 So, I was previously mistakenly under the impression that democracies are supposed to protect journalists, but apparently that's not what we do in America. Because a federal court just ruled that journalists and legal observers are not exempt from violence by police officers. This is a thing that happened in the United States of America, quote-unquote, democracy. Yeah. So, as Loopbar of ABC News reports, a three-judge panel on Thursday temporarily halted protections for journalists and legal observers covering the unrest in Portland, Oregon. Last week, federal judge Michael Simon ruled that journalists and legal observers were exempt from federal officers' physical force, arrest, or other treatment if the officers reasonably know that a person is a journalist or a legal observer. But in a two-to-one decision, the judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the government that Judge Simon's initial ruling was too broad. Given the order's breadth and lack of clarity, particularly in its non-exclusive indicia of who qualifies as journalists and legal observers, a Pell Institute have also demonstrated that in the absence of a stay, the order will cause irreparable harm to law enforcement efforts and personnel. Two of the three judges wrote, this means that journalists could be subjected to the same physical force as that of the individuals participating. Attorney General William Barr said in a statement that he thought the decision was an important step. So, there are so many things wrong with this story, but first of all, let's just point out the obvious. Two out of three judges just ruled that law enforcement efforts will be irreparably harmed if they're not allowed to do violence against people who they know are journalists. No, no, no, we have to do violence against journalists, even if they tell us that they're journalists and they have a camera or they have some sort of logo from a news agency. We have to do violence against them because if we don't, then our law enforcement efforts will be harmed irreparably, so we have to. Shocking. Now, what's interesting about all of this is this underlying assumption that it's acceptable to do violence against the protesters. Like, of course, we want journalists and legal observers to be protected because we have to know what's going on. We need witnesses there documenting what's happening. But there's this underlying assumption that it's acceptable for police to use force and violence against protesters. So if someone is out there exercising their First Amendment right, we're to the point now in America, we're just okay with police using force against them. I mean, after the George Floyd protests broke out, I covered the content of police officers using force, pepper spraying, you know, tear-gassing journalists, even after they say they're journalists. But people who weren't even doing anything wrong, they were cornered by police officers and tear-gassed. Like, we're using chemical weapons against American citizens, weapons that are banned during wars because they're considered a war crime banned by the Geneva Convention. And, you know, this is just the norm. We've accepted it. Not only are police well within their right to just do violence against protesters, but, you know, cities can impose curfews now, tell people that they can't exercise their First Amendment right after a certain period of time. And now it's acceptable for police officers to use force against journalists because they have to. And the Justice Department, William Barr, Attorney General, is applauding this. Let me remind you, the Justice Department is our Justice Department. William Barr is supposed to be looking out for the American people. Our justice is what he should be fighting for, not the justice of Donald Trump and his administration. Like, he's not supposed to be an advocate for Donald Trump. He's supposed to be an advocate for the people. But, you know, he's saying, oh, this is really an important step because we have to make sure that law enforcement can literally assault people and do violence against people who they know are journalists. Now, sure, it's the case that maybe there's some gray areas. Maybe someone might not look like a journalist. Maybe, you know, sometimes people. You know, aren't professionals. Maybe they're amateurs and they're there and they're starting shit under the guise of being a journalist. But how frequently does that happen? Like, is this really the route that we want to go down? Because sometimes there's gray areas. We just say, no, police officers don't have to respect the First Amendment and journalism. This is, um, this is so depressing. And I'm not being hyperbolic to say that we are watching democracy slip away before our very eyes and they should scare everyone. But it feels like we're hopeless and there's nothing we can do about it. We're losing the right to protest. Nobody, you know, questions the imposition of curfews anymore. Nobody, you know, seems to care that we're using chemical weapons against American citizens with tear gas. Police officers are also targeting people who are administering, you know, medical to protesters. I mean, this is like a rogue failed state with a rogue armed militia known as the police, just targeting anyone who they want to. Like, there's no checks, no balances. It's all just slipping away. This is deeply disturbing. And the fact that media isn't talking about this, it's an indictment on them as well.