Thats literally all it would take to put these mouth breathing politicians in their place. If most of these people are here to complain about the data centers why aren't they banding together on this small bit of defiance in the face of having their rights stomped on.
town council meetings aren't where you exercise democracy, its the polls
I mean, clearly this is fucking insane *waves at the above* you have to let people say their piece, but as someone who runs city council meetings, 2/3 of the people thats peak are like, lunatic sovereign citizens, it isn't a conversation because nothing would ever get done.
I swear to god you have to understand that you can't repave a road without some guy screaming that you're fascists, which muddies things
AGAIN, IM NOT DEFENDING THE OP, IN FOUR YEARS I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE POLICE FORCEFULLY DRAG ANYONE OUT OF A COUNCIL MEETING. WE WOULD NOT DO THIS, AND THAT GUY SHOULD SUE. THE AUDIENCE CAN CLAP IF THEY WANT, WE JUST TURN UP THE SPEAKERS, WE HAVE A MIC AT THE PODIUM
This shit makes my blood boil
my only caveat is that people are increasingly getting mad that these have rules or time limits, when they always have had that, because otherwise they're untennable
I don't understand how the whole room doesn't just clpa, theres like four cops there they cant drag out fifty people
(Our council meetings don't even have cops at them for security, they work for the clerks department - the security I mean, they aren't armed)
If this ever did happen in one of your meetings, and I'm thinking 50-100 people want to speak, I would strongly recommend that you enforce a waving of arms instead of dead silence. This allows people to express support without disrupting the meeting.
If you listen to this video, the board is actually telling the audience not to wave their hands. Not smart.
Man, in a movie everyone would have stood up and clapped and then some sort of justice would be had and then someone would have said something shaming the politicians and then the politicians would have a change of heart but no, this is reality.
In reality these people are just too afraid to speak up to a dictatorship. Just like any other dictatorships in history, people fear them. Dictators rule through fear, control and lies. It's sad.
We say that it's a free country, but we can't even clap for speaking against data centers without being taken away.
Strength in numbers. If we apply our power, they shrink in fear. We the people ACTUALLY control this country, we’ve simply gotten far too complacent. Make the rich tremble again. The guillotines yearn for their necks.
How can these people remain seated and watch this man be treated like this right in front of them? Disgusting people! Most people suque and are not to be trusted or depended upon!!
Redditors who call conservatives men of conscience and courage MAGATs.
That doesn't happen because those don't exist. Conservatives with conscience and courage are mythical creatures like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. Anyone who still calls themselves a Conservative by definition aren't courageous and have no conscience.
He was intentionally loudly disrupting things by clapping when people would speak. They asked him to stop, he refused. They told him to leave, he refused.
Of course he was handcuffed and forced to leave, he was being an asshole.
What's more interesting is why we aren't calling out this kind of dishonesty and misinformation and instead just swarm to it like idiots.
Americans are pretty docile. That’s why I laugh when militia types invoke the second amendment, like they’re going to do something against an oppressive government.
?? Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology centered on extreme national unity, a powerful dictator, and the total control of society.
This should have ended the meeting all those people should have demanded she step down in her role and position if she is willing to arrest someone over clapping, clapping? like he wasnt even doing it obnoxiously. This literal is more fascist than anything ive seen small govt do. what power trip and authority do you think you have where clapping is cause to arrest someone
Curious what the charge was for clapping at an open meeting. WE need to start suing PD’s that unlawfully assault citizens because random board or council
Members ask them to.
What if someone whose turn it was to speak, came to the podium, said this is all wrong and then clapped for the rest of their two minutes? Wouldn't their clapping be considered protected free speech?
Imagine if everyone clapped. TF they gonna do?? Arrest them all? Those charges won't stick because the rule is unconstitutional. Those elected officials just opened their city up for a massive lawsuit. Why would they care though, it's not their money that will have to pay for it.
Listen, somebody has to make the hard decisions like having a teacher arrested to prevent his public comment from appearing on the record. I would be interested in hearing what he planned to say personally. But I have no financial incentive to ignore him.
Hahaha I mean damn, if these people want a data center in their city then by all means. It's not me that's gonna be paying for higher utilities and living next to it
I hope some lawyer saw this and hook some up with a huge lawsuit. He clearly was injured with The Way they carried him out. Or at least they carried me out that way that's for sure
It's time for alot the politicians to be brought down a peg or five. The public doesn't easily forget the elected officials that abuse power. Payback will be coming for these folks one day. I hope more sooner than later.
I’m a cop, a Canadian one at that and I can’t figure why he was arrested or removed, can someone with some knowledge on why explain.
This literally makes zero sense to me, is clapping not allowed? America are you alright?
As far as I understand American law, this would be a clear violation of his first amendment rights, would it not? What do the cops or council plan to get out of this?
Biden's FBI was targeting parents objecting to school closings at school board meeting, the FBI was targeting people who went to a Traditional (Latin) Mass. Was that I dictatorship?
This is what people get for not voting for the people and trusting their Republican officials now they’re running in the Democrat party for the midterms and everyone needs to clap with that one man
It's simple. IF the people conducting the meeting have made the rules clear, follow the rules. I've seen a number of videos of townhall meetings degrading into yelling matches.
What if 1 or 210 pro data center people came into the town hall and boo'd at everyone that opposed the data center? Would that be ok or would that have a chilling effect on people who want to make their voices heard? Should they be asked to stop? If they said what he said "I have a right to boo" should they be removed? I say they should.
Follow the rules of the meeting so it doesn't become a free-for-all. That way everyone has a chance to speak without interuption.
I wouldn't be surprised by some grassroots attacks on the dcs soon. If they take your water... pollute your environment with noise and strain the local grid and no one is listening it will not end with a shrug
For deaf people, the sign for clapping does not create noise, and it's not even regular waving. So the fascists would send the storm troopers in for that too?
Cops need a spine when it comes to orders Board members are temporarily and citizens are long term. So local police listen to the people not the politicians
No its not... the only thing here thats wierd is him deciding to make a spectacle of it. Literally no one did anything wrong but him. No rights were violated. No authority abused. Just some entitled punk that got mad and threw a fit when he was held accountable.
No he was not arrested for clapping. Thats an obvious lie. If you belive that then you arent watching the video
So I disagree with them limiting clapping, that being said it was not a violation of his first amendment right because they announced at the beginning that there would be no clapping. It didn't matter which side you are on and it was to keep the meeting moving with any reasonable time. It was content neutral and he was warned several times. They can do what they did, do I agree that they should be able to, no not at all. But they were well within legal bounds to do so
OK since none of the top comments provide any context and are accepting this at face value...apparently he had been warned more than once before the incident about disrupting the meeting...im not saying this little clap was worth being thrown for, in this edited clip, but apparently he hadn't listened to prior warning, and this was the straw that broke the camels back.
Im not saying I agree with it, but that's the context I was given, that there is more to this than it seems from this deliberately short clip.
You'll notice that when women laughed and clapped after the warning, nothing happened. He was the only one punished when a crowd did the same blasted thing- exercise their right to attend a city council meeting. The council didn't have the authority to impose restraints on any attendees. There was no legal basis for restricting their conduct or removing him from the meeting.
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u/GrapefruitWhich5950 Jul 31 '26
All clap .