Military black hawks fly over Miami Florida firing blanks

[toycar]

I was actually drawing it off topic intentionally, before people got themselves banned. This forum has proven in the past to be both far too opinionated and far too under-educated to take such discussions very far without making a mess of things.

Understood.

[GeoffM]

I was actually drawing it off topic intentionally, before people got themselves banned.

Aha! I knew it! Teach me your tricks templar.



But seriously, want to talk about this instead? Assassins Creed makes them very interesting.

[Joey GT-R]

WHOA WHOA WHOA Calm down it is JUST a training exercise.

No I mean, that. Seriously.


Every state has their own National Guard. In certain cases, MACOM's(Major Commands) under the orders of the NGB(National Guard Bureau) perform large scale training exercises across the country.

The National Guard is the only military force authorized to fire on it's own citizens. In the event of a widespread crisis the Governor can call a SOE(State of Emergency) that mobilizes the Guard. In the event that there is massive damage to infrastructure other state's may pledge forces to assist. For example I live in Florida but when Hurricane Sandy hit, a number of personnel from the south came north to help out. If you look at the structure of units in the Guard you will find that some overlap to cover more than just one state, but a handful.

For example, in the event that a nuclear device has been discharged, I can deploy almost anywhere in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic Seaboard, Mid-West, and New England states. There are other units with responsibility elsewhere. While I don't know what unit pulled it off, (and I couldn't tell you even if I did without authorization.) I'm sure it was all just routine. But here is my best guess:

The 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) or 20th SFG (ABN) is one of two Army National Guard groups for the United States Army Special Forces. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama (and is thus part of the Alabama Army National Guard) and as part of the United States Southern Command has an area of responsibility covering 32 countries, including Latin America south of Mexico, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. The area is shared with the Eglin Air Force Base-based 7th Special Forces Group, which is the active Special Forces group responsible for the same region.

The 20th Special Forces Group has battalions from Alabama (1st Battalion), Mississippi (2nd Battalion), and Florida (3rd Battalion), with detachments in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; Glen Arm, Maryland; and Chicopee, Massachusetts. There is also a MI company located in Louisville, Kentucky;.

Following the start of the Global War on Terror the 20th has been actively deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Consider yourself informed.

[GeoffM]

Consider yourself informed.

Nothing is true, everything is permitted

[deevergote]

Joey, the tinfoil hat crew is going to read nothing but "The National Guard is the only military force authorized to fire on it's own citizens."

[toycar]

I am not in the tin foil crew, but it is hard to look at all the attacks on our rights as citizens in the last year without wondering Wtf is the deal.


Now shit like this is happening. The assault weapons ban does nothing to deal with .45 handguns, the most likely weapon used to kill someone.

The sopa shit attacked our freedom of speach too. FBIs take on the occupy wall street shit was bizarre. Then all the special appointments while congress was between session, and the controversy over that. gov pushing our country to both record levels of debt and poverty.



I dunno, certainly not a conspiracy theorist but its hard to see the minimal shit that actually surfaces and not wonder Wtf is really going on.

[deevergote]

I guess I view things from the perspective of my education... marketing, management, and psychology.

A whacko shoots up a school, theater, shopping center, what have you... and people turn to the government to do something. The government weighs their options, and caters to the biggest market... to what they see may be the greater good. If the government ignores the cries to ban "assault weapons", such as those used (or rumored to have been used) in certain tragic incidents, then they'll be accused of not caring. That's bad business for the government officials that wish to be re-elected! Bad publicity. Bad marketing. Somewhere along the line, some bean counter said that it's better to appease the outraged masses by announcing a ban on certain weapons. The gun nuts are going crazy, flipping out about certain weapons that are NOT assault weapons, such as the civilian AR-15 in illinois_erik's sig. Eventually, the laws will ban SOMETHING, but they'll be whittled down. The gun nuts will be the ones to draw the lines, convincing the gun-hating hippies of which guns should be allowed... and the government can just tread water until the dust settles.

SOPA, I agree... but at the same time, I understand where they're coming from. Internet piracy is a problem, seeing as there are SO many things that can be stolen in digital form. In a suffering economy, this is a bad time to ignore theft! It's a problem that's growing rapidly, as new digital products are introduced, and faster download speeds become available. In the late 90s, downloading illegal MP3s was a slow process. It would take me all day just to get a fuzzy copy of a song. Now, I can download an entire disography in the time it takes me to bust a grumpy.
SOPA was a drastic, ineffective, and incomplete approach... but it was necessary for the government to show that they were trying to do SOMETHING.
I went to court today, and I witnessed 3 people get serious penalties for attempting to steal things (mostly clothes.) Those people would've faced similar penalties for stealing CDs. Why should stealing a physical CD be a crime, but downloading it illegally be allowed? Not saying I agree with SOPA, or that I don't download music illegally myself (though I DO try to go out and buy the CDs of artists I like in support of their efforts... so they keep making music in the future!)

I don't know much about the FBI's handling of Occupy Wall Street, so I can't really comment there. I thought that "movement" was the most idiotic thing since hippies putting flowers in the muzzles of M16s lowered at them!




Are there shady things going on in our government right under our noses? I don't doubt it. Shady muthafuckas be everywhere, yo! Are there things that our government keeps from being public knowledge, because it would likely scare the living shit out of the common citizen? Probably. I bet we've been a breath away from war half a dozen times in the past 30 years that none of us are even aware of.
The simple truth is that the common person isn't equipped with the knowledge, experience, or intelligence to deal with many such things. We have elected leaders for a reason. We have non-elected leaders for a reason.
On a smaller, far less important scale, imagine if the average CB7tuner knew all the behind the scenes goings-on of this site. Imagine all the opinions, suggestions, demands, and outrages people would have when something they didn't like occurred. It would be chaos. The staff and I choose what should be public, and what should remain amongst ourselves. We make decisions without announcing them to the public, or explaining ourselves after the fact. It is what it is, because it is what we see as being best for this site. Sometimes, those decisions are poor ones.

Still, the simplest answer is almost ALWAYS the most accurate one. Until hard evidence is presented otherwise, rather than a handful of convenient coincidences and partial truths, I won't be convinced of anything terrifyingly wrong.

[Raf99]

Personally I'd get sick of being kept in the dark on things like these in my own town/city. Not knowing the real truth, not being able to believe the media or your own law enforcement. I'd just move to where this BS doesn't happen.

Just my thoughts though.

[PakaloloHonda]

I don't know how to post YT Vids but ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=kzT6X3_Bg9o#!
Everyone who has 20 min to spare, which I'm sure most do ...
get your face out of the "text" mode .. get of the porn site .. and watch that ^ video ^ ..

Raf? I'm seriously thinking of Australia .. SERIOUSLY!

[deevergote]

Trust me, there is NO place where the government isn't corrupt in one way or another. The more "civilized" the area is, the more layers of civilization to be corrupt. You want something that is exactly as it seems? Move to the tribal regions of Africa. What you see is pretty much what you get there.

If you're tired of being kept in the dark, get involved. See it from the inside. You'll be exposed to the things that you won't normally see as an average citizen. You'll then be able to either understand those things, or change them.

[GeoffM]

or change them.

[deevergote]

I need to play those games.

[GeoffM]

You will be astounded at how awesome they are.
Even not knowing much of the history, it's still amazing.

[deevergote]

I've only bought maybe 4 xbox games since I bought the system from my friend. I think Forza 3 is the only I ever bought new.
I should hit ebay for the older Assassin's Creed games. I bet they're cheap.

[GeoffM]

I've got all of them, but the first one I have long term borrowed from a friend.
He has my book on how to convert a diesel to veggy oil. Once he gives it back, he can have his game.
I consider it an even trade.
I got my 36 mm socket in a similar way

Come to think of it, I don't have the most recent one (revolutionary war).
I bought the one before it when it came out, then when the revolutionary war one came out I decided to unwrap the one before it.
Soon enough I'll get to the revolutionary war