Nobody "Has It Coming" Like That

     People are sharing shocking videos on social media -- protesters yelling at DHS enforcers, getting pepper balls or spray at close range, shoving and being shoved, ICE agents falling on slick pavement, a protester taking a "beanbag" round from a couple of feet away and being badly injured.

     And the comments run to a mix of, "Aint it awful," and, "Serves 'em right."

     Yes, it is awful -- and no, it's not right.  This kind of rough confrontation is an American tradition dating back to before the Revolutionary War and it doesn't come without risk, but that's not the same as justice, which often (but not always) comes later.

     Nobody's "Got it coming" in that way.  That's what prosecutors and grand juries and defense lawyers and courts are for.  That's what probation, fines and prisons are for.

     Okay, when Wile E. Coyote's scheme to catch the Roadrunner goes wrong and traps him instead, he's got it coming; and so, too, perhaps, when a real person sets a murderous trap and then falls prey to it themselves.  But otherwise?  Stop cheering when people get hurt or killed.  Even when it's people you don't like.  That's utterly immoral.