ACLU Tweet: BREAKING: We're calling for the dismantling of the Department of Homeland Security.

[Blecht]

Link to tweet

Long overdue.

[2naSalit]

1. Never should have been assembled...

I'm good with that, maybe early next year something like that could happen.

[PatSeg]

22. Oh yes, many people opposed it in the beginning,

even George W. Bush. Now people's worst fears seem to be realized.

[Ford_Prefect]

28. When did W oppose it? He was part of the Neo-Con plan and was on board with Cheney, Feith, et al

[SharonAnn]

45. Joe Lieberman was a huge proponent of this.

[PatSeg]

49. Obviously it was a short time

as few people remember it, and he gave in quickly. I believe he thought it was an unnecessary expansion of the federal government, but his administration and republicans in congress were quick to politicize 9/11 and terrorism every chance it could. I always felt that on some level, Bush knew that his administration and republicans had over hyped terrorism and that he also knew a new agency was unnecessary. As usual, he was more of a politician, than a leader and he caved to pressure.

Apparently the small government, right-wing advocate, the Cato Institute remembered it as well and in 2011 David Rittgers wrote in an op-ed that:

"George W. Bush was right before he was wrong. Mr. Bush initially opposed the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, but he bowed to political pressure and formed a new bureaucracy and increased domestic‐​security funds."

Obviously I hesitate to post a link to any right-wing site, but a Google search of: "George Bush opposed Homeland Security" will bring up the article from almost a decade ago, that called for abolishing an agency that was born of "political and economic overreaction".

Yes, Bush's opposition was only for a nanosecond. I only brought it up to demonstrate, that even George W. Bush knew DHS was a mistake and the man who claimed to go with his gut, lacked the integrity to go with his initial gut instinct.

[Ford_Prefect]

52. While the delay by W may be true I doubt it lasted any longer than it took to write this remark.

He was a fully fledged member of the team at that point whether he knew any of the details of how 9/11 happened or not. He went with the Neo-Con plans because he likes being in on the game. He let Cheney do the heavy lifting and Intel manipulation while Doug Feith and the others herded Congress because he could pretend to be the guy in charge, a role he's always enjoyed playing.

[PatSeg]

53. Oh yes, I agree

I remember GW enjoying playing President, probably wanting to prove something to "Daddy". He was in no way prepared to face a major crisis and with his inexperience and incompetence, he was easily manipulated by the Neo-cons around him when 9/11 happened. Men with daddy issues tend to make terrible, often dangerous leaders.

I am not sure why I remember his initial stance on DHS, perhaps because it seemed uncharacteristic and he caved so quickly and so easily. With the Trump administration, it is easy to forget what a truly terrible president Bush was and I'm inclined to believe that without Bush, there might not have been a Trump presidency. Republicans pick some truly awful presidential candidates, so there's no telling who we would have ended up with.

[Ford_Prefect]

54. It seems to me important to recall that neither W nor Trump chose, they were chosen by the machine

to be the face of what passed as the GOP at that time. W was picked so Cheney and the Neo-Cons, along with a few others un-named here, could initiate the next Gulf War and mess about with the global oil market. Certain Saudis in high places wanted this and so helped enable W's rise.

Putin saw the GOP conspiracy to reframe America as the perfect opportunity to put his hand-picked shill in office. So his trolls trolled, finagled and hacked, and Vlad largely bribed the GOP and the NRA along with several other RW tools and sympathizers (Koch et al) to prop Donald up and shove him to the front.

Neither W nor Donald had the makings of a leader in even the simple sense of decision-making. Both could play the part in front of a sympathetic audience with the right script to read and plenty of minions propping up the facade.

The MSM played a regretable part in both instances and should at least bear the blame for credulity in the face of the obvious lie.

The point is that the clown-in-chief was hand-picked to distract us from the puppeteers.

[LiberalLovinLug]

40. His administration is the one that created it

[PatSeg]

50. Yes that's true

My point was Bush himself was initially opposed to it for a very brief time. See my comment above.

[Goodheart]

2. It never should have been instituted in the first place

Giant REDUNDANT bureaucracy.

[BComplex]

5. Giant DANGEROUS REDUNDANT bureaucrazy.

I totally agree. It never should have happened.

[dalton99a]

6. And a giant haven of corruption and racism

[crickets]

13. +1000000

[malaise]

3. Don't forget to thank Bush and Cheney

[CaptYossarian]

14. And 99 senators too.

Russ Feingold was the dissenting vote.

He was the one who read the bill.

[malaise]

17. And then they stole his seat

Great recall

[CaptYossarian]

18. Imagine a Rhodes scholar being replaced with Moe-Ron Johnson.

The same day Scott Walker became the governor.

That massive drilling sound we all heard was Wisconsin getting a lobotomy.

[malaise]

20. I will never forget what went down in Wisconsin with Scott Walker et al

I'm waiting to see Paul Ryan's next gig. Walker is undiluted scum and there are no words for Johnson.

I still can't figure out what will be required for a clean up

[CaptYossarian]

26. Ryan's making major coin as a lobbyist somewhere, I'm sure.

He gets to keep his insurance benefits that real Americans deserve. Don't forget, his wife's family is loaded (and not in the usual Wisconsin way), so Eddie Munster's twin isn't hurting for anything.

The rumors about Walker and Rojo are that they will run for the other's position. Walker is barely 50 and Johnson pledged to only serve 2 terms as senator. This means they will run for office in 2022--Walker for US Senate and Johnson for WI Governor.

Oh, and Mrs. Rojo came from money, just as Mrs. Ryan did. This is how Ron started his plastics mfg. business that he brags about.

I'm curious to see if the Koch shadow groups will take an interest in Scottie or will they shun him like Jeffrey Epstein ignoring a girl old enough to drive.

Have I missed any GrOPers who deserve shredding?

[Evolve Dammit]

36. I'll never forget John Conyers quote in Fahrenheit 9-11. My dear boy, do you know how many

we don't read? I'm close on that line. Voluminous documents dumped at the 11th hour and rushed voting is how they jammed crap like this on us. The war based on total fucking GOP lies and a media pushing the narrative. Yellow magnets everywhere...

[RussellCattle]

41. Yellow magnets??

[Evolve Dammit]

48. You don't remember? In the build-up to war against the country that didn't attack us, a yellow

ribbon magnet on your car meant you supported our military. Normally that is fine and dandy, but the drumbeat for war was amplified and started a division. You're with us or against us. Those who saw through the lies levied by the Bush/ Cheney admin. knew we were attacking the wrong country. Most of the 9-11 hijackers were Saudi Arabians. The war was a real hoax foisted on the citizenry. The middle east was blown up as we killed or displaced millions of Iraqis and if only Colin Powell's words "You break it, you own it" had held true. They never "owned" it. None of them. Torture, lies and no justice for any of it.
Hope that helps. It was almost 20 years ago at this point.

[RussellCattle]

55. I do remember the idiocy of the times, but had forgotten about the yellow ribbons on cars. Thanks...

....for the refresher on a memory so appalling that I'm going to have to go and write another check for the blue wave.

[IronLionZion]

16. Thanks to all these small government republicans

protecting Americans from federal agents abusing us

[dalton99a]

4. Kick

[Newest Reality]

7. YES!!!!!!!!!

[SWBTATTReg]

8. One of the worse excesses after the 9/11 attacks and rump's recent excesses as well as

members within the DHS themselves as ACLU has documented many times. A secret police force, in our own backyards, to catch, what, at the most 10 terrorists?

rump has picked the scab off of the DHS, the border patrol, and other seemingly ruthless enforcement agencies and these people seem to be enjoying doing it...to American citizens for the most part! I can't imagine who in the hell is still trying to sneak into the USA now that trump has destroyed the reputation of the US, has destroyed the economy (no jobs), has destroyed literally everything he's touched, w/ the exception of the artificially propped up stock market and the 2017 tax cut for his billionaire/millionaire friends.

[HelpImSurrounded]

9. This would have been great in 2002. It's only 18 years late

[Greybnk48]

10. Good! The sooner the better! n/t

[Magoo48]

11. Better late than never, I suppose.

[Illumination]

12. Wonderful! How about dismantling the whole darned administration because of corruption?!

[BigOleDummy]

15. Yay!

And its about time!!! Even the damn name is ..... wrong, just wrong. "Homeland Security" sounds like something from 1950's USSR

[llmart]

29. +1000

Right from the start that name gave me the creeps. Made it sound like we were nazi Germany.

Also, the money spent on them could go for better uses.

I will be sending the ACLU more money.

[nilram]

19. Note to self: send more money to ACLU

https://action.aclu.org/give/now

[Initech]

21. Should have been done years ago!!

[AllaN01Bear]

23. eggscllent. i call it homeland insecurity.

[ResistantAmerican17]

24. Hated It as soon as they picked the Reichsname.

[ancianita]

25. Homeland Security is our greatest national security threat.

[NCjack]

27. Trump says that his wall is almost finished. Obviously, there are too many CBP officers as

they can deploy to our cities to provoke citizens. So let's RIF 80% of them.

[Sierra89]

32. wall....

https://tucson.com/news/local/photos-monsoon-storm-washes-out-border-wall-construction/collection_8b29c988-d68b-11ea-b1b4-df13fe56bd76.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_Arizona_Daily_Star&fbclid=IwAR1-He62p1rvy56h6earGZyovm2IB8fQtqcsUOe-jzNiMk9UfDzk8cr0RDU#1

[NCjack]

38. Trump says it's almost finished. That is what we use as justification for going forth with

the RIF. If he wishes to change his position and say the wall is only a tiny-bit finished, then the RIF can be adjusted. As for the evidence you offer, my response is: until we have time to walk the fence and note is degree of completion and serviceability of that completed, I have to go with the president.

[NurseJackie]

30. For me, it evokes the word "Fatherland" ... I've always been distrusting and uncomfortable with it.

[ResistantAmerican17]

31. You said it better than me.....

[Hekate]

35. Same here--Right from the get-go

[sarchasm]

37. ditto

I always thought it Soviet terminology, or the Nazi equivalent Fatherland...

Even Peggy Noonan didn't like it when Bush administration proposed it at the time... "The name Homeland Security grates on a lot of people, understandably. Homeland isn't really an American word, it's not something we used to say or say now".

[NurseJackie]

46. National or Domestic would have been less grating and alarming.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

33. KnR....it's time

[Hekate]

34. Kick!

[MFGsunny]

39. PERFECT!!!!!!! Just in case you need a Plan B under MF45 :: let's just rename it ...

... Department of Homeland Endangerment.

K? K.

[cynical_idealist]

42. Department of Hate and Spite

etc

[Oneironaut]

43. The agency should not exist, IMO. Its purpose was fulfilled by other agencies.

I know the purpose was to simplify coordination in counter-terrorism efforts, but...

1 - They’re acting like domestic police now, arresting protesters. Their mission creep continues to somewhat dystopian levels, and has shown no signs of stopping. They are a hammer constantly inventing nails to justify their purpose, because an increasing threat means more funding and positive political attention.

2 - Most of their job should be done by the FBI, like it was before.

3 - Domestic terrorism is a police matter. We do not need a military-lite organization to combat terrorism - just good intelligence.

Disbanding Homeland Security will be very hard, because people will associate that with being less safe. I’m arguing that the reality is the opposite: The Department of Homeland Security is a liability, and is becoming politicized / weaponized. It is getting too much authority, and needs to go.

[pecosbob]

44. Repeal the Patriot Act as well.

When you restrict the civil liberties of your own people, you score an own goal...terrorists win.

[Azathoth]

47. Liberals will never learn

Abolish ICE
Disband the police
Dismantle DHS

These are not winning election-year messages. DHS was an Orwellian disaster since Dubya birthed it. Trump is *trying* to bait liberals into making these things campaign issues right now.

[peggysue2]

51. DHS was an over-reaction to 9/11

Before anyone had the facts and while we decided it was a perfect time to invade Iraq. Stupid moves all. However . . .

Clamoring for the dismantlement of any of these organizations--ICE, DHS, Police Departments--is malpractice during an election year. I was just talking to a schoolmate (we go back to kindergarten) and one of the first things she brought up was the Defund the Police meme.

"OMG," she said. "Can imagine not having any police????"

Yes, it's all fear driven. Exactly what Trumpers are hoping for, a-dreaming. It makes people like my friend believe that Dems are all in with dismantling any and all protective services. I tried to dissuade her of that reasoning but she wasn't convinced. She doesn't want to vote for Trump, knows he's a con artist but . . . The bothsiderism mentality is still strong in many circles.

Sorry, but if we want to stomp on our own messaging? This is a great way of doing it with only 84 days before November 3rd.

[AmericanCanuck]

56. Yah for ACLU

DHS has been a fascist organization anyway.