionally post his comments — he comments almost every day, most of which are deleted — because I want readers to see the ugly, vicious,hateful underbelly of Evangelical Christianity. Certainly, not because he offers anything intellectual to discussions. He’s a Fundamentalist stuck in middle school. 🤣
For what it’s worth, I think it is appropriate to post comments from Revival Liars from time to time (of course with a disclaimer). I’m somewhat of a free speech (or more accurately the ability to exchange contrarian ideas and opinions) advocate, although that’s not the reason. It is more because of what you think Bruce- let everyone see at least one example of holier than thou saved by “faith and/or election” evangelical hypocrisy at work.
Revival Liars is just an extreme and overt example of what is probably very common- evangelical Christians (and yes there are holier than thou Catholics too- Traditional Latin Mass only “trad-cats 🐈🐈⬛” are the IFB of the Catholic world) who want to monitor everyone else’s morality and piety, yet behind closed doors they’re just as base as what they claim their opponents to be.
It’s perfectly ok to be one’s true (and best) self in my opinion, and also be a professing Christian. Just don’t judge and hector other people when you can’t keep your own house in order.
RF, you have typos in your comment! And you couldn’t possibly be an actual believer in Jesus – I don’t think of you as one. A religious fanatic,a cult member, but born again? No way,you act too strange for that.