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John C Moritz Austin Bureau USA TODAY NETWORK, Corpus Christi Caller Times Published 4:19 p.m. CT Oct. 15, 2019 | Updated 4:25 p.m. CT Oct. 15, 2019

A self-styled militia group called Oath Keepers is seekingvolunteers to help "protectTrump supporters" during the president's rally in Dallas.

AUSTIN A 10-year-old self-styled militia group called Oath Keepers is seekingvolunteers to help "protectTrump supporters" during the president's rally Thursday in downtown Dallas.

"As always, we are confident that the interior of the venue itself will be safe (the Secret Service will see to that)," Stewart Rhodes, who founded the organization of military veterans and former law enforcement officers in 2009, wrote on the organization's website this week."But we have serious concerns for the safety of attendees as they walk from their vehicles to the venue, and then especially as they walk back to their vehicles in the dark afterward."

The anti-government group, Oath Keepers, says it plans to help protect Trump supporters at the president's rally in Dallas, Oct. 17, 2019.(Photo: Oath Keepers' Twitter page)

The group that calls itself defenders of the Constitution also lists a series what is says are potential government directives it will not obey, including disarming citizens.

The group was at Trump's rally last week in Minneapolis, and says it also will be at Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke counter-rally to Trump's appearance in nearby Grand Prairie.

Protesters clashed with supporters outside a rally in Minneapolis. Some burned MAGA hats and threw urine in the streets. USA TODAY

The organization, which according to several reports claims about 35,000 members, bills itself as a"non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, police, and first responders, who pledge to fulfill the oath all military and police take to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Rhodes, a one-time staffer to former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, says on his personal website he is an "ex-paratrooper, disabled vet, ex-firearms instructor" and a graduate of Yale University School of Law.

"If a police state comes to America, it will ultimately be byyourhands," Rhodes wrotein an article called "Just Following Orders" in S.W.A.T. Magazine."That is a harsh reality, but you had better come to terms with it now, and resolve to not let it happen on your watch."

Rhodes also referred to Hillary Clinton as "Herr Hitlery" during the 2008 race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

More: Trump in Texas: Heres what you need to know about Donald Trump's Dallas rally

Several articles and essays on the organization's website decry the decision by Democratic U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to move forward with an impeachment inquiry into Trump as a "circus" and a push to overturn the 2016 election.

Last month, the organization retweeted Trump when he said impeachment and removal from office would "cause a Civil War like fracture" of the nation and added a comment:

"This is the truth. This is where we are. We ARE on the verge of a HOT civil war. Like in 1859. Thats where we are. And the Right has ZERO trust or respect for anything the left is doing. We see THEM as illegitimate too."

As demonstrators began organizing a protest in Ferguson, Missouri, on the one-year anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown in August 2015, ablack man who was shot and killed by a white police officer, an armed group of protesters came to the city ostensibly to help law enforcement.

According to a USA TODAY report at the time, several members rifle-toting Oath Keepers walked amongthe protesters. Missouri law permits license-holders to openly carry weapons.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar called the group's presence "unnecessary and inflammatory."

Officers form a line across First Avenue following the rally for Donald J. Trump Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, outside the Target Center in Minneapolis. (Photo: Dave Schwarz, dschwarz@stcloudtimes.com)

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks what calls extremist groups, describes Oath Keepers as "one of the largest radical anti-government groups" in the nation.

"While it claims only to be defending the Constitution, the entire organization is based on a set of baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy the liberties of Americans," SPLC says on its website.

In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Rhodes disputed the characterization and called his organization "the right-wing version of the ACLU."

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.comand follow him on Twitter@JohnnieMo.

More: Why Democrats are happy Donald Trump is spending time campaigning in Texas

More: Protesters burn MAGA hats, police use pepper spray in tense hours after Donald Trump rally in Minneapolis

More: Dueling rallies round two: Beto O'Rourke plans rally to counter Trump's Dallas visit

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Trump rally in Dallas: What to know about the Oath Keepers militia group - Times Record News

Every so often, a political candidate rises to the fore fueled by the grievances of people who are seriously annoyed. Donald Trump, for example, stoked the fires of an America in perceived decline. Ron Paul in 2008 capitalized on the backlash to the costly military interventions of the Bush era. In 2016, Bernie Sanders drew together a coalition of the young, the far-left, and the people who didnt want to cast a vote for a Clinton ever again. Typically, a candidate who creates an Im-mad-as-hell coalition tends to pull in some unusual supporters who dont necessarily agree with the candidate on his or her main political platform, but who connects to the reason for being mad as hell libertarians for Bernie, hippies for Ron Paul, or the much-talked-about Obama-Trump voters.

The 2020 election, still over a year away, has its own peculiar Im-mad-as-hell coalition. In a strange twist, theyre lining up behind the usually cheerful Andrew Yang. Yang is an entrepreneur whos never run for public office before and yet has improbably held on through multiple rounds of debate qualifications and quarterly fundraising reports. Hes rising rather than falling in the polls, at least for the most part. Is it because of his signature Freedom Dividend, a plan for universal basic income in the US that takes center stage at all his rallies?

I would argue that, no, it isnt. Head over to the Reddit subreddit for Yang campaign supporters, and youll start to get the idea that Yangs momentum has a lot to do with people who have had enough of fear-mongering, hyperpartisanship, and an intense sense of doom traits that have been exploited to no end lately by politicians and an attention-hungry media.

We all feel it, that something is terribly and deeply wrong, a looming sense of dread for our childrens futures and our countrys future, wrote Reddit user RandomLake7. I was never able to put my finger on it until I saw Andrew Yangthat feeling of dread is still there, but it is beginning to go away as I see this campaign growhappiness really is a state of mind, but what I realized was that even if you have a lot in life, you can never be truly happy when you live in a society where so many are on a knifes edge.

Many users say that Yangs candidacy snapped them out of a depressive phase. Im not entirely sure whats going on but I feel as if I was in a depression fog until Yang, wrote user samoa1013. I dont think I had any purpose, no real hope for the future, because honestly beyond my life society is a [clusterfuck]. I feel motivated now.

But its not just about a $1,000/month fix getting people out of hard times. While Donald Trump demonized the fake news media, Yangs fed up with the clickbait media, and his supporters have identified just what its doing to us. And thats getting him unlikely support.

A few examples: in the June debates, most of the press around Yang was centered on his decision to not wear a tie. Cleverly, in his closing statement in the July debates, Yang called out the media for turning politics into a reality show, cited the focus on his lack of a tie in the prior debates and made an appeal to those who care more about your family and your kids than my neckwear.

At a recent Los Angeles rally, Yang asked who in the crowd had voted for Trump in 2016, and then asked the rest of the crowd to cheer for them being there a far cry from baskets of deplorables.

Yang also openly decried Saturday Night Lives decision to fire new cast member Shane Gillis based on the use of racist epithets on recent comedy podcasts, even though Yang himself had been a target of them. As the person who was personally called out in this case, I thought that if I could set an example that we can forgive people, particularly in an instance where, in my mind, it was in a comedic context or a gray area, that I thought it would be positive, Yang said at the time.

And his campaign slogan? Not left, not right, forward.

Yangs political platform is hardly sunshine-and-rainbows; his plan to combat climate change paints it as an existential threat and underscores the urgency in dealing with it. His primary justification for the Freedom Dividend is the rise of automation displacing American jobs, which critics paint as overhyped invasion-of-the-killer-robots thinking. But his emoji-filled tweets and upbeat attitude convey a can-do attitude: bring in the nerds and a whole lot of boring facts, and we can solve this. Its no wonder his supporters scream chants of PowerPoint! while wearing hats that say MATH on them.

This is all a reaction to something very real, and something that should alarm anyone in the media industry: people are getting fed up with dumbed-down news, cheap soundbites, and the willingness to do anything for a click. They are tired of overtly partisan media outlets stretching the truth for attention, of being told to hate their neighbors, and likely of the mental health effects of a hyperbole-obsessed news climate.

Now, in fairness, Yang still polls in the single digits though hes starting to pull ahead of candidates like California senator Kamala Harris. Hes unlikely to win the nomination, let alone the presidency. (And, as a side note, political cults of personality should give anyone pause; look at how that worked out for Barack Obama and now Donald Trump.)

But sometimes these things start with the nerds. Just look at ad blocking, a phenomenon thats created serious headaches in the media and advertising industries for years now. Browser extensions and mobile apps that block ads have been around since the late Nineties, but theyre now among the most popular consumer software downloads, with 25 percent of internet users now using them in some form. The reason theyve gotten so popular? People find online ads intrusive, creepy, and exploitative. The ad industry was notoriously slow to respond.

Andrew Yang is the ad blocker of political candidates, so to speak; hes the candidate fueled by the support of people who are tired of being treated like idiots. Today its the Yang Gang, but tomorrow its likely bigger. The media industry should take note.

Read more from the original source:
Andrew Yang is 2020's ad blocker candidate - The Spectator USA

Syria has been turned into the most wretched of neighborhoods on the planet by Washingtons neocons and liberal interventionists. From its pre-2011 population of 23 million, more than 6.7 million have fled to countries such as Lebanon (1 million), Jordan (700,000), Turkey (3.6 million), Europe and elsewhere.

At the same time, more than 6.5 million Syrians are internal refugees, driven from their homes and towns by a so-called "civil" war that wouldnt have lasted more than a few months save for the billions of arms, training and walking around money that Washington and its Persian Gulf allies have supplied to the violent opposition.

Owing to these billions of aid to armed insurrection, however, the Syrian economy has been turned to shambles and its ancient cities and towns have been reduced to steaming piles of rubble. Disease, malnutrition, lack of safe drinking water and medical supplies and treatments stalk the land.

And Washingtons objective was exactly what?

Well, to remove from power the Assad family regime that had ruled Syria since 1978 with reasonable economic stewardship and a mildly authoritarian writ that was slightly better than par for the course by Middle East standards, and not because the Assads posed any threat to Americas homeland security whatsoever.

To the contrary, the Alawite-based (a branch of Shiite Islam) Assad clan was an inherent barrier to the spread of Sunni jihadism and had ruled Syria under a secularist policy of tolerance for the scores of ethnic and religious minorities that populated the artificial geography of Syria including Christians, Druze, Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians, Jews, Yazidis, Twelvers, Ismailis, and numerous more.

So Assads real sin was that he was aligned with his Shiite co-religionists in Iran but that the War Party in Israel and Washington could not abide. Thats because the threat of a falsely demonized Iran is what kept Bibi Netanyahu in power and the US military/industrial/surveillance/interventionist complex in budgetary clover.

Accordingly, the utterly illegitimate Empire First objective of regime change in Damascus led to Washington stumbling around in the complex ethnic and religious stew of the now shattered state of Syria like the proverbial bull-in-the-china-shop. At length, it ended up arming two bitter enemies as its "allies" in the battle against the ISIS caliphate that Washington itself had birthed when it destroyed and then abandoned the similarly-shattered state of Iraq.

As we detailed last week, in fact, Senator John McCain had personally recruited, organized, funded and sponsored the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to help overthrow Assad and bring about regime change in Damascus. To that end, McCain and his CIA factotums had stood-up the FSA composed of Sunni Arabs, many of who had jihadist sympathies in camps in Turkey for the alleged purpose of fighting the ISIS caliphate which had overrun the Syrian northeast.

But the battle between the Washington-sponsored FSA and the Washington-fostered ISIS Caliphate soon spilled over into the Kurdish communities that had historically populated the regions along the Syria-Turkey border east of the Euphrates River.

Needless to say, when Assad could no longer protect his own territory and borders owning to the Washington/Saudi/Qatar funded armed insurrection in the Syrian north and east the desperate Kurds, who had become collateral damage, turned to Washington for arms, training and money. The latter was soon flowing to the Kurds in the billions to defend themselves from the ISIS plague that Washington had spawned from the wreckage of Iraq and the massive stores of US weapons left behind.

Thus, after the 2014 ISIS capture of Mosul in Iraq and establishment of the Islamic Caliphate in Raqqa (Syria), Washington had armed three different forces ISIS, the FSA and the Kurdish Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) to duke it out in northern Syria: One and all were aligned against the nations legitimate government in Damascus even as they sometimes fought each other, other times made tactical alliances and frequently sold to the highest bidder the Washington/Saudi supplied weapons which were abundant in the region.

Why this is timely, of course, stems from the fact that Washingtons FSA mercenaries (Sunni Arabs from many countries no just Syria) and its Turkish NATO "ally" are now threatening to annihilate its other "allies" in the Kurdish/SDF army. Yet from the very beginning, Washingtons feckless arming of the Kurdish minority in Syria (about 2 million people) was seen as a mortal threat by Ankara after its decades of struggle with the much larger separatist-oriented Kurdish population of about 15 million within its own borders.

Alas, as we predicted last week, the Kurds had no logical choice but to quickly make a deal with Assad for protection from the NATO/FSA "invaders". And they now have with alacrity.

So in short order, Assad will be back in control of the Kurdish lands northeast of the Euphrates and the whole purpose of the Washington instigated Syrian civil war an epic economic, social and human calamity will have been for naught.

Still, it doesnt even end there because it is likely that Cool Hand Vlad Putin will arrange a ceasefire and peaceful resolution of the incipient war between Washingtons two allies.

That is, he will help his longtime ally in Damascus reassert control over the Syrian northeast. At the same time, he will likely supply his more recent partner in Ankara (Erdogan) with a "safe zone" along the border where the Kurdish SDF will be banned and the massive Syrian refugees population in Turkey can be processes and camped as they begin to return home, thereby eventually relieving Turkey of the massive fiscal and political burden posed by the millions of Syrian refugees now within his borders because Washingtons neocon warmongers wrecked their own country.

Moreover, there is a still larger rebuke to Imperial Washington in the unfolding and history changing events on the Turkey-Syria border. Putin will have stopped NATO member, Turkey, from invading its neighbor (Syria) in order to remove an armed threat that Washington had stood up on its own borders.

Stated differently, until the last 24 hours or so, the whole predicate of NATO was about to be slammed by a lunatic conflict of Washingtons own making. We are referring to the Article 5 "collective defense" proviso of the NATO treaty which,

.. means that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies. The principle of collective defence is enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.

So had Turkey invoked Article 5, Washington would have been obligated to join its Turkish and FSA "allies" in attacking its Kurdish/SDF "allies"; or in the alternative, had Washington invoked Article 5 presumably Turkey would have been obligated to make war on itself!

Needless to say, if Putin succeeds in arranging a settlement between the Turks, Kurds and Assad, he will also have prevented NATO from attacking itself!

Then again, allegedly NATO exists to stop Putin from invading Europe and the Middle East, too. Perhaps the Donalds wise move to remove a few dozen American soldiers from the Syrian-Turkish border, therefore, will have a much greater silver-lining.

To wit, maybe it will remind that NATO is absolutely pointless and has been since the Soviet Union disappeared from the face of the earth more than 28 years ago.

As we explained at length at the recent Ron Paul conference, the time for a NATO mercy killing is long overdue, and the current contretemps in the dusty plains east of the Euphrates might finally be the wake-up call that crystalizes the reasons why.

David Stockman was a two-term Congressman from Michigan. He was also the Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan. After leaving the White House, Stockman had a 20-year career on Wall Street. Hes the author of three books, The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed, The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America and TRUMPED! A Nation on the Brink of Ruin And How to Bring It Back. He also is founder of David Stockmans Contra Corner and David Stockmans Bubble Finance Trader.

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Wake-Up Call On The Syrian Border: Time To End Washington's Feckless Regime Change Policy and NATO, Too - Antiwar.com

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve (Fed) said it would restart buying bonds in the open market. Also, it will continue its overnight funding operations until January of next year.

For the Fed, pouring cash into the markets is already routine. It seems that policymakers are trying to convince the public that there is nothing wrong with their easing measures. However, what we get is cheaper money that devalues at an even faster paste.

Last month, the M2 monetary supply exceeded the $15 trillion mark.

Elsewhere, the M1 money supply a narrower definition of money that includes its most liquid form is about to touch the $4 trillion mark soon.

For former congressman Ron Paul, the Feds intervention in the market is a form of monetary socialism, as the central bank is trying to plan the value of money through manipulations rather than letting the markets decide it.

On Friday, the Fed announced it would start purchasing about $60 billion in Treasury bonds every month until at least the second quarter of 2020. Also, it will extend the repo operations from the end of November to at least the end of next January. The Fed explained:

These actions are purely technical measures to support the effective implementation of the FOMCs monetary policy, and do not represent a change in the stance of monetary policy.

The Fed is trying to convince the public that we shouldnt call its measures quantitative easing and that its last steps are not even part of monetary policy. For the central bank, buying bonds and injecting cash into the repo market are necessary measures to protect the economy and mitigate potential risks, especially amid the Sino-US trade war.

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan told the media:

It is not intended to create more accommodation or create more stimulus. This is not intended to have any impact on monetary policy. Its not designed that way.

However, economists argue that this is the purest form of QE and should be treated as such. Usually, QE is the result of a crisis but it seems the Fed doesnt want the public to realize there is a problem with the economy.

Nevertheless, the figures are insane. On Thursday, the New York Fed added $88.1 billion through the repo market, and another $82.7 billion on Friday.

While the Fed is experimenting, Bitcoin remains an ideal asset to preserve value and stay away from a devaluing currency.

Do you think the Fed is doing too much? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

Images via Bitcoinist Media Library, Fed, CNBC TV

More here:
Fed's Hidden QE Becomes Norm; Bitcoin to the Rescue - Bitcoinist

HERNDON, Va. Ron McDole doesnt dress up for Halloween anymore. Hes 80, after all. But his daughter says he still enjoys the holiday.

Of course he does, Tammy McDole says. He eats all the candy.

Some of her fathers fondest memories from the Buffalo Bills glory days of the 1960s are of Halloween costume parties. He devotes a chapter to these monster mashes in his 2018 book, The Dancing Bear: My 18 Years in the Trenches of the AFL and NFL.

McDole got the Dancing Bear nickname after the Bills traded him to Washington following the 1970 season, when he was 31. Bills coach Johnny Rauch thought McDole was over the hill; Washington coach George Allen thought otherwise.

McDole would go on to star for Allens so-called Over-the-Hill Gang, a nickname borrowed from a 1969 made-for-TV western. It was bestowed on the team because Allen valued veterans and collected them like football cards. Washingtons over-the-hillers reached Super Bowl VII following the 1972 season, where they lost to the unbeaten Miami Dolphins, 14-7.

I met McDole 10 days ago at Jimmys Old Town Tavern, a Bills bar not far from where he settled in Northern Virginia after his playing days. McDole showed off a pair of oversized rings, one on each hand his 1964 AFL championship ring with Buffalo and his 1972 NFC championship ring with Washington. And he gifted bar owner Jimmy Cirrito with a Bills No. 72 jersey with the name McDole lettered on the back.

He was at Jimmys to sign that jersey plus photos and copies of his book, which includes a chapter titled, The Famous Buffalo Bills Halloween Parties. Running back Joe Auer hosted the first one. (He played for the Bills in 1964 and 1965 but is most famous for inaugurating the Dolphins existence in 1966 by returning the opening kick of their first game for a touchdown.) Paul Maguire punter, linebacker, funnyman hosted after that, the book says.

And then McDole and his wife, Paula, took over as hosts, at first in a spooky-looking house his words that he owned with teammates Ernie Warlick and Al Bemiller on Grand Island and later at a huge home he owned in Eden with a widows watch that hed decorate with a billowing bedsheet of a ghost plus pulsing strobe lights.

"I was the leader of the costumes, and I took my role very seriously, McDole writes. One year I was a ballerina complete with tutu and fairy wings. This Buffalo Bill weighed three bills, and in costume resembled nothing more than the elephant ballerinas from Fantasia.

Naturally, he always thought his costumes were best. One year he was the Great Pumpkin, but the costume was so Great as in gargantuan that he couldnt get down the stairs in it. So partygoers had to go upstairs to see him.

Paul Maguire during one of the legendary Bills Halloween parties of the 1960s. (Photo courtesy of the McDole family)

Maguire came as a turtle one year with a shell made of roofing shingles. As the night went on, Maguire got shorter and shorter from the weight of his costume, McDole writes. He finally took it off. But we have a hilarious photo of him sitting with his little green flippers sticking out, resting, his head poking out of his shell.

One year offensive lineman Joe ODonnell came as Big Bird and looked as if he had just walked off the set of 'Sesame Street.' Another time McDole came as a big chicken. He dressed in yellow tights and his wife remembers how cars backed up on Route 75 to watch as she glued real chicken feathers on him in their backyard.

At the party, he says, every time I walked up to somebody, they put their hand over their drink so my feathers wouldnt fall in.

McDole hated leaving Buffalo, not least because it meant the end of hosting Halloween, but the trade turned out well for him.

I made more money, he says. And we had a bunch of old guys who werent over the hill. George hated rookies because he hated rookie mistakes. George didnt like to teach how to block or tackle. He wanted guys who already knew how.

McDole intercepted 12 passes in his career, a record for defensive linemen. He played in 240 regular-season games third all-time for defensive ends, behind Jim Marshall and Bruce Smith. And he scored two TDs on interception returns and forced three safeties for 18 points in his 16 seasons.

He was joined on the Bills front four by Tom Day at the other end and Tom Sestak and Jim Dunaway at the tackles celebrated stalwarts of Buffalos mid-'60s title teams.

Im the only one left, McDole says sadly. Everyone else has passed away. Dunaway and I were roommates and good friends. They were all great ballplayers. We had a heck of a line. We were dominating the league.

So much so that the Bills did not allow a rushing touchdown for more than a calendar year, from Oct. 24, 1964, through Oct. 31, 1965. That covered 16 games and two Halloweens.

Turns out team chemistry comes in all sizes, including 300-pound men in tutus and feathers.

Link:
Ron McDole on those legendary 1960s Bills' Halloween parties - Buffalo News