I wonder if the Jellyspines in the White House are going to send in Federal troops to Ferguson?

[villager]

[KG]

1. as if.

[L0oniX]

2. Certainly this is a call to action ...unlike what the banksters did to us all.

[liberal N proud]

3. Jellyspines?

[oldandhappy]

4. how about the jellyspine in the office of the Missouri gov?

We start locally.

[villager]

7. Sure, we'll start there. For all the good that'll do.

n/t

[RKP5637]

8. Yep! n/t

[morningfog]

9. How about we start with anyone who will stand up for justice and the people?

We can't just wait for everyone to do nothing.

[oldandhappy]

11. type 'governer missouri' in your search engine

and email Jay Nixon. I did. We can start something. We each can do something.

[morningfog]

5. No chance. Obama's statement to a cop murdering a young man and an outraged town

was prayers and reflection.

[RKP5637]

6. ... probably testing the winds to see what the republicans say first and

which way the wind drifts.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

10. Maybe he'll have another "beer summit".

...

[Octafish]

37. That did get the administration off on a, friendly, foot.

It's been awfully friendly ever since to New Dixie.

[KG]

12. seems like a teachable moment to me....

[TheDebbieDee]

13. It's against the law to deploy federal troops for action inside the US.

Posse Comitatus or some shit like that.

That would give the republicants grounds to impeach President Obama.

[villager]

14. I guess you better hop in the time machine and tell JFK!

[TheDebbieDee]

15. That was the National Guard - they are not federal troops, genius.

Looks like you need to hop in the time machine and retake your high school civics class...

[villager]

16. It was a Presidential action, apologist

Looks like you need to hop back online and re-download some new talking points!

[TheDebbieDee]

20. Listen, genius, I dont know what you're on about, but Posse Comitatus is not

A talking point - using federal troops (Army, Marines) to tamp down US CIVIL unrest would give these repukes the impeachable offense they need yo go after President O.

Not to mention the fact that such an action would incite every gun nut in the country to head out to St Louis to fight the gubment!

[BainsBane]

35. Why don't you do a little reading on Little Rock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_National_Guard_and_the_integration_of_Central_High_School

Eisenhower didn't send troops in immediately. It was a full three weeks before he OVERRODE the authority of the STATE (You know, the 10th Amendment?) and usurped control of the guard from the governor. In doing so he triggered a constitutional crisis of state vs. federal authority. It was a controversial decision that Eisenhower took only after extensive negotiations with the governor who refused to abide by Brown v. Board of Education.

The President is encumbered by the constitution, not aristarches who don't know the first thing about the distribution of powers in the country they live in. Give it time. If the governor doesn't get a hold of the situation, he may end up sending in the guard. Then you can complain about how he violated the constitution and further militarized America.

[onenote]

36. If you're citing JFK, why are you posting a story about Eisenhower?

Last edited Fri Aug 15, 2014, 09:40 PM - Edit history (1)

[Number23]

55. !!

Why, indeed!

[mythology]

73. Perhaps because they didn't actually read the story

Especially since it doesn't actually support their claim in that it wasn't federal troops.

[JI7]

52. THat's Eisenhower, not JFK

[whistler162]

68. IKE JFK three letters one the same

what's the difference!

Love the 22 minute sitcom solutions from the sofa brigade!

[Blue_Tires]

17. And how exactly would that help things??

The national guard and local cops sure as hell aren't going to be taking action against each other...So the local populace now ends up eating twice as much tear gas and tasers...

If you're really serious, I'm not sure you've thought this through...

[villager]

18. I think it was more *idea* of "Send in the Troops" representing *some* kind of action

...on the part of this White House. Some sense that things can, finally, even be too much for the center/right crowd in the Oval Office.

Even if Obama accelerates the FBI investigation, tells the public tomorrow he's been on the phone to the Governor and will get the National Guard in there...

No one expects the Guard to "take action" against police, but perhaps to act as "cooling rods" for this bunch of over-armed bullying sociopaths.

No more of this diffident "I can't be bothered" approach from this White House...

[Blue_Tires]

19. If I was living in Ferguson and protesting

and saw on the news that the National Guard was coming to town to "calm" the situation, I'd know damn well it's a euphemism for "Crush the unrest ASAP and restore order at all costs"...And we all know what's going to happen when the first person starts protesting a NG presence in their neighborhood...

And then I'm wondering why a U.S. president who looks like me would ever do such a thing to his own people, since given his background, he must know how we would perceive this; even if his heart was 100% in the right place and he was just trying to "do something"...

I get what you're saying, but you have given ZERO thought on how this looks from the perspective of the black community...If your post was just a piss take and a sideswipe at what you view as inaction from the WH, then fine...If you're serious in thinking the national guard would be some kind of check on police abuses, then god help you...And unless you're DUing from a cloud of tear gas, or are en route to St. Louis, I'd be careful about throwing the "jellyspines" label around, personally...

As an aside, I'm pleasantly surprised to see a near-unanimous DU opinion on the tragic murder of Michael Brown; especially since the forum as a whole was running 60/40 over Trayvon Martin just over a year ago...

[villager]

42. An outside intervention was clearly needed. And I am admittedly surprised that came from Gov. Nixon

...and more importantly, Missouri's highway patrol.

They, as it turns out, are the cooling rods.

And I'm glad for that.

[BainsBane]

26. Cooling rods?

Last edited Thu Aug 14, 2014, 09:37 AM - Edit history (1)

When has a military force ever acted as a "cooling rod"? I don't recall that argument being used for recent events in Iraq or Syria. In fact, there is pretty unanimous view that the military only escalates a conflict.

[villager]

43. Sort of like the Missouri Highway Patrol is now. The necessary outside intervention...

...to diffuse a situation barreling toward atrocity.

[BainsBane]

44. The Highway Patrol are not federal troops

Nor are they military forces.

[villager]

50. sigh. You are quite rigidly literal tonight.

Sometimes stuff like this happens:

http://www.army.mil/article/45029/The_Army_response_to_Hurricane_Katrina/

I'm glad this situation didn't become a version of that.

[doxydad]

21. Isn't this a State of Missouri problem?

Obama, i.e. Federal area...should not have to get involved? RIGHT? As far as 'jellyspines'...I'm saying that was a poor choice of words. Yep. it was.

[villager]

22. it's a United States problem

Ultimately

[doxydad]

24. I disagree... here's why:

If we had the feds doing everything...every time a tragedy like this occurs, it would truly be a POLICE STATE. Nobody wants that. Don't send in a missile when a slingshot will do. I agree that this tragedy has caused a LOT of problems, and the Ferguson police has enough weaponry there to be a literal army...but the LAST thing that you would want is to get the Feds involved in this. It's a Missouri problem, and it will probably die down in the next week.

[Louisiana1976]

77. Exactly.

[BainsBane]

27. There is no state governmnet, no congress, no local government

Many here imagine an imperial Presidency where one person and one person only is responsible for all problems in the US and around the world. It saves having to actually know civics.

[doxydad]

29. Agreed!

Smartest kid in the class today!

[villager]

40. Your snarking aside, it was more a matter of yearning for a leadership moment

and we've had many such moments -- mostly unfulfilled -- in the last six years, waiting for this Executive to, well, lead.

Today we got some okay statements, on that front.

Surprisingly though, the outside intervention provided by the Governor, and Highway Patrol, seem to be changing the tenor of the situation, which is good.

[BainsBane]

46. Because that town is under the governor's authority

Not the President's. Again, the 10th Amendment.

[villager]

49. And again, I was referencing JFK in the OP

Obviously the town is under the governor's authority, at least initially in these circumstances. And I'm glad this didn't become a "Katrina" of political violence, in terms of spiraling out of control (and thus, getting us back to the National Guard aspects).

And Gov. Nixon, surprisingly, did the right thing. So that's good.

[BainsBane]

62. There is no reference to JFK in the OP

There is only an insult against Obama because you couldn't wait a day for him to work with the governor, which is the appropriate constitutional action.

Earlier you mentioned Little Rock, if I'm not mistaken. That was under Eisenhower, and I posted a link as to how that transpired. It took more than three weeks for him to send in the guard.

[villager]

76. Yes, there was Eisenhower, and then later, JFK Federalizing the troops

And yes, there was a timeline.

I was feeling what John Lewis must've been feeling, when I posted:

http://america.aljazeera.com/blogs/scrutineer/2014/8/14/rep-john-lewis-civilrightsiconcallsfornationalguardinferguson.html

“My own feeling is right now is that President Obama should use the authority of his office to declare martial law, federalize the Missouri National Guard to protect people as they protest," Lewis said.

I am glad to see the situation starting to work itself out, incrementally, otherwise.

[HereSince1628]

23. The walking shoes purchased for attending protests are lost

in the back of the closet.

[Enrique]

25. for all Obama's faults

he tends to do things that make some sense. Having the FBI involved makes sense to me.

[nomorenomore08]

83. +1

[randome]

28. 'Jellyspines'? Everything seems simple to an arm-chair warrior, doesn't it?

[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[ColesCountyDem]

30. And several posters seem to have failed their Civics 101 classes, too. n/t

[villager]

39. Or an armchair retorter, I guess

[msanthrope]

69. The 101st Chairborne have all the answers. nt

[Generic Other]

71. They have their own insignia

[ms liberty]

84. I love this! n/t

[MineralMan]

31. I'm not sure who "the Jellyspines" might be,

but this is not a situation where "Federal troops" are appropriate. The FBI, yes, but what "Federal troops" do you have in mind?

The Governor, however, could call in the National Guard. The result of that, however, would not be what you hoped for, I'm sure.

[doxydad]

32. MineralMan: NAILED IT!

[villager]

38. Well, calling in the highway patrol seems to have sufficed. Clearly, though, intervention was needed

And my OP spoke to that, and to that JFK moment... of intervening, at an earlier point in history.

[snooper2]

33. I ate a jellyspine once, they are SO FUCKING SALTY

[villager]

51. Don't worry -- with all the inaction on climate change, you'll be eating a lot more!

[FSogol]

34. Federal troops? Go take a civics course.

[Cali_Democrat]

41. Fail.

But thanks for the chuckles, villager.

[JI7]

54. this thread is full of fail on history and govt system

[Cali_Democrat]

64. The JFK/Eisenhower mix up was hilarious. nt

[villager]

80. Both instances of Federal action

Though I will acknowledge a graphic from a larger JFK discussion (on when he Federalized troops) was an Eisenhower front page (from Little Rock)

I guess a bigger mix-up is thinking that such things hadn't happened?

Nonetheless, glad indeed it's working out -- kinda, so far, but we'll see -- otherwise...

[akbacchus_BC]

45. Who are the Jellyspines you are referring to? Am not getting what you are trying to say!

Please enlighten me!

[pnwmom]

47. Only if they're really stupid or power-hungry.

The state highway patrol in Missouri has taken over and it appears to be doing a good job. What would be the point of sending in un-asked for Federal troops?

[Louisiana1976]

78. Good question.

[JI7]

48. WTF

[akbacchus_BC]

53. You are back from OET. Welcome back.

Just could not help myself to welcome you back!

[villager]

57. Glad to see your usual lack of self-control in the threads!

All the comforts of home.

(Though I worry about your powers of observation, since I've been posting here steadily?)

[akbacchus_BC]

59. Sorry! I may have mistaken you for some one else. My apologies.

[jberryhill]

56. yeah, Ferguson needs more heavily armed people in camo

[villager]

58. No, they needed someone other than the police they had last night

And I'm glad that's what they got today

[jberryhill]

61. and done without armed intervention

It's a good thing that folks other than "send in troops" types aren't calling the shots.

[villager]

72. It's a good thing somebody outside the situation knew that shots had to be called

And did it

[underthematrix]

60. well villager the President always has to consider individuals like you. He

has a deep understanding of people like you so his responses have to be carefully measured. The rest of us feel as though it is such a shame he has to suffer fools like you.

[MrScorpio]

63. Bad idea. All the way around. nt

[Nye Bevan]

65. George HW Bush did not hesitate to send in troops to quell the 1992 LA riots.

I would think that Obama would do the same if the situation required it.

[betsuni]

66. Are White House Jellyspines a new type of gummy candy?

[trumad]

67. yeah...send more guys who look like soldiers

By the way...looks like it worked out fine when they removed the soldier wanna be' s and put in State Troopers.

So the idea to put the NG in would have been a stupid idea.

[msanthrope]

70. Do they not teach civics in the high schools anymore??? nt

[jwirr]

74. Why? Are they rioting again after last night? Are the cops with their military equipment back in

control? From what I have read the Highway Patrol are doing a good job.

[bobduca]

81. OP is from Wednesday

[jwirr]

82. Oops. I never look at the dates. Thanks.

[villager]

75. John Lewis calls for National Guard in Ferguson:

http://america.aljazeera.com/blogs/scrutineer/2014/8/14/rep-john-lewis-civilrightsiconcallsfornationalguardinferguson.html

“My own feeling is right now is that President Obama should use the authority of his office to declare martial law, federalize the Missouri National Guard to protect people as they protest," Lewis said.

I guess that's what I meant with the OP -- the same thing Lewis got around to saying. I was admit, "het up" when I posted, but I meant pretty much... this. So I'm not in such bad company.

Lewis refers to JFK during the Civil Rights era, Federalizing the Guard as well.

Luckily, and surprisingly, the situation seems to be working itself out -- the trial-in-absentia of the dead boy, by the Ferguson police, notwithstanding.

[1StrongBlackMan]

79. I gotta run; but posted to so I can respond when I get back.