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Rep. Lewis to Obama: Declare martial law
The Hill's Briefing Room ^ | August 14, 2014 | Rebecca Shabad

Posted on 08/14/2014 3:28:55 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on Thursday called on President Obama to use executive authority and declare martial law in Ferguson, Mo., where protesters have clashed with police after the shooting of an unarmed black teenager.

“My own feeling is right now is President Obama should use the authority of his office to declare martial law,” Lewis said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” “Federalize that Missouri National Guard to protect people as they protest,”

Lewis, an icon of the 1960s civil rights movement, said it is “unreal” to see what the police are doing in Ferguson.

“People have a right to protest. They have a right to dissent. They have a right to march in an orderly peaceful nonviolent fashion,” he said. “Ferguson, Mo., is not the Congo, not China, not Russia. We can do better.”

The Ferguson Police Department is facing criticism after officers armed with military-grade weaponry on Wednesday night cracked down on protesters. The police fired tear gas into crowds and also briefly arrested two reporters from the Huffington Post and Washington Post during the crackdown.

Lewis said the police force operating there in military garb is only further inciting protests, and said the state’s National Guard should be ordered in.

Asked if Obama could unilaterally declare martial law without permission from Gov. Jay Nixon (D-Mo.), Lewis cited President Kennedy’s use of national guardsmen in the 1960s.

In 1961, Lewis said Kennedy federalized the National Guard in Montgomery, Ala., to protect the public during unrest amid the civil rights movement.

“And if it hadn't been for the National Guard, ordered there by President Kennedy, and the U.S. marshals, some of us would have died there that night,” Lewis said.

President Obama spoke about the situation just after Lewis’s interview and urged for “peace and calm” in Ferguson.

Obama made no mention about sending in National Guard troops, but did say he spoke with Gov. Nixon Thursday afternoon. Nixon said he plans to remove the local police force.

Lewis’s colleagues from the Congressional Black Caucus also released an updated statement about the violence Thursday in which one lawmaker said the current police crackdown already amounted to martial law.

“A young, unarmed man was shot by a police officer. A small town is under what is essentially martial law. Tear gas and rubber bullets are being used against everyday citizens,” said Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). Serious and sweeping civil rights violations may have taken place in Ferguson, Missouri.”

Conyers said removing the St. Louis County Police Department from Ferguson is “an important step towards restoring peace and allowing for an independent, thorough investigation to take place.

“The people of Ferguson deserve nothing less,” he said.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Georgia; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: andreamitchell; blacks; ferguson; johnlewis; martiallaw; missouri; msnbc; nixon; obama; raceriots; usefulidiot
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

As a Georgian, I would be embarrassed by this moron, but, unfortunately, he, too, is a perfect representative for his district.


21 posted on 08/14/2014 4:07:26 PM PDT by Little Ray (How did I end up in this hand-basket, and why is it getting so hot?)
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To: molson209
I would be very careful with this big can of sh@t. You open it up and a few million patriots come spilling out and they have been in the sh@t before and don't care. We remember the oath we took and remember when our blood was up. We are old but remember what it's like to be SOF.
22 posted on 08/14/2014 4:39:45 PM PDT by lostboy61 (Lock and Load and stand your ground!.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Why is a rep from GA commenting on a situation in MO. This fool needs to shut his trap and mind his business.


23 posted on 08/14/2014 5:05:36 PM PDT by Henry Hnyellar
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The president cannot declare martial law without a request from the governor, who must declare martial law first.


24 posted on 08/14/2014 5:07:28 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: Henry Hnyellar

Being black and a “civil rights icon” the world is his oyster.


25 posted on 08/14/2014 5:07:41 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself.)
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To: lostboy61; molson209

He really thinks he’d win in that scenario. All this sycophancy from the media, academia, the RINOs and Hollywood have gone to his head.


26 posted on 08/14/2014 5:09:36 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself.)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy
I don’t think he has a clue of what martial law is.

I believe that you are on to something...To the Obama dumbocrats, martial law is anything that they want it to be. They believe that this will enable Obama to make the law whatever he wants it to be...
27 posted on 08/14/2014 5:18:47 PM PDT by Delta Dawn (Fluent in two languages: English and cursive.)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

Lewis, in general, “doesn’t have a clue”. Too many beatings during the civil rights marches has turned his brain to mush.

Once a very brave and honorable man. Today, a leftist, racist brain-addled/damaged fool.


28 posted on 08/14/2014 5:25:36 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Ah, Lewis longing for the days when he was a real civil rights leader before he became a pimp and paid liar for the Democratic plantation.


29 posted on 08/14/2014 5:28:48 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (His Arrogance would love to replace John Kerry-Heinz but all the trained monkeys turned him down.)
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To: Theoria

But the difference is that they were lying.


30 posted on 08/14/2014 6:18:06 PM PDT by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Lewis hasn’t been ‘right’ since R Limbaugh biatched slapped him in public over and asinine statement he made. In public.

Basically Lewis had said that millions of slaves were thrown over board in transit from Africa to New York or wherever.
Rush did the math and figured that if 2 million had been thrown overboard it would have been over 200 hundred a day or so, and seeing as it was a ‘cash crop’ didn’t seem to make any sense.

Lewis (to prove his gross stupidity) responded to R and said maybe he was wrong on the 2 million, maybe it was only 1 million -and besides, the sharks still patrolled the same waters looking for the carcasses.

Rush said ok....lets say 1 million....that would make it 100 a day and who could afford that????

(Above a rough ‘translation’ to an event that took place a few years ago)


31 posted on 08/14/2014 6:48:53 PM PDT by xrmusn ((6/98)a GUN is like a parachute. If you need one, and don't have one-probably never need one again.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

He sez this isn’t a dictatorship, and to prove it, Zero should rule by decree. Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.


32 posted on 08/14/2014 8:49:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I think Representative Lewis is duly concerned the protests could spread to Guam, and too many people on one side of the island would tip it over.


33 posted on 08/14/2014 9:23:23 PM PDT by Tench_Coxe (For every Allende, there is a Pinochet)
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To: Tench_Coxe

I know it was Johnson.
But the martial law thing is stupid.
Definite betrayal of where the Lib mindset is...


34 posted on 08/14/2014 9:28:41 PM PDT by Tench_Coxe (For every Allende, there is a Pinochet)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

My understanding is that due to an Executive Order of Czar B.O., if MARTIAL LAW is declared, the EPA and not the MILITARY is the controlling agency!


35 posted on 08/15/2014 3:33:02 AM PDT by leprechaun9
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Someone stuck in mommas basement too long in life has an infatuation with The Hunger Games.


36 posted on 08/15/2014 3:44:03 AM PDT by Spartan302 (Summer in Alaska, winter in Australia! Riding year round.)
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To: fieldmarshaldj; BillyBoy; NFHale; sickoflibs; stephenjohnbanker; Clintonfatigued

This dude needs to retire.


37 posted on 08/15/2014 5:12:05 AM PDT by Impy (Think for yourself)
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To: Spartan302

If having a crush on Jennifer Lawrence is wrong, I don’t want to be right.


38 posted on 08/15/2014 5:30:54 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: Impy; AuH2ORepublican; Clintonfatigued; BillyBoy

He did one good thing* in his entire life here in Nashville 50+ years ago and has been riding it ever since, despite being more totalitarian and fascist than the “Good Ole (White) Boys” he sought to overthrow. He’s been a mush-mouthed, addle-brained race baiter for much of his career (who could forget his “Dey comin’ fo...!” speech on the floor of the House, one of the most shameful bits of demagoguery in modern history).

(*perhaps two good things, as he did beat the presumed successor to Wyche Fowler, the uber-arrogant and entitled State Sen. Julian Bond. Bond has almost as high an opinion of himself as Zero... almost).


39 posted on 08/15/2014 5:40:22 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Once again, civil rights leaders pushing the idea that the rioters are those “other people”. I’m surprised they haven’t blamed the Jews for rioting.


40 posted on 08/15/2014 5:42:24 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you really want to annoy someone, point out something obvious they are trying hard to ignore.)
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