PATRICK FREY ON WISCONSIN’S DIRTY DEEP STATE DOINGS:

This is one of the creepiest articles I have ever read. It reminds me of my experience being SWATted — having armed police rush into my home in what looked like retaliation for my speech. Yet in the case described in the article, the SWATting is actually being carried out . . . by the government.

In Wisconsin, citizens had cops bust into their homes with battering rams. Property was taken from their homes, in full view of the neighbors — and in some cases officers mocked them. Then the citizens were told that they could tell nobody about what had happened. If they did, they could go to jail.

All for exercising their First Amendment rights. Essentially, for being conservatives.

And on Twitter, some lefties — including allegedly reputable outfits like the Alliance For Justice — are celebrating it. Alliance for Justice? More like “Alliance for Just Us.”

Related: “America, land of the free, home of battering-ram home invasions of conservative critics of state officials.”

UPDATE: Kevin Williamson:

Every time a local grand jury investigating a police department comes to a decision that some politicians don’t like, there is a call for a federal civil-rights investigation. In Wisconsin, we have a clear and obvious case of out-of-control authorities conducting a campaign, possibly criminal, of police suppression targeting people for their political beliefs, a gross violation of their civil rights.

Where’s the investigation?

Question for the lawyers here: Isn’t this a case for the Civil Rights Act of 1871, a.k.a. the Klan Act? That act forbids any state or local authority acting under color of law from depriving U.S. citizens of their civil rights under federal law. This seems like an obvious remedy to me.

Well, the Klan was a bunch of Democrats concerned about the locals getting uppity, too.

ANOTHER UPDATE: In the comments, Prof. Stephen Clark observes:

Every Democrat should repeatedly be asked whether they support the police state tactics used by Democrats in Wisconsin. As with Rand Paul every media interviewer should be asked by candidates to answer the same as the price for continuing the interview.

Wisconsin Democrats should be made into a public embarrassment for Democrats generally. Behavior of this kind will cease only when it carries a global political cost.

Indeed. Excellent point.