Trump: US troops should treat rocks as 'rifles'

[FromMissouri]

Source: AP via Yahoo

"told the U.S. military mobilizing at the Southwest border that if migrants try to throw rocks at them, the troops should act as though the rocks are "rifles."

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/latest-trump-claims-dems-let-homicidal-immigrant-125144392--politics.html?.tsrc=jtc_news_index

---

He is deranged. He must be removed from office and committed to an institution that can give him the mental health care he sodesperately needs.

[Turbineguy]

1. Easy there big guy....

next you'll be saying that we should treat traitors as enemies of the State and you, your cabinet, your west wing help and your whole fucking family will be in the slammer!

[The Liberal Lion]

2. OMG, I see the makings of a massacre.

How many people of color have been gunned down by police who themselves were unarmed (not even with rocks)?
How many of those same type people who commit these atrocities can also be found in the military?
We need regime change now.

[workinclasszero]

29. Trump is constructing a crime against humanity on our southern border

In full view of the world.

How many poor children will die to slake Trump's bloodlust?

[The Liberal Lion]

30. I'm not a religious person, but I pray that answer is zero

[Haggis for Breakfast]

48. I can't recall the exact date, but one of our less-than-intelligent Border agents

Not long ago, DID shoot across the border wall at a small boy, who was throwing rocks at the wall - from the other side - as in on Mexican territory - hitting him with multiple bullets, killing him instantly.

The Border agent was in a guard post on top of the wall. The boy was on the ground 500 feet away.

I don't know if the trial has been held yet, as the mother of the boy sued for wrongful death of her son.

[Moostache]

3. So those are the rules of engagement now?

WTF is wrong with that asshole? He is seriously the most worthless piece of shit it has been my sad experience to have to witness and the defiling of the office of the Presidency is truly staggering.

This is beyond disgusting and into the realm of why isn't he being forcibly hauled out of the Oval Office and led away in chains already...

[Timmygoat]

5. Just wondering

What plans are there for feeding and housing 1500 troops, that is a huge number to cater for, or has that been left pout of the plan?

[Control-Z]

13. They have their own tents.

And by tents I don't mean the kind you take camping. My sister was stationed in the ME during the Iraq war. When she told me she lived in a tent there I was horrified - until she described it to me. These tents were huge (iirc, big enough for something like 20 bunks - but don't quote me. It may be more or less.) They were put up on a solid platform/floor and had generators and AC. There were mess tents with catered meals - plus snacks and crap for in between. And I think she said something about getting Del Taco, MacDonald's, or some other fast food.

So I don't think there will be any problem housing and feeding them.

Unless you think spending a boatload of money on the whim of a madman is a problem.

[The Mouth]

4. For as long as there have been projectile weapons

throwing a rock at someone bearing on can very easily get you shot.

If you're going to attack, in ANY way, someone who is armed, the only to do it is with superior firepower and numbers, otherwise it's attempted suicide.

[SCantiGOP]

31. Sounds like gun nut logic

Throwing a rock is NOT equivalent to a soldier firing a rifle at someone.

[The Mouth]

53. Didn't say it was.

I said that throwing a rock at someone with a gun might well get you shot. Which is a fact.

Not making any statement of moral equivalency.

[defacto7]

36. One problem, rocks are not rifles.

Children are not grapes,
Bicycles are not pianos,
Dogs are not zebras,
Cars are not grapefruit,

It takes alternative facts to make all those things true. There are no alternative facts.

[The Mouth]

54. Who said it was?

Bicycles are not semi trucks, but if you dispute the right of way with a semi when you are on a bicycle, even if you are completely correct you can end up dead.

[defacto7]

56. But that would be a mistake. If not a mistake then the trucker would be

charged with murder. Their's a big difference between intentional and mistake. If the trucker claimed his boss gave him permission to hit bicycles who disputed his right of way, they are both guilty of murder.

[The Mouth]

57. Good point.

Mine being that the person on the bike is still dead. As would be,possibly, the person who threw the rock at the person with the gun.

another thing that can well happen is that if that rock hits even the most disciplined soldier, an instant of intense pain just might cause them to fire. We can discuss the morality of shooting someone throwing rocks at you, but does the person throwing the rock at the person with the gun bear some responsibility?

To play with the analogy further- not because I have an agenda but because I fear the repercussions if this does happen - if the semi truck is in the 'legal' right and the bicyclist rides in such a manner that causes them to get hit, with the facts being in dispute as to if the driver could have prevented it. Is there a difference between 'blaming the victim' and being a callous asshole?

I, for one, have no interest in being 'dead right', or a martyr, nor particularly much empathy for those who choose to be so. But then I've never been in the dire straights of the folks in the caravan.

[defacto7]

58. this is a good conversation...

No one should throw rocks just as the bicyclist should follow the laws of the road.
On the road it's normal for bikes and trucks to share that road.
It's abnormal for troops to be sent in mass to protect us from half dead, starving families, children, etc. The troops are out of place more so than people fleeing oppression. If the troops weren't there with that weaponry there would be no chance of confrontation.

The real issue here is the message Trump sent the military and the country. Just making that statement may cause an incident, but more worrisome is the grave possibility that a soldier could mistake some incident for a rock or the like that could cause a tragic act. That is the real argument.... that Trump for political reasons has set into motion a military incident as old as ancient Rome. He wants a confrontation, he wants a deadly incident... and for what?
We shouldn't have to be concerned about rocks or weapons and there will always be situations with bikes and trucks over right of way. What we do have to be concerned about is bad governance by those who want to use our troops for political gain at the cost of all those traits that make us better than insects.

[The Mouth]

59. exactly

I mean good God, I'm not even justifying, or even saying I wouldn't be horrified and support the prosecution as a war criminal-or common murderer- someone who just fired on unarmed civilians merely because ordered to! The point is to see this game and think it through before this shit hits the fan!

Regards.

[Hortensis]

6. Trump's trying to incite murder.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

47. I think he's trying to set up a scenario to declare martial law.

[Hortensis]

50. I'm afraid you could be right.

On the more amusing side of a grim situation, the QAnon nuts are thrilled at the outrageous prospect. I read they took the test of the "presidential alert" system as getting ready for "The Storm," where these silly dysfunctionals apparently imagine they'll self-mobilize into something like a Trump Waffen-SS and get orders from Trump through these alerts.

Their poor relatives, and boy do I mean that.

In happier thoughts, the pilot Sully Sullenberger has an op-ed in the WaPo that says he's a Republican but has always voted as an American and calls on others to do the same. "To navigate complex challenges, all leaders must take responsibility and have a moral compass grounded in competence, integrity and concern for the greater good."

Yes.

[The Mouth]

60. Best analysis yet

I agree.

[DRoseDARs]

7. Does that include the rocks in your head, Lil'Hands McNodick? nt

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Yeah let's create an international incident over a few rocks, IF there are any, because

this sounds like a pre-justification for shooting them

[Runningdawg]

9. Hmmm consider rocks guns

Now what army do we know that routinely murders even children who throw rocks?

[magicarpet]

10. Yes American soldiers go trigger happy over rocks,... just like Israel.

What a wonderful idea.

[mokawanis]

11. Treat them as though they were rifles?

why would anyone throw rifles at the troops?

[Shrike47]

17. That was my thought. Treat them like bullets would make sense, although immoral and wrong.

You can always trust Trump to say the wrong thing in the wrong way. It’s his gift.

[GReedDiamond]

12. Tiny Shroomdick belongs in a federal prison...

...maybe he could get some "mental health care" while in prison, but I seriously doubt it would do the asshole any good.

[MyOwnPeace]

14. You know the tune..

Tin soldiers and Trump is coming,
they want to be on their own.
This autumn I hear the drumming,

I don’t even want to think about the rest.

What have we become..........

[Racerdog1]

15. The orange asshole has lost what little mind he had

This fucking orange piece of shit must go! One way or another.

[japple]

16. It was Avenatti who said, "Democrats can't fight Trump 'without a slingshot'."

but it looks as all those terrifying hordes are only armed with rock/slingshots.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/28/avenatti-trump-democrats-944952

[Corgigal]

18. Spooky times! Part 2 ?

[MiniMe]

22. I think that was the National Guard

It is illegal for the military to be deployed within the US

[Dan]

32. Not true

[PJMcK]

52. Posse Comitatus Act

Perhaps the wording of MiniMe's post could be improved. However, the military is prevented from engaging in domestic law enforcement by this Act.

The purpose of the act – in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807 – is to limit the powers of the federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. It was passed as an amendment to an army appropriation bill following the end of Reconstruction and was subsequently updated in 1956 and 1981.

The act only specifically applies to the United States Army and, as amended in 1956, the United States Air Force. While the act does not explicitly mention the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps, the Department of the Navy has prescribed regulations that are generally construed to give the act force with respect to those services as well. The act does not apply to the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard under state authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within its home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state's governor. The United States Coast Guard, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, is not covered by the Posse Comitatus Act either, primarily because although the Coast Guard is an armed service, it also has both a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency mission.

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

[FromMissouri]

28. thanks for CSNY

We drove from Kansas City to DC to hit the streets to protest that atrocity. Later, Nixon left, the War ended. Maybe we had something to do with it. Was on the Mall for the Womens' March. We need to get the attention of the government.

[geretogo]

19. This evil man is insane and must be removed as soon as possible . His entire crime family too .

[world wide wally]

20. Unamerican asshole

[MiniMe]

21. Has the asshat ever heard of Posse Comitatas?

Not sure if that is the correct spelling, but it is illegal for troops to be deployed within the US

[Dan]

33. The US Army has been deployed within the US on several occasions

1. Helping to protect minority students when state government failed to act - Little Rock Arkansas.

2. The Riots during the 1960s, in various cities of the U.S.

3. Washington D.C. - soldiers riot - preDepression era, post WWI.

May be a little off, but that’s just off the top.

[Cold War Spook]

40. Correct,

but I am thinking of another part of the Posse Comitatus Act, martial law. That is what I am afraid of.

[Dan]

45. You're correct, law enforcement cannot use military personnel

In pursuit of or in support of law enforcement. But the POTUS can use the military if their is a breakdown in law enforcement...or if requested by the Governors.

But I understand what you are saying.....

[keithbvadu2]

23. Children throwing rocks? Melania has it covered.

[Xipe Totec]

24. So, do these rifles they're throwing have bayonets?

Somebody could get a nasty cut!

Don't throw rifles people!

[Botany]

25. "migrants try to throw rocks"

They are > 1,000 miles from the border right now so I don't think
that throwing rocks is gonna be a problem.

[LakeSuperiorView]

39. Anyone who has an arm like that would be brought in by NFL or MLB.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

26. tRump is following the Israeli model, esp Netanyahu. . . . nt

[raging moderate]

27. So the US troops should throw their rifles in return?

Or should they gather the thrown "rifles," and say "Thank you" and then clean and polish them, and confiscate them?

[bitterross]

34. Taking a queue from Bibi Netanyahu there

Sounds like Bibi instructing his troops.

[argyl]

35. Well, hell, this caravan of terrorists will be inside an arsenal.

From America, "Horse With No Name." Describing the desert.

"There were plants and birds and rocks and things"

Yep, rocks. In the desert.

These goons will have a treasure trove of weapons to use against our troops. They'll be vastly outgunned.

Perhaps bombing them well before they get in sight of our border would be the prudent thing to do to prevent our army from getting massacred.

For clarification:

[bora13]

37. texas massacre?

"On February 22 1770, a mob of patriots attacked a known loyalist’s store. Customs officer Ebenezer Richardson lived near the store and tried to break up the rock-pelting crowd by firing his gun through the window of his home. His gunfire struck and killed an 11-year-old boy named Christopher Seider and further enraged the patriots.

Several days later, a fight broke out between local workers and British soldiers. It ended without serious bloodshed but helped set the stage for the bloody incident yet to come."

[link:https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-massacre|]

also see "rock talk" in "The 2000 Year-Old Man."

[link:

&t=14s|]

[Duppers]

38. ...

[Cold War Spook]

41. Do we still have any B-52s in service?

It would only take one to carpet bomb them. Or maybe Trump would have it loaded with big rocks and say, see, we are just using the same weapons.

[Coventina]

42. I guess I should have shot that girl who beaned me with a softball in 8th grade

Little did I know it was cause for justifiable homicide!

[NickB79]

43. Sounds like another Kent Massacre in the making.

[NickB79]

44. Are they even giving the troops live ammo while deployed?

The military doesn't just hand out ammunition like candy on US soil.

[RobertDevereaux]

46. Lock arms with them as they arrive...

Weeks from now, as the asylum seekers near the border, we need hundreds of us to join them in those final miles.

[duforsure]

49. And we should hold politicians

Who are corrupt criminals to a higher level of accountability with harsher sentences . Especially for treason.

[True Dough]

51. Troops should treat

45 as an enemy of the state!

[malthaussen]

55. Um, that's not advice...

... that's a directive. He is the friggin' Commander-in-Chief.

--Mal