SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
President Trump will sign an executive order to allow local police departments to receive or purchase military surplus equipment:
Police departments will now have access to military surplus equipment typically used in warfare, including grenade launchers, armored vehicles and bayonets, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Monday, describing it as "lifesaving gear."
The move rescinds limits on the Pentagon handouts that were put in place by President Barack Obama in 2015 amid a national debate over policing touched off by a spate of high-profile deaths of black men at the hands of the police, including the shooting death in 2014 of 18-year-old Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Mo., by a white officer. Some local residents viewed police use of military equipment during the ensuing protests as an unnecessary show of force and intimidation.
In a speech to the Fraternal Order of Police in Nashville, Mr. Sessions said Mr. Obama had made it harder for the police to protect themselves and their neighborhoods. "Those restrictions went too far," Mr. Sessions said. "We will not put superficial concerns above public safety."
Mr. Sessions said that President Trump would sign an executive order on Monday fully restoring the military program, called 1033, and that the president was doing "all he can to restore law and order and support our police across the country." [...] The program was started in the 1990s as a way for the military to transfer surplus equipment to federal, state and local police agencies fighting the drug war. More than $5 billion in surplus gear has been funneled to law enforcement agencies.
Organized gangs get to play soldier.
Also at The Hill and USA Today.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Tuesday August 29 2017, @06:48PM (21 children)
So his cunning plan is to send local police forces into North Korea. And where does the turnip come in? Pull my finger!
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 5, Informative) by NewNic on Tuesday August 29 2017, @07:36PM (19 children)
No, the plan is to bring North Korea-style law enforcement to the USA.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @07:54PM (16 children)
Sadly, significant police force will probably be needed to bring parts of Chicago back under control. Areas of it are closer to a third-world war zone than they are to anything that could be considered civilized.
I don't think we can really blame Trump for such harsh action being necessary, though. We've seen decades of failed leftist rule and leftist policies absolutely destroy the social fabric, the economies, and the infrastructure of major cities like Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. Now Trump is faced with dealing with this disaster.
(Score: 4, Touché) by bob_super on Tuesday August 29 2017, @07:59PM (5 children)
> We've seen decades of failed leftist rule and leftist policies absolutely destroy the social fabric, the economies, and the infrastructure of major cities like Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis.
Yes, the war on drugs, tough-on-crime, and 2008 crisis were total lefty conspiracies against the South-Side blacks.
> Now Trump is faced with dealing with this disaster.
And he'll kick the can down the road, because Chicago ain't gonna vote republican, so why bother? Having Chicago as a disaster is great propaganda for the right. Why would you lift a finger to fix it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @08:08PM (3 children)
None of those external factors you listed cause thugs to violently attack and kill one another on a nightly basis. It's something they voluntarily choose to do on their own.
Decades of leftist social, economic and political policies have created an environment where certain people don't need to take responsibility for their actions, and as would be expected the situation has devolved into total chaos.
President Trump has shown he isn't overly interested in playing petty political left/right games. As he states repeatedly, his main interest is in "Making America Great Again". That can't happen as long as the third most populous area of the country is in utter turmoil. That's why I wouldn't be surprised if he puts an end to the nonsense taking place in Chicago.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @08:37PM (1 child)
Sure they do. You just have to have an IQ in positive territory to recognize it.
You have to have hope that if you work hard in school and then work hard at a job that you'll get somewhere better than what you'd get for criminal activities. Idiots like you seem to think that there's an automatic link between hard work and success that just doesn't exist for many people. Those policies that you claim had no role were instrumental in destroying the black community in a way that hadn't previously been seen in the north.
Bum education, little opportunity for a decent wage and you think that has no role at all in the violence? Same thing is happening in the Gaza strip where poverty is unimaginably common and there's people willing to pay for those people to engage in terrorism.
If you want to decrease violence, you have to ensure that everybody has a path to a comfortable life without engaging in violence. That's not necessarily enough, but it does make a difference. People who have something to live for are far less likely to be willing to throw it all away than those who have little or nothing do.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @09:06PM
This will also require a good amount of patience for a chunk of years. Community problems such as gangs are not going to disappear overnight, so expect the GOP to crow about how initiatives don't work after the first year.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Alias on Friday September 01 2017, @12:41AM
None of those external factors you listed cause thugs to violently attack and kill one another on a nightly basis.
Tetraethyl lead, overcrowding and poverty tend to cause violence. Of those, the lead is probably the worst. The violent crime rate has fallen a lot since the last of those with the high brain lead concentrations aged out of the most violent times of life. This is pretty well documented. People with brain damage don't really "choose" to do things in the same way a normal person does.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 30 2017, @12:24AM
Bill Clinton was your Tough On Crime president - or have you forgotten him?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @08:49PM (3 children)
The parent comment is obviously not trolling.
Chicago has had Democratic mayors since 1931. [wikipedia.org]
Chicago City Council currently has 49 Democrats and 1 Republican. [wikipedia.org] Many of the Democrats have held their seat for a decade or longer.
Detroit has had Democratic mayors since 1962. [wikipedia.org]
Detroit City Council has been predominantly Democratic since the late 1960s. [wikipedia.org]
St. Louis has had Democratic mayors since 1949. [wikipedia.org]
It isn't Republicans or even political centrists who are responsible for the problems in those cities.
They've been firmly under Democratic control for decades now, and things have only gotten worse during this time.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @09:10PM (2 children)
Having a D in front of their name does not make them good, or pursue programs that would actually help. Stop with the tribalism please.
The biggest issue has always been the War on Drugs. We now know that it was started with the express intention of cultural warfare, full stop. It has been wildly successful in destroying communities and it is time we reversed the trend. Prejudiced police are also a major problem, it is hard to get young adults to care about their community when law enforcement is actively working against them.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @09:18PM (1 child)
That's exactly the point. Democrats have been in control over the multi-decade-long collapses of what were once some of the premiere American cities.
We shouldn't expect any sort of positive change to happen as long as the leadership of these cities remains ideologically the same.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday August 30 2017, @06:44PM
You seem to be suffering under some kind of delusion that the (D) or (R) in front of someone's name on TV has some kind of relation to their ideology or policy decisions...
(Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday August 29 2017, @09:31PM (3 children)
LG is opening a plant near Detroit. 292+ JOBS. Huge move toward making it so people can live there! They call it terraforming. Chicago murder rate is record setting -- 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016. And nobody talks about it. Well, we're going to start talking about it. Old stomping grounds of President Obama, very telling! If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible 'carnage' going on, I will use the NUCLEAR OPTION! 🇺🇸
(Score: 2, Funny) by AssCork on Wednesday August 30 2017, @07:13PM (2 children)
Already planning the third term? Awesome. Need a "Minister of Health"? #MyPresident can count on me!
Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday August 30 2017, @10:38PM (1 child)
Thank you for your support! Loyalty is a fabulous thing, I love that about you. And I love the alias, any name people remember is a good name. And yours is very memorable. About the job, we are not looking to fill all of those positions. Don't need many of them -- reduce size of government. Get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub. Like a baby. And then throw out that baby with the bathwater. But I'm always, always looking for good people. Above all, LOYAL folks. #MAGA 🇺🇸
(Score: 2, Funny) by AssCork on Thursday August 31 2017, @12:06PM
If you're not looking to fill all of the positions, that's great. Let me know where you can squeeze me in, I'm pretty flexible.
No job is too small!
Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @10:19PM
This isn't true, but it makes for good optics for the fascists who want to (albeit less and less) gradually turn our country into a militarized police state.
(Score: 1) by Alias on Friday September 01 2017, @12:36AM
We've seen decades of failed leftist rule and leftist policies absolutely destroy the social fabric, the economies, and the infrastructure of major cities like Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis.
You mean rampant corruption and bi-directional racism? That's not leftist. As a former Detroiter, even Coleman Young and Kwame Kilpatrick can't really be blamed for what happened to Detroit. Detroit is, for the most part, a one industry town that was both built and gutted by that industry. Detroit's downfall was 95% capitalism and 5% corruption. Nothing leftist about either of those.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @08:43PM
Trump! Trump! Trump!
Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!
It can't happen here! It can't happen here! It can't happen here!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by driverless on Wednesday August 30 2017, @02:39AM
Well, Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio, now he has to make sure he can get his hands on military weapons.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Tuesday August 29 2017, @07:37PM
BALDRICK!?
There you are. Now bugger off!
;)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---