military has to train in terrain like they expect
to fight in." Usually, as I understand it, units
train for an expected or at least possible
scenario. Could Mitch, and others who find the
"black helicopter" presence
comforting/appropriate, explain what operational,
as opposed to training, scenarios they
envision? Where would this warfare occur? Who would be the enemy? Etc....
As for the Mayor and the cops, (and Council
members?) how long have they known about this
exercise and what sort of consent did they
give? When? Were any incentives provided? Who
was first notified when? Etc....
am
At 07:07 AM 8/21/2014 -0500, you wrote:
>So many things to respond to. So little time.
>
>For starters, this is neither an escalation nor
>an experiment. Military units, especially
>helicopters, have been practicing over cities
>for decades. It's relatively common, down south
> where most of the units are stationed. The
>thing is, the military has to train in terrain
>like they expect to fight in. The federal
>government already owns plenty of desert,
>forest, mountain and prairie areas. But they
>don't own any cities (inevitable conservative
>joke about Minneapolis and St. Paul notwithstanding).
>I also think it's funny, as much as the majority
>of this forum genuflects to Europe on things
>like social policy, to remember how present the
>military was in and about European society when
>I was there (admittedly a few years back).
>Helicopters in the night? Chicken feed; there
>were tanks on the roads, jets flying low
>overhead very, very frequently, and troops
>routinely in the streets. Of course, people protested that, too...
>
>It's funny how my libertarian friends and
>liberal neighbors have both jumped to the same
>conclusion about this that it's another symbol
>of "militarized policing". We've even seen a
>revival of the "black helicopters" meme from 20
>years ago as if training over urban areas is,
>if not routine, at least somewhat
>commonplace. My two cents The police are
>plenty militarized on their own (and that
>includes StPaul, whose SWAT team looks not one
>iota different from the ones in Ferguson
>Missouri) and the military is the least of our
>worries when it comes to protecting our liberties, these days.
>ys.
>
>For those of you who care about such things.
>
>Mitch Berg
>The Midway