Time is the evaluator of all things, both good and not so good. But “time” in this situation has had little impact on the actions of the crazed insomniac who lives (temporarily) at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and who has the Federal agencies, I.C.E. and Border Patrol, at his beck and call!
What am I talking about? Let’s go back 55 years to 1970 during the height of civilian protests over the Vietnam war at a small, relatively obscure, nondescript location of higher learning about 10 miles from Akron, OH: National Guard SHOT AND KILLED 4 STUDENTS and wounded several others!!
It’s known as the Kent State Massacre! Let that sink in for a minute.
Ohio State National Guard troops, who were not threatened or assaulted in any way, shot 67 rounds and killed 4 protesting unarmed students for exercising their First Amendment right of FREE SPEECH!
Not a few shots, but 67 high powered military bullets from at least 8 Guardsmen were sent blindly into a crowd of students striking 13; killing four. There was a lengthy investigation etc etc. and no one was held accountable. At least eight of the Guardsmen were indicted but later acquitted for various reasons, including lack of training or National Guard to conduct civilian ‘law enforcement’ duties and responsibilities.
Let’s fast forward to 2025 in the City of Chicago where federal ICE and Border Patrol officers have been deployed under the guise of “immigration enforcement”.
They are NOT POLICE as defined by Webster. “Police are the civilian force of government responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and maintenance of public order”. Key words here are “civilian” & “crime”.
ICE agents and Border Patrol have specific duties, responsibilities and regulations that do not include patrolling inner cities in a random manor. Their names are their jurisdiction. ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Border Patrol, to keep our foreign “borders” safe. NOT one thing about POLICE!!
So why then are they en-mass in Chicago and other cities, “policing” areas NOT part of their jurisdiction. That goes double for the National Guard.
You know why?? It’s all about training.
Civilian police are trained how to conduct crowd control and deal with angry residents. They do not have their faces covered or badge numbers hidden. These Fed agents have NO name badges and in some instances actually don’t even have proper uniforms, etc.
Why is all of this important?? Because it happened again. A women was shot five times by some Fed agents for what they say was “an attack on them” when the woman rammed their unmarked, unidentified black SUV.
Whether it was intentional or an accident will be determined by the Courts. What is important is that we can NEVER forget what happened at Kent State. These Federal officers and Guardsmen are not trained for “policing” in urban areas. Not trained in how to diffuse a tense situation and how to show restraint under the most stressful and oppositional situations.
You would think American government officials learned their lesson from the Kent State incident, but come to think of it, the President, Nixon, and Governor, Rhoads, at that time, were Republicans too. Is there a trend here??
History and time are great teachers, you just have to abide by their lessons.
Rick Comfort is a JFK Democrat who worked on Kennedy’s campaign as a teenager and was a member of the Young Democrats of NJ that worked for Gov. Richard J. Hughes’ campaigns. A police officer during the tumultuous 1970’s, Rick began a career in the automotive industry with a major fortune 100 company in Marketing Communications and Operations. After retiring, Rick formed Comfy Consultants, providing marketing support and implementation to the automotive industry.
