Freedom Line Blog

At NRO, libertarian columnist Deroy Murdock organizes a devastating litany of Chuck Hagel’s less-than-kind remarks and actions with regard to Jews and Israel. Well worth a read. Seriously strong stuff.

My old friend Deroy Murdock was kind enough to cite me in this column, but that’s not why the column is important. In chilling — nay, not just chilling, but sickening and frightening — detail, Murdock lays out the growing problem of over-use of SWAT teams, often deadly. He also ties it to the gun-control debate, saying, in effect, that these sorts of SWAT abuses are one reason individuals need guns — yes, to protect themselves against government agents.

Please read it. Yes, this. Here is one of many examples:

On July 13, 2010, a dozen St. Paul, Minn.–area policemen and a federal Drug Enforcement Agency officer assaulted Roberto Franco’s home. Clad in Army fatigues, they rousted all nine people there, including three children. “Each plaintiff was forced to the floor at gun and rifle point and handcuffed behind their backs,” states Franco’s $30 million federal lawsuit against these authorities. “Defendants shot and killed the familydog and forced the handcuffed children to sit next to the carcass of their dead and bloody pet for more than an hour while defendants continued to search the plaintiffs’ home.”

According to the complaint, one young girl who “was handcuffed and prevented by officer from obtaining and taking her medication thus induced a diabetic episode as a result of low blood-sugar levels.”

Oops. Wrong house!

Negligent police meant to hit the house adjacent to the Francos. The search warrant named next-door neighbor Rafael Ybarra, but did not mention anyone named Franco. Perhaps these cops forgot to read that document before launching their onslaught against the Francos, their home, and their dog.

Eventually, the SWATsters realized their error. As the complaint continues: “Despite the fact that defendants learned that the suspect did not live at the address raided, defendants remained in the home of plaintiffs and continued searching the home.” The authorities eventually found a .22-caliber revolver in the basement. Although it belonged to Gilbert Castillo, another resident of the house, the gun was pinned on Franco, leading to his incarceration with Minnesota’s Department of Corrections.

Columnist Deroy Murdock has been very, very tough on Mitt Romney for the past five years, but today he finds a slew of heartwarming stories about the former Massachusetts governor.

Well worth a read.

At National Review Online, Deroy Murdock urges us not to forget all the Mexicans killed as a result of Operation Fast and Furious. The estimate: 300 of them.

If The Obama administration wants to politicize immigration policy in order to gain Hispanic votes, somebody might wonder why the Romney campaign wouldn’t fight back by demanding why the Obamites are apparently so unconcerned or unapologetic about these dead Mexicans — especially when the administration falls all over itself apologizing multiple times to Pakistan for airstrikes gone wrong in that country, where unlike in Mexico) at least we have a decent reason (targeting terrorists) to be operating. The administration compounds the sin by stonewalling multiple legitimate requests for further information on this program gone wrong. One would think Hispanic voters would take offense at all this.

So here’s the deal: Dead Mexicans, killed by American guns deliberately allowed to “walk” by the U.S. government, are no concern of the Obama Administration. But if those same Mexicans come into the United States illegally, the administration will refuse to impose any sanction against them, plus will in many cases provide them with government assistance — all while those who DID come legally are left to wonder why they even bothered doing it all by the book.

So, says the administration: Come here illegally, please. Because if you stay on your side of the border and get in the way of one of our guns, well, you’re just unimportant collateral damage to our effort-gone-wrong to make a case against Second Amendment gun rights. Come, and live well. Stay, and die. It’s your choice, sucka.