BY RITA COOK / Freelance Writer
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If I hear the narrative terms “radical reign of terror” or “left-wing radicals” one more time from a politician’s mouth – I’m going to SCREAM!
I’ll tell you what the real reign of terror is, in my opinion – the number of administrations who have sold the American people stories that were not only untrue, but that are now unraveling before everyone’s eyes.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, do your research.
The experiment to take people’s freedoms away piece by piece while they are distracted and afraid is no longer working.
I believe it began with the COVID experiment.
And no matter how brutal that experiment was (we have all lost at least one person we loved), it woke people and they are not going back to sleep.
I’m not going to trash blue or red here either, I’m going to point out facts.
I’ll remind, the red/blue division is by design and if you have been reading me for over a year you know I was hard on Joe Joe and I’ll do the same with Trump as needed.
At this point what is REALLY needed is both red and blue to wake up from their foggy sleep and read and understand the U.S. Constitution.
And as a sidenote, no, I don’t think if you are calling the current president an orange Cheeto or Dump or whatever names it is helping any situation.
It just shows how far people still need to go before they understand the real plot.
The fact is, if you can read between the lines, you realize the narrative terms being used by the politician’s “terror” and “radical,” while it does have some truth, is also being used to arouse fear.
Early spoiler alert: people are past fear and are ready for change.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent out a release stating he was “launching undercover operations to infiltrate and uproot leftist terror cells in Texas after increased political violence.”
So much for undercover when announced in a media release.
I noticed immediately he was using words “disturbing rise of leftist violence across the country” and I immediately felt this was meant solely to create fear and control the narrative.
He said, “Leftist political terrorism is a clear and present danger. Corrupted ideologies like transgenderism and Antifa are a cancer on our culture and have unleashed their deranged and drugged-up foot soldiers on the American people. The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk marks a turning point in America. There can be no compromise with those who want us dead. To that end, I’ve directed my office to continue its efforts to identify, investigate, and infiltrate these leftist terror cells.”
Do people really talk like that?
While most Texans and Americans are all in agreement to end political violence, this kind of narrative is harming – not helping – the matter.
Paxton also might do his research regarding Kirk’s death because a large number of Americans putting together facts about that situation are vocally stating the official narrative is not adding up.
And oh, please, call me a “conspiracy theorist.” These days it means I’ve done my research.
Paxton also connected the “radical transgender movement” involving Kirk’s assassination to “another deranged leftist” who opened fire at an ICE facility in Dallas.
It was not ICE agents, but detainees that were harmed in that incident. The Texas Tribune and Newsweek also reminded that the Dallas ICE attack shooter’s political affiliation was not reported and there was no evidence linking him to an organized terrorist cell.
On a national scale, the latest political circus we are watching has gotten even more embarrassing.
I’m not going to say Portland, Oregon is the safest city in the country, but before a judge stalled Trump’s move to deploy the National Guard in Portland that city seemed to have decided to take matters in its own hands. There have been protests at ICE facilities with some protesters having supposedly clashed with officers who used pepper balls against them.
For example, there is a photo of an ICE agent spraying pepper spray down the mouth of a man wearing a large inflatable frog suit.
You cannot make this stuff up.
If we all dress wearing large inflatable suits history will certainly not show we were being anything other than peaceful.
NBC News (www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dancing-frogs-unicorns-protest-portland-war-zone-rcna236887) reported, “A small group of federal agents in camouflage and face masks watched from atop the immigration processing center Thursday night as a unicorn, peacock, dinosaur, and raccoon danced to Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time.”
Across the street, the self-proclaimed frog brigade – three adults in inflatable amphibian costumes – posed for photos and bounced around in unison. A small group of counter protesters nearby shouted, “We love you, ICE!”
Keep the Posse Comitatus Act in mind while I mention this next part – it bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement too. I’ll point out there are a few exceptions. America is not teetering on the brink of those exceptions yet and nor will we ever be.
And can someone call White House official Stephen Miller and let him know that too.
Last week he said the quiet part aloud stating Trump has “plenary authority.”
Ouch, that gave a whole new group of Americans both red and blue a bad taste in their mouth since “plenary authority” means ultimate power full, complete, and unrestricted.
And Trump does not have that – no president will.
And definitely not when people are peacefully dancing around in amphibian suits like in “war torn” Portland.
After Miller’s “glitch” he clammed up on camera to the point CNN’s newscaster had to cut to a commercial.
Meanwhile, Americans watching likely had to go take a strong drink, and wonder if Miller is aware Trump doesn’t have authority over the military because while he is the commander in chief the United States has checks and balances.
Remember the three distinct/independent branches: the legislative (Congress), the executive (the President), and the judicial (Supreme Court and federal courts).
Reminder too, the Declaration of Independence stresses the right of the people to “alter or to abolish” a government that becomes destructive to the people’s rights. It seems the writers believed that ultimate sovereignty resides with “We the People.”
Miller later said, “I was making the point that under federal law, Section Title 10 of the U.S. Code, the president has the authority anytime he believes federal resources are insufficient to federalize the National Guard to carry out a mission necessary for public safety.”
Another problem: last week I reported in good faith the federal agent’s cars in Chicago were blocked in by 10 vehicles and the agents had to exit their vehicles. One of the vehicle’s passengers who rammed the agent’s vehicles was also armed with a semi-automatic weapon. Weapons were deployed and shots fired, but since that time it has been reported this scenario was not completely true.
Another rabbit hole to jump down.
And the government is still shut down. Reportedly layoff notices have were sent to federal workers now out of a job permanently. Other federal workers are blocked from back pay due to the shutdown (there is a 2019 law guaranteeing retroactive pay).
Not surprisingly we have not stopped funding Israel during the government shutdown. Trump exempted the aid to Israel even though federal works will not get their checks; it seems quite important that Bibi still get his.
One untrue rumor was that the military was not getting paid this month. PBS (www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-directs-pentagon-to-use-all-available-funds-to-pay-troops-despite-shutdown) indicated Trump instructed the Defense Department to use “all available funds” to ensure U.S. troops are paid.
Remember what Maximilien Robespierre said: “The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”
How will history remember these times?
Rita Cook is a freelance writer for The Ellis County Press. She can be reached at rcook13@earthlink.net.
