Posse Comitatus
The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They’re insurrectionists. They’re bad people.
President, Donald Trump
As I begin this essay, Los Angeles is on fire for the second time in six months. And the progressive “Karen,” Los Angeles Mayor Bass, is again demonstrably incompetent to manage her city. The same goes for California Governor “Newscum” who can’t clear brush to prevent fires or fill reservoirs to fight fires. Until Angelenos and California voters wise up, problems will be mismanaged, lawlessness will continue, tax dollars will be wasted and communities will suffer under Democrat progressive socialist leadership. Sadly, it’s the same in virtually every Democrat run sanctuary city and state. Wise up, Knoxville!
Becky and I are big fans of the old Andy Griffith Show. Nostalgia for a different time and place, small town values and memorable characters repeatedly brings us back to our DVD collection. The Los Angeles insurrection made me think of an episode where Andy was away and Barney Fife was temporary sheriff. Barney decided he needed help with some imagined problem, so he deputized Gomer Pyle, Floyd the Barber and Otis, the town drunk. Barney’s posse was comical, but comes from the legal concept of posse comitatus.
Deputizing citizens or forming a posse to go after criminals is a common motif in western drama. In colonial times civilian militias were used. Not surprisingly, The Founders were fearful of a standing army and Constitutionally limited the number and scope of the military. These days we sometimes call upon National Guard troops in emergencies to support law officers. The armed forces are also available in certain situations.
After the Civil War the former Confederate States chafed at Federal dictates and the United States Army, which was in charge in the South during the Reconstruction era. This was especially true regarding the citizenship and rights of black people (Constitutional Amendments 13, 14 and 15). Some states and local sheriffs refused to protect black citizens from bands of paramilitary groups and the KKK, so the military was necessary to enforce the law.
As Reconstruction was coming to an end, Congress passed the Posse Comitatus law in 1878 that “limits the powers of the federal government in the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies in the United States.” This law has been modified several times to include all branches of the military, including the Space Force. The only exception is the Coast Guard.
Two weeks ago mobs/rioters in Los Angeles attacked federal law enforcement officers who were in the city to arrest people as part of an investigation of money laundering, drug smuggling, and human trafficking. The agents were accosted and when LA police arrived officers were pelted with bricks and fireworks. The unauthorized insurrectionist mob, egged on by Democrat politicos, blocked roads, looted, burned cars, and refused to disperse while waving Mexican flags. At least one illegal Mexican was arrested and charged with attempted murder when he threw a Molotov cocktail at officers.
The 1992 Rodney King protest in LA started slowly, but soon escalated and spread, ultimately “leading to 63 dead, nearly 2400 injured, 12,000 arrested and $2.3 billion in inflation-adjusted property damage.”
Because the governor and mayor refused to recognize the gravity of the situation in this recent riot, President Trump ordered 2000 members of the National Guard and finally 900 marines to protect federal agents and federal property, and to support the overwhelmed ICE agents and LA police. Sadly, but not surprisingly, Democrat leaders and their media shills have sided with the insurrectionists rather than officers and the citizens of Los Angeles.
However, the National Guard and Marines are prevented from making arrests unless The Insurrection Act is invoked. This law was passed in 1792 and expanded in 1807 giving the president power to call up state militias and to use active federal troops without consent or approval of local or state authorities. It has been used by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant and by George H W Bush during the 1992 Rodney King riot. The Insurrection Act is the one exception to the Posse Comitatus Act.
As protests/riots arise in other cities I don’t know why President Trump does not invoke the Insurrection Act and stop the anarchists. I am not an attorney, but perhaps the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution is sufficient to justify the National Guard and Marines when state and local officials are unable or unwilling to protect officers, citizens or property.
I’ve lived long enough to understand there are a lot of things I don’t understand, but I continue to learn through study. Numerous scientific studies have shown that unhappy people have more health and psychological problems. A recent study in the Journal of Depression and Anxiety caught my eye. This retrospective analysis of brain scans and cognitive data/tests in 20,000 patients with anxiety disorders including depression, emotional instability and memory problems showed reduced blood flow to the brain. The author notes that the findings may be merely associative rather than causal, but he believes that a “bad attitude” may indicate a brain disorder.
As I watch the insurrectionists in LA I can’t help but note the contrast between these angry people and the joyful, orderly people I’ve seen at Trump rallies. I’m reading Philip Yancey’s latest book about forgiveness. In one story Yancey metaphorically describes hatred as rat poison which a victim consumes expecting the victimizer to die of the poison.
The rage that has erupted in LA is just another iteration of the left’s poisonous hatred of America, Jews, MAGA, the “patriarchy,” etc. Hatred is the “rat poison” of TDS. It is what happens when people embrace the mantle of victimhood, demanding retribution.
Despite the media and Democrat dishonesty, Federal ICE agents are arresting those who have broken the law. So I ask, why does the Democrat party continue to embrace the minority position of every issue? I believe the Democrat leadership’s only focus is power.
Unfortunately, the leadership and their media loons have fomented such irrational hatred of Trump, Jews, America, etc., among their followers that they can’t go back or change what they’ve become. As Greg Gutfeld puts it, “The Democrats have become the Party of toxic women and beta males.” I think he’s right; it’s all they have left.
