David Wheeler and Colonel Moe Davis welcome guests James and Cathy O'Gara, who recently found themselves at the center of a controversial incident involving law enforcement. The episode dives into the alarming events that unfolded when police officers showed up at the O'Gara's home following James' decision to send a postcard to Florida's Chief Financial Officer, Blaise Ingoglia, expressing his discontent. This visit, which James and Kathy describe as intimidating, raises serious questions about civil rights and the extent to which individuals can exercise their freedom of speech without fear of repercussion. Throughout their conversation, they reflect on the impact of this experience on their family, particularly its effect on their grandchildren, and emphasize the importance of standing up against such intimidation tactics. As they share their story, they inspire listeners to take action, urging them to assert their rights and engage in civic discourse, all while maintaining a sense of humor amidst the serious nature of their situation.

In the picturesque backdrop of western North Carolina, David Wheeler and Colonel Mo Davis engage in a riveting conversation with guests James and Cathy O'Gara, who share a deeply unsettling experience involving law enforcement and their exercise of First Amendment rights. The discussion unfolds as the Ogara couple recounts the harrowing day when police officers knocked on their door, seeking to question James about a postcard he had sent to Florida's CFO, Blaise Ingoglia. The postcard, which simply stated that the CFO 'lacked values,' led to what appeared to be an intimidation tactic, with multiple police officers dispatched to their home. As they narrate the events, the couple reflects on the implications of their experience on civil rights and the ongoing climate of fear surrounding political dissent in America. The episode delves into themes of free speech, governmental overreach, and the personal repercussions of standing up for one's beliefs, making it a poignant reminder of the importance of civic engagement and the risks associated with it.

Takeaways:

• David and Colonel Moe kick off the episode from the scenic backdrop of western North Carolina, setting a friendly and inviting tone for their listeners.
• Their guests, James and Cathy O'Gara, discuss how a simple postcard led to a surprising police visit, raising questions about civil rights and free speech.
• The conversation humorously touches on the absurdity of police presence at their home over a postcard, with James reflecting on how it felt more like a scene from an action movie than a civil rights issue.
• Kathy shares how the police interaction affected their grandchildren, showcasing the emotional impact of civic engagement on family dynamics and the importance of protecting their rights.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Muck You!
• Blaise Ingoglia
• Florida Department of Financial Services

Links referenced in this episode:

• AmericanMuckrakers.com
• Florida CFO

Hey folks, this is David Wheeler with Muck You! I'm here with my co host, Colonel Moe Davis in beautiful western North Carolina. And we've got some really special guests today. And I'm going to throw it over to Moe for that introduction. Take it away, Moe.

Yo. Thanks, David. And welcome back, everybody.

And hopefully if you're here in the mountains of western North Carolina, we're kind of hitting peak leaf season and fall is set in and it's a beautiful day here in the mountains. So yeah, as David said, we got another great, great show for you today coming to you from some, with some folks down in, in Southern Florida.

James and Cathy O'Gara are joining us today and thank you too for, for taking time to join us on mucu.

It's a pleasure.

Well, listen, let's, you guys have been in the news a bit here lately. So let's start off. You're down in Largo, Florida, and my understanding is neither one of you was originally from there.

So how'd you end up down in South Florida?

I think, I think technically it's considered west central Florida.

This is kind of like, you know, you're either from upstate New York, the city, or all that.

But we're in the Tampa Bay area and Jim and I have been married for 26 years and we met down here, but I was born in Chicago and he was born in Rye, New York.

Yeah.

And James, you were a Vietnam veteran. What, what, what service are you in?

I was in the Army. I was combat infantry and served in Vietnam, as you said.

Yeah. Well, listen, thank you for your service. It's always great. I was 25 years in the Air Force and spent a lot, actually.

My wife and I got married at Patrick Air Force Base, which isn't too far from where you are. And I spent a lot of time over at McDill and in the Tampa area. So I'm familiar familiar with that part of Florida.

Well, listen, let's talk a little bit about why you've been in the news here lately. Let's go back to James. I guess it started with you. You have been active in sending out postcards.

So can you talk a little bit about that and why, why you've been doing it?

Individual that started a project back two, three months ago to send 15 postcards and I, I found that satisfying and useful just to send those 15 postcards.

So I, I sent some more the next day and some more the next day and I've been doing it for three months and I send just very Brief postcards with a simple short message, no threats.

This one said, well, we can go into that, but I sign my name very clearly, I write the message very clearly, and I put the address on it of all of my representatives, my state representatives, federal senators, and house and county commission, and, you know, any. Any of my elected representatives I send a missive to, including our governor and our president the same way. And I sent one card to Blaze.

Ngolio, and he's the CFO of Florida. He's been overseeing doge in Florida. He's an appointee of Ron DeSantis.

All right.

And Jim sent out his postcard to him when he was here in going over the books of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.

Right.

That was in August that he sent out the postcard.

Yeah, yeah, I'm familiar with your governor. I was the chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay for the terrorism trials. And Ron DeSantis was.

Had been in the Navy, I think, about six months when he was deployed down there in. I met him briefly, and it never occurred to me back then that he'd end up where he is today. But so why. Why Mr. Engul? And I'm not sure.

I, I pronounce it in Golia. Okay. Usually the second G is somewhat silent, but he may pronounce it totally different.

Okay, so you, you sent him a postcard. Why'd you do that?

Well, because Doge was. He had announced that he was going to be visiting St. Petersburg.

I think he was in, you know, some other democratic city, Jacksonville, something like that. And, you know, his next stop was going to be St. Pete. So I fired off, you know, a comment that you, you lack values.

And simply to highlight his, you know, inability to stand up for what is right, you know, as well as being very abrasive in his language, as if he's. He's searching out all the snakes that are obviously hidden in the grass in St. Petersburg. And, you know, so I was, I was reacting to that.

Okay. And I guess he said that was in August. So October 1, I think, was the, the day in question. I think it started with you, Kathy.

So once you describe what happened on October 1st.

Sure.

So we have our two grandchildren that we adopted. They're 16 and 11. Now, the older one was at school. The little one that's 11 was getting ready and it was time to go to school.

It was about 8:30 in the morning. We heard a very loud knock on the door. We have really pretty windows. I looked out, I saw the police outside. It's just said police on their vests.

And the little one was afraid. And she's just kind of like that somewhat, you know, But I keep telling her, you know, that everything is okay. You don't have to be afraid.

But she still is. But I'm not afraid. And I went outside and I said, hi. You know, what's happening? And they put on a big smile. They had their guns.

I saw no visible signage on their sleeves, their shirt. They were kind of what I call SS Brown shirt and pants overlaid with a very thick bulletproof vest that said police on it.

They did not offer their identity, did not give me a business card, did not say who sent them. They just said, hi. Hey, you know, don't be worried. You're. Everything's okay. You guys aren't in trouble, so you can just take it easy.

We're just here to talk to James Ogara. May we please talk to him? And I said, sure. But for months, I had been practicing that the police would come to our house.

And so the only thing I remembered of the things that I was concerned with was I just turned to them and I said, you're not allowed to come in my house, you know, and they said, oh, there's no need. There's no need. And then I went and got Jim.

She came in and said, oh, there's police. They want to see you. And I walked out, and I had no preconceptions of, you know, either concern or whatever. You know, I had no idea what they wanted.

And Kathy hadn't said anything more than that. And I walked out, and they started, you know, hello, you, James o'? Gara? They started right in. They did.

I. I realized, you know, fairly quickly that they didn't offer their names. And I was looking up and down their bodies to see if they had any insignia and department names or anything like that, or name tags or even a badge.

One officer did have a badge on his belt, but it was either colored over, but it was all one color, and it was unreadable, besides the fact that he was turned to his side with the badge away from me. So, you know, I realized I was connecting all of that. And then, you know, he starts talking again and. And. Or simulating all of that, and he.

He starts asking me, you know, did you. Did you write this postcard? And I. I wasn't really sure what postcard he was referring to. And then he. And then he said to.

To CFO Blaze and go in Golia, and. And I was sort of shocked, I guess, at being asked the question.

And I was Thinking, well, I wrote him a card, you know, I, and, and he held up his phone because I was hesitating and I looked at it and I said, well, yes, I did write that card. You know, I was exercising my First Amendment rights. Oh, no, no, no, no. You, you, you've done nothing wrong. You've done nothing wrong.

And then I realized that, yes, but you're standing here with flak vests like I wore in Vietnam, and you have Police in 6 inch letters across your chest, and you have no other identification and you haven't given your name. And meanwhile, he's talking and started to, you know, make small talk. You know, again, I'm realizing this in hindsight.

And, and then he, then he says to me is, oh, hey, you know, you were in the army. You were an infantry. And I said, well, yeah. And meanwhile, it started to register that they just didn't react to this card.

They did more than just react to the card. And I asked, you know, are we done here? And I turned and walked away. I don't, I don't know if they responded.

I, I, I mean, I think it was, in hindsight, it's probably a pretty stupid move if they thought I was dangerous, you know, to, to run away like that. And I walked back inside and, you know, all of this started to become a concern when I started to look back on it, you know, and that was it.

That was the end of it. You know, Kathy and I talked about it a little. We heard nothing more. Kathy, okay. And Kathy went to work.

Do you want us to continue, you guys, right now?

Yeah, let me, let me just ask. You said they held up the phone. Did he have a picture of the postcard on his, on his phone.

He held up his phone with a picture of the postcard. It was the postcard I sent. They just showed the back. You know, you lack values. And my name clearly printed, you know, as I intended, you know, so.

Yes, it was. Yeah, like, well, that was the only card I ever written to him, except that day I wrote five more, and I've been writing some ever since.

So you're still writing to Mr. Angolia?

Oh, yeah, and every, every other politician. I write more rather than less. I'm not going to be intimidated. Yeah.

So, James, you, you were in Vietnam, and clearly they saw you as a major threat because you wrote a postcard. Did it remind you of your days in Vietnam?

No, no, not, not at all. It was, I was shocked as, as a citizen that these people were standing here. And again, in hindsight, I realized, wait a minute.

He served like I served? We know. We've been taught the UCMJ and that you do not have to obey an unlawful order. This is an unlawful and unconstitutional order.

And he's standing there. And he's standing there. You know, I can.

I. I mean, there's a thousand ways to avoid the order without putting it in your supervisor's face, and one of them is just, well, I stopped at the house and we talked, you know, and just sit there for a half hour.

Nobody was home. I got a flat tire. Right, right.

Whatever. Yes. Yes.

You can come up with a million different things, you know, besides turning around saying, you know, this is just not appropriate, you know, So I. I don't. I don't blame. I don't blame an idiot for being an idiot, but I do blame someone who knows better. And having been in the service, he knows better.

And, you know, maybe this is his first time, maybe it'll be his last, but he needs to know that he's responsible for standing up.

Yeah, right. And tell whoever sent him he probably didn't want to go in the first place. Neither of them did.

They're probably staying there thinking, just like you. What the is this? I mean, why are we even here? This is ridiculous. But somebody decided to send you a message. Have you heard from other people?

Have they done this to other people, James or Kathy?

Well, before, they. They were very professional.

Yeah.

And they did. They did. I mean, I don't know how sincere their apologies were. Well, they weren't apologies. You know, you're not in trouble statements.

You're not in trouble, but, you know, after repeated a few times, you sort of get the message that they keep saying that, but, you know, they're still standing here and being intimidated, you know, so I'm. I'm. I'm unclear as to whether or not they. They supported it or didn't support it.

Right. So. So what was the intent? What was the intention, do you think, James, in your mind?

Totally. Totally. Without. Without doubt. 100% intimidation. 100%. They don't agree with us, so therefore, they're the enemy, and we have to fight the enemy and.

And put them down and shut them up.

Intimidate you from sending any more postcards? Lethal post postcards? Yes.

Yeah. It's the lethality of telling them they lack values. I mean, I. For me. For me, all I read was this guy is an incompetent egomaniac, you know?

Now, the Largo police, to their credit, got the name of the officer and his supervisor and gave me that phone number and an email address. And I spoke to his immediate supervisor, who said, we were told by executive staff to check this out.

And she said, I don't even know what the postcard said. She was very nice and professional, as was the officer. And when I told her it said, you lack values.

She chuckled, realized she was chuckling, stifled the chuckle, and, and, and went on, you know. Yeah, it was, you know, I don't think she knew. I mean, it was very spontaneous. And she later said we were just following orders.

And about that time, I realized, where have I heard that statement before?

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

And, you know, again, she was very nice, very human, very considerate, but it was just strange.

So, James, James, do you have those people's names and are you willing to talk about it now, or should we talk about that offline?

No, I, I.

Because I'd like to get. These people need to be exposed, and they need to be able to tell their bosses no, for God's sakes. They're adults.

And that's, that's.

And they're public servants, by the way. They're paid by you taxpayers in Florida.

And, and all of the, all of the Officers other than Lt. Col. James have returned my calls or spoken to me, so Lieutenant Snyder was the one of the officers who came to my door.

Right. So he's a leader.

His supervisor is Cynthia Campina. C A M P I N A. Okay.

So Cynthia.

James, this is in your. What you're. The department you're referring to, I believe, is the Florida Department of Financial Services Criminal Investigation Division.

Is that right?

I, I just knew it was the Department of Financial Services. I didn't even know they had a Criminal Investigation Division, but, and it was never identified as such to me.

Now, is that part of Angolia's office? Do they.

Yes.

So your local law enforcement folks had nothing to do with this at all?

They, they did not. When I called them after the officers left, they, they, they said state and federal authorities have authority to go any place they want.

They don't inform us of any time they visit any place in the city, and they have the authority to do so, so we can't interfere with them. But that's when, you know, she took it out upon herself to get the information of who came.

And I don't really know how she did it, but she identified Lt. Snyder and Cynthia Campina and Lt. Col. James.

She probably called them and said, what the are you doing in my town harassing my people over a postcard I know. You know, I've worked with law enforcement a lot, and there are a lot of good people there, and there's obvious there a lot of bad apples.

But this is. You know, this sort of thing has got to be called out. It's got to be.

No, we've got to get it out into the public so it doesn't happen to other people. Have you heard from anybody else where these folks have shown up on other people's doorsteps, coincidentally?

I've. I. I've heard from a lot of people. I've spoken to people who I knew 20 years ago who.

Who called me in this in the past week, like, incredulous that it was me and it couldn't be the same James o' Gara and chased me down and found me. I've heard from people saying, hey, you know, I saw you in the Hendersonville Times, you know, or, yes, and.

And there's an article about you and things like that. Neighbors, you know, saying that they saw various new dark news articles in the Tampa Bay Times, the Orlando Sentinel, that they've.

They've read various articles. Yes, It's. It's probably been reported in multiple places at this point. And everyone who's contacted me has been supportive, concerned.

You know, some people have. Have said that, you know, I spoke to my neighbor, you know, that she's the died in the wool Republican. And she said, well, they were just checking.

They were just checking. And I'm sort of like, well, they don't have a right to check. Even if they suspect me of something. They don't have a right.

You know, they checked with neighbors before they stopped at my house. Does he have guns? I don't. They didn't know that. But, you know, what if somebody did? What if one of the neighbors said, well, I. I've seen him.

Or with guns or a rake. I don't know. You know.

Hold on a second, James. Hold on a second, James. They went and talked to your neighbors about you.

Yes.

Hey, Mo.

Yeah.

You're a civil rights advocate. Doesn't this sound like a violation of civil rights?

Yeah, it. It does.

And it, you know, it's disappointing because, you know, James, you and I and everybody else who served in the military, including Ron DeSantis, took an oath to support and defend the Constitution. And part of that is, you know, the First Amendment and the right of free speech.

And it seems pretty clear that the administration didn't appreciate you exercising your First Amendment rights.

I'd be willing to bet that our CFO has not served in the military. I don't know. I don't know his biography. But he seems to be an ungracious.

Person who lacks values, hence the postcard to him. So, Kathy, you mentioned to me in a couple emails back and forth that your girls were quite upset about this. How are they doing? Have they.

Do they understand that this is nothing to do with you and, and it's more some knucklehead in Tallahassee?

Before I answer that, would you mind if I just answer something about what you asked? Jim?

Yeah, yeah. Fire. Go ahead, please.

There were two of the articles that came out in the past two weeks. One was from the Tallahassee Democrat. It was written by a First Amendment journalist.

That was an article that had a lot of really good information in it. But also there was this one that I just saw last night from a guy named Bill Cottrell.

And he wrote of other incidences of them coming to people's houses like this, a couple other incidences. And then he said, oh geez, what was it? I, I kind of blacked out when I was going to tell you that. But if it comes to me, I'll go back to it.

I just can't remember. But Bill Cattrall, because you'll see for yourself when you read it that it has happened.

Oh, I remember what it was that he said that on the day, that same day that they showed up at our house, Angolia made a statement that said, you will be knocking on your door. And then it happened. So I just wanted to reference it so you could look at it. Now about the girls. We have always.

So we really had a lot to deal with here about this. Jim and I have always been active when we feel the need to be active and when we're able.

Currently we've been doing a lot with the no Kings protests and all the other protests happening. The kid, the 16 year old that is in high school, is surrounded by people that say, we're good Christians, we're Republicans.

And so when the police came here, she said, because the little one texted her, she said, see now you guys are endangering our lives. And I'm hard. You've embarrassed me to everyone.

And that was a lot for us to deal with because that's a lot of pressure for us to continue to do the right thing if it appears to possibly have it be having a negative impact on our granddaughter. Now the other thing is it did give us an opportunity to have some conversations with the parents of these kids.

But anyway, the little one who is 11 is, is like timid. And she hears us talking, she hears the news.

She hears that masked men sent by the government are taking people off the street and putting them in unmarked cars and putting them in prison.

We've been to talk to the school board about this and I even said then two or three that we didn't want ice in our schools, which I think are in our county. They're not allowed to go to the elementary schools. But yet Brianna was afraid, the 11 year old.

And so I kept telling her on the day and I told them both, we've done nothing wrong. They have broken the law by coming to our house and violating our first amendment rights.

But the people, so we always tell them and we do love the Largo police, okay, but police is police. So you've got somebody coming to your door with police on them. So really I can't really say to them the police are your friends anymore.

And I went, you know, and talked to the mayor and the council and said, look, will you protect us? Because the federal government and state government are clearly breaking the law. So we've always admired you. We count on you to protect us.

And they say even as wonderful as they are, we have no jurisdiction. They don't have to tell us because that's the law. And I said, but they're breaking the law, so that means all bets are off.

And the mayor from the Axios reporter told us that the mayor, she asked the mayor what he was going to do in response to what myself and other people said that night last week. And he said, well, I don't want the state coming here to tell me how to do my job and I'm not going to tell them how to do theirs.

And they wouldn't listen anyway.

But what I said that hasn't gotten out there is it isn't trying to tell somebody how to do their job, to require them to report door to you before they enter your city and to show their just, just cause for being in your city. So, and, and so I'm not telling my grandkids.

The, the police are your friends, you know, because I, I, I told the Larva police we will no longer be answering the door to the police and I will be calling you. If the police show up at my door, I will not open the door.

Well, you clearly the, the intent was to intimidate you. So did they achieve their objectives?

Just briefly a blip on the screen when my friends told me to start putting encrypted messaging on that day. When that happened, I was afraid to use my credit card. And. And I realized that I was being intimidated as long as my grandkids are safe.

I mean, I'm 70, you know, I'm willing to have anything happen to me, basically, because I feel so strongly about our constitutional rights and the Constitution and preserving our freedom in our country. But as long as my grandkids are okay, then. Then I'll be okay, if you see what I'm saying.

How about you, James?

Is it within the same. Within the same bounds, that is? I have become more convinced of the necessity to keep writing postcards and doing more. In fact. In fact.

And I was elated on one hand that, wow, I got a response from my postcard because I actually feel like my job is to put the message out there. And I write a postcard because someone can easily see the message.

They can flip it over and look at it and throw it out, or they can look at it and say, it's one of those white postcards and throw it out. And, you know, it's having an impact.

And maybe it's having an impact on not just the recipient, but the five people who may put their hands on it along the way, you know, for all I know, and that my only job is to put the message out there, and hopefully it has an impact, and I'll probably never know what kind of an impact. So thank you, Blaze, because I know I'm having an impact, if only on incompetent egomaniacs.

Well, I've got to assume that that's like, you know, and I'm sure, James, you can appreciate this, too, that, you know, we have military members that are being deployed to American cities to harass American citizens and. And, you know, try to intimidate them. Kind of like what the, you know, the police officers did with you.

And I don't think, you know, when I served 25 years in the military, it never occurred to me that, you know, I'd be deployed to an American city to harass American citizens. I've got to assume these guys that showed up at your door, like you said, they'd done their homework.

You know, they knew that you were, you know, a senior citizen, a veteran, no criminal record. You know, they had the. The picture of the postcard. They saw the words, and there's certainly nothing threatening in the words. You lack values.

I can't imagine they joined the police force thinking that their job is going to be to go harass and intimidate citizens in Florida.

I'm sure they didn't join the Department of Financial services, you know, you, you, we keep calling them police when in fact, what I, what I realized later, you know, like I say, police was in emblazoned, you know, in, in reflective lettering, 6 inches on their chest, no other insignia. And it occurred to me that, you know, me thinks they shout too loudly that they're police.

I'm willing to bet that they are not trained police officers. They might be investigative officers, they might be some sort of law enforcement officer.

I would, I would bet that they're not trained police officers. They're not trained in how to deal with citizens.

And this was an opportunity to act like a policeman in their minds, you know, and, and, you know, rather than think about the constitutional impact they thought about, you know, let's, let's. They, they had four cars come into the neighborhood. They had eight officers.

Well, apparently eight officers because the two cars that were seen people getting out, they're reached with two officers, the other two, you know, parked on another street nearby.

Hold on a second, James. Okay, so now we're, now we're up to two cars, maybe three wells.

Let's hear, we need to hear the whole story because this is really more than, more than I realized. I thought two guys just showed up at your house and kind of like, hey man, we really don't want to be here, but we're doing a threat assessment.

So tell us the whole story here.

Okay, so the whole story came out. More afterwards.

Kathy immediately wrote up a one page document, I mean, within an hour of the police leaving a one page document, both venting and informing.

And she went around to each of our 24 neighbor houses, 40 neighbor houses, and handed out these page documents and, and left them on the door if they weren't home and talked to them if they were, and handed to them.

And so over the next week, different neighbors were stopping us and saying things like, well, you know, it wasn't just that day, you know, which is, what do you mean, one of the neighbors. We have one way into this community and one way out.

And one of the neighbors is, you know, she says, I see everybody who comes in here and he says, you know, she says that, you know, car will come in and if it within a minute or a minute and a half, it's on its way out. I know that they made a wrong turn or, you know, they, they were looking for an alternative, whatever, but it was a mistake.

You know, if they take two minutes, they're dropping something off. And I saw black Ford Bronco come in.

This is two or three days before October 1st, a black Ford Bronco come in one day and they drove, drove around and apparently came right out the next day. I saw another black Ford Bronco come in and they pulled down the street a little and the officer got out and walked around.

I couldn't see where he walked, but the officer got out and walked around.

And then the day that, the day, the day of the incident, you know, Kathy was leaving and she saw that there was not one, but two Ford Broncos that came and visit us.

Then another neighbor reported that at some point prior to that, there were four Ford Broncos parked on the street, but nobody knew what they were doing or, you know, that anybody got out and walked around or anything of that. That nature. So in total, there were at least maybe.

Well, there were four or four Broncos, presumably with two officers in each, that at least made one visit, if not multiple visits that people reported.

Wow. All of this, all of this over.

A postcard and all of this by an organization that vows to, to hold people accountable for how the citizens taxes are spent. Yeah.

Hey, James, how far. How far away is Tallahassee from. From Largo?

Four or five hours.

Five hours. But apparently we understand that these guys were sent to us from some kind of epicenter in Lakeland, which is an hour away.

So still you're talking about four cars with a couple of guys, two hours of driving time. That's.

You would think the taxpayers of Florida would be pissed off that the leaders of the state are wasting their tax dollars on frivolous crap like this.

It is ridiculous.

So it just adds to the intimidation factor, though. And I don't think that that is, that is insignificant, number one.

But number two, it just adds to my suspicion that these people were not police officers. You know, these people were not used to doing police officer work on a daily basis.

If they could read threat into anything that I did, then they are inexperienced in evaluating a threat.

And a local police officer, Largo police officers are trained, any police officer is trained to recognize threatening behavior, you know, what could be threatening behavior, and respond, you know, these people may have reacted to threatening behavior and reacted. No, I, that's, that's why I thought, you know, I was confused and upset when I said, are we done? And turned around and walked away.

I thought that was probably the stupidest thing I had done, you know, besides not acting, asking for their name or their department or any information, which I will do. So, yes, it's, it's. It's criminal what they did. It's criminal up and down the line.

So Investigator Kathy, have you collected video from neighbors?

No, nobody took any video. I just snapped the. Just after I came in and I realized how I had kind of failed on the mission of being able to identify these people.

I just snapped two pictures through the window.

Right.

You know, it's. It sort of adds to the. The fear factor that they could identify those officers from a picture that, you know, they had this.

This vast amount of information that they drew a conclusion that this guy might be a threat of which most normal people would conclude that. Not really sure why we're going to go knock on this guy's door. And in fact, it's unconstitutional.

So that begs the question, James, you know, what was it in your background other than this, you know, this very threatening. And I say that tongue in cheek postcard. Was it the military background? What else did they decide unilaterally that made you a threat?

I. I said incompetent egomaniac. That's the interpreter. But I think they also had a. Maybe a stereotypical fat, old, wide white man in infantry.

He probably has guns, you know, which is the farthest. The farthest thing from what is anywhere possibly the truth, you know, so. So that. That's the only thing I can think of, you know, that just.

But I thought we were all. I thought we were all supposed to have guns, according to them.

Exactly.

You know, there's just so many contradictions here. It's just complete, you guys.

I think that they asked for all that money to fund the largest police force that's ever been on the face of the earth. And this is how they are using those people. They're probably sitting around waiting, hoping they're going to be dispatched. Like a.

A quiet day in the emergency room.

Were they masking these guys?

Pardon?

Were these guys masked?

No, no, thank God.

We wouldn't have. I. I don't think I would have answered the door without the case. I hope I wouldn't have answered the door.

Yeah, but the thing that bothers me about this, especially since the Largo police said that they have. There's no law that makes it mandatory for them to report to them. They didn't know they were here. They don't have to tell them they're here.

They don't have to tell them why they're here. Just like that. That if they had been ordered to take Jim away, then they would have.

You know, they seem to find it amusing in a sense that by their tone of voice, you don't have to worry. You haven't done anything wrong. Everything Is okay. It was really just like that. So they acted as though it was amusing, but yet they still came over.

You lack values and they. So if they would have been ordered to take Jim away, they would have.

And the Largo police would not have been able, according to themselves, to lift a finger. So it's like we have no local protection for. To preserve our rights.

Yeah. Mo, back to you.

So what are your next steps? Where do you go from here?

Continue. I continue on my path and Kathy's gonna continue on her path and just be more aware.

Good.

That. So, you know, certainly it's. It's patently obvious that they wanted to. To scare you and intimidate you and good on you for.

For not letting them do that. And hopefully, you know, you'll be an inspiration for others that, you know this.

The times we're living in, folks have got to stand up and not be kowtowed. And, you know, it's not just you. I mean, you've.

I know you've seen where, you know, the administration in Washington is doing everything they can to quell dissent, to block out the news. And it's an important time right now for people to. To do what you're doing and stand up and. And, you know, defend this country once again.

So thank you for. For what you've done and what you're doing and. And I hope you'll keep fighting the good fight.

Como, let me, Let me. Let me clarify or pick up on your comments.

You know, just as they went to my neighbors and they sat with their, you know, black tinted windows, Ford Broncos, just as they came around with their police uniforms and, you know, paraded through the neighborhood, you know, it's up to us to fight fire with fire. That is, you know, if. If I write five cards a day, you know, I. I have to write 10 now.

You know, if I contacted five people today, I have to write 10 now. I have to make phone calls. You know, I'm gonna start. I will. I have started doing that, you know, again, briefly give.

Providing a message on a daily basis. So, you know, I mean, we. We're. It's called. It's. It's incumbent upon us to raise the level of activity because this is not going to end soon.

And if we become intimidated, they will be happy. And that's the last thing I want.

Yeah.

So along those lines, it's a great sequitur to. I want to. Everybody that's listening to, please get a pen and a paper right now.

I sent him an email directly and I said I would happily welcome his police department to my home. Please let me know so I can turn on the video cameras. But, you know, son of a. Like this have to be called out. You're absolutely right, James.

And this just makes. Just makes my blood boil. And, and I'll get off my high horse. Enter in a second. But these sons of bitches.

But, but James, these sons of bitches have to be held to account. And yes, they do. And I'm not going to tell you guys what to do.

And I'm not a lawyer and, and obviously Mo's an attorney, but he's not giving you legal advice.

But my hope is that we can find an attorney in Florida that could file a civil rights action on this, because these sons of need to be held accountable. They need to be supervised because clearly nobody's supervising them. You can't go to the U.S. attorney down there. They won't do anything.

So the only way to do this is to probably file a federal civil rights violation lawsuit against Angolia, the department, these officers, and anybody else that was involved in this thing, because this is absolutely ridiculous.

A postcard sent by a citizen who has every right to do this yields four police cars, eight officers talking to neighbors, intimidating citizens, scaring the. Out of two young ladies in this home, scaring the crap out of a wife of a military member. This just makes my blood boil.

I hope there's an attorney out there in the land that's listening to this or if you know of somebody, please get in touch with me here at American Muckrakers. Again, James, and, and Kathy, I don't want to tell you what to do, but I hope you won't drop this.

And the only way to get them to stop and be held accountable is take them to court.

You're right, David. You're right, David.

Yep.

And take them to court and stand up and be incensed by their behaviors and held accountable.

I mean, you know, there's. They should, there should be some sort of judicial supervision on these sons of. Because they're out acting as if they're.

There are no laws or regulations that cover their actions. And they're all existing there. It's called the Constitution, man.

So, again, I, I'm sorry to most probably wondering what I'm getting all excited about, but I think we all know just excited in a while, but we're excited, too. Yeah. Well, listen, we've come to the end of the podcast here, but I've just, I reached out to you guys, you guys responded right away.

You've been very open and, and I'm sorry you've been through this, and it breaks my heart that your girls have had to experience this and kind of throw some blame your way. But listen, we'll stay on this story. You keep us in the loop. You let us know what we need to help you with.

Again, I hope folks will send a postcard to this motherfucker in Tallahassee and let him know how we all feel about him, because I'm going to start writing my own postcards. Jamie, you've inspired me. Kathy, you both inspired me. And again, thank you for joining the show.

I'll let you have a last couple words and then we'll sign off.

Thank you so much. Go ahead, Jim.

David. David. Writing the postcards is actually cathartic. It actually lowers the level, the anger levels. It really does.

You know, I have a pile sitting right by my desk and I toss off a short, brief comment and I feel better and I'm doing something that makes a difference, I hope.

Okay, well, I think it is, James, I think, and we're gonna stay with this story. We're gonna help you along the way.

I'll do my best to try and find a civil rights attorney that could take this on pro bono and let's hold these, these bastards accountable. So anyway, yeah, thank you guys very much.

And on behalf of my co host, Mo Davis, I want to thank you both for joining, telling us this incredible story.

You're so welcome. Thank you for your time.

This has been Muck you co hosted by Colonel Moe Davis in Asheville and David Wheeler in Spruce Pine, North Carolina.

Listen to additional Muck you episodes with Errol Musk, Anthony Scaramucci, Paul Begala, Mark McKinnon and others@AmericanMokrakers.com Please subscribe and support our work on Substack. Thanks for listening and y' all come back for the next episode of Muck. You.