PRIMED TO FIGHT

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. Abraham Lincoln

“I lived like 90 percent of Americans, oblivious to everything that was going on, from the time I was 18 until the Bundy Ranch happened,” he said. “I just said, ‘I can’t sit back and do nothing. I’ve got to get involved.’ I feel responsible for where we’re at, because I’ve done nothing my entire life.” His response was to start his Central Oregon Constitutional Guard, which he said was partly to protect against the government, but partly a way to get back to a simpler America.— B.J. Soper REDMOND, Ore. — B.J. Soper took aim with his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and fired a dozen shots at a human silhouette target. Soper’s wife and their 16-year-old daughter practiced drawing pistols. Then Soper helped his 4-year-old daughter, in pink sneakers and a ponytail, work on her marksmanship with a .22-caliber rifle. Deep in the heart of a vast U.S. military training ground, surrounded by spent shotgun shells and juniper trees blasted to shreds, the Central Oregon Constitutional Guard was conducting its weekly firearms training. LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS and the watchdog groups (e.g.Southern Poverty Law Center, et al) that track the self-styled “patriot” groups call them anti-government extremists, militias, armed militants or even domestic terrorists. Some opponents of the largely white and rural groups have made fun by calling them “Y’all Qaeda” or “Vanilla ISIS.” “The intent is to be able to work together and defend ourselves if we need to,” said Soper, 40, a building contractor who is an emerging leader in a growing national movement rooted in distrust of the federal government, one that increasingly finds itself in armed conflicts with authorities. ABOVE: B.J. Soper carries daughter Kalley, 4, after a highway cleanup by members of the Central Oregon Constitutional Guard. Those in the movement call themselves patriots, demanding that the federal government adhere to the Constitution and stop what they see as systematic abuse of land rights, gun rights, freedom of speech and other liberties. “Free speech doesn’t make you a terrorist just because you disagree with the government. But if you start espousing violence and  toward a violent act, the federal government is going to take notice.” ".. radicalizing your own people," is a pretty slippery caveat, wot? (me) Law enforcement officials call them dangerous, delusional and sometimes violent, and say that their numbers are growing amid a wave of anger at the government that has been gaining strength since 2008, a surge that coincided with the election of the first black U.S. president and a crippling economic recession. ... President Obama’s progressive policies and the tough economic times have inflamed anti-government anger, the same vein of rage into which Donald Trump has tapped during his Republican presidential campaign, said Potok and Mark Pitcavage, who works with the Anti-Defamation League and has monitored extremism for 20 years. [READ ALL] What left leaning, but respected mainstream media WaPost have done here, is look into  attic where lives the crazy aunt. At first read it's pretty evenly played.  Upon further introspection, however, not really.  While the patriot's  fears are fairly documented, their opponents are  "Some opponents of the largely white and rural groups  ... ; unnamed and  positioned on the high road.  They are in fact, almost exclusively radicalized leftists, many funded by George Soros. Statements like "Law enforcement officials call them dangerous, delusional and sometimes violent..." would, evenly presented, necessarily point out that the Obama administration have,  from day one,  placed conservative groups on every terrorist watch list, willy-nilly. Anyway, gird your loins, this ain't over (thank goodness). And, I am not here "espousing violence." I'm merely saying that if the entire Obama administration slipped and fell down an active volcano, I wouldn't cancel dinner plans.