Maybe the big thing from the White House we are going to see tomorrow...

[onehandle]

...is President Obama sending in troops and federalizing the National Guard to defend citizens from the Ferguson/St. Louis police.

See: President Eisenhower



http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0925.html

After all, the GOPNRA have brought us back to the 1950s.

Fingering their guns while dreaming about the 1860s.

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Don't hold your breath.

There's a small chance that won't happen.

[onehandle]

2. Ya think!!!???

...heh.

[villager]

3. According to some on this website, that Presidential action doesn't really count as a Presidential

...action, because it would entirely impossible for the current President to do such a thing, or any thing similar.

[jberryhill]

5. that action was to enforce a federal court order

[villager]

6. So I guess then any action whatsoever from this White House is therefore impossible

And we should quit expecting such unicorn-y things

[jberryhill]

8. yeah, send in Marines!

Because what this town needs is more military hardware and people in camo itching to use it

The army was deployed in Little Rock to enforce a court order and to demonstrate the willingness to use deadly force against the civilian population which opposed it.

What group of civilians do you propose the military should be used against here?

[KG]

4. the most awesomest prez ever can't be bothered to protect US citizens

he's got the whole world to worry about dammit!

[frazzled]

7. It was a federal issue in several ways

The 1957 school year in Little Rock was the result of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board decision three years earlier, which declared segregation of schools to be unconstitutional. Little Rock came up with a plan to desegregate that would start in the fall of 1957 with the high school. 9 students were registered, but segregationists tried to prevent them from entering. The governor of Arkansas then sent the National Guard to support the segregationists. This, of course, was in total defiance of the Supreme Court ruling, and a misuse of the National Guard.

The standoff went on for 20 days (September 4 until Eisenhower's deployment of troops on September 24) as people watched the National Guard nightly on television blocking students from entering the school and the segregationists being just plain vile. Then the mayor of Little Rock requested the Eisenhower Administration to send federal troops to enforce the segregation. REQUESTED. You have to wind back and remember what a big, huge effing deal enforcing desegregation was in those years, and for many years to come.

The National Guard is a joint activity of the Army and Air Force under the US Department of Defense--in other words, there is federal control (as well as some control by the individual states). By contrast, the federal government doesn't have jurisdiction over municipalities' police departments. What needs to happen is for the mayor of Ferguson to request federal assistance--as happened in Little Rock. That doesn't look likely at the moment, and it is very unlikely that the federal government is going to jump in after three days.

Right now, the Justice Department is involved via the FBI and the Civil Rights division, with investigations. And that seems the right response for now. But if this crazy police department continues to overreact to citizens or fails in its transparency duties, it could become the subject of increased federal scrutiny. But it won't be like Little Rock in 1957, so don't expect that.