And in this case, the teabagger is an actual tea party candidate, in the sense that the Republican Party is the Tea Party and Joe Miller is the Republican Nominee for the Senate.
The editor of the Alaska Dispatch website was arrested by U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller’s private security guards Sunday as the editor attempted to interview Miller at the end of a public event in an Anchorage school.
Tony Hopfinger was handcuffed by the guards and detained in a hallway at Central Middle School until Anchorage police came and told the guards to release Hopfinger.
Apparently, local police and prosecutors are considering charges. Against the reporter, of course.
Here’s a photo of the guards detaining the journalist.
Here’s a video of a guy interviewing the journalist and the ‘guards’ coming and harassing the interviewer.
Trespassing on school grounds?
Oh. This is why if you don’t vote you’re an asshole. Because this is my infant son’s future if you let them take over.
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Absolutely astounding that other journalists aren’t screaming about this.
I also found how the Miller campaign sought to demonize the journalist they roughed up, charging him with various ostensibly-improper actions, none of which addressed the issue of trespass.
Equally, in the video we see Miller’s security devoting his actions to blocking the news coverage of the arrest by repeatedly stepping in front of a reporter’s camera and holding his hand up to block it.
This absolutely sent chills down my spine. Private goons with blank looks on their faces, refusing to identify themselves, detaining a reporter who broke no laws – and getting away with it. How quickly our civil liberties could disappear!
Let’s see – unlawful detention and the cops not only overlook it but consider harassing the victim? Oooh, they’re such big boys up there in Alaska. Well, actually I think they’re deluded self-important pussies.
This may be a foreshadowing of life under teabagger rule. It’ll be authoritarian and fascist. It won’t be America. GOTV!
BTW, I saw a great poster: “If you don’t want to be called teabaggers, then how about Kochsuckers”. There were photos of the Koch brothers just above the word “Kochsuckers”. Soooo appropriate…
Scott, this has nothing to do with how our civil liberties “could” disappear. They have disappeared. We did nothing about the Patriot Act except cheer it on. We did nothing about warrantless everything except reelect Bush. We did nothing about TSA security theater except look suspiciously at our seatmates. We did nothing about “Free Speech Zones” except frown at the people at conventions clambering for their voices to be heard. We did nothing about police abuses of power except suggest that anyone who was abused had something to hide or asked for it.
This is the world we’ve bought ourselves. The fact that most of us have yet to pay for it personally is beside the point.
Stephanie nailed it. Free speech zones fly in the face of the concept of freedom of speech. Not that I can talk, being from Canada and having my own host of problems in that area, but you brought it on yourselves in the fevered paranoia brought on by terr’ism.
Yes, we certainly have our share of problems in Canada as well. But one piece of news I enjoyed recently was the valedictorian from the U of Winnipeg openly criticizing Vic Toews, who had just been awarded an honorary degree. Maybe we’re finally coming out of our slumber.
http://tinyurl.com/2a3hm5a
Video: http://tinyurl.com/3464ukm