Rand Paul supporter who pinned down a woman before she was curb-stomped wore "Don't Tread on Me" button

Update to Cory's post: Mike Pezzano, a member of The Lexington Rand/Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty Group, wore an instructive button to remind his pals not to curb stomp *him*.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Anonymous

he didn’t apologize, instead blaming the camera angle

I’m pretty sure you don’t get a concussion from a bad camera angle.

Also, I think “freedom stomped” has the optimum memetic value here.
Anonymous

It wasnt him, it was the invisible hand!
Anonymous

Did she press charges?
It is assault and those guys could go to prison, as they should.
radixe

America is well on its’ way sliding back to the 20th century. In all sense of the word.
ADavies

Zyodei – Seems like not all the “libertarians” share your definition of the word.
- zyodei
  
  Sad but true…including many even in the Libertarian party, “libertarians” in the GOP.
  
  But the “non-agression” principle is the heart and soul of libertarianism. Without this, you don’t have libertarianism. The vast majority of those who have actually studied and thought about libertarian philosophy would agree.
  
  This is why, even if I might agree with them on some very limited economic policy rhetoric (note I say rhetoric, not action), I won’t be cheering on the GOP this election cycle, and more broadly why I don’t see any real lasting change coming from the political process.
  
  Most of those on the right, as this video evidences, don’t accept or live by the non-agression principle…which is why libertarianism is not really part of the modern right.
piminnowcheez

You wanted Rand Paul.
- Mark Frauenfelder
  
  Yep, sorry about that. I corrected it.
  - Anonymous
    
    BB Twitterfeed still says “Ron Paul.” Also, I like “freedomized.”
RedShirt77

Assholes. I bet at least one of them is a cop.
Anonymous

These losers, so called “Tea Party” members have sullied, and perhaps ruined the wonderful bit of Americana, the Gadsden Flag. I have one, and I have flown it in the past, but I do not wish to be identified with these morons, so it stays folded, and I fly other American flags, historic and modern.

The original “Tea Party” was because Bostonians (!yes!) were “royally” pissed off at the oppresive taxes being levied on the new world colonists, without them having a voice in Parliament. (To think that the American revolution might have been prevented by something as simple as seating 10 additional people in the English Parliament still boggles my mind, shortsightedness…)

In the current case, these folks just don’t like their **elected** government! They **have** representation! I have read biographies of most of the “Founding Fathers” and it is my opinion that they would be horrified (but perhaps not surprised) at the current state of American Politics.
whoknew

Yeah, it should say *Rand* Paul.

Also, the Dude wearing the button is not the stomper.

Other than that, if it wasn’t so terrible it would be entertainingly ironic.
Cowicide

Mark, you keep damaging the fragile sensibilities of the apologists who don’t want you to call this “curb stomping”. Why do you keep treading on THEM?

Think of the apologists!
- Mark Frauenfelder
  
  You are right — her head *was* placed on a curb, and her head *was* stomped, but we find a term other than “curb stomping” so as not to offend our sensitive apologist readers. “Freedomized?” “Tea-Trod?” “Concrete Corrected?”
  - grikdog
    
    Impeding the progress of a Ked?
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Enhanced Pavement Palpation Techniques
  - Anonymous
    
    how about “tea-orized”
Ben

I am completely disgusted with the Tea Party for sullying respectable and fascinating events and icons from U.S. history.
Anonymous

“The beatings will continue until morale improves!”
Antinous / Moderator

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a Teabagger’s cleat on your face.
pencilbox

Acoording to Mike’s profile, he’s interested in Cooking and Recipes, Swing Dancing, Friday Night Socials, and a 2nd American Revolution.

Good times!
- Cowicide
  
  Sounds like he enjoys foot-stomping good music and times.
Brainspore

Too bad the woman didn’t have the clarity of mind to ask if she could borrow the gentleman’s button.
Gnou

Besides the literal irony, I think the real semiotic humor lies in the fact that it is originally a symbol of the American Revolution that has now become a symbol of anti-establishment; and Rand Paul is running for Senate.
efergus3

The latest: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101026/ap_on_el_se/us_kentucky_senate_scuffle
bshock

How many Tea Party members self-identify as libertarians of some sort? Maybe very few, and so I’m in danger of making a strawman observation. Apologies for that.

But I’ve known quite a few libertarians over the years who couldn’t see beyond the maximization (rather than optimization) of their own personal freedom. They might very well wear buttons that read “Don’t Tread On Me,” while thoughtlessly treading on whomever got in their way.

I’d like to believe that you can simultaneously stand up for your personal freedom and maintain the personal responsibility of not damaging the freedom of others. But I suspect it’s very, very easy for some people to mistake infantile immediate gratification as personal freedom.
- Tensegrity
  
  When I was younger, I thought I was a libertarian because I thought it would be swell if private people were responsible and generous enough to look after the welfare of others in their community without the intervention of the government. I still believe that would be swell, but I’ve since learned two things that led me to change my self-assessment: 1) the majority of Americans are not responsible or generous enough to look after the welfare of their communities without intervention by the government, 2) that majority includes most people who identify as libertarians.
  - zyodei
    
    You have just succinctly stated why a belief in government must go hand in hand with a lack of belief in the inherent goodness and competence of mankind.
    - Anonymous
      
      I’m always amazed at the naivitÃ© of the kind of libertarians who actually believe in “the inherent goodness and competence of mankind”. Often the same people who accuse others of “blindly believing government can fix things”.
      
      Granted, it’s a motley bunch & I bet there are reasoned and well-thought out arguments for it. I’ve just never encountered them.
  - Julien Couvreur
    
    Tensegrity, I don’t follow your argument. If the majority are indeed heartless jerks, as you claim, then an elected government will hardly help the problem. Rather, it will make the problem worse by oppressing the minority of “good” and kind people.
  - querent
    
    totally off-topic, but I guess our corporate approved leaders are responsible and generous enough to look after our welfare?
    
    it’s just humans, all the way up. (get it? like the turtles all the way down?)
- Hools Verne
  
  Universal absolute freedom is a logical paradox, this becomes obvious when even the most intelligent libertarian philosopher has to grapple with the concept of slavery.
  - zyodei
    
    What? You don’t understand libertarianism at all.
    
    Libertarianism can be basically summed up as: “Everyone is free to do anything they want, as long as they don’t agress on the person or property of another.”
    
    So slavery, a state of constant aggression against someone, is without any question un-libertarian.
    
    I take it you haven’t debated many libertarians…
Enormo

Human/Concrete Assisted Freedom Dance?
Anonymous

“Ready, Boots?”

“Start Stompin’!”
Tdawwg

The Irony Heel
blorgggg

This guy should be handled like the dumpster cat lady X 10000
angrydroid

Not that I condone this reprehensible act but the guy wearing the button isn’t the guy doing the stomping. Two different people.
- Hank
  
  But he was down where the treading was going to occur. So he needed to remind the treader that he wasn’t the treadee.
- Cowicide
  
  Not that I condone this reprehensible act but the guy wearing the button isn’t the guy doing the stomping. Two different people.
  
  You are correct! He only facilitated the stomping.
  
  Those crafty libruls trying to spread irony upon the wrong people once again!!!111!!11
Robert

I’ve heard the philosophy of libertarianism more succinctly described as “Your right to swing your fist ends at my nose.” My only problem is that practically speaking, there are an awful lot of noses, and some may not be immediately evident. Hence, a body of laws which tells you where the noses are. Sadly, since said body of laws is created by humans, and we are not yet in the age of post-scarcity, some of the noses that the law says exist, don’t actually exist.
DianneS

The button shown on Pezzano’s meetup account photos page is a modified “Don’t Tread on Me” image that uses the text “Time’s Up/Liberty Strikes Back”. So, (mis)appropriation perhaps and bastardization are terms that would apply if he’s wearing a badge that looks like the image on his profile page:

http://www.meetup.com/ronpaul-146/members/4459867/photos/

Maybe he thinks the original is too passive a statement. Still, it’s a safe bet he hasn’t thought much about the symbol he’s using.
Anonymous

Ahem: Chinese animation guys? 1 please.
Camp Freddie

The problem with libertarian philosophy is that aggression is needed to enforce economic or property rights (e.g. to detain a thief or to force someone to honour a contract).

What you end up with is indentured (or even slave) labour. The indentured slaves freely entered into a contract, and aggression is permitted in order to enforce it.

To resolve the paradox, Libertarians believe in some inalieanable rights to superceed contract law, but you quickly end up on a slippery slope. At what point does a contract become aggressive (or coercive, to use the normal term), given that the vast majority of contracts are between people with different amounts of ‘bargaining power’.
- Julien Couvreur
  
  Camp Freddie says “The problem with libertarian philosophy is that aggression is needed to enforce economic or property rights [...]”
  
  The “non-aggression principle” only says that initiating aggression is unethical. Self-defense is ethical.
  
  “[...] aggression is permitted in order to enforce [the contract].”
  
  Depends on the terms of the contract.
  But it is correct that if you break a contract with someone, that person is entitled to reparation.
  The “voluntary slave” of your example (if anyone did sign such a contract) would be able to breach the contract at any time (saying “no”) and a civil dispute would now have to be resolved (with the former “slave” in full possession of his self, as it should).
  
  “[...] given that the vast majority of contracts are between people with different amounts of ‘bargaining power’.”
  
  There is indeed leverage in any transaction. Maybe I’m willing to trade between one and five apples for your fish. But because I am a bad bargainer or something, I end up giving you all five apples for that fish.
  
  Basically, bargaining power only applies within the window of choices that were acceptable to me.
  The trade is still a gain for both parties, and there is no objective way of saying that it was a “abusive” or negative deal in any way.
  
  Also, in the real world, many cases of bargaining power can be resolved by innovation. For example, resellers buying bulk, consumers or employees forming groups to improve their negotiation position, removing the middleman, switching to a competitor or a substitute, etc.
  
  In any case, this has little to do with the current topic, as the guy or guys that attacked the lady are quite obviously guilty of aggression.
- zyodei
  
  Libertarianism has many different subsets.
  
  Probably the most popular and active today, Rothbardian Anarcho-Capitalism, has this to say about contracts:
  
  If one person breaks the contract, it is then null and void. Any property rights that were traded in the contract revert to the original owner. If you stop going to work, you stop getting paid; if you stop payment on your car, you lose the car.
  
  Seeing how that property is now the other person’s, they can use the same means they would to reclaim it as if it was there’s in the first place. But there is no inherent right to use force to enforce contracts.
  
  I find this issue in general very interesting – anarchistic, pluralistic law. The idea that punishment for crime should be based entirely on making the victim whole, that if you do make them whole to their satisfaction, you can be forgiven, that the penalty for shirking the process and refusing the make the victim whole is social and economic ostracism until you come around. In short, minimizing the aggression
  
  Rothbard also talks at length about the “common law,” passed down and commonly agreed upon for hundreds of years, and societies had the rule that the law was the law and nobody was allowed to change it; ie legislatures were not not allowed to legislate. Instead, judges whose reputation was based on their wisdom and interpretation of this common law were sought out and paid for their services to resolve conflicts. I think that’s a very interesting idea.
grimc

The stomper has come forward. He is Tim Profitt, and was Paul’s Bourbon County campaign coordinator until they canned him today.

And don’t let the AP headline fool you–he didn’t apologize, instead blaming the camera angle and criticizing cops for not dealing with the woman sooner.
T0AD

Here is the video from another angle it kind of contradicts her description of the lead up to the event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiLeud-sxrM&feature=player_embedded

she ran up to Paul’s vehicle and reached into the window where Paul was sitting. I can see why the crowd brought her down to the ground.

As for the stomp i thought it looked like at first the guy was trying to hold her down with his foot but then he got a little power trip and that was out of line.
- Markle
  
  Here is the video from another angle it kind of contradicts her description of the lead up to the event.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiLeud-sxrM&feature=player_embedded
  
  she ran up to Paul’s vehicle and reached into the window where Paul was sitting.
  
  Actually T0ad, it confirms her statement that she tried to hand Paul the “award” and was run off around the back of the vehicle and then was tackled to the ground after she came back around the front. (Note: after Paul was well away from the vehicle) Her statement is verified. Good job RedState, you corroborated her story. I’m sure she’s thankful.
  - T0AD
    
    Right, but if you put yourself in the moment and you see someone reaching in the window, I can see how they went for a tackle. That’s all it took for someone to kill Benazir Bhutto.
    
    BTW here’s another update. The stomper is actually asking the girl for an apology, ha. He claims his back is bad and couldn’t bend over to hold her down.
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sND2LZwpn78
    - Markle
      
      Dude, it wasn’t that long ago. First, Tennessee isn’t Pakistan. Second, while there were shots fired, Bhutto was killed by a suicide bomber. Third, who is more likely to be packing, the MoveOn.org vegetarian from Massachusetts or the Tea Party, Open Carry enthusiast, Mike Pezzano who tackled her?
      
      Your video is hours behind the cycle. It’s been boinged already.
Drhaggis

Come and see the violence inherent in the system. Help! Help! I’m being repressed!
Chris Tucker

http://rebirthofreason.com/Articles/Landauer/The_Scourge_of_Public_Libraries.shtml

The libertarian “take” on public libraries.

Equates waiting a few days to get a popular movie from the local library to a “Soviet breadline”.

I wonder how he describes Netflix? Vietnamese Noodle Stand? Chinese Panda Rides? Venezuelan Vuvuzela Vacation?
- zyodei
  
  From the article:
  
  “But to argue against the worst aspects of statism may seem like you’re arguing against those bad aspects and not statism itself. To really get down to principles, argue against the best aspects of statism. My favorite is public libraries.
  
  Libraries are a nice “end.” I think libraries are great. But ends cannot be divorced from means. And the means of any public library is tax dollars — dollars that were extorted under the principle of “Your money or your life.” Pay your tax or go to jail.”
  
  I don’t think you understand his argument.
kineta

I made the Paul campaign a present

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff365/kchien/Paul2010-1.png
user23

Grrrrrrrrr!

Feeling anger in primitive brain. Hulk want smash. Hulk know that violence never solve anything. But Hulk still want smash!

Grrrrrrrr!!
- Cowicide
  
  I pretty much went through those Hulk emotions at first too. Now, I’ve calmed down and realized the silver lining is that will further distance these nutcase tea baggers from the mainstream.
Stefan Jones

Hey, for all we know this woman was in favor of higher taxes, forcing businesses to recognize civil rights, and socialism!

THINK ABOUT THE FREEDOMS!
- Anonymous
  
  In which case, she got what she deserved. Old happy feet, by the way, collects some sort of check for his “back issues,” and his wife (the “little woman?” works for the local (taxpayer supported) school district. Well isn’t that special!
angusm

“Tea Partiers don’t stomp people, camera angles stomp people.”

Wait, what?
Anonymous

So when are these assholes getting charged with assault?
BadIdeaSociety

Have they found the guy who stomped on this woman?

No?

That’s right! The Internet only turns vigilante when cats are hurt.
- Mark Frauenfelder
  
  Yes, they found him several hours ago. His name is Tim Profitt. He says the “camera angle” is the real culprit, not him.
- Sagodjur
  
  Apparently you missed grimc’s post earlier.
social_maladroit

They obviously needed to use Physical Cognitive Dissonance Prevention Techniques against that female activist, Lauren Valle. Otherwise, the consequences for Rand Paul could have been severe.
Daedalus

Yay, irony! Boo, violence!

Remember: Voting for the Tea Party, or anyone who appears at their rallies, is voting for Crazy Stupid Evil!

RE: the whole Libterarian Philosophy thing. I think Men in Black stated a great justification for goverment: “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky animals.” There’s also issues with the “no man is an island” principle: what you do affects me, even if you don’t do it to me, even if you don’t intend for it to affect me. And then there’s the idea that Libertarian ideals are, essentially, Anarchistic ideals, too, and a lot of the same criticisms can be leveled.
Anonymous

Mark,

Is there someway Boing Boing could create a link to the “ACTION” stories on the top of the homepage or something? Like on the top of the page where it has links to tech, culture, science, etc.? I come to Boing Boing in large part to your social activism stories.
anankesf

Gently stomped to the curb, while being restrained for her own protection.
jere7my

It’s a little-known fact that the full slogan on the Gadsden flag is:

DON’T TREAD ON ME. TREAD ON HER.

Most people only see the front.
Neon Tooth

Wow, Mr. Stomp would like the young lady to apologize TO HIM!

“Stop hitting yourself!”

would like for her to apologize to me to be honest with you.
Anonymous

This is just your typical angry white dipshit out of control.
In other words, he’s acting out what just about all the teabaggers stand for.
Anonymous

The guy who did the stomping was Tim Profitt.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101026/ap_on_el_se/us_kentucky_senate_scuffle
Anonymous

I stand corrected!
I just saw the video, and he does in fact stomp her.
I hope he goes to jail!

I don’t care WHAT side of the political spectrum someone is on… they should stay civil and show some respect for those with differing views.

A-hole.
Anonymous

Another update: http://thinkprogress.org/?p=126567
- IronEdithKidd
  
  Anon@46: Tim Proffit blames the camera angle, police and the victim for Tim Proffit’s actions.
  
  Conservatives pay a lot of lip service to the idea of personal responsibility. Yet, we see time and again, it is no more than lip service. Here is a fine example of a self-identified conservative attempting to deflect responsibility for his own actions away from himself. I do hope the courts and the victim are able hold this fool to account.
Anonymous

Dear Alanis Morissette, THIS is irony.
absimiliard

Personally I’d be happy if he was human flesh searched and then punished for his actions, and I don’t mean judicially punished. I mean having his life ruined forever, as an example of what happens when you’re an ass-hole like him (or the dumpster-cat-lady).

-abs isn’t feeling particularly reasonable about this issue this afternoon, and he knows his gut reaction isn’t the right one, he even doesn’t really believe in vigilante justice, but he can’t deny that it’s what his gut wants (and Steven Colbert says -abs should always listen to his gut first, right . . . . .)
Antinous / Moderator

zyodei,

This is not a soapbox for you to give lectures about libertarianism. There’s an actual subject to this post. Cut it out.
- zyodei
  
  I guess the point is: non-aggression. I wish that were the bedrock principle of our society, taught to every child, sworn on by every politician and police officer, adopted as the basic standard of decency by society – that it’s always wrong to initiate or escalate violence, period.
  
  Oh well. Maybe someday.
  
  Sorry, you’re very right. I’ll leave these “Rand Paul” threads now. I apologize for getting carried away, sometimes I can’t help myself.
  
  http://xkcd.com/386/
genre slur

Ahh, primate behaviour indicating a strong yet negative imprint on the 2nd(vertebrae, emotional/territorial) circuit. The body being willfully imposed upon was probably a threat to 2nd as well as 1st (oral bio/survival) circuit imprints. Given the sex of the body, a threat to the 4th (sex/morality) circuit as well.
All because Prophet/profit (sic) cannot direct circuit 2 imprints (‘confidence’) through circuit 3 (semantic time/binding) imprint behaviour. Someone get that primate some CNS smarts!
Chimo…