Blue is Red, and Red is Very Bad

making real choices with fake dilemmas

Ed Markey is going to criminalize private militias, because private militias are very dangerous and far-right. Here, read his explanation: “As evidenced by the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, private paramilitary actors like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers pose a serious threat to democracy and the rule of law.”

See, paramilitary activity is always extremely right-wing, and almost invariably associated with white nationalism. Here, look at this example from 2020:

Something something Proud Boys something something!

Or look at this infamous historical example from 1967, when a white nationalist group called the Black Panthers from the far-right bastion of Oakland stormed the California state capitol and walked onto the floor of the Assembly with guns, in the first recorded example of a TRUMP MAGA RALLY:

Or consider the example of the notorious white nationalist paramilitary leader Robert F. Williams, seen here as he trained with his wife to support Donald Trump in the Jim Crow South:

Like many far-right leaders, Williams eventually fled to Cuba and sought political asylum from Fidel Castro. Guns are for right-wing white people, and that’s very scary!

Shockingly, the Idaho legislature chose 2023 to begin an effort to eliminate its law against private militia activity.

As a Democratic legislator in that state warns, this is very irresponsible behavior — because one of these far-right militias actually assassinated an Idaho governor. See, look at the far-right violence contained in this example:

During debate on the House floor, Boise Democratic Rep. John Gannon said now is not the time to repeal the anti-militia law, noting it was put into place a few years after then-Gov. Frank Steunenberg was assassinated by Harry Orchard in a culmination of violent mining labor confrontations between pro-union forces and those who opposed the mine workers’ federation.

Do you understand now? Right-wing extremists of the early 20th century were closely associated with far-right groups like the Western Federation of Miners and the International Workers of the Wor— you know what, let’s move on.

Far-right militias are also attacking along our southern border…

…where they break the law and engage in dangerous anti-government activity like this:

The senators cited the Texas ACLU in saying PFA has collaborated with the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office and, at least on one occasion, with the Texas National Guard.

“Alarmingly, there is also evidence of open collaboration with federal agents. In May 2021, a video uploaded to Facebook depicted a Border Patrol agent meeting with VOP members and praising their activities before collecting drone footage from the group,” they wrote.

See, they alarmingly collaborate with local, state, and federal officials, a chilling example of anti-government extremism.

So Ed Markey is leading a manufactured moral crisis built on a fake focus that excludes a bunch of obvious examples and uses absurd frames to misrepresent obvious things that are actually happening right out in the open. That must be a sign that he’s acting in good faith, and has no hidden or misrepresented agenda.