First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Trump’s church visit shocks religious leaders:

The Episcopal Bishop of Washington, the Right Reverend Mariann Budde, said: “The president just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus.”
…
Rabbi Jack Moline, President of the Interfaith Alliance, said: “Seeing President Trump standing in front of St John’s Episcopal Church while holding a Bible in response to calls for racial justice – right after using military force to clear peaceful protesters – is one of the most flagrant misuses of religion that I have ever seen.”

Pat Robertson was not pleased with the photo ops.

A religious trifecta: The Catholic Archbishop of Washington, DC does not approve of Trump’s photo op, and the two senior Anglican Archbishops are siding with the protestors.

In a statement ahead of the president’s visit to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine, Archbishop Wilton D Gregory said it violated the church’s religious principles.

Catholics should defend the rights of all people, he said.
…
In the UK the archbishops of York and Canterbury said the unrest exposed “the ongoing evil of white supremacy”.

Trump Ordered Protesters Tear-Gassed And Beaten So He Could Stand In Front Of A Church. The people who were in Lafayette Park reported what was happening in real time. There are multiple videos of what occurred and there is eye-witness testimony from an Episcopal priest who was tending to injured at the church, Reverend Gini Gerbasi:

WE WERE DRIVEN OFF OF THE PATIO AT ST. JOHN’S – a place of peace and respite and medical care throughout the day – SO THAT MAN COULD HAVE A PHOTO OPPORTUNITY IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH!!! PEOPLE WERE HURT SO THAT HE COULD POSE IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH WITH A BIBLE! HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO STEP OVER THE MEDICAL SUPPLIES WE LEFT BEHIND BECAUSE WE WERE BEING TEAR GASSED!!!!

None the less William Barr says: ‘Pepper spray is not a chemical irritant’.

Mr. Barr you are a worse chemist than you are an Attorney General. Oleoresin capsaicin, the active component of pepper spray, is obviously a chemical, and it is sure as hell irritating or it wouldn’t be used.

Pepper spray is banned for use in war by Article I.5 of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the use of all riot control agents in warfare whether lethal or less-than-lethal.

Frankly the inclusion of the mounted police in the assault reminded me of the Cossacks attacking peaceful shtetls during the pogroms – very 19th century Tsarist Russian.

The tactics were such a hit that Arlington County withdrew all of its police officers who had been in DC as part of a mutual aid agreement among local jurisdictions. The county wasn’t interested in being part of attacking peaceful protestors. 😈

In a video that went viral on Thursday, officers in the city of Buffalo, New York, were seen shoving an elderly man to the ground.

His name is Martin Gugino, and authorities said he was taken to hospital, where he was in a stable but serious condition on Friday.

Mr Gugino is a longtime social justice activist in Buffalo, according to advocacy group Push (People United for Sustainable Housing).

He “has been a tireless fighter against injustice of all types for many years in our city both with Push and other grassroots organizations,” they said in a statement, condemning police for his treatment.

The two officers who did the pushing were charged with Assault in the Second Degree which is a D Felony in New York. The other members of the riot team resigned from the riot squad because “the officers were only following orders.” That is called the Nuremberg Defense, and it didn’t work for the senior Nazi officials who committed war crimes in World War II, and it won’t work in New York State. In addition I can assure you that the commander at that scene will make it clear that he didn’t order anyone to push a senior citizen to the concrete sidewalk (even if he did).

I was in the military and law enforcement. In both basic training and the police academy it was made crystal clear that you were responsible for your own actions and would be liable for following illegal orders.

Other video of the area showed that there was almost no one around which makes this even more unreasonable. Buffalo is a city, there are always people on the street and the police aren’t out there sweeping up every day. People have been cooped up inside because of the pandemic and want to get some air. Given that Mr. Gugino is a longtime activist you would think that the riot squad would know him and say ‘Hi!’ not bust his skull on the concrete.

Position: 30.3N 90.2W [10:00PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [345°] near 10 mph [17 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 miles [335 km].
Minimum central pressure: 993 mb.

Currently about 20 miles [ 35 km] North-Northwest of New Orleans, Louisiana.

At 5:00PM CDT the storm made land fall about 50 miles [ 80 km] South-Southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Morgan City, Louisiana to the Okaloosa/Walton County line, Florida including Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas.

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for mouth of the Mississippi River to Ocean Springs, Mississippi including Lake Borgne.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]