Who You Gonna Believe?
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.”
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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.
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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.
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. 😈
2 comments
As The Guardian points out, protests against police brutality being met with massive police brutality sort of proves the protesters’ point.
Especially when the police attack the media who are broadcasting live. Nobody is spinning anything when they shoot pepper balls at a local reporter who is live with a local morning show.