Summary

A GOP town hall in Idaho turned violent when private security, LEAR Asset Management, forcibly removed Teresa Borrenpohl for speaking out.

The incident escalated after Borrenpohl questioned a panelist’s anti-abortion stance, leading to her being dragged out by unmarked security. Sheriff Norris, present but in plainclothes, did not intervene initially.

LEAR, known for aggressive tactics, was revealed to have been hired by the town hall organizers. Police later revoked LEAR’s city license and clarified that removing someone for speaking out is unlawful.

The incident shows rising tensions and the blurring lines between political events and private security enforcement in conservative areas.

  • kreskin@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    I think we’d all like to assume that law enforcement wouldnt let their political opinions influence the performance of their sworn duties but time and again we see this sort of thing, and theres no real way to hold them to any account or standard of professionalism at all. They are a clear danger to everyone they come into contact with, and they even have state sponsored permission to lie and deceive in their interactions with you.

    • GaMEChld@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      Not that I disagree law enforcement needs a lot of fixing, but in this case I have to clarify the facts.

      This was not law enforcement, this was private security. Actual law enforcement pulled the private group’s license because of this.

      • Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca
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        15 hours ago

        An interesting note though; It was the town county sheriff that made first contact with her and he ordered the private security to remove her.

        The sheriff so far is facing no punishment.

  • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    The unmarked security force were from a private security firm called LEAR Asset Management, the Press reported, but Sheriff Norris “claimed no knowledge of the security personnel or who hired them.”

    Wait, so the sheriff, admits that he just watched three unidentified men assault a woman in front of him, and that he has no knowledge of who they are or who hired them, and he took no action at all. If he knows nothing about them or who hired them, how would he know that they were providing security? This is brown shirts in action and the sheriff is clearly one of them. Terrifying.

      • Furbag@lemmy.world
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        58 minutes ago

        Police in America exist to protect the wealthy. You can trace back their origins to the bounty hunters who caught and returned escaped slaves to their masters.

        If you are not wealthy, the police are not your friends.

      • kreskin@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        or to be truthful in their interactions.

        And except for when you’re driving, you have no responsibility to talk with them unless you’re in a stop and identify state: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, and Wisconsin.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_and_identify_statutes

        You’re not required to identify yourself or talk with them unless you are formally being detained, which is about the only thing they have to tell the truth about. They are not worth talking to in any situatuion, and they are never “off duty” So they are never worth talking to after work either. They should always be ignored and interacted with as little as possible.

    • sartalon@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Not just watched, he’s the one in the video telling her she needs to leave and then had the “private security” remove her.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        17 hours ago

        So he gave the illegal order to remove her to vigilantes he didn’t know as law enforcement, and he’s not in trouble?

      • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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        24 hours ago

        But he doesn’t know who hired them? Who was in charge of security for the event. How would the local sheriff no know that?

        • Corkyskog
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          20 hours ago

          Does their lawsuit shield come off them when their badge comes off?

    • P1k1e@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      Sheriffs are known for being gangsters, probably just another day in the park for him

    • NotLemming@lemm.ee
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      19 hours ago

      Wasn’t he the guy who mocked and belittled her as she was assaulted? The only who called her a little girl?

      • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        According to the article that was the moderator of the town hall who said that. Some website developer named, Ed Bejarana. No clue if he was involved with security, but he certainly seemed to be getting off on watching a woman get abused.

  • jaybone@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    It’s interesting, the tv news i saw about this said that the organizers said that this wasn’t a “town hall” it was a private Republican Party event, and therefore people were not allowed to interrupt and they were allowed to hire their own private security.

    This article makes it sound like they are walking that initial stance back a bit.

  • octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    “That little girl is afraid to leave!” Bejarana called from the stage. “She spoke up and now she doesn’t want to suffer the consequences.”

    What a fucking piece of shit.

    Edited to add - there aren’t supposed to be any consequences for speaking up. That’s part of what we supposedly all value about our nation you fucking poseurs wrapped in your US flag and preamble to the constitution prints!

    • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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      22 hours ago

      Hey Lemmy:

      Remember how some of you dip shits kept saying “Freedom of Speech is not Freedom from Consequences” like that wasn’t one of the most fascist statements ever spoken?

      Do we see now why you should have used your brain to explain the difference between government and private actions on social media rather than just mindlessly repeating something you heard?

      • AlexanderTheDead@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        This take is just incredibly dumb. No one would ever interpret it that way. They are doing this because they are bad people.

        Black and white. There is no gray here.

      • OwlHamster@lemm.ee
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        17 hours ago

        Let me help you out there.

        The consequences in this statement will exclude stuff like imprisonment or illegal actions, as it would otherwise not constitute free speech. What is meant by consequences in that statement is social consequences, like being ignored, being “cancelled” or maybe being called names, like bigot.

        For some reason people like to lament that “you aren’t allowed to say this bigoted thing anymore”. This statement rightly points out that you are, but people are also allowed to call you an asshole for doing it.

        • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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          17 hours ago

          I literally referenced that in my comment.

          The point is that the rhetoric is so poorly and foolishly phrased that it erodes the actual rights of the people.

          • OwlHamster@lemm.ee
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            10 hours ago

            It’s not foolishly phrased. The limits of the consequences are implicit by using “freedom of speech”. It feels more like you are just foolishly interpreting the statement. The statement doesn’t even pertain to the article in the post.

            I’ve only ever seen it being used correctly to point out that speech having social consequences does not mean you don’t have freedom of speech. If someone says “oh woe is me, why can’t I say the n word anymore”, I don’t think going into a 30 minute tirade about the intricacies of freedom of speech is going to work out for you.

      • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        This is a brain dead take. Freedom of speech is very much not freedom from consequences. Freedom of speech only guarantees that the government will not punish you for expressing yourself (which is kind of the problem with this video).

        If you say something stupid or racist at work, or in public that gets filmed and goes viral, you can say muh free speech all you want, and still get fired with cause. Freedom of speech is not going to save your job.

  • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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    24 hours ago

    If you’re anywhere, and someone in plain clothes tries to force you to do anything and they haven’t identified as police, start fucking swinging, especially if it’s somewhere like this where it’s clear that they don’t have authority. They committed assault and it’s perfectly legal to defend yourself if you feel threatened. In the end, you probably still end up getting dragged out, but maybe you can break a Nazi’s nose, or if your lucky and hit them in the right spot hard enough, you could kill a Nazi.

    At the very least, Teresa needs to sue everyone involved. Make being a fascist at least hurt.

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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      22 hours ago

      Sounds like a good way to end up sitting in jail for assaulting an officer. Yeah, you’re within your rights to defend yourself. Your day is still fucked and your foreseeable future is probably fucked too until you win the court battle in a few years.

      • Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 hours ago

        Almost happened to a friend of mine. Good thing he was on his way to babysit the commissioner’s kids when the “goons” (who were actually plainclothes officers looking for drugs traffickers, but never identified themselves before they caught him) attacked him.

      • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        I’m this particular circumstance, they weren’t lawfully allowed to touch her let alone remove her to my understanding. If I misinterpreted, then yea don’t hit cops, they will shoot hit back and then take you to jail. Obviously if it’s an office in plain clothes, they are still cops, but if not, swing away like your life depends on it, because it just may.

        Mostly just an emotional response to a shitty situation, but one of these days, regardless of who it is and their authority, swinging might be the last option.

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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          19 hours ago

          The problem with plain clothes is it’s kinda hard to tell if they’re a cop or just security,. especially in the heat of the moment.

          • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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            19 hours ago

            Yea I get it. I’m unfortunately reaching the point where to me it doesn’t matter because something/someone needs to be the Luigi for this movement. Punching a plain clothes cop in the mouth isn’t shooting a CEO, but on the news, it could be an inspiration for a movement.

            10+ years ago, the rhetoric that the GOP uses in normal conversation today would have been a career ender. Trump being the piece of shit he is, said it all out loud and that made it acceptable for other cunts to do the same. Racism, Bigotry, Antisemitism, they’re all acceptable now because someone broke through that barrier. Maybe defending one’s freedom with violence against the cross burners could have the same normalizing effect.

    • vinyl@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      Don’t think it’s a good idea to start swinging if the event is full of numb nuts with guns.

      • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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        22 hours ago

        I mean, if you can put yourself at the center of a crossfire event and make sure two or more get hurt as badly as you do it’s a net positive

  • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    Support. But there’s nothing shocking here unless you just woke up in January. The state has been dragging anti-genocide protesters out of everywhere for more than a year. Trying to kick them out of school, deport them, etc. LA wanted to hire mercenaries. Nothing new at all.

    • samus12345@lemm.ee
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      21 hours ago

      The most horrifying part to me is the boomers watching dispassionately as she’s dragged away.

      • pelespirit
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        21 hours ago

        Yeah, the Republicans thought it was a good thing to get rid of her. First Amendment anyone?

    • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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      5 hours ago

      This is the way, at least until Trump squashes it by some new bullshit dictatorial power or the SCOTUS goes digging for what 1600s witch hunters thought about freedom of speech. Until then, however, we still at least nominally have a constitution that says she had a right to be there and speak.

      • DogPeePoo@lemm.ee
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        1 hour ago

        You got it! Make them put all their cards on the table. How far and fast are the $upremes willing to take this because they are creating a lot of Super Mario Brothers fans.

  • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Burn stuff. You’ve got a constitutional and legal right to assembly and speech. If they don’t recognize that, then you don’t have to recognize their position of power and authority laid out by the same constitutional and legal framework.

    • DrFistington@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      Yup. Get good smoke bombs, photo realistic sheer face mask, flare gun, and gasoline. Move under cover of smoke, don’t show your face, avoid cameras, or sabotage them days/weeks prior.

  • peoplebeproblems@midwest.social
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    1 day ago

    Ah, PMCs. PMCs are probably just as bad if not worse than brown-shirt like paramilitary, because they get paid to not have morals, and are usually far more coordinated and dangerous.

    They’re still soulless, brainless thugs, but motivated by easy money rather than pure ideology.

    It’s quite possible that the tech bro brought them with. The sheriff not doing shit though? That’s a concern.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    A town hall is where a politician declares his edict and participants silently accept them /s