A presumption of the citizen as a threat

Last Sunday the Detroit Free Press editorial page included an opinion piece by James Rosen, a longtime correspondent in Washington, DC. The subject was the militarization of the police. He gave examples that go way back to Lyndon Johnson’s War on Crime. There’s also the War on Drugs that still has many supporters even though there is little evidence of effectiveness. SWAT teams were formed to deal with riots. Under Bush II excess military hardware was made available to police departments. Several Michigan towns and cities bought those armaments.

Rosen quoted Michigan Journal of Race and Law about the most important aspect of this militarization.

It is based on a presumption of the citizen as a threat (which) assumed citizens, usually from marginalized communities, pose a threat of such caliber that might require the use of extreme violence.

The citizen is a threat until he can prove otherwise, which is a daunting task. The citizen might be dead before he can do that.

I’d provide a link, but the article is available only to subscribers.



Michael Caputo is a former nasty guy campaign official. Last April he was given the job of spokesperson for Health and Human Services. Dan Diamond of Politico tweeted a bit of an article:

HHS spokesperson Caputo and his aides have targeted the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports — a pillar of U.S. medical research — arguing that scientists are intentionally trying to undermine Trump’s message.

I’m sure in this case the nasty guy message is the pandemic is over.

Heather Caygle, also of Politico tweeted a quote of Caputo:

Our intention is to make sure that evidence, science-based data drives policy through this pandemic—not ulterior deep state motives in the bowels of CDC.

Note that – the scientists at the CDC are being called the deep state. As in the hidden forces of the government working to undermine the nasty guy. Meaning this is another effort to hide the number of coronavirus deaths.



Jim Gaffigan tweeted:

I’ve gotten tons of messages “I’m losing fans” by expressing my dissatisfaction with our corrupt, incompetent President. While I appreciate people encouraging me to choose fame and money over decency, I’m afraid I’ll never be Donald Trump.

Lead McElrath tweeted:

In a Fox “News” call-in with Jeanine Pirro, Trump described anticipated post-election protests as “INSURRECTION.”

That’s a description that would theoretically enable him to use US military force against Americans on US soil.

Pay attention.

The nasty guy, talking about what he would do if there are riots on election night, had said “We’ll put them down very quickly ... it’s called insurrection.”

I’m sure what he calls riots we call nonviolent protests.

Trump’s use of the term “insurrection” points to the likelihood that he has sought legal counsel about how he can justify using the US military against Americans on US soil.

This telegraphs his intentions.

Roger Stone calls for Trump to seize total power if he loses the election.

Stone, like Trump on Fox “News,” also references the Insurrection Act as the means to use military force against Americans in order to consolidate power.

Norman Ornstien replied:

He would use The Insurrection Act to nationalize the National Guard to prevent governors from using it to protect ballot boxes and voters. Roger Stone is not just speaking as an individual.

For a chuckle follow the link to a tweet from Steve Martin (with photo) and scroll down for earlier pictures of something similar.



Tonight’s opera is Les Troyens, The Trojans, by Hector Berlioz. The introduction told us this is almost as long as Wagner’s longest. But it is much more epic than Wagner and only the biggest opera houses have the resources to put it on. We were told that in Berlioz’ time opera houses didn’t have those resources so Berlioz never saw the whole thing live.

Berlioz not able to see it all might explain a moment I had in graduate school in music. I think this was the class in Romantic Era History (about 1825-1910). The professor brought in two books containing the score for the opera. The books were quite different in thickness. The professor said that Berlioz had to make so many cuts and revisions it is difficult to figure out a definitive version of what the composer intended.

The action starts in Troy on the day the Greeks depart, leaving the Horse behind. Everyone is glad that ten years of war are over. But then we get 25 minutes of Cassandra singing about doom while nobody believes her. The Horse comes into view an hour into the opera.

I watched 90 minutes tonight. This ended the first part, what happened in Troy. Aeneas and some colleagues escaped. The rest of the opera, some 2½ hours is set in Carthage where Queen Dido lives and Aeneas visits her.