Horrible shit that Trump does to the USA

[bodysong]

Horrible shit that Trump does to the USA

Say Goodbye to Radio Free Europe, and say Welcome to Trump International Radio

June 19, 2020

Trump's new CEO seems bent on carrying out a purge of what Mr. Bannon has described
as an outpost of the “deep state” and converting it into another vehicle for promoting
(Presiderp) Trump.

President Trump’s newly installed chief executive at the U.S. Agency for Global Media
(USAGM). Michael Pack, a conservative filmmaker and associate of alt-right propagandist
Stephen K. Bannon, kicked off his tenure this week by firing the chiefs of RFE/RL,
Radio Free Asia, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and the Office of Cuba
Broadcasting. The two top editors of Voice of America resigned days earlier.

Mr. Pack also dissolved the boards of the first three of those networks, which operate
as grantees of the U.S. government; a bipartisan cast of luminaries including Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo and former ambassador Ryan Crocker was replaced by low-level
Trump political appointees from unrelated federal agencies, along with Mr. Pack and his
chief of staff. The sole outside board member comes from the far-right Christian group,
Liberty Counsel Action, which is known for its militant anti-LGBTQ advocacy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...577f0a-b247-11ea-856d-5054296735e5_story.html

The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the global media
agency that oversees the Voice of America.

Michael Pack, a documentary filmmaker, will serve as CEO of the U.S. Agency for
Global Media, which also provides grants to overseas outlets like Radio Free Europe
and Middle East Broadcasting Networks. The Senate voted 53-38 on the nomination,
with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) voting with all Republicans.

Other Democrats, led by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), objected to his confirmation
while Pack’s nonprofit, Public Media Lab, is under investigation by the D.C. Attorney
General, Karl Racine

https://deadline.com/2020/06/donald...-pack-u-s-agency-for-global-media-1202951104/

 

[hogjack]

President Trump ordered tens of thousands of bombs dropped on Syria. Countless children, women and men died in the bombing.

Oh, wait. That was President Obama. That was truly horrible.

 

[phrodeau]

President Trump ordered tens of thousands of bombs dropped on Syria. Countless children, women and men died in the bombing.

Oh, wait. That was President Obama. That was truly horrible.

Both did.

 

[Fuzzy1975]

Both did.

You think he gives a shit really if either did? He is just using it, since it's something Obama did. It is not like that piece of shit actually cares about any of the actual women or children who were killed. Beside whining here like a child, he is just trying to find someone to cyber with on line....*chuckles*

 

[bodysong]

Trump clusterfuckery

U.S. Attorney Berman Agrees To Step Down

June 20, 2020

June 19, 2020 A.G. Bill Barr lies about NY U.S. Attorney

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, June 19, 2020

Attorney General William P. Barr on the Nomination of Jay Clayton to Serve as
U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York

Attorney General William P. Barr has released the following statement:

I thank Geoffrey Berman, who is stepping down after two-and-a-half years of service
as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman
US Attorney SDNY ✓
@SDNYnews

Official twitter

“I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was 'stepping down'
as United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning,
my position, to which I was appointed by the Judges of the United States District
Court for the Southern District of New York.

So Berman is basically saying he can’t be fired by DOJ/Barr because he was appointed
by the SDNY judges, not by the president.

Per the below, Berman is able to stay put until the Senate confirms a replacement.

— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) June 20, 2020

Mr Berman also may have the law on his side, as this particular US attorney was
appointed to his position by a court, not the president, making it unclear whether
President Trump has the legal authority to remove him. A court may have to sort
this out, too, creating a procedural headache the White House surely hoped to avoid.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53117951

June 20, 2020

President Trump Fires Top U.S. Prosecutor Who Investigated His Allies, Barr Says

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/20/8811...who-prosecuted-trump-allies-says-he-wont-quit

Berman praised his acting successor in his statement Saturday evening:
"It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as this District's U.S. Attorney
and a custodian of its proud legacy, but I could leave the District in no better
hands than Audrey's." (Deputy U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss)

emptywheel
Twitter › emptywheel

By accepting his firing, Berman makes it a lot easier to testify
in Wednesday's HJC hearing.

3 hours ago

Half-arsed, half-baked, half- hearted, effort to oust a competent, real attorney

Friday Night Half-Assed Massacre: The Attempted Firing of SDNY’s Berman

June 20, 2020

April 2018 – Berman remained un-nominated by Trump, continuing to work as an
interim acting USA; because the 120-day appointment period expired, the Chief Judge
of the Southern District of New York ordered Berman appointed as USA-SDNY under
28 U.S.C Section 546(d), until Trump nominated a USA-SDNY and they were approved
by the Senate.

9:15 pm AG Bill Barr's announces new USA-SDNY attorney on twitter June 19th
11:14 p.m. ET, Berman issued a statement via Twitter: I have not resigned. June 19th

https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/06/20/attempted-firing-of-sdnys-berman/

In a curt letter to Berman on Saturday, Barr told him Trump had agreed to remove him
and conceded that Berman's deputy would succeed him.

"Unfortunately, with your statement of last night, you have chosen public spectacle
over public service," Barr wrote in his letter to Berman. "Because you have declared
that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as
of today, and he has done so."

He provided no justification for pushing out Berman.

Speaking to reporters shortly after Barr's letter was made public, however,
Trump said, "That's his department, not my department."
He added: "I'm not involved."

Though Barr had said Friday that he would install Craig Carpenito, a person close to Barr
who is now the US attorney in New Jersey, to serve as Berman's acting replacement,
the attorney general's letter Saturday noted that "by operation of law," Berman's
current deputy, Audrey Strauss, will become acting US attorney.

Berman's 18-hour hold-out appeared to force Barr to walk back his initial plan
to appoint Carpenito.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/20/politics/trump-fires-berman-barr-says/index.html

June 20, 2020

Barr had said in his letter that Strauss (Deputy U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss)
would take over the top job until a permanent successor is in place.

That was a reversal from Friday, when Barr announced that Craig Carpenito,
U.S. attorney for New Jersey, would run the office on an interim basis until
Clayton was confirmed.

https://www.nj.com/politics/2020/06...prosecutor-who-refused-to-quit-barr-says.html

Jun 19, 2020

Barr said Trump intends to nominate Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities
and Exchange Commission, to the post. The U.S. attorney in New Jersey, Craig
Carpenito, will serve as the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, beginning on
July 3, Barr said.

https://www.nj.com/politics/2020/06/us-attorney-who-oversaw-cases-of-trump-allies-steps-down.html

 

[bodysong]

Trump did not hire people that are smarter than he is- and Trump got rid of the people that are

June 21, 2020

Berman didn’t voluntarily step aside and forced Trump to fire him,

Barr can’t install the people he wanted.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement
Saturday that he would abide by the tradition of allowing home-state senators to veto a
U.S. attorney nominee, which is something Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) quickly did with Clayton.

Barr apparently wouldn’t have gotten Clayton anyway, because of Graham’s comments.
Graham, remarkably, said the Trump administration hadn’t even consulted him on the
move, which would seem to be a matter of course.

The Post’s Colby Itkowitz reports, Strauss wouldn’t seem an ideal replacement if the
intent was to stifle investigations or shift the course of SDNY. She’s known as a tough
no-fear-or-favor prosecutor — someone who has defeated none other than Trump’s mentor
Roy Cohn, in a mob prosecution. It’s much easier to see Strauss being loyal to Berman and
the investigations they had been pursuing than someone else.

But beyond the outcome, there is how all this went down. Barr has now made something
that already looked problematic reek — yet again — of the politicization of the Justice Department.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...rt-remove-prosecutor-who-probed-trump-allies/

 

[bodysong]

Steve Vladeck ✓
Twitter › steve_vladeck

( two screen grabs that quote @JonathanTurley)

The new defense of Barr's conduct over the weekend is that he was just trying
"to find a job for [Jay] Clayton." There are at least three problems with this effort
to whitewash what Barr did and said—all of which suggest that he was, indeed,
acting in bad faith.

A #thread:

4 hours ago

June 22, 2020

Political Roundup: Firing Of Geoffrey Berman, Trump's Tulsa Rally

Jonathan Turley, professor of public interest law at George Washington University.
He testified as a Republican witness in the House impeachment proceedings against
President Trump. (@JonathanTurley)

Reading List

https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2020/06/22/barr-berman-trump-election-tulsa

 

[bodysong]

Jun. 22, 2020

Yes, his (AG Bill Barr) attempt to replace Geoffrey Berman, the Southern District of New
York U.S. Attorney probing and charging Trump’s pals, was unethical, maybe illegal,
and obviously scandalous. But it was stupid, too. It backfired on him immediately, and
it deserved to. It was great to see that he and Donald Trump couldn’t get away with
installing their lackey. Credit the prosecutors who objected, credit the media for its
tough coverage (including at the Beast), and don’t forget to credit Jaime Harrison here,
too. If he weren’t running a credible and competitive race against Lindsey Graham, there
is no way Graham would have said Saturday that he’d permit Chuck Schumer and Kirsten
Gillibrand to block the lackey’s elevation.

"A central truism of the Trump era is that nothing sticks because the president
or one of his minions does something more shocking than the last shocking
thing every three days, so we lose track and don’t remember, but this one
will stick."

- Michael Tomasky

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bill-...his-sleeve-with-john-durhams-october-surprise

Michael Tomasky
Twitter › mtomasky

New Column: Barr's epic fail re Southern District NY ratchets up the pressure
on John Durham not to be a hack. This is how Barr hopes to reelect Trump.
What will Durham do?

(link)

13 hours ago

AG Barr Under Fire as Dems Launch Investigation into Firing
of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman

The House Judiciary Committee is launching an investigation into President Trump’s
firing this weekend of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/6/22/headlines

 

[jp55665566]

yeah. plus he's a proven Russian agent, who does Putin's bidding at every turn !

 

[YDB95]

yeah. plus he's a proven Russian agent, who does Putin's bidding at every turn !

Glad you finally had the courage to admit that.

 

[KeithD]

Glad you finally had the courage to admit that.

This jp dude certainly has a knack of stepping in it and smearing it all over himself.

 

[romer12]

Say what you want about Conservatives

but at least they are NOT trying to subvert the USA into a Socialist/Communist
county. If you want Socialism go to Russia, China, Cuba or North Korea.

Am I fearful of the 2020 election ? Yes, but I prayed during the 2016 election
and the silent and anti-socialist voters cam out in droves. I pray for the same
in the 2020 election.............



so says a 90 year old American Veteran.

 

[JackLuis]

but at least they are NOT trying to subvert the USA into a Socialist/Communist
county. If you want Socialism go to Russia, China, Cuba or North Korea.

Am I fearful of the 2020 election ? Yes, but I prayed during the 2016 election
and the silent and anti-socialist voters cam out in droves. I pray for the same
in the 2020 election.............

so says a 90 year old American Veteran.

I'll say that conservatives have left the country poorer and more divided than any other party since 1968. Every Repug administration has been worse than the last. If Republicans can regain the control of the party and pour the "Conservatives" down the drain, there may be hope. However there are few Repug's that can pour piss out of their boots with instructions on the heel!

 

[YDB95]

but at least they are NOT trying to subvert the USA into a Socialist/Communist
county. If you want Socialism go to Russia, China, Cuba or North Korea.

Am I fearful of the 2020 election ? Yes, but I prayed during the 2016 election
and the silent and anti-socialist voters cam out in droves. I pray for the same
in the 2020 election.............



so says a 90 year old American Veteran.

There is no such thing as a "socialist/communist" country. They're two different systems and their adherents hate each other. If you don't get that, then I have a hard time taking your point of view the least bit seriously here.

 

[jp55665566]

Trump is a Russian Agent. The Evening News told me so, over and over and over...

 

[JackLuis]

Trump is a Russian Agent. The Evening News told me so, over and over and over...

Not true, Trump is a Trojan Horse's ass that the Russian's gave us to destroy our country. They knew that he was an unreliable ally, so they just launched him in his incompetence crusade. So far he hasn't disappointed them. They took the chance that Hillary had significant opposition from the deplorable portions of the country.

 

[FlowersForFun]

I love it... a bunch illiberal leftist complaining about Trump destroying the USA LOL

The lack of self awareness needed for that to happen is phenomenal but not shocking.

 

[bodysong]

US Conference on freedom of press, and media freedom, reporter is slammed
for asking a question

Trump is going full Game of Thrones

“Everyone who isn't us, is an enemy."

- Cersei Lannister

Trump is castrating military media outlets, cutting out their tongues, and starving them out.

Trump killed off Voice of America- the US government broadcast effort aimed at providing
neutral and accurate news, overseas. Trump removed the real VOA officials, and installed
his operatives and minions. They stripped authority from the VoA journalism team.

Now that Trump has killed truth in radio broadcasts, he seeks to kill truth in print, for US military forces.

Stars and Stripes, supplied to American troops, worldwide-

Much of the day-to-day coverage is news of direct concern to service members and their
families: pay and benefits, life on base and in the field, the real people behind the global
geopolitics.

The paper’s editorial staffers are Department of Defense employees, but their charge
is different from — and sometimes at odds with — that of the military’s public affairs
team.

“Stars and Stripes performs a useful function for men and women in uniform,
particularly those who are forward deployed with limited access to news.”

(The online version is not always available, but print version is snail-mail).

June 28, 2020

Trump Defense Secretary Mark Esper may or may not have been feeling some public heat
lately from his sycophantic backing of Trump's every norm-breaking move.

Whether it be Trump reaching down to protect war crimes or Trump tear gassing a protest
to go for nice little walkies, but none of it is evident in his behavior.

Among Esper's other newly held beliefs:
The administration is right to demand the total budgetary zeroing out of Stars and Stripes,
the armed forces' own newspaper.

Sec. Mark Esper is claiming that the military should be spending the $15 million per year
on "higher-priority issues." The Defense Department budget is $700 billion per year, though.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...and-Stripes-Congress-isn-t-likely-to-let-them

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...046b92-8982-11ea-8ac1-bfb250876b7a_story.html

In February, the Trump administration proposed eliminating all of the publication’s
federal support in 2021. That’s more than $15 million a year, about half its budget.
“I can’t think of a graver threat to its independence,” the paper’s ombudsman,
Ernie Gates, told me recently. “That’s a fatal cut.”

“It’s another obnoxious assault by the Trump administration on freedom of the press,”
says Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a Marine veteran and member of the House Armed
Services Committee, who blasts the defunding plan as “un-American.”

 

[bodysong]

ghost of archaic doge

wow​

much broken laws​

such corrupt​

so hypocrisy

June 30, 2020

Trump calls for federal charges against NYC monument vandals

Trump's executive orders

Meanwhile, has anyone confirmed the rumor that Trump will soon collect bag-fulls
of Russian rubles in public ? Campaign cash, for every Trump loyalist!

yeah, red paint that is easily removed, is worse than killing democracy in a Democratic nation /end sarcasm sequence

 

[bodysong]

Soldiers mobilized to DC during Floyd protests were issued bayonets

2 Jul 2020

Speaking of America’s cherished freedoms, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
confirmed an Associated Press report that some of the soldiers who were mobilized
to Washington, D.C., last month in response to protests over the killing of George Floyd
were issued bayonets.

Two members of Congress who had pushed for more details about soldiers being issued
bayonets to us on American civilians said they were disappointed Gen. Mark Milley
would not commit to banning the practice.

“It is difficult for us to imagine a circumstance which could necessitate or justify
the deployment of bayonets against American civilians,” the lawmakers wrote.

James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta)

#BREAKING
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirms in a letter to
@CongressmanRaja & Rep. @tedlieu that soldiers were issued #Bayonets -
also, a doc obtained by @AP shows 82nd Airborne members were not trained
in riot response.

July 2, 2020

“While we are grateful for General Milley’s responses to our questions concerning
the arming of troops with bayonets for potential deployment against protesters, we
were disappointed he was not willing to commit to banning the practice,”
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, and Rep. Ted Lieu of California said
in a statement.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...08a1c3db3f827d#block-5efe43b88f08a1c3db3f827d

Metal tear gas cannisters fired at protesters, rubber bullets breaking skin, and eye sockets
Pepper spray aimed into the faces of teens and children. Billy clubs and shields slammed
on bodies, hands, feet. Smoke bombs and exploding flashbang grenades aimed at journalists.

(Trump lied, denied, and lied about the protesters.)

Rev.Virginia Gerbasi of St.John's Church, Lafayette Park, DC

Gerbasi, who is the rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church Georgetown, described
a peaceful day that erupted in mayhem and terror as federal law enforcement officers
sprayed chemical irritants and shot pellets at nonviolent demonstrators before President
Trump walked over to the church and held up a Bible in front of cameras.

Early victim of pepper pellet guns

Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees for a trip to the 2004 World Series.
The victory, while in the Bronx, prompted Red Sox fans to gather by the thousands
on the streets around Fenway Park.

But the impromptu celebration turned tragic when Boston Police fired pepper spray
pellets at the crowd, killing 21-year-old Emerson College student Victoria Snelgrove.

In response to the growing crowds outside Fenway Park, police in riot gear and armed
with what were supposed to be "non-lethal" weapons tried to disperse those gathered.

An officer fired a pepper-spray pellet from one of those weapons, hitting Snelgrove in the eye.

She died less than 12 hours later.

(She was a bystander. Boston police brought along a guest for a joyride on police horses,
using new pepper pellet guns. They used the people in the crowd for target practice.
She got in the way.)

https://www.wbur.org/news/2014/10/21/victoria-snelgrove-anniversary

 

[bodysong]

AG Bill Barr attempted to replace Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern
District of NewYork

AG Bill Barr failed at installing a Trump loyalist.

July 2, 2020 Thursday was Audrey Strauss’s first major appearance as
acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...08a1c3db3f827d#block-5efe43b88f08a1c3db3f827d

June 22, 2020

"Late Friday evening, Attorney General Bill Barr claimed that the United States attorney
for the Southern District of New York had resigned, and announced his replacement on
an interim basis by the current U.S. attorney for New Jersey—a man who served as
Chris Christie’s defense attorney in the Bridgegate scandal and who seems ill-equipped
to handle the Manhattan caseload."

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/why-bill-barr-got-rid-geoffrey-berman/613339/

 

[bodysong]

Trump delivers his unsaid message to Mt. Rushmore

"I do not care how many Americans die."

"I have an un-declared war against Democracy, and I have declared myself a "war-time president."

"I am waging war on the America that refuses to vote for me, and some of my supporters
will be counted as collateral damage."

If my supporters die in a fire, I will be playing golf somewhere else."

"My Marine One helicopter will fly me to Air Force One, and I will
have a fantastic omlette, at the lunch hall on my property, the next day."

"I'm the anti-Christ. Did you expect a few thousand roasted corpses to upset me ?"
"Do you think that I could resist burning Paradise down to the ground, a third time?

"My message to Americans from minority communities- "I have come to celebrate
your defeat, at the foot of the largest man-made monument in America."

"Did you decipher my visage in the eyes of the man that murdered George Floyd ?"

"The purest evil. Removed the life from his body, as easily, as from a child."

Trump’s Mount Rushmore Trip Highlights Disconnect With Virus’s Surge

July 3, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-mount-rushmore.html

July 3, 2020 at 9:20 PM EDT

Trump arrives for massive Independence Day celebration at the Mount Rushmore National
Memorial, just as sheriffs and the National Guard cleared dozens of demonstrators
blocking a key artery leading to the site.

The mostly Native American demonstrators, protesting the taking of land from the Lakota
people, gathered hours before Air Force One arrived in the state. They chanted, held signs
and sang songs as members of the National Guard and local authorities dispersed the crowd
using pepper spray, according to the Associated Press.

Police also towed three vans that blocked the road.

The tribes also warn that Trump’s push for fireworks at the event, which have been banned
at the site for more than a decade, could result in wildfires and contaminate the water in the
surrounding Black Hills. And they have voiced serious concern that a massive gathering
without any safety restrictions could cause a coronavirus outbreak in their communities.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...2e84f6-bd25-11ea-bdaf-a129f921026f_story.html

Trump abuses our national parks, and he's doing it again at Mount Rushmore

3 July 2020

David Bernhardt, the secretary of the interior, specially relaxed the regulations
governing use of our most sacred public monuments.

The nightly lighting ceremony (of the Mt. Rushmore monument) is powerful theater,
as the large halogen lights warm and then illuminate the carved images of Washington,
Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt. Trump knows this, and will probably use Mount
Rushmore as a stage for a partisan political rally full of rancor, insults, and racial divisiveness.

His supporters will cheer, his opponents will shout, and the US national parks –
often called America’s “best idea” – will be more tarnished from misuse.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/03/trump-mount-rushmore-national-parks-abuse

South Dakota campaign money bags full of cash for Trump, on July 2, 2020

Trump’s reelection campaign is also leveraging the South Dakota trip to fill its coffers
according to fundraising invitations obtained by The Washington Post.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway
will appear as “special guests” at two high-dollar fundraisers in the days before the event
in Rapid City, S.D., and Gallatin Gateway, Mont., along with Donald Trump Jr. and
his girlfriend, campaign senior adviser Kimberly Guilfoyle.

The retreat in Montana will run from June 30 to July 2 and features activities such as
shooting and fly-fishing, according to the invite, while the “Rapid City Roundup”
will take place from July 2 to July 3. Tickets to the events cost $250 for a single-day
attendee in Rapid City and between $250 and $100,000 for access to both events.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/06/24/trump-mount-rushmore-fireworks/

 

[bodysong]

Bizzare sight, at the scene of a US National Monument- Trump's folly in South Dakota

Trump supporter screaming at a Native American, and telling the protester to "Go home!"

EAGLE BUTTE, South Dakota –

Nothing stands as a greater reminder to the Great Sioux Nation of a country that cannot keep
a promise or treaty than the faces carved into our sacred land on what the United States calls
Mount Rushmore.

We are now being forced to witness the lashing of our land with pomp, arrogance and fire
hoping our sacred lands will survive. This brand on our flesh needs to be removed and I am
willing to do it free of charge to the United States, by myself if I must.

Visitors look upon the faces of those presidents and extoll the virtues that they believe
make America the country it is today. Lakota see the faces of the men who lied, cheated
and murdered innocent people whose only crime was living on the land they wanted to
steal.

The United States of America wishes for all of us to be citizens and a family of their
republic yet when they get bored of looking at those faces we are left looking at our
molesters. We are the ones who live under the stare of those who have wronged us
while others have the privilege to look away and move on, we cannot.

When I can remove those faces from our land I believe I would not be alone.

- Harold Frazier

(He is serving his second term as chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe,
an Indian nation based in South Dakota.)

https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/06/30/harold-frazier-the-american-faces-carved.asp

July 3, 2020

The National Park Service found that a minimum of 27 wildfires had been started around
Mount Rushmore during annual fireworks displays between 1998 and 2009, according to
a 2017 document reported by the Washington Post. The park service also documented that
past firework events have caused groundwater pollution.

“We're very concerned about the safety of our water supply. We're very concerned about
the safety of the monument up there in regards to the surrounding area ... the Black Hills,”
Brightman says. “We're worried about fire since this is fire season.”

The controversy over Trump’s rally puts a new spotlight on the decades-long fight
by Native Americans to uphold the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty that designates Mount
Rushmore and the surrounding Black Hills as part of "the Great Sioux Reservation,
set aside for exclusive use by the Sioux people."

That treaty, and an earlier version of it signed in 1851, “guarantee [the Sioux] this
land where Mount Rushmore sits as long as the grass grows, the water flows and
the sun shines,” Brightman says.

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/07/03/native-americans-mount-rushmore-protest

 

[bodysong]

National Guard officer says police suddenly moved on Lafayette Square protesters,
used ‘excessive force’ before Trump visit

Guard major to testify before Congress that warnings couldn’t be heard, tear gas was used

July 27, 2020

DeMarco is scheduled to testify Tuesday-
before the House Natural Resources Committee which is investigating the government’s
actions in clearing protesters away from Lafayette Square with projectiles, gas, smoke
and mounted police, including an apparent assault on Australian journalists by two Park
Police officers. His statement was posted Monday on the committee’s website. Monahan
also is scheduled to testify.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...esters-used-excessive-force-clear-path-trump/

6:20 p.m.
DeMarco said, the Park Police issued three warning announcements to the protesters.
But he said the warnings were made using a hand-held megaphone at the base of the
Andrew Jackson statue, 50 yards from the protesters. DeMarco said he stood 20 yards
from the protesters, “the announcements were barely audible and I saw no indication
that the demonstrators were cognizant of the warnings to disperse.”

The operation to clear the protesters began at 6:30 p.m., DeMarco said. The National
Guard did not participate in the direct push, but was used to follow the officers who
dispersed the protesters and establish the new perimeter, DeMarco said. The Guard
members were not armed.

As the federal and local police waded into the protesters, DeMarco said he saw smoke
being used and that he was told by a Park Police officer it was “stage smoke,” not tear gas
.But DeMarco said, “I could feel irritation in my eyes and nose, and based on my previous
exposure to tear gas in my training at West Point and later in my Army training, I recognized
that irritation as effects consistent with CS or ‘tear gas.’"

He said he found spent tear gas canisters on the street later.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...esters-used-excessive-force-clear-path-trump/

 

[bodysong]

A senior National Guard officer will tell Congress that the US Park Police engaged in
“an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force” before a Trump photo op.

(St. John's Church, Lafayette Square)

https://www.motherjones.com/politic...-used-excessive-force-on-peaceful-protesters/