how would they go about establishing martial law

[onethatcares]

here in the good ole U.S. of A. ? put cops everywhere? Would we no longer be able to go to work or go outside? Establish curfews?

Put the police on 24 hour shifts all the time? Call out the NG or Reserves and then what?

Seriously, this is one big country with alot of seriously independent people, many of whom are seriously armed.

[Island Blue]

1. I'm sure Blackwater would be involved. n/t

[Night_Nurse]

7. You took the words right out of my mouth..

that, and the military.

http://www.infowars.com/?p=4803

[no_hypocrisy]

2. First your friendly neighborhood cop would tell you to stay in your house

until you are given the "all clear" signal. And if you choose to disobey and leave, you will be taken into "protective custody". If you aren't home, there will be a public service announcement telling you to leave work or wherever and return home to be held until released.

That's how it starts and it gets worse thereafter.

[cali]

15. you don't seem to realize that there are many places where there

either is no friendly neighborhood cop or there aren't nearly enough. My village doesn't have a cop. The town of 3,000 down the road has all of 6- and they aren't even all full time. The nearest sheriff's office is miles away, same with the nearest state police barracks. it would be virtually impossible to impose martial law where I live.

[Speck Tater]

3. There aren't enough cops and soldiers to do the job.

The soldiers are all tied up in other places around the world, and my town only has two cops.

The most they could do is concentrate on a few high-density areas where trouble broke out. But what would be the point? What do they gain by saying folks can't go to the corner store to buy a six pack? It would real ugly real fast. Especially in areas like where I am where citizens outnumber law enforcement by 1000 to 1 or more.

[TomInTib]

4. It would be relatively easy to restict travel.

I believe that would be the first step.

Then, the Contrary Ones could be rounded up and incarcerated. The local police know who they are.

That's one of the reasons my California DL and US Passport have a fictitious, non-existent address.

[flyingfysh]

9. shutting down critical sites like DU would come before that

They could always make up some reason to shut down web sites read by "agitators".

[TomInTib]

11. That's probably the first thing that would happen.

That is why I have the phone number of everyone I need to know, in a pinch.

[sarcasmo]

17. Speaking of that don't we have a yahoo group or something else to meet at if such an event happens.

[Night_Nurse]

19. Yes, we all need to stay connected... somehow. nt

[Just-plain-Kathy]

5. As long as they could continue stealing elections without the masses knowing it,

and as long as we have a war where are kids aren't drafted into, -as long as they give us a reason to believe their bull shit, they can quietly get away with stealing the rugs out from under us.

[BanzaiBonnie]

6. Did you hear Congressman Sherman from California

He said that some congresspersons were threatened that if they did not sign the bill today that there would be martial law on Monday.

Is that why you're bringing this up?

This is truly horrendous. There will be no trust between the people of this country and the lawmakers.

[onethatcares]

8. yes, that's why I'm bringing this up. Along with the fact

my son is in the military and was a MP up until a short time ago. In discussions, he told me it could not happen because of the trust in the Constitution and the oath taken to support it by every military member.

[anigbrowl]

10. FYI, 'martial law' has more than one meaning

It can also refer to a way o doing things in the House of Representatives, where a bill can be brought up for a vote without going through the normal path of committee, debate on the floor etc.

[Ghost in the Machine]

12. Yes, but Rep. Sherman didn't say *Congress* would be under Martial Law, he said *America* would be..

BIG difference there... what don't you people get about that?

I realize the logistics of imposing martial law all across the US are astronomical, but it could start in the biggest cities using checkpoints and troops patrolling the streets. We had martial law in Homestead after Hurricane Andrew. Dusk to dawn curfews, armed troops patrolling the streets & arresting violators, the whole works. It wasn't fun.

You also have to realize that all it would take would be a few sensational stories of citizens being rounded up or shot & the rest of the sheeple would fall in line.

I'm going to take Rep. Sherman at his literal word unless/until he clarifies his remarks and states he was confused and meant 'congressional martial law'...

[anigbrowl]

13. I'm sorry, but I think he was grandstanding

You ARE correct about him saying 'martial law in America'. I didn't listen properly to the video first time (my phone rang), and I'm sorry for that.

But unless he backs it up, I don't take his talk of a threat seriously. I'd bet you a dollar to 10 cents he was referring to a hypothetical remark, of form 'Brad, an economic crash would be a disaster - that sort of thing ends up in riots or martial law'.

[onenote]

16. yep. Hyperbole is the fuel on which Congress often runs.

Used all the time by proponents and opponents of legislation.

[onenote]

14. you're getting your timeline mixed up

Sherman was referring to last week's vote. He said that the proponents of the bill used scare tactics -- claiming "the sky would fall" the market would drop by 4000- 6000 points, that there would be martial law (presumably as a result of civil unrest restulting from the crash of the stock market to less than half its previous value).

It wasn't related to today's vote. And it wasn't a "threat" in the sense some are suggesting. It was hyperbole about the alleged consequences of voting down the bill. SHerman obviously didn't take it as anything more than hyperbole, since he still voted against the bill. And it was hyperbole. The sky didn't literally fall, the market didn't lose 6000 points, and martial law wasn't declared. What did happen, however, was that the market tanked by nearly 800 points, people got very worried, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a tweaked version of the bill that lost, and the House then voted fairly strongly to support the same langauge as the Senate.

[bamacrat]

18. Martial law would result in the second Civil War.

What little soldiers we have here would be deployed, many I expect would refuse, but when an armed force was in place and the dearming begins thats when the blood would spill. Especially here in the south, I know of a few people off the top of my head that have 20+ guns as well as artillery to some extent. it would be bad.

[pitohui]

20. they don't call it martial law anymore but basically, yeah, curfews, bring in national guard, etc

from my katrina experience i have to say it's a little weird to have helicopters over your house w presumably "important" people looking down at you and national guard on the ground but sometimes times call for such

yes, there are curfews and limited freedom of movement

the oddest moment i think during our "state of emergency" (the new name for martial law) was when alcohol was banned from our parish and all of the alcohol publically dumped out in front of walmart to prove to would-be looters there was no point in coming here

in orleans, to the best of my knowledge, alcohol was never banned and in fact a bar operated 24/7 during the entire emergency, even tho there was some water on the floor of the bar in question at the height of the disaster

[arcadian]

21. They pretty much have already.

And that's the best way to do it it. Panopticon. When you don't ever know that you're being watched.