Friday Night News Dump

UPDATE: The Republican Party of Texas plans to continue with its virtual convention, even though a judge says an in-person event is an option. The party chair said a an online convention would provide the best opportunity for delegates to participate. https://t.co/6sKFqfNQkg

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) July 17, 2020

And, again, context:

Texas reported a record-high 174 coronavirus deaths today. This is the third consecutive day with more than 100 deaths.https://t.co/rGgvmdS9RY

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) July 17, 2020

Hotze, who brought the federal case, is a hothead yahoo. He won, but the party’s not interested. The party tried to join his federal suit, but at this point it's not clear the judge allowed that.  Not clear what the judge ordered, either:  a TRO or a TI.  Different orders mean different outcomes mean different appeal, and the city is planning to appeal.

But the Texas GOP probably decided trying to get 6000 people to Houston for a one-day convention (what could they do on Saturday, if everybody could get here by then?) or postponing until next weekend, was a non-starter (like I say, Hotze is an idiot).   So maybe that's dead.  Meanwhile, in Oregon:

The U.S. Attorney for Oregon is now calling for an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security's actions in having officers nab people off Portland streets.

Says there are TWO arrests that need to be looked into. https://t.co/4fTq5DeZMH

— Ryan Haas (@ryanjhaas) July 17, 2020

Heh.  Steve Schmidt went on an epic rant about this:

Portland Oregon. The Governor of Oregon should deploy the State Police and the National Guard to arrest on site any heavily armed Paramilitary forces who are operating without ID’s, Badges and snatching Americans off of the street and stuffing them into unmarked vehicles. 1

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 17, 2020

Which is worth reading in full (he goes on for six tweets in all).  The excuse:

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokeswoman said on Friday agents had been deployed to Portland to support a newly launched U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unit, tasked with enforcing last month's executive order from Republican President Donald Trump to protect federal monuments and buildings.

Sounds like more bullshit to me, especially this line:

A senior DHS official said officers arrested people for assaulting federal officers and vandalizing federal property, but did not provide specific cases. The official, who requested anonymity to discuss the issue, rejected the idea anyone was arrested without good cause.

“Federal officials don't go around arresting people for no reason,” the official said. “This isn't communist China.”

This is a good question, too:

Why is this not on record https://t.co/UW4GvDJ73T

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 17, 2020

So, were many people grabbed off the street and detained, but released without any documentation of their detention, so the DHS can plausibly deny arrests?  And then do it without going on the record?  Sure, this seems like sound police practice.  The Mayor of Portland says the U.S. Marshals are going to investigate.  Now the U.S. Attorney wants to look into it.  From what I've read, the Border Patrol is poised to be Trump's "shock troops" and happily do his bidding; the U.S. Marshals, I would suspect, not so much.  And if the U.S. Attorney now wants to turn on lights and turn over rocks, we may get a good luck at the crawly things coming out from under the rocks.  

Trump still imagines it's the 1970's and the same Americans who thought the students at Kent State "deserved it" are going to back his play against protestors and statue molesters.  The problem is the number of people who get hurt before he's thrown out of office and his strategies are proven failures.

And maybe we need to start a campaign to defund the Border Patrol, while we're at it.