America’s Misinformation Crisis

[superrific]

They don't have the legal right to do anything, I'm pretty sure. I actually think they are prohibited from any law enforcement duties, barring the declaration of martial law.

It depends on the military unit, IIRC, but generally yes. Here is the specific language:

The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to ensure that any activity (including the provision of any equipment or facility or the assignment or detail of any personnel) under this chapter does not include or permit direct participation by a member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps in a search, seizure, arrest, or other similar activity unless participation in such activity by such member is otherwise authorized by law.

Obviously if the military unit had been fired upon, it can defend itself and I think in those cases, it can then take people into custody (though idk if as combatants or arrestees). The word "direct" there is not insignificant -- it's what would allow the unit to call the sheriff and tell him to come arrest these idiots.

Terminology note: in law, we use the phrase "right" to denote abilities that citizens have to oppose actions by the government. Those actions are referred to as "powers." So we would say that the military unit lacked the power (or authorization, which might be more appropriate in this case) to arrest them. This is not important to your point and does not affect it. It's just helpful, I think, to use the best terminology when talking about concepts as fundamental as this. Rights are things that citizens have; powers are things that governments have. In the context of interbranch disputes (i.e. whether Congress can delegate powers to an executive agency, and whether that agency's powers can exceed the judiciary's powers in any context), the rights language can be used (e.g. "Congress has the right to rely on specialized agencies to promulgate rules of a technical capacity that Congress itself could not form for lack of expertise) but that's different.

To reiterate: I'm not chastising. I'm simply using this as an opportunity to offer some thoughts to the broader audience.

 

[BlooVooDoo]

This is just batshit craziness going on

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FEMA contractors ordered to “stand down” after security threats, messages show​

Sunday evening, the Washington Post first reported messages about reports of threats to FEMA-affiliated workers in Rutherford County. WBTV has independently confirmed that reporting with sources with direct knowledge of the threats.

The news comes after FEMA workers across Hurricane Helene’s disaster zone in western North Carolina have been targeted with misinformation and rumors about the federal government’s recovery operations in the area.

“Effective immediately, disaster wide -- cease inspections today and return to your hotels,” an alert from Vanguard Inspection Services read on Saturday. “FEMA received news that the Title 10 (active military unit deployed to NC) came across some trucks of militia units who said they were out hunting FEMA personnel.”

Treat them like the terrorists they are.