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Trump Threatens Federal Takeover of Washington After Member of DOGE Is Assaulted
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Does she? Is this your belief or do you actually have a citation from the mayor?
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From the first two weeks....
Records show that officers from some of the nation’s most elite federal law enforcement agencies are often conducting traffic stops, performing low-dollar buy-and-bust drug operations or checking to see whether someone is drinking liquor from an open container.
In some ways, the focus on low-level offenses or so-called quality of life crimes resembles strategies employed in cities such as New York in the 1990s that sought to drive down crime by controlling visible disorder. In the current operation, however, federal agents appeared to be stopping people for minor infractions as a way to look for more serious drug and gun offenses.
Arrests were up slightly overall, with 995 new criminal defendants booked into the city jail and taken to court between Aug. 8, the day after the surge began, and Aug. 22, compared with 870 in the previous 15-day period.
Records show that officers from some of the nation’s most elite federal law enforcement agencies are often conducting traffic stops, performing low-dollar buy-and-bust drug operations or checking to see whether someone is drinking liquor from an open container.
In some ways, the focus on low-level offenses or so-called quality of life crimes resembles strategies employed in cities such as New York in the 1990s that sought to drive down crime by controlling visible disorder. In the current operation, however, federal agents appeared to be stopping people for minor infractions as a way to look for more serious drug and gun offenses.
Arrests were up slightly overall, with 995 new criminal defendants booked into the city jail and taken to court between Aug. 8, the day after the surge began, and Aug. 22, compared with 870 in the previous 15-day period.
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Yes its been proven effective. Which is exactly what the conservatives have been saying for a long time. The left has been for defending the police. They have been advocating for less policing. Ive heard leftists want to dissolve the police. The left has done all they can to demonize police. Calling them jack booted thugs etc.
Now we have a clear example that more policing actually works to lower crime.
In DC what they are doing is needed and is working. Using rhe Guard and others was the FASTEST way to do this. If they actually hired more cops to do this, it would have taken a minimum of a full year if not longer.
The immediacy was what was required here and it worked.
Other cities dont have that luxury.
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- Aug 18, 2012
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The immediacy of picking up trash, thanks to NPS employee shortates and spreading tons of mulch.
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You know the Guard can't stay in DC permanently, right?
Edit: It occurs to me that the US did stay in Afghanistan for 20 years.
I guess the US can keep the National Guard in DC for twenty years as well, if it turns out popular...and it might actually be popular for DC residents (as opposed to DC politicians).
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Hans Blaster
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Postvieww
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Mayor Bowser acknowledged significant crime reductions during the federal surge of law enforcement and guard deployment. She highlighted an 87% drop in carjackings over a 20-day period compared to last year, along with declines in other violent crimes: homicides down 38%, sexual abuse down 44%, robberies down 62%, and property crimes down 12%. While it appears these fact are of little concern to you, Trumps actions have actually helped the situation. The mayor still doesn’t like Trump but at least she didn’t lie about the results.
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Good. I see you have now accurately protrayed what the Mayor said. She also noted using the National Guard was not the best use of their time.
Next time, maybe post what she actually said before assuming..,.
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...since the National Guard is reportedly used for picking up trash, spreading mulch and walking around the National Mall and trainstation, I submit it would be more efficient for the Feds to hire people to do those jobs....
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Except those would be seen as "DEI hires" even if Trump has eliminated DEI hiring, just because most local hires would be non-white by demographics.
Also, by using National Guard, federal compensation money is flowing to the red states that leaped to send in their National Guard troops. You don't think they did that for free, do you?
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They have been given more than one job here. Their presence is helping deter crime and rhey are beautifying the place at the same time. Win/win.
I also think they should hire more people to pick up trash and beautify the place.
The federal government has totally failed the city. Shame on them. Thank you President Trump for providing a way forward. Now its time for Congress to act to continue the way. Give the city the money to hire the cops ans people to do what federal officers and the NG is doing. Keep them there until this is accomplished.
If they dont do it, then Congress is a reckless as we believe they are. This should be a no brainer.
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essentialsaltes
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essentialsaltes
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The patrol that haunts me wasn’t in Baghdad; it was in Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle isn’t some remote corner of Washington. It’s a hub — lined with embassies, think tanks, coffee shops, bookstores and crowded sidewalks. On any given day, you’ll find students debating politics over lattes, diplomats heading to meetings and activists gathering in the park that anchors the neighborhood.This Sunday, I retired as a command sergeant major. In nearly three decades of wearing the uniform, I never carried a government-issued weapon into civilian spaces in the States. Even convoys between installations were tightly regulated. Civilians didn’t see us walking into Krispy Kreme or boarding public transit with pistols on our hips. What I saw last week didn’t resemble the disciplined Army I know.
That should unsettle us.
While no doubt these Guardsmen are proud patriots, they aren’t seasoned veterans. Most are teenagers, far from home, trained for battlefield tasks but not for the unpredictable realities of a major city. In D.C., much like most large cities, you don’t just encounter commuters. You encounter people in crisis — homelessness, addiction, untreated mental illness. A local might avert their eyes or walk around. But what happens when the person in crisis steps aggressively toward an 18-year-old with a pistol on his hip and limited training in de-escalation?
This is not what the Guard was built for. Its mission is to respond to disasters, provide logistical support and back up civil authorities — not to serve as an armed show of force on city streets. Yet that is how they are being deployed in the nation’s capital, as they were in Los Angeles earlier this summer.
The sight of troops with weapons patrolling sidewalks, boarding trains and standing post outside coffee shops has now spread from the nation’s second-largest city to the nation’s capital. What was once extraordinary is quietly being treated as routine.
That should alarm us all.
I’ve seen what that looks like in failed states abroad: checkpoints that divide neighborhoods, convoys that intimidate civilians, armed patrols that blur the line between protector and occupier. Those societies didn’t collapse overnight. They eroded slowly, as citizens became accustomed to soldiers carrying out tasks once reserved for police or community leaders. By the time people realized the cost, trust was gone.
Command Sgt. Maj. Eric Chastain is an adjunct professor at USC’s campus in Washington, where he teaches social analysis. He served as the Army’s first senior enlisted advisor in the White House.
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There is a reason that command sergeant major is concerned.
We are told that all National Guard members are trained in things like civilian crowd control. Okay, yeah, they got a couple of hours at some early point in their training along with a lot of other stuff.
I'm reminded when we were getting troops prepared to deploy to Kuwait for DESERT SHIELD facing for the first time an adversary known to use chemical weapons.
"Um, sergeant. Sargent!"
"Waddaya need Private Jones?"
"Remember that chem training we had last year?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, umm, can we get that training again? Some people might not have been paying attention."
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essentialsaltes
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With no end in sight, National Guard troops deployed to DC grow weary
One soldier from Tennessee told his father that from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. every day, his only task is to walk around Chinatown. Another service member from Mississippi told a loved one that she’d been repeatedly cursed at while on patrol. During a call to his wife, a guardsman from Louisiana said there was confusion about what the military was actually doing there.“We haven’t gotten critically low on morale, but we’re falling fast,” said one soldier who, like others quoted in this story, spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak to the media and feared reprisal.
Guard members on the DC mission and their relatives who spoke to CNN said they left behind civilian jobs and children to serve – a sacrifice they understood when they enlisted.
And while domestic missions typically have National Guard troops responding to crises like hurricanes or wildfires, in DC, much of their work has involved more mundane tasks – patrolling popular tourist destinations and assisting with “beautification projects” including picking up trash, raking leaves and laying mulch. ... the mother of another soldier from Mississippi said her daughter is missing out on “a lot of first events with her child” to serve in Washington.
For a mission that already carries a price tag of about $1 million a day, costs are continuing to mount.
An additional $5 million for a tent city has also been approved, the contracts show, along with $600,000 in air conditioning rental
A South Carolina National Guard officer who knows soldiers deployed to Washington said that all servicemembers must obey lawful orders, but “the problem is, this is not a clear set mission.”
“If you wanted to be smart about it, then you might send a water purification unit to DC to help them with purifying water, or you could’ve sent an agriculture unit to help with farming,” the officer said. “But an infantry unit to rake? That doesn’t make any sense.”
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essentialsaltes
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DC attorney general sues to end federal National Guard deployment
Nearly 2,300 troops from seven states have been stationed in D.C. since Aug. 11.The lawsuit argues the troops were placed under Defense Department command and later deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service to perform law enforcement, which Schwalb's office says is "in violation of the foundational prohibition on military involvement in local law."
By law, the president's emergency deployment can last only 30 days unless extended by Congress, meaning the surge is set to expire Sept. 10.
In related news...
House GOP pushes back against Democracy to achieve political goals
House GOP weighing bills to remove elected D.C. AG, overhaul justice policies
House Republicans are weighing a slate of legislation that would overhaul criminal justice policies in D.C. and further restrict home rule — including a proposal that would remove the city’s locally elected attorney general and replace him with a presidential appointee, according to a draft summary of the policies shared with congressional staffers and obtained by The Washington Post.
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This sounds like a lack of communication from the forces leadership. I would include Trump on this. The military is trained to take orders without asking why. You do what your told. You follow orders without question.
Why are we so worried about morale? Does anyone think morale was high everywhere in Afghanistan? You didnt join the military so you could have high morale. You won't have high morale fir everything you do.
That being said I do believe that explaining the mission to the troops and giving them a strong why is a good thing. No matter what they are involved in they are serving our country and the people in it. They are protecting those they are serving from the those that would prey on the innocent. They are guardians and should be honored to serve and protect in the homeland as well as over seas.
Raking leaves and picking up trash is another service. Turning something less than beautiful into something beautiful is a blessing and an honorable service. They are helping to turn a less than beautiful and a dangerous Capitol into something beautiful and safe. It's an honorable task. They should be congratulated and thanked on a daily basis by the community and by our leaders. I don't think that is happening enough. If I was there and saw them I would go up to them and thank them for serving in this way.
Anyone who disparages these great people should be punched in the face. And our leadership should be honoring and thanking them and encouraging them far more often than they do. Tell these people and remind tgem over and over what their purpose and mission is. It's a good one.
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They should be working to get more police into DC to take over when the NG leaves. Which could take a year at least to get the cops they need. That would be my first priority. A secondary would be finding an AG that would actually prosecute the criminals and get tgem off the streets.
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