Put this post by Donald Trump on Truth Social front and center when he’s tried for treason.
“I love the smell of deportations in the morning…”
Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR
He thinks it is amusing to threaten an American city of almost 3 million people with apocalyptic destruction. He’s a criminal despot.
His pretext is that crime is too high in Chicago. Unfortunately for that excuse, invading the city to deport a subset of people whose primary “crime” is being brown and speaking Spanish would not address that problem, the statistics show that crime has been declining already, and Chicago is not the most crime-ridden city in the country. That distinction belongs to cities in red states.
The four cities of populations larger than 100,000 with the highest murder rates in 2024 are in Republican states: Jackson, Mississippi (78.7 per 100,000 residents), Birmingham, Alabama (58.8), St Louis, Missouri (54.1) and Memphis, Tennessee (40.6).
…Chicago is bracing to be the next city targeted by the Trump administration. To date this year, 278 people have been killed in Chicago, 118 fewer people killed when compared with 2024. It is at pace for 412 deaths for the year, which would be a rate of about 15 per 100,000 residents. The rate is likely to be lower still than that, because homicide rates increase during summer months.
The Windy City ranked 37th in homicide rate in 2024 for cities larger than 50,000 residents in the United States. For cities with more than 100,000 residents, it placed 14th. This year, it is likely to slide farther down the list, even as violence falls to 60-year lows.
What are the National Guard going to do in Chicago, anyway? Stand around on street corners, eat deep dish pizza, guard the Bean in Millennium Park, visit the Field Museum? Trump is putting on a show, the same as renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War was an empty gesture.
Errr, I have to solve math problems now to log onto FtB? Prove I’m not a bot? No VPN here, so this is strange. Anyway, I might have mentioned this here before, but there are emergency physicians who do electives in Chicago to learn about gunshot wounds, because we don’t get those in Australia.
But like PZ wrote, red states are the worst for murder by far, but this is not about murder rates, it’s about the fascist takeover. So they obviously start in blue states so they can control the voting for the midterms.
The National Guard was sent illegally to Los Angeles a few months ago.
They did almost nothing. Most of them never left their bases.
It is the same in Washington DC.
The National Guard there has done almost nothing.
They ended up picking up trash in the parks, needed since the Federal government cut the budget of DC by $1 billion. They also worked on the landscaping.
A lot of the time they just stand around doing nothing and looking bored.
It is just military cosplay theater.
Yes. Sure.
They won’t have anything to do so they will guard Federal buildings that aren’t being attacked.
Stand around their armored personnel carriers, MRAP (Mine Resistant-Ambush Protected) vehicles, and Humvees.
The idea here is that ICE and the National Guard will attract and draw protesters.
Which they will then shoot with less lethal ammunition and dose them with tear gas cannisters. And arrest on false charges which almost always collapse in court.
One of these days, things will escalate and we will have another Kent State. The Trump regime really wants to shoot and kill a bunch of Americans somewhere somehow.
PZ – Trump is putting on a show, the same as renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War was an empty gesture.
(This is my version)
Think of the poorly painted gold frames on the pictures in the Oval Office. Add in all the other gilded items he surrounds himself with and the metaphor lipstick on a pig fits Trump’s whole life and everything he expresses.
I read the people of Washington DC wanted to know why the troops were protecting the National Maul where there are plenty of law enforcement and little crime. They were asking why the troops weren’t walking the streets in the most crime-ridden neighborhoods.
(My first use of AI)
Symbols, Perception, and Public Inquiry
Gilded Imagery and Metaphor
The poorly painted gold frames found on the pictures in the Oval Office, along with the abundance of gilded items in Donald Trump’s surroundings, evoke a powerful metaphor. The phrase “lipstick on a pig” succinctly captures the essence of Trump’s life and the way he presents himself—an emphasis on superficial opulence that may conceal underlying realities.
Public Concerns in Washington, DC
Residents of Washington, DC expressed curiosity regarding the presence of troops protecting the National Mall—a location typically well-patrolled and not known for high crime rates. Their questions focused on why such military resources were not being allocated to patrol the streets in neighborhoods suffering from the highest rates of crime, suggesting a disconnect between perceived threats and the deployment of protective forces.
raven -One of these days, things will escalate and we will have another Kent State. The Trump regime really wants to shoot and kill a bunch of Americans somewhere somehow.
Ohio -“What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground.” I visited the site of the shootings back in the 70s, strange part, I was a United States Marine. Did not wear my uniform.
The police did their usual thing, which is to arrest a lot of protesters during the demonstrations in Los Angeles. They only turned violent when the police showed up and started shooting rubber bullets and firing tear gas.
Most of those arrests have ended up being thrown out of court because they were based on false charges.
Most of the cases filed against protesters in LA were dismissed or reduced to misdemeanors.
The Grand Juries mostly refuse to indict because the cases are weak and the evidence nonexistent.
These days, cameras are everywhere and there are usually a lot of photos and videos of the protests. (I’ve got a few photos of the police doing something myself lately.)
The police will say someone attacked them.
The video will show that someone laying on the ground while the police beat them bloody with a club.
The Grand Jury will say, no way are we indicting.
If you don’t attack the police, don’t throw rocks and tear gas cannisters back at them, and be nonviolent, you might end up arrested but you won’t end up in court with a trial.
Interestingly, few people are commenting on the irony of Our Dear Leader twisting the words of:
• a lunatic and bully
• celebrating an ends-justify-the-means atrocity that at best destroyed a village to save… something
• without regard to either collateral damage or whether this particular accomplishment actually assisted a lawful, worthwhile, and attainable mission objective
in pursuit of… I’m not sure, and my suspicions are probably not printable.
Since in the last 50 or so years the USA has either invaded and bombed countries of its choice or provided other countries with the weapons to do so, War is a more appropriate title than Defence.
Christ, have any of the idiots involved in this seen Apocalypse Now? Spoiler: it is not a positive portrayal of the US military.
@ ^ Dunc : Yup.
Spoiler alert :
Even if they did see it they won’t have got or understood the message it means to convey.
The Field Museum is well worth a visit. Might I also suggest the Art Institute, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Brookfield Zoo for National Guard with too much time on their hands?
I suspect that Hegseth thinks it is a positive portrayal of the US military.
The magat in chief and his cockroaches mis-spelled it:
it’s the Department of Whore!
How far down the Death Spiral are we now??
Maybe the title of the satire of that movie fits noem: Porklips Now!
Laugh or cry, a poke in the eye, if tRUMP has his way we are all gonna die!
(But, it’s really not funny watching a nation being murdered by Emperor Trash Palace)
I think dumpster is threatening Chicago because it’s Obama’s hometown. His dementia is obviously progressing rapidly and he keeps imagining it’s the 80’s.
I do hope that the rumors are correct and he had a LVAD installed during the 7 days he disappeared, due to his rapidly progressing heart failure. Statistically speaking, there is a good chance he will be dead within 6 months.
C’mon sepsis!! Do your thing.
Meanwhile, Roadkill Kennedy Jr. is destroying our health system. In Florida, Surgeon General Ladapo has eliminated all Florida vaccination mandates. Long term these stupid policies will kill or cause medical issues for millions, many more than dying from criminal acts in Chicago. Literally crimes of negligent homicide. 18 U.S. Code 1112
I wonder what would happen if Hegseth sent troops into South Chicago? That’s where much of the gang violence occurs. All it would take would be one ill-advised shot, and it would be the Watts riots redux.
Speaking as someone who doesn’t belong to one of the two main parties of the United States? Both the Democrats and the Republicans never met a war they didn’t like or a profiteer off war that they didn’t lust for. They are part of one party with two faces, the War Party. Just check their votes whenever there is an issue of the (ex post facto now) declarations of war for all of the last military adventures we have been getting into.
Trump’s renaming has, entirely by accident I’m sure, done something true.
“Think of the poorly painted gold frames on the pictures in the Oval Office.”
They are in your imagination. If you criticise such things, get them right.
It just comes across as ignorant.
cf. https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump-raves-about-white-house-redecoration-during-cabinet-meeting-never-found-a-paint-that-looks-like-gold/
“Before Fox cut away from its coverage of the meeting, Trump then went into detail about the painting and moldings.
“We also painted the room a nice color, beige color,” he said, “and it’s been really something. The only question is will I gold leaf the corners? You could maybe tell me. My cabinet could take a vote. You see the top line moldings, and the only question is, do you gold leaf it? Because you can’t paint it. If you paint it, it won’t look good because they’ve never found a paint that looks like gold.””
@20:
Democrats are a shitty party for sure but there is no way a Democratic president would have bombed Iran, threated take over of Canada, Greenland or military take over of American cities. This type of bothsideism doesn’t work with the new fascist American party of white people.
US troops need to be reminded that it is their duty to disobey illegal orders.
Should I point out that the poorly Photoshopped image makes Tangerine Palpatine look like he is simultaneously constipated and shitting out flames of diarrhea?
@ 21 John Morales – @21 – John Morales – They are in your imagination. If you criticise such things, get them right. It just comes across as ignorant
After examining the article you present as evidence, there is no explicit statement about the picture frames being poorly painted. The closest relevant passage I found:
• “Trump then went around the room pointing at all the presidential portraits — even briefly summarizing the presidents’ respective achievements — and explaining why he chose them for the room.
• After spending about five minutes talking about the portraits, he then pivoted to the rest of the decor in the room.”
The point being that if one is going to criticize, accuracy is crucial. Otherwise, the criticism may reflect more on the imagination and ignorance of the critic than on the subject in question.
A final note is made regarding spelling: the word “criticise” is spelled “criticize.”
Trump is wasting more money on the “Department of War” nonsense than I realized:
Link
I doubt Trump posted that. It was probably Stephen Miller. The language doesn’t look right for Trump, and I doubt Trump is familiar with the pop culture use of “I love the smell of….”
The orange buffoon is wearing a Confederate Calvary hat. Accidental truth in advertising.
Traitors and white supremacists are uniformly dull.
@23
And, you will literally be court-martialed, then only acquitted of it after the fact, when you have been thrown out, and not allowed back in, because for all that its grand we have this bullshit rule about, “not following illegal orders”, it also, as part of the oaths you take, states quite clearly that you, as a soldier, are not allowed to question orders, or make value judgements, for yourself, about what is, or isn’t, legal. So, we have literally, due to how militaries kind of have to work, to work at all, created the setting for a whole new, “After the war, we couldn’t tell which soldiers where merely following orders, but objected, and which ones merely claimed they objected, after the fact, when their nation lost the war.”
I would love if this idea that they are not supposed to follow illegal orders was actually real, and not just dressed up bullshit, designed to cover someone else’s ass. But, the reality is, if you do something illegal, and the “state” decides to hold people accountable, you are screwed, but if you decided for yourself that its illegal, and refuse to do it, you are still screwed. There is no middle ground, in which its illegal, you refuse, and your commanding officers all pat you on the back and say, “Good job.”
This is especially the case when, like with everything else, the man issuing the illegal f-ing orders has stacked the highest levels of command in the military with people whose whole world view is, “Its not illegal if its something I have wanted to do for decades, but wasn’t previously allowed to, because some commie liberal told me it was illegal.”
stuffin
That rather depends on where you live, it would be ‘criticise’ with an ‘s’ and with single quote marks in the UK. John is in Australia where I believe the ‘s’ would also be correct, though I’ve no idea about the quote marks.
“The point being that if one is going to criticize, accuracy is crucial.”
He does not like gold paint. It does not look like gold to him. His very words.
You wrote: “Think of the poorly painted gold frames on the pictures in the Oval Office.”
I generously interpreted that as frames painted with gold paint, not gold frames that were painted over.
You were trying to diss his taste by speculating that the paintings’ frames are poorly painted, and I noted there is no evidence of that.
Remember: “The point being that if one is going to criticize, accuracy is crucial.”
Turning the Oval Office into a cheap imitation of Versailles is indeed in very poor taste. Crass and boorish would also apply.
I assume many of the frames of historic portraits are gilded with actual gold leaf, which requires skilled artisans. It looks best in candlelight or other outdated form of lighting.
@ lotharloo :
Quoted for truth.
The dangerous LIE – and it is and was an absolute LIE that both parties are equally bad rather than one being absolutely vastly worse than the other even if the other wasn’t a, y’know, flippin’magical perfect unicorn was one of the factors that led toTrumps victory.
Something which some of us tried very hard to warn those bothersiderists and some disingenuous trolls using those bothsiderist bulldust arguments at the time last year.
We are now seeing the results (again as in 2016 but even worse this time since Trump’s power is now virtually unchecked thanks to his first term in power ) of the Left’s lack of udnerstanding of US-o-American political reality here. The 2000 election w Bush vs Gore should’ve been enough to permanently hammer that point home but apparently not..
@33 StevoR
Instead of burning yourself out, spinning your wheels and chastising voters for rightfully repudiating your ignominous candidate, you should spend half that effort fielding a good candidate next time. You just might win.