Report: Calif. National Guard Put Fighter Jet On Alert For Domestic Mission To Terrorize Anti-Lockdown Protesters – By Joe Newby
CONSERVATIVE FIRING LINE | By Joe Newby | April 25, 2021
How far are some Democrats willing to go to enforce their dictatorial edicts against average Americans? Try this one on for size. On Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported that the air branch of the California National Guard was ordered to put an F-15C fighter jet on alert status for a possible domestic mission.
The mission? The four sources who spoke to the Times said they weren’t exactly certain, but understood the aircraft would be deployed to terrify anti-lockdown protesters by flying low over them at an extremely fast speed, the Times said.
The Times report added:
Deploying an F-15C, an air-to-air combat jet based at the Guard’s 144th Fighter Wing in Fresno, to frighten demonstrators in this country would have been an inappropriate use of the military against U.S. civilians, the sources said.
They said the jet was also placed on an alert status — fueled and ready for takeoff — for possible responses to protests over the murder of George Floyd by a police officer and to any unrest sparked by the Nov. 3 presidential election.
“It would have been a completely illegal order that disgraced the military,” one source said. “It could look like we’re threatening civilians.”
Really? You think?
“That’s something that would happen in the Soviet Union,” a second unnamed source told The Times. “Our military is used to combat foreign aggressors.”
The report said the sources spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation from their superiors. No surprise there, especially given that the military in the Biden regime seems to be little more than a tool to target civilians.
According to the Times, a spokesman for Maj. Gen. David Baldwin, Commanding General of the California Guard, denied the aircraft was placed on an alert for possible use against civilian protesters.
“We do not use our planes to frighten or intimidate civilians,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Shiroma told the Times in an email.
The Times added:
Shiroma also said that assigning jets at the 144th Wing to respond to civil unrest would have required the approval of First Air Force, which oversees the air defense of the continental United States for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). He said the California Guard “never made such a request.”
He released a list of aircraft that he said were “postured to support any potential civil unrest missions” leading up to the election; it included two planes — a C-130J and an HC-130J — but no fighters.
“No F-15s were contemplated,” Shiroma wrote.
But Guard documents reviewed by The Times showed the aircraft was placed on alert status for a possible election-week mission, and officers reportedly discussed the use of the aircraft in March 2020.
But would pilots obey an order to target civilian protesters exercising their First Amendment right to peacefully protest? Dan Woodside, a retired Guard pilot who has flown the F-15C, told the Times he “absolutely would have disobeyed” such an order.
“The decibel level alone from an F-15C demonstrating a show of force can break windows, set off car alarms and cause more fear than shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theater,” he said.
And if Guard leaders were allowed to use fighter jets against civilian protesters, he added, “you could have these warplanes buzzing all around the state of California.”
Welcome to Gavin Newsom’s California…
