Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
23 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
This is a capital offense and should be reported to police... (Original Post) pbmus Mar 2019 OP
report Limbaugh for the same thing Hermit-The-Prog Mar 2019 #1
Lock Him Up! This "preacher" sure is proud of his guns. PeeJ52 Mar 2019 #2
Didn't he say "All my boys have guns"??? Perseus Mar 2019 #15
Isn't he the guy who Scarsdale Mar 2019 #19
Unacceptable, but definitely not a capital offense onenote Mar 2019 #3
but still an offense CDerekGo Mar 2019 #12
Nope. onenote Mar 2019 #20
My question: Why the hell would AOC show up to confiscate your cows? Caliman73 Mar 2019 #4
It's part of the green deal. Going from a meat based to more vegetarian food. Honeycombe8 Mar 2019 #10
I understand that. Caliman73 Mar 2019 #14
Well, that's why. She mentioned the cows. So they mentioned the cows. nt Honeycombe8 Mar 2019 #21
She mentioned eating less beef. Caliman73 Mar 2019 #22
Beef equals cows. Their comment follows the comments in the new green deal. Honeycombe8 Mar 2019 #23
Stochastic Terrorism is what it is, and I think it is more effective Perrenial Voter Mar 2019 #5
Insightful post and Welcome to DU.... pbmus Mar 2019 #6
Right on! nt Guy Whitey Corngood Mar 2019 #7
EXCELLENT reminder. I'd forgotten about this concept. slumcamper Mar 2019 #18
Just another coward with a big mouth. A bit of time in prison will fix that. Augiedog Mar 2019 #8
A crime would have to be committed for someone to go to prison onenote Mar 2019 #9
I love how she fearlessly wades into the trench to call out their words. Gotta love AOC for that. LonePirate Mar 2019 #11
That sounds very Christ-like, no wonder religion is so popular. procon Mar 2019 #13
This message was self-deleted by its author Leghorn21 Mar 2019 #16
So why hasn't he been "reported to the Capital Police"? red dog 1 Mar 2019 #17

Hermit-The-Prog

(33,328 posts)
1. report Limbaugh for the same thing
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 05:41 PM
Mar 2019

The ReTHUGs skate as close to the letter of the law as we let them.

They incite violence because they can.

 

Perseus

(4,341 posts)
15. Didn't he say "All my boys have guns"???
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 07:17 PM
Mar 2019

Are these his kids or the "boys" who work on his farm?

That guy is a preacher...he is no preacher, he is a mobster.

Scarsdale

(9,426 posts)
19. Isn't he the guy who
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 08:09 PM
Mar 2019

"loaned" his pool boy a million dollars to start a business? The kid is in his twenties.

CDerekGo

(507 posts)
12. but still an offense
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 07:04 PM
Mar 2019

(1) Whoever—
(A) assaults, kidnaps, or murders, or attempts or conspires to kidnap or murder, or threatens to assault, kidnap or murder a member of the immediate family of a United States official, a United States judge, a Federal law enforcement officer, or an official whose killing would be a crime under section 1114 of this title; or
(B) threatens to assault, kidnap, or murder, a United States official, a United States judge, a Federal law enforcement officer, or an official whose killing would be a crime under such section,

onenote

(42,694 posts)
20. Nope.
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 08:13 PM
Mar 2019

You omitted a key portion of the statute. In order for a threat to be actionable under 18 USC 115, it would have to be made: "with intent to impede, intimidate, or interfere with such official, judge, or law enforcement officer while engaged in the performance of official duties, or with intent to retaliate against such official, judge, or law enforcement officer on account of the performance of official duties, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b)."

No prosecutor is going to argue that going to someone's house and taking their cows is part of a member of Congress' "official duties" or, for that matter, that AOC actually has any plans to do so or that the numbskulls blathering about AOC actually were trying to intimidate her into not showing up at their houses to take their cows.

There is another, more general, prohibition on threats made in interstate communications (18 USC 875). However, to bring a case, the threat must be a "true threat" -- a doctrine established by the Supreme Court in a case arising out of a numbskull's statement that "if they ever make me carry a rifle the first man I want to get in my sights is L.B.J." The Supreme Court stated that "uninhibited, robust, and wideopen" political debate can at times be characterized by "vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials." Citing the fact - the Court found that it was more of a hyperbolic and "very crude offensive method of stating a political opposition to the President" than a "true threat." Sounds like a close description of the Falwell/Trump blather.

Finally, other courts have suggested that a true threat is one that a reasonable person in the situation of the threat's target would interpret as a real and serious communication of an intent to inflict harm. Since it is highly unlikely that AOC would testify that she intends to go to Falwell or Trump's homes and try to take their cows, their "threat" to stop her from doing so is not a communication that she could reasonably interpret as a real and serious expression of an intent to do her harm. (It would be akin to someone telling me they're going to kill me i I win the National League batting title -- I couldn't reasonably view that as a "true" threat.

Caliman73

(11,730 posts)
4. My question: Why the hell would AOC show up to confiscate your cows?
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 05:52 PM
Mar 2019

She suggested eating LESS beef. AS of 2012 (which is the last data I could find) Americans ate about 55 pounds of beef per year. If we make modest cut backs in what we eat, that could add up to a great deal of savings to the environment.

These idiots always take it to the absurd. Why the hell would anyone in Congress, let alone AOC show up at anyone's ranch to personally confiscate cattle. You have to be monumentally stupid to allow that to come out of your mouth and even more stupid to accept it as a valid joke or critique.

Honeycombe8

(37,648 posts)
10. It's part of the green deal. Going from a meat based to more vegetarian food.
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 06:49 PM
Mar 2019

It's better for the planet. Beef, in particular, does a lot of harm to the planet. That's partly responsible for parts of Africa changing from forested land to plains. You have to cut down trees, and they eat plants down to the ground, and it takes a lot of land to raise them.

Caliman73

(11,730 posts)
14. I understand that.
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 07:11 PM
Mar 2019

The Green New Deal resolution does not specifically address changes in diets. It recognizes that beef production accounts for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions globally so definitely there should be a reduction in the production, especially in the industrial production of beef. I do think that we can reduce consumption to help and look for alternative sources. There were some companies that were producing beef from stem cells which would have the same texture and nutritive values without the carbon foot print.

The idiots at CPAC and basically, in the Republican Party are already going off on really stupid tangents like, "AOC is personally coming to take away your cows". We don't want to give ANY oxygen to those stories.

Caliman73

(11,730 posts)
22. She mentioned eating less beef.
Wed Mar 6, 2019, 11:55 AM
Mar 2019

They mentioned her personally showing up on private property to confiscate their cows.

My question was "Why the hell would AOC show up to confiscate your cows?"

Are you saying that those are equivalent statements which follow from each other?

Honeycombe8

(37,648 posts)
23. Beef equals cows. Their comment follows the comments in the new green deal.
Wed Mar 6, 2019, 03:04 PM
Mar 2019

The new green deal made an issue of it, so they made a joke about it. It makes sense.

We do the same thing.

Jokes aren't to be taken literally.

 

Perrenial Voter

(173 posts)
5. Stochastic Terrorism is what it is, and I think it is more effective
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 05:57 PM
Mar 2019

than anyone knows. They use the media to keep people riled up; tip toe up to the edge of advocating violence against their opponents; and know full well that there are mentally imbalanced people out there who will, a certain percentage of time, act on their message. Then they feign shock and innocence when what they advocated comes to pass.

But the question that has to be asked is how this affects ordinary politics. For example, might this be one of the reasons that it is so hard to get any kind of gun-control? Doesn't this affect political outcomes around abortion? Our policy toward Israel? I think these threats have to be in the back of legislators minds when they are making policy decisions, and, if I'm right, then this has been an effective strategy. Terrorism right in public view, but no one calls it that.

slumcamper

(1,606 posts)
18. EXCELLENT reminder. I'd forgotten about this concept.
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 08:09 PM
Mar 2019

As many, many on the right have shown, their "brand" of politics is exceptionally bold and adept at using the rhetorical techniques of stochastic terrorism. This is consistent with their strategy of leveraging fear to achieve their ends, whether to incite supporters or chill opponents. This is some sick and dangerous shit.

Remember Palin's crosshairs ad??? Gabby Giffords does. And so do most of us. Tragically, how soon MOST people forget.

We've got to call this playbook out for what it is and neuter the GOP's blatant effort to manipulate fear and screw with peoples' amygdala. There seem to be weak and ineffective (infrequently evoked) laws to combat this but we need MORE. What consequences do they suffer? Where are the Democratic leaders who call this out?

I'm mostly hearing crickets.

onenote

(42,694 posts)
9. A crime would have to be committed for someone to go to prison
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 06:46 PM
Mar 2019

And as offensive as the comments about AOC were, they almost certainly don't cross any legal line.

procon

(15,805 posts)
13. That sounds very Christ-like, no wonder religion is so popular.
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 07:05 PM
Mar 2019

Adding the obligatory



in case anyone needs it.

Response to pbmus (Original post)

red dog 1

(27,792 posts)
17. So why hasn't he been "reported to the Capital Police"?
Tue Mar 5, 2019, 07:43 PM
Mar 2019

If Falwell Jr committed a crime, then he should be arrested...Period!

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»This is a capital offense...