” Conduct is conduct. Speech is speech,”
Um, conduct includes speech.
>>Um, conduct includes speech.<<
It can, but not always. If I quietly raise a blade and cut a mans head off yet say nothing, there is no “speech”.
Gates problem was not what he said, it was the accompanying conduct and the way it was said that got him into trouble. Belligerence is never a good way to do things. Especially with folks with nightclubs and guns, and the authority to use them. In those cases it is best to apply the implications of the “other side” of the ol’ “Barking dogs never bite” axiom.