In November of 1944, two Nazi German soldiers were detected while… standing on the side of a road in Maine.

The two men, German Erich Gimpel and American defector William Colepaugh, had slipped ashore from a German U-boat that had entered Maine waters. “They just weren’t like normal Mainers in November,” Forni said in 2001. “You just never saw anybody walking without boots when it was snowy like that. It’s a wonder I didn’t stop and offer them a ride.”

That’s the story that comes to mind when I read the news today of anti-American soldiers standing conspicuously on the side of a road in Massachusetts.

The standoff began around 2 a.m. when police noticed two cars pulled over on I-95 with hazard lights on after they had apparently run out of fuel, authorities said at a Saturday press briefing. A group of men were clad in military-style gear with long guns and pistols, Mass State Police Col. Christopher Mason said. He added that they were headed to Maine from Rhode Island for “training.” The men refused to put down their weapons or comply with authorities’ orders, claiming to be from a group “that does not recognize our laws” before taking off into a wooded area, police said. Police said they used negotiators to interact with the other suspects. Mason said the “self-professed leader” of the group wanted it to be known that they are not antigovernment.

Ok, first. How stupid is someone to stand on the side of the Interstate with their long guns out?

I mean obviously stupider than running out of fuel, but how can they not know that will draw attention like walking without boots in the Maine snow?

These men whine that they don’t “recognize our laws”, which reads to me like an “American defector” in November 1944 saying he doesn’t recognize frostbite.

And then they go on to say while they reject American laws (passed by the government), they are not “anti” the American government? All that’s missing from this new story is a U-Boat.

No wonder they ran out of gas.