Reportedly 20-30 Armed FBI agents arrived in the morning on September 23rd at Catholic activist Mark Houck's house, beating relentlessly on the door until it was opened. They and began flashing semi-automatic weapons at his wife and seven kids. Then they dragged him away, handcuffed with the belly chain, while his terrified family was screaming in the back. The crime? He was accused of pushing a man that was verbally abusing his twelve-year-old son and getting in his face.
What's happening here? We've all heard that it's possible to throw someone in front of a moving subway car in NYC and be free again a few hours later, so why bring the full force of the FBI to take down this man?
A few days ago an intoxicated driver drove over and killed an 18-year-old because the man believed he was a MAGA Republican. Did this man get was surrounded with heavily armed forces and escorted away, bound and shamed? He was not, but he was allowed go free after only a few days.
Now, 22 legislators have demanded answers.
Houck, who is 47 years old, is the Co-Founder and President of The King's Men, a group of pro-Catholic, pro-masculinity advocates. Houck pleaded not-guilty on Tuesday to federal charges of committing a violation of lawful Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
The absurdity on display here is mind-boggling. Local officials and the Philadelphia district attorney did not bring charges last October, when the incident happened. Why? There wasn't sufficient evidence to prove the offense. Then, after Houck discovered that the Department of Justice was investigating, he was going to turn himself in. The DOJ instead decided that a full FBI assault was the better option. The allegations are evidently fake and are fabricated. It's an absurd notion to think that Mark Houck was preventing the possibility of having an abortion, when he was only protecting his son from a protester. Houck now faces the possibility of up to 11 years in the prison system.
It's yet again a sign of the widespread militarization and politicization that has taken place in the Department of Justice.
The FBI attempted to minimize the situation by claiming that there were there were no SWAT personnel involved and that there were no weapons directed towards the family members. The statement doesn't justify why heavily armed officers were required to begin with.
For me, the most alarming about this particular incident is the fact that Houck does not have any ties to Q-Anon, no criminal history, no connection with Jan. 6, and is not known to be a Trump supporter. He's just an ordinary guy. That means Attorney General Merrick Garland is making use of the incredible power of the Federal government to pursue ordinary American people for the offense of not being in agreement to Joe Biden.
If you're not nervous by now, then you're not paying attention.
Houck's spouse Ryan-Marie Houck and the family's lawyer are now sharing the story and appeared on Tuesday on the Tucker Carlson show to discuss the terrifying specifics of this Stalinist raid.
She said:
It was devastating. I mean just as you could imagine, I mean, it’s hard to even express the victimization and you know how traumatized we all are due to this unnecessary thing that happened to us…
When asked how many agents were present, she said:
It had to have been 20, 25, 30. I mean we have a large property, my entire front yard, you could barely see it. It was covered with at least 15 big trucks and cars, and there were, you know, like I said, 20, 25, 30, men, women, completely in jackets with shields and helmets and guns and they were behind cars. It was, I mean, something I would never expect to see on my front lawn. It was crazy.
In response to a question about how her kids were feeling after having watched their father being escorted away by armed agents, Rouck said:
It’s hard to tell… The older ones, we can talk, we can cry. You know, we’ve had some counseling…
And the little ones, they’re scared. They’re scared; there’s a lot of crying, and a lot of unrestful sleep.
We've witnessed the amphibious attack against Roger Stone, the Mar-a-Lago raid, and numerous other instances of the use of force disproportionately on non-violent “suspects.” This latest incident is by far the most frightening since it took place against an ordinary citizen who was involved in what might be described as a minor incident.
The message coming from Biden's administration is clear: support opinions against abortion, or opinions that are not in line with the government's position, and you'll have an excellent chance of finding agents sporting semi-automatics at your home. This isn't the norm in the U.S.A.
