Police shut down mysterious ‘Oath Keepers’ guarding rooftops in downtown Ferguson

Police shut down mysterious ‘Oath Keepers’ guarding rooftops in downtown Ferguson

FERGUSON - Following a night of arson fires and bashed storefronts that hit close to home, Greg Hildebrand stood naked Tuesday, drying off from a needed shower, when he noticed somebody on the rooftop.

“I opened the window and said, ‘Hey, can I help you?’” said Hildebrand, 35, a website developer.

The man said he was security and would be up there at night with others to protect the pocket of second-story apartments and lower-level storefronts near the Ferguson Police Department. A day earlier, rioters had broken out windows below Hildebrand’s apartment in the 100 block of South Florissant Road and torched a nearby beauty supply store.

“I am in the middle of a difficult spot,” Hildebrand said. “I feel a lot better having those guys up on the roof.” SOURCE

Mysterious Oath Keepers huh? If the Police that shut the Oath Keepers down had a lick of sense they would not only know WHO the Oath Keepers are and WHAT they are all about, they would consider themselves to oath keepers as well, not the organization, just an oath keeper in your heart and mind.

Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, reserves, National Guard, veterans, Peace Officers, and Fire Fighters who will fulfill the Oath we swore, with the support of like-minded citizens who take an Oath to stand with us, to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God. Our Oath is to the Constitution SOURCE

It’s no big mystery, Oath Keepers is not some anonymous, masked, secret group of night riders or ne’er do well’s, every man or woman that has ever served this nation, in ANY capacity, and has taken a solemn oath to defend this nation against ALL enemies, foreign and domestic, is eligible to become an Oath Keeper, or, they can be an oath keeper in their heart, it’s not a *You have to join to be one* kind of thing, you simply have to stand by the OATH you took at some point in time, and stand for America.

Puzzled and alarmed protesters have wondered, too — some accusing the mysterious guards in military fatigues of being in the Ku Klux Klan.

And THAT accusation shows you the mental capacity, or lack thereof, of the Ferguson protesters and their leadership.

In fact, they are volunteers affiliated with a 35,000-member national organization called Oath Keepers. Yale Law School graduate and libertarian Stewart Rhodes said by telephone from Montana that he founded the group in 2009 to protect constitutional rights, including those of protesters confronted by what he described as overly militarized police.

That last line, “including those of protesters confronted by what he described as overly militarized police” is the reason I am NOT a member of the Oath Keepers organization and why I have nothing posted on my blog page in their support. 

Personally, I have NO USE for Stewart Rhodes and his skewed Libertarian views, I never have liked Rhodes and a few close friends already knew that but I have a lot of respect for the *IDEA* of *oath keepers* and what it should really stand for.

Any person that calls himself a leader yet says he stands against what he (Stewart Rhodes) has described as overly militarized police has NO idea of what it is to BE a Police Officer.

Police questioned group members early in the week and allowed them to stay. But Saturday, after media inquiries, St. Louis County police officers ordered the Oath Keepers to leave the rooftops.

Threatened with arrest for operating without a license, the volunteers argued but eventually left their positions early Saturday, Rhodes said.

They didn’t have a license to operate as volunteers and when threatened with arrest they argued a bit and then left? Seriously?

What if our Founding Fathers had done such a thing? What if the Fathers had cut and run when threatened by the Brits? Maybe Mr. Rhodes needs to consider this; in order to keep your oath to protect and defend the Constitution you might have to get your hands dirty, and some blood will be shed.

I am an oath keeper, many of my friends are oath keepers and we don’t make threats, we don’t argue but we WILL stand our ground as volunteers. If our Police need extra help in a time crisis I, and many others stand ready to fill the gaps and help out Officers in any way possible but I don’t need to ask permission of the police to take a position on the roof of a particular building if I have been asked to take that position at the behest of the building owner or upon my own home in the event of some type of insurrection.

“Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” — Captain John Parker, 1775