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THROWBACK!! Police injured, more than 200 arrested at Trump’s inauguration protests in DC.

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THROWBACK!! Police injured, more than 200 arrested at Trump’s inauguration protests in DC.

FLASHBACK FROM CNN:

CNN) —  

Six police officers were injured and 217 protesters arrested Friday after a morning of peaceful protests and coordinated disruptions of Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony gave way to ugly street clashes in downtown Washington.

At least two DC police officers and one other person were taken to the hospital after run-ins with protesters, DC Fire Spokesman Vito Maggiolo told CNN. Acting DC Police Chief Peter Newsham said the officers’ injuries were considered minor and not life threatening.

Bursts of chaos erupted on 12th and K streets as black-clad “antifascist” protesters smashed storefronts and bus stops, hammered out the windows of a limousine and eventually launched rocks at a phalanx of police lined up in an eastbound crosswalk. Officers responded by launching smoke and flash-bang devices, which could be heard from blocks away, into the street to disperse the crowds.

“Pepper spray and other control devices were used to control the criminal actors and protect persons and property,” police said.

Anti-Trump protests also broke out Friday in US cities, including New York, Seattle, Dallas, Chicago and Portland, Oregon. Authorities in Seattle say one person was in critical condition at a hospital with a gunshot wound. Demonstrations also took place overseas in Hong Kong, Berlin and London.

In Washington, Newsham told CNN the several hundred demonstrators who actively confronted police were vastly outnumbered by the thousands of nonviolent protesters who swarmed the nation’s capital for Inauguration Day and Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington.

“We have been pointing out all along that this is a very isolated incident, and by and large, everything is going peacefully and a lot of folks have come to the city to enjoy this historic day, not only the Capitol but walking all around the city,” he said.

But many protesters, including permitted marchers, accused security personnel of denying them access to their planned routes.

Ashley Link, 37, made her way to Franklin Square after an ANSWER Coalition protest slated for the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue, about a mile away, was effectively blocked by what many there described as onerous security restrictions. She expressed concern that isolated clashes with police would overshadow other messages on display, but sympathized with the rowdier elements in the street.

“I’m all about peaceful protesting, practicing nonviolence, but at the same time, I understand why people are so frustrated,” she said. “They are so upset about so many things in our country right now that to make a poster? There’s not a poster big enough to cover all the things that people are frustrated about.”

Hours earlier, Lysander Reid-Powell, a 20-year-old student from New Mexico, joined in a Black Lives Matter-led blockade of an entrance onto the National Mall.

“I think Donald Trump is a fascist, and it’s very easy for people, especially people who are in pain, to slip into fascism,” he said. “It’s easy for people to feel like the individual has no power and that you’re just one small little ant in the big hill, so ultimately all that matters is popular resistance.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=822550949789110272&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2017%2F01%2F19%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-inauguration-protests-womens-march%2Findex.html&siteScreenName=cnn&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

Another protester is screaming at the crew smashing a limo. Lots of ppl here frustrated by actions of few: pic.twitter.com/CgSzqHZ3Lm— Greg Krieg (@GregJKrieg) January 20, 2017

As Trump supporters and other spectators began to emerge from their hotels, many in the new president’s signature red caps, and head for the security checkpoints on Friday morning, protesters at multiple entry points sought to cut off access by staging coordinated sit-ins. As the swearing-in ceremony neared around noon, hundreds of people remained snarled in long lines.

Three women were chained together at the neck on 10th Street, and more than 150 DisruptJ20 demonstrators surrounded an entrance near the Canadian embassy. “This checkpoint is closed,” they chanted, forcing Trump supporters to turn back and walk along Indiana Avenue in search of a clearer path.

An assortment of “pop up” protests also lined the streets surrounding the secure zones on the mall. “We’re here to take a stand against the ideas that Trump spouted throughout the course of this campaign – sexism, Islamophobia, his bigotry and nationalism,” said protester Jed Holtz, from New York City.

The protests did not stop at the checkpoints. A half-dozen members of “Democracy Spring,” a group that agitates against the influence of money in politics, obtained tickets that placed them within shouting distance of the swearing-in ceremony.

As Trump stepped forward to to take the oath of office, six protesters, each wearing a letter of the word “RESIST,” stood up to chant the preamble to US Constitution.

Their shouting made it difficult for those seated nearby – including former campaign staffers and volunteers, as well as Trump’s ex-wife Ivana Trump – to hear Trump utter the words that officially made him the 45th President of the United States.

The disruption was compounded when, much as it happened at Trump’s campaign rallies, his supporters responded, erupting in shouts of “Trump, Trump, Trump!” as they tried to drown out the interlopers.

Liberal groups praised the work of protesters, many of whom traveled from around the country to rail against a president they called “illegitimate” in thousands of signs and songs.

“The only source of light on this miserable day is the massive, multi-racial, multi-generational progressive resistance movement led by women and people of color that’s already emerging to confront Donald Trump’s agenda of hate and growing stronger every single day,” Democracy for America Executive Director Charles Chamberlain said in a statement following the inaugural ceremony.

Demonstrations elsewhere

In New York, nine people were arrested for disorderly conduct, according to the New York Police Department. Authorities said five people were arrested at a protest in Dallas, six in Chicago.

In Portland, Oregon, protesters were armed with clubs, sticks and throwing unknown liquid at officers, according to the Portland Police Department. Six people were arrested in Portland Friday, Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson tells CNN.

In Seattle, people threw bricks and other items at officers during a demonstration on the the University of Washington campus, city police said. Harborview Medical Center in Seattle confirmed it was treating a man who was shot at the protest and is in critical condition. Seattle police said a man turned himself in to campus police and was being questioned.

Global protests

The anti-Trump protests extended well beyond water’s edge, with rallies popping up in Australia, London, Hong Kong and Berlin – where demonstrators held a sign that read, “Walls divide.” In the West Bank, Palestinians protested against Israeli settlements and Trump’s plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

In Sydney, anti-Trump protesters and Trump supporters spilled into the city’s streets Saturday to protest the US President.

Thousands of people attended a Women’s March in Martin Place in the central part of the city. Event organizers claimed nearly 5,000 people attended the march, but Sydney police estimate that the number was closer to 3,000.

Chants from the crowd included “women united will never be defeated” and “when women’s rights are under attack, what do we do, stand up fight back.”

A separate, smaller protest of approximately 30 people, in support of Trump also took place at Martin Place on Saturday.

The pro-Trump crowd waved US and confederate flags in the air and shouted: “It’s all over lefty scum” and “drain the swamp,” witness to the protest Eliza Berlage told CNN. Some Trump enthusiast also carried placards saying “Aussies for Trump,” Berlage said.

The police refrained the pro-Trump protesters from going into the area with the anti-Trump protesters.

Scuffles ensued as police tried to physically restrain some of the rally goers, Berlage said.

DeploraBall

On Thursday night in Washington, protesters gathered on 14th Street outside the National Press Club to demonstrate against “DeploraBall,” an event organized by some of Trump’s most aggressive online supporters. The name riffs off the campaign description of some Trump backers by his defeated opponent, Hillary Clinton, as a “basket of deplorables.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=822249903522975745&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2017%2F01%2F19%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-inauguration-protests-womens-march%2Findex.html&siteScreenName=cnn&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

#DeploraBall entrants passing through behind cops being serenaded (“Racist bow ties”) pic.twitter.com/WMtbAsKwpe— Greg Krieg (@GregJKrieg) January 20, 2017

As attendees – some of whom were clad in suits and red hats, others dressed in gowns – entered the event, demonstrators chanted “Shame” and “Nazis go home” behind a phalanx of police. Some held signs that read “No Alt Reich” and “No Nazi USA.”

The Women’s March gets ready for prime time

On Saturday, the Women’s March on Washington could attract a quarter million participants, organizers said.

“We’re really trying to set a tone of resistance for the coming years,” Lacy MacAuley, a DisruptJ20 organizer, told CNN. “Donald Trump represents a shift in our politics in a dangerous, harmful, exclusionary direction. We oppose those policies of hate.”

According to Department of Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson, as many as 900,000 spectators may attend inaugural ceremonies.

Johnson told reporters last week that 28,000 security personnel from dozens of agencies, including local and out-of-town police officers, will be fanned out across the city on Inauguration Day and into the weekend.

Organizers of the march, which begins near Capitol Hill at 10 a.m. ET, now say internal divisions, many of them stemming from a divisive Democratic primary fight, are being put aside in the name of solidarity.

“We have already proven that Hillary and Bernie Sanders supporters can work together against fascism, xenophobia, and racism,” Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American Muslim activist from Brooklyn, told CNN.

The march, which began with a modest Facebook call in the aftermath of the election, has grown in to what could be one of the larger political demonstrations ever in DC.

There are more than 600 “sister marches” planned around the country and fundraising for the event has largely come in chunks of $20 and $30 online donations.

“It really reminds me of the Sanders campaign,” Sarsour said. “A very grassroots, very grass-powered movement.”

Politics

Foreign-born population soars to new record under Biden; highest rate of immigrants since 1910

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Foreign-born population soars to new record under Biden; highest rate of immigrants since 1910

The U.S. has had a massive surge in immigration this year, with as many as 1.5 million newcomers and a record 46.2 million foreign-born people, according to a report for the Center for Immigration Studies.

After a deep trough last year, likely because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel and migration restrictions imposed to control the spread, the flow of people rebounded around the time President Biden was elected.

In numbers never seen before, they are coming legally through airports and land border crossings and illegally across the Rio Grande and remote regions of Arizona and California.

“There was pent-up demand for legal immigration, and illegal immigration has exploded in one of the greatest surges, if not the greatest, we’ve ever seen,” said Steven A. Camarota, the demographer who was the chief author of the report. “It’s driving the numbers up and up and up.”

As it stands, 14.2% of the U.S. population is foreign-born, or 1 out of every 7 people. That is the highest rate of immigrants in the population since 1910, when the number was 14.7%. At current trends, the government says, the U.S. will break that record well before the end of this decade.

Those numbers are even starker given the reversal of trends.

The data showed a drop of 1.2 million immigrants from February to September 2020, likely the result of coronavirus restrictions blocking new entrants, even as outmigration continued. That left the population of the foreign-born — the Census Bureau’s term — at 43.8 million.

It was up to 45 million by January and marched steadily to the current 46.2 million total shown for last month.

In the year after President Trump’s election, the immigrant population flattened.

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Mashup: MSM worst moments of 2021

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Salvation Army’s Internal Survey Suggests Only Whites Are Racist

“I Took The Salvation Army’s Internal Survey On ‘Racism’ Within The Organization. Here’s What I Discovered.”

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Salvation Army’s Internal Survey Suggests Only Whites Are Racist

The Salvation Army has recently come under significant fire for asking white donors to “offer a sincere apology” for racism. The nearly 150-year old organization created a curriculum entitled “Let’s Talk About Racism” and shared it with its members, along with associated DEI Trainings that cite and draw from Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi’s work.  The packet argues that Christians should “stop trying to be ‘colorblind’” and that they should apologize for being “antagonistic.. to black people or the culture, values and interests of the black community.” In response, donors by the thousands have vowed not to donate until the organization reverses their stance.

The Salvation Army has denied any wrongdoing, defiantly calling the allegations that they have gone woke “false.” While they admit that the topic of race in America can be fraught with controversy, they have denied they have “gone woke.”  Much of their denial centers around their claim that use of the guide was completely voluntary, and that they are not peddling critical race narratives in their organization.

I obtained a copy of The Salvation Army’s internal survey on “racism within the Salvation Army” and tested that claim.

One Salvation Army officer reached out on condition of anonymity to Color Us United, the raceblind advocacy organization which I run, to reveal an internal survey he was asked to take. It was not a voluntary survey, and was sent by the Territorial Diversity and Inclusion Secretary to every Salvation Army Officer in the US Central Territory. The purpose of the survey, according to an email from the “Territorial Racial Diversity and Inclusion Secretary,” was “to better understand perception of institutional racial bias within The Salvation Army.” The accompanying email stated that there was no “preconceived idea” with regard to whether or not racism existed in The Salvation Army, and told recipients that there were no wrong answers.

I sat down and went through the questions.  

First, Questions #1, #2, and #3 asked me for my race, age, and gender.  I could not skip these questions.  Already, I felt uncomfortable being required to list my personal attributes.  If I was an officer, I would be wondering: how could this information be used against me in the future? (They did promise anonymity in this survey.)

The survey then asks Salvationists if they agree with the following definition of racism: “Institutional racism refers to organizational or system processes, behaviors, policies, or procedures, which produce negative outcomes for nonwhites relative to those for whites.” The remaining questions in the survey are dependent upon agreeing to this definition of racism. For any Officer or Soldier who disagrees with this framing, there is no way to express any disagreement or nuance apart from plainly saying that racism does not exist.

Question #6 goes on to ask the survey taker whether they believe there is any institutional bias or racism in The Salvation Army. Question #7 says: “If you answered no to question #6, do you think others in The Salvation Army think there are racial tensions or institutional racism?” The purpose of these questions, I started to feel, was to force the survey taker to admit that The Salvation Army is institutionally racist according to their definition of racism. There is no room for any Officer to elaborate on how they disagree with the definitions, framing, or worldview informing the questions.

The final question asks: “What is the best way to address Racism in The Salvation Army?” The answer options are: “individual reconciliation,” “group reconciliation,” “addressing structures and practices that cause racism,” “all of the above,” or “other.” Note that there is no option for the survey taker to simply say that racism is not a problem in The Salvation Army. The survey (which according to the email, was “intended to go to all the officers within your division, employees, and soldiers” for the Central Territory) simply assumes that racism is present in the organization.

Going through the survey, it became apparent that the survey was attempting to lead me to making only one conclusion about The Salvation Army – that it harbored problematic racism.  

This belief is one of the core tenets of critical race theory. Critical race theorists teach that racism is ubiquitous in all aspects of American life. They also teach that it works systemically; that is, by being ingrained in the systems and institutions that operate in society. Their primary evidence of the system being racist is the reality that individuals from different demographics have different life outcomes on average, without taking into account any variables that might impact said life outcomes apart from the color of their skin. All of these concepts are reflected in The Salvation Army’s survey.

Any officer who believes in individualism, colorblindness, and meritocracy will be unable to answer any of the survey questions in good faith. Any officer who believes that The Salvation Army is not a racist organization would not be able to answer these questions in good faith either.  Many (if not most) Americans believe that racism is primarily an issue of individuals who harbor feelings of hate against those of other races, not a society-wide conspiracy as alleged by antiracist activists. This survey totally excludes the colorblind perspective from the conversation and forces Officers and other Salvationists into a critical race theory-informed box.

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