The text warned against being near an event on Nov. 17 called the “Dakota Patriot Rally” It also said that service members should “be cautious” because the event could be “confrontational” to military members. Perhaps worst of all, it warned that “participation with such groups as Turning Point Action could jeopardize their continued service in the US military.” The text finishes by saying that there was a “shooting incident yesterday in Minot, unclear if it was related.”
First, painting folks on the right as somehow being “confrontational” to military members shows some nasty bias when, indeed, historically, it’s been the left that has frequently been confrontational with the military.
Then, painting Turning Point, which is a pretty mainline group, as “alt-right” seems like a smear.
But then warning members off from participating with Turning Point? Are they forbidding people from any political involvement now? What’s next? Telling members they aren’t allowed to be Republicans? Saying they can’t support Republican candidates? Telling them how to vote?
Then that slam about the shooting at the end seems intended to make them fearful about attendance if they hadn’t already been warned off enough by the rest of the text. But it appears at this moment to have had nothing at all to do with the event.
The text message also alludes to a shooting that happened in Minot on Nov. 17, noting that it is “unclear if it was related” to the Dakota Patriot Rally. According to the Minot Daily News, that shooting happened in northwest Minot and resulted in a 29-year-old man being hospitalized while a suspect fled the scene. The state fairgrounds where the Dakota Patriot Rally took place is in the far eastern portion of the city.
Approved ~ FS
DGM