FBI visits man who said anyone who murders Kamala would be 'a hero'

Rider@eviltoast.org to politics @lemmy.world – 713 points –
dailymail.co.uk
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"The FBI visited my house today for free speech acts they knew were not crimes."

Uh, calling for violence is NOT protected under the first amendment, so you can fuck right off with that.

"It is well understood that the right of free speech is not absolute at all times and under all circumstances. There are certain well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech, the prevention and punishment of which have never been thought to raise any Constitutional problem. These include the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous, and the insulting or 'fighting' words – those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. It has been well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality."

In Terminiello v. Chicago (1949), the Supreme Court narrowed the scope of what constitutes fighting words. The Court found that words which produce a clear and present danger are unprotected (and are considering fighting words), but words which invite dispute and even cause unrest are protected (and are not considered fighting words).

sure, but this guy is not even being charged with anything. we are talking about a warning.

this guy is not even being charged with anything

He feels threatened, though. That violates his NAP.

If these were black kids playing across the street rather than armed FBI agents pounding on his door, he likely would have tried to gun them down already.

I mean if Trump's speech for Jan 6 didn't count...

Wait. This means that art with lewd, obscene, or profane content is not protected?

And exactly what is "lewd, obscene, or profane" is not actually defined in the law.

Surely that's never been abused in the past. No, sir.

My favorite part of the article is where the libertarians called Lincoln a tyrant who was rightly assassinated.

Very cool and normal.

Libertarians denounce Lincoln as a tyrant, then spill a gallon of ink praising Coolidge, Eisenhower, and Reagan for brutalizing Latin America and terrorizing American immigrant communities.

They don't give a shit about Freedom and Liberty. They're just white nationalists. They want to bring the old plantation system back.

Yeah it's very telling that the president they hate the most is the one who ended slavery, and second place was the first black president.

Shows how stupid they are, the new plantation system is much more profitable than the old one.

Now do Elon.

Judging from the amount of kids he's got, I think Elon's been "done" enough.

Didn't the SS do that?

Oh geez...both sides love to throw this whole "Nazism" thing around...

?? Secret Service = Nazism? Since when?

The SS were an elite division of political soldiers under Hitler.

To be fair, I've never seen Secret Service abbreviated to SS.

Ahh then I guess you never worked a government job? They abbreviate everything as much as possible. I totally forgot about the SS Nazi thing and assumed it was Secret Service.

No I've never worked a government job. But you are right, they like to abbreviate everything haha.

Some would argue since the term Nazism was around but...

I meant secret service.

They’re the “anti-vaxxers” of politics. Like those who have lived in a world for such a long time without the death toll faced by people pre-modern medicine then complain about having to get vaccinated the people that seek political upheaval and want a dictator never faced living in a country run by a dictator and all the problems that go with it. So tossing out ideas to start a fascist regime are the same as being anti-vax, they’ve never lost children and parents to diseases that vaccines would have prevented over a lifetime, they’ve never had family and friends picked up by State political police, beaten, disappeared or jailed because of something they said or because a neighbor turned them in for something.

It reminds me of Mike Tyson's quote,

Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.

I think what's happening is that many people live in a bubble, believing it's okay to say anything because they have "freedom of speech."

But in reality, they don’t have the guts to insult someone to their face, let alone threaten them with assassination.

Exactly this.

Based on my 2020 experience, seeing people whining about not being able to go to Olive Garden, I am pretty sure that the keyboard warriors are not prepared for the inconvenience of living in a war zone.

It's like the will to power but triggered by boredom and misplaced dissatisfaction with the status quo. Back in the day these would be people saying that this generation needs a war (this is before proxy wars and remote warfare)

Ffs, America. You're not well, are you?

We're like the only "first world" country that has no healthcare and we have more billionaires then any other country and soon to be one trillionaire, what do you think?

more billionaires then any other country

And a crap load of people living on or under the poverty live working two or three jobs with zero PTO, crippling student debt ratios, sky high childcare costs, no family leave, and on and on. No, you don't seem well.

It's insane that you have people working multiple part time jobs totaling 40+ hr/week but still don't have employer-subsidized healthcare because employers don't have to offer it to employees working under a certain number of hours/week. And there are businesses that deliberately offer only part time jobs for that exact reason.

Capitalism at it's finest. Working just as intended. Nothing to see here, move along, serfs.

Oh, look, someone who's different. Let's get angry at them instead!

I'm not well versed in this but I was under the assumption that anyone who worked 32 or more hours was eligible for some kind of insurance through their employer, which is why so many people are stuck at 31 hours a week.

I'm not super well versed on it either, but yes, 30 hours or more is considered full time employment, and businesses that have 50 or more full time or full time equivalent employees are required to offer heatlhcare. But a lot of small businesses aren't going to meet the 50 employee requirement. The situation I was focusing on was a person with several different employers, none of which is required to offer health care to their employee who works for them for let's say 15 hrs/week.

This is a country that's more afraid of not having a gun, than not having a doctor. We are not run by adults.

This is a nation that says you can get a license to drive a large metal death trap at insane speeds at 16, die in a war at 18, but you have to be 21 to drink the Evil Fermented No-No Juice..... and 25 to RENT a large metal death trap at insane speed

We have no idea what an adult is.

The whole country going insane makes me feel like I'M insane, because a rational world view no longer applies.

Tbh.. When I visited Denver last week from melbourne, sadly I discovered the people there were doing better than here. It seems like a few people here have gotten far more toxic than the US.

Everyone there was super nice.

That being said though, the same kind of voter here causing things to be bad for everyone, seem to be the same as US

I mean when Trump was shot at, people here had a quite similar sentiment.

Also all the "violence is not part of american political culture" hurrdurrs of politicians and celebrities afterwards are just completely false. Violence and political violence are an integral part of American culture. I think no other country had as many successful and attempted assassinations of their presidents.

I don't think political violence is all that uncommon in the world. Since the 19th century Japan's had 7 out of 64 PMs assassinated with another ~dozen plots or attempts.

Japanese wiki link

How many visits does Musky get every week?

Considering the fucker made a similar statement and is yet to see consequences, not enough.

Can't you just imagine all those Libertarians sitting around in their nightly circle jerk talking about this? "I really showed those guys!" "You sure did!" "I sent them packing with the First Ammendment!" "You sure did!" "They were so embarasses!" "So embarassed!" "Then I decided to take the posts down on my own, not because they showed up!" "On your own!"

It sounds to me as though those two guys from the FBI delivered their message loud and clear. Doesn't it sound like that to you, too?

Maybe Elon is getting to me, but ... what compels assholes like this to say things like this and not do it themselves? I guess they need to keep away from actually doing it so that they can later claim they never were the ones to do it and that their joke statement was taken out of context.

I think being a coward is part of the persona

It's much easier to talk mad shit online when you've grown accustomed to the idea that there are no consequences for anything you say. They're perfectly happy to let the consequences of doing fall to someone else.

Love the expression of the guy on the left. Probably describes everything you need to know about the encounter.

They have no idea what all these words mean. It's embarrassing. Their tweets read like an edgy teenager discovering instant messaging

That he thought got 'em in that video and decided to post it is absolutely hilarious.

"mUh rEgImE!"

I mean, he kinda did. I am a liberal that is perfectly fine with some exercising their rights. If he was wrong they would have showed ID and arrested him. Although a lot of first amendment auditors lean right/far right I still appreciate what they do.

Not sure what you are saying here at all? It is not in the first amendment to protect anyone from instigating or encouraging injuries/death to another. They could arrest and detain him and confiscate his computers and start an investigation if they wanted, that just costs more, so they likely are following a protocol of dumb fuck says dumb comment. Start remote investigation. Find something more, make sure he knows they're aware. If he persists things will escalate

Did you read the comment I'm replying to? Because what you said had nothing to do with that.

Ah yes, thinly veiled calls for stochastic terrorism. A totally cool and normal thing to do.

i mean, i think anyone who assassinated trump would be a hero too. it really isn't crossing the line and shouldn't be. it's just exchanging ideas.

he said he'd be a dictator on day one. If nobody manages to kill trump its proof that the 2nd amendment doesn't work.

Murder is definitely crossing a line. The line is called "murder" and you cross it when you assassinate someone.

Is it different if they are trying to have you killed? Like am I allowed to hunt my hunters?

sure but just saying "that assassin is a hero" isn't.

I don't like this guy, but unless the FBI shows up with a search warrant or an arrest warrant, the FBI can piss right off.

Nah. If you post rhetoric online that might get someone killed, you get visited by the top brass. Clearly he doesn't have to talk or let them in, but their visit lead to his posts being removed and now he knows he's being watched and has been warned. If he posts something again like that, they may just get that warrant but now they may not need to.

It seems like a case of the government intimidating and harassing a guy (who is awful, no doubt) who seems to have done nothing illegal, based on the fact that he has not been arrested or charged with any crime.

Are we really okay with this?

Yes, I am absolutely okay with this. Violent threats and calls for murder are not protected speech, and there should be legal consequences for them. Free speech is not absolute.

Right! Legal consequences; arrest the guy, charge him with something!

But showing up to intimidate him and not arrest him? I don't want my government doing that to me the next time I say something they don't like.

It's called being let go with a warning. It's letting you know your threats are being taken seriously, and that consequences are coming if you don't stop.

And what has he done since? Gone back online and said that killing Kamala Harris is constitutionally protected because of the Second Amendment... (It is not)

I hope they arrest him, because making terroristic threats is, in fact, a crime.

Nah, the person you're responding to is right. Arrest the fuckhead. No warning needed.

Im honestly agreeing with you but this shithead could stand to actually face consequences. He made a threat and should pay for it.

The guy I was responding to wasn't earnestly saying that the guy should be charged. He was making a bad faith argument that any law enforcement interaction that doesn't include an arrest is unlawful. He's making it seem like the police have no authority to speak to you without a warrant. I was informing him of what is actually happening, not saying he shouldn't be arrested.

Threats against the VP are very illegal. He's trying the stupid age old trick "someone else would be a hero" routine. To which I say the FBI showing up and saying that's not ok is fine by me. Don't know if they have to give him a warning or what.

I think that the post may be a violation of law and it's just not being charged. It's like pulling someone over for speeding, and giving them a warning instead of a ticket.

I'm perfectly okay with people in charge of protecting national security following up on threatening posts that may put the life of the VP in danger. I wouldn't be okay if they forced entry or overstepped their power. I didn't think following up like this is crossing any lines and is arguably the best way to handle something like this.

What do you feel would be more prudent, just to leave it be?

Yes, we are. "Free speech" isn't unlimited, and one of the limits is speech whose purpose is to encourage violence, aka. the "fighting words" doctrine.

So not only does he suck, but he did in fact do something illegal.

If he did something illegal -- and I am not saying he didn't -- I am 100% in favor of the FBI showing up and arresting him.

You're getting predictably trashed in this thread, but I wanted to thank you for bringing a small semblance of sanity to this ridiculous circle jerk.

I hate cops and all that shit, but how was he intimidated and harassed? He got the response he wanted and now he can wave his little dick around fascist land.

Just because someone isn't arrested doesn't mean they haven't done something illegal. It's called an investigation and you can be arrested at a later time. I'd prefer that to just arresting people, wtf.

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