The above is the complete extant video of what happened to US Senator Alex Padilla the other day in California, the state he represents. We don't see what happened before this, but the video begins with Sen. Padilla being pushed by some kind of Federal agent. Padilla tells his assaulter who he is -- "Senator Padilla" -- and his assaulter's response, joined by other assasulters, is to wrestle the Senator to the ground.
I use the word "assaulter" because assault is defined as any offensive or unwanted touching of the body. Assault is a crime, and it doesn't matter whether the assault is done by whatever kind of Federal agent. The job of any kind of police is to apprehend criminals, and stop crimes from happening if the crime has not already occurred. Their job is manifestly not to assault a US Senator, or any other person exercising their Constitutional rights -- in Senator Padilla's case, the right to free speech guaranteed in the First Amendment.
And assault, unfortunately, is not the worst crime that can be committed. In 1970, four unarmed protestors at Kent State University were shot dead by National Guardsmen sent there by the governor of Ohio. None of those murderers were ever brought to justice.
I call them, and their current incarnations, Gestapo, because that's what this flagrant disregard of rights, and appliance of violence to crush those rights, ultimately leads to. Whether it's a US Senator pushed to the floor and handcuffed, or Marines facing down peaceful protestors in Los Angeles today, these assaults on our democracy need to stop. And their perpetrators, and the people who put them in that place, need to be brought before a court of law.
Law enforcement needs to stay focused on the prevention and solving of real crimes, like the assassination of Democratic State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark in Minnesota early today.
***
And here's another video of Sen. Padilla at Secretary Noem's event*. That video shows that Padilla was a little rude, for asking a question (in a conversational tone of voice -- certainly not shouting) while Noem was talking. Certainly not grounds for being forcibly removed from the event. Had I been in Secretary Noem's place, I would have answered the question and invited the Senator up to join me on the stage.
*Thanks Frank Tomasulo for sending me this URL for the two videos in this post.
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