Los Angeles

At Request of Billionaire ‘Friends,’ Trump Pulls Plug on Troop Deployment to San Francisco—For Now

Spread the love

Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Protesters hold signs during an anti-ICE protest outside of San Francisco City Hall on October 23, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

“Maybe other cities should try to convince a wealthy tech CEO or two to keep the president from siccing his agents on them,” quipped one writer.

After threatening for days to deploy troops to San Francisco, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would pull back for the moment, apparently after some of his billionaire “friends” in the city called him and asked him not to.

“The Federal Government was preparing to ‘surge’ San Francisco, California, on Saturday,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “But friends of mine who live in the area called last night to ask me not to go forward with the surge in that the Mayor, Daniel Lurie, was making substantial progress.”

Trump said he “spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around. I told [Lurie], I think he is making a mistake, because we can do it much faster, and remove the criminals that the Law does not permit him to remove. I told him, ’It’s an easier process if we do it, faster, stronger, and safer but, let’s see how you do?‘”

In a separate post, Lurie affirmed that he had spoken with Trump. He said he told the president that “San Francisco is on the rise,” and that a military occupation would “hinder our recovery.”

Although Trump is walking back his troop threat, for now, US Customs and Border Protection agents still arrived in the Bay Area on Thursday as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants.

The Associated Press reported that “police used at least one flash-bang grenade to clear a handful of demonstrators from the entrance” of Coast Guard Island in Alameda, where the CBP agents will be based.

In addition to threatening San Francisco in recent days, Trump has sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles, California; Washington, DC; Portland, Oregon; and Chicago, Illinois—where a judge has halted the deployment.

Like virtually all of the cities where Trump has either surged or threatened to surge federalized troops, San Francisco has no crime wave to “turn around.” In fact, crime has been falling precipitously in the city. Homicides dropped by 35% during 2024 and hit a 60-year low this year, contradicting Trump’s assertions that the city is a “mess” and that people there lived in constant fear of being “mugged, murdered, robbed, raped, assaulted, or shot.”

Lurie said he agreed to help Trump go to war on this imaginary crime wave, and said he would welcome “would welcome continued partnerships with the FBI, DEA, ATF, and US attorney.”

Trump said he was persuaded to hold off on the surge of troops after he was called by two Silicon Valley billionaires, Marc Benioff and Jensen Huang, whom he called “great people.”

Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, was a longtime Democrat who quickly morphed into an outspoken Trump supporter after his victory in 2024. He was also an initial champion of Trump’s proposal to send troops to San Francisco, but later backed off and even apologized after facing criticism from local officials and former political allies.

Huang, the CEO of the computer tech company Nvidia, meanwhile, cut an unprecedented deal with Trump in August that allowed the company to sell computer chips in China if it handed 15% of the revenue from those sales to the federal government, which was described as a “shakedown” by one financial columnist.

Trump said that these two and some unspecified “others” called him, “saying that the future of San Francisco is great” and that “they want to give [Lurie’s efforts] a ’shot.‘”

“Therefore,” Trump said, “we will not surge San Francisco on Saturday.”

Hafiz Rashid, a writer for the New Republic, quipped that “maybe other cities should try to convince a wealthy tech CEO or two to keep the president from siccing his agents on them.”

Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Continue ReadingAt Request of Billionaire ‘Friends,’ Trump Pulls Plug on Troop Deployment to San Francisco—For Now

Anti-ICE protests continue as judges block Trump’s National Guard deployment in Portland and Chicago

Spread the love

Original article by Natalia Marques republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Demonstrators in Chicago on October 8 (Photo: Saja Bilasan)

“The oath we took as soldiers absolutely comes with an asterisk, and this is it,”: Veteran activists in Portland urge National Guard Troops to defy Trump’s orders

A US federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on October 9, blocking the Trump administration’s deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops to Chicago. Hundreds were already stationed in the midwestern city at the time of this ruling. This comes days after a separate judge blocked the deployment of the National Guard to Portland, Oregon. 

Currently, there are around 500 National Guard troops in the greater Chicago area, 2,400 in Washington, DC, and 100 still in Los Angeles down from a peak of 4,700 in June. 

With the support of the Governor of Tennessee, the state’s National Guard troops are set to begin patrolling the city of Memphis. Unlike Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, Tennessee’s Republican governor Bill Lee is supportive of Trump’s federal takeover efforts and therefore is sending troops from his own state to Memphis – thus eliminating the legal obstacles Trump has faced in other states.

Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson called the judge’s order a “win for the people of Chicago and the rule of law.” The previous day, Trump called for the jailing of both Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker for “failing to protect Ice Officers”. But Johnson asserted that, as protests against violent ICE raids continue in Chicago, that there is “no rebellion,” there are “just good people standing up for what is right.”

Federal troops blocked in Portland

Trump announced the deployment of federal troops to Portland on September 27, characterizing the West Coast city as “war ravaged” and claiming that ICE facilities were under attack by “Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”

According to federal judge Karin Immergut, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, there is “substantial evidence that the protests at the Portland ICE facility were not significantly violent or disruptive in the days – or even weeks – leading up to the President’s directive ordering the deployment of troops to Oregon.”

Top Trump adviser Stephen Miller described Immergut’s ruling as a “legal insurrection.”

On September 22, Trump announced that he was declaring “Antifa” a domestic terrorist organization, despite the fact that Antifa is a decentralized movement with no central organization attached.

Amid attempts by the Trump administration to militarize the city, Portland residents have continued to protest. Demonstrations continued against ICE, including a march to the ICE facility in Portland in the early afternoon of Saturday, October 4 – which was attacked by federal agents deploying tear gas, smoke canisters, and pepper balls at protesters. Protesters outside the ICE facility also experienced similar brutal crowd control tactics by federal agents once again that evening – including tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and pepper balls – despite no clear provocation by demonstrators.

Portland veterans urge National Guard members to disobey

On October 6, dozens of veterans, some with anti-war veteran group About Face, held a press conference, with some speakers and signage urging National Guard members to disobey Trump’s orders. Several signs read “Trump is the real enemy within,” referencing the President’s previous statements claiming that he is sending troops to so-called “Democrat-run” cities to protect from “invasion from within”. Other signs read: “Veterans say: Duty to disobey”, “No war in Portland”, and “Guard, go home.”

“Trump is signaling in very clear terms he wants to go to war in American cities,” said Portland City Councilor Mitch Green, an Army veteran who served in the US invasion of Afghanistan, at the press conference. “He said he wants to use Portland as a training ground and that soldiers should do ‘whatever they want’ to protesters. While it’s unclear what the role of the National Guard will be, these threats are as serious as anything in American history. The oath we took as soldiers absolutely comes with an asterisk, and this is it.”

Original article by Natalia Marques republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.

Continue ReadingAnti-ICE protests continue as judges block Trump’s National Guard deployment in Portland and Chicago

Trump’s Military Occupation of DC Egged On by Corporate Lobbyists: Report

Spread the love

Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

National Guard troops are deployed to the Washington Monument as part of President Trump’s mobilization of law enforcement on August 12, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)

In some cases, corporate groups have posed as small business owners besieged by rising crime rates.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s military occupation of Washington, D.C. has been egged on for months by corporate lobbyists. In some cases, they have posed as small business owners besieged by rising crime rates.

According to a report Tuesday in The Lever:

Last February, the American Investment Council, private equity’s $24 million lobbying shop, penned a letter to D.C. city leaders demanding “immediate action” to address an “alarming increase” in crime.

That letter was published as an exclusive by Axios with the headline: “Downtown D.C. Business Leaders Demand Crime Solutions.”

But far from a group of beleaguered mom-and-pops, the letter’s signatories “included some of the biggest trade groups on K Street,” The Lever observed:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which boasts its status as the largest business organization in the world; the National Retail Federation, a powerful retail alliance representing giants like Walmart and Target; and Airlines for America, which represents the major U.S. airlines, among others. These lobbying juggernauts spend tens of millions of dollars every year lobbying federal lawmakers to get their way in Washington.”

It was one of many efforts by right-wing groups to agitate for a more fearsome police crackdown in the city and oppose criminal justice reforms.

On multiple occasions, business groups and police unions have helped to thwart efforts by the D.C. city council to rewrite the city’s criminal code, which has not been updated in over a century, to eliminate many mandatory minimum sentences and reduce sentences for some nonviolent offenses.

The reforms were vetoed by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2023. After the veto was overridden by the city council, Democrats helped Republicans pass a law squashing the reforms, which was signed by then-President Joe Biden.

In 2024, groups like the Chamber of Commerce pushed the “Secure D.C.” bill in the city council, which expanded pre-trial detention, weakened restrictions on chokeholds, and limited public access to police disciplinary records.

At the time, business groups lauded these changes as necessary to fight the post-pandemic crime spike D.C. was experiencing.

But crime rates in D.C. have fallen precipitously, to a 30-year low over the course of 2024. As a press release from the U.S. attorney’s office released on January 3, 2025 stated: “homicides are down 32%; robberies are down 39%; armed carjackings are down 53%; assaults with a dangerous weapon are down 27% when compared with 2023 levels.”

Nevertheless, as Trump sends federal troops into D.C., many in the corporate world are still cheering.

In a statement Monday, the D.C. Chamber of Commerce described itself as a “strong supporter” of the Home Rule Act, which Trump used to enact his federal crackdown.

The Washington Business Journal quoted multiple consultancy executives—including Yaman Coskum, who exclaimed that “It is about time somebody did something to make D.C. great again,” and Kirk McLaren who said, “If local leaders won’t protect residents and businesses, let’s see if the federal government will step in and do what’s necessary to create a safe and prosperous city.”

Despite crime also being on the decline in every other city he has singled out—Los Angeles, Baltimore, Oakland, New York, and Chicago—Trump has said his deployment of federal troops “will go further.”

Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an insane, xenophobic Fascist.

Continue ReadingTrump’s Military Occupation of DC Egged On by Corporate Lobbyists: Report

LA Judge Orders ICE to Stop ‘Indiscriminately Rounding Up’ Immigrants Using Racial Profiling

Spread the love

Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Federal agents block people protesting an ICE immigration raid at a nearby licensed cannabis farm on July 10, 2025 near Camarillo, California.
 (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

“No matter the color of their skin, what language they speak, or where they work, everyone is guaranteed constitutional rights to protect them from unlawful stops,” said an attorney with the ACLU of Southern California.

A federal judge in Los Angeles has ordered the Trump administration to stop carrying out indiscriminate immigration raids in the city and its surrounding areas, citing its use of “unconstitutional tactics,” including racial profiling and denying the right to an attorney.

Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California wrote that there is a “mountain of evidence” that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agents are “indiscriminately rounding up numerous individuals without reasonable suspicion” in violation of the Fourth Amendment during their “roving patrols” in the region.

She issued two temporary restraining orders against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). One bars agents from targeting individuals based on race or ethnicity; speaking Spanish or English with an accent; presence in specific locations such as bus stops, car washes, or agricultural sites; or type of employment. The second requires DHS to provide access to attorneys for those who are arrested.

The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other local legal organizations on behalf of five plaintiffs who said their rights were violated by immigration agents.

According to the complaint:

The raids in this district follow a common, systematic pattern. Individuals with brown skin are approached or pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly and with a show of force, and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from. If they hesitate, attempt to leave, or do not answer the questions to the satisfaction of the agents, they are detained, sometimes tackled, handcuffed, and/or taken into custody.

In these interactions, agents typically have no prior information about the individual and no warrant of any kind. If agents make an arrest, contrary to federal law, they do not make any determination of whether a person poses a risk of flight before a warrant can be obtained. Also contrary to federal law, the agents do not identify themselves or explain why the individual is being arrested.

Two of the plaintiffs were U.S. citizens.

One of them, a dual U.S. and Mexican citizen, said he was questioned and detained by unidentified officers on three separate occasions while working at a car wash in Orange County. Agents insisted that his passport was fake and repeatedly asked if he was American.

Another U.S. citizen was told he was arrested because he “looked like an illegal alien.” Agents with military-style rifles and handguns repeatedly asked him, “What hospital were you born at?” When he could not answer the question, an officer grabbed him and shoved him against a metal fence. After he showed the officers his Real ID, he says they took it and never returned it to him.

“No matter the color of their skin, what language they speak, or where they work, everyone is guaranteed constitutional rights to protect them from unlawful stops,” said Mohammad Tajsar, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.

“While it does not take a federal judge to recognize that marauding bands of masked, rifle-toting goons have been violating ordinary people’s rights throughout Southern California, we are hopeful that today’s ruling will be a step toward accountability for the federal government’s flagrant lawlessness that we have all been witnessing,” he added.

Since early June, Southern California has been the epicenter of the Trump administration’s “mass deportation” push, with thousands of immigrants detained—often by unidentified, masked agents—in sweeping raids that have traumatized Latino communities across the state.

Despite the administration publicizing the arrests of violent criminals, the vast majority of those arrested have no criminal history. More than 1,500 people have been disappeared, the ACLU said last week, “in order to meet arbitrary arrest quotas set by the Trump administration.”

“Due process, access to counsel, dignity, and respect were not afforded to our loved ones, our friends, our neighbors as ICE plowed through our community in their obsessive, racially motivated quest for quotas,” said Angelica Salas, executive director at Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “No one is above the law, and today’s decision reaffirms that President Trump and all its immigration enforcement apparatus must follow the Constitution.”

Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Continue ReadingLA Judge Orders ICE to Stop ‘Indiscriminately Rounding Up’ Immigrants Using Racial Profiling

Amnesty Condemns Trump Threat of ‘Very Heavy Force’ Against Military Parade Protesters

Spread the love

Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Protesters continue to march and chant in an approximately one-square mile area of downtown Los Angeles in response to a series of immigration raids, on June 11, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

The far-right Republican president, warned the human rights group, “is continuing to send a clear and chilling message: dissent will be punished.”

The human rights advocacy group Amnesty International USA has issued a strong rebuke and warning in response to President Donald Trump’s public threat to aim “very heavy force” at law-abiding protesters voicing their constitutionally-protected free speech during organized ‘No Kings’ protests scheduled for Saturday nationwide.

In Tuesday remarks to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he didn’t know of any planned protests timed to coincide with his $134-million parade, taking place on his birthday, but said if there are, “these are people that hate our country.”

“For those people who want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force,” Trump said, making no distinction between peaceful demonstrators and those who might be more confrontational or even violent.

“Now is a good moment to remind President Trump that protesting is a human right and that his administration is obligated to respect, protect, and fulfill the human rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly–not suppress them,” said Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA, in a statement on Wednesday.

Trump’s threat arrived after he overrode California Gov. Gavin Newsom to call up 4,000 National Guard troops in that state last weekend—and subsequently U.S. Marine forces—to confront large protests in Los Angeles that erupted in response to raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and the violent arrest of union leader David Huerta, president of SEIU California.

“The militarized response to protests, including the deployment of the National Guard and the Marines in Los Angeles, further escalates tensions and is a chilling preview of even more human rights violations that could be coming,” warned O’Brien. “The U.S. military is not trained or equipped to police civilians. It increases the risk of excessive force, arbitrary arrests, and other violations of free expression and peaceful assembly. The Trump administration has already shown us that it will use any tool of the state, including ICE, police, and military forces to target immigrants, asylum seekers, protesters, and anyone who dares to defend their rights.”

Over 1,800 coordinated ‘No Kings’ protests are being organized for July 14 to counter Trump’s growing authoritarianism and to coincide with the military parade Trump is throwing for himself in Washington, D.C., at an estimated cost of $134 million.

A new poll released Thursday shows a majority of Americans believe the parade is a waste of taxpayer money.

Approximately 6 in 10 Americans also say Trump’s parade is “not a good use” of taxpayer funds, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That number of disapproving voters includes a number of people surveyed who have no particular criticism of the parade itself.

Poll results approving of military parade.

Beyond the wasted cost, critics of the president warn that the more dangerous aspect of the parade is how the spectacle dovetails with Trump’s broader authoritarianism, including his militarized response to dissent and weaponizing state power against his perceived political enemies.

“Make no mistake,” said Amnesty’s O’Brien. “President Trump’s response to protests has nothing to do with public safety. This is his administration’s way of stoking fear and suppressing opposition. By sending police, ICE, or the military into neighborhoods to silence voices calling for justice and human rights, President Trump is continuing to send a clear and chilling message: dissent will be punished.”

Amnesty called for an immediate halt to Trump’s “militarized response” to public protest.

“The task of any law enforcement is to facilitate—not to restrict—a peaceful public assembly,” said O’Brien. “This must be clearly understood by all law enforcement officials taking part in the management of the assembly. Law enforcement must also not use violent acts of a few as a pretext to restrict or impede the human rights of others to peacefully protest.”

Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Continue ReadingAmnesty Condemns Trump Threat of ‘Very Heavy Force’ Against Military Parade Protesters