11-26-24

Okay, serious question…..What if I told you that your neighbor’s house was being

threatened……armed intruders, squatters, vandals, thieves…..you name it….you

look out the window and you know immediately that there is a threat right next

door……what would you do? Would you sit idly by…..would you gawk out the

windows and take videos on your smartphone…..would you call 911…..would you

arm yourself and go next door?.....It’s an issue that I hope none of you ever have to

face…..having your home violated is more than disconcerting…..it’s an invasion

of privacy….it’s the taking away of your sense of security…..but what if I told you

it was a government policy that was encouraging that invasion of privacy…..that a

government policy was actually incentivizing people to go into your neighbors

house and do as they please…..what if the neighbors crisis was because the Mayor

had invited armed intruders, squatters, vandals, thieves to come to your

town….what if the Mayor had said to the armed intruders, squatters, vandals,

thieves that “our house is your house” and they took him at his

word….literally….and came to your neighborhood with ill intent but with an

invitation…..

Sound far fetched? It’s not……….It is exactly what is happening right now on the

southern border of the United States……it is exactly what has been going on for

the past four years of the Biden administration…..an incursion by people who have

literally been told that “our house is your house” so come on in!.....I have watched

videos from ranchers on the southern border who cannot take their trash out now

without being armed…..communities along our southern border have been

devastated by illegal immigration…..crime across the country tied to illegal aliens

is a daily news headline and unfortunately too many people are getting numb to

it……it’s heartbreaking…..but they were invited….and despite all that we have

pushed for….despite the obvious impact that illegal immigration had on the recent

red wave elections for Trump and others around the nation…..the fact remains that

some elected leaders still don’t get it…..the Mayor of Boulder Colorado just said

that he will gladly go to jail if necessary to resist Trumps incoming border security

policies…..multiple blue state Governors have said they do not intend to cooperate

and will continue their sanctuary policies, to include the border state of Arizona via

liberal Governor Katie Hobbs…..the City Council of Los Angeles voted just last

week to declare themselves as sanctuary city…. armed intruders, squatters,

vandals, thieves still have open invitations from much of the elected democrat

leadership…..these are our neighbors….other states and cities are the neighbors of

our states and cities and they are continuing to face this crisis…..and a change is

not just needed, it is imperative….it is desperate in some places….

But in the past it was just the opposite…..the nation did not sit idly by. It was a

question of national security…..national sovereignty……neighbor watching out for

neighbor…..states watching out for states……And Alabama has been in the mix

many times…..

You may have heard me mention the 167 th Infantry…….a legacy unit with deep

tradition and long history right here in our own Alabama National Guard. One of

the highlights of my 30 years of uniformed service was to serve as the BN CDR of

the 167 th Infantry..…known through much of its history as the legendary 4 th

Alabama…..That unit has more battle streamers on its guidon than most any unit in

the entire US Army ……with service dating back to 1836…..battle scars from

every war our nation has fought in for the past 185 years…….there is a statue built

on a battlefield in France near a place called Croix Rouge Farm……a similar

statue is located near Union Station in downtown Montgomery….a bridge in

Birmingham is named for their service in WWI…..and Rainbow City, Alabama is

named that because in WWI the Alabama boys were attached to the 42 nd IN….the

Rainbow Division…..I have a picture on the wall of my office of the men who

served from Etowah County, AL upon their return from WWI…..two of the men in

that photo are wearing the DSC…..second only to the MoH. ……they were

legendary in battle….Gen Plummer said “By God, in a time of war send me all the

Alabamians you can find”…..I’ve talked about them on the show before….but did

you know that they played a part in securing our southern border? ……Over 100

years ago!....stand by for some history……

In 1916 and early 1917, the Fourth Alabama was still a state militia…..sort of a

National Guard unit by then…..But then came the border wars with Mexican

bandit Pancho Villa and the 4 th Alabama was called up and federalized and

permanently redesignated as the 167 th Infantry……they participated in the

nationwide call of National Guard units to federal service for guard duty along the

United States's border with Mexico in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas…… They

were positioned there, as part of the US Mexican Border Service, after a raid on

Columbus, New Mexico, by forces under the command of Mexican revolutionary

general Francisco "Pancho" Villa. …..people forget that American communities

were once raided just over 100 years ago by Mexican bandits and the Mexican

government was no help……Pancho Villa led an army of about 1,500

guerillas across the border to stage a brutal raid against the small American

town of Columbus, New Mexico….. Villa and his men killed 19 people and

left the town in flames….. President Wilson determined to destroy Pancho

Villa and ordered General John “Blackjack” Pershing to lead 6,000

American troops into Mexico and capture Villa….. Reluctantly, Mexican

President Carranza agreed to allow the U.S. to invade Mexican territory…..

For nearly two years, Pershing and his soldiers chased the elusive Villa on

horseback, in automobiles, and with airplanes….. The American troops had

several bloody skirmishes with the rebels…..and Alabama’s 167 th Infantry

(formerly the 4 th Alabama) was right there with them….. The 167 th Infantry

went basically from the Mexican Border to the battlefields of WWI.

Some say that it was their time on the southern border that prepared the 167 th for

combat in Europe…..the hardships….the military order and discipline…..the

ability to shoot, move and communicate….they became heroes on the European

battlefields…..But the larger picture here…..and the reason why I tell that

story….aside from acquainting you with part of your own history…..was that there

was a time when the federal government was willing to go to war to protect the

southern border of the US…..and upon the call the States answered…..

Some say that the mobilization of the 167 th became the catalyst for moving

Alabama into the next century as many young men who had never been outside of

their home counties now saw the world….fought for freedom…..and returned

home with honor…..And it started with their service on the Mexican

border…..American communities had been harmed and were living under real

threat…..it was seen then as an invasion….a destruction of the sense of security

and sovereignty that every US citizen has a right to expect their government to

ensure…. armed intruders, squatters, vandals, thieves…..coming across our

border….but back then they were not welcomed…..we resisted their efforts and

hunted them down…..

It has not been that way for the past four years…..in what seems to be a blatant and

intentional effort to blur the lines of national borders the Biden administration has

failed to provide even a hint of care and concern that one should expect them to

provide…..

How else can we say it……and I’m pragmatic….. I don’t jump on conspiracy

bandwagons….I look at facts…..I assess…..and I cannot deny what I am

seeing…..taken into context all of the actions and inactions of the Biden

administration make this lack of security at our southern border appear to clearly

be an intentional effort….right down to the fact that their nominee to head up the

Customs and Border Patrol has a history of supporting sanctuary cities…..VP

Harris pretty much never went to the border…..CBP Officers are

overwhelmed……states like Texas are having to take unilateral actions…..actions

which often resulted in Texas being sued by DC……federal aid to assist impacted

communities was nonexistent…..border wall construction stopped……and of

course AOC has taken no more crying photo ops…..

if you…. like me….. actually care about what happens at your neighbor’s

house…..then you will agree that we must not sit idly by…..we must venture

across the property lines to assist our neighbor……because if the danger to your

neighbor goes unchecked…..eventually it comes to your house.

We must secure our southern border……and I believe that we will…..we’ve done

it before….and we will do it again….because without a border you have to

question whether we really have a nation…..

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way