State of Wednesday: THE FBI VISITED MY HOUSE YESTERDAY
Guess what I found when I got home last night?
Greetings, Dear Reader,
Welcome back to State of the Day, where I pledge not to bullsh*t you even slightly.
Here we shoot straight, every time.
Guess what I found when I got home last night?
THE FBI VISITED MY HOUSE YESTERDAY
Her card was wedged into my screen door.
“[Full Name Redacted], Special Agent, Washington Field Office”
“Cell on back →,” penned in loopy quasi-script underneath the tiny print.
The wife and kids were hustling out of the car as I dialed her back. My wife is familiar enough with my body language at this point to know when I, a career reporter, am making a call of some sort.
So she just went inside and left me be.
After about a dozen rings, the special agent picked up. At this point, I’ve had countless interactions with the FBI, often on stories, and then even more often for security clearances. Something about this one was different, though. She came to my house seemingly unprompted.
“I just wanted to let you know we’ve opened a case because somebody on TikTok has been posting your address,” she said.
She said the posts had been reported and removed, but that concerned citizens had reached out to the bureau to report the behavior. I asked whether the FBI managed to acquire archived copies of the posts, and she said yes. I asked what they said, and she said it had to do with “calling for violence,” and that I should be subjected to it.
Presumably about this post and the New York Times coverage of it.
“Do you guys do any research on the victims, do you know what I do?”
“I know you’re a journalist, right?” she said. “We don’t do much digging on victims.”
That makes sense. I know I’m referenced in probably 50 to 100 FBI reports at this point. I wouldn’t be hard to profile internally. But it seems their standard operating procedure in this case is not to internally query victims.
“Just call 911 if anything happens,” she said.
If I call 911, it’ll be to help whoever’s bleeding out in my front yard, was my first thought.
“I will,” I said. “This is not the first time subversive leftists have posted my address, ma’am.”
I told her I’d served and that the adults in the home were all proficient in firearms use. My wife would grimace later hearing me retell that part.
It’s true. I’m not ashamed of it.
—
I want to be clear about a few things.
First, I know how the media works. It’s kind of like telephone in kindergarten.
I write the original post “calling for violence,” i.e., violent self-defense in jurisdictions where conservatives should not expect justice when they are summarily assaulted. The New York Times covers the story in the most salacious way possible, burying the impetus for my column — charges dropped in the case of the vicious, broad-daylight assault of a pro-life reporter and the mob that attacked peaceful conservative debaters on a college campus.
Bloggers, columnists and social media users pick up the column, highlighting only the most useful parts, and the story becomes, “Geoff Ingersoll wants to beat up liberals just for disagreeing with him.”
As much as I find that frame amusing, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Above all else, my desire is for a polite society in which ideas can be exchanged without fear of violent reprisal.
In other words, I wouldn’t dream of summarily assaulting a liberal. (My own mother was a diehard liberal, folks. She absolutely loved Keith Olbermann. Early aughts Olbermann. Mostly unhinged Olbermann, not fully unhinged Olbermann.)
Second, we have obviously lost that polite society.
Universities openly cite “security concerns” to prevent conservative speakers from visiting campuses, but won’t say where those concerns originate. Pro-lifers, conservative commentators and campus Republican organizations are routinely subject to summary acts of violence, more often than not with no recourse.
There are two primary ways to restore this polite society, both through force.
The preferable one is for local officials, leaders, attorneys and law enforcement officials to prosecute the law in all cases, as written, without fear or favor.
If that does not happen, whether it be from soft-on-crime policies or straight-up corrupt, partisan law enforcement that sympathizes with violent leftism, trust in the system is steadily degraded.
When trust is degraded, people take justice into their own hands.
—
Have you ever thought about what would happen if you bum-rushed Taylor Swift backstage? How many stitches do you think you’d have to get while handcuffed to a hospital gurney?
Not only would you receive a world-class drubbing from private security, but law enforcement would undoubtedly follow that up with an arrest and charges. Would anyone sympathize with you? Would there be calls to arrest and prosecute the guys paid to protect Swift? Would Swift be forced to grovel and apologize? Would she be indicted?
—
The other option to restore polite society is that conservatives in liberal jurisdictions protect themselves, violently if necessary.
In fact, acts of overwhelming violence in the face of unruly mobs hell-bent on bodily harm would, in some ways, be an act of civil disobedience.
A key decision facing liberal leaders: Whom to prosecute, the people acting in self-defense or the mob? As more blood hits the ground, elected leaders would begin to feel the pressure mount.
Do we finally start policing? OR … Do we attempt to prosecute conservatives for obviously legal acts of self-determination?
We know what happened in the cases of Daniel Penny and Kyle Rittenhouse. Liberal jurisdictions sought to take them out to the woodshed for the very act of defending themselves.
In my opinion, until it becomes easy and assumed safe for conservatives to voice mainstream opinions in hostile political territory, someone needs to do the hard work of restoring polite society.
It’s either us or the state.
If it’s us, I promise you, it’s going to be messy.
—
My only regret
John Adams’s personal home was 10 miles from the focal point of hostility in Boston during the run-up to the American Revolution.
It, in many ways, probably in most, fueled his urgency in Philadelphia while lobbying the Continental Congress to act. His family, his children, could literally hear the artillery batteries.
I’m not citing this, by any means, to make a comparison between my situation and Adams. In fact, quite the opposite. They’re not even slightly proportionate.
While my heart aches at the idea that violence could come the way of my family as a result of saying what I believe — righteously — these threats pale in comparison to those who came before me.
The thought of my wife and innocent children bearing the brunt of these attempts to silence and intimidate me is enough to drive a man mad. So even if it’s by the slightest modicum, I can at the very least relate.
But they will have the opposite of the intended effect.
The threats only harden my resolve.
WHAT I’M READING
Speaking of loss of trust, Emily Kopp has the latest.
FDA Stayed Silent As Internal Reports About Potential Tylenol Risks Piled Up
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The great Mary Rooke.
ROOKE: Teenagers Are Standing Outside Of Polls Begging Adults To Rescue Them
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Ro Khanna actually appeared on Rebelcast? Hammer that click button!
Why Do Democrats Suddenly Care About Epstein? Rep. Ro Khanna Explains
WHAT I’M WATCHING
Harry Sisson Cries After Being Bullied By Trump Himself
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