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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHere Comes the Police State: New Laws Aim for Brutal Crackdown on Protest
Many bills advancing at state level along with executive orders are part of Trump "law and order."
The rise of right-wing populism in the United Statesfrom the White House to state legislatureshas been met with public resistance on a stunning scale. Millions have taken to the streets, staged direct actions and flooded airports to resist a flurry of presidential decrees targeting undocumented, black, refugee, LGBTQ and poor communities. And long before Trump took the White House, the Black Lives Matter movement and indigenous water protectors at Standing Rock were leading the way with sustained mobilizations in the face of staggering repression.
Now, under cover of the Trump administrations law and order platform, Republican lawmakers at the state leveloften with the backing of police unionsare advancing a spate of bills aimed at crushing this groundswell. The proposed legislation would impose draconian penalties on protest organizers and participants, expanding local powers to put demonstrators in jail, seize their assets and further criminalize property destruction.
In recent weeks and months, politicians in at least 11 statesMinnesota, Washington, Iowa, Michigan, North Dakota, Indiana, Virginia, Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina and Arizonahave either introduced or threatened to introduce bills that make it more dangerous or costly to attend protests, or be anywhere near them. One bill recently proposed in North Dakota, and clearly aimed at Standing Rock resistance, would have expanded protections for drivers who accidentally hit and kill protesters. While the legislation failed earlier this month, it nonetheless reflects a troubling political push to snuff out dissent.
Using racketeering laws to go after protesters assets
A bill that just passed through the Arizona State Senate would expand the states racketeering laws on organized crime to rioting, broadly defined to include acts that result in property destruction. This move would broaden the powers of authorities to target protest organizers and participantsand even seize their assets.
http://www.alternet.org/activism/state-lawmakers-are-brutally-cracking-down-protesters-under-cover-trumps-law-and-order
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Here Comes the Police State: New Laws Aim for Brutal Crackdown on Protest (Original Post)
madokie
Feb 2017
OP
By the time trump and the pubes are done, the First Amendment will be gone.
liberal N proud
Feb 2017
#3
Mc Mike
(9,136 posts)1. tRump's 'law and order'.
Coming from the crookedest, most mobbed up sob to ever squat in the White House.
scarletlib
(3,462 posts)2. Clearly this is unConstitutional.
1st Amendment: Freedom of Assembly. Don't see how it could possibly stand up under Court scrutiny.
liberal N proud
(60,797 posts)3. By the time trump and the pubes are done, the First Amendment will be gone.
They don't give a shit about the First, and they only used the Second to win votes.
Eventually they will round guns up themselves to maintain law and order.
HAB911
(9,240 posts)8. It is very important everyone support the ACLU, it might be our only defense
It takes money to fight a war, and this, for once, is a war worth fighting.
scarletlib
(3,462 posts)12. I renewed my membership in December before Trump took office.
Another great organization is the National Lawyers Guild. Check them out.
I also contributed to NAACP and SPLC.
Vinca
(50,752 posts)4. Sometimes you have to wonder if the entire GOP is in cahoots with Russia.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)6. You know, I've started to wonder the same at times. It's really really getting weird. n/t
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)5. Yep, following the Dictator's playbook well! n/t
JDC
(10,350 posts)7. Pure Fascism. A direct afront to the 1st.
HAB911
(9,240 posts)10. I'm thinking "General Strikes" might be our second line of defense
AgadorSparticus
(7,963 posts)11. Unbelievable. Just, unbelievable.
orangecrush
(21,040 posts)13. Donated to ACLU yesterday
Seemed like a good idea.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)14. Kristo-KGOP Krappy Fascism on the march against America
ananda
(29,952 posts)16. ACLU?
Immediate lawsuits I hope!!!