College of Constructive Hell-Raising

Sigh.

This is a horrible overreaction to an ill-conceived and counterproductive middle-of-the-night surprise assault with weapons on an ICE facility far outside of Dallas. Especially for those that weren’t even on the scene and are guilty of only being publishers and distributors of media. With any luck, their sentences will be reduced on appeal.

Our name emphasizes “constructive” hell-raising. Nothing constructive was going to happen even if this had gone off as some of the defendants had planned. No public call to action. No building toward a next step. Just secretly showing up at Midnight harassing and perhaps scarring the bejeepers out of the mid-level officers inside the ICE facility. And then leaving. What would have been accomplished? What was the next step?

In the midst of so much despair and carnage, there’s always the temptation to take short cuts that feel good. But those short cuts are rarely successful, and often backfire. As this one did. It’s a tragedy all around.

There’s no substitute for the hard work of organizing. The Revolution will not be instigated by ambushing ICE agents at night. The polar opposite of this approach is what we’ve seen in Minneapolis, where nothing like this ever took place. (Yes, the Trump DOJ has filed charges against "the Minnesota 15" but nobody expects those to stick because the actions cited by DOJ are all based on text exchanges in the middle of organizing a non-violent, VERY publicized community response to ICE).

Even if you believe armed resistance is warranted, this isn’t the example you want to emulate. Reading the details it plays like a Keystone Cops serial. There are other ways to more successfully demonstrate solidarity as a gun owner. One only need to look at the original Black Panthers marching as a armed regiment of into the California Legislature, or using their weapons in self defense. This wasn’t that.

Good people who are sincere in their concerns about the world and America are now facing 50 to 70 years in federal prison. And for what? A Lone Ranger shoot-em-up that emboldened the regime and played right into its crazy narrative. If you do something risking that kind of sacrifice, you better be sure it has a more productive impact.

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fyi:

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