According to the Washington Times, Maryland State Police and federal agents in full body armor arrived at 4:30 a.m. at the home of Audrey Hudson, an award-winning former investigative journalist for the Washington Times who had exposed problems in the Homeland Security Department’s Federal Air Marshals Service. They had a warrant to search for unregistered firearms and a “potato  gun”  suspected of belonging to her husband, Paul  Flanagan, a Coast  Guard employee. Flanagan has not been charged with any wrongdoing  since the raid. But they took the records of the wife while they were there. Apparently, the agents got access to the home to raid the husband for unregistered firearms, and went after the records of a journalist who had made trouble for them. Was that a lucky coincidence?

In another story, the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security are coming after Dan McCall, a man who sells mugs and T-shirts parodying these two agencies. They have sent him a cease-and-desist under the pretense he is using the seal of the agencies illegally.

Isn’t a 4:30 a.m. raid on a potato gun owner and journalist critical of the government a little overkill? Where is that freedom at home in our nation that prides itself for standing up for freedom the world over?

This reminds me of a quote by Martin Niemöller, a Nazi dissident:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.

Should I start all over again?

First they came for the journalists and the parodists, and I did not speak out.

Then they came for the Socialists….