I would like to point out a subtle piece of "reporting" that is not only inaccurate, but I believe in there in an attempt to "both sides" the issue and appease Trump.
Newsom and Trump officials exchanged barbs all weekend after Trump federalized and deployed the California National Guard in Los Angeles amid violent anti-ICE protests.
The protests, as evidenced by the livestreams of LA, were almost entirely non-violent. Violence shown was almost entirely ICE committing the violence, such as when they intentionally shot rubber bullets at an Australian reporter in order to scare her away from reporting.
Saying the protests were "violent" does nothing more than give Trump justification for sending troops in the first place. This is intentionally misleading reporting that does nothing but give Trump more cover, possibly in an attempt to "both sides" the issue in case Trump's goons come knocking.
DemocracyNow! has been pretty good for a long time. Although maybe you wouldn’t call them “major” - but they were on cable TV for at least some time where I live.
Amy Goodman got arrested at the 2008 GOP convention and the Dakota pipeline. Very good bona fides.
I want to preface this by saying that I support the protestors and any measures they deem necessary, but what you are saying does not match up with what I’ve witnessed. A live streamer who goes by @LordHito spent several hours streaming the protests after dark. Dozens of protestors seemed to have homemade smoke grenades, as well as rocks and anything else they could hurl easily. Fires were started and windows were broken.
That said, I think those are all entirely justified. The other option is to sit around while democracy dies, and that is unacceptable. There has no doubt been collateral damage, but so it goes in struggles against the government.
100%, the police have been more violent than the protestors and are the true aggressors, but many of protestors have not been the flower children you seem to imply they are. I won’t go so far as to say most, but definitely more than an insignificant amount.
I wish them the best in their struggle. They fight for all of us.
Fair points. I will admit that I didn't look at or for every single livestream that was out there. But of all the livestreams I did view, I either saw absolutely nothing at all, a couple of skirmishes that barely qualified as drunken bar fights, and some minor looting. I did not see a single piece of footage that would justify calling in the national guard, and if there is footage out there of riots of the scale that would justify it, Trump would be touting it all over social media in order to make his case.
I’m completely with you—the response from the government is unjustified, especially against citizens.
I’m reminded of BLM—some areas were very safe and festive while others were more intense. I’m sure the visual looks very different block to block. I saw other live streamers who encountered no violence—LordHito’s just told a different story, and that was largely because he was intentionally looking for trouble.
That said, hearing him get a donation to play the Star Wars Imperial March loudly while the cops advanced was something I’ll never forget.