Raul Diego Looks behind the Headlines
click for larger
FBI Charges 13 Men in Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor:The headlines are everywhere, although I haven’t spotted a #Hashtag yet. This is from The Independent, wsws. org has a lot of articles; this will take you to their posts tagged similarly: ‘The fascist coup plot in Michigan’, they’ve even created this timeline of the unfolding plot above.
In this exposé:’ Democrats call for “patience” as Trump moves forward with coup plot’, Eric London writes:
“Be careful of her and her attorney general,” Trump told the crowd in reference to Whitmer and the state’s top lawyer, Democrat Dana Nessel. “Because you know, they’re, like, in charge of the ballot stuff.” At the mention of Whitmer, the crowd chanted, “Lock her up!”
The President mentions the Governor of Michigan, the crowd chants lock her up, and the President says lock them all up pic.twitter.com/9wuB7blnoP
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) October 17, 2020
Yesterday, the Trump campaign further intensified its attacks on Whitmer, provocatively claiming that the governor was encouraging her supporters to assassinate Trump. In a statement reminiscent of the Nazi tactic of the “big lie,” his campaign posted on Twitter: “Whitmer is encouraging assassination attempts against President Trump just weeks after someone sent a ricin-laced package to the White House.”
Acting with the implicit or direct approval of Trump, statewide police and sheriffs associations declared Monday they will not enforce an order issued by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson barring open-carry of weapons at polling places on Election Day. This act of semi-rebellion against an elected official’s lawful order raises the question as to who is in charge of the state. The weapons ban was issued because militias plan to disrupt voting on election day.” […]
“Yesterday, the office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released an official position paper on behalf of the Senate Democratic caucus announcing the party’s plans for combatting Trump’s strategy.” […]
‘It is unfortunate that President Trump and his allies are attempting to stoke fear and chaos. The American people should be aware of these efforts, but must understand that they are nothing more than disinformation. … Americans should be prepared to reject misinformation and be patient about results in places where counting ballots may take longer.’”
He adds crickets from Bernie Sanders, Jacobin DSAs…and so on. Other authors add ‘The Plot to Kidnap & Kill the Democratic Mayor of Witchita, and most recently: ‘Trump storms out of interview [with Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes] when asked about ties to Michigan conspiracy’
Now I know adding all of this might make this diary too long, I do believe that investigate reporting that connects dots in unconventional ways is important; he also provides some key historical background.
‘Truants and Tyrants: Kidnapping Dissent: The Whitmer Plot and the End of Freedom; A plot to kidnap the Democratic governor of Michigan has laid bare the persistence of ideological manipulation on the eve of the total surveillance state’, by Raul Diego, Oct. 12,2020, mintpressnews.com (Creative Commons)
“In ‘The Grand Chessboard’, Zbigniew Brzezinski warned his fellow ruling class cohorts that the onset of the information age would require disinformation strategies to mitigate any potential threat from an increasingly politically-aware population.
Five years before Brzezinski’s book was published, a white separatist and former Marine named Randy Weaver would be targeted by federal agents in what came to be known as the Ruby Ridge standoff; a landmark event in the formation of an anti-government subculture in the U.S., underpinned by a loose framework of White Supremacist ideologies rooted in the foundational myths of American settler culture and encouraged by their radical billionaire patrons who built a political machine at their expense and have set the stage for our current political reality.
Stoked for decades by an extremist capitalist oligarchy which has slowly and methodically disabled the levers of democracy to achieve its interests, the latent racial tensions that haunt America’s collective psyche are being exploited in ways never before possible with the advent of online disinformation mashups, like QAnon, Antifa, BLM and others along the spectrum of modern-day social media constructs.
As we near the 2020 presidential election, the skeletons in America’s closet are being dressed in the latest fashion and paraded before a terrified citizenry, whose health and peace of mind is under siege as a result of the pandemic crisis while simultaneously bombarded with apocalyptic scenarios of societal collapse and civil war, like the alleged conspiracy to kidnap and murder Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer as part of a larger plan to storm the Michigan State Capitol with hundreds of armed men.
But, considering the fact that all of the individuals charged in the plot had been under intense scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation months prior to the scheme being hatched, it is not surprising that suspicions of entrapment by the FBI have begun to swirl around the high profile case, which was filed before the U.S. District Court of Western Michigan last Tuesday.
Coloring over the lines
Ruby Ridge has long been a rallying cry for white separatists and is considered as the inspiration for the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh and Michigan native, Terry Nichols in 1995. Together with the tragedy at Waco, which occurred in 1993, these events form the holy trinity of the domestic terrorist narrative now crystallized into law at the federal level.
The standoff at Ruby Ridge stands as the most extensively documented case of overt terroristic procedures and techniques employed by the FBI and has been called a “dress rehearsal for Waco,” as many of the same agencies and personnel that participated in the seven-day siege at Ruby Ridge would turn their guns on the Branch Davidian complex soon thereafter.
In an apparently unrelated incident a few days before the FBI filed the affidavit against the alleged conspirators in the Whitmer case, FBI agents killed 43-year old Eric Mark-Matthew Allport during a shootout at a restaurant in a northern suburb of Detroit.”
[Diego’s ‘shootout’ link goes to the Detroit News, Oct. 7, 2020, two excerpts:]
“The troubled life of Madison Heights resident Eric Mark-Matthew Allport, 43, started to emerge as details about what led to the fatal shooting remained shrouded in secrecy and as believers of the right-leaning anti-government Boogaloo movement hailed Allport as a member and martyr.
FBI officials have not revealed exactly how Allport was killed during a shootout with agents who were executing an arrest warrant for a federal weapons offense in the parking lot of a Texas Roadhouse in Madison Heights. The Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office said Allport died of multiple gunshot wounds and classified his death as a homicide.”
Back to Diego:
“Allport had been at Ruby Ridge as a teenager and witnessed his friends and neighbors get massacred by federal agents. His death at the hands of police immediately lifted Allport into martyr status by members of the so-called Boogaloo Bois and other self-styled anti-government groups, despite the curious role Bill Grider, Allport’s father, played in the Ruby Ridge affair.
According to testimony by Deputy U.S. Marshal David Hunt, who used Grider to carry messages to and from Weaver’s cabin, Allport’s father offered to kill Randy Weaver for the feds. “He said he was going to kill him, and I wouldn’t have to pay him,” Hunt claimed under cross examination at the trial. While Hunt’s claims about Grider – who counted Weaver was a friend – were never confirmed, it is not uncommon to find infiltrated members of the armed forces and police among groups that threaten the state, but the ideological overlap between elements of law enforcement, military and secessionist groups also allows for a measure of sincere allegiance by such individuals.
Dar Leaf, the Sheriff of Barry County, which is located just south of Grand Rapids, reflected this reality in an interview with a local FOX affiliate on Thursday in which he unequivocally states that the kidnapping of Whitmer – in his eyes – should be treated as an attempt by concerned citizens to make a felony arrest of the governor for violating the constitution. Leaf had earlier been captured on video at a rally with one of the suspects.
A rising target
Prior to the 2018 midterm victory that put her in the governor’s mansion, Whitmer had served in the Michigan state Senate from 2006 until 2014. More recently, she had assumed the role of interim Ingham County prosecutor in 2016 after the serving prosecutor had to resign over a lurid sex scandal. Whitmer beat Republican Bill Schuette to take the governorship and after just one year in office, she came into the national spotlight for the first time when she was selected to deliver the Democrats’ response to the Trump’s last State of the Union address in February, which also coincided with the start of the FBI’s investigation into her would-be kidnappers.
In August, Whitmer again garnered national attention amid speculation that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was going to choose her as his running mate. By then, the FBI had compiled hours of conversations between the ragtag crew of convicted criminals and U.S. Marines, who in June, allegedly targeted Governor Whitmer as part of a grand plan to storm the Michigan State Capitol with 200 men and take hostages before the upcoming presidential election.”
[He features photos of 8 of the suspects.]
“The group’s motivation is said to come from Whitmer’s “unilateral” lockdown policies, extending the state’s coronavirus emergency measures beyond the original April 30 cut-off date through executive order. The move elicited an immediate reaction from conservatives in the state and the very influential Koch-funded Mackinac Center, which filed an injunction against the governor’s executive action in May.
After challenges to the governor’s orders were struck down in lower courts, the Republican-majority Michigan Supreme Court last week added fuel to the fire by ruling Whitmer’s executive orders to be unconstitutional and setting off a firestorm of controversy on the same day FBI agents murdered Eric Mark-Matthew Allport in Detroit and just before the FBI decided to submit their affidavit against the Whitmer plotters.
Truants and tyrants
The “tyrant bitch,” as aborted coup leader Adam Fox called Whitmer in a Facebook group later that month, was to be tried for treason in mock trial after which she would be executed, according to a recorded conversation that took place in the basement of a vacuum repair retail establishment owned by a long-time friend of Fox and former U.S. Marine, Brian Titus.
The term “tyrant” as used by Fox isn’t gratuitous but is yet another link to Ruby Ridge and the language adopted by white nationalists to refer to their enemy. The language used by Randy Weaver’s wife, Vicki, in letters where she quotes the founder of a White Supremacist prison gang organization called The Order: “Do you hear the approaching thunder?” she writes. “It is that of the awakened Saxon. War is upon the land. The tyrant’s blood will flow.”
After the conversation in the repair shop’s basement, the kidnapping plot seems to pick up speed. Less than a month later, the conspirators were getting together in Wisconsin for combat drills and an “alliance” with the White Supremacist Wolverine Watchmen group was effectuated soon thereafter in August after Adam Fox was introduced to one of their leaders at a gun rally.
Titus has been quoted in several stories about Fox, whom he now repudiates, despite knowing the young man since he was 17 and recently letting him squat in his shop’s basement. “I had no idea what was going on,” Titus told local CBS affiliate WWMT, though he conceded that Fox had “some dark secrets” and characterized him as an “anti-police, anti-government” man to another outlet.
On Sunday, CNN reported that military records confirmed two other suspects, Daniel Harris 23, and Joseph Morrison 26, are also former Marines. Morrison was actively serving in the reserve forces until last week, while Harris concluded his stint in 2019. The younger of the two is facing federal charges along with Fox and four other men. Morrison is among the seven facing state charges. Members of a Michigan militia known as the Wolverine Watchmen were also among those accused by state officials on Thursday of targeting police and helping to plan Whitmer’s kidnapping.
The generous interpretation of these events would credit the FBI with foiling the kidnapping plot against the Democratic governor of Michigan by a group of alleged domestic terrorists whose trail the agency had followed for three months short of a year and, despite knowing of the plan early in the summer of 2020, decided to sit on the case until less than a month before the presidential election and right on the heels of Trump’s “stand back and stand by” soundbite at the infamous presidential debate last week.
A more probable scenario is that the FBI, as it’s done time and again, led the subjects of their investigation down the road to entrapment by guiding their actions to the desired result and providing a narrative that politicians can use to further lead us down the road to an inescapable surveillance state where dissent is rebranded as a hate crime against our benevolent overlords.”
Readers will, of course, decide. ; )
Also see: NJ Homeland Security Assessment Warns Violent Unrest Could Follow 2020 Election, A new threat assessment by the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness warns that extremists from both sides of the political spectrum could engage in violence and civil unrest well into 2021 as a result of the upcoming presidential election’, by Raul Diego
Everyone and their sisters seem to posit various post-election civil war scenarios at alternative media websites.
(cross-posted from Café Babylon)
Comments
Read the London article
and hereby pronounce it to be a steaming load of crap (YMMV).
Who says militias are planning to disrupt voting?
Who says the order is legal?
Sheriff's are elected officials, too - and are something of a last line of defense of legally constituted authority against government overreach - which Whitmer very much personifies.
The only pollster to correctly predict the outcome in 2016 - Trafalgar Group - has Trump and Biden about even in Michigan and Republican Senate challenger John James slightly ahead of the Dem incumbent. Whitmer isn't running, but Michigan results may reflect somewhat what voters think of her and her record.
James exudes positive energy - in total contrast to Whitmer's dark negativity.
Hopefully, Michiganders will respond accordingly.
September 10, 2020 Freeland, Michigan:
Men armed with tommy guns at the polls
is how Al Capone took over Cicero Illinois. No one should be carrying arms at the polls except the County sheriff's police who are charged (in Illinois at least) with maintaining order at the polls. If I see armed men at the polls on voting day, I'm turning around and going home. What do you think AA's are going to do when they see armed white vigilantes at the polls? My guess is they will either do like me or go home and get armed and come back to shoot it out.
EDIT:
They are not going to say "Yassir Mr. Charlie. Whatever you say, Boss." Not in 2020. Oh No.
Trumpkins are living in 1920. Or maybe 1820.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
I'm in full agreement with that,
and it is one of the reasons that I'm very much in favor of VbM. You can't be menaced by members of an armed militia (or just the general run of disorganized armed yahoos LARPing as militia- dunno how you tell the difference) at a polling place when you don't have to go to a polling place. I have no interest in meeting or standing in line with my neighbors (especially this year), so I drop my ballot off at one of the secure dropboxes provided by the county, and get the hell out of there.
A few weeks ago here in purple Colorado, I was in the grocery store to get our perishables when I encountered a guy in flipflops, shorts and a "Freedom!" tee shirt going the wrong way down one of those socially-distanced one-way aisles, doing the open-carry thing with what looked like a 9mm holstered on his belt and strapped to his thigh. And no mask (of course), and a face and swagger that telegraphed "Just TRY to knock this chip off my shoulder, motherfucker!"
I did what I always do when encountering a Responsible Gun Owner of this type: I immediately abandoned my cart and left the premises before any exchange of gunfire could start. I got in my car, drove away, and bought my groceries at another store.
It seems to happen a few times a year, but it is happening more often in the last few years for some reason. Over the years I've walked away from a number of baskets of groceries or buckets of hardware, and abandoned a couple of nice meals, for this very reason. I won't hang out in a polling place or anywhere else with one or more individuals who are so obviously wound up about their Freedumbs that they feel the need to openly intimidate everyone near them with the threat of imminent ballistic annihilation. I regard that sort of thing as prima facie evidence of a deeply disturbed person, and a serious risk to the public at large. It's bad enough if they are wearing a uniform: but if I see Joe Random strapped, I'm out of there.
That's also a reason that my protesting days are well and truly over. The polarization of the body politic is just another in the long list of reasons why I don't care much for leaving the house these days. There's been more than enough violence already, and I'm not inclined to be part of it. The politicization of everything up to and including breathing has long since passed the point of lunacy for some- and we have more than enough lunatics already. All we need now is more armed Karens, for crying out loud.
I'm sure that grocery-store guy, or hardware-store guy, or restaurant guy would be *fine* people once I got to know them, assuming none of them killed me first. But you never get a second chance to make a first impression- and my first impression is "run". Your mileage may vary, of course.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
great and illuminating
comment. i've forgotten: are your in C springs? we're in SW 4-corrners CO, and the wolverines, confederate, and thin blue line flags are very prevalent in the lines of pickups and hawgs that parade up and down main st. on saturdays to hassle white BLM anti-police state protests.
mr. wd reports that the employees of the R-owned bidnesses that require not masks will come out onto the sidewalks to wave their small flags as the parade drives by. one checker in a hardware store at which he has a bidness account gets gnarly with him, as he wears a bandana for a mask.
one day they grew bored and went to a small park in durango 60 miles east, which necessitated them getting our of their trucks with their rifles to stand outside the small gazebo where the protest was happening. it is just all too fraught, isn't it?
Beam me up, scotty!
Not the Springs-
at this point in my life, you couldn’t pay me enough to go there (which is a shame, because there was a really good German restaurant down there- except for that whole “maybe getting shot if somebody somehow pisses that guy off” thing). Southern Douglas County is close enough. Dropped my ballot off in Castle Rock. Metric shitloads of Trump signs. I’m not seeing any Biden signs or stickers. Too many signs and ads saying “Never socialism!”, as if the people putting them up have any idea what the word means...
I’ve never seen a Green sign or sticker. I doubt that I ever will. I’m happy to have voted for no Rs *or* Ds this time out. Strange times, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some of the first shots fired in whatever grand caramboulage is to come will happen around these parts. But, once again, your mileage may vary.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
ah, castle rock!
purdy terrain plus some nice forests, back in the day at least. i used to know a C springs band who lived out there: The Beast, with a great horn section.
if armed civil insurrection comes, i suppose it could start there. but there are so many candidates and related militias. when i see a photo like this i have to wonder about fire-power and penis size, yanno? this is from diego's other piece:
Members of the NFAC militia march to Churchill Downs before the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Sept. 5, 2020
*Not Fucking Around Coalition, all black militants
Rt.com had a (barely coherent) video interview with The (putative) Leader a few months ago.
well i reckon you told london!
and in such colorful language, too!
now: yes, 'Acting with the implicit or direct approval of Trump' uses facts not in direct evidence save for DT' verbiage i've forgotten, but including 'stand back'; someone will likely help me out with that. i would hope that SoS benson know whether it's legal or not.
but when i'd said: 'readers will decide' i was actually referring to raul diego's deeper dive into it all, esp. the timing of it, including the FBI killing allport on the same day as the warrants were issued. but i'd have to guess you'd stopped with the wsws authors. ; ) Diego had written:
'Dar Leaf, the Sheriff of Barry County, which is located just south of Grand Rapids, reflected this reality in an interview with a local FOX affiliate [hyperlinked] on Thursday in which he unequivocally states that the kidnapping of Whitmer – in his eyes – should be treated as an attempt by concerned citizens to make a felony arrest of the governor for violating the constitution. Leaf had earlier been captured on video at a rally with one of the suspects.'
on edit: the photos's in the upper left-hand-corner of the wsws timeline at the top of the OP.
the interview was on fox, short, too:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb--7AE0YK0]
and she apparently was engaging in some over-reach on the lockdowns, according to the courts.
glad you're happy with that bloke running for whitmer's seat, but i don't have that much tie to finish. sounds like his main trip is with the Towers and the ensuing patriot act?
i'm embarrassed to ask whether or not Congress reauthorized it it this year. perhaps you'll help me out on that. for me, it underpins everything wrong with amerikan policy, both foreign and domestic.
oh, i wish i'd done more than scan the text and photos of diego's oct. piece i'd linked to.
i do hope you
understand that even though there may be next to nothing estimable about gretchen whitmer, the plot to kidnap her and kill her is no less obscene.
and john james' opponent seems to be sen. gary peters (never heard of him). will james be the new Obomba? articulate, plenty of verve, easy smile, and will he speak at DT's acceptance rally?
in terms of which 'lesser evil' candidate wins this election, i can't say i care a hella lot by now. but it does seem that the Ds are often the more 'effective evil'.
they're more apt to smile & say they 'feel your pain', while they shove a shiv into The People's backs.
on later edit: i might care after seeing how the voting actually went...
Great Essay
I would like to add some "context" to some terms and introduce some specific laws, both at the Federal level as well as the State level, regarding "Militias".
But first, let's here from some of the militia themselves. (It wasn't ever about masks)
[video:https://youtu.be/Jllwlidfuhc]
On to the LAW...
First, there is Federal Law regarding Militia's, and just what constitutes a "legal" militia. From Cornell Law School:
While federal law does not say unorganized militias are illegal, the SCOTUS in Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252 (1886) that the Second Amendment “does not prevent the prohibition of private paramilitary organizations.” and again in 2008, in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008).
Scalia wrote in the Opinion for the Court:
Here's what I've found on Michigan's State Law about Militia's.
First there is Section 750.528a, Definitions; firearm or explosive or incendiary device; teaching or demonstrating use, application, or construction in furtherance of civil disorder; unlawful assembly; exception; violation as felony.
It is a felony in Michigan to either:
Then there is Section 750.215, False representation as peace officer or medical examiner; violation; penalty; “peace officer” defined.
Besides the President of the US, only the Governor's of their respective state have the authority to "activate" the state's militia, whether they are "organized" or "unorganized". For Michigan, it is known as the Michigan Military Act.
Chapter 2, Powers and Duties of the Governor,
Then there's is 32.555 Unorganized militia; power of the governor.
These "militia" members are neither "organized" (by the state), nor are they to be considered "unorganized" (again by the state), and since their funding is from "private sources" (non state actors), they must therefore be classified as "private militia".
The Michigan State Constitution specifically forbids private military units, i.e. private militia, from operating outside of state authority.
Regarding this little nugget...
From the Institute For Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Georgetown Law
Commentary from an uneducated lunatic...
Clearly, these "private militia" members are acting outside of state authority. The video above is "evidence" of felony crimes under Michigan law.
For the Sheriffs to side with private militia's, against a lawful order, against their oaths of office, against the constitution of the US, is grounds for TREASON, full stop.
Every militia member on up the chain of command to Trump, should be tried for TREASON. Heck, the top brass of the military should have Trump arrested for what is clearly Dereliction of Duty under the UCMJ, specifically Article 92 (3)Dereliction in the performance of duties. (UCMJ = Uniform Code of Military Justice, it's the legal code for all branches of the US military)
The FBI, well, they're just worthless fascists trying to score PR points. But as the Democrats might say, "they're our fascists".
C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote
holy.jeezum.crow;
nice digging amigo. brandon cacerta's video was eye-popping, along with his vast arsenal and room décore. does he live with his mum? an opportunistic killer of anyone he believes needs to be killed. i've tried to find out which others besides morrison and harrison are former marines, but my eyes aren't seeing diego's hyperlink now.
was he rejected or tossed out of the military?
so under michigan law, intent must be established. oh, my, i'll need a break before i can read more (others may be able read it all more comprehensively at once), but if i get the drift, only state govs can call in the national guard and other military, NOT the president.
thanks, RantingRooster. more later.
@wendy davis Actually, if my
Actually, if my uneducated mind understands correctly, under Michigan law, they are to be designated as "private military units" or "private militia", which are illegal under Michigan law. Full stop.
My reasoning goes like this...
I say they are private militias because 1 they do not meet either of the definitions of "organized or unorganized" militia under federal law nor or Michigan law. Since their funding is private, and they are obviously "organized and coordinate actions together" facebook groups, txt messaging etc..), they therefore fall into "private militia" category, not defined by either federal / state law, as far as I can tell.
These "private militia" are illegal under Michigan law. That should have been the FBI's first clue, imho.
So, going on state property "armed" to do anything as a "private militia" (organized / coordinated group, not acting on state authority), is a felony under Michigan law.
Article I § 6 of the Michigan constitution makes it clear, what the purpose of bearing arms means, self defense or defense of the state.
My case for Treason is simple. (your honor)
The governor is the Chief Executive (Civilian head of state) and commander of the State's military. These private militia members who engaged in this plot of kidnapping the governor, is tantamount to "levying war against" the state.
The Sheriff's that "in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort", not enforcing the law against these illegal, private militia's, countermanding a direct, lawful order from their chain of command, is de-facto treason, no?
Clearly, at least to me, these militia morons (The M&M's lol) and these Sheriff's have no clue of Michigan law or it's constitution. #LockThemUp (lol)
C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote
pt. II for now:
seem tto be so. diego had written:
just a few weeks before the election? FBI election meddling? or another Russian election ploy?/s
side note: Boss Tweet says he may post (or has already posted?) all of his interview on CBS before he stormed out after she'd allegedly asked him about this plot, so we can see how mean and biased she was. plus: she wasn't wearing a covid mask in the white house! (he has the stills online already on a #CBS twitter hashtag, iirc).
I hope you understand
I don't disagree with you.
Absolutely...
[video:https://youtu.be/keW5ZzglbYg]
C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote
i DO understand,
and thought you may have been pinging exactly that section from Diego's essay.
michael anders at wsws is reporting this morning: 'As police continue to disobey orders Right-wing groups sue Michigan over ban on weapons at polling stations'.
now i have no idea what the plan's about, given ten days out from the election... but at least he had the rest of DT's shout-out phrase i couldn't recall.
i'll take that at face value even though i've never seen anything on FarceBook.
Diego's piece i'd linked at the bottom is some seriously strange incendiary brew of mixed justifible warnings & paranoias and as far as what the leaked memos contained, but this one killed me:
RR are you aware of any other
individual rights that can only be exercised *individually*?
Except for the spelling of defence/defense the Michigan State Constitution has, since 1835 said this about people's rights to keeping and bearing of arms:
Michigan: Every person has a right to keep and bear arms for the defense of himself and the state. Art. I, § 6 (enacted 1963).
1835: "Every person has a right to bear arms for the defence of himself and the State." Art. I, § 13.
1850: "Every person has a right to bear arms for the defense of himself and the state." Art. XVIII, § 7.
If someone can exercise the above right individually, what is the basis for saying that it is illegal or improper for them to exercise it in concert with others?
If those participating are not engaging in actions that would be illegal if done by an individual, by what sort of alchemy does it become illegitimate for them to do so collectively?
And if they are not attempting to act under authority they do not have, what difference does it make if they call themselves Wolverine Militia or the Mother Teresa Sewing Circle?
Personally, I would prefer that an official militia system existed - with ground-up organizational structure and mission that included broad civil defense functions as well as military capabilities. More Switzerland, less FEMA/DHS.
As for these militia outfits constituting some sort of violent threat that we need to be saved from (by the likes of Kamala and "The Big Guy"), the implicit 'cure' would be far more dangerous.
Gun-related provisions of all state constitutions (and major state case law governing self-defense and bearing of arms are available at:
https://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/beararms/statecon.htm
Have to say I like Missouri's - adopted 2014:
and Nebraska's (1988):
Nice touch that, putting it right at the beginning.
"If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism."
~ Thomas Sowell
Because they were not!
Not defending themselves or the state, but rather opposing the state and planning criminal activity.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
zing!
and what 'civilization', thomas sowell?
asked what he thought about Western Civilization, Mr. Gandhi replied:
'I think it would be a very good idea.'
Peronsally, I like Texas Constitution
When it comes to giving broad authority for "the people" to act.
(bold emphasis mine)
In answer to your question, and if I spell properly...
When reading Scalia's opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), this stands out to me.
(bold emphasis mine)
If I read Scalia correctly, all our rights are individual rights, not "collective rights". (I'm an uneducated, non-lawyer so... ymmv)
These "militia" members are "private militia" or private military units, which under the Michigan constitution, are illegal to act without state authority to do so.
While there doesn't seem to be a law per sey against "private militia" or private military units (Think Eric Prince and his band of marry mercenaries, i.e. private military contractors or PMC's for short), when acting without state authority, say to "protect" polling stations from Antifa or BLM, well, they are "acting" without state authority, which, if I understand correctly, is against the law in all 50 states.
To show up to a polling station individually, armed, one must ask, why are you here? What purpose does it serve? One has no authority to "act" in any "official capacity". What purpose does it serve to show up at a polling station. armed, with no state authority? What would a "reasonable person" be able to conclude from such actions?
If you watched the video of the "suspects", clearly they are not acting to protect the general welfare of "the people of Michigan", ie acting on behalf of some "higher purpose", ie greater good, ie in the case of a derelict executive out of control (DT comes to mind). What brought this to head was Gov. Whitmer's shut down order, which got their camo panties in a twist, and it severed as the "fuse" to release their rage about big bad gubberment and getting robbed (ie taxes, which they seem to think is "theft").
Under Michigan's Governor's Emergency Power Act, She was with in her authority to order a shut down to protect the citizens of her state from a raging, out of control, lethal pandemic. (In Texas Gov. Abbott is trying to get us all killed, but these M&M types thinks it's great!)
None of the statements that I have heard or seen by these people, give any indication that these M&M were acting in some "higher purpose" to "protect and defend" the people or the state. It has always been about their dislike of big gubberment.
All in All, to me, this (emergency shut down order) was just an "excuse" or spark if you will, to bring about their great civil war where Man (White men) will rule and have dominion over the earth and all it's inhabitants, like the bible says...
C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote
time for me to shut own for the night.
this week i'd torn my left rotator cuff again, and it's been making RL chores 5 x slower, even slower than my cognitive reading abilities. ; )
in closing, i'd like to quote some lyrics by the late, great AIM leader turned poetry set to music performer John Trudell who'd changed poison into medicine like no other i've ever known.. they seem quite appropriate...
Some ones are crazy or
Maybe we take turns
Dreaming about some kind of life
We say it could have been different
But it wasn't because we weren't
Some things start good and go bad
Some things get bad and stay bad
Are we caught in between
Living a lie or not living at all
Eliminated choices
Lost in dreams we let go
Memories we never got to have
Something else to think about
good night; dream well if you can; at least instructively if not.