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President Trump Invokes 1807 Insurrection Act
Last week Donald Trump announced his readiness to deploy the military to enforce order inside the United States. From the Rose Garden he vowed that if city and state leaders did not “take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents” he would invoke the 1807 Insurrection act. The Act was renamed after Hurricane Katrina, but otherwise remains the same. It allows a president to deploy the military to suppress civil disorder.
In response, defense officials have expressed discomfort at the prospect of calling in active duty troops to police protected First Amendment activity. Many have emphasized the importance of having local law enforcement take charge. Some National Guard troops are also reportedly wary of this move, even as more are mobilized domestically than at any other time in history.
Army Major General Thomas Carden of the Georgia National Guard told reporters: “I believe that we in America should not get used to or accept uniformed service members of any variety having to be put in a position where they are having to secure people inside the United States of America.” He also said, “while we are glad to do it and honored to do it, this is a sign of the times that we need to do better as a country.”
During that Monday call with state governors, Trump intensified rhetoric about using military forces to “dominate” protesters. He wished there was an “occupying force” in cities across America and urged a tougher response to protests. Later that day, law enforcement officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a peaceful crowd outside the White House.
Guest – Mara Verheyden-Hilliard with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund. Mara is one of the nation’s pre-eminent authorities on the policing of First Amendment protected activities including the right to peaceably assemble and associate.
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President Trump Withdraws From The Treaty On Open Skies
The chance for nuclear war which would destroy human life on Earth has never been higher. Just last week President Donald Trump withdrew America from The Treaty On Open Skies. This treaty is an agreement between 34 nations that allows each country to fly over each other’s territories. The treaty is designed to provide transparency and mutual observation of military developments. He also withdrew from the Intermediary Intermediary Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia. As a consequence the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has pushed the hands of its doomsday clock on its magazine forward to almost midnight
Shortly after taking office Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Trump enjoys the financial and political backing of big business, the banks, the hedge funds, and the military industrial complex. These money interests profit greatly from the nuclear rearmament which is now going on.
First under Obama and then Trump $1 trillion is planned to be spent over the next 30 years for a new generation of nuclear weapons, including low yield ones, which are likely to be used.
Whistleblowing truth teller Daniel Ellsberg has recently written the grimly important book The Doomsday Machine. He believes that so far, avoidance of a nuclear war has been miraculous and that the danger is as present today as it was during the Cold War. He thinks seeking profit in spite of the risk of nuclear winter is “institutional madness.“
Guest – Paul Jay is the editor of the blog the theanalysis.news. We will discuss with him the kind of movement that is needed to reverse the nuclear arms race as well as to bring about a democratic organization of the economy.
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