Last week two Muslim Gunmen opened fire on a cartoon contest whose sole goal was to piss off the Islamic community by drawing the Prophet Mohammed. Fortunately an off duty traffic officer put an end to the shooting by shooting the shooters dead.
Another (less realistic) story to come out of Texas is that the United States military is preparing to impose martial law on the Lone Star State under the auspices of Operation Jade Helm, a large-scale training exercise for the military’s Special Ops units. Rumor has it that several Walmarts in West Texas that were closed for renovation are actually going to be set up as FEMA camps for political prisoners or possible supply depots for an internal conflict within the United States.
Now, you’d think that the people buying into this conspiracy theory are your run of the mill conspiracy theorists right? Well it just so happens that Governor Greg Abbott actually ordered the Texas State Guard to monitor Operation Jade Helm because of these theories. Senator Ted Cruz said “I understand a lot of the concerns raised by a lot of citizens about Jade Helm...we have seen, for six years, a federal government disrespecting the liberty of the citizens. And that produces fear, when you see a federal government that is attacking our free speech rights, or religious liberty rights, or second amendment rights, that produces mistrust…”. The mighty Chuck Norris even chimed in in an op-ed for WND.com, and in Texas Chuck Norris’ word is law, “ Concerned Texans and Americans are in no way calling into question our brave and courageous man and women in uniform. They are just merely following orders. What’s under question are those who are pulling the strings back in Washington. The U.S. government says ‘it’s just a training exercise.’ But I’m not sure the term ‘just’ has any reference to reality when the government uses it.”
Texas does have more sane people than we are often given credit for, but that doesn't mean we don't have a lot of crazy-ass people. But the root of the problem isn’t that these people are crazy conspiracy theorist, it’s that Conservatives are taking advantage of their craziness and spreading bullshit propaganda stories about a Black, Democratic president who happens to be doing a better job than Conservatives would like him to be doing. The “leaders” in Texas such as Senator Cruz and Governor Abbott didn’t come out and say specifically that they believe Operation Jade Helm is an attempt by the Federal Government (Obama) to impose martial law in Texas, but they fanned the flames by telling the state guard to monitor the Military and saying that they understand people's mistrust.
This is what makes people think that Texas is just a bunch of Right Wing nut jobs. It is also a perfect example of how Conservatives have to fear monger in order to stay relevant in the 21st century. This doesn’t come as a shock that two far right Conservatives would take a conspiracy theory and indirectly accuse President Obama of trying to take over our lives; Conservatives tried to convince the public that Obama was trying to steal our guns, and that Obamacare was unconstitutional, both accusations are of course untrue. Obama isn’t trying to take our guns, even if he wanted to the Constitution prohibits it. And if Obamacare was in fact Unconstitutional the Supreme Court would outlaw it. We have something in our political system called checks and balances, someone should probably teach Conservatives about it. As for Texas, last week was normal. Conservatives spewing their Obama conspiracies and Politicians indirectly agreeing or just fanning the flames.
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