Adam Kokesh, the Iraq war veteran and host of the Internet radio program “Adam vs. The Man” who became a staunch opponent of the “war on terror” and who planned a peaceful armed march on Washington, D.C., on July 4, was disappeared in broad daylight while speaking at a Smoke Down Prohibition rally in Philadelphia May 18.

Kokesh’s kidnapping came at the hands of Philadelphia police and other LEOs (legally entitled to oppress) who dragged him off the stage just after he began to speak. A video of the incident shows Kokesh being dragged away without resisting. Arresting “authorities” initially claimed Kokesh was to be charged with resisting arrest. But it seems they realized it’s hard to resist arrest when your arrest is illegal, so they apparently changed the charges to “forcibly assaulted, resisted, opposed, impeded and interfered with officers and employees of the United States,” according to these documents. If that’s the case, then apparently standing with your hands up while an inept LEO tries to wrestle you to the ground is now “assault” in the eyes of a government that deems you a terrorist and then targets you for special “scrutiny” if you exercise your 1st Amendment guaranteed right of freedom of speech, claim to be a Tea Partier, hoard food and water, and/or support small government.

At a preliminary hearing on May 20, Kokesh and Smoke Down Prohibition rally organizer N.A. Poe, who was arrested along with Kokesh, were denied bail. I’m certain the irony that the seat of liberty — Philadelphia — is the site of the arrest of two people speaking at a legal rally in an area designated for free speech is lost on the LEOs who conducted and sanctioned the kidnapping.

But the kidnappings didn’t stop there. Members of The Panic Hour, a comedy and activism troupe based in Philadelphia that produces street videos and an online talk show hosted by Poe, attended the hearing. Afterward, they were followed to the City Hall rail station in Center City Philadelphia by LEOs. While waiting on the train, Panic Hour member Kyle Prouty was approached by Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority LEO Nicole Lawson, who illegally searched and then kidnapped Prouty. Video of Prouty’s arrest can be viewed here (warning, adult language).

The increasingly Federalized police forces across America are becoming bolder than even the Stazi, which at least used subterfuge, darkness and shadows more than overt force in the daylight.