I don’t think “authority” necessarily means “legal authority” here, rather than just “we can’t make them”. Local EMS personnel can’t actually force (in the literal sense) federal agents to do anything and, at least to me, the tone of this memo implies that the person writing it is not happy about the state of affairs. The option to record that a federal agent refused patient transport seems like it is designed with the intent of recording whom to blame on the assumption that someone will get blamed eventually once the political situation changes. (I assume the name being obtained is the name of the agent.)
I understand, and I don’t blame the Fire Department for sending the bulletin. Probably the best thing they could do in the situation.
What is fucking ridiculous, is:
•The fact that this administration has created a task force (in the name of safety, of course) that is clearly putting individuals at risk.
•That they have thrown together a bizarre hodgepodge of what appears to be every federal agency they could possibly think of when they were writing the memo for the task force, and then unleashed them alongside armed agents to live out their cop fantasies in an American city like they’re in some fucked up IRL Westworld scenario.
•That this is clearly the first step in escalating and expanding what ICE has been doing this entire time to include every American that doesn’t fall in line.
•That they have chosen one of the poorest areas of the country (where I was born, and where the federal government had to be deployed to enforce civil rights just one generation before me), to use as a testing ground for their fucked up authoritarian experiment bulldozing civil rights, and they chose it because they thought nobody would notice or care enough if they did notice.
So the people in charge of safety are the least trained with an overriding fuck you mentality. What could possibly go wrong!
It’s not like the EMS can fight the feds to take away the patient when they refuse. To me this text doesn’t really sound like Chief Angie Sullivan is okay with it either. I think on the contrary, having this record could be very valuable to at least keep the feds accountable after the fact when they fuck up the care of arrested people.
Sure, I’ll ask the Fed their name. Then I’ll write John Doe, just like they said.
Everybody on that stage looks so fucking uncomfortable and worried except ole Bill Lee.
The vibe of this picture looks like a press conference is being held to discuss a disturbing high profile murder, not to discuss how this is willing collaboration that everyone is on board with.
Vibes of being forced into painfully uncomfortable silence as a scary authoritarian makes themselves at home.
I don’t even know who this guy is. I assume National Guard, but even he seems like he might be having something of an “Are we the baddies?” moment of existential crisis?
Would be interesting to be a fly on the wall during the uncomfortable conversation that preceded that clearly uncomfortable press conference.
“I am innocent of all the charges made against me. I did not plan, I did not authorize, and I did not commit any of the alleged crimes.” -Hermann Goering
“The defendants, who are responsible for these crimes, are not German patriots, but traitors to the German people.” -Sir Hartley Shawcross, British prosecutor
Some of the people sentenced at Nuremberg were civilian judges whose “only” crime was being willing to lend the weight of their authority to Nazi law enforcement that led to Jewish people being subjected to Nazi lawlessness.
In its decision, the Justice trial tribunal considered what it called Schlegelberger’s “hesitant injustices.” The tribunal concluded that Schlegelberger “loathed the evil that he did” and that his real love was for the “life of the intellect, the work of the scholar.” In the end he resigned because “the cruelties of the system were too much for him.” Despite its obvious sympathy with Schlegelberger’s plight, the tribunal found him guilty. It pointed out that the decision of a man of his stature to remain in office lent credibilty to the Nazi regime. Moreover, Schegelberger signed his name to orders that, in the tribunal’s judgment, constituted crimes. One case described in the decision involved the prosecution in 1941 of a Jew (Luftgas) accused of “hoarding eggs.” Schlegelberger gave Luftgas a two-and-a-half-year sentence, but then Hitler indicated that he wanted the convicted man executed. Although Schlegelberger may well have protested, he signed his name to the order that led to the execution of Luftgas. Another case cited by the tribunal concerned a remission-of-sentence order signed by Schlegelberger. Scheleberger explained in his decision that the sentence imposed against a police officer who was convicted of beating a Jewish milking hand would have been bad for the morale of officers.
Four of the judges got life, six got from five to ten years, and six others went free in one way or another.
Yes, we should try all SCOTUS members who have given material support to Project 2025. Anyone who has given support is guilty of treason. We have to clean house now unfortunately.
Federal Agencies currently occupying Memphis, TN as part of Trump’s Memphis Safe Task Force:
National Guard
Department of Defense,
Department of Treasury
Department of Justice
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Housing and Urban development
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Transportation
U.S. Marshalls
FBI
ATF
DEA
Homeland Security Investigations
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of TN.
As well as the following local and state agencies being asked to comply and join the task force:
Memphis Police Department, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the Memphis Area Transit Authority, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, the Tennessee Alcohol Beverage Commission, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Tennessee State Probation and Parole Office, the Tennessee Department of Corrections, the Arkansas State Police, the Mississippi State Police, the Shelby County Attorney’s Office, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, the Memphis City Prosecutor’s Office, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Shelby County Pretrial Services, the Shelby County Probation Section, and other Federal, State, and local officials as appropriate.
Memphis activists stage Downtown march to protest xAI, National Guard deployment
Look how small that government is
So much savings!
