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Re:Marc Benioff: I no longer believe National Guard is neede... by ajross on Friday October 17, 2025 @06:57PM (#45623104)
> I care less about how they fix the problem

That's the logic that got Benioff in trouble.

FWIW: people like you have to realize that the Guard is not and has never been a law enforcement apparatus. The policy goal of "sending in the troops" to US cities is not and has never been crime (the metrics for which are getting better and not worse, yes even in SF).

The goal of putting military force in charge of directing civilians on city streets is and has always been giving the President, who commands that military, direct control over city streets. Right now if the white house doesn't like a protest or doesn't want it to happen, there's nothing they can do bureaucratically using their executive power to prevent it. It's a local thing. If the guard is already there waiting for orders, they can.

It sounds like hyperbole, but it's really not: the transparent purpose to this big National Guard kerfuffle is the military suppression of dissent at the direction of the President.

Re:Marc Benioff: I no longer believe National Guard is neede... by intalentive on Friday October 17, 2025 @07:47PM (#45623458)
Gov. Hochul deployed the National Guard to New York subways last year.
Re:Marc Benioff: I no longer believe National Guard is neede... by ajross on Friday October 17, 2025 @08:26PM (#45623699)
The governor of New York state has the legal ability to do that. The president of the United States does not (currently). My point is that you need to ask *why* the White House suddenly wants this power that heretofore we've been happy leaving with local governments.

And the answer, very transparently, isn't crime.

Re:Marc Benioff: I no longer believe National Guard is neede... by g-b-r on Friday October 17, 2025 @07:17PM (#45623283)
I think it's for many more things than suppression of protests
Re:Marc Benioff: I no longer believe National Guard is neede... by RickJWagner on Friday October 17, 2025 @07:18PM (#45623289)
Please provide a source that suggests Trump has suppressed a protest or something similar.
Re:Marc Benioff: I no longer believe National Guard is neede... by ajross on Friday October 17, 2025 @07:29PM (#45623364)
Seriously? It was widely reported that he attempted exactly that during the Floyd protests in 2020 (first link I got, but Esper's testimony was reported everywhere, pick your preferred media, or just find and watch the committee hearing):

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/09/1097517470/trump-esper-book-d...

That time it failed because the pentagon leadership and generals stood in unison against it and he backed down. The guardrails have been rejiggered this time and it's only the courts that protect us now.