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Fifth Column
300 and counting: Push by feds to arrest in US protests
2020-09-17
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a private call with federal prosecutors across the country, Attorney General William Barr’s message was clear: Aggressively go after demonstrators who cause violence.

Barr pushed his U.S. attorneys to bring federal charges whenever they could, keeping a grip on cases even if a defendant could be tried instead in state court, according to officials with knowledge of last week’s call who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Federal convictions often result in longer prison sentences.

The Trump administration’s crackdown has already led to more than 300 arrests on federal crimes in the protests that erupted following the death of George Floyd. An AP analysis of the data shows that while many are accused of violent crimes like arson for hurling Molotov cocktails and burning police cars and assault for injuring law enforcement, others are not — prompting criticism that at least some arrests are a politically motivated effort to stymie demonstrations.
Posted by:Besoeker

#8  RE #1: "Stymy demonstrators" would be mounting a Ma-Deuce on 50 pick-ups and "patrol" the area with live fire. If we'd done that in the first week, there would have been no demonstrations by mid-June.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2020-09-17 20:43  

#7  Roll em up.
Posted by: Iblis   2020-09-17 12:56  

#6  #4 If prosecutors are not doing their jobs and following the rule of law, replace them with those who will. The DOJ has been infested with some real vermin judging from the hatchet jobs done on Flynn and the Mueller attempted rape job on Trump.

Barr has asked prosecutors to "look" into bringing sedition charges against BLM/Antifa terrorists.

Sedition carries a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both.
Posted by: JohnQC   2020-09-17 10:06  

#5  Yet another classic case of disinformation from Pravda. This latest attempt to spin is so blatant it's actually worse than Pravda, whose lies were at least told with some flair.

Count the lies, beginning with the teaser about what "an AP analysis shows."

Ok, so where's the "analysis"? Any evidence? Any tallies or any data at all? No? Never mind, let's quote an unbiased source: a defense lawyer!l's opinion! "Some cases are viewed as trumped up and should not be in federal court, lawyers say...."

Then enjoy this soup of bullshit, scary verbs that apply only to the Trumpists: "pounced," etc. and that ends with the repetition of that unintentionally hilarious mantra, "mostly peaceful," which serves as their equivalent of Pravda's "proletarian vanguard":

"The Trump administration has seized on the demonstrations and an aggressive federal response to showcase what the president says is his law-and-order prowess, claiming he’s countering rising crime in cities run by Democrats. Trump has derided protesters and played up the violence around protests, though the majority are peaceful.

Even this is too obvious a lie, so they add weasel words to admit the Feds are justified--"pockets of violence" which, to be sure, have "indeed" "popped up." (Y'know, the way a worm or two might pop up on your lawn after it rains.)

But this is only after the Mostly Peaceful(TM) protests "devolved" into neutral, both-sides-to-blame "clashes."

"Pockets of violence have indeed popped up in cities across the U.S., including Portland, Oregon, where protests devolved into clashes with law enforcement for weeks on end.
Posted by: Kofi Cliger5461   2020-09-17 09:17  

#4  Barr attacks prosecutors inside his own Justice Department
Posted by: Frank G   2020-09-17 08:54  

#3  according to officials with knowledge of last week’s call who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Clean house
Posted by: Frank G   2020-09-17 08:49  

#2  Even if it's appropriate?
Posted by: gorb   2020-09-17 08:38  

#1  Horsefeathers. "Stymie demonstrators" would be to surround the whole protest with cops and take them all in.
Posted by: Bobby   2020-09-17 08:17  

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