White House claims that allegation they planned to use National Guard to round up illegal immigrants was fake news. Media says, "What about this leaked draft proposal to do just that?"

Courtesy of AP: 

The White House distanced itself Friday from a Department of Homeland Security draft proposal to use the National Guard to round up unauthorized immigrants, but lawmakers said the document offers insight into the Trump administration's internal efforts to enact its promised crackdown on illegal immigration. 

Administration officials said the proposal, which called for mobilizing up to 100,000 troops in 11 states, was rejected, and would not be part of plans to carry out President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration policy. 

If implemented, the National Guard idea, contained in an 11-page memo (http://apne.ws/2l1Dj0k ) obtained by The Associated Press, could have led to enforcement action against millions of immigrants living nowhere near the Mexican border. Four states that border on Mexico were included in the proposal — California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas — but it also encompassed seven states contiguous to those four — Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. 

Later White House spokes-liar Sean Spicer condemned this reporting.

Courtesy of Business Insider:

"It is false," the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said, according to a pool report. "It is irresponsible to be saying this. There is no effort at all to round up, to utilize the National Guard to round up illegal immigrants." 

"I wish you guys had asked before you tweeted," Spicer added.

Yeah reporters, why didn't you ask Spicy, instead of running with actual documentation?

Wait, you did?

An AP reporter, however, replied that the wire service had asked the White House for comment multiple times before publishing the report, which was based off of a leaked DHS draft memo. The original AP story notes that neither the White House nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to requests for comment. 

"AP reached out to the White House repeatedly beginning 24 hours before publishing this story and also asked the Department of Homeland Security for comment prior to publication," the AP's director of media relations told Business Insider. "We stand by our reporting."

Oh and there was also this from the original AP article: 

However, DHS staffers said Thursday that they had been told by colleagues in two DHS departments that the proposal was still being considered as recently as Feb. 10. DHS spokeswoman Gillian Christensen declined to say who wrote the memo, how long it had been under consideration or when it had been rejected.

I think by now you guys know my baseline position on all of this "he said, she said" stuff. 

Since essentially EVERY SINGLE ONE of Trump's spokespeople, campaign staff, and advisers have been caught lying multiple times I simply do not believe a fucking word that comes out of that administration's various pie holes.

If I have to choose between respected news organizations and that bad Melissa McCarthy impersonator, I am going with respected news organizations every time.

So yeah, this administration most DEFINITELY considered using a military force to kick in doors and haul away undocumented workers in this country.

So the Jade Helm 15 exercises ended today. How is Obama's takeover of Texas going?

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

For most of the summer, a military training exercise called Jade Helm 15 captivated the imaginations of the Right, striking fear into the hearts of Republican presidential candidates, members of Congress and even governors. Latching on to a conspiracy theory that originated in the far-right fringes of the internet, they warned that the training exercise was in fact part of a plot by President Obama to invade Texas, impose martial law and abolish civil liberties. 

At one point, one-third of Republican voters and half of all Tea Party supporters feared that the federal government was “trying to take over Texas,” with another 28 percent of GOP voters saying that they were not sure whether or not the plot existed. 

Outlets such as WorldNetDaily and InfoWars, far-right sites that also regularly host Republican politicians, led the way in spreading the conspiracy theories. But the theories soon spread beyond the far-right, and suddenly people had to debate whether the government would use secret tunnels, closed Walmart stores and cattle cars as part of an increasingly fantastical plot to eviscerate American freedom. 

Unsurprisingly, the people who were pushing conspiracy theories about the military training exercise fell silent when it became clear that none of the scenarios they predicted had materialized. Jade Helm 15 proceeded as planned over the summer officially ended today without a federal takeover of Texas.

Well that's a little unsatisfying.

After all there was  SO much hype about all of this.

The wing nuts created a Counter Jade Helm organization, Governor Abbott signed a law creating a Fort Knox just for Texans so that those dirty federal agents could not get their hands on their money, and some "patriots" were even plotting to kill US soldiers in response to paranoia about the establishment of martial law.

And all of that was for what? Nothing?

I mean didn't we at least take Ted Cruz and Governor Abbott as political prisoners?

No?

Gee one would almost think that these people were just incredibly paranoid and had panicked over nothing.

Nah!

Well now you've done it Texas! You've become so crazy that even Rick Perry cannot support your lunacy anymore!

Courtesy of The Dallas Morning News:

Former Gov. Rick Perry suggested Tuesday that successor Greg Abbott went too far last week in raising questions about U.S. military exercises in Texas. 

“It’s OK to question your government. I do it on a regular basis. But the military is something else,” said Perry, an Air Force veteran, as he prepared to speak to the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth. “Our military is quite trustworthy. The civilian leadership, you can always question that, but not the men and women in uniform.”

Wow! And here I thought that making it so that Wal-Mart had to explain that they were not digging tunnels under their stores to help Obama invade Texas, was the most embarrassing thing that could happen to Texas and its new governor.

But having Rick Perry, a man who seemed to never hear a conspiracy theory that he didn't agree with, come out and call you batshit crazy, well that has GOT to be a wake up call.

Of course now that Perry has insulted his base, I wonder how he expects to have a legitimate chance at the Republican presidential nomination?

After all just because you are not as crazy as the craziest people in your state, certainly does not mean you are not still too crazy for the primary voters.

Paranoia pimping politician Ted Cruz, questions Pentagon about military exercises in response to internet driven fears of martial law.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Saturday that he'd been hearing concerns about Jade Helm 15, a domestic military training exercise that has become a fount of conspiracy theories, and that he wanted questions about it to be answered. 

"My office has reached out to the Pentagon to inquire about this exercise," Cruz, a Texas senator, told Bloomberg at the South Carolina Republican Party's annual convention. "We are assured it is a military training exercise. I have no reason to doubt those assurances, but I understand the reason for concern and uncertainty, because when the federal government has not demonstrated itself to be trustworthy in this administration, the natural consequence is that many citizens don't trust what it is saying." 

The paranoia about Jade Helm, which started on websites like Alex Jones's InfoWars, had started with familiar fulmination about a mass seizure of firearms or a cover-up for American "death squads." This week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott channeled the concerns of voters in the Southwest, asking the Texas state guard to monitor the exercise for any violations of freedom. "It is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed," said the governor.

We mocked Governor Abbott last week for his response to the conspiracy theory crowd, but who among us is really surprised that Cruz so readily boarded this bandwagon?

After all without unsubstantiated fear and paranoia Cruz would never have been elected in the first place.

Once again Texas is pulling ahead in the "we're the most batshit crazy state in the country" sweepstakes.

Awash in paranoid conspiracy theories Texas Governor orders state guard to monitor federal military during maneuvers over fear they are a ruse for Obama to impose martial law. Nope, not a joke.

Courtesy of Dallas News:  

Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday ordered the Texas State Guard to monitor federal military exercises in the state, responding to citizen fears, stoked by online conspiracy theories, that the maneuvers are a ruse to impose martial law. 

Operation Jade Helm 15 is a large-scale training operation scheduled for elite military forces, such as the Navy SEALS and Green Berets. The operation will involve about 1,200 personnel operating in Southwestern states including Texas from July 15 to Sept. 15. 

Fears about the exercise have roiled for weeks online. Several websites, videos and Twitter users have argued that it is really a federal takeover of hostile states, including the confiscation of guns. To address those concerns, Abbott instructed Maj. Gen. Gerald “Jake” Betty, commander of the Texas State Guard, to keep a watch over the exercises and help keep local law enforcement agencies and their citizens informed. “During the training operation, it is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional right, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed,” Abbott told Betty in a letter Tuesday.

This decision has understandably shocked some of the more rational Texans.

The Texas Democratic Party questioned the judgment of Abbott, a Republican, for giving countenance to questions about the military’s integrity and credence to “the most extreme right” aspects of his party. 

“If the governor truly respects the men and women of our armed forces, both national and Texan, he shouldn’t make public policy and operational decisions on the basis of tea party Internet chatter or the rants of conspiracy theorists,” said party spokesman Manny Garcia.

So to be clear Abbott is asking the State Guard to keep tabs on a force that will number among the thousands and include members from numerous branches of the military.

Which begs the question, what would the State Guard do IF the feds were actually planning to take over?

Currently the Texas State Guard consists of six Civil Affairs Regiments, two Air Wings, a Medical Brigade and a Maritime Regiment.

I mean I don't care if every member of the Guard believes themselves to be personification of Rambo himself, the American military routinely overthrows governments and captures dictators without raising a sweat.

If they really wanted to take over Texas, which of course they have no intention of doing, they would simply take over Texas.

By the way this operation, Jade Helm, is not just in Texas. It is also taking place in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.

At least so far none of the other governors have allowed themselves to be frightened into making fools of themselves. 

Tennessee Representative forwards crazy Obama conspiracy e-mail about faked assassination.

Courtesy of The Tennessean:

State Rep. Kelly Keisling, a first-term lawmaker from Byrdstown, passed along a conspiracy theory email to constituents this week and rapidly reaped the sort of political firestorm that only the Internet can deliver. 

Through an aide using his email account at the state legislature, Keisling shared an online article that alleges President Barack Obama is planning to fake his assassination as part of a plan to impose martial law. Sketchy theories like this abound in the days before a presidential election, but Keisling apparently took it seriously enough to sound the alarm. 

“God help us, if ANYONE stoops to this level!” reads a portion of the message that appeared to be written by someone other than Keisling but presumably expressed a sentiment he shared. “As I was reading this article I kept thinking that the more we are aware that something like this is remotely possible, the better off we are to recognize it and fend it off…” 

A recipient took umbrage with the message and sent it along to the Huffington Post, which wrote about it Tuesday. This morning the story was being distributed widely and it was, of course, the top news item around about Kelly Keisling.

Wow! Just how batshit crazy are these Republicans? And how would this even work? Was their martial law imposed after the Kennedy assassination?

Well fortunately this wingnut quickly apologized. (I'm guessing he kind of had to, don'tcha think?)

“Earlier this week, I forwarded an email from my legislative office that should not have been sent out. The message was inappropriate for distribution. I regret the error and pledge to be more cautious regarding the information distributed from my office in the future.”

You know the Bush administration lied to the country about WMD's in order to start an illegal war, tapped the phones of citizen's and lied about it, and sent prisoners of war to be tortured in other countries while covering their ass by redefining what "torture" meant, and THESE idiots said nothing.  But put a man in office with too much pigment in his skin and suddenly they are seeing communists around every corner, sharia law taking over the justice system, and now a fake assassination attempt in order to impose martial law.

Go figure.