Posted on 04/08/2020 12:49:12 PM PDT by dsc
PAGE, Ariz. (AP) - Authorities in northern Arizona have arrested a man for writing a racist social media post accusing Navajo people of carrying the coronavirus and calling for their deaths.
The Page Police Department announced Tuesday that 34-year-old Daniel Franzen was taken into custody on suspicion of attempting to incite an act of terrorism.
Police say they received reports Monday of a Facebook post that urged people to use “lethal force” against the Navajo community because they were “100% infected” with COVID-19.
That said, it is abhorrent that speech, however offensive, can get you arrested. Punched in the mouth and roundly thumped, sure, but we should have learned this lesson from George Orwell.
The FBI could have played him along and offered to provide the means to carry out his plans , like they do with ISIS sycophants, and then made the arrest. The way it is , probably a lawyer will get the charges dismissed
Another Democrat lunatic?
Have the Navajos been hit hard by the virus?
What an idiot. It’s hanta(sp) virus. And yes, I went to high scrool with quite a few in Albuquerque. Mid 60’s time frame.
Navajos are some of the nicest people around. BIG hearts.
The Navajo tribe is not the only hot spot, the small Pueblos in NM just recorded a huge infection count attributing NM increased infected count just yesterday.
I will say that the natives I guess just have no understanding of not mingling. Just this morning having to stop at a grocery I had to repeatedly move away from native shoppers that sidle beside you. Distancing seems a foreign construct to them at times. I have lived in a town bordering the reservation for 50 years so am well attuned to native customs. Their president is trying, but dear god when he has to shut it all down for 2 1/2 days because they just aren't getting it, you have to feel for the man and his struggle.
Pretty hard, as of Apr 7 426 cases 17 deaths in a reservation of about 175,000 tribal members living on the reservation and the same number off the reservation. Compared with the entire state of NM at 794 cases and 13 deaths at a population of just over 2 million. A pretty solid hit as the reservation occupies 27,000 square miles of land in Utah, Arizona and NM and is sparsely populated.
By comparison to the rest of NM, yes.
It depends on the phrasing he used but if what he said is a true threat, then that is legally actionable.
Bellyaching about a group is protected. Making a threat you have the means to carry out is not.
Thanks for the information.
I must confess that I am surprised, both that there is a lot of COVID on the res, and that they are not self isolating.
I wonder why that is.
One of my good friends is a Navajo shaman. Super guy and good friend
In general, how is the promotion of mass murder a free speech concern?
I realize the Muslims and Left get away with it, but it shouldn’t be tolerated.
“Making a threat you have the means to carry out is not.”
They reported that he said something like “somebody ought to” rather than “I am going to.” Since the media lie constantly, though, I’m not going out on a limb for them.
In America, the principle has always been “everything is allowed except what is specifically prohibited,” rather than “everything is prohibited except what is specifically allowed.”
Hate speech laws make it difficult to know what is prohibited. Some nasty leftwad moron can pop up and characterize almost anything you say as “hate speech.”
Any incitement to violence is a crime and not protected by the First Amendment.
Over 20 deaths so far in the Navajo Nation, diabetes is a big problem up there, plus the cancers caused by the uranium mines
There’s a big difference between ‘somebody ought to’ and ‘I think they should be charged with spreading the virus.’ Both are nonsensical, but the first is akin to incitement of Americans against fellow Americans [insurrection] in opposition to the law while the latter would just be a plea for the government to take action.
“In general, how is the promotion of mass murder a free speech concern?”
Define “promotion.” If I, sitting here in my living room, begin to rant about how some group or another should be taken out and shot, am I “promoting” mass murder? Who is going to hear and act upon my words? Is there any reasonable expectation that mass murder will result from my ranting?
Do we really want a country in which you can’t go down to your corner bar, do a few 12-ounce curls, and blow off some steam without the thought police busting in and dragging us off to jail?
We know quite well that the left intends to use such laws to eliminate all dissent. Already many Americans are hesitant to express their political opinions in public. I remember a time when it seemed unlikely that the lunatic fringe would be able to impose the notions of hate crime and hate speech upon a free country, but derned if they didn’t do it somehow.
These concepts are a bleeding wound upon our body politic, and we need to eliminate them.
“I realize the Muslims and Left get away with it, but it shouldn’t be tolerated.”
I don’t see how we would profit from preventing muzzies and leftwads from expressing their beliefs. We need to prevent them from *acting* on their beliefs, but freedom of conscience is one of the founding principles of this Great Nation.
“akin to incitement”
That seems pretty vague to me. I don’t think we should be arresting people for something that seems “akin” to something that might be a crime.
When you are calling for the killing of people that ain’t speech. That is a terroristic threat
This guy is an a$& hat
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