The Rude Pundit - In Brief: When Can We Call These "Patriots" By Their Real Name: "Traitors"?

[meegbear]

"And last but not least, there is always the Lone-Ranger approach. This is perhaps the most dangerous method and could result in complete total chaos. It would most certainly not end well for the Lone-Ranger and could actually result in bringing in the United Nations 'peace-keeping-forces'. Even an unsuccessful attempt would again result in exactly what the administration has been hoping for, chaos and Martial law." (sic to all the errors there)

This paragraph of hopeful doom comes straight from the Operation American Spring website. Yeah, you didn't see that when you were chortling at what losers these losers are. It's part of an essay on how Barack Obama has committed treason by doing all the conspiracies that freedom lovers think he's done, like the purchase of billions of rounds of ammunition, which is kind of true, except that it's in order to get the best price for the ammo and not to kill the freedom lovers.

Operation American Spring was the totally well-planned attempt to overthrow the federal government, if only the organizers hadn't been betrayed by Glenn Beck. OAS (which seems to be one guy, Harry Riley) estimated it would need "5 to 30 million people...to stop any type of resistance by rogue agencies." The overwhelming force of dozens of people who did turn out blamed the morning rain for preventing the other, well, 4.999999 million people from showing up. Needless to say, Barack Obama is still president.

The quote up there is the ultimate AOS strategy to take down DC. It comes after the failure of mass protests, Occupy Wall Street/Arab Spring tactics, and attempts to get state governments to more or less demand Congress impeach Obama and then disband (or something like that). If that's not successful, the writer says, what's left is "the Lone-Ranger approach," which, while not defined, it's probably not a stretch to say that the writer is alluding to either assassination or other kinds of violence, especially if it would result in a UN intervention and martial law, as well as a bad ending for the Lone Ranger. The death and chaos brought to the United States is "last but not least," which means it is preferable to other things.

At what point do we stop pretending these sullen losers are anything other than what they actually are: traitors. Not because they want to protest, not because they want to change the government, but because they assert that violent overthrow is not a bad plan. Their active numbers are small, but so are al-Qaeda's, but they are more of a threat to people than Islamic terrorists. Oh, we laugh at them as they wander aimlessly on their Hitler sign-bedecked Scout scooters. Aren't they just delightful, wallowing in their toilets of ignorance? Can we mock them a little more? A group of Americans gathered in DC to stage a coup. Their pathetic numbers and utter failure doesn't absolve them of their intention.

The Rude Pundit is weary of these armed, angry yokels acting as if their belief in violent revolution is patriotic. No, they shouldn't be arrested for marching. But a visit from the FBI just for the opening paragraph sure seems justified, if only because if it were a group of Muslims posting that on the internet, there would be a whole sting operation devoted to catching them.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2014/05/in-brief-when-can-we-call-these.html

[liberal N proud]

1. When the get to the violent part of their plan will they finally be called terrorist?

And thus treated as such?

[Blue_Adept]

2. Maybe

But even then it'll be couched.

Honestly, it's wrong of me, but I wish they'd just get to that point already instead of all this talk. We need something to change.

[DetlefK]

3. A history-lesson: The Werewolf-units of the Nazis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werwolf

The Werewolves were irregular units formed at the end of WWII with the tasks to
* commit terrorist attacks on the supply-lines of advancing allied/soviet armies
* commit terrorist attacks on germans to discourage collaboration with the occupying forces


And here's the written test for today's lesson:
What is the difference between a "lone-ranger-approach" and the "Werewolf-program"?

[DJ13]

26. What is the difference between a "lone-ranger-approach" and the "Werewolf-program"?

One loves Coors Light, the other avoids silver bullets at all costs.

(Nothing is the real answer.)

[Scarsdale]

4. Who protects them?

These people are making the United States look like a banana republic, with their "uprisings" Someone is behind this, and we can probably safely assume it is the Koch brothers. The racism is so blatant, it is disgusting. Instead of demonstrating with their handful of like minded clowns, they should read up on their heroes. They are being used, plain and simple. Having so-called "representatives" like McCain, Cruz, Graham, Paul on TV every Sunday undermining the President is disgraceful. I would not watch one of these shows again, they are just gop propoganda. Krauthammer, Will, Kristol and others tear down the President, yet if they think they could do a better job, why don't they run for office? Too many skeletons in their closets?

[smallcat88]

30. You're assuming they can read

they've already proven they can't spell.

[DonCoquixote]

5. These folks have always been around

and the reason they do not get punished is because they are very much the armed thugs of the rich, period. The conservatives only abandoned the KKK when the old sheets got to be too obvious, so instead they brought out stuff that sounded less obvious and less organized, like these "militias." These militia's are not regulated at all, and indeed, often serve as little more than cover for sleeper cells, aka "lone wolves" that shoot their targets, then get disowned.

I understand that not every person who wears the stars and bars is a terrorist, and that many of the worst racial terrorists are in the north, however, the fact is, the stars and bars celebrate treason, in particular, treason started because a group of whites want to have the "freedom" to punish and control everyone else. Sadly, in the name of "Charity towards all" we never really allowed the idea of terrorism to be thrown into the heap.

[smallcat88]

31. Well said!

[pangaia]

6. Just more proof that the FBI was and is right..

Tuesday, Aug 7, 2012
" FBI: Right-wing terror is real
Documents show that the FBI has been constantly worried about right-wing terrorism -- including suicide attacks "

When Homeland Security director Janet Napolitano released a report in April 2009 identifying right-wing extremists as a threat to the country, conservatives howled. The general sentiment was expressed by Michelle Malkin, who declared the report a “piece of crap … propaganda … an Obama hit job.” Jonah Goldberg complained that the DHS report failed to stick “to the practice of describing these groups with more specificity and without the catchall, ideologically loaded descriptors.” Well, now that we have learned the murderer of six people at a Wisconsin Sikh temple was a well-known white supremacist, conservatives might want to consider reexamining their claims that terrorists don’t exist on the right side of the political spectrum.

Conservatives might be shocked that someone else besides a Muslim can commit an act of terrorism, but white supremacists and neo-Nazis have been recognized as genuine threats for years. FBI documents declassified in July reveal that the bureau has been worried about right-wing extremists for a long time — so many years, in fact, that many seem to have forgotten that white supremacists, who pioneered homegrown terrorism with the Ku Klux Klan, have not gone away.

The documents, which were collected by the invaluable National Security Archive and obtained partly through Freedom of Information Act requests, shed light on the problems coming from the extreme right. According to a 2004 FBI report, “right-wing terrorists pose a significant threat due to their propensity for violence” (note the FBI’s use of the term “right-wing” to define these terrorists, the phrase that so enraged conservatives when Napolitano employed it). These groups increased their recruitment efforts and rhetoric after 9/11, according to the report. White supremacists groups relied on broader anti-immigrant sentiment throughout the country to advance their efforts.

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/07/fbi_right_wing_terror_is_real/

[heaven05]

21. Maybe Hillary

will be able to round them up and imprison them and THROW AWAY THE KEY!!!

[pangaia]

29. It sure would be nice if somebody did. But I ain't a holdin' muh breath.

[malaise]

7. We laugh at them but it is true

They want to overthrow the democratically elected President.

[deutsey]

8. So did a bunch of disgruntled right-wingers hanging out in a beer hall

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007884

[malaise]

9. Which is why they are not as funny as they appear

The Federal government must lock them the fugg up

[heaven05]

20. why yes, yes they did

try to overthrow the legal government and ended up dead or in prison. Didn't help really, because once out of prison they succeeded and brought the then world almost to ruin. Should have locked them up and thrown away the key.

[MohRokTah]

10. "The Lone Ranger Approach"

More commonly known as the "Timothy McVeigh Approach".

[deutsey]

11. Bingo

[mgardener]

12. And.....

What does that make us ? Those of us who do not stand up to this bullying?
We vote to support candidates that are good for All of us, but is that enough?
I'm not sure. It is one thing to accept that others have different views, but I think as liberals we are forgiving people. We are allowing these lunatics to destroy this country. We are allowing them, by our inaction, to destroy our future and our children's future.
We are not standing up to the destruction of our educational system by christian fanatics.
We are allowing fracking and coal and oil companies to destroy our water land and oil.
Guns are killing our children, yet regulations are "unthinkable".
Women's rights are being trampled by republicans. Abortion is LEGAL in this country. Birth control should be guided by medical guidelines instead of religious ones.

I could go on and on. But honestly, I want MY country back. I want to feel safe from shopping and eating without automatic weapons carried by yahoo's because they 'can'.
I want all children to receive a free and appropriate education and science curriculum based on science, not religion.
I want all people to have appropriate health care and women to have control over their health without a republican deciding what they can or cannot decide about their health care.

When we stood up against the war and questioned bush, we were called traitors and worse.
Why are we allowing these lunatics to ruin our country????

[heaven05]

19. +1000

times 10.

[smallcat88]

32. Unfortunately

it's all about money and power. That's the motivation behind the yahoos in Washington who are pushing this agenda. We need to start with getting money out of politics - overturning Citizens United for starters.

[Hugin]

13. I watched an entire stupid OAS video rant trying to hear what was so illegal...

All I could gather was that Obama was President.

So, from now on, in every Republican/GOP/Tea Bagger obstructive rant instead of whatever weak water justification they give, I'm inserting "Because Obama is President".

For example:

The ACA is illegal, "Because Obama is President".
BENGAZI!!iii(one)!!!ii "Because Obama is President".
We can't raise the minimum wage "Because Obama is President".
We're shutting down the Gubbmint "Because Obama is President".
Abolish the BLM! "Because Obama is President".
and on... and on... and on... and on... ad nauseum and etc.

[smallcat88]

33. You might as well say

Because the president is black.

[Hugin]

42. Although, that's currently true.

If I let the whole nastiness of their full blown bigotry enter my mind, I would be unable to view their dog whistle laden screeds for clues as to their full agendas.

Also, there's the fact that they would find something unpalatable about any popularly elected office holder with a "D" behind their name. One reason they have lately been doubling down on their vitriol is because they want the Senate so bad and they see the possibility of a woman and a Clinton in that office on the horizon. I am surprised their hatred at this point hasn't physically turned them inside out like a sea cucumber.

[tanyev]

14. Wow, they spelled martial law properly--except for capitalizing it.

Still, impressive.

[daleanime]

15. K&fuckingR....

[sybylla]

16. Where's the "rude?"

No colorful language. No artful adjective- and adverb-laden descriptors to make me blush and laugh at the same time.

The Rude One must have finally gotten a good night's sleep.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

36. the Rude Pundit doesn't use his signature naughty language

When he's talking about grave issues such as this.

But he's to the point, as always.

[heaven05]

17. well rude, all I know is:

Last edited Sat May 24, 2014, 08:29 PM - Edit history (3)

that these armed individuals that had loaded weapons pointed at representatives of our government, upholding the law, are domestic terrorists of the most violent timothy mcveigh type. They will kill people(innocent) to gain their objectives and feel that they are justified. If they were not flag waving individuals on horses and say maybe urban, inner city 'terrorists' fighting for equal rights they would be dead or under the prison by now. Oh wait! That already happened a number of decades ago, and quickly, after they became known as a 'threat'. Please give me a break. A white president would not have brought these clowns out from under their rocks. Where was bush the shrub when this guy was not paying his fees? Clinton? No, the AA POTUS daring to face down these 'patriots' gave these racist pig shit people all the reason they needed to see an overbearing government trying to take away their god given right of white supremacy and superiority over all. I am not fooled by any of this kabuki theater. I just can't stand the hypocrisy of this whole charade. I was alive in the 60's and FIGHTING for my civil rights. Many of us were wounded and killed for the slightest of reasons while demonstrating for equal rights promised by the constitution. These clowns can actually say they want to overthrow this government, point loaded weapons at representatives of the law of said government and they get a pass. They can plan a march to D.C. with the express purpose of "overthrowing" the current government led by an AA POTUS and nothing has been done about them. Don't get me wrong, if our AA POTUS had sent trained policing squads in and killed some and jailed the rest, beckerhead, handjob, limpballs, alex the jerk, ryan, palin, cruz, issa, paul and the rest of the RW scumbag world would be calling for an immediate impeachment vote. So far he has kept his plans quiet and I guess that's best given the racial makeup of leading parties of this confrontation. But I will say that this is a sickening display of 'white privilege' at its most apparent. Yeah, "in brief" they are fucking terrorists and should be going to prison for treason.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

37. preach!

Righteous rant.

[toby jo]

18. Instead of penis envy these guys have revolution envy.

… and they still can't get any...

[Scarsdale]

22. Name

Here is a suggestion for their name Racist Republican Rednecks. Maybe those members who did not show up for the rally were waiting for their SSI checks, or Food Stamps, while insulting the President. The RRR Party has a nice ring to it, eh?

[riverwalker]

23. is Riley a real retired Colonel?

he wants to overthrow the same government that signs his pension checks?

[ancianita]

24. These vigilantes, going down a dark path, are drawing you down there with them. Jeremy Scahill

has explained the unconstitutionality of Obama's direct killing of four US citizens: Anwar Al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old son, Samir Khan, and Jude Mohammed, without benefit of due process of law. The death warrants against these individuals were effectively signed in secret, in a committee overseen directly by the president. This president has codified all the counter-terrorism activities that the Bush-Cheney Murder, Inc. put into place.

That there is an important context for concern over how and who we label traitors, and how we treat them. How easily our government moved from telling us the above Americans were traitors to then calling them terrorists. It doesn't matter that there was no official conspiracy revealed. It doesn't matter that we hate Coloradoan Al-Awlaki or what he preached.

What matters is that we executed citizens' civil liberties abroad. We must be careful not to do that at home. A precedence has been set, and calling these people traitors will invite others to call them domestic terrorists. I don't have a crystal ball, but most people here know how events can get out of hand.

The seriousness of creeping extrajudicial killings is a bad road that will erode civil control of an already out-of-control counter-terrorist industrial complex. Calling our citizens with guns "traitors" is how we take that first step.

Now that Congress has declared the US a "battleground" -- for at least five years now -- you are inviting the mass acceptance of US citizens -- however irritatingly, stupid, misguided and violent these vigilantes are -- to get be categorized along with foreign terrorists -- when all they really want is control of their land base and sovereignty under some view they connect with US founders -- this label that you advocate can take us down that path. Where will legal representatives draw the line? How will we control an already unconstitutional activity from being used against the rest of us? How will courts protect you or anyone else now that these killings are legal precedence under the laws governing "battlegrounds"?

When we go down the path of calling people traitors, we must, must take the civilian law enforcement road. This "traitor" business opens us up to crossing the line toward calling them domestic terrorists, and if we engage in any counter-terrorism against our fellow citizens -- and nationwide surveillance is battleground activity that justifies that very thing -- we lose all semblance of being civilized.

Calling them the name traitor calls for our getting lawyers, arrests, indictments and convictions. It's a slippery slope toward calling them terrorists when we call them traitors. We know this from Obama's drone strike record. You just can't ignore that context.

I don't want to have fellow citizens declared traitors until all the evidence is in. I'd rather they be apprehended, given their day in court, and have their say as defenders of what they say is wrong, and what they're defending.

[Hugin]

43. How is one of their stated goals of forming a tribunal headed by Issa for...

a putsch of all the Govt officials they find physically objectionable going to achieve that? I'm dying to know.

They could care less about those guys and if they gain power by whatever means necessary. They will do MORE of those unconstitutional activities.

[ancianita]

44. I get your point, but your prediction is highly doubtful. There has to be a case made, evidence

and all, for their breaking laws, before they can be called traitors.

[Orsino]

25. How about "fellow victims"?

Deluded by the same few corrupt billionaires who are working to destroy all of us?

[Electric Monk]

27. k&r

[Snarkoleptic]

28. I agree, as does Merriam Webster, they are NOT patriots.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/patriot

"one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests"

[smallcat88]

34. Technically

the Constitution defines treason as aiding/abetting an enemy during war (that's an actual declared war which congress hasn't done since WWII). How about we just call them ignorant assholes? But for all the scary attitudes they display, I still take some comfort in the fact that so few turned up.

[DeSwiss]

35. For me to call Tea Baggers traitors......

...I would have to define them as ''the enemy.'' The enemies are on Wall Street and in D.C.

In fact, splitting us apart, getting us to snipe and dig at each other, that is their greatest accomplishment. It insures that nothing will ever change because we've already divided our power into little feuding factions.

You wanna know what a traitor is? I'd say a traitor would be someone who claimed that a sheet of paper has as many rights, if not more rights, than I do.

The low-hanging fruit is always easy to swat. Because you're not that far from it yourself. Its the fruits at the top that never get bruised or taken by us.

- Because we're afraid of heights.....

[BlancheSplanchnik]

38. much food for thought here....

The whole thread is, actually.....

[blkmusclmachine]

39. ,

,

[eridani]

40. Reminds my of my father's stories about the German-American Bund goosestepping around Skokie, IL

Skokie had then and still has a good-sized Jewish population, but also was home to a lot of German immigrants like my grandfather. His Jewish neighbors asked him what was up with this, and he told them not to worry--they were just a bunch of clowns and nobody would ever take them seriously.

Just goes to show. My father certainly remembered the lesson.

[former9thward]

45. And who in the U.S. ever took them seriously?

I think your father may have got the wrong lesson.

[vlakitti]

41. Anyone who can reference these crackers

as "armed angry yokels" is a fine prose stylist and a friend of mine.

On the more serious issue, the "Lone Ranger" reference is a semi-concealed call to violence against a democratically-elected Administration and quite obviously also a call for a lone-wolf assassination attempt a la Lee Harvey Oswald. That's inexcusable in a democratic republic and clearly a major felony against the state.

The good news is that these hicks have the IQ of earthworms. The bad news is that even fools get successful. So, yes, they're lethal and dangerous.