Rent-a-Paramilitaries Freak Out Wisconsin

[Tx4obama]

Rent-a-Paramilitaries Freak Out Wisconsin

Here’s a fascinating little story. There’s been a battle royale up in Wisconsin over an effort to establish a big iron mining operation near Lake Superior, to be owned and operated by a company called Gogebic Taconite. The Republican legislature approved the mine in March over environmentalists’ objections. Some protests have been staged since the operation got started. But people started to get freaked out over the weekend when the company brought in what the Wisconsin State Journal calls “masked security guards who are toting semi-automatic rifles and wearing camouflaged uniforms.”

Now two state legislators are asking the company to withdraw the guards/paramilitaries. One of them, Bob Jauch, “said he was especially concerned that the guards are carrying high-powered rifles more appropriate for fighting wars than for guarding construction equipment in a scenic forest that draws scores of hikers and vacationers in addition to mine protesters.”

Now masked guards in camoflage carrying assault rifles do seem a bit more mid-80s Latin American death squad than protecting some mining equipment in Wisconsin. So I started looking into the security company behind the paramilitaries, an outfit called Bulletproof Securities out of Scottsdale, Arizona that Gogebic brought in for the job.

Here’s the Bulletproof website which lists all sorts of security/paramilitary type services. They even have their own ‘border security force’, which is something I thought the federal government took care of. But apparently not without occasional help from Bulletproof.

-snip-

Full article with photos and video here: http://editors.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/07/rent_an_army.php?ref=fpblg

[Scuba]

1. Our side brings signs and sing songs. Their side tote guns and wear masks. Yet even here ....

... on DU some accuse the protesters of fomenting violence and suggest these are just "security guards" protecting geologists.


Don't ever doubt that the PTB have their shills on DU trying to shape our opinions.

[Doctor_J]

3. And many maintain we're not a fascist state yet

[Igel]

4. So there must be a third side.

Because sometimes there's a side that damages equipment or sets fires.

If it's not us and not "their" side, then there must be somebody else. In the past when that kind of thing happened, some DUers said that the vandals weren't "us". Others were happy to declared solidarity with the vandals--so for some, the vandals are "us" and there's no consensus on what "we" means.

However, "our side" sometimes decides to sit there and block things. Now, you can damage equipment worth $25k or you can sit and sing holding your sign and cause $25k in economic damages as "their side" pays employees for doing nothing and has to go to court to try to get you off their equipment and stop trespassing.

Or you stage a great PR coup, with nice press shots of civil disobedience being met by arrests that get nasty because of passive resistance.

[Scuba]

5. I've not read any reports of vandalism or other property damage at the site. I'm sure ...

... if such acts had been committed the "free" press in Wisconsin would have headlines for days.

[Mopar151]

2. If the words "mine police" don't fill the pit of your stomach with dread

Then you need to read up on the history of the labor movement - starting with the Wikipedia article on the firstColumbine massacre.
And if you wonder about "security contractors", then read up on the notorious"detective agencies", Baldwin-Felts and Pinkerton

[malthaussen]

6. Dude, people in this country know squat about labor history.

That is why we are doomed to repeat it.

-- Mal

[Mopar151]

7. My Dad was an officer in his UE local

UE distributed a book called "Labor's Untold Story" (Matles/Higgins, IIRC), that should be part of any American History course.

Surprisingly, the "Hillbillies" documentary on History Channel, narrated by Billy Ray Cyrus, is very good on the Mingo County history of the Coalfield Wars.