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As National Guard and regular Army troops occupy Washington DC, joined by over 1,300 mystery federal cops who mostly aren't wearing any identification or name badges, it's worth remembering what Attorney General Bill Barr thinks about the job of law enforcement. Whenever he gets the chance, he tells police groups that American police have one of the toughest jobs in the world, made infinitely worse by the lack of respect from some people. So it shouldn't be any surprise at all that Barr is a big fan of treating Americans protesting police brutality as if they were literally a military threat, to be dealt with as harshly as possible. Barr may draw occasional rhetorical distinctions between peaceful protesters and violent rioters, but in practice, anyone protesting our brave noble police is a potential threat to public safety, and therefore a target that needs to be neutralized.
SHOCKING VIDEO: LAPD officers seen striking protesters with batons in Fairfax district confrontation… https://t.co/Fou0gcG03O
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7 Eyewitness News) 1591310247.0
Last August, in a speech to the Fraternal Order of Police convention in New Orleans, Barr made clear that he considered police equivalent to members of the military, only in a far more dangerous struggle, because wars eventually end, while police are literally engaged in a Forever War. Sure, soldiers get victory parades when they go home, but cops never get a parade (except for every time cops march in a local parade, maybe):
One reason for this is that law enforcement is fighting a different type of war. We are fighting an unrelenting, never-ending fight against criminal predators in our society. While there are battles won and lost each day, there is never a final resolution – a final victory is never in sight.
It takes a very special kind of courage to wage this kind of fight – a special kind of commitment; a special kind of self-sacrifice.
This was before curfew and our cameraman @p_murt clearly a member of the press, a block away from the White House t… https: //t.co/WZS79e9KpP
— Aleem Maqbool (@Aleem Maqbool) 1590987494.0
That never-ending war on crime, and the domestic enemies cops are at war with, has come about because Americans are scum. Just look at the mass shootings! But not too closely, since several of them were perpetrated by white power terrorists, but Barr was willing to overlook that for the sake of arguing that Americans have discarded their moral compass and gone feral. It's not exactly an optimistic view of humanity.
Human beings are capable of great good, but also of the basest evil. Even in a healthy society, violence, lawlessness, and predation lie just below the surface. In the final analysis, what stands between chaos and carnage on the one hand, and the civilized and tranquil society we all yearn for, is the thin blue line of law enforcement. You are the ones manning the ramparts – day in, and day out.
Not directly stated, but certainly implied: Just as in Vietnam, the enemy is hiding in plain sight, so cops need to be ready for anyone to turn out to be Charlie. Treat everyone as a suspect and you may make it home alive, soldier.
US Park Police announce two officers have been assigned to "administrative duties" pending the outcome of an invest… https: //t.co/1HLQGhzGYX
— Jeevan Vittal (@Jeevan Vittal) 1591222920.0
Barr fretted that too many Americans — he didn't say which ones, but it's pretty obvious, right? — no longer have "the personal virtue and self-restraint to control their own worst passions and appetites" that the Founders designed the Constitution for, so it may indeed be a dark day for this country and its outmoded system of government. He said the Founders knew that when "people lose the values and moral discipline to control themselves, then government would increasingly have to use external force to keep order," and that's not good for freedom.
Here's the video of CPD beating Malcolm London on TV. They beat him with batons, slammed him to the ground & r tryi… https: //t.co/U1CpD4Ohok
— BLMChicago (@BLMChicago) 1591027352.0
So look at us and our failure to behave right now, America! Can you doubt that Bill Barr is very very sad that he has to crack down on our misbehavior? James Madison said the American Constitution was based on "the ability of each of us to govern ourselves," but we have lost our way. Look what we're making cops do!
Just about an hour ago, police officers shove man in Niagara Square to the ground (WARNING: Graphic). Video from:… https://t.co/26Lw70ccyw
— WBFO (@WBFO) 1591319613.0
Needless to say, Barr explained, such failure to control ourselves is all the fault of liberals and bad parenting and the ACLU and too much emphasis on "rights," at least by people who don't deserve rights. Barr bemoaned how "the institutions we have relied on to inculcate values and self-restraint have been under constant assault for over 50 years," resulting in boundless "social pathology." Worst of all, too many communities no longer "respect" police, meaning they don't respect the law at all.
LaToya Ratlieff was peacefully exercising her 1A rights when she was disoriented by tear gas & shot in the head wit… https: //t.co/i9k5PgKMdF
— Rep. Ted Deutch (@Rep. Ted Deutch) 1591210082.0
Fortunately, Barr proposed a way back from the brink: immediate compliance with police, OR ELSE.
We need to get back to basics. We need public voices, in the media and elsewhere, to underscore the need to "Comply first, and, if warranted, complain later." This will make everyone safe – the police, suspects, and the community at large. And those who resist must be prosecuted for that crime. We must have zero tolerance for resisting police. This will save lives.
People stuck in traffic are witnessing NYPD beat up folks on their way home. https: //t.co/AkUGPQQOIf
— Josh Fox BlackLivesMatter (@Josh Fox BlackLivesMatter) 1591237125.0
Clearly, Barr must now be horrified to see all those people holding "ACAB" signs, for all cops are bastards. William Barr personally knows many law enforcement officers who were definitely born in wedlock, so that's just no fair.
The very notion that anyone would protest the police is anathema to him, a point he returned to in December while presenting awards to brave cops who'd performed outstanding acts of bravery and service. Here he is, explaining what might just have to happen to "communities" that take a knee in protest instead of bending a knee in gratitude to our brave men and women in blue, no matter what:
Bill Barr Third Annual Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service in Policing youtu.be
I think today, American people have to focus on something else, which is the sacrifice and the service that is given by our law enforcement officers. And they have to start showing, more than they do, the respect and support that law enforcement deserves. And if communities don't give that support and respect, they might find themselves without the police protection they need.
Obviously, those who protest the police have by definition placed themselves outside the bounds of any population that deserves to be protected or served. They've declared themselves enemies, and so they need to be crushed. There WILL be order, since you animals aren't living up to the Founders' standards.
AP journalist punched while walking with police commissioner. I didn’t see this attack on a reporter on @CNN https: //t.co/fiLfJrfXEK
— George B (@George B) 1591355456.0
We bet once the resistance has been crushed and order is restored, William Barr and Dennis Prager could have a beer and just laugh and laugh over what a fool Anne Frank was, with her "people are basically good" schtick. You people need to keep yourselves in line, or Bill Barr will keep you in line, you hear?
[ Department of Justice via Carl Takei on Twitter / HuffPo ]
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Bill Barr Told Us He Was Gonna Do This
This could also apply to the Repubelickins 'cept they NEVER had any personal virtue or self-restraint.
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It's beginning to get through to me that a certain orange bloke with ludicrous hair, even though he's in a high, responsible position (they don't come much more so) kind of lacks "the personal virtue and self-restraint to control [his] own worst passions and appetites." Y'know?And Barr too. His worst passions and appetites being authoritarianism and the yearning for a theocratic state. These men project like an antique magic lantern.