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I Went Undercover With a Border Militia. Here's What I Saw - Shane Bauer (MJ)

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Sounds like a group of people that is eventually gonna come up against some well-armed cartel or Mexican troops and regret very much what they do on these excursions.
 

shira

Member
Sounds like a group of people that is eventually gonna come up against some well-armed cartel or Mexican troops and regret very much what they do on these excursions.

martyrs would probably bring more to the cause

most meals are prepared with bacon grease or pork to keep would-be Muslim infiltrators at bay

Wow

I looked to the one black man in the group, a recruit who had family near the mass shooting in San Bernardino a week earlier. "I hate to tell you, but I'm in for the long count," he told the captain. "So you'll be seeing my black ass here every time."

The captain responded that in his experience, black people were always the best at learning and executing orders. "We need to see some more black asses, is what we need," he said. Another man added, "We need diversity."

ok then
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
most meals are prepared with bacon grease or pork to keep would-be Muslim infiltrators at bay.

Are they vampires? Is this like spreading goats blood on your doorway to ward off demons? Fuckin hell.
 
Border militia people (they were featured in the brilliant documentary Cartel Land) basically come off as military LARPers.

I love that right wing numbnuts still do the pork thing to ward off Muslims lololol
Sounds like a group of people that is eventually gonna come up against some well-armed cartel or Mexican troops and regret very much what they do on these excursions.
Cartel Land is exactly about that and they come off as jokers.
 
It just gets worse and worse the farther you read. It's like they tack terrible qualities and pile them on top of each other.

Not only are they racists, but they are also paranoid racists who believe in conspiracy theories with no basis reality. And they're violent or at least have violent impulses. And they think racism is the fault of black people. And they have deeply messed up views of women. And they think torture/hazing is okay.

Imagine if you actually knew these guys beyond this kind of interaction. I bet it'd be frightening.
 

GPsych

Member
It just gets worse and worse the farther you read. It's like they tack terrible qualities and pile them on top of each other.

Not only are they racists, but they are also paranoid racists who believe in conspiracy theories with no basis reality. And they're violent or at least have violent impulses. And they think racism is the fault of black people. And they have deeply messed up views of women. And they think torture/hazing is okay.

Imagine if you actually knew these guys beyond this kind of interaction. I bet it'd be frightening.

And they're heavily armed...
 
I live in Aurora, not noticing the problem.
My old neighbors were from India. They thought my pet ferret Max was the craziest thing they've ever seen. They had never seen one in person so when I took him for a walk they would come out and ask me questions about him.
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
This part is a real find...

"I love my job," Dennis says. "I have days where I'm like, 'Fuck this. This is the worst mistake I've ever made.' But most of the time, if I sit back and I think about it, I come in and play hide-and-seek, steal weed off of people, steal vehicles from people—legally—and watch Netflix."

Dennis is a Border Patrol agent.

The cajones on that reporter. Damn.

Fascinating article. Loved how the camp segregated into Colorado and Arizona factons that hated one another.



giphy.gif

And how they're talking about possibly having to fight other militia factions in the future, lol.
 
And they're heavily armed...

Yep, heavily armed violent paranoid racists and sexists, some of whom are Nazi apologists, many of whom are allowed free reign by law enforcement.

These people scare me far more than the threat of international terrorism. How are these guys going to handle the demographic changes that are sure to come in the next few decades? The answer kind of frightens me.
 
Are they vampires? Is this like spreading goats blood on your doorway to ward off demons? Fuckin hell.

I always find that shit hilarious. As if we're gonna melt or turn into vapor if we accidentally eat pork or something.

We totally dont. Promise. Mhm. >_>
 

Nepenthe

Member
These guys wouldn't be so terrifying if they didn't have the actual backing of law enforcement. If you somehow get caught up with them on a bad day, there's basically nothing you can do.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Fucking unbelievable. Things that stood out to me (not that they are surprising, so much as they are horrifying):

- The sheer bloodlust and desire for murder. These men claim they are there to only be eyes and ears but they're not only armed and equipped to the teeth and militarily organized, but are actively thirsting for violence and openly talk about "hunting Mexicans" and killing people.
- The open racism, use of the n-word, while claiming they aren't racist. Fucking lol. And the nazi guy being essentially unchallenged.
- The outright misogyny, with allusions to rape and explicit defenses for domestic violence (bitches had it coming and all that).
- The complete paranoia, about chemtrails, NWO, cartels everywhere, Obama sending UN troops to control everyone, etc.
- The torture boot camp. HOLY SHIT
- The complete cognitive dissonance. One guy admitted to having crossed the border into Mexico illegally and chuckled about it. Another whined at having been stuck at the Canadian border with his family for 2 hours (wahhhh) and being "treated like a criminal" because the paperwork wasn't in order, but would clearly have no misgivings about assuming any person with brown skin is an illegal alien and/or a criminal.
- The best part? All that effort, armament, organization, etc. to.... accomplish fucking nothing except maybe successfully cut off a migrant's lifeline (by destroying food and water caches they found with no idea of who it belonged to). It really jumped at me how during all their operations they never actually caught any cartel, never actually stopped any drug smuggling, never have actually made the USA safer. They are utterly and completely delusional.

These guys are paranoid, lunatic, delusional, openly bloodthirsty sociopaths, and they're armed to the teeth, and what does the police do? They chat them up amiably and let them go.

It's fucking crazy. This journalist needs a Pulitzer for real.

What are you really asking, here? Everyone in the article is fully aware of the nature of their hobby - direct or indirectly killing immigrants. They send their recruits through a torture boot camp to condition them.

It's a heavily armed cult, they openly discuss some end-times scenario and one guy jokes about the caste system they already have set up where they'll be the equivalent of Roman nobility and they'll make everyone else farm and forage for them. There is no good intention here - they are basically a confused, infantile, western ISIS.
Yup yup.

The part about the Roman casts reminded me of Caesar's Legion in Fallout: New Vegas, to be honest.
 
"I thought to myself, if I get a little bit of training, I might get more of them"—the blue helmets—"before they get me. Instead of getting 5 or 6, I might get 10 or 12. Or 20. Who knows? I've learned enough now that I might even get a couple dozen."

Lunatic with delusions of being Rambo. Is it terrible of me to wish this guy, everyone in this group actually, gets dysentery?
 

Turok_TTZ

Member
Militia / PMC / Mercenaries always frighten me.

It's like the US is working with third party contractors that have wildly varying levels of training and vetting for tasks that involve killing people.

That's harrowing, to say the least.

Also what the hell leads someone to have such hatred for other races without any major interaction with them in the first place?

Oi! militias and PMC/Mercs are two very different beasts.

Militias needs to be shutdown immediately. PMCs and Security Contractors are properly trained, professional soldiers who do a variety of tasks such as rescue operations, private security for commercial/industrial/private properties, and a whole lot of other stuff. Yes, we're well known for the "killing" part but you painting us with a very broad brush and I take offense to that. I take great offense to that. we involved in wildlife protection too ya know? some poachers be packing serious firepower these days.

At the very least, my boys have to pass a mental aptitude test to confirm they ain't psychotic idiots. these militias should be illegal. basically homegrown terrorists who may as well be a ticking time bomb waiting for something to trigger them to do something real stupid. half the time they packing illegal firearms/ammunition they shouldn't being carrying.

Too bad border patrol is a whole other level of incompetent.
 
Another whined at having been stuck at the Canadian border with his family for 2 hours (wahhhh) and being "treated like a criminal" because the paperwork wasn't in order

I noted that too, and it's like how can he possibly not see the irony in objecting to border security doing their job and investigating an irregularity. But I concluded that he honestly thinks it's self-evident that a white family belongs in the US, and brown people don't, no matter what any paperwork says.
 
These guys wouldn't be so terrifying if they didn't have the actual backing of law enforcement. If you somehow get caught up with them on a bad day, there's basically nothing you can do.

White supremacy almost always has the backing of law enforcement. Tulsa massacre 1921 the local police deputized random White folk and let em go in and just slaughter.

During the early hours of the riot local authorities did little to stem the growing crisis. Indeed, shortly after the outbreak of gunfire at the courthouse, Tulsa police officers deputized former members of the lynch mob and, according to an eyewitness, instructed them to "get a gun and get a nigger." Local units of the National Guard were mobilized, but they spent most of the night protecting a white neighborhood from a feared, but nonexistent, black counterattack.

Nothing in the article shocks me. These militias are itching for an opportunity to go door to door and murder minorities and their sympathizers.

Let Trump actually get elected.....
 
I don't think the world will mourn if they got into a shootout with cartel guys and everybody died.

I'm not so sure, if they die "for the cause," they become martyrs that inspire a new generation of idiots and chucklefucks to do the same thing.

If they get dysentery and shit bloody diarrhea everywhere, atleast the worst thing they did is fertilize a bit of woodland somewhere.
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Sounds like a group of people that is eventually gonna come up against some well-armed cartel or Mexican troops and regret very much what they do on these excursions.

These guys are just stumbling around in the dark. There isn't even going to be contact.
 

ezrarh

Member
I'm not so sure, if they die "for the cause," they become martyrs that inspire a new generation of idiots and chucklefucks to do the same thing.

If they get dysentery and shit bloody diarrhea everywhere, atleast the worst thing they did is fertilize a bit of woodland somewhere.

That's a fair point. Unless everybody dies in the middle of nowhere and the tree doesn't make a sound.
 
It's worth considering how far gone many of these men already are. Some are certain that being in the militia is a pressure release for them, having left an intolerable life they find that this paramilitary activity is an outlet for emotions they might otherwise direct to even more destructive ends. Meanwhile, the leadership fronts that they try to weed out the potential Tim McVeighs from their ranks, not realizing how many are getting in.

Iceman tells me about himself. Seven years ago, shortly after high school, he wound up homeless, living out of his car. He joined the Marine Corps and was sent to Afghanistan. There, he searched cars entering his base for bombs and drugs. He was glad to leave, but it didn't take long before he felt that he was "scratching at the walls" of the hole he'd escaped by joining the military. Life still seemed stacked against him. He was working at a Subway and had a baby with heart problems. Sometimes he found himself hungry and penniless.

Iceman lay awake at night and wondered about the way of things. Why don't veterans get the recognition they deserve? Why is the country so divided? He had a sinking suspicion that the government was behind it all. Racism had been nearly extinct—he didn't care about race—but then Obama stoked the flames and now black people were marching in the streets. Was the government trying to start a race war to make it easier to enact martial law so that Obama could secure a third term, bring in UN troops, and launch the New World Order like George Soros and the big bankers want?

This is how radicalization works. You recruit disenfranchised men who feel like they have nowhere left to go in life and you arm them and you reinforce their belief that armed insurrection is not only inevitable but a moral necessity. "Militia" is just double-speak for these folks. They're straight terrorist cells.
 

wildfire

Banned
He lets the N-word slip sometimes, even though it seems to make some of the guys a little uncomfortable. Fifty Cal later told me that racism isn't tolerated and that "We have removed and blocked folks that didn't align with our ideals." In its official communications, 3UP insists it is not a white supremacist organization. No one ever speaks up at this kind of language, though. To show offense would be to give in to political correctness, which is a step toward Big Brother mind control.

LOL They are so confused.
 
Oi! militias and PMC/Mercs are two very different beasts.

Militias needs to be shutdown immediately. PMCs and Security Contractors are properly trained, professional soldiers who do a variety of tasks such as rescue operations, private security for commercial/industrial/private properties, and a whole lot of other stuff. Yes, we're well known for the "killing" part but you painting us with a very broad brush and I take offense to that. I take great offense to that. we involved in wildlife protection too ya know? some poachers be packing serious firepower these days.

At the very least, my boys have to pass a mental aptitude test to confirm they ain't psychotic idiots. these militias should be illegal. basically homegrown terrorists who may as well be a ticking time bomb waiting for something to trigger them to do something real stupid. half the time they packing illegal firearms/ammunition they shouldn't being carrying.

Too bad border patrol is a whole other level of incompetent.

Fair enough, but man most of the news I've heard about PMCs comes from shits like Blackwater or whatever new name they have this time around.

I shouldn't have used such a broad definition but yeah, any third party contractor being used for military based work scares the shit out of me as a regular citizen.

It's worth considering how far gone many of these men already are. Some are certain that being in the militia is a pressure release for them, having left an intolerable life they find that this paramilitary activity is an outlet for emotions they might otherwise direct to even more destructive ends. Meanwhile, the leadership fronts that they try to weed out the potential Tim McVeighs from their ranks, not realizing how many are getting in.

This is how radicalization works. You recruit disenfranchised men who feel like they have nowhere left to go in life and you arm them and you reinforce their belief that armed insurrection is not only inevitable but a moral necessity. "Militia" is just double-speak for these folks. They're straight terrorist cells.

The funny thing is, they aren't that far away from being the next ISIS. They just don't see the resemblance because the US would come down hard on anyone that tries another stunt like taking over an office building, and they feel that their religion is the true religion so that makes it different.

But in reality, you look at people like this, weary from war and the world and lashing out at minorities and the government and you can see the parallels between militia and terrorist cell rather clearly.
 

jayu26

Member
These people have mental issues. I think they need some form of community based help. I am not a religious person, but I think local church or religious group should try some sort of program for them. Work on finding out where all this hate for fellow human beings comes from.
 
Want to read this prison article first. Got a link?

http://www.motherjones.com/politics...tions-corporation-inmates-investigation-bauer

These people have mental issues. I think they need some form of community based help. I am not a religious person, but I think local church or religious group should try some sort of program for them. Work on finding out where all this hate for fellow human beings comes from.

From the article, most of them have ignored suggestions given to them by the VA or medical professionals. It's a little depressing.

They think it's another conspiracy. I know lots of people that feel it's a sign of weakness to utilize medical care or medications, which is also a little depressing.

I love that the border patrol guy basically talked about misuse of his position by stealing weed and cars, but that he's glad these militia men and women are there to do his job for free while he gets paid for it.
 

Miletius

Member
Border militia people (they were featured in the brilliant documentary Cartel Land) basically come off as military LARPers.

I love that right wing numbnuts still do the pork thing to ward off Muslims lololol

Cartel Land is exactly about that and they come off as jokers.

That's basically it, as far as I can tell. Like, for all their talk, they pretty much just sit back and go play pretend for a few hours, come back to camp, dick around, then play pretend some more. They never appear to come across anybody or do anything of any consequence. The police soothes them with talk and let them go on their way. The border patrol agent feeds them info that never really materializes into anything.

That's not to say that they aren't dangerous. But, even despite that, they appear impotent.
 

wildfire

Banned
The weird thing is though, according to the article a not-insignificant number of these guys are veterans. They do have the experience of being in a real combat zone, following real orders, with real stakes. So you'd think they'd recognize how dumb and fake this pretend version of the military is.


These guys like any professional are Apulia their knowledge and training to ensure certain standards are met.


Their problems are overconfidence in their management skills. Officer schools aren't pointless and I doubt any of them graduated from one considering the glaring flaws in their operations.
 

jayu26

Member
http://www.motherjones.com/politics...tions-corporation-inmates-investigation-bauer



From the article, most of them have ignored suggestions given to them by the VA or medical professionals. It's a little depressing.

They think it's another conspiracy. I know lots of people that feel it's a sign of weakness to utilize medical care or medications, which is also a little depressing.

I love that the border patrol guy basically talked about misuse of his position by stealing weed and cars, but that he's glad these militia men and women are there to do his job for free while he gets paid for it.
That is why I think local churchs might have better luck. They hate "science type" people because they don't want to be told what to do. With churchs they would, supposedly, have their friends and family members rather than strangers. Of course, it would much harder to get through to cases where entire families have bought into this. I do know from personal experience how difficult and frustrating (and down right depressing) it is to try (and fail) to communicate with a person who feels disenfranchised.
 
I mean, it's not like I needed more proof to know that these are racist, sexist, conspiracy driven paranoid pieces of literal shit, but reading the article just brought it all home.

These people have guns.
 
Militia / PMC / Mercenaries always frighten me.

It's like the US is working with third party contractors that have wildly varying levels of training and vetting for tasks that involve killing people.

That's harrowing, to say the least.

Also what the hell leads someone to have such hatred for other races without any major interaction with them in the first place?

The difference is that PMCs and Mercenaries are professionally trained and are typically vets, militia are jackasses playing soldier who couldn't hack it in the real army (those who actually even tried joining). Militia are a threat to normal citizens more than anything. I wish the government would sweep through and arrest/kill the lot of them. It'd make the country a safer place.
 
That is why I think local churchs might have better luck. They hate "science type" people because they don't want to be told what to do. With churchs they would, supposedly, have their friends and family members rather than strangers. Of course, it would much harder to get through to cases where entire families have bought into this. I do know from personal experience how difficult and frustrating (and down right depressing) it is to try (and fail) to communicate with a person who feels disenfranchised.

Church groups are busy trying to save the lives of people who otherwise perish from exposure during the long desert trip to deal with these armed fuckwits thirsty for 'action.'

And these militia dipshits go and destroy the care packages left by these exact church-run groups. If they caught wind that it was indeed church groups leaving these parcels they'd probably identify them as 'the enemy' and accept no discourse.
 

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
These people have mental issues. I think they need some form of community based help. I am not a religious person, but I think local church or religious group should try some sort of program for them. Work on finding out where all this hate for fellow human beings comes from.
I don't know how effective that would be. Religious groups in the communities that spawn these sorts of folks tend to have a similar brand of conservative contempt simmering beneath their surface.
 
It's kind of scary that his descriptions about the camp sounds like a hunting trip. Just with veterans who need something more than hunting deer. It's borderline Most Dangerous Game.
 

Media

Member
Reading through right now, but I wanted to stop and share this fucking beautiful passage.

It's windy and the sun is blazing in the cloudless sky. At the top of a small hill, Iceman takes a knee and Sandstone and I do the same. For several minutes, we look out over the valley, mottled with creosote bushes, sotol, and grass. I sense that for them, there is a romance to this—the open land, the distant mountains, the belief that they are defending the frontier in service of the nation. I, too, relish this moment. Like them, I have a rationale for my attraction to danger and violence. I, too, am here.
 

Arkeband

Banned
Oi! militias and PMC/Mercs are two very different beasts.

Militias needs to be shutdown immediately. PMCs and Security Contractors are properly trained, professional soldiers who do a variety of tasks such as rescue operations, private security for commercial/industrial/private properties, and a whole lot of other stuff. Yes, we're well known for the "killing" part but you painting us with a very broad brush and I take offense to that. I take great offense to that. we involved in wildlife protection too ya know? some poachers be packing serious firepower these days.

At the very least, my boys have to pass a mental aptitude test to confirm they ain't psychotic idiots. these militias should be illegal. basically homegrown terrorists who may as well be a ticking time bomb waiting for something to trigger them to do something real stupid. half the time they packing illegal firearms/ammunition they shouldn't being carrying.

Too bad border patrol is a whole other level of incompetent.

PMC's aren't always kosher either, as evidenced by Blackwater goons letting their inner Satan out and getting caught on tape.
 

Turok_TTZ

Member
Fair enough, but man most of the news I've heard about PMCs comes from shits like Blackwater or whatever new name they have this time around.

I shouldn't have used such a broad definition but yeah, any third party contractor being used for military based work scares the shit out of me as a regular citizen.

eh, is cool. my lot nothing like Academi. I understand your concerns do understand that half the time most find it easier to employ private security services being cheaper. there are shady crews but some of us keep it clean (unless we're hired to do dirty deeds.)

PMC's aren't always kosher either, as evidenced by Blackwater goons letting their inner Satan out and getting caught on tape.

Having dealt with Academi before (formerly blackwater whom you're referencing), won't deny there are many shady pmcs but thats life ya know? shadiness can be found anywhere and everywhere. Heck, I won't deny I have been in involved with shady stuff myself. That's just the business that we attract as Security Contractors. But we do only what we're hired to do. not like we killing locals and minorities, raping civilians, kidnapping/molesting children for fun and amusement like Academi did. My guys keep it straight or they're out of a job and never heard from again. I have a very strict company policy that all of my men follow. don't compare us to these militias and those punks at Academi. especially those punks at Academi. I have private scrapyards I wouldn't employ those clowns to guard.
 

Permanently A

Junior Member
Finished it. These people are out for blood. They never came back from whatever deployment they went on. The SERE torture shit is just crazy.
 
An update: an interview with one of the founders of the group.

MJ: What do you think of the federal government?

MM: The federal government is becoming tyrannical. I think that they have broadly overreached in many aspects. We see it in the Second Amendment, but we see it in the First Amendment, too. There's talk about what you can say, when you can say it. [Attorney General] Loretta Lynch came out herself and said people who make disparaging comments against Muslims should be charged with hate crimes. We see the federal government getting involved in everything from school lunches to firearms to how you can talk. Twenty years ago, we didn't need all these laws and rules. Things seemed to work just fine.

MJ: What do you think about Donald Trump's idea of a wall on the border?

MM: Well, I don't know how well that would work. I think that we need border control. I think that we definitely need to help our Border Patrol by giving them better equipment with better funding. You can build a gigantic wall if you want. It may slow down the traffic, but what it's gonna do is it's gonna slow down the immigrant traffic and that's not the traffic that concerns me the most. A wall is not gonna slow down the drug traffic and it's not gonna slow down the human trafficking because those people have all the money in the world to build tunnels, to buy airplanes. I mean, shoot, they are using submarines off the West Coast. I would like to see us focus on stopping the criminal enterprise that's going on down at the border. I don't think a wall is going to do that.
 

nicanica

Member
The previous Mother Jones piece about the being an undercover prison guard, had my heart racing as they're in actual danger.

I lol'd at the end of this piece.

Dude sounded like he just peaced out thinking "Man, ya'll are lame as fuck."
 
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