Protest Convoy Headed to Southern Border in Texas Is Calling Itself an ‘Army of God’

return2ozma@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 548 points –
Protest Convoy Headed to Southern Border Is Calling Itself an ‘Army of God’
vice.com
193

This kinda shit is at least part of the reason the fastest growing religion in America is “none.”

Exactly! They know their book says "love your neighbor" and care for the widow, the orphan & the stranger, but they don't even vaguely do anything like that.

And our most famous monument says “give me your tired, your hungry, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”

But I guess that only belongs to Texans who have had that freedom their whole life and are threatened by others seeking the same thing.

No no! That only means Christian WHITE folk from some parts of Northern Europe.

Gotta question whether even White Northern Europeans would be accepted by these people. I suspect no, not really. Such is the extent of the hateful fear mongering they subject themselves to daily.

So racist they hate everyone who isn’t themselves.

TBH I detest much of humanity as well, but it’s mostly because there are so many of us that we’re wrecking the planet / ecosystem. It’s easy psychologically to dislike the faceless ‘other’ until you meet them personally and grok their individual humanity. At least I understand the concept and can temper my instincts with logic. These dipshits need a good therapy session.

grok their individual humanity.

I was legit going to say something until I looked it up and grok does, in fact, turn out to be an actual slang term:

grok

  1. To understand something intimately and completely. (originally from Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein)
  1. With programs, having sufficient understanding.

TIL 🤷

not anymore, they removed that part already from the statue of liberty

They’re going to be shocked when their time comes and Christ denies knowing them.

The problem is that won't happen, they won't get that reprimand. They'll be an asshole now and then they'll just be dead.

Sadly that only means they don’t go to a church and just believe whatever, actual atheists agnostics are only 10%.

I don't know why people are down voting you. This is exactly what Pew Research has said about religious "nones" in America. The number of dyed-in-the-wool atheists is still quite low and projected to decrease because birth rates.

Religious "Nones" in America - Pew Research

The reason for the low "nones" is because those who profess to being atheists and agnostics are discriminated against, socially, employment-wise and politically. The vast majority of so-called Christians don't believe a fucjing thing in the bible - it's a dishonest social maneuver designed to create acceptance by the tribe, especially if you are a low-life.

Good thing atheists never make up facts to fit their narrative, and are always scientifically objective in their ideas 🤣

For the purpose of the conversation, it's all the same shit.

If there’s one thing Jesus was consistent about, it’s that poor refugees seeking shelter should be ruthlessly murdered by drowning in a river tangled in razor wire.

Pretty sure that’s in the gospels.

I believe that's in the book of Donald, 6:66

6:66 is a long-ass chapter in that particular book. Covers a lot.

Matthew 25:31-40, as I recall.

Oh wait, this is from the Opposite Bible.

Nah, that’s one of the ten commandments right? “Thou shalt murder thy neighbor by rain of gunfire” I think it was?

its old testament genocide : kill the canaanites, every last man, woman, and child

So they're basically ISIS

Most likely scenario is that they drive around in their trucks waving both flags of the US and flags of traitors to the US, block traffic, and post to Facebook.

Worst case scenario, there is a wave a of hate crimes as these hyped up fascists try to "defend America" by picking fights with any random brown person they see.

Best case scenario, they try messing with federal agents, get arrested, and wont be voting in November.

My best case scenario has a trebuchet for them

Toss a 90 kg insurrectionist over 300 meters.

So only the meth heads?

I assume this is in reaponse to the weight of 90 kilograms? 90 kilograms is about 200lbs rounded up so probably more than just meth heads and Olympic gymnasts.

Maybe they'll be hoisted in their own razor wire.

I wonder… cam a trebuchet ’yeet’? Or is that too déclassé for such an honourable siege engine?

Or they will get themselves shot by federal law enforcement or the military.

The first scenario is basically what happened with the convoys in DC a while back. Every day, they'd drive down, drive around a while, and then leave. I live in the DC area, but don't drive in DC often, but from what I heard, the impact was minimal.

I don't know how many trucks were involved, but I do know those trucks are expensive to buy and maintain, too expensive to keep running them in non-revenue service like that for long.

This honestly feels like a Russian intelligence op. Not that these yokels are Russian spies, but that they've been duped by misinformation, spun up my Russian troll farms, and aimed at the southwest border.

They are dumb enough to do the rest on their own.

Russians are adding fuel to the fire, but they didn't start it.

most this stuff comes out of nutters like Alex Jones that think they get secret info from god and profess to fighting a war with satan while they do coke every night.

It's interesting because no one could believe Alex Jones or any of these greedy mega/maga church leaders if they came at it neutrally, they believe because they want to, because acting like they believe it benefits them.

But then such a cult gets built up you start getting true believes who are so caught up in the cult that they can't think anything else. People feel the need to prove how much they belive so they join these crazy groups and movements, they love putting on a big show of being a warrior for the cause but of course they don't want to actually mess up their life because then they wouldn't need the excuse to be selfish... So they do meaningless things like go to protect the boarder knowing full well what everyone knows - it's just some roads with gates there's nothing interesting or even slightly dangerous there.

It was always burning, since the world's been turning

Oh all this s*** absolutely stinks of interference. They want to start riots. Half this f****** governors are probably on the Russian payroll.

Maybe. Or it's just Trump and Abbot conspiring ahead of the 2024 election and a bunch of morons are swept up in the propaganda

There's so much fucking crazy in just the first two paragraphs of that article:

A trucker convoy of “patriots” is heading to the U.S. border with Mexico next week, as the standoff between Texas and the federal government intensifies. The organizers of the “Take Our Border Back” convoy have called themselves “God’s army” and say they’re on a mission to stand up against the “globalists” who they claim are conspiring to keep U.S. borders open and destroy the country.

“This is a biblical, monumental moment that’s been put together by God,” one convoy organizer said on a recent planning call. “We are besieged on all sides by dark forces of evil,” said another. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. It is time for the remnant to rise.” (The remnant, from the Book of Revelation, are the ones who remain faithful to Jesus Christ in times of crisis).

I’m a pagan so maybe I’m misinterpreting but I did read the Bible in catholic school and I’m pretty sure Jesus said to do the opposite of this. I’m pretty sure he’d be saying that we should see each family as though they were Jose, Maria, and their baby Jesus as no different than Yusef, Miriam, and Ieshiua 2000 years ago. I’m pretty certain that was in fact his entire point though he’d also be saying that single 20 year old men also should be welcomed because they’re either good or lost and able to be redeemed.

The thing is...what may Christians believe is based less on what Jesus said and more on what suit-wearing, vitriol-spewing grifters tell them.

Why on earth would "peacemakers" need the probably mobile armories those idiots are carrying?

It's doublespeak, a la 1984. In this case many of the words used are inversions of their usual meaning.

I'll provide some translations:

patriots -> seditionists

biblical -> cloaked in the authority of God – which here must be explicitly stated because their actions are opposed to any God of justice

open boarders -> following legal and ethical principles (remember, these people oppose ethical principles)

peacemakers -> those who use violence, or the threat of violence, to obstruct peace. See also, terrorists

besieged by dark forces of evil -> opposed by morality, ethics, or the law. The addition of "on all sides" changes the 'or' to 'and'

As a bonus, "globalists" is antisemitism. There's an old canard that justice for minorities = communism = Jewish conspiracy. This is particularly common among nazis. The convoy organizer is signaling that their group is accepting of these ideas

Fucking brain dead morons sacrificing their livelihoods for the party that is actively blocking any action on securing the border.

That’s the whole game, create problems and stop progress so you can claim that you are the only group capable of solving it. This is just an op to try and smear the Ds

I read that as "besieged on all sides by dark...forces of evil," narrowly avoiding saying dark people instead and losing all pretense.

A lot of untreated mental health issues making themselves visible in those two paragraphs. If only their parents hugged them once in awhile when they were kids maybe they'd be productive members of society instead.

The Hypocrisy is palpable. Where in Christ's teachings does it say to use razor wire and allow women and Children to drown to protect your way of life?! These Chuds are as much antichrists as 45.

I'm no theist, but... If God existed, and was all-powerful as theists believe, why the fuck does he need an army?

Just like when JT Kirk said, "What does God need with a trucker convoy?"

Oh don't worry they have a bunch of poorly translated Bible passages to misinterpret.

No, see, god is omniscient, omnipotent, and petty, so we have to do their biding in fear of their wrath. But also incapable of keeping people in line, so we have to act in their name.

Army Of "Wouldn't Recognize God If He Got In The Passenger Seat."

That's who they really are.

Lol buncha incels. Grown ass men who have families and shit to do, even if they share the same politics, wouldnt be caught dead doing this shit.

Same group of morons pretended to be truckers in Canada to protest vaccination mandates.

Trigger discipline is for lib'ruls - that guy probably

no time for such liberal nonsense, real men shoot the ceiling

well to be fair, there is no magazine in the gun

I watched a guy drop the magazine out of his EMP and then shot the couch because he didn't rack it empty before he dropped the hammer. Every firearm is loaded unless the action is taken apart.

Yeah but that couch probably deserved it. Fucking Libtard socialist couches sneaking in to honest peoples’ houses and sittin’ there all innocent-like.

Rule #1: the gun is always loaded.

Ads for the convoy have gone up on 40 digital billboards in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and California, courtesy of a “private donor” whose identity organizers would not disclose. 

Oh, I'm willing to bet:

It's six letters.

Starts with an R

Ends with an A

And is currently getting absolutely decimated with mothballed weapons we last used 15 years or so ago.

the major downside of increased access to communications technology is the nutters and crazy people more easily congregate...

And there are more of them than we realized back when we started creating the internet. We fucked up pretty bad.

I sometimes miss the days when the internet was just for scholars, nerds, and geeks.

Remember the days when you'd log onto your nerdy friends website with the marquee text running right to left too slow to read at your normal speed but too fast to not keep your eyes on constantly?

Language might have been the mistake. Or maybe agriculture. Perhaps it was evolving from great apes. All I know from looking at history is that this shit has been going on since long before the internet.

Right?

One of the biggest changes with the advent of the Internet was that no matter what your interests, the Internet was always there with that most comforting of messages: "You are not alone.

Now that we can see that notion taken to it's inevitable and absurd conclusion, I think we can safely say that for lots and lots of people, it's for the best that they're left to believe they are, actually, alone.

Which hopefully exposes some to reality. And wouldn't be so bad when it doesn't if the 3 letter gang did their fucking jobs with these domestic terrorists.

Ffs can you lot just have your civil war already so the rest of us can deal with the fall out

Wont even be a civil war. National guard will fall in line and in the event of Texas actually seceding from the Union, they will find out exactly how much money the US sinks into their state to keep it afloat while their own elected officials flee the first power grid failure

Honestly as a non yank I'm bored just do the fucking thing and let the world get on with it.

Deal with your fuckwits or let them roll over you (and yhe rest of us)

I'm just sick of the will the won't they and I say that as someone who has to deal with Boris Johnsons ilk

Its just political drama. Republicans pull bullshit every election year to rile up their base and get them to vote

Not to mention a battalion of weekend warriors will fall overnight.

Assuming they don't abandon the cause as soon as the first shot is fired and hits one of them.

Sounds an awful lot like levying war against the United States, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.

Ah yes, its right there in the Bible for anyone to read....... Only it isn't.

What do you mean? Texas clearly is the land promised!

They need to be careful playing trumpets while walking in circles, or their walls might fall down.

All of that military jargon, and I'll bet the number of actual vets in that convoy is a small percentage.

Not that there aren't MAGA ex-military, just that they don't as much get a kick out of cosplaying as such. If they liked it that much, they wouldn't have ETSed. Or, dishonerable discharge; I guess there could be a few of those.

Motor pool. Commissary. Adjutant. Fueler. Sanitation.

Guys that “missed out” on real combat. Gotta fill that hole with manliness.

If it's like the Bundy incidents it was like 5 dudes who legit were military and like a hundred fakes that were talking like they were operators. Great fun to watch off we're being honest.

I am willing to lay a bet that they completely fuck this up.

Minivans tangled in razor wire.
Road warriors in their pavement princesses sunk into the Rio.
Immigrants crossing elsewhere.

I bet one gets pulled over by a statie because expired tags/speeding/reckless driving and takes a shot at a cop or two. Then they get absolutely swiss-cheesed by local authorities

Local authorities will let this pass the same as they let these fuckwits run a Biden campaign bus off the road in 2020. It's Texas, local authorities love this shit

I think they’ll fuck it up the same way that truck protest in DC fucked up. They’ll spend a couple of weeks sleeping in parking lots and pissing in Gatorade bottles while live streaming (no pun intended) asking for donations. Then there be a cult split where multiple people claim ownership of the movement and denounce each other, and they’ll all be very sad that although people follow them on a streaming service and post about how great they are, 99% of them are going to be limiting themselves to Truth Social support and $25 donations.

These things are like Only Fans for fascists, but they’re also in direct competition with each other for a limited grift audience.

Most aren't in Texas yet. They are leaving Florida and traveling through multiple states. Plenty of time to pull a piece on one.

God wants brown people to drown and suffer.

THIS IS WHAT THEY LITERALLY BELIEVE

I didn't have "crusade" on my 2024 bingo card.

A crusade against...

Catholics?!??

Well, it's hardly the first time a crusade targeted fellow Christians, but I'm simply not sure they realize what they're doing.

Plus its the Catholics doing the crusading against other Christians, like the Cathar crusade or whatever it was called.

Republicans saw the Taliban still in power after being fully occupied by the US for how long and decided "that's who we're going to model ourselves after"

Blow their mind and counter protest by praying for them and show up wearing priest outfits and have your own Jesus. Make it a whole thing that your godlier

A group of six patriot-world influencers, including Kim Yeater, who runs a self-empowerment self-help group and an anti-voter fraud group, started organizing the convoy around a month ago. “God’s army is rising up,” she said on the planning call. “We all have been chosen for this time.”

Religion influencing the state is anti-constitutional, blocking the freedom of others, blocking the state, and opposing equal rights, even for non-nationals, is anti-patriotism.

Feelings of patriotism are based on the positive values the country embraces—like freedom, justice, and equality. The patriot believes that both the system of government and the people of their country are inherently good and work together for a better quality of life.

In contrast, feelings of nationalism are based on a belief that one’s country is superior to all others. It also carries a connotation of distrust or disapproval of other countries, leading to the assumption that other countries are rivals. While patriots do not automatically denigrate other countries, nationalists do, sometimes to the point of calling for their country’s global dominance. Nationalism, through its protectionist beliefs, is the polar opposite of globalism.

While I don't agree that nationalism necessarily perceives a superiority, it does prioritise the nation as always being number one, even at to cost of others.

Isn't canon in their book that Sky Daddy's son spoke positively about immigrants?

I think strategically the best thing the feds could do is back off for two weeks. Does anyone believe these convoys have enough supplies to keep for more than 48 hours?

Failing that keep this up until November. We know these guys won’t mail in ballot.

I mean, their purpose is to cost the US and Mexico vast sums of money until they get their way. Starving them out is their best case scenario.

Good ole Texas. Never change babe

Not that there aren't a lot of stupid people here, but these particular clowns are coming from Virginia Beach.

So, send them to Him. They're only too eager, so why obstruct such a profound drive? 🤷🏼‍♂️

Good luck fighting drone bombers with your little pop guns, assholes.

https://video-images.vice.com/articles/65b3c1c517cea5454c718bed/lede/1706282453746-untitled-design-70.png

OMG, I remember this one, it's one of my favorite episodes evar. It's the one where Charlie gets a job in the mailroom and can't deliver mail to some dude named Pepe Silvia and he loses his mind and draws all that wacko shit on the board lol. Hahaha he so stupid

wE'Re nOt hAvInG a cIViL wAr

All of you ignorant assholes who denigrated anyone else for saying we're experiencing a second civil war in the U.S. better make with the apologies.

What's the need of being rude and aggressive to express your thoughs?

This actitude is, in part, why I think social media sucks so bad, call it Lemmy, Twitter, Reddit or Facebook.

Tell me you don’t know what civil war is without saying you don’t know what civil war is