What is ‘necessary’ force?

This has been a difficult issue for me to publish and there is more that should be here. Sometimes, the weight of it all—I refer not only to wanton cruelty but pointless stupidity and sheer animus—is more than I can bear.


Updates

  1. Originally published, April 4, 11:28 am.
  2. April 4, 9:37 pm:
    • Donald Trump’s Twitter rant about a ‘caravan’ of Central American refugees is, well, just unhinged.[1] (Unauthorized migration)
  3. April 6, 10:18 am:
    • Kate Morrissey covers the difficulties of implementing Donald Trump’s request—this is an order he can’t give on his own—to deploy the National Guard to the Mexican border.[2] Approval for the plan from California’s Governor Jerry Brown should not, ahem, be taken for granted.[3] (Unauthorized migration)
    • I am not caught up.
  4. April 6, 12:02 pm:
    • The story that has been one more than I could take is of the Israeli shooting of Palestinian protesters in a March of Return to the boundary between Israel and Gaza. Seventeen are dead, hundreds wounded.[4] (Gaza)
  5. April 6, 1:43 pm:
    • There have apparently been more deaths on the second Friday of the March of Return to the Gaza-Israel boundary. (Gaza)
  6. April 6, 5:59 pm:
    • Attorney General Jeff Sessions has directed federal prosecutors in states along the U.S.-Mexico border to prioritize criminal prosecutions of unauthorized migrants.[5] (Unauthorized migration)

Stephon Clark

This story, which I have excluded previously, now seems like it might—only might—actually develop in a substantive direction.

Sasha Abramsky, “The increasingly authoritarian big picture around Stephon Clark’s death,” Sacramento Bee, April 1 , 2018, http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article207637364.html

Alexei Koseff, “Police could only use deadly force when ‘necessary’ under new California proposal,” Sacramento Bee, April 3, 2018, http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/newsletters/capitol-alert-newsletter/article207741689.html


Russian sanctions

The question of what is up with Donald Trump and Russia remains open.

John Bowden, “State Department: Expelled diplomats can be replaced,” Hill, April 3, 2018, http://thehill.com/policy/international/381432-state-department-expelled-diplomats-can-be-replaced


For-profit schools

That for-profit schools continue to be accredited, even by accreditors not set up to coddle them,[6] exposes accreditation as a lie.

Andrew Kreighbaum, “DeVos Restores Recognition of For-Profit Accreditor Terminated by Obama Administration,” Inside Higher Ed, April 4, 2018, https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/04/04/devos-restores-recognition-profit-accreditor-terminated-obama-administration


Unauthorized migration

Emily Cadei and Anita Kumar, “Send National Guard to border? California is undecided,” Sacramento Bee, April 4, 2018, http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article207982484.html

Kate Morrissey, “Can Trump install troops on the California border? He faces obstacles, experts say,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2018, http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-border-troops-explainer-20180404-story.html

Joshua Partlow, “The migrant caravan denounced by Trump will end in Mexico City, but some people vow to go on alone,” Washington Post, April 4, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the-migrant-caravan-denounced-by-trump-will-end-in-mexico-city-but-some-people-vow-to-go-on-alone/2018/04/04/e0a8fa96-378c-11e8-af3c-2123715f78df_story.html

Lydia Wheeler and Rafael Bernal, “Sessions orders ‘zero tolerance’ policy at Southwest border,” Hill, April 6, 2018, http://thehill.com/regulation/administration/381991-sessions-orders-zero-tolerance-policy-at-southwest-border


Gaza

I will say it again: A state funded in response to genocide cannot itself engage in ethnic cleansing of any sort. When it does so, it forfeits its legitimacy, its right to exist. Further, the Israeli shooting of hundreds of unarmed protesters demonstrates again how nonviolence advocates risk complicity with the oppressor.[7]
An update, Friday (April 6), on Twitter:

Neve Gordon, “Gaza’s Passover massacre,” Al Jazeera, April 1, 2018, https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/gaza-passover-massacre-180401075721153.html


  1. [1]Joshua Partlow, “The migrant caravan denounced by Trump will end in Mexico City, but some people vow to go on alone,” Washington Post, April 4, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the-migrant-caravan-denounced-by-trump-will-end-in-mexico-city-but-some-people-vow-to-go-on-alone/2018/04/04/e0a8fa96-378c-11e8-af3c-2123715f78df_story.html
  2. [2]Kate Morrissey, “Can Trump install troops on the California border? He faces obstacles, experts say,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2018, http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-border-troops-explainer-20180404-story.html
  3. [3]Emily Cadei and Anita Kumar, “Send National Guard to border? California is undecided,” Sacramento Bee, April 4, 2018, http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article207982484.html
  4. [4]Neve Gordon, “Gaza’s Passover massacre,” Al Jazeera, April 1, 2018, https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/gaza-passover-massacre-180401075721153.html; Michael Lerner to Tikkun mailing list, “Mourning for the 17 Palestinians killed & hundreds wounded,” April 3, 2018, http://org.salsalabs.com/o/525/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=376
  5. [5]Lydia Wheeler and Rafael Bernal, “Sessions orders ‘zero tolerance’ policy at Southwest border,” Hill, April 6, 2018, http://thehill.com/regulation/administration/381991-sessions-orders-zero-tolerance-policy-at-southwest-border
  6. [6]Andrew Kreighbaum, “DeVos Restores Recognition of For-Profit Accreditor Terminated by Obama Administration,” Inside Higher Ed, April 4, 2018, https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/04/04/devos-restores-recognition-profit-accreditor-terminated-obama-administration
  7. [7]Neve Gordon, “Gaza’s Passover massacre,” Al Jazeera, April 1, 2018, https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/gaza-passover-massacre-180401075721153.html

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