Nothing could go wrong with this, right?
U.S. militia groups head to border, stirred by Trump’s call to arms
FALFURRIAS, Tex. —Gun-carrying civilian groups and border vigilantes have heard a call to arms in President Trump’s warnings about threats to American security posed by caravans of Central American migrants moving through Mexico. They’re packing coolers and tents, oiling rifles and tuning up aerial drones, with plans to form caravans of their own and trail American troops to the border.
...
The Texas Minutemen, according to McGauley, have 100 volunteers en route to the Rio Grande who want to help stop the migrants, with more likely on the way.
“I can’t put a number on it,” McGauley said. “My phone’s been ringing nonstop for the last seven days. You got other militias, and husbands and wives, people coming from Oregon, Indiana. We’ve even got two from Canada.”
Asked whether his group planned to deploy with weapons, McGauley laughed. “This is Texas, man,” he said.
This is one time that I will not object to the use of the word "alleged":
...the military is concerned about the arrival of “unregulated militia members self-deploying to the border in alleged support” of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The assessment estimates that 200 militia members could show up. “They operate under the guise of citizen patrols,” the report said, while warning of “incidents of unregulated militias stealing National Guard equipment during deployments.” [emphasis added]
So, thanks to Trump, there really are thieves (and a very good chance of murderers as well) at the border now. The local people aren't too happy about this "visitation" either:
Several landowners in the area said they do not want the militias around.
Michael Vickers, a veterinarian and rancher who lives an hour north of the border in Falfurrias, said that he will not let militia members from outside the area onto his property and that he doubts most area landowners would trust outsiders.
“They are a bunch of guys with a big mouth and no substance to them,” said Vickers, a Republican who heads the 300-strong Texas Border Volunteers. [emphasis added]
...
“I will not let militia on my land,” Kruse said. “They’re civilians stepping into a situation where the Border Patrol is supposed to be in control and make decisions. They could damage property or harm workers. I would guess they would be trigger-happy. If they shot someone, they might just say the person they shot was reaching for a gun.”
This has all the possibilities of being a very bad scene with local volunteers, militia groups, national guard, border patrol and active military. All heavily armed. With a lot of time on their hands.
Comments
wot...
? a potato does not equal a gun ? /s
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I think that's supposed to be a rock
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
yes, I got that
I looks like a potato. That was a snark.
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Uhm...
Either "That's supposed to be a rock" OR "I think that's a rock" would have expressed enough doubt rather than creating more. = )
(I'll bet Van Gogh didn't have this problem. *sigh*)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
a rock or a potato
I had a curator ask me, once, if one of my sculptures had a potato in it. It was a rock. A rock. A rock that looked like a potato to her. In my mind, a rock equaling a gun is no more or less absurd than a potato equaling a gun. Maybe a bit more absurd because it takes it to a surreal level which is what I found amusing about the image in the first place. It would make a good art piece.
The off the cuff rhetoric about shooting people who throw rocks is yet another example of intensifying the drama in order to keep people in a reactive mode. It is a 'squirrel', look, over there. We are continually being fed bits of crazy so the ptb can watch the waters froth. The chaos is calculated to rile T's opposition and rally his ranks. Peace.
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His Hugeness has shouted "squirrel" so many times
now that his followers' heads must be spinning.
Thank you. I have been kicking myself for not actually completing the image before posting it, but, well, time...
I had no problem with the "rock" being seen as a potato. I do have a problem with the fact that at least ten refugees in the not-distant-past have been killed for throwing rocks at border patrol...before Trump's latest BS.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
totally
per nyt...
"The Nigerian Army, part of a military criticized for rampant human rights abuses, on Friday used the words of President Trump to justify its fatal shootings of rock-throwing protesters."
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I tried to look up statistics of people
being killed by rock throwing. Other than about ten instances of people world-wide being killed by rocks thrown off bridges at moving vehicles, I have not found anything for thrown rocks as an effective weapon since David vs Goliath, and he used a sling.
A dream of mine: The media refuses to cover Trump. He goes (even more) bonkers over the lack of attention.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
this will add to the body count
The Nigerian military said three protesters were killed, but the toll appears to have been much higher.
nyt
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Not a big surprise that
the military (of any land) nor their financiers know how to count dead bodies. They don't see them as people.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
What? You've never thrown a potato before?
Potatoes are deadlier than rocks. Better check those backpacks!
Trump and followers probably don't know the difference between a potato and a rock any more than they know the difference between a gun and a rock.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
One more thing to be screened for on your next trip
After all, I am sure that a potato would be easier to sneak onto a commercial flight than a rock.
With my luck,
I can picture a SWAT team surrounding the potato, guns drawn and loaded waiting for it to make a move, and me in interrogation.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Lets parse this for a moment:
October 2nd, 2012, Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Ivie responded to a signal from a noise sensor (less than 2 miles from my house). It was dark. Two other Agents responded as well, from the opposite direction. Ivie heard a noise from their direction, and IN THE DARK, WITH NO TARGET IN SIGHT, opened fire on them. One was severely wounded. They fired back and Ivie was killed.
This is the sort of decision making the Border Patrol engages in.
The civilians? Yeah. The Border Patrol? yeah, squared.
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865563971/Slain-Border-Patrol-agent-...
Gee...fortunately, law enforcement would NEVER do that...Fortunately, there was a regular law enforcement official to give his point of view:
Wait a minute..."acting"? What happened to the REAL Sheriff? Well, a few days earlier...
https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2012/10/08/report-sheriff-larry-dever-le...
He was firm in his beliefs...(he was a Mormon)...so firm that he kept a half empty bottle of Schnapz , and several beer cans in his (county issued) pickup truck. So firm were his beliefs, that he also knew he didn't need to wear a seatbelt...while speeding at night, on a winding dirt road, on the way to a "law enforcement conference".
And best of all, he was polite. A man like that would never do anything wrong.
None of them did anything wrong. Unlike those civilians, who just might.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
I've lost count of how many Border Patrol
have recently been found guilty of murder and rape or are currently up on charges.
Someone should advise the people in the caravan to head to another border crossing rather than the one in Texas. I am not sure how other US-Mexico borders compare, but they really do have to be a bit more sane. I did see one of the refuges make a comment about stopping in Tijuana rather than crossing into the states, so maybe some have already thought about it.
With 48 US-Mexico crossing points, the caravan could end up being around 30 people per point to be processed which would really take the wind out of the sails of Trumps "invasion." Note: 30 is a guesstimate given how many people have already decided to accept refuge in Mexico.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
That would be great,
, if they all divided up to cross at different checkpoints. Maybe just skip all the Texan ones.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
It has long been a joke in my family and with friends
about the efforts I take to avoid Texas, including driving hundreds of miles around it to get where I have been heading. = ) It is my version of the "scenic route."
It would be nice if one of the human rights groups would help the refugees avoid Texas as well.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
The whole idea of this
is a recipe for disaster, one way or another. I feel sorry for the residents in the areas along the border who are going to be adversely affected regardless of the outcome.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
The people who were interviewed for
this article seem to be much more concerned about the militia groups than they are about the migrants. They have dealt with people coming over the border for decades. One woman says the migrants sometimes break into a small cabin on her land to spend the night, but nowhere does it say that she ever calls law enforcement or the border patrol on these people.
From the article:
I imagine that the local residents will keep their opinion about the US military being deployed at their border to themselves.
Whoever is in charge of the military personnel there could tell the militia people that they are civilians and have no place in a military operation and send them packing.
A very human tragedy is in the making with this mix.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
What is the military going to do there anyway
The Pentagon says they can't do law enforcement so they basically have nothing to do except be used as propaganda for Trump's fake crisis.
Beware the bullshit factories.
Well, they did string barbed wire
Otherwise, they are just going to add to the tensions at the cost to taxpayers of about $200 million so Trump can strut around in front of his base. Then he will file the stunt away with his tax break for the middle class and all the other nonsense he has pulled out of his ear in the last month or so.
Meanwhile, the law that regulates the use of the military in regard to civilians, the
Posse Comitatus Act, does have exceptions. They were used in the 1992 Los Angeles riots and in 1957 during the integration of the schools in Little Rock.
Lol, I was looking for more information, but came up with a military site (.mil) that is not secure and my browser refused to go there.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Sounds like the Paupers' Crusade of yonder Medieval times
Tens of thousands heading out toward the Holy Land to free it became known as the Paupers Crusade--and paupers they were. They turned into one giant roving gang that was utlimately wiped out.
https://www.historyandheadlines.com/october-21-1096-the-first-crusade-wa...