“Mish-mash” [FN1] is a descriptive arising on first glance of a 4/28 [FN2] “challenge” on FB. A list of 18 items follows precatory comments. [FN3, FN3a] The disorganized mess reveals 4/28's ignorance of topics, especially United States history and the Constitution. 1/31

4/28: 16) “Criminals are caught-and-released to hurt more people, but stopping them is bad because it's a violation of their rights?”
A) A right to bail is enshrined in the Bill of Rights. [FN4] 2/31

B) A presumption of innocence is basic to our system of justice. [FN5] A person is innocent until proven guilty. “Criminals” are not caught and released.
C) W/o specific examples (re: “stopping them is bad”), 4/28 is vague, unless believes an accused in a criminal proceeding has no rights. [FN6] 3/31

4/28: 18) “And pointing out all this hypocrisy somehow makes us ‘racists’?!” I take #18 out of order because 4/28 provides no specifics.
But I have pointed out racism in how 4/28 sees hypocrisy in the vetting process for 4/31

“Irish doctors and German engineers.” Vetting processes to practice a profession are separate from immigration. I footnoted my example of the AMA. [FN7]
The racism [FN8] is this: “but any illiterate gang member or terrorist who 5/31

jumps the southern fence is welcome?” As usual, 4/28 asserts w/o authority for a claim that the U.S. has welcomed a gang member or terrorist. Unauthorized crossings of “the southern fence” involves 80-84% non-white people. [FN9] Then 4/28 goes off the rails. 6/31

4/28: 17) “Then there is the whole Afghanistan, vaccine, endless COVID variants, election cheating, deficient president, violence in the cities, defunding the police, confiscating my guns while arming terrorists, etc., etc.” 7/31

I won’t try to guess what is in 4/28’s mind on these points. Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” might have been playing on 4/28's 8-track and provided inspiration. On 4/28's challenge, I will point out I mentioned trump once. Then there’s this: 8/31

How dare you say it’s treason to criticize the government, what you call “self-sabotage.” We have a right to free speech. Theodore Roosevelt’s statement about criticism of the President applies to criticism of the government: 9/31

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” This + past lessons are especially important now. 10/31

People in other countries don’t hate us because we are “free.” They hate us because we kill so many people while we say we’ll make them free. Bummed out w/people coming here from south of the border? We created the conditions that caused people to flee their countries. 11/31

Over 90% of all Border Patrol apprehensions are migrants fr Mexico or the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador) [FN10] Those countries’ poverty is our fault. The CIA, in Guatemala “orchestrated” a coup of democratically-elected Pres Arbenz ... 12/31

& replaced him w/a dictator because Arbenz’s land reforms threatened US-owned United Fruit Co. which owned 42% of the nation’s land & paid ZERO taxes. [FN11] U.S. fruit corporations turned Honduras into a huge plantation at the start of the 20th Century. The U.S. 13/31

dominated Honduras’ economy/politics, backed military coups & used it as a base to attack Nicaragua in the 1980s, [FN12] when, in El Salvador, we backed an oligarchy that had held power for decades and kept peasants poor & illiterate. Over 75K Salvadorans 14/31

were killed, most “victims of the military & its death squads. [FN13] Mexico appears to be far more stable today than a few years ago, but including the 1846–1848 war & our seizure of nearly half its land, our military has invaded Mexico at least ten times. [FN14] 15/31

We talk freedom & democracy, but we overthrow elected governments we don’t like. The reason usually is to obtain those countries’ resources for pennies on the dollar. After generations, ppl from these countries want into the USA. It’s not that they want their “stuff” back. 16/31

They want jobs (that pay crap wages) and refuge from violence. Other countries hate us, but for a while we were > self-aware. Freedom of the press meant we saw what our military in Vietnam was doing. People here brought an end to our involvement, but 17/31

people in charge learned a different lesson. If a free press means people know enough to stop the military from having its way, limit what is reported. That cuts against the grain of my favorite quote from Lincoln: Let the people know the facts, and the country will be safe. 18/31

We commit war crimes, most recently in Iran. We violated the U.N. Charter w/our unprovoked attack on another country. [FN15] We killed 150 little kids in a school. A U.S. service member has a duty to not obey an illegal order. [FN16] When will we get hit? 19/31

I don’t mean higher prices. When will another country attack non-military forces here? When will attacks such as we have aimed at Iran ... and Venezuela ... and Cuba ... and, as 4/28 says, etc., etc., etc.? Yes, I’m back to good ol’ 4/28, who wrote this: 20/31

“Our heroes should be held up high and honored for the brave work they are doing. Certain groups of people never learned a thing from Vietnam. I say to those people....you disgust me. Do better. Country first ALWAYS!!!” Sorry, but we can’t abide by this. 21/31

This country is different. We prosecute war crimes. We don’t commit them. U.S. military should not be in the position they’ve been placed. But since “just following orders” did not make it as a defense at Nuremberg or Tokyo, “I didn’t vote for this” has similar weight. 22/31

This country started w/ideals of liberty while fueling our economy by slavery & genocide of the indigenous peoples. Self-awareness has helped us work toward what’s right. No, 4/28, can your disgust. I feel pity for all who will suffer from yours & others’ ignorance. 23/31

Footnotes:
FN1. “hodgepodge, jumble” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 1974 ed., p. 448.
FN2. Still no response from the person who purportedly posted the challenge. I’ll continue to refer to the poster as “4/28" as I have in the prior 5 replies. That saves space. 24/31

FN3. “So much anti-America self sabotage going on in this country it's truly treasonous. Shame on you if you just watch one news source and take it for the truth you too are part of the problem. Our heroes should be held up high and honored... 25/31

FN3a. “for the brave work they are doing. Certain groups of people never learned a thing from Vietnam. I say to those people....you disgust me. Do better. Country first ALWAYS!!!” (emphasis in original). 26/31

FN4. “Excessive bail shall not be required...” Const. Amend. VIII.
FN5. The "presumption of innocence, although not articulated in the Constitution, is basic component of a fair trial under our system of criminal justice." Estelle v. Williams, 425 U. S. 501, 503 (1976). 27/31

FN6. That view is at odds w/the intent of the Framers of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights was a product of the First Congress, ratified 12/15/1791. Hamilton argued no Bill of Rights was necessary because rights are inherent. The Federalist No 84 (Alexander Hamilton). 28/31

FN7. This is the footnote: “AMA, ‘Practicing medicine in the U.S. as an international medical graduate,’ accessed 4/29/26.”
FN8. “a belief that some races are by nature superior to others; also discrimination based on such belief.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 1974 ed., p. 571. 29/31

FN9. 80–84% figure for Latin American has a high correlation of people being "nonwhite," but they are not consistently tracked. “What can the data tell us about unauthorized immigration?” USA Facts, updated, 8/1/24, accessed 5/1/26.
FN10. Axios, 4/6/23.
FN11. History Channel, 6/10/22. 30/31

FN12. The Guardian, 11/27/09.
FN13. The Atlantic, 9/22/20.
FN14. “Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2020,” https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42738.pdf.
FN15. U.N. Charter Article 51 prohibits an unprovoked attack on another nation. The charter is a treaty approved by the U.S. Senate. 31/31