That's why the desert camo HMMWV says MILITARY POLICE on the rear quarter panel, and that many other pictures (not here, from what I can tell, but I haven't been looking at shoulder patches) and news stories confirm local ARNG units were mobilized to assist in the manhunt.
And @
Finale, who knows if that civvie was really holding a camera? Maybe it was a weapon!!!!!!!!!!
There's a very good reason he's pointing his weapon at the civilian, and it makes sense from a combative's perspective. But at the same time it is unecessary and should
never happen. Our soldiers are now aiming weapons at the very people they are supposed to protect.
Us.
This shit ain't as benign as people may think. Even if most of those pictures do depict police in full battle regalia, that's just another score for the militarization of US Law Enforcement. It adds fuel to the fascist conspiracy, which is beginning to look more and more credible with each new escalating response level to apparent "acts of terror" suffered at the hands of a few madmen. Remember the whole Chris Dorner manhunt when there was a couple of different incidents where police opened fire on innocent civilians
without first making contact or at least establishing a positive ID on their target? Extremely unprofessional and a reckless abandon of everything the academy instills in LEOs about weapons discipline and protocol for safely discharging in public. And now in Boston we had trigger happy, war-hardened combat veterans roaming around the streets --
our streets -- and looking at us, not as fellow countrymen, but potential threats, and mapping fire sectors throughout our neighborhoods.
Is this the country we want to live in? Is this the sort of thing we want to tolerate -- armed thugs of the government crawling through our backyards and perching snipers on our roofs, seizing living rooms to observe your neighbor's house across the street and establish perimeter control?
Look guys, the police state doesn't just one day get up and announce itself. There's no special message from the President sent out across all TV and radio stations to alert everybody that we now live in a militarized police state. That this is now a country where if you declare something an act of terrorism, it gives the government -- from local to federal -- free reign to do whatever the fuck they want; essentially wipe their ass with the Bill of Rights. It's shit like this that clues you in. It's the pictures and reports of SWAT and Military Police sweeping quiet neighborhoods with Armored Personnel Carriers and up-armored humvees in tow. It's telling everyone to stay the fuck inside or we'll use it as an excuse to harass you.
Welcome to the humble beginnings of the Brave New World, America.