GWOT IV - Homeland Hustle
Nov. 24th, 2019 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyGWOT IV - Homeland Hustle
I suppose you had to be there
I've talked to veterans (fighting on both sides) of the China War. They don't think much of Homeland, but they don't understand why the rest of us were (and in all too many cases _are_) so very afraid of them.
The Homeland units had absolute power and absolute immunity.
They could 'sidewalk' someone and there would be no consequences, except the spilled brains on the sidewalk and a mess to clean up.
They could 'arrest' someone. Odds are you'd never see them again. Once in a while, you did, and their injuries were so horrific that you were sorry you had. Usually they died.
They could send someone Homeward Bound. In theory this was repatriation, sending someone back to their country of origin. Only they never got there. We're still finding the mass graves, bone piles, and discreet medium grade trailer mounted incinerators. Homeward Bound by air mean death by hypoxia. Homeward Bound by bus all too often meant death by carbon monoxide poisoning; they'd borrowed a trick from the Germans and brought the exhaust inbound, putting the driver in a separate little compartment with redundant life support.
(I haven't had the pleasure of putting a bus driver on trial. They don't make it into California Republic custody alive.)
I'd seen sidewalking. I'm a survivor of Homeland arrest, and everyone knows it just by looking at me. (Ruined left hand, missing all fingernails.) I'd figured out Homeward Bound fairly early, and had time to come to terms with it.
The Homeland troops had thrown their weight around in other ways. Rape was technically against Homeland regulations, but I'd never heard of it being enforced. If someone was weeping after being dragged from an interrogation room, well, that was what interrogations were for.
If we had one population that was the Jews to Homeland's Nazis ... I'm sorry, this is difficult.
Homeland had separate facilities for male and female detainees.
If you were both, or neither, they saved themselves a little work and sidewalked you on them spot.
We don't have good numbers on how many transgender people lived in California prior to the Firecracker. The best estimate I've found is about 214,000. We can estimate how many intersexed people, one in two thousand. Thirty million people means about 15,000. This neglects the fact that many people from all over migrated to California, especially the San Francisco Bay Area, precisely because it was friendly pre-War to people of different gender identities.
Let's round a little, call it 250,000.
We never will know how many of them were murdered. They are almost all dead. Many of the survivors went into deep, deep cover and will never tell anyone anything ever again. There is still a risk that the California Republic could lose this war. I can't blame them.
I know exactly one transgender person who survived the war. And they are very much a special case. I call them by their first name. Governor.
Part of this was politics. But a big part of it was bureaucratic evil. The whole point of Homeland was to get rid of people who didn't fit the mold, who called into question, who were a sticking point in America's perfect future. So it was easy for someone deep in Homeland's bureaucracy to write a memo, distribute it, and help conspire to murder half a million people.
Why didn't ordinary people resist? Raw naked fear.
Why didn't transgender people resist? They mostly didn't get the chance. As Homeland processed a new crop of detainees, they were taken aside, usually around a corner. Blam.
Why did Homeland troops obey what were obviously highly illegal orders? Cowardice. It had been drilled into them, sometimes by example, that if a Homeland trooper disobeyed orders they could expect to be instantly stripped of their uniform and made a detainee. And typically beaten to death by other detainees the next time they tried to sleep.
Today's evidence hearing did not have a specific person in the dock. But we had a prosecutor, a defense advocate (in absentia) and expert witnesses.
I banged the gavel.
"The Alviso Trial, Round Twenty Eight, is now in session. Evidence hearing. Homeland orders and documents. Prosecutor?"
She laid it out. The memo had been written in the Operations section of Homeland in Washington DC. It had been endorsed by the Commandant. It had been rewritten twice, once by Homeland Legal, once by the Office Of Civil Rights. (Orwellian NewSpeak for their counterinsurgency group.) It had been promulgated through channels and endorsed by local department heads.
The only Homeland units that hadn't passed on the memo were in Alaska and Utah. Alaska apparently had gotten the memo and quietly round filed it. Utah had gotten the memo and sent in a discreet protest. An Internal Audit team had executed the author of the protest.
"Do we have his name?"
"Her name. Latesha Brown."
"Note for the record. Recommend posthumous Bear Cross for Latesha Brown."
"Noted," the court recorder breathed in between jabbing at the keys.
So what we had were forty-seven other states and one territory (Puerto Rico) where Homeland units had followed the operational order.
"Finding. The Commandant of the Untied Snakes, excuse me, United States, Homeland Internal Security Agency, and the entire chain of command to the region level, for conspiracy to commit genocide in violation of ... well, just about everything. Reference the appropriate articles in the Lieber Code, Geneva I and II, the UN Genocide Convention, UCMJ, USC and as applicable, each state penal code. Defense statement?"
It was the duty, and a disgusting one, of the defense advocate to argue for genocide. To argue for any sliver of innocence that could be found.
She did her job well. And I shot down every single sliver. Yes, they knew what 'refusal to admit to a Homeland facility' meant. Yes, they knew that no Homeland personnel were doctors; in theory the US Public Health Service were responsible for the health of detainees, but had no staff assigned to work with Homeland. Yes, they knew it was loaded when they put it to two hundred and fifty thousand heads.
"Verdict is confirmed. The following is an order of this Court.
"All named persons to be considered wanted violent felony fugitives from justice. To be taken into custody by California Republic personnel, wherever found. An Interpol Red Notice to be filed, requesting the assistance of all legitimate law enforcement agencies in their apprehension and transfer to California Republic custody."
I turned to the Court Recorder.
"Stop."
I then spoke for the benefit of an anonymous man in the back of the room, wearing California Republic uniform with no insignia.
"This Court orders and directs that if these named persons cannot be taken into custody, operatives of the California Republic are authorized, ordered and directed to take what steps can be taken so that justice can be done. This is an authorization to use force, up to and including deadly force, against any and all persons named in this order, WHENEVER AND WHEREVER THEY MIGHT BE FOUND. As a lawful military operation it must be understood that collateral damage may occur."
The anonymous soldier turned and left the room.
"Continue recording."
"IF any of these persons are taken into custody, they will be taken to the Court, or its successor, and stand trial for their crimes. Hearing adjourned for break."
We all got up and stretched. Instead of going behind the hallway to the secure restroom, I went out the front - a startled bailiff started to go with me, but I waved her off - and went to the less secure restroom on the front door side.
The same anonymous man was addressing the urinal when I sidled up to him and did the same.
No one else was in the room.
"Did you consult the PG?" he whispered quietly.
"Yes," I whispered back. "Pat said, do your worst. Try not to kill children."
"Got it."
He zipped up, washed his hands and left.
###
BOMB KILLS SEVEN IN MARYLAND
AP Press Wire
US Homeland sources confirm casualties ...
HOMELAND COLONEL KILLED BY SNIPER IN FRONT OF FAMILY
US Official confirms death in school parking lot...
HOMELAND MAJOR DIES IN SURGERY, FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED
Doctors Without Borders files protest ...
Escalation In American Insurgency - Homeland Staff Targeted
BBC World News
Poison in a Denver analyst's toothpaste. A car rigged to explode in Omaha. A random mugging in Dallas with a firearm and Homeland credentials found on the body.
New information suggests that the California Republic's secretive Bear Force has switched tactics in its increasingly violent war behind American lines...
I suppose you had to be there
I've talked to veterans (fighting on both sides) of the China War. They don't think much of Homeland, but they don't understand why the rest of us were (and in all too many cases _are_) so very afraid of them.
The Homeland units had absolute power and absolute immunity.
They could 'sidewalk' someone and there would be no consequences, except the spilled brains on the sidewalk and a mess to clean up.
They could 'arrest' someone. Odds are you'd never see them again. Once in a while, you did, and their injuries were so horrific that you were sorry you had. Usually they died.
They could send someone Homeward Bound. In theory this was repatriation, sending someone back to their country of origin. Only they never got there. We're still finding the mass graves, bone piles, and discreet medium grade trailer mounted incinerators. Homeward Bound by air mean death by hypoxia. Homeward Bound by bus all too often meant death by carbon monoxide poisoning; they'd borrowed a trick from the Germans and brought the exhaust inbound, putting the driver in a separate little compartment with redundant life support.
(I haven't had the pleasure of putting a bus driver on trial. They don't make it into California Republic custody alive.)
I'd seen sidewalking. I'm a survivor of Homeland arrest, and everyone knows it just by looking at me. (Ruined left hand, missing all fingernails.) I'd figured out Homeward Bound fairly early, and had time to come to terms with it.
The Homeland troops had thrown their weight around in other ways. Rape was technically against Homeland regulations, but I'd never heard of it being enforced. If someone was weeping after being dragged from an interrogation room, well, that was what interrogations were for.
If we had one population that was the Jews to Homeland's Nazis ... I'm sorry, this is difficult.
Homeland had separate facilities for male and female detainees.
If you were both, or neither, they saved themselves a little work and sidewalked you on them spot.
We don't have good numbers on how many transgender people lived in California prior to the Firecracker. The best estimate I've found is about 214,000. We can estimate how many intersexed people, one in two thousand. Thirty million people means about 15,000. This neglects the fact that many people from all over migrated to California, especially the San Francisco Bay Area, precisely because it was friendly pre-War to people of different gender identities.
Let's round a little, call it 250,000.
We never will know how many of them were murdered. They are almost all dead. Many of the survivors went into deep, deep cover and will never tell anyone anything ever again. There is still a risk that the California Republic could lose this war. I can't blame them.
I know exactly one transgender person who survived the war. And they are very much a special case. I call them by their first name. Governor.
Part of this was politics. But a big part of it was bureaucratic evil. The whole point of Homeland was to get rid of people who didn't fit the mold, who called into question, who were a sticking point in America's perfect future. So it was easy for someone deep in Homeland's bureaucracy to write a memo, distribute it, and help conspire to murder half a million people.
Why didn't ordinary people resist? Raw naked fear.
Why didn't transgender people resist? They mostly didn't get the chance. As Homeland processed a new crop of detainees, they were taken aside, usually around a corner. Blam.
Why did Homeland troops obey what were obviously highly illegal orders? Cowardice. It had been drilled into them, sometimes by example, that if a Homeland trooper disobeyed orders they could expect to be instantly stripped of their uniform and made a detainee. And typically beaten to death by other detainees the next time they tried to sleep.
Today's evidence hearing did not have a specific person in the dock. But we had a prosecutor, a defense advocate (in absentia) and expert witnesses.
I banged the gavel.
"The Alviso Trial, Round Twenty Eight, is now in session. Evidence hearing. Homeland orders and documents. Prosecutor?"
She laid it out. The memo had been written in the Operations section of Homeland in Washington DC. It had been endorsed by the Commandant. It had been rewritten twice, once by Homeland Legal, once by the Office Of Civil Rights. (Orwellian NewSpeak for their counterinsurgency group.) It had been promulgated through channels and endorsed by local department heads.
The only Homeland units that hadn't passed on the memo were in Alaska and Utah. Alaska apparently had gotten the memo and quietly round filed it. Utah had gotten the memo and sent in a discreet protest. An Internal Audit team had executed the author of the protest.
"Do we have his name?"
"Her name. Latesha Brown."
"Note for the record. Recommend posthumous Bear Cross for Latesha Brown."
"Noted," the court recorder breathed in between jabbing at the keys.
So what we had were forty-seven other states and one territory (Puerto Rico) where Homeland units had followed the operational order.
"Finding. The Commandant of the Untied Snakes, excuse me, United States, Homeland Internal Security Agency, and the entire chain of command to the region level, for conspiracy to commit genocide in violation of ... well, just about everything. Reference the appropriate articles in the Lieber Code, Geneva I and II, the UN Genocide Convention, UCMJ, USC and as applicable, each state penal code. Defense statement?"
It was the duty, and a disgusting one, of the defense advocate to argue for genocide. To argue for any sliver of innocence that could be found.
She did her job well. And I shot down every single sliver. Yes, they knew what 'refusal to admit to a Homeland facility' meant. Yes, they knew that no Homeland personnel were doctors; in theory the US Public Health Service were responsible for the health of detainees, but had no staff assigned to work with Homeland. Yes, they knew it was loaded when they put it to two hundred and fifty thousand heads.
"Verdict is confirmed. The following is an order of this Court.
"All named persons to be considered wanted violent felony fugitives from justice. To be taken into custody by California Republic personnel, wherever found. An Interpol Red Notice to be filed, requesting the assistance of all legitimate law enforcement agencies in their apprehension and transfer to California Republic custody."
I turned to the Court Recorder.
"Stop."
I then spoke for the benefit of an anonymous man in the back of the room, wearing California Republic uniform with no insignia.
"This Court orders and directs that if these named persons cannot be taken into custody, operatives of the California Republic are authorized, ordered and directed to take what steps can be taken so that justice can be done. This is an authorization to use force, up to and including deadly force, against any and all persons named in this order, WHENEVER AND WHEREVER THEY MIGHT BE FOUND. As a lawful military operation it must be understood that collateral damage may occur."
The anonymous soldier turned and left the room.
"Continue recording."
"IF any of these persons are taken into custody, they will be taken to the Court, or its successor, and stand trial for their crimes. Hearing adjourned for break."
We all got up and stretched. Instead of going behind the hallway to the secure restroom, I went out the front - a startled bailiff started to go with me, but I waved her off - and went to the less secure restroom on the front door side.
The same anonymous man was addressing the urinal when I sidled up to him and did the same.
No one else was in the room.
"Did you consult the PG?" he whispered quietly.
"Yes," I whispered back. "Pat said, do your worst. Try not to kill children."
"Got it."
He zipped up, washed his hands and left.
###
BOMB KILLS SEVEN IN MARYLAND
AP Press Wire
US Homeland sources confirm casualties ...
HOMELAND COLONEL KILLED BY SNIPER IN FRONT OF FAMILY
US Official confirms death in school parking lot...
HOMELAND MAJOR DIES IN SURGERY, FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED
Doctors Without Borders files protest ...
Escalation In American Insurgency - Homeland Staff Targeted
BBC World News
Poison in a Denver analyst's toothpaste. A car rigged to explode in Omaha. A random mugging in Dallas with a firearm and Homeland credentials found on the body.
New information suggests that the California Republic's secretive Bear Force has switched tactics in its increasingly violent war behind American lines...
