Q: Do you want to see firsthand what’s going on in those facilities?
THE PRESIDENT: I know what’s going on in those facilities.
Personal visits to the border are just PR. And that's fair enough: politics is all about PR. But the idea that the president might be underinformed about something unless he personally sees it is ridiculous. Good for Biden for being blunt about that.
This is like after the press got credit for Nixon resigning and en masse they did everything they could to prove how friendly to wingnuts they really were.
Trump is gone and he blames his poor press on the press so many of them are trying to prove how even-handed they are by promoting wingnut horseshit as if it were reasonable.
But I have a different question,
why are 6,000 cops in Boulder dressed up to invade Iraq?
I know it was a lunatic with a gun, but it was just one lunatic.
Is it because guns are such outrageous and dangerous things only the most incredible lunatics will ever have them and it takes an army to deal with it?
In all fairness, for most of the attack the cops seem to have had no idea what was taking place. It could have been ISIS-inspired (so characteristically multiple shooters), one heavily armed nut (recent shooting of mostly Asians) or some kind of MAGA-inspired attack, in which case while a lone wolf MAGA-killer would be the norm, we’ve seen a lot of militia nutters taking about “war” so an attack by 3-percent or Proud Boys or some other right wing militia couldn’t be ruled out. Consequently I think the cops were right to come heavy.
I would say a full scale response by law enforcement was exactly the response they should have had, but if you look at the videos they weren't looking to preserve the peace, they went in looking for an actual war zone.
The amount of crap they brought with them was appropriate to nothing that has ever happened at any supermarket anywhere.
The reasonable assumption they could have made about it was the circumstance that was actually happening, that it was one lunatic who had gone nuts, but they reacted in the most extremist way they could because it gave them a chance to play army and justify their junk.
I will agree they were adequately prepared to defend the US capital from a mob of Trump supporters but that was clearly not what was happening.
But a militia attack on the supermarket was a definite possibility. We’ve had a number of confrontations between armed nutters and police. And the pronouncements on Twitter and Parler or the communications intercepted or acquired after the January 6th attack on the Capital also speak of using firearms and different kinds of paramilitary operations.
The Bundy gang , for example, was heavily armed as were the armed rabble that stormed the Michigan capital. Violence was averted only because the government submitted.
Similarly, the gun control laws of DC almost certainly prevented a disaster. We know from planning with the 3 percent militia and the proud boys that they had heavy weapons of different kinds across the Potomac river to be brought over to reinforce the insurgents if they had succeeded in taking hostages and creating a Bundy style standoff.
The point is we live in perilous time. There really could’ve been a militia inside or surrounding the supermarket just looking to pick off the cops.
Firstly, they aren't militias. Secondly, there would be no standoff, just their people being killed.
Armed insurrectionists, insurgents, or the armed wing of the Republican Party, call them whatever you like but they were minuted or even seconds away from getting their hands on extremely valuable hostages. We saw in the Bundy gang’s standoff that government security forces are understandably reluctant to confront what is essentially the armed wing of the ruling party. I think it’s very likely that if they’d found Pelosi, Pence, or AOC the security details would not have opened fire.
That would have left the lightly armed Republican’s insurgents in control of a part of the capital and in a position to be reinforced by these different people such as the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, 3 percent gang, and others who claim to had more powerful weapons and ammunition just across the river. Trump would them have declared martial law and once Pence and Pelosi were executed would have “negotiated” the release of the others in return for his retaining the presidency.
Those things were telegraphed weeks in advance and were focused on particular events. A random day in a random supermarket isn't the same thing. The odds seem so drastically in favor of it being just what it was.
Some kind of trap for the cops, it could happen but it wouldn't be the militias who all think the cops are more or less on their side. Even in that case it would have been apparent quickly enough, and, not being apparent, WWIII isn't needed.
Wingnuts and random lunatics see that response and the only reaction they have is we need to step up our game. It isn't intimidating to people looking for the apocalypse, it's inspiring.
Police are a favorite target for murder by right wing militants. Things are very unstable. We know there’s all kinds of talk on Parler, Telegram, and other chap apps about new attacks. The cops are confronting an unknown violent situation and needed to be prepared.
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article196423174.html
That says 11 officers killed by right wing groups, does not mention the circumstances.
The number of lone lunatics shooting up a place is astronomically greater.
Lone wolf attack do predominate but there’s also widely published sources that indicate more and wider scale attacks on civilians and police are being discussed within militia and other white supremos groups. There was also the Las Vegas police ambushed the targeted “false flag” killings during the Oakland BLM protests. So the situation becomes more volatile and dangerous every day.
Even one guy with alot of ammo is hard to defend against. Defense is hard. So they brought everything, not knowing who would contact him first.
If you don't know if your roast is brontosaurus or buffalo you could just pop it in the nuclear reactor, but would you?
I recall the shooting spree in Munich in 2016, when a teenager lured other teens and gunned them down. One shooter became two, plainclothes police were misidentified as more gunmen, and soon the entire city was panicking: armed gunmen are all over the city!
In the immediate fog of information, rumours spread like wildfire, and any police force would rather overreact than have people gunned down because they weren't there in force.
What? He reads his daily briefs? Views reports? Who does he think he is--the President?
/s
"Bin Laden poised to attack United States"?
Pshaw!
Totally agree. The idea that the POTUS has to jump on the plane to be on the ground for whatever situation there is is stupid. He's got plenty of people whose job it is to inform him without the theater of going there himself. But what does a visit to "the border" even mean? Obviously we're talking the border with Mexico, but that's a long long border. 2 or 3 stops there would truly only be PR.
"Biden, who has suggested Americans not travel during pandemic, travels to Texas. After three previous travels to Delaware".
There's a reassuring drumbeat of statements like this, from the President, the Vice President, and the Press Secretary. They're not playing the stupid games. And while it's clearly driving the White House press corps nuts, I suspect most people find it just fine.
Jill Biden should go to the border wearing a sash that says “We know U didn’t care. Enjoy the slammer”
"Yes, I am cleaning up Trumps mess on the border"
Oh please, the media know that PR is part of his job and don't care a bit. What they care about is their OWN needs: they want visuals and they want controversy. They want drama. If he is doing his job, staying informed, managing the situation, and also doing other things that are equally or more important, that's boring. It's another standup in front of the WH talking about a whole laundry-list of things that most of their viewers will lose track of within ten seconds. But if there's an airplane, and the President surrounded by a crowd of people, and the backdrop of "the border" (could be anywhere, but their viewers don't know), and one big issue that's absolutely loaded with emotional and political baggage, well, that is a much better show.
It's important to remember that the huge majority of media news is not news; it's news-formatted entertainment.