Musings from George

My nephew spent four years as a Marine, with multiple tours in Iraq. His recent post on Facebook deserves a more permanent home than Facebook, so I wanted to capture it here. The police are charged to serve and protect, not to “dominate” and oppress. The military are EXPRESSLY prohibited from acting on domestic soil, yet the current administration militarizes the park police and federal officers to “dominate” peaceful protesters so that Trump can hold a Bible (not his Bible) for a stupid photo op.

Here are the words of a Marine (my nephew, I take no credit for the prose but offer complete respect and honor for the message):

Hello Facebook folks. Long time no talk. Given the events of the past week I feel I must speak out. We have the ugly face of institutionalized racism rearing its head in America. We have a president calling for the “domination” of our citizens, we have members of the GOP calling for our troops to commit war crimes on Americans (not hyperbole, look up what “giving no quarter” means. You’ll find it in the Geneva convention defined as a war crime). We have an executive branch that is actively working to strip citizens of their civil liberties.We must all stand against these fascist actions (once again not hyperbole look up the definition of fascism). First, systemic racism has plagued our country since its inception. We like to tell ourselves that we’ve made great strides in this area but clearly our progress has been woefully inadequate. We must all demand that constitutional rights are respected and civil liberties remain intact for ALL of our citizens. Secondly, the violent police response to peaceful protesters and vicious attacks on the free press so that they can’t record and report the police misdeeds must not be tolerated. They are violently suppressing the rights and liberties of our fellow citizens. If you support this oppression then you are a traitor to our nation and its principles. You should be ashamed of yourselves, doubly so if you are a veteran or active duty service member. On that note, hey second amendment folks? where the fuck are you? Within the last few weeks you were willing to kit yourself out, bear arms, and threaten elected officials for your “right” to get a haircut, go out to eat, and endanger others by not wearing a mask. But now that state sponsored goons are violently oppressing your fellow citizens, the exact scenario you all trot out when you talk about gun rights not being infringed and… crickets. You are all traitorous cowards. If any of you are police and one of those mythic “good apples” I urge you to refuse to participate in this violent assault on our nation’s citizens. Better yet show up unarmed in your dress uniform and stand beside the communities you have sworn to serve. Trump is currently deploying active duty service members across the country, even when the governors of those states have explicitly requested he not do so (states rights folks where the hell are you?) Trump appears to be angling for America to have its own Tiananmen Square massacre. If you think that sounds absurd here are his thoughts on the massacre: “When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it,” “Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak … as being spit on by the rest of the world,” With that in mind also know that he has suggested that governors request the support of tanks so that the military can quickly “dominate the battle space” otherwise known as our town centers and plazas. To my active duty brothers and sisters, I urge you to remember the oath you took was to “support and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign AND Domestic”. Also remember that you are bound by duty, honor, and the UCMJ to refuse any unlawful order you are given and to relieve the individual that gave that order. Do not let yourself be the boot that stamps out the fires of Liberty in our country. Lastly, To my fellow veterans that served honorably and remember the oath you made. As our nation struggles with these issues in the coming months I urge you to stay vigilant. I fear there may soon come a time where we will have to stand by our oaths in defense of or fellow citizens lest we cede our country to fascism. I will close with a quote from one of our founding fathers: “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” -Thomas Jefferson. Keep your heads on a swivel, stay safe, and Semper Fidelis