Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Connecticut for his intense effort to defend the civil rights of citizens--not only of his State but all Americans--and for the truth he speaks that, when you have anonymous officers in war gear attacking peaceful crowds and committing, really, disturbing acts of violence against them, it is an unacceptable thing in our democracy. He has noted that there was this conversation about the triumph of democracy as a strategy and it was going to spread and where we were going to find ourselves by this time was a world ruled by ``we the people'' governments across the land and how that is not the case. He mentioned several countries that have been backsliding, and I think we could add to that those places like Poland and Hungary. I believe he mentioned Turkey. It is tempting to be a strongman, and we have heard the President of the United States convey his admiration for these strongmen across the planet. But then he starts to bring their secret police, fascist tactics to the streets of America, and we have an obligation--under our oaths of office and simply as citizens of this Nation--to stand up and say no. I have been reading letters from women who were on the frontline down in the peaceful protests, clarifying that there was no violence except the violence of the Federal agents against them. Here is another such letter: I am a mom. I am a nurse. I live in Portland.…
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