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You are here: Home / Politics / domestic terrorists / Open Thread: #MichiganMen (Totally Not Terrorists)

Open Thread: #MichiganMen (Totally Not Terrorists)

by Anne Laurie|  February 7, 20172:21 am| 33 Comments

This post is in: domestic terrorists, Enhanced Protest Techniques, Open Threads, Assholes

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I owe some commentor a hat tip for this link to the Detroit News:

Two men were arrested Sunday after allegedly walking into the Dearborn Police Department wearing tactical vests and armed with cameras, an AP-14 and handgun.

Video shot by one of the men shows a brief but tense standoff…

Dearborn police were called Sunday afternoon to the shopping district near Ford and Southfield to investigate a report of “two suspicious men in a vehicle wearing tactical vests and masks,” officials said in a statement Monday.

The men left the area before officers arrived, but a police sergeant later spotted their vehicle in a park around three miles away. He conducted a brief traffic stop and did not see any visible weapons.

After being released, the suspects went to the police station to “make a complaint,” according to video posted online.

“So we’re here, outside the Dearborn Police station. We’re going to go in and make a complaint because we were illegally pulled over about an hour ago,” said a man identified by police as a 24 year old resident of Leonard, Mich. “We felt a little afraid for our lives when we were pulled over, so we figured we better protect ourselves.”

The man, his face hidden in a mask and his eyes behind sunglasses, held his camera out to reveal a large rifle strapped to his chest. Accompanying him was a 40 year old Jackson, Mich. resident who was unarmed but also clad in a tactical vest with cameras rolling.

Police have not named either suspect. They are free Monday on $1,500 bonds, but officials did not disclose their charges…

… because ‘being a godsdamned menace to yourselves and everyone around you’ is not in the criminal codes, worse luck.

Yes, as you may recall, Dearborn was (as of the 2000 census) almost 30% Arab-American and the site of North America’s largest mosque. Jackson, on the other hand… houses the state prison, which used to be the single major employer in the region. Twenty-odd years ago (when I was still a Michigander) the local welcome-to-Jackson signs changed their message from “You may never leave!” to “We like it here,” for some reason.

The nimrods in question seem to be open-carry advocates hoping to spread their message. Anyone wanna bet things might’ve gone a bit differently if a couple swarthy-complected fellas decided to walk into the Jackson police headquarters, waving their penis extenders?

And no I do *not* think it is a coincidence that the President-Asterisk’s minions just removed white nationalists from the official terrorism watch list…

Here is @POTUS telling troops the media does not want to report terrorist attacks because "they have their reasons, and you understand that" pic.twitter.com/SNA2ykVv4U

— Tom Namako (@TomNamako) February 6, 2017

Trump is right about media underreporting a particular terror attack

I bet there's a pattern btw white supremacists terror + underreporting https://t.co/UCaLzZr3tv

— Anthony De Rosa (@Anthony) February 6, 2017

The Trump administration has said it won't count white supremacist murder sprees as terrorism and their list just proved that.

— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 7, 2017

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Next Post: Tuesday Morning Open Thread: (Ruck)Sack Up »

Reader Interactions

33Comments

  1. 1.

    Citizen Alan

    February 7, 2017 at 2:24 am

    Can there possibly be a better example of white privilege than these asswipes strolling into a police station armed to the hilt and being taken alive despite several minutes of willfully refusing to obey the lawful instructions of police officers. Blacks or Muslims who did the same thing would have been killed six times over in that amount of time.

  2. 2.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    February 7, 2017 at 2:36 am

    Sean Spicier is bitterly complaining that an article states Trump wears bathrobe:

    “Start at the top. I don’t think the president owns a bathrobe. He certainly doesn’t wear one.” (link)

    Green balloons! Green balloons!

  3. 3.

    SRW1

    February 7, 2017 at 2:43 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    “Start at the top. I don’t think the president owns a bathrobe. He certainly doesn’t wear one.”

    OMG! Where’s the brain bleach?!?

  4. 4.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 7, 2017 at 2:44 am

    “We were illegally pulled over”.

    Well, I guess that the fact that they’re white means it’s illegal for police to pull them over for anything at all, to include minor infractions of traffic regulations. Because white. On the other hand, as Anne graciously notes, if you’re blah, you are lucky to survive any pull over encounter with the police because of course driving while blah is criminal in and of itself, as has been often demonstrated in this country.

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    February 7, 2017 at 2:44 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
    questions that I don’t want to visualize.

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    February 7, 2017 at 2:45 am

    hell yes, this is White privilege.

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    February 7, 2017 at 2:52 am

    @SRW1

    Technically, it probably isn’t a bathrobe.

  8. 8.

    amk

    February 7, 2017 at 3:02 am

    @rikyrah: and white arrogance. these dudes are giving all white folks a bad name.

  9. 9.

    Origuy

    February 7, 2017 at 3:20 am

    An Indianapolis “sovereign national” driving around with guns and chemical weapons.

    When officers searched Byrne’s car, they found a Ruger 10-22 rifle with 100 rounds of ammunition with a scope and homemade suppressor attached. They also found water bottles filled with bleach and ammonia, which form a toxic gas if mixed together in a sealed container.

  10. 10.

    Mary G

    February 7, 2017 at 3:43 am

    I’ve been tweeting at the president using my own name, just because he pisses me off so much with the ignorance, incompetence, racism, cruelty and whatnot. I try to respect the office. Yesterday I told him that he needs a brush up on the Constitution and I am sure that Mr. Khan would still be happy to loan him his copy.

    It’s interesting. When I first started doing it, there were a lot of loud, proud deplorables who would defend him and get into fights with people they considered sore loser libs. Many had Pepe the frog avatars. But now there seem to be fewer and fewer.

  11. 11.

    Chet Murthy

    February 7, 2017 at 3:47 am

    @Mary G: You must do a lotta meditation to keep your blood pressure down. Me, I can’t read those ….. deplorables …. without wanting to commit violent acts outlawed in all fifty states and many foreign countries. And since I’m a civilized person, this is an intrinsically distressing state of mind. So I don’t read the stuff.

    But I’m glad you’re trying.

  12. 12.

    amk

    February 7, 2017 at 4:06 am

    @Mary G: Out of sheer masochism, I have looked at twitler’s tweets for the past 2-3 days. The top rated/liked replies are totally going against the mad man with very little pushback from the trumpanzees. He is losing his ‘base’.

  13. 13.

    fuckwit

    February 7, 2017 at 5:20 am

    @amk: One of the oddest things about Twitler is how many of his posts are just flooded with smackdowns and humiliations. And yet he keeps at it.

  14. 14.

    amk

    February 7, 2017 at 5:32 am

    @fuckwit: I doubt he reads any of the replies. That could also explain why his trumpanzees lost interest in replying. The wingnutz prolly thought he would personally answer their ass kissing tweets.

  15. 15.

    Ryan

    February 7, 2017 at 5:36 am

    I love that chyron. Does any European leader believe Trump will live up to HIS obligations if they do pay up? It’s unfortunate that the irony of Trump telling Europe to pay up is lost on him.

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    February 7, 2017 at 5:47 am

    @Mary G:
    Try and work President Bannon into your tweets

  17. 17.

    Mustang Bobby

    February 7, 2017 at 5:48 am

    When I lived in northern Michigan in the early ’90’s there were a lot of these fools running around the woods in their cammie-jammies proclaiming their sovereignty against the invading hordes from “down there” (Detroit). They were ten or twenty years removed from building their pillow fort in the living room and they had real guns, but it was the same mentality. They’d get shitfaced at the local tavern then go out and ride their snowmobiles into a tree. Darwin was right.

  18. 18.

    satby

    February 7, 2017 at 5:50 am

    @Mary G: Me too Mary, and white guys wanting to argue with me over the internet have dwindled to nothing. I attribute that more to the immense volume of angry tweets back that Dolt 45 gets… It’s gotta be hard for the haters to keep up ?

  19. 19.

    Spanky

    February 7, 2017 at 5:51 am

    @Mustang Bobby: Where’s my “Like” button, dammit!

  20. 20.

    satby

    February 7, 2017 at 5:53 am

    @rikyrah: I always end with a “did you ask President Bannon?”.

    Does he read any? Who knows, I assume not. But he’s so needy for adulation that he may just sneak a peek hoping for praise, and I intend to do my small bit to let him know he’s not getting any.

  21. 21.

    satby

    February 7, 2017 at 5:55 am

    @Mustang Bobby: Yeah, they’re still like that. All over the state.

  22. 22.

    sukabi

    February 7, 2017 at 6:01 am

    @amk: considering his base is composed of a few mouth breathers and a bunch of bots and paid trolls it’s not surprising….perhaps ?tin has decided his “investment” won’t pay off and he’s flushing his losses.

  23. 23.

    Applejinx

    February 7, 2017 at 6:13 am

    @rikyrah: Fuck yes it’s white privilege. It’s white privilege pushed so far it can make white cops uncomfortable, and that’s a lot of white privilege. Also:

    @rikyrah: The interesting thing about this is, it’s a really good strategy yet it might not work. The reason for that is, Trump hates everybody. If he trusted the Republicans, Bannon would be toast. But, Bannon can always grovel and say ‘you need me, because as you can see I have no agenda, I’m plotting with nobody, I’m YOUR snake! They all hate me, so I am conspiring always for your benefit, my ascendance can only benefit you!”

    Rasputin. Bannon is Rasputin. He’d better be just as immune to poison, but it’s possible that he’s more immune to Trump-firing than you’d think. And it’s not because he’s well-connected, it’s because he has no allies at all. Trump is supporting a guy who has to consider the Republicans as deadly enemies, a guy who is seizing power in order to wrest it from Republicans AND Democrats and just keep it for himself.

    Rasputin. And if you have a Rasputin, you don’t kill him because your court hates him: that’s the point. That’s the reason you’re keeping him.

  24. 24.

    K488

    February 7, 2017 at 7:03 am

    We lived just outside of Jackson for 25 years. Didn’t like it there; finally left. None of that story seems in the least surprising. My favorite headline from the Jackson Citizen Patriot during that time was There Were Parts of Her Body in the Restaurant and Her Head on the Porch Next Door. The song wrote itself…

  25. 25.

    Ohio Mom

    February 7, 2017 at 8:31 am

    @amk: I think the deplorables have moved to less public sites than Dump’s twitter feed. They are retreating to places like private Facebook pages where nothing that could possibly spark a moment of cognitive dissonance will ever appear. Which doesn’t have good chances of ending well.

  26. 26.

    PK

    February 7, 2017 at 8:53 am

    The Trump team has released 78 terror incidents which it says the media did not report. They’re from all over the world (I’m sure Donald cares about terrorist incidents in Bangladesh). I hope some one makes a list of all the mass murders committed by white men in the US and then compare the two lists.

  27. 27.

    O. Felix Culpa

    February 7, 2017 at 9:10 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    because of course driving while blah is criminal in and of itself

    Shorter: Being blah is criminal in and of itself. In the minds of far too many.

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    February 7, 2017 at 9:30 am

    @Applejinx: President Bannon is a twofold strategy. Inside the White House, but also outside the White House. Part of his shtick was that he was such a decisive leader. Man of action. If the meme is spread and sticks that some slob is actually running things, that undercuts him with the soft voter. The faster he gets to 27%, the better.

  29. 29.

    Big Picture Pathologist

    February 7, 2017 at 11:42 am

    @satby:

    We probably have Mark Scott to thank for that.

  30. 30.

    NorthLeft12

    February 7, 2017 at 11:46 am

    @PK: I don’t believe the FBI even counts the multiple murders committed by men against their exes and family. I guess because you know the killer already it is different than if a complete stranger murders you.

    I guess in a way, some people feel the same way about physical abuse within families. Somehow it is more horrifying if it the abuse is done by a stranger. Man, the world is getting effed up.

  31. 31.

    TenguPhule

    February 7, 2017 at 12:29 pm

    telling troops the media does not want to report terrorist attacks because “they have their reasons, and you understand that”

    “Wipe them out, all of them.”

    I swear the Donald is making this up as he goes along by watching Star Wars abominations 1-3.

  32. 32.

    Dick Move

    February 7, 2017 at 6:31 pm

    Please don’t make #MichiganMen a thing.

  33. 33.

    J R in WV

    February 7, 2017 at 7:48 pm

    The Don:

    The murder rate is the highest in decades – our nation is in chaos and the lying media won’t tell you about it! So wrong I have no way to describe how wrong it is.

    Unemployment is skyrocketing, no one has a job today! May be more wrong than the skyrocketing murder rate, which isn’t.

    Terrorism is rampant, but the media won’t tell you about it. Well, if it was a machete killing on the other side of the world, maybe so. But if it was a white guy killing peaceful people worshiping in church, or temple, or wherever, ALL OVER the FRONT PAGES!!! Another lie so bad.

    The Donald is crazy, suddenly we realize. Not odd, not a character, CRAZY OUT OF HIS MIND!!! Divorced from reality, telling bizarre lies on national TV.

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