Trump's Mis-Judgement at Tulsa/Nuremberg Just Might Doom Him

Imagine if Adolf Hitler had staged one of his infamous 1930s fascist Nuremberg hate-fests … and the stands were less than full, his speech fell flat, his flawless phalanxes dissolved into chaos, the fighting flags failed to unfurl.  

That’s what just happened to Trump in Tulsa. The implications are Earth-shattering. 

When Hitler staged his ritual witch burnings, the masses were hypnotized. The synchronized film crews, the adoring media, the groveling sycophants, the murderous hate-the-Jew mobs … all were perfectly in place.  

In apocalyptic unison, the Silent Majority (his phrase) panted for Der Führer to Make Germany Great Again (also his phrase). They goose-stepped in precision, all decked out in their fascist finest … the jackboots, the armbands, the billowing banners, the iron formations, the buzzcut hairdos … willing executioners flocking to Stalingrad and Auschwitz. 

There were no empty seats. Every inch of every stadium was packed to the gills.  

A Ban on Chemical Agents, Rubber Bullets and Flash-Bang Grenades is Demanded

Cops spraying at a protest

Joe Motil, former Columbus City Council candidate and longtime outspoken critic of the Columbus Police Department states, “Sunday’s use of tear gas and pepper spray on peaceful protesters in downtown Columbus should not have surprised anyone. Even with the mayor’s new directive on prohibiting the use of tear gas by Columbus Police on peaceful protesters just five days ago, Columbus cops continue to ignore any such orders.”

“And why on earth were members of the CPD dressed in riot gear? Putting on riot gear also puts officers in the mindset of preparing themselves to perform combat. The sight of this riot gear only escalated matters. It would appear that Chief Quinlan has lost control of his department,” he said.               

Motil states that, an AP wire story in the June 22 Columbus Dispatch titled, “Injuries at protests draw review of weapons” claims that, “Rubber bullets and similar projectiles have damaged eyes or blinded at least 20 individuals from ages 16 to 59, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, since protests began over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.”

Whites Confronting Racism - Webinar and Workshop hosted by SURJ Ohio

SURJ logo

Tuesday, June 23, 2020, 5:00 - 7:00 PM

Black Lives Matter March from Ohio's Statehouse

No justice no peace

Daily
EVERY NIGHT we will be marching from Ohio's Statehouse to different Columbus communities.
Start gathering around 5:00 pm each night outside the Statehouse.
** We will begin the march around 6:30 pm and return to the Statehouse afterward. **
Join us to bring hope to Columbus' communities and keep up the push for change! #BlackLivesMatter #GeorgeFloyd #BreonnaTaylor #SayTheirNames

Back at it again - Columbus Police try to start a riot tonight

Protestors with shields as police in riot gear prepare for attack

After a day including an LGBTQ-Black Lives Matter march at noon and other anti-police brutality gatherings at the Statehouse this evening, the Columbus Police and SWAT seemed to anticipate trouble with an unprecedented and unnecessry show of force around 5pm, witnesses report. Bike cops rammed into protestors without provocation. On Facebook videos, police are seen running on the sidewalk and one wrestling with and punching a young black man. It is unclear what prompted this proactive violence on behalf of the police. 

But a look at a June 19 Dispatch article might give a clue. The police union president Keith Ferrell complained that he was stymied by not being able to use tear gas -- it had beeen banned by Mayor Ginther -- to disperse a crowd. Perhaps starting a new riot after weeks of peaceful protests is what Ferrell needs to make his point.

A timeline from our Free Press photographer match with photos below:

5 pm: State police guarding the Ohio Statehouse during protests Sunday evening. Note red paint on stone facade, remnants of "bloody" handprints applied by protesters on Friday. 

5 pm: Broad and High Streets, Bicycle cops en masse.

Déjà Vu All Over Again – Is There a Remedy for Racism?

Cop hitting someone on the ground

Back in the mid-sixties, in the heady days of Lyndon Johnson’s ‘Great Society Program,’ I was working in my first job out of college as an ‘intergroup relations professional’ at the Detroit Commission on Community Relations. I spent my days helping to enforce newly enacted ‘open housing’ and ‘equal opportunity’ ordinances designed to begin reversing centuries of injustice against African Americans in the Motor City. 

With two sociology degrees focused on race relations on my vita, I was assigned to design and facilitate a program of ‘racial sensitivity training’ for Detroit’s entire -notoriously racist - police force. The program was funded under the then newly created Federal Office of Equal Opportunity.

I thus had the dubious pleasure of spending a whole summer closeted with successive contingents of ‘Detroit’s Finest’ – three sessions a day, six days a week, for eight weeks.  The program was compulsory.  The officers were required to listen to presentations on various race-related topics, do roll-playing exercises and take part in discussion groups facilitated by myself and other colleagues on the Commission staff, most of them Black.

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