If you remember the late 1970s—I do, if only barely—America was in decline, suffering from “stagflation” (that rare combination of recession and inflation), and still mindful of its recent withdrawal from South Vietnam, in disgrace. New York City was a disaster zone of crime, murder and graffiti, Jimmy Carter was president, and people couldn’t stop thinking about Watergate. But Ronald Reagan and the conservative revolution were waiting in the wings, and the nation would soon be reminded that American exceptionalism is what made this country great.
During the twilight years of that era’s “Great Society liberalism,” there was a joke often repeated at parties: the definition of a conservative was a liberal who was mugged last night.
Well, amid the current wave of liberal idiocy—where we are somehow supposed to somehow simultaneously defund or abolish the police and reduce the number of black people getting killed—the same phenomenon is occurring. Liberals are discovering that when you dismiss law and order you get anarchy, violence and death. Now, more than ever, the words of English philosopher Thomas Hobbes ring true when he wrote in his magnum opus, Leviathan, that freedom without responsibility results in life that is “nasty, brutish and short.”
Take the case of Mark and Patricia McCloskey. The couple have become the embodiment of all that is currently wrong with America—a perfect example of just how fragile the roots of human civilization are when the mob comes to disturb the soil of democracy. The treatment of the McCloskeys demonstrates how this country has been turned on its head; how the “city on a hill” has transformed into a shooting gallery in Chicago.
NASTY, BRUTISH AND SHORT
The mob came for the McCloskeys in their gated St. Louis community on June 28th. They were reportedly on their way to St. Louis Mayor Lydia Krewson’s house, just up the street, to demand her resignation after reading the names and addresses of activists demanding “police reform” during a virtual news conference.
“[They said] that they were going to kill us. They were going to come in there. They were going to burn down the house.”
Ironically—and 2020 is a year replete with both idiocy and irony, it seems—the McCloskey Law Center is currently representing a black man who says he was physically abused by a police officer in 2019, according to the Associated Press. I guess the mob didn’t hear about that—or probably didn’t care—because this is really not about black lives or white lives mattering. It’s about whether radical leftists can control the levers of power and redefine our culture as Marxist and post-Judeo Christian.
The McCloskeys probably never planned to become national folk heroes—and they probably never would have been, were it not for the miracle of social media that broadcasted their altercation with a mob of angry “demonstrators” worldwide. The couple greeted the thugs with an AR-15 and a handgun, demanding they leave their property. They never fired their guns, or even aimed at any of the protesters—but they were making it clear they were willing to defend themselves. As Patricia McCloskey told Fox News that the mob was not on the porch begging for social justice. “[They said] that they were going to kill us. They were going to come in there. They were going to burn down the house.”
Yet, local police did not tell the mob to disperse or stop threatening the couple. Instead, the police appeared at the couples’ door days later—to confiscate the rifle. They tracked down the handgun held by Patricia and impounded that too.
The McCloskeys are now facing potential legal action, and have been subject to continuous abuse by the liberal media that apparently thinks the pair should have nodded politely at the hoodlums outside their front door and waited for their house to become engulfed in flames.
And that’s not all. The miserable excuse for a circuit attorney in St. Louis, Kimberly Gardner, is after the couple. Instead of expressing her shock that two upstanding residents of St. Louis could be subject to harassment and potential attack by a restless and unpredictable mob, Gardner has condemned the McCloskeys for daring to defend themselves. The condemnation came after she released all of the city’s rioters from prison, a statement that further pronounced she was:
“…alarmed at the events that occurred over the weekend, where peaceful protestors were met by guns and a violent assault. We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated. My office is currently working with the public and police to investigate these events. Make no mistake: we will not tolerate the use of force against those exercising their First Amendment rights, and we will use the full power of Missouri law to hold people accountable.”
Can we all see what’s wrong with this picture? The entire event is so un-American, so reeking of Soviet-style justice that it is difficult to believe that it has occurred in a city that was once idealized in the MGM classic “Meet Me in St. Louis.” The right to defend your life and your property from someone who threatens either has been a hallmark of American justice since the formation of this country. The villains in this story are not supposed to be the ones defending their house—they are the ones trying to burn it down.
PROSECUTED (PERSECUTED) FOR HOLDING THEIR GROUND
If the McCloskeys have outlasted the five minutes of fame we are all guaranteed in this world of social media and 24/7 news, it is because their experience has galvanized both supporters and opponents of freedom in America.
Why did the McCloskeys have their Second Amendment rights denied? They legally owned their firearms and did not illegally use them—so why did the police seize them? Clearly, St. Louis’ law enforcement was acting on behalf of a power-hungry district attorney, who, in her own right, seems to be more concerned with advocating for Black Lives Matter than the community she is sworn to protect.
Where are all the gun-loving Republicans who should be rallying to the defense of Mark and Patricia? Very few of the pusillanimous herd have entered the fray, save 12 legislators who wrote a letter to Attorney General William Barr objecting to the firearms confiscation. (Ever-consistent, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) tweeted that he believes the couple had their civil rights violated with the firearms seizures).
Why has so much of what Mark McCloskey called “the traditional media” been so angry at the couple? Mark appeared on CNN blowhard Chris Cuomo’s evening rant on Wednesday only to be raked over the coals as the face of “white resistance” to Black Lives Matter. (Of course, Cuomo accusing McCloskey of harboring strange, violent impulses is ludicrous coming from a man who had gone berserk on others in public—the last known incident occurring when a cyclist challenged Cuomo for violating his quarantine as a coronavirus patient).
What was that training manual that said whites need NEED to give up their feeling of security and take the beating in order to show they do not feel superior to POC?
https://www.foxnews.com/us/seattle-chop-segregated-training-session-white-supremacy-physical-safety
The DA seems to have written that same idea into law.
How dare white defend themselves.
There are those that say property can be replaced(you have insurance), you care more about your stuff than a human life(who says one of you goons wont take my life)
Lying bitch, the peaceful protestors violently crashed the gate destroying it. Maybe by seeing 1 home owner had a gun they didnt burn any of the homes in the gated community cause another home owner may not have shown the restraint McCloskey did.
Well, that’s kind of the sad irony of attacking people based simply on the color of their skin or declaring everyone of a certain group evil; they often wind up attacking and hurting the wrong and mostly innocent people.
Missouri AG dropping charges against St. Louis couple who defended their home with guns
Because they’re privileged idiots who think they can point guns at people who scare them or make them mad?
Privileged because they are successful?
The rioters were trespassing, had damaged private property, threatened physical harm and it is now known one of the puke rioters was carrying a weapons as well.
The piece of shit circuit attorney was placed there by an even larger piece of shit, george sordid, an infamous Nazi lover.
@July 4th American: Now that prosecutor needs to be impeached.
@Greg: The privilege of the 2nd Amendment was almost denied them. They defended their lives and property against the leftist terrorists you defend. They are American patriots and show the rest of the country what needs to be done.
Like trying to ban cops from using tear gas against superior numbers of left wing terrorists, you leftists can’t stand it when you can’t abuse ALL the courts and deny those you don’t agree with their rights and freedoms.
Their lives were not threatened, nor was their property damaged. Their disproportionate actions increased the likelihood that somebody might be shot—including themselves. It’s a serious mistake these days for anyone with a gun to ever assume no one else has one. Take it out and point it, and you’ve just given someone else a reason to take out their own. And you’re the one who has initiated whatever follows.
Perhaps you should attempt to inform yourself by searching the net for a photo of their gate.
@Greg:
Left wing mobs have been spreading terror, vandalism and looting everywhere they appear. They tore down a private gate and entered private property, armed with clubs, projectiles and guns. The McCloskey’s had every reason to believe these terrorists would destroy their home and beat or kill them. As we saw by the prosecutor’s actions, the McCloskey’s could not rely on law enforcement to defend them.
They would have been justified in opening fire.
@July 4th American, #9:
Yeah, a threat of summary execution of some random protester for It doesn’t look as if it was broken down to gain entry.
The highly agitated Mr. McKloskey should probably take his finger off the AR-15’s trigger if he’s going to point it at his wife like that. Don’t these things come with safe handling instructions?
@Greg: The gate is the proof they aren’t “peaceful”. They also threatened the McCloskey’s themselves. You are supporting domestic terrorism and opposing a person’s right to defend themselves. Despicable.
I’m not seeing any evidence that the protesters damaged the gate. One the contrary, I just showed you a video showing that the protesters WERE NOT damaging the gate to get inside.
Maybe the McCloskey’s did it, after it occurred to them that they might need more justification for their behavior. They are lawyers who spend much of their time personally suing anyone and everyone who makes them cross. That includes a number of their neighbors. No doubt they’ve sued others for far more trivial things than they were recorded on video doing themselves.
Republican Governor of Missouri Mike Parsons, in a Trump-like preemptive strike on due process of the law, had already publicly stated that if the McKloskey’s were convicted, he would pardon them. The prosecutor who brought charges has been receiving death threats.
@Greg:
OMG, what a f**king idiot you are. There is video of the broken gate as the [mostly peaceful] protesters enter private property. You do understand the concept of private property, don’t you, Comrade Greggie? Even the street they live on is private property and if there are chuck holes, the City of St. Louis doesn’t fix them, the property owners do. The mob had no business being there Period. End of story.
And then, you go on this wild senario that since the McCloskey’s are attorneys, they just sue anyone that makes them cross. Judas Priest, you have the wildest, most deranged imagination of anyone who has ever posted here. It just so happens Mr. McCloskey is representing a black man in a police brutality case.
You need to shut the hell up as you have definitely gone off the rails.
@Greg:
And you got that little tidbit of information from where, again?
@Greg: They destroyed the gate and the history of violent, MINDLESS, IRRATIONAL left wing riots made the reaction of the McCloskey’s proper, rational, logical, proper and legal. Do you notice that to defend your support for left wing terrorism, you have sunk to creating fantastic scenarios, based on false assumptions and speculation? The facts are clear and the McCloskey’s did NOTHING wrong and then left wing socialists tried to make them pay a price for exercising their rights.
@retire05:
Leftists (who fail to accumulate any personal property) don’t believe private property should be allowed.
Well, with the liberal judges that base decisions on ideology instead of the Constitution, that’s what liberals do… sue and settle.
@retire05, #14:
Then why don’t you post a link to that, and demonstrate you’re not just running your mouth before engaging your brain, as usual? I would like to see this evidence.
Do you understand that Donald Trump has set a precedent for meddling with due process of the law which the Governor of Missouri has now imitated? These are the same people who claim to make UPHOLDING the law their great priority.
@Greg:
You’re the one claiming that [maybe] the McCloskey’s broke the gate. The onus is on you to prove it.
Common sense, which you possess none of, says they would not bust a vintage wrought iron gate they would have to pay for. You’re the one running your mouth about something you know nothing of. But that’s SOP for you, Comrade Greggie, the rock.
@Greg:
Do you understand that Donald Trump has nothing to do with the decision of the Missouri AG? No, but you seem to think that the Soros funded St. Louis PA has the right to violate Missouri law to pander to a group of thugs.
There is no such evidence. I’ve seen you make claims, assert there’s proof for them, and then insist that someone must prove there isn’t more times than I can remember. It’s a pattern.
You were lying, weren’t you?
@Greg:
I don’t lie, f**king idiot. But we all know you do. Not to mention that you run like a scared, cowardly rabbit when you are slapped up side the head with the truth.
Whatever the count of your lies might be, I guess you just added one more to it. Where’ the link to this imaginary video?
@Greg:
OK, you f**king idiot. Here’s your latest instructions………………………….
go play somewhere else. We all know you lie, and then accuse others of lying. It’s what you do. You were the one who said the McCloskey’s might have torn the gate down themselves.
PROVE IT.
@retire05, #23:
Maybe and might are words used to express the idea that a thing is possible, as opposed to asserting that it is actually so. If proof were at hand, maybe or might would not apply.
You, on the other hand, have asserted in no uncertain terms that there is a video proving that protesters destroyed a gate, and then failed to provide a link to it. You’re demanding proof that this video does not exist.
You should calm down before discussing this further. Maybe you would then think more carefully about what you say. That might be possible.
@Greg:
Thanks for providing us here at FA with your daily clown show.
Just another far left liberal using the misery and persecution of others for profit.
Leftists don’t care about the law or personal rights.
@retire05: Communists dont believe in private property. The Property was clearly marked No Tresspassing when several hundred gate crashers decided they could fully ignore the rights of the property owner.
The crime is tampering with evidence by field stripping the Mrs .38 and assembling it to make it operational, making a false statement saying the weapon was fully operational during terrorist actions of the threatening mob.
@retire05, #15:
Portland Place couple who confronted protesters have a long history of not backing down
Nice people. Apparently they don’t even own the land they claim the protesters were trespassing on. They’re trying to win it by way of an adverse possession lawsuit, which is essentially a means of legalized theft. Glad they’re not my neighbors.
@Greg: So, it’s OK for a left wing mob of terrorists to attack them? I don’t think you understand the Constitution, civil rights or rule of law.
The McCloskey were not attacked. They confronted with guns people who were walking past their property across a patch of grass that the McCloskeys are attempting to claim as their own by way of a pending adverse possession lawsuit. The McCloskeys appear to be professional a-holes.
They also have no grasp of the safe handling of firearms, as is evident from the video. McCloskey’s wife is fortunate not to have been shot by her goofy husband.
@Greg:
No, they weren’t. Because they didn’t wait to be attacked. They scared the leftist mob of rioters away with their determination to defend themselves, something the cowardly left wing terrorists fear. We’ve seen repeatedly what these violent mobs do when they are not confronted. Now we have an example when just two determined people face them down.
Nobody was going to attack them. The protesters were passing by their property on their way somewhere else. McCloskey admits to having pointed his gun at a neighbor who crossed the grassy area he and his wife are attempting to claim. This is not the behavior of people whose heads are screwed on straight.
@Greg: They were on his property, not just passing by after marching by a no trespassing and private road sign, he told them to leave his property multiple times as they chanted who streets our streets and saying they were going to sleep in his house and kill his dog.
To have officials tamper with evidence and lie on filings tells everyone they have to manufacture a case against the homeowners.
You are just to damn stupid to accept it.
That prosecutor is a real piece of work refusing to comply with Missouris Sunshine laws as ordered by the court a year ago. A real shady character that is hiding much of her corrupt workings.
https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/judge-rules-st-louis-prosecutor-kim-gardner-must
Refer to Post #28.
@Greg:
How would anyone know that? These left wing terrorist mobs have been spreading violence everywhere they go, leaving utter destruction in their wake. They had no business trespassing across the McCloskey’s property.
Rational and logical thought is not guiding these useful idiots. They seek to commit violent destruction against random victims, not any social justice message. Their only message is “submit or die”.
The McCloskey’s most definitely were in danger. They were white, affluent and could not get police protection; just the thing these leftist terrorists look for. But, the McCloskey’s were different; they were capable of defending themselves. So, instead of facing them, the cowardly crybabies went to the courts.
@kitt:
People like Greg have proven they support trampling individual rights and freedoms to take down anyone that stands in the way of forcing socialism and a police state upon citizens.
Yeah. He was in danger of accidentally shooting his wife.
@Greg: They were in danger from a mindless left wing mob of terrorists seeking something to destroy.
Gun-Wielding Missouri Couple Who Attempted to Protect Home from Rioters Indicted on Two Felony Counts
Tuesday, Mark and Patricia McCloskey were indicted on two felony counts — unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering.
This case is a travesty
@July 4th American: Hilarious; WHO tampered with evidence? WHO disassemble a non-firing weapon and reassembled it so it would fire? This is like the Gen. Flynn case; it was supposed to be an iconic victory over personal freedom and the left will not let go of it and admit defeat.
@Deplorable Me:
It fully exposes the nazi Soros supported DA as a hack. More importantly, I was under the impression that the only weapon that had been made operable was the 9mm. It appears from the charging document that the AR-15 was also inoperable when confiscated. The charging document seems to indicate that the mccloskeys may have altered the AR-15 prior to confiscation. If is was inoperable as was the 9mm to be used as court room props, then it follows that as the 9mm was made operable by the ballistics lab, perhaps the AR-15 also was tampered with directed by the county attorneys office.
I smell a yuge monetary settlement.
@July 4th American: Hmm… how could they alter evidence before it becomes evidence?
@Deplorable Me: https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/23/legal-docs-st-louis-prosecutor-tampered-with-evidence-in-mccloskey-gun-case/
The 9mm was alter post confiscation. It now appears the AR-15 itself may have been inoperable at the time the McCloskeys brandished their weapons against the trespassing hoodlums.
The “law and order” Soros DA refuses trespassing charges for the gate crashers. By charging them with felonies it insures the couple will never be able to defend themselves with firearms. Sends out a message to others you have no right to defend your property or life, the leftists will see you prosecuted for that.
@kitt: This is just the left sending the message that opposing the left wing violent juggernaut is hopeless. This only emboldens violent leftists and will result in MORE violence, injury and death (on both sides).