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2020-06-04 -Lurid Crime Tales-

Esper says he opposes using Insurrection Act to send military to quell unrest

[FoxNews] Defense Secretary Mark Esper declared Wednesday that despite President Trump's remarks earlier this week, he is not in favor of the president invoking the Insurrection Act in order to send the U.S. military to quell violent protests.

During a morning press briefing, Esper addressed controversies surrounding Trump's stance on violence and looting that has broken out across the country in the aftermath of George Floyd's death, coinciding with other peaceful protests.

"The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire situations," Esper said. "We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act."

In some states, governors have called for the National Guard to assist police, which does not require the Insurrection Act. Esper said he was "very proud" of the National Guard members who have gone out to help.

But Trump has suggested going a step further.

"If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them," he said Monday. Esper already has ordered military police active-duty troops from Fort Bragg and Fort Drum and a ready battalion from the 82nd Airborne to stage in the Washington, D.C. area at Maryland's Andrews Air Force Base and Virginia's Fort Belvoir.

Esper on Wednesday then spoke about Trump's controversial appearance at a D.C. church that had previously been harmed by fire.

Reports had said that the National Guard and U.S. Park Police had used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear peaceful protesters from the area before Trump stopped there for a photo opportunity. Esper said that National Guard members did not do this. The U.S. Park Police has denied this as well, but did acknowledge using smoke canisters and pepper balls on the protesters.

During the brief visit at the boarded-up church, the president stood in front and posed for photographers while holding up a Bible. He was accompanied by a variety of aides and officials, including Attorney General Bill Barr, daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and Esper.

Defense Science Board member James Miller resigned Tuesday following the incident, citing Esper's failure to oppose the use of force in clearing the crowd.

"If last night’s blatant violations do not cross the line for you, what will?" Miller wrote in a resignation letter that was published by the Washington Post.

Esper said Wednesday that while he was aware that he and the president, along with a number of others, were going to the church and Lafayette Square, he did not know what was going to happen once they got there. He said he "did not know a photo op was happening" at the church before they got there, and that he had not been briefed on law enforcement's plans. Esper stated he tries to keep himself and his department out of politics as best he can.

Esper has also come under fire for his use of the term "battle space" when describing how governors should control protests. He stopped short of saying he regretted using that military terminology and claimed it was simply part of the military’s lexicon but that he was not referring to the protesters. “In retrospect, I would use a different word,” he said.

Before discussing these controversies, Esper addressed Floyd's death, calling it a "tragedy" and expressing condolences to Floyd's family and friends.

"Racism is real in America, and we must all do our very best to recognize it, to confront it, and to eradicate it," he said.

Posted by Skidmark 2020-06-04 09:44|| || Front Page|| [10 views ] Top
File under: Antifa

#1 "We must send your children to be killed by savage rags. They cannot be used to keep you safe here at home, because favored minority groups might get hurt."

Posted by M. Murcek 2020-06-04 11:56|| 2020-06-04 11:56|| Front Page Top

#2 Obviously Esper wants to be fired and go out in a blaze of glory. He'll keep his pension and federal retiree medical benefits.

Posted by jpal 2020-06-04 12:04|| 2020-06-04 12:04|| Front Page Top

#3 They don't understand. The founders put their trust in the militia not the military. They intentionally keep the active military small. They were recently Englishmen who could still recall the military dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell. When war was at hand they'd mobilize both the militia and increase the regular military. Both would be demobilized after the war. So it was as late as 1945. It was 1948 that Washington decided to maintain a large peacetime military which has distorted the structure of the Constitution and the size of the national government.

When the civil war does come, the military will split. The upper echelons will mostly go with the globalists. The middle ranks will mostly break for the republic.

Posted by Procopius2k 2020-06-04 12:05|| 2020-06-04 12:05|| Front Page Top

#4 Fuck these traitors.

Our cities are being taken over by a violent anarchist movement. We are watching our institutions of self-government - aka "the Constitution" - collapse under a determined, coordinated, focused assault.

Does their oath mean nothing to them?

Do they not understand what "enemies domestic" means?

Posted by Lex 2020-06-04 12:14|| 2020-06-04 12:14|| Front Page Top

#5 Yes, this Esper bozo had better update his CV. That putz needs to go ASAP.

Posted by Clem 2020-06-04 12:24|| 2020-06-04 12:24|| Front Page Top

#6 He'll be on The View the day after he is fired. Probably take Meggie Moo's place, with more lipstick.

Posted by M. Murcek 2020-06-04 12:46|| 2020-06-04 12:46|| Front Page Top

#7 People won't like hearing this, but Trump brought a lot of this on himself.

Imagine if he had set up an equivalent of Obama's OFA, instead of going the Bommercon route of "Trust the military and boost the stock market and everything will take care of itself."

He might now have a cadre of activists who could be doing end-runs around all this crap and cracking down on the brains and money behind this insurrection.

Then, when that's dealt with, you crack down on the Orcs who are the muscle.

If Trump goes down, it will ultimately be his own fault.

Posted by charger 2020-06-04 13:51|| 2020-06-04 13:51|| Front Page Top

#8 Trumpism was nothing more than a precursor to a more fundamental, lasting movement. We needed OrangeMan to grab our elites by the lapels, throw them against the wall and bitch-slap them.

They are fighting back fiercely, with every ruse and wile at their command.

It will be on Trump's successor to build the insitutional apparatus and the strategy needed to defeat The Insurrection and its Sponsor Class.

Posted by Lex 2020-06-04 14:08|| 2020-06-04 14:08|| Front Page Top

#9 Imagine if he had set up an equivalent of Obama's OFA

You expect somebody who hopes to restore the American Republic to use the same methods as somebody dedicated to it's destruction?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2020-06-04 14:20|| 2020-06-04 14:20|| Front Page Top

#10 You expect somebody who hopes to restore the American Republic to use the same methods as somebody dedicated to it's destruction?

We used Japanese methods on Tokyo and German methods on Dresden.

Did that make our victory over them any less legitimate?

"Going through channels" is fine if the channels have not been co-opted by your enemies.

If they have been co-opted, then it is not being "principled" to go through them, it's just being a sucker.

Being a sucker is fine if the sucker is the only one who suffers from it.

But if other people (like Trump supporters) are being dragged down for the sake of the sucker's "principles", then I don't see that as a virtue.

It's virtue-signalling.

I thought people on the Right despised that sort of thing.

Posted by charger 2020-06-04 14:49|| 2020-06-04 14:49|| Front Page Top

#11 ^I didn't say I feel this way - I said (IMO) Trump feels this way. And since his record of success is impressive ....

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2020-06-04 15:16|| 2020-06-04 15:16|| Front Page Top

#12 ^For example: Police Groups Break With Biden

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2020-06-04 15:19|| 2020-06-04 15:19|| Front Page Top

#13 #11 I hope he wakes from that stupor before it is too late.

Posted by charger 2020-06-04 15:21|| 2020-06-04 15:21|| Front Page Top

#14 #13 I think he's a grossmeister of politics and doesn't need my advice.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2020-06-04 15:36|| 2020-06-04 15:36|| Front Page Top

#15 "The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire situations," Esper said. "We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act."

tl;dr:
Since
1) using mil forces is a last resort
And
2) we are not in that situation (right now)
Therefore,
3) I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act

The article spins this into a disagreement with the President who said,
"If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military"

Notice the future hypothetical tense of that statement? "If", not "I'm going to".
And Esper doesn't say he opposes the use of the Insurrection Act now and forever more, amen. He says not right now.

I'm really starting to hate the news media.

Posted by SteveS 2020-06-04 15:39|| 2020-06-04 15:39|| Front Page Top

#16 What Steve said. Really tired of this nonsense.

Posted by Lex 2020-06-04 15:52|| 2020-06-04 15:52|| Front Page Top

#17 Warm up the birds in the bull pen. Only pull the trigger if you have to, but chamber the round now.

Posted by M. Murcek 2020-06-04 19:02|| 2020-06-04 19:02|| Front Page Top

#18 If Trump goes down, it will ultimately be his own fault.

Yep. Too many errors that should have been obvious.

Posted by Solomon Grort9354 2020-06-04 19:07|| 2020-06-04 19:07|| Front Page Top

#19 Any recent Presidents have to deal with concurrent Pandemic, Economic Shutdown, Race Riots?

STFU

Posted by Frank G 2020-06-04 19:46|| 2020-06-04 19:46|| Front Page Top

#20 Any recent Presidents have to deal with concurrent Pandemic, Economic Shutdown, Race Riots?

...and an executive branch in open revolt.

He knew he was working with people who might be working against him, but most of them can only be fired for cause — and should only be fired when he has discerned their replacements.

Clear cutting doesn’t work if you want to have a functioning organization afterward.

Posted by trailing wife 2020-06-04 22:56|| 2020-06-04 22:56|| Front Page Top