The Dictatorship
Mike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that Democratic mayors who run the cities President Donald Trump is threatening with troops should stop resisting. “Yield, man,” said JohnsonR-La. “Let the troops come into your city and show how crime can be reduced. It’s a morale boost for the country, and it’s safe and right for everybody involved.”
Not since Vice President Dick Cheney told us that U.S. troops invading Iraq in 2003 would be “greeted as liberators” have we heard a Republican make the preposterous claim that a people — in this case Americans! — would welcome a U.S. military occupation. And, to be clear, an occupation is what Trump has been promising. As a characteristically tasteless social media post from Trump over the weekend put it, Chicago is “about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
Not since Dick Cheney told us troops would be “greeted as liberators” have we heard a Republican claim that people would welcome a U.S. military occupation.
If Speaker Johnson believes that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson — or Chicagoans in general — should bend the knee to a president promising such aggression, then he’s telling us that he doesn’t believe that they are fully American, that he doesn’t believe they’re rightful heirs to the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the traditional American ideas of freedom. Land of the free for us, but not for y’all is not an argument a white Southern Republican should expect Black Democrats farther north to accept.
It’s not surprising that a Trump loyalist like Johnson is supporting the president’s military occupation plans, but even former Ohio Gov. John Kasich — a Republican Never Trumper — suggested last month that Democrats should be less opposed to Trump’s unprecedented power play.
Referring to parts of the Windy City, Kasich told MSNBC’s Alex Witt“I just got a text from a from somebody that says, ‘Englewood, West Garfield Park, South Chicago, their kids are dying. Research has shown many don’t expect to grow up. Shame on city’s leaders for not taking all the help they can get.’”
Kasich then conceded, “Look, we don’t want to have to see the military barge in into these cities.” But, he said, if you’re a mayor, “why not go down to the White House and why not to admit we have a problem with crime … and say to the president the United States, ‘Look, you have a lot of resources, and we’ve got a lot of needs’?”
The former governor makes several assumptions. One, that Democrats who lead cities with high crime rates haven’t admitted to such, nor made it a priority to address the problem. Two, that Democrats haven’t asked the federal government (including the White House) for help. And three: that Trump is genuinely interested in reducing crime and that his chief goal isn’t humiliating Democrats and expanding executive power.
Speaker Johnson’s statement suggests that only cities led by Democrats have crime problems.
Speaker Johnson’s statement suggests that only cities led by Democrats have crime problems. But a Republican leads his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, (Johnson still lives in the metro area) and the murder rate there is higher than it is in Washington — and higher than it is in Chicago. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, has said he’d welcome Trump’s assistance against crime “from New Orleans to Shreveport.” But that welcome was extended only after criticism emergence that Republicans seemed more obsessed with taking down Democrats than crime. So we can be forgiven for doubting the governor’s sincerity.
Last week, in the midst of threatening America cities with military occupations, a Trump-affiliated political action committee sent out a fundraising email with the subject line: “Do not tread on our safety.” That email called out the California judge who correctly ruled Trump had illegally used the military in a domestic law enforcement capacity.
It’s the height of irony and absurdity for that PAC — Never Surrender Inc. — to allude to the “DONT TREAD ON ME” Gadsden flag that small-government devotees love to wave even as Trump is trampling on the wishes of Americans and their elected officials.
Many Americans, including conservatives, are fond of quoting Ben Franklin’s remark “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” The argument from those who generally use that phrase is that, in the United States, liberty is paramount.
And yet, the Republican speaker of the House is telling his fellow Americans to surrender to their own government, to accept less than their due as citizens and to treat the troops Trump might send in as their liberators. Johnson says he’s just asking for “common sense.”
No, he’s asking for capitulation.
Jarvis DeBerry is an opinion editor for BLN Daily. He was previously editor-in-chief at the Louisiana Illuminator and a columnist and deputy opinion editor at The Times-Picayune.
The suspect in an attack at a synagogue near Detroit lost several family members in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon this month, according to the Islamic Institute of America in Dearborn and community leaders.
Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon, lost his two brothers and a niece and nephew in the strike on their home, according to those sources. Whether that played a role in the motive for the attack remains unclear, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer deferred a question about it to the FBI on Friday, citing an ongoing investigation.
Authorities are looking at the possibility Ghazali may have had familial ties to Hezbollah in Lebanon, two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation told MS NOW.
Ghazali died in the Thursday attack, in which authorities say he drove a car into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, injuring a security officer. Ghazali was a resident of Dearborn Heights, Mayor Mo Baydoun said in a Facebook post. Baydoun also said in that post that Ghazali “lost several members of his own family, including his niece and nephew, in an Israeli attack on their home in Lebanon” this month.
The Thursday attack in Michigan came as the U.S. and Israel wage a war with Iranwhich they launched on Feb. 28. Security around Jewish communities in places such as New York has been heightened since the conflict began.
Ghazali first came to the U.S. in 2011 on a spousal visa before being granted citizenship in 2016, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said.
In a phone interview with Fox host Brian Kilmeade, President Donald Trump appeared to blame former President Joe Biden for Ghazali’s entry into the country when asked about the Michigan attack and the deadly shooting at Old Dominion University in Michigan.
“They came in a lot through Biden, and they came in through other presidents, frankly, and it’s a disgrace,” Trump said.
Temple Israel describes itself as the country’s largest Jewish Reform congregation, and it also has an early childhood education center on site that more than 100 kids attend, Whitmer said. All children were safely evacuated following the attack, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.
“This is targeting babies who are Jewish,” Whitmer said. “That’s antisemitism at its absolute worst.”
The security guard who was injured was hospitalized but is expected to recover.
Whitmer on Friday thanked the synagogue’s security personnel, who she said “were selfless in their courage and they saved lives.”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., added that if the synagogue’s private security, local law enforcement and first responders “had not all done their jobs almost perfectly, we would be talking about an immense tragedy here today with children gone.”
Andrew Bossone and Chris O’Leary contributed to this report.
Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.
Marc Santia is an investigative correspondent for MS NOW.
The Dictatorship
Missile strikes a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraqi security officials say
BAGHDAD (AP) — A missile struck a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, two Iraqi security officials said.
Associated Press footage showed a column of smoke rising Saturday morning over the embassy compound.
The sprawling embassy complex, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones fired by Iran-aligned militias.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. On Friday, the embassy renewed its Level 4 security alert for Iraq, warning that Iran and Iran-aligned militia groups have previously carried out attacks against U.S. citizens, interests and infrastructure, and “may continue to target them.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four airports serving Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, Virginia, halted all flights on Friday evening for over an hour because of a strong chemical smell that was impeding air traffic controllers, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The ground stop affected Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Richmond International Airport, FAA Secretary Sean Duffy announced on social media Friday. The declaration caused flight delays to soar to roughly two hours across some of the busiest airports in the country.
Flights began to leave the airports after 7 p.m. ET on Friday, but the ground stop — which prevents planes from landing at an airport — remained in place.
The smell was coming from Potomac TRACON, Duffy wrote, referring to a terminal radar approach control facility that manages air traffic for the Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, Virginia, and the Richmond-Charlottesville areas, according to the FAA website.
A spokesperson for the federal agency didn’t respond to an emailed question clarifying how the smell was affecting traffic controllers on Friday evening.
Between 25% and one-third of all flights departing from the four airports affected were delayed after the ground stop.
- One month later, White House and Democrats no closer to ending the DHS shutdown
- Trump endorses Hern for Mullin’s Oklahoma Senate seat
- Trump says he has ‘own idea’ on how long Iran war will last
- Dietary supplement recalled for containing active ingredient in Viagra
- Epstein jail guard to testify in House investigation
- FAA lifts ground stop at airports in DC, Baltimore; delays persist
- Suspect in Temple Israel attack lost family in Israeli airstrikes
- Missile strikes a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraqi security officials say
- A strong chemical smell forces a 1-hour flight halt at 4 major DC-area airports
- I helped announce a Target boycott last year. Now I’m announcing it’s not over.
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Politics1 year agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
Politics1 year agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
Politics1 year agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Politics11 months agoDemocrat challenging Joni Ernst: I want to ‘tear down’ party, ‘build it back up’
-
Uncategorized1 year ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
The Josh Fourrier Show1 year agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?