Senator Alex Padilla and the Feds
Before I go into how a US Senator was detained and put in cuffs, this matters. Mind you, I doubt the major press will touch on this either. It also expands into the environment of fear that this present administration wants. Fun fact: the last time they did that was during the first Trump administration:
👀 The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using Predator B drones (modified MQ-9 Reaper) to monitor Los Angeles in response to the riots.
These UAVs provide aerial support to federal law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and conduct surveillance to ensure officer safety.
The use of these powerful drones in urban environments has sparked controversy among human rights activists, although authorities say the drones do not use facial recognition technology and cannot identify people by physical characteristics or license plates.
It is significant that the use of Predator B to monitor mass demonstrations is not unprecedented: similar flights have already been recorded, for example, over Minneapolis in 2020.
For the record, I can see using these drones in the country to monitor major fires, floods, and hurricane damage. Drones have an obvious use in civil defense.
The Border Patrol has also used these to monitor the border for years. If you have concerns about border security, this is indeed one tool.
Read what Levin posted as many times as you need to. We are now using these drones. The last time I checked, they were unarmed, so we monitored a demonstration spanning ten blocks, and yes, we were giving you the map. And if DHS wanted to, they could be armed relatively quickly.
That red dot is the extent of the marches. It’s not a riot. It’s not as large geographically as the last LA Lakers won. So why do they need a drone? LAPD and media helicopters have that pretty well covered.
That is not about fraud, waste, and abuse, though it fits the fraud and waste with a side of abuse. It is not about law and order either. It’s about creating fear, which brings me to Senator Alex Padilla.
In case you wonder, Congress has the right of oversight. He did not do anything aggressive to warrant that response. While I will use a few screen grabs, The Bulwark on YouTube has an excellent video. At this point, the raw video is making the rounds.
The senator also served as the ranking member of the Judiciary subcommittee, with these precise responsibilities. He is doing his job. Just because it matters, even if it should not, he is also the son of immigrants.
So here is the storyline getting set up. For starters, and yes, I screen-grabbed this from Bulkward, is the attempted narrative. Given where we are, the Senator’s aide recording this was good. If you see something, please record it and put it online as soon as you can. It matters!
Remember, the feds have arrested a New Jersey member of Congress. Congresswoman LaMonica McGiver was trying to do her oversight job. They also arrested Mayor Ras Baraka.
I am sure it is just a coincidence that these people have higher melanin content. It is a coincidence that Charlie Kirk calls for the end to immigration. By the way, this is a concerted series of tweets with other far-right influencers. They are working hard to move the country into classification and that Overton window.
So it is where we are. They see people like Senator Padilla as invaders, and me as an invader. So yes, this is quite personal.
What are we looking at? It’s the beginning of a concerted effort to stop any opposition to this. And we need to name it. What they ultimately want is ethnic cleansing. Having watched the closing of a society in Russia or Mexico of my youth, I have never seen it this intense; it is transparent. Christian white nationalists want a white country.
They want a society where people, predominantly black and brown, fear for their lives. They want to return this country to the Jim and Juan Crow era, when black and brown people could not vote. They dream of the separate but equal glory days of the 1950s.
It is not just the factories promised by this administration, because those will be automated. That’s the cover. Just as this was not about the eggs either. Anecdotally, I have heard people use some language in public that was not cool even months ago, such as Lester Holt is a light black person. Or that Latinos should not be allowed to be elected to any state or federal position of power.
What we saw today reflects that. The United States is closing fast. Incidentally, what did the Speaker of the House say? Apparently, Senator Padilla should be censured for doing his job.
Don’t look away. Understand what is happening. Your and my rights are fast eroding. However, the pushback matters more than ever. If you can, participate in a March this Saturday, do so. The usual caveat applies, because of the threat of state violence, if you have any medical reason that prevents you from hitting the streets, watching feeds, or watching the Pope. Whatever you do, don’t watch the parade in DC. This is a ratings game.
I am not Catholic, but I will stay for the mass — or at least have that running in the background. And I am taking my advice. At the moment, medical issues make it all kinds of fun to walk my service dog in training for fifteen minutes, let alone get my cardio with thousands of my friends for three hours. If you go, take water, a hat, and snacks; if you know how, take a first aid kit…and be aware that your phone will be on a Stingray device. At the very least, remove biometrics from your phone, and unless actively recording and uploading to the cloud, use airport mode. Consider a Faraday bag.
Yes, we are in the process of chasing that down. So if I disappear for a day or two, it’s likely testing. We think we know, but there is testing ahead of us to make sure.