When HN users recommended it
1 HN user recommended this in 2020, in one comment.
20072026
Each tall tick is one HN user's first recommendation. A short tick is the same user again. Click a tick to jump to the comment.
1 HN user recommended this in 2020, in one comment.
Each tall tick is one HN user's first recommendation. A short tick is the same user again. Click a tick to jump to the comment.
> People talk of "keyboard warriors". Here they are. There's an entire subculture that believes that individual ownership of firearms is going to enable them to carry out counter-revolutions. For most this is just a delusion that they talk about constantly. For these guys it was a delusion that they brought to action.
This feels like "bait", but I'll take it.
Perhaps the most confusing part of this is that the two Americans that were involved weren't "keyboard warriors". They were actually trained Navy Seals. Why they would go along with the apparent coup attempt makes absolutely no sense.
For the sake of argument, let's assume that this is exactly how it's being presented: Silvercorp was hired by the son of an imprisoned Venezuelan general to assist in overthrowing the Maduro government and presumably installing his father as leader. There are so many questions that have no reasonable answers.
Let's focus on the two Americans, Luke Denman and Airan Berry.
Why would they go along with a plan where it's obvious to anyone with any experience (or basic logic, honestly) that there is effectively no chance of success?
Why would they proceed, after reportedly being contacted by the CIA in Jamaica and informed that their operation was compromised and that the Venezuelan authorities were waiting for them?
Why would the CEO of the mercenary company be tweeting about an operation in progress?
What's up with the "gear" they were allegedly captured with?
The photos I've seen from this make absolutely no sense.
They had an Airsoft AR-15, still in the box? OK, maybe they were planning to use it to bluff their way to real weapons... but that doesn't make sense either, because the flash hider was orange.
Speaking of Airsoft, much of the gear photographed was designed for Airsoft. The masks, for instance, are on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DNWR2QK/
They had three "Beta C-MAG" AR magazines. Those at least appeared to be real, but are a terrible choice! They're notoriously unreliable, and there are better, cheaper options available. A C-MAG is a 100-round drum magazine that retails for ~$250. Surefire makes the MAG5-100, a 100-round "stick" magazine, for ~$190. The Surefire is well-respected, reliable, and far better balanced. It also doesn't stick out a foot on each side of the rifle, so it's a whole lot easier to move around with.
They were captured with 14 pistol braces. Huh? The whole point of a pistol brace is to comply with US law - the National Firearms Act of 1934 requires that a rifle have a barrel of >16", and that a pistol be designed to fire with one hand. Pistol braces ostensibly are intended to sit along the user's forearm to provide support for the wrist; they're "not designed to be fired from the shoulder", the fact that they're the same approximate profile as a standard stock notwithstanding. What purpose would an accessory whose sole purpose is to comply with US law be taken to Venezuela on an ill-considered military filibuster? Pistol braces show up fairly often in northern Mexico in the hands of the cartel, sure, but that makes sense because those are obviously purchased in the US and smuggled across the border to be issued to their low-level soldiers. Here, though? They weren't even attached to guns! Either they were intended to be attached to guns already in country, or they were removed from guns earlier and carried along with them anyhow. Neither makes any sense at all.
They were allegedly captured by a fisherman, shown in photos with a handgun. The same series of photos show four ARs... with pistol braces. Why would four guys in a boat with rifles allow themselves to be "captured" by a random fisherman on shore with a pistol?
Finally, and honestly the weirdest part of all to me - who decides to pack along every form of ID they have ever been issued when attempting to overthrow the government of a foreign country? Passports, military ID, even expired VA benefits cards. There were multiple copies of the same ID cards photographed, along with individual passport photos (like you'd get at Walgreens in the US if you were getting your passport).
None of this makes any sense.