Trump Takes Over Washington, D.C.

[Icarus]

A major influencer is Steven Miller. I have a suspicion that Trump is much influenced by that skunion domed dude.

[Recusant]

In a related development: It remains to be seen whether Trump will succeed in sending a federalized National Guard force to Portland, Oregon. He and his lickspittle toadies have lied about the city, calling it "war-ravaged" and "burning down" as if there were a desperate need for his goons to enforce order there.

Some here may be aware of the nature of the current anti-ICE protests in Portland. A contingent of people in various animal costumes as well as relatively normal protesters outside the Portland ICE office, numbering around 30 or so on a busy night, making noise and taunting the ICE enforcers on the ground as well as those hanging out on the roof taking pot-shots at them with pepper balls. Hardly a genuine threat, as noted by the governor of the state, the mayor of the city, as well as the police chief. The claim from the White House is that these officials are so scared of the menacing antifa terrorists that they feel compelled to lie about what's happening.

A report from war-ravaged Portland:

A protester detained by ICE goons while dressed in a giraffe suit is planning to sue the Trump administration.

Robby Roadsteamer, an artist prankster whose real name is Rob Potylo, told the Daily Beast that he was shot repeatedly in the chest with pepper-spray balls by the Department of Homeland Security's rooftop snipers.

Potylo was singing a rude Rod Stewart song about ICE agents outside their facility in Portland, Oregon, when he was shot and then dragged inside by masked and armed officers in military fatigues.

[. . .]

[Potylo] described the scene outside 4310 S. Macadam Avenue, which since June has been the site of daily protests against ICE starring people wearing animal costumes, including a now-famous giant frog.

The Boston-based performer said, "I traveled to Portland and did what I do: Sing sexy karaoke hits on a 100-watt PA amp around my neck, dressed as a giraffe.

"I sang Rod Stewart's 'Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?' but changed the line to, 'If you hate brown people, and you are a Nazi / Come on ICE, leave Portland,' and ICE couldn't handle it.

"Before they detained me, they had snipers on the roof shooting pepper paintballs at me. I got hit in the chest and the groin. I have footage of one of them smiling as he hit me."

[. . .]

He said he goaded the officers, calling them "chickens--t" and "glorified mall cops" with "super-soakers," as he hugged a giant shark.

"But I had to take a break because the pepper was so strong," he said. "ICE thought they'd won, but my fellow activists washed my eyes with saline, and I went right back to singing like before."

Potylo then said a cop on the ground warned him to stay away from the facility's "do not cross" line, which he said he did.

"But they'd had enough of me catcalling them from behind the gate, so three of them grabbed me. They just couldn't take it."

Potylo said he was dragged inside the facility, where 15-20 officers "trolled" him. "It's all a joke to them behind closed doors, it felt like high school all over again," he said of the agents who processed him, some of whom "knew my career."

"Militant jock types, bullying and joking, asking if I really came from Boston just to do this. The irony is, they're not local. They admitted they had been brought in from out of state."

Despite having received a citation for "failing to comply with the direct order of a law enforcement officer" not to cross the facility's big painted "do not cross" blue line, and trespassing, Potylo insisted to the Beast he "was nowhere near" it.

Video and pictorial evidence reviewed by the Beast backs his claim.

[source: includes photos]

[Icarus]

I will participate in my local NO KINGS rally this weekend. I will be adding my tiny voice to the millions of other demonstrators across the nation.

[Recusant]

Good for you, man. I hope the protest will remain peaceful.

[Dark Lightning]

He'll probably be just fine, unless some "Peacekeepers" show up.

[Recusant]

A couple of  things about the Trumpist authoritarian goons (it hurts their feelings when you call them fascists): They're not particularly competent, and many of them are dumb as posts.

You may have heard of Sean Dunn, the intrepid bozo who chucked a foot-long sandwich at one of the regime's enforcers. Former Fox News raving loon Judge "Box-of-Wine" Jeanine Pirro, now Trump's US Attorney for Washington DC, naturally, tried to get a felony assault indictment against Dunn. While federal grand juries are infamous for handing out indictments like cheap candy, she failed, and settled on a misdemeanor charge. Didn't go well for Pirro's crew at trial.

"Jurors Find Sandwich Hurler Not Guilty of Assault" | The New York Times (archived)

Sean C. Dunn, the man who pitched a sandwich at the chest of a federal agent in an unintentionally viral act of opposition to President Trump's law enforcement policies in Washington, was acquitted on Thursday after a jury found him not guilty of misdemeanor assault.

The verdict, which arrived after roughly seven hours of deliberation, capped a nearly three-month effort to penalize Mr. Dunn for the August outburst and the resulting chase to arrest him. The government had previously failed to persuade a grand jury to charge him with a felony.

It marked a significant setback for Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, who made Mr. Dunn's case a centerpiece of Mr. Trump's aggressive policing and prosecution strategy in the city. Washington residents have now twice rejected the government's case against Mr. Dunn, after they refused to indict others caught up in the president's crackdown.

The jury determined that the launching of the 12-inch deli sandwich from what the government described as "point-blank range" was not an attempt to cause bodily injury, preventing a conviction.

[Continues . . .]

[Icarus]

^    Mr Dunn Wasted a perfectly good sandwich.

[Dark Lightning]

My sentiments precisely.