Protests in LA

[placebo]

Protesters have been clashing with ICE in Los Angeles the past two days.

Immigration raids roil L.A., dozens of people detained. What we know so far

Immigration raids Friday led to the arrests of dozens of people and caused hours of chaos in downtown L.A. Here is what we know so far.

www.latimes.com

2,000 National Guard troops will be sent to L.A. amid clashes over immigration raids

An hours-long standoff between protesters and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents erupted Saturday morning near a Home Depot in Paramount.

www.latimes.com

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

An obvious distraction tactic to divert attention from the Musk feud. A very, very dangerous ploy. I pray it doesn't escalate.

 

[Grinkle]

I pray it doesn't escalate.

I am not a gambler, I don’t know how to check. I wonder if there is an over/under line now on how long until Trump declares martial law. This feels really bad.

 

[placebo]

An obvious distraction tactic to divert attention from the Musk feud. A very, very dangerous ploy. I pray it doesn't escalate.

I don't know if the idea was primarily to distract from the feud. The return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia seemed to be timed as that distraction since the DOJ was sitting on the indictment for two weeks.

Bill Kristol of the Bulwark thinks Trump's calling in the National Guard to normalize the use of the military to quash protests. He's concerned that no one seems to recognize the significance of Trump's order on the slide toward authoritarianism. Governor Newsom seems to agree. From the LA Times:

After a night of unrest on L.A. over immigration sweeps, Newsom said on X: “This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted. He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard. The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing. We’re suing him.”

 

[Grinkle]

to normalize the use of the military to quash protests.

This makes sense to me. I also think Trump is wanting to make sure that his base perceives a need for Trump's intervention to maintain L&O in the country, in my own view as laying the groundwork for declaring martial law. If he does do this, it will be before the next congress is sworn in, while he still has the support of both houses.

He's concerned that no one seems to recognize the significance of Trump's order on the slide toward authoritarianism.

Me too.

 

[dlu]

He's concerned that no one seems to recognize the significance of Trump's order on the slide toward authoritarianism

That concern was let slide way back in November.
The Democrats really f'..d up, substituting Biden for a non-serious candidate who had no solutions, let alone couldn't utter a coherent sentence if there was one in the noggin. ( And this candidate about nothing wants to run again ). Democrats should quit backing their social engineering agenda as if it is some kind of holy grail.
----------- rant ended ------------

The 'I didn't vote for this!' is a little late.
I do wonder from the batch of protesters, and even those dissatisfied from other states that went red, ( or blue like CA ), how many did cast their vote for the present administration, thinking that they would not be the ones affected, thinking that the vote was a free 'do not go to jail' card.

In another posting, I mentioned that I hoped that the organized weekly demonstrations would not have any aspect of violence. I did not give reasons why. But here we are, with the administrations response, with the prospect, that if more protests occur in other parts of the country in support, with fires and material damage, chances are martial law will be declared. Some other incidents with ICE made the news rounds, but were small with little sizzle, with no national guard needed, just local police agencies handling the situation.
It is the violence, along with that dufus running around with the flag ( there always is one nutcase flag waving radical inflaming tensions ). Think about it - no flag, no disrespect to American sovereignty, and no national guard called in. ( The Admin won't say the flag to avoid questions for Caroline to gloss over ).

So its not as if Trump and his team are themselves on an agenda to complete authoritarian rule, but will react to events that get in the way of their 'master plan' so to speak, with authoritarian measures as a response. That is how the group think is there - "might is right", and they will act on cue.

 

[dlu]

I see more in support protests happening in other cities.
So far calm.