Dear Friends,                                                       Don’t send in the Marines: Update

The first person detained by US Marines in LA was an Army veteran on his way to an appointment at the VA. It all went pretty smoothly, the Vet himself made no complaint, said that the Marines behaved well throughout: they were just doing their jobs. They did force him to the ground and zip-tie his wrists, but that’s standard procedure for dealing with a US Senator, so why should a Vet complain (the Senator did get handcuffs not zip-ties maybe that’s a measure of status)?

I’m so glad that it worked out so well, and with intra-military collegiality. It does, yet again, rather raise the question what the hell are California National Guard (illegally under Federal Command), and US Marines of all people doing in downtown LA? The area in question is no more than five city blocks; the demonstrations are largely (not entirely) peaceful. LAPD has said over and over again that they with their local affiliates are in control of the situation, and to a large extent because crowd control is one of their main jobs and they know how to do it. For different reasons National Guard members and Marines do not.

The National Guard and especially the Marines were sent by Trump as provocations. Their deployment in LA, as well as Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard, are clearly illegal. The Posse Comitatus Act (1878) on one side, and the Insurrection Act (1807) on the other leave no doubt about this. So why are they there? Because the law may grind exceeding fine but it sure as hell grinds slow; and because the Republican Party is now a criminal organization held on course because they’re all terrified that they’ll be deep-sixed by the boss-man. 

Love and solidarity,

            Bobby

Note: I try to pace posts, a bit of time in between, sometime the pace of events makes this impossible.