The president of the Santa Monica Dems and I are now in email conversation about this.

He emailed me with a thank-you for documenting what happened, and evidently brought it up to his board of directors. Said they were now discussing it and brainstorming what to do. He thanked me for the follow-up email I sent him, that included some of the suggestions here.

I asked if there were any attorneys on the board. They could help us determine OUR rights. Like - did we pay to reserve the room? And if so, does that constitute a de facto ownership of that space and thus rendering it private? Or what? Is there a receipt to prove it? Since then, it's been suggested that we book an appointment with the Santa Monica Chief of Police to dig down into this further.

One of his responses noted that this has happened at several events specifically featuring Kevin De Leon, the Assembly President Pro Tem. Unfortunately, I now worry that they feel emboldened. After all their bully is in the White House, and his flying monkeys are all around him, investing the place. And they can of course see that past efforts at aggression and bullying and other anti-social, UN-Christian, and UN-American behavior got them the results they wanted. All-republi-CONS-wall-to-wall in Washington, all the way into the Oval Office.

And NOW I'm wondering if the cops were called - BY THE BAD GUYS, so they'd be on hand to take control if the bad guys managed to provoke something - that their trusty little friends would all be sure to get on video.

That's why I originally wrote this up and sent it around to local Dem group leaders I know.

Reaction and response I've received has been all positive, and appreciative.

As Mad-Eye Moody warned Harry Potter: "You've GOT to KNOW!"
That was one of two advice gems he gave Harry Potter. The other one was "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!!!!!!!"

Welcome to DU, RandomAccess!

Good point.

I didn't know why they were there, or who called them.

And now I'm wondering if the bad guys did. Because the BEHAVIOR I saw from the hecklers was definitely confrontational. They were spoiling for a fight. They seemed to be trying to goad people into reacting or responding in some sort of physical way so they could raise hell and cry victim and whine about how much more aggrieved they are. They sure had their camera phones ready.

I noticed that one guy who got up from the front section and moved over to an elevated aisle on the side (sort of an access path to the stage), had his "Build the Wall" sign with him, and he was leaning against the railing and shouting abuse at the speakers, interrupting with nastiness. A couple of people who I think were members of the Dem club stood in front of him, below the railing, and one of the men turned to ask him to dial it back, and they got into an argument. And the bully was leaning in, aggressively, trying to adopt an actual, physical in-yer-face position. He was goading the other man. Just almost begging to be punched in the jaw. The other man didn't take the bait. Finally just turned around and faced front again, but stood his ground.

And as the bully tried, verbally, to turn up the heat with the other man, I noticed that some of the bully's pals back in their seats started standing up or leaning over in that direction, arms up, camera-phones activated. This happened several times. It felt as though they were almost literally BEGGING for a physical confrontation, so they could record it all and make US look bad.

It was SHITTY. And THEY were shitty.

Sorry about the edits - but for those there that night (on OUR side - the "well, in fairness..." apologists), as well as others of like mind, let me say - okay, Democrats and progressive and liberals also get upset at these things. And WE are showing our strength at these town halls. But NEVER - NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER have I seen ANY of these episodes deteriorating like the one I experienced last Thursday.

I've said this before and I'll point it out again: WE'RE not the ones who respond with fists. WE'RE not the ones brandishing guns, or menacing others with the guns we brought or are swaggering around showing off from our little six-year-old's-cowboy-costume holsters. WE'RE not the ones who surround someone and spit insults and fightin' words and other provocative verbal assaults at someone's face, and make like we want to get into a fist-fight. WE'RE not that. THAT'S NOT WHO WE ARE!!! Most of the time, the worst and most "violent" we get - is chaining ourselves to trees, or to chain link fences at nuclear weapons facilities. I even saw one guy who laid himself down on a railroad track in front of a train carrying components for one of those nuclear weapons plants. The train hit him and I believe he died. And of course four students protesting the war at Kent State were shot and killed by National Guard troops - for doing nothing more hostile or anti-social or violent than standing there, protesting - or later on, trying to run away from the gunfire.

Let me also remind: the ONLY time I EVER saw a protest turn physical - that involved anybody from OUR side, it was at a trump rally in Chicago during primary season and a bunch of trump thugs got into it with some Bernie supporters. The trump thugs were the instigators. THEY were the ones at fault. And they tried to stir things up with some Bernie supporters who were evidently part of a MoveOn.org-coordinated protest in the same arena. The Bernie people did not incite the violence. The Bernie people didn't start the flying fists business. The Bernie people weren't the aggressors. And from the footage I saw, the Bernie people were responding defensively only. They were all ejected, I think. But the ones at fault were the trump people.

If he votes the way you and I both probably expect he might, it will confirm that

cancer will ALREADY have ravaged his soul.

Andy Borowitz!!!

I suspect the Senate is instinctively standing with one of its own.

Jeff Sessions was up till a mere few months ago one of them.

I think in this case, much as I despise the man, I'd be supporting maneuvers designed to have his back. Whatever is worse for trump is my measuring stick.

THIS! Another good idea.

A sign-in sheet with "contract-type" language - if you enter here, civility is MANDATED.

ANOTHER excellent idea!

I'm now wondering seriously if it makes a difference that you paid to book the room. Or, if not, that you're a dues-paying member of the group whose event was disrupted. What kind of legal standing there is. Sounds like something to ask about.

THIS is a good idea. Make 'em show ID, and take down the info.

GREAT idea.

Welcome to DU, Butterflylady!

Yet another reason why I decided to share this! And I want people to know that this is happening - at least in my own little corner of the world. And if it's happening here, wonder if maybe it's happening in somebody else's little corner of the world? Probably better they know about it. Forewarned IS forearmed.

And I bet NOBODY in the local activist circles wherein I find myself on a regular basis ever even fleetingly thought there'd ever be anything like this to worry about. Especially in our VERY blue part of the country. Naah, can't happen here. Well, think again. It does, and it has. And I bet everybody locally, to whom I emailed this, now has it in the back of his/her mind. I certainly hope so. We need to be prepared. To anticipate, out-strategize, out-wit, and out-flank these people. And thwart their agenda as well as their battle tactics.