The whole Charlottesville deal. In short, WHAT THE HELL?!
Before I get into the meat and potatoes of this thing, let's refresh our collective understanding of American speech and actions:
First: There IS NO SUCH THING AS ILLEGAL HATE SPEECH in America. The first amendment and a shit-ton of court cases say so. You can be a loud-and-proud racist - like the KKK or The New Black Panthers - and no one can stop you from spreading your hatred. You have two options when you hear speech with which you disagree: You can leave and not listen to it, or you can protest the speaker by NON-VIOLENT MEANS.
Second: Simply because you call someone a fascist, a racist, a misogynist, or a homophobe, DOES NOT MAKE IT SO. That being said, even if the person you're labeling IS one of those things, tough shit. They still have the right to say what they want, regardless of how hateful, painful, "unsafe" or just plain mean YOU think their speech is.
Third: In broad terms, the only type of speech that is illegal is that which IMMEDIATELY incites violence against others ("Let's go beat that skinhead!"), places others in IMMEDIATE DANGER (yelling "Fire!!" in a movie theater), or slanderous speech which is directed towards an individual or group and which negatively impacts the reputation of the individual or group.
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OK, I'm watching the whole thing unfold at my store on Saturday morning, Pacific time. I'm thinking, "Where are the cops?" There are people from both sides attacking each other with sticks, fists, newspaper machines, pepper spray and the like. "Where the FUCK are the cops?"
Then, things turn for the worse. Some Nazi-fuck runs down a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a lady and injuring around 20. Cowardly, fucked up shit.
The president makes this statement about the violence:
“I think there is blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it, and you don’t have any doubt about it either,” Trump told the media. “And if you reported it accurately, you would say it.”Let the reaming begin!
Trump DARED to not blame the violent situation solely on the right-wing protesters. He correctly placed blame and condemnation on ALL who participated in the violence.
The result was sickeningly predictable. RINOs caved and chastised the president. The left did what the left always does - claim victimhood and blame the president. And the press, well, they soiled their shorts like they haven't soiled them in a very long time.
The four-hour Viagra time limit has clearly been exceeded.
It has been non-stop hyperventilation about how we fought the Nazi's and what they stood for. The maddening irony is that all of these supposed anti-fascist groups and media are actually practicing exactly what we fought against in World War II: Shut down and silence the opposition through violence.
RINO-In-Chief, John McCain
The media soiled themselves again. Kleenex, to the publisher's office, stat!
Trump, NOT ONCE, said the BELIEFS OR WORDS of any of the groups were morally equivalent (although I would challenge that when discussing the antifa and black nationalist groups).
The moral equivalence is not about what the various groups stand for, it's how they BOTH VIOLENTLY ATTACKED THEIR OPPOSITION.
It was Classic Alinsky - "If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive." Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
Wait, what's this? The bastion of liberal, alt-left-think, The Los Angeles Times - to their credit - ran an article where basically both sides in the Charlottesville cluster-fuck proudly stated that they and their groups, started the violence. Seriously, both sides took credit!
Well slap my ass, and paint me a pinko! Isn't that what Trump said?
Don't matter. Queue crickets chirping.
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OK kids, buckle up as we enter the Way-Back-In-Time Capsule, and let's visit Dallas, Texas in July of 2016 - one whole, long year ago - practically ancient history:
In July of 2016, an avowed black nationalist murdered five police officers during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Dallas, Texas. The act of violence was well-planned and was motivated entirely by the hate-filled ideology of the shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson.
With several officers dead by the hand of a committed black nationalist, one might think the Obama administration may have considered the assassinations domestic terror and launched an investigation into groups associated with this ideology.
Not at all.
Barack Obama condemned the shootings, but he did not call out or even allude to Johnson’s hateful views. He did, however, blame “powerful weapons” for the violence.
In her statement on the shooting, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch exploited the tragedy to push for gun control and praise the cause of Black Lives Matter. No mention of Johnson’s ideology or “hate” was made in her statement, but she did manage to directly name multiple cases of police-involved shootings — all after cops were the ones murdered.Ah, the old switcheroo! "Wardrobe! Bring in the Strawman!"
Don't blame the individual, blame the inanimate object. That would be like Trump blaming the murder of the woman in Charlottesville on the car.
Trump would then have AG Sessions march out and chastise car makers for the death and destruction they've brought upon our fair land, then defend the Nazis for their good works and blaming the Jews for "being in the wrong place at the wrong time".
Except none of that happened. Trump gets hammered and Obama gets his belly rubbed and told what a great guy he is.
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The real world:
This shit is getting real. We are seeing with disturbing regularity where police departments are ordered to stand-down when leftists riot and/or initiate violence.
Democrat-controlled cities will provide you no safe harbor. You will not be allowed to speak of ideas and policies which are in opposition to the controlling narrative of the left.
The police in these cities have, uniformly, been instructed to "stand down", and they've followed those orders. WITHOUT EXCEPTION, cities which have had left-wing violence directed towards right-wing speech - and where the police stood by with their hands in the tactical vest pockets - have been cities controlled by Democrats: Berkeley (more times than I can count), Baltimore, San Jose, Ferguson, San Francisco, St. Louis, Seattle, Oakland, Washington DC, Portland, Sacramento, and, oh yeah, Charlottesville.
Here's the thing: I'm not suggesting you don't go to any damned rally or convention, or hear any speaker you want. Not even close.
I'm just saying that you need to expect unchecked violence if the city in which you are attending the event is a Democrat-controlled city.
As a personal suggestion, get your CCW license if your state requires one to carry a gun, and get to the range on a regular basis. It is a horrible thing to think of having to defend your life for expressing your political beliefs, but that's where we are.
Or don't, and get your head caved in by a bike lock being wielded like a mace, or baseball bat using your head for T-ball practice. Your choice.
It would be more horrible to see our right of free speech and assembly violently taken away by these leftist fascists.
Hide your head in the sand, click your heels and wish it all away. Pretend it's just a phase our country is going through, and "this too, shall pass".
Or do something, and prepare.
Here in Nevada, there's a whole lot of physical red state between me and Clark County (Las Vegas), and a decent amount between me and Washoe County (Reno). On the down-side, those two counties account for 87% of the population of the state. Clark County alone is around two-thirds of the state population.
Still, my wife will soon be picking up her CCW. She regularly works in Carson City (the state capitol) and that's prime protest turf for the leftists.
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As an aside, Reno in Washoe County is an interesting city. Outside of the city proper, it's as red-state as you can get. Seriously, it's surrounded on all sides by conservatives! I've heard serious talk of partitioning the county just above Reno, and creating a separate, new county. The folks that live in that area have absolutely nothing in common with the sanctuary city, leftist ideology of Reno.
Could be interesting.....
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