Austin, we gon' have our very own homeland security exercise over the next few weeks!

[Texan2]

Specifically, if the Federal government did not:

-have a huge domestic spying program aimed directly at our 4th Amendment rights,
-have government mandated healthcare looming forcing individuals to engage in commerce in direct violation of the Commerce Clause on the Constitution
-have a HUD program attempting to socially engineer the racial balance of my community
-have a near 100% debt to GDP ratio (think austerity trigger)
-sell guns knowingly to Mexican drug cartels
-arm radicals across the Islamic world
-view those who value and understand their rights as a threat

If they'd back off and stop doing these things and more and stop being such creepy pukes (or we educate the masses to value their freedom and elect people who understand and respect the Constitution), then I'd back off.

While we probably agree on many of the topics you just mentioned...what does it have to do with a security exercise that DHS is doing in Austin? The Feds have run similar exercises for decades.

 

[M. Sage]

While we probably agree on many of the topics you just mentioned...what does it have to do with a security exercise that DHS is doing in Austin? The Feds have run similar exercises for decades.

And they've run wide-cast domestic intel ops for decades, and they've illegally used their power to quell political dissent for decades, and they've done even scarier things for a lot longer than that (eugenics programs, genocide, internment of ethnic groups, etc. etc.).

People are figuring out exactly how deep the rabbit hole goes... I think that's why they're starting to look at entire agencies like DHS with more than a little distrust.

My point is, just because something's been done for a long time doesn't mean it isn't worth maybe worrying about.

At the end of the day, do we really have more reasons to trust or distrust the federal government?

 

[Greg_TX]

At the end of the day, do we really have more reasons to trust or distrust the federal government?

I'd say they haven't done much the past 20 years or so to earn the benefit of the doubt when it comes to protecting our freedoms.

 

[TX69]

Occupational justification

 

[Texan2]

And they've run wide-cast domestic intel ops for decades, and they've illegally used their power to quell political dissent for decades, and they've done even scarier things for a lot longer than that (eugenics programs, genocide, internment of ethnic groups, etc. etc.).

People are figuring out exactly how deep the rabbit hole goes... I think that's why they're starting to look at entire agencies like DHS with more than a little distrust.

My point is, just because something's been done for a long time doesn't mean it isn't worth maybe worrying about.

At the end of the day, do we really have more reasons to trust or distrust the federal government?

Yet another post that justifies the need for a tin foil section on this forum.

 

[Vaquero]

I'd rather be wearing tinfoil than blinders.

 

[M. Sage]

Yet another post that justifies the need for a tin foil section on this forum.

Where did I say a single thing that was untrue?

Eugenics programs - Forcible sterilizations were thankfully about as far as we ever got, but our programs literally inspired what the Nazis later did.

Racially-based internment in concentration camps - Executive Order 9066 ring a bell? Indian "reservations"?

Genocide - You going to tell me that what was done to the American Indian wasn't genocide? It fits the definition used under international law.

Use of government power to quell political dissent - COINTELPRO. Well-documented, absolutely happened, and not a tin foil fantasy.

Wide-cast domestic intel ops - ... with the NSA casting a wide net and gathering metadata on basically all telecommunications in the US, you're going to sit there and say this is tin foil?

Oh, and I didn't even mention the recent admission to murdering four US citizens.

 

[markfh]

I spent a few hours with a friends Grandmother some time ago. She had numbers tattooed on her left arm. I don't have any tattoo's and don't plan on getting any. Just saying.

 

[breakingcontact]

Nah, the Army would never turn on it's own citizens.

Ludlow Massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[M. Sage]

Nah, the Army would never turn on it's own citizens.

Ludlow Massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That wasn't the Army.

 

[breakingcontact]

You are correct is wasn't the US Army, but it was the Colorado Army National Guard.

 

[markfh]

Look up "The Bonus Army" if you want to know if American Army troops would go against Americans.

 

[breakingcontact]

Look up "The Bonus Army" if you want to know if American Army troops would go against Americans.

Oh I know. Patton and MacArthur the great war heros attacking veterans at the Capitol.

 

[M. Sage]

Look up "The Bonus Army" if you want to know if American Army troops would go against Americans.

I don't know about that. Times have changed and a volunteer army is very different from conscripts.

 

[markfh]

I don't know about that. Times have changed and a volunteer army is very different from conscripts.

Agreed but the army was probably more volunteer in 1932 when this happened. I dare say there would be dissent within the ranks if they try it today but some will do what they're ordered to do regardless.

 

[M. Sage]

Agreed but the army was probably more volunteer in 1932 when this happened. I dare say there would be dissent within the ranks if they try it today but some will do what they're ordered to do regardless.

I also want to point out that the aftermath of WWII changed some things for troops. That whole "following orders is not a defense to war crimes" thing changed the game a bit.

 

[breakingcontact]

I also want to point out that the aftermath of WWII changed some things for troops. That whole "following orders is not a defense to war crimes" thing changed the game a bit.

That is true. That's why they have TSA SWAT teams and other sorts of national militarized law enforcement.

 

[markfh]

I know this has been discussed before but this document prepared by the DOD seems to have narrowed down, with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center amongst other organizations, just who fits the title of extremist here in the US. With what's going on with the take over of the government and apparently the military I'm not so sure they won't be used against American citizens sometime in the future.

If you haven't read it download the document, it's an interesting read.

“And now, in a document full of claptrap, its Defense Department suggests that the Founding Fathers, and many conservative Americans, would not be welcome in today’s military,” he added. “And it is striking that some the language in this new document echoes the IRS targeting language of conservative and Tea Party investigations. After reviewing this document, one can’t help but worry for the future and morale of our nation’s armed forces.”

Defense Department Education Materials Warn of ‘Extremists’ That Speak of ‘Individual Liberties, States’ Rights, and How to Make the World a Better Place’ | TheBlaze.com