Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

So many bastards, so little time.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

This blog will pay for itself.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

White supremacy is terrorism.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

In after Baud. Damn.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

You are here: Home / Politics / National Security / This Should be a Bigger Deal

This Should be a Bigger Deal

by | 74 Comments

This post is in: ,

You would think:

U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials under then-President Donald Trump compiled intelligence dossiers on people who were arrested at Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon, according to a newly unredacted internal review.

The 76-page report is an internal review by DHS of actions carried out by its Office of Intelligence and Analysis in June and July 2020, when militarized federal agents were deployed to Portland against people protesting police abuses in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.

When the dossiers were being compiled, some DHS analysts voiced concerns over the legality of collecting intelligence “on protestors arrested for trivial criminal infractions having little to no connection to domestic terrorism,” the DHS report said. Some of the employees even refused to participate.

Doesn’t seem to have gotten much coverage, but then again, there is just soo much shit going on.

Reader Interactions

74Comments

  1. 1.

    Mike in NC

    For Halloween we just put on “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Hulu. Never watched it before.

  4. 4.

    Kelly

    Fits right in with men in full combat gear, no ID, grabbing people of the street, dragging them into unmarked vans, harassing them then releasing them without charges or really any acknowledgement they were in custody at all

  5. 5.

    Dan B

    When I’d been in Chicago Gay Liberation fo about three months some members asked to see the FBI report. It was approximately 500 pages at that point.  LEOs can be nuts.  The GOP would ramp that up in a New York minute.

  6. 6.

    Suzanne

    So one of my neighbors dressed like John Fetterman and it was funny.

    Really missing our Luna today. We were remembering the year that she ate most of Spawn the Elder’s bucket of Halloween candy. Mr. Suzanne was also having one of those moments that probably most of us nerds have. Musing on the Brazilian election, he was thinking about how he would sometimes call the puppy “Luiz Inácio Luna da Silva” and she would wag her tail because she just loved hearing us babble cute things at her. And then he said to me, “That made me think of her. Wait, that’s so weird. I’m weird”. Whatever. I totally get it.

  7. 7.

    James E Powell

    Is there any law enforcement agency, branch, division, or department that isn’t packed with right-wingers?

    Back in the days of the Great & Glorious War on Terror, it was reported that DHS was focused on surveilling & infiltrating environmental groups.

    They hate us & they will use the power of the state against us.

  12. 12.

    Kelly

    @Suzanne: Once I left the leftover Halloween candy within reach of my dear departed dog Alice. She picked out the Reese’s peanut butter cups which my vet said would be OK. Pooped foil for a few days.

  13. 13.

    lowtechcyclist

    Yeah, this should be a bigger deal. It’s not the same as locking up your political opponents, it’s still a couple of steps preliminary to that. But it’s a step in that direction.

    This is a movement that’s willing to win by twisting the law when they don’t have the votes. But they really get off on the idea of winning by force, by the use of police powers (lawful or not), and by vigilante action.

  14. 14.

    Kelly

    @WaterGirl: Closest I’ve ever been to H.L Mencken’s “Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”

  15. 15.

    Jay

    @Baud:

    one bad apple spoils the barrel, and we know now that the barrel is absolutely full of rotten fruit,

    so what happens to the one good apple you toss into the barrel?

  16. 16.

    Spanky

    Well shit. The light in the pumpkin went out sometime before 8:00. That would explain the dropoff on trick or treaters.

    Guess I’ll have to eat this stuff myself.

  18. 18.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Mike in NC:

    For Halloween we just put on “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Hulu. Never watched it before.

    “Madness takes its toll.” – RiffRaff

    It’s good by itself, but it’s not quite the same without the audience partici…(say it!)…pation.

  20. 20.

    Scout211

    OMFG, the right wing media is so disgusting. .

    CNN — 
    Prominent figures on social media, including some of the loudest voices on the political right, are pushing a salacious and false conspiracy theory about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, in an apparent attempt to shift the narrative about the assault.

    The claim that big names like Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Jr., and Dinesh D’Souza have promoted to millions of their followers: Paul Pelosi and the man who attacked him were gay lovers who had gotten into a fight.

    . . .

    “There is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Pelosi knew this man,” San Francisco Police Chief William Scott told CNN in an interview. “As a matter of fact, the evidence indicates the exact opposite.”

    But the explosion of social media posts discussing the theory shows how quickly conspiracies can spread, and how eagerly some political actors use falsehoods to push their agendas – even as violent threats against lawmakers have multiplied in recent years.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) is demanding a national security review of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and the nearly $2 billion in Saudi funding for the deal.
    {snip]
    “We should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in repressing political speech and impacting U.S. politics, are now the second-largest owner of a major social media platform,” Murphy said in a Monday tweet. Source

  23. 23.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Spanky:

    Guess I’ll have to eat this stuff myself.

    It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.

    It’s been raining off and on up here, and that’s put a damper on the trick-or-treaters on our street.  We got several early, but I think it’s been nearly two hours since the last of them.

  26. 26.

    Wakeshift

    @NotMax:

    I gotta say, I continue to be impressed by Sens Murphy and Whitehouse. Both are relentlessly on point – Murphy on foreign affairs and SA in particular, and Whitehouse regarding the supreme Court and influence of money.

     

    Both deserve amplifying and recognition as defenders of the light.

  28. 28.

    Kelly

    The Portland protests were preceded by many incidents where the Portland PD sided with Proud Boys and their ilk. Patriot Prayer is the most prominent local ilk. Portland had the now usual few dozen window breaking assholes on the fringes of decent protesters. The Portland Police, Feds and eventually the Oregon State Police just used the too fast to catch assholes as the excuse to beat the shit out of everyone on the street.

  29. 29.

    Weapon X

    @Alison Rose:  they’re also weak little chickenshits who are too afraid to say what they really mean, which is that they are thrilled that Paul Pelosi got attacked with a hammer simply because he is Nancy Pelosi’s husband. Those people are garbage.

  31. 31.

    Jay

    @Baud:

    The “problem” with “Security Forces” starts with the recruitment and testing process, carries on through the basic training, on to the internal culture and procedures and is embedded in the “Corporate” culture.

    It’s not an easy fix.

    In some regards, it would be easier to start over from scratch.

    Eg. 30 years of reviews, commissions, new offices, new hires, diversity hires, etc and the RCMP is still a swamp of racism, violent abuse and misogeny. Ditto the VPD, the TO Police, etc.

  32. 32.

    Gravenstone

    @Alison Rose: Not sure if they’re more terrified that someone of the same gender might express attraction to them, or that they fear they would respond favorably to the attention.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Jay:

    I didn’t say it was an easy fix. But there won’t be a fix if the police is nothing but right wingers.

    No one is going to start from scratch.

  34. 34.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    I’ve made this argument to some of my students (South Los Angeles) over the years, that the only way to get better police is for better people to become police. They don’t really buy it. Some have assured me that friends & family would stop speaking to them.

  37. 37.

    Alison Rose

    @Josie: Eh…that is a thing that happens, but I think people think it happens way more than it does. As a queer person, trust me–most homophobes are just hateful bigots, not closeted queers.

  39. 39.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Spanky: Well shit. The light in the pumpkin went out sometime before 8:00. That would explain the dropoff on trick or treaters.

    We got hit with heavy rain just as the trick-or-treating hour began. Only had about 5 customers.

    We’re just outside Philly. I understand there was some sort of sportsball game that also got rained out.

  42. 42.

    Another Scott

    @Baud:

    Blast from the past… TampaBayTimes (from 1997):

    “I know I would be a good cop, but I had the misfortune of selecting too many correct answers,” said Jordan, 46. “What kind of a message does this send to children? Study hard, but not too hard?”

    Deputy police Chief William Gavitt and the city’s attorney, Ralph Monaco, said candidates who score too high could get bored with police work and leave not long after undergoing academy training that costs about $25,000.

    “We are looking for bright people,” Monaco said, “but we’re not looking for people that are so bright . . . that they’re not going to be challenged by the job.”

    The intelligence exam, developed by Wonderlic Personnel Test of Libertyville, Ill., is widely used among employers, including some Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of police departments. Each year, it is given to nearly 3-million people.

    Jordan scored a 33 on the test, which measures a person’s ability to learn and to solve problems. (Two other applicants who scored even higher were also rejected.)

    Jordan’s score gave him the equivalent of an IQ of 125. Such a score would be expected of a chemist, electrical engineer or administrator, said Charles Wonderlic, president of the test company.

    The average score nationally for police officers as well as general office workers, bank tellers and salespeople is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104. New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27.

    The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.

    Something something law in its majestic equality something something.

    Increased diversity in police departments, including having a few relative brainiacs, would be a very good thing.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  43. 43.

    Baud

    @Jay:

    Did they hire all new cops?  Looks like they reorganized the force.

    ETA

    The most obvious change was that the Camden police was now bigger: By cutting salaries, the county was able to hire more officers, increasing the size of the department from 250 to 400 and putting the number of Camden police officers close to what it was before the 2010 budget cuts.

  45. 45.

    Geminid

    Git ‘im, Charlie!

     @ChalieCrist

    It’s been two days since anti-semitic messages were displayed across Jacksonville and @RonDeSantisFL still refuses to condemn them.

    Why is it so hard for him to condemn hate?

    Retweeted by @(((BuffaloMeg))).

  47. 47.

    Quantum man

    @Kelly: Had a Great Dane years ago named Maya. My wife was taking a calcium supplement called Viactiv that was in chocolate cubes. Maya got a whole carton of Viactiv  off the kitchen counter and ate 59 out of the 60 in the carton, foil wrappers and all. Vet said to give her 2 cups of some type of oily stuff (do not remember exactly). She pooped foil wrappers for days, and late in the afternoon the sun hit the pooped wrappers just right and the yard sparkled. After we realized she would be OK it was hilarious.

    Some

  48. 48.

    SpaceUnit

    Okay, I just had a trick or treater show up at my door dressed as trump.  Blue suit, red tie, orange face paint and a wig.  Couldn’t believe it.  I said, “Who are you supposed to be?”  Kid looks at me, rolls her eyes and says, “Please.”  Yeah, it was a girl.

    I’ve just been dunked on by an eight or nine year old girl of unknown political affiliation.  Damn.

  49. 49.

    Matt McIrvin

    In my town we do trick or treat in a designated 2-hour period, from 5 to 7 PM on the Saturday on or before Halloween.

    And I’m sure many will protest that this is not traditional. But we get a LOT of kids–about 100, usually, if the weather is nice. According to my next-door neighbor, who is the heavy hitter in every neighborhood who hands out the full-size candy bars, this year she got 102. Many of them come in from neighboring towns where they often do their trick-or-treat on Halloween, so they can get two nights in. My daughter used to do the same by going for her second round with family in Hampstead, NH

    The little kids tend to go around early when it’s lighter, so things seriously quiet down in the second hour. But we were getting some little bursts of kids showing up even toward the end.

  52. 52.

    HinTN

    @James E Powell: Yep, the anti-democratic rot is deeply entrenched. The Chicago 7 pointed that out a long time ago. Since then we’ve only learned how much worse it really is.

  58. 58.

    Jackie

    @Quantum man: My daughter’s black lab and beagle found the Costco’s bag of assorted chocolate candy two days before Halloween and ate almost the entire bag. Her BIL is a veterinarian and he had us dose each pup with peroxide – x amount based on dog’s weight. Foaming vomit soon started. We dosed each pup a few times until we knew their stomachs were emptied. That was a long night, but they both survived and saved an after hours ER trip to do basically the same thing for mega bucks.

  63. 63.

    mrmoshpotato

    @SpaceUnit:

    Okay, I just had a trick or treater show up at my door dressed as trump.  Blue suit, red tie, orange face paint and a wig.  Couldn’t believe it.  I said, “Who are you supposed to be?”  Kid looks at me, rolls her eyes and says, “Please.”  Yeah, it was a girl.

    I’ve just been dunked on by an eight or nine year old girl of unknown political affiliation.  Damn.

    Should’ve gone with “Really?  Do you have any respect for yourself, kiddo?”  (No, I wouldn’t actually say this to a kid.)

  65. 65.

    karen marie

    @James E Powell:  Yeah, I’m trying to figure out how DHS under Trump is any different than any state or federal LE agency under any administration – except that in this case there were, astonishingly, people in DHS apparently questioning the legality of what they were being asked to do.

  66. 66.

    WaterGirl

    @Jim Appleton: I still have a Halloween card from the Reagan error era.

    Reagan is sitting behind the desk in the oval office, and there is a nameplate of course, saying he is president.

    You open the card and it says “This was the scariest card I could find.”

  68. 68.

    jonas

    @Baud: ​
      I’ve been thinking about this recently, too. Right-wingers have had campaigns for decades to install their dead-eyed, gun-humping ideologues in various branches of the military, LEAs, universities, etc. Where’s the liberal response? I’d love to see a foundation or other progressive organization start a campaign to get progressive, or at least not a bunch of buzz-cut, thick-necked bigots, into police academies, the CBP, etc.

  69. 69.

    Steeplejack

    This whole thread on the DHS report is sickening.

    DHS intel chief wanted evidence of a terrorist org called Antifa. When analysts said it didn’t exist, he told them anyone arrested for violent behavior would now be called “Antifa.”

    Analysts: “He was going to fix the problem by changing what the collectors were reporting.”
    pic.twitter.com/absNJ8zjqs

    — dell cameron (@dellcam) October 28, 2022

  70. 70.

    Citizen Alan

    @Mike in NC:  For over 20 years, it had been a tradition for me to watch rocky horror on Halloween is on Halloween night. But after 2016, I cannot bring myself to watch anything that has That Woman in it.  It’s incredible that after all these years, Susan Sarandon turned out to be a pre-Frankenfurter Janet Weiss at heart.

  71. 71.

    Citizen Alan

    @The Moar You Know:

    More importantly, I just don’t think the culture can be changed. I have 3 very good friends all of whom were college graduates who eventually decided to become police officers. All of them were relatively liberal when they went in. and all of them gradually became borderline fascists over the course of the next few years. Vop’s Disease, I call it.

  74. 74.

    Matt

    A modest proposal to solve both the DHS problem and the “not enough prisoners for private prisons” problem: lock up every DHS agent in the private prisons and throw away the key.

    That agency was founded by Shrub’s fascists to do fascist shit, and that’s the only thing it’ll ever be good for.

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