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 |  Subject: Annexation: Washington state leaders struggle to excuse or ignore leftist-vermin which took control of a poLICE precinct and six blocks of the largest city in the state  Sat Jun 13, 2020 11:30 pm | |
| How Seattle autonomous zone is dangerously defining leadership
In Seattle, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or Chaz, seeks to create a communal experiment in governing free of cops. With raucous meetings in the Seattle People Department, formerly known as the Seattle Police Department in the East Precinct, Chaz remains a work in progress covered in graffiti and poor in details.
Beyond its barricaded border, however, Chaz is redefining governance. In Seattle, Democatric Mayor Jenny Durkan is dismissing the concept that her role requires her to lead. In Washington, President Trump is claiming authority he does not have to retake the District of Columbia. It is the tale of two different cities, with one official abdicating her authority and the other exaggerating his.
Washington state leaders have struggled to excuse or ignore that people have taken control of a police precinct and six blocks of the largest city in the state. Democratic Governor Jay Inslee was widely ridiculed for denying he was aware of the takeover, which has been the focus of every major network and newspaper for days.
As Inslee struggled with his denial, Durkan moved quickly to acceptance. Despite images of men walking around Chaz with weapons and extensive property damage, Durkan shrugged off suggestions that she might have a responsibility to regain control of the area. In an interview, she described the takeover as nothing more than a block party. Pressed about when she might act, Durkan said she might just abandon the area and allow for a summer of love. Nevertheless, both Durkan and Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best denied giving the order to abandon the precinct.
In some ways, that was the greatest achievement of the anarchist contingent, as the government seems to have melted away, not just for Chaz but in all of Seattle. Indeed, they are witnessing what Frederick Engels once foretold as the goal of marxism. He said, “The state is not abolished, it withers away.”
The support from Durkan for their “desire to build a better world" ignores the fact that she was elected to govern the entire city. Withdrawing police and acquiescing to mob control of the area is antithetical to the most basic concepts of governance. Indeed, unwilling citizens of Chaz could sue over the decision to surrender control of their precinct. The city also could be sued for damages caused by its abandonment.
The irony is that Durkan and the city would be protected by the very thing the denizens of Chaz, and Democratic leaders, have called to eliminate, which is immunity. Police have won lawsuits over the failure to prevent injuries or to respond to calls as being a discretionary decision left to a city. Some of those cases turned on the “public duty doctrine” shielding governments from liability in refusing to act to enforce laws.
In the 19th century, the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit against a sheriff who allowed a gang of workmen to effectively hold a man hostage over unpaid money. The justices ruled that the sheriff owed a duty to the public rather than to individual citizens. Durkan could rely on the same antebellum precedent to excuse her own refusal to act in Chaz.
While Durkan abandons her duties, Trump is threatening to exceed his own. He tweeted that the “anarchist takeover” in Seattle is a case of domestic terrorism. Whatever Chaz is, it is not terrorism. The mayhem has been largely peaceful, if also destructive, and his habit of calling critics and protesters “traitors” is unnerving. But he went further, telling Seattle officials to take back the city or he would do it himself. This assertion of authority is as radically overstated as the one by Durkan is radically understated.
Under our federal system, police powers largely reside with the states. The Constitution gives Congress powers to overcome disturbances. Article One authorizes it to “provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.” However, the Seattle disorder is not an insurrection or a challenge to federal authority. It is a local protest that is allowed to continue by city officials.
With the Insurrection Act, Congress authorized presidents to use troops in response to rioting that rises to a level that “opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.” The president may intervene when requested by a state to suppress insurrection. In this case, there is neither a rebellion nor a request. The Insurrection Act also allows for unilateral action in cases of unlawful obstruction, assemblies, or rebellion against the United States.
Yet there is no challenge to federal authority when city officials have allowed the local protest to continue. Moreover, the law grants federal authority on conditions that “make it impracticable to enforce the laws” in any state with “the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.” The reason is that, as long as courts are operating, the rule of law can be enforced, and Chaz does not prevent the courts in Seattle from meeting.
While Trump has said he would not want excessive actions but rather “force with compassion” in Chaz, that still would exceed any design by the Constitution. As with his erroneous claims that he could order the opening of states during the pandemic, Trump is exceeding his power as the president. In comparison, Chaz is functioning precisely as intended, that it is not functioning at all.
Activists there have insisted that they “demand abolition” of the police, the criminal justice system, the gentrification of cities, and a growing list of other actions, including calls for the resignation of Durkan and the jailing of Trump. It is the talk of the town where citizens are pushing for the free delivery of everything from cigarettes to body lotion and basking in the relative clarity of anarchy.
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/502576-how-seattle-autonomous-zone-is-dangerously-defining-leadership
:antifa: 
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“The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime.”-- Max Stirner
"Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the government officials committing it." -- Kurt Hofmann |
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