Free Republic

The message of the San Jose violence is that you don't have a right to go support the candidate you want as you had in the past. No more corny political rallies, no more cutesy red-white-and-blue satin basketball outfits with pom-poms to cheer your candidate, they are off limits without bullet-proof vests and bodyguards. If you ignore this new reality, you will be beaten to a pulp by righteous mobs brandishing foreign flags. You don't have that right anymore. Politics is now a maelstrom of baying mobs with burning tires, shattered bottles, eggs hurled, shot-out tires, smashed in windshields, rocks...

We're all familiar with the anti-Trump forces protesting at Donald Trump's events. Actually, it's not so much about protesting, as much as it is about inciting a riot. Such events have been well covered by the press which have shown scenes of demonstrators in California waving Mexican flags and burning American flags. Recently, a young woman, who was a Trump supporter, tried to talk to the demonstrators and was attacked for wearing a Trump shirt. Some of the demonstrators are from liberal organizations bent on defeating Donald Trump in the November election. Not surprising, their tactics are well choreographed. The...

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is coming to the Richmond Coliseum Friday. Local Democratic party leaders are looking to get out ahead of the planned protests. The message is simple: No one needs to go to jail. "He has a right to come here," said Richmond Democratic Committee Chair James "JJ" Minor. "But he isn't welcome here." Protesters shouting "Black Lives Matter" were physically removed during Trump's last Rally at the Richmond International Raceway. "We don't want Donald Trump as our president," said Minor who has a message for protesters. "Keep it peaceful. He's a...

ALBUQUERQUE — An advocacy group that sought to help organize an anti-Donald Trump protest in Albuquerque that later turned violent says its staffers are getting death threats. The Albuquerque-based Southwest Organizing Project said this week the group’s staffers have been receiving racist emails and phone calls since the May 24 demonstration that resulted in thousands of dollars in damage and injured police officers....

A writer for the Huffington Post is defending his recent op-ed that "a violent response” is the “logical” approach to stopping presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Jesse Benn wrote in the op-ed titled “Sorry Liberals, A Violent Response To Trump Is As Logical As Any,” posted on Monday, “[T]here’s an inherent value in forestalling Trump’s normalization. Violent resistance accomplishes this.” "These denunciations of violence from anti-Trump protestors rest on the misguided view that the divide Trump’s exposed is a typical political disagreement between partisans, and should be handled as such.," he wrote. "This couldn’t be further from the truth. Trump...

Under the Obama administration, lawlessness is the norm. Those who break the law are protected while law-abiding citizens are left to fend for themselves. We have all seen the unbelievable violence that has been thrust upon the attendees of Trump Rallies. If you haven’t seen the videos, then it is time to change the news station you watch. Why are the innocent victims being beaten and harassed while law enforcement stand down? Do the leaders of these cities have political agendas and are these protestors really angered by Trump’s message or are they being paid to riot? Juan Hernandez was...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities in Northern California have arrested three teenage boys involved in violent attacks against Donald Trump supporters after a political rally last week in San Jose, California. The San Jose Police Department said Wednesday that one of the juvenile suspects was arrested for felony assault with a deadly weapon after he was recorded on video striking a man with a blunt object. The victim can be seen bleeding from the head....

A writer for the Huffington Post is defending his recent op-ed that "a violent response” is the “logical” approach to stopping presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Jesse Benn wrote in the op-ed titled “Sorry Liberals, A Violent Response To Trump Is As Logical As Any,” posted on Monday, “[T]here’s an inherent value in forestalling Trump’s normalization. Violent resistance accomplishes this.” "These denunciations of violence from anti-Trump protestors rest on the misguided view that the divide Trump’s exposed is a typical political disagreement between partisans, and should be handled as such.," he wrote. "This couldn’t be further from the truth. Trump...

One Huffington Post writer has taken up the argument that “a violent response” is the “logical” approach to the candidacy of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump Writer Jesse Benn wrote in a recent op-ed, “[T]here’s an inherent value in forestalling Trump’s normalization. Violent resistance accomplishes this.” In a piece aimed at liberals who have condemned violence at Trump rallies, Benn argued that those who say violence is always “unacceptable and counterproductive” ignore “the history of successful violent insurrection in the US, instead favoring the elementary school version of history in which nonviolence is the only means of struggle that’s ever...

The vice chair of California's Republican party supported a rally on Monday at San Jose City Hall to demand answers to the violence that erupted at the Donald Trump rally last week. Harmeet Dhillon, who is a Trump backer and an attorney in San Jose, said she is in favor of a group called Silicon Valley Vet, who is asking San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo how the Thursday rally got so out of hand. Trump's critics were seen as the main antagonists of the raucous behavior, which included egging, bruising and punches.

After Clinton and Sanders supporters rioted at his San Jose rally, Hillary Clinton, the mayor and the media all blamed Trump. Why? The same reason rape victims are to blame for their rapes. Riots and physical violence have become synonymous with Donald Trump’s rallies, even expected. But the violence has escalated to physical attacks on Trump supporters as they arrive or attempt to leave. In Chicago in March, the Trump campaign canceled a rally at the University of Illinois due to “growing safety concerns.” Later in March, protestors blocked roads to a Trump rally near Phoenix. There were larger-scale protests...

From Chicago to Albuquerque to San Diego, and now last week’s obscene riot in San Jose, California, Americans and the world saw supporters of the liberal agenda violently target Trump supporters, peacefully trying to attend a rally, as though they were prey. Make no mistake — these supposed anti-Trump riots are not organic nor are they natural; they are the result of leftist organizing using paid stooges. Fox News reported in March a Craigslist ad posted by Bernie Sanders supporters offering $15 an hour to protest at a Trump rally in Wisconsin. They would also provide shuttle bus transport, parking...

The rise of Donald Trump has exposed the frightening underbelly of America’s foulest tendencies. Our racism, nativism, xenophobia, misogyny, Islamophobia, ableism, and propensity toward authoritarianism have been laid bare. Reactions from those who stand opposed to these manifestations of oppression have varied from calm condemnation and routine peaceful protests, to blockades of roads and borderline riotous outbursts, including sporadic violence in various cities. This isn’t a coincidence. There are so many examples of Trump inciting violence the New York Times put together this video documenting some of them. A powerful video juxtaposing his longing for the violence against protestors from...

Dilbert creator Scott Adams hasn't been shy about weighing in on his thoughts about the 2016 election. He's been critical of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the past, but his comments on the recent protests in San Jose make a very good point: they're helping Trump....

Dilbert creator Scott Adams has at last announced his presidential endorsement: I’ve decided to come off the sidelines and endorse a candidate for President of the United States. […] This past week we saw Clinton pair the idea of President Trump with nuclear disaster, racism, Hitler, the Holocaust, and whatever else makes you tremble in fear. That is good persuasion if you can pull it off because fear is a strong motivator. It is also a sharp pivot from Clinton’s prior approach of talking about her mastery of policy details, her experience, and her gender. Trump took her so-called “woman...

Asked about the violent protests at Donald Trump rallies, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders gave a clear answer. "Violence is absolutely and totally unacceptable," he said. He added that if anyone was considering becoming violent, "please do not tell anybody you are a Bernie Sanders supporter, because those are not the supporters that I want." Of course, he couldn't help but also bash Trump, adding that he found the New York business mogul's positions "reprehensible and disgraceful," before launching into a lengthy diatribe about Trump's insults toward women and minorities. Still, Sanders told his audience that defeating Trump would not...

Perhaps realizing initial statements gave short shrift to the violent episodes outside of Donald Trump’s rally Thursday night at the San Jose Convention Center, both Mayor Sam Liccardo and the San Jose police released additional comments Friday. SJPD initially limited its release of information regarding the violent clashes to noting an officer was assaulted and a “few” people were arrested. Liccardo commended police in his original statement, but seemed to have it both ways in blaming Trump and the people who participated in assaults taking place in the streets following the rally. In an email blast Friday morning, Liccardo came...

Killer gene The killer read his Bible. He drank. Heavily. It was a fall night in 2006, when Bradley Waldroup walked out of his rural trailer in southeastern Tennessee, carrying his .22 caliber hunting rifle. His estranged wife and her friend, Leslie Bradshaw, had just pulled up to drop off the Waldroups’ four children. Waldroup began arguing with his wife and Bradshaw, who was unloading the car. Drawing his gun, Waldroup shot Bradshaw eight times, killing her. He used a knife to cut her head open. He then chased his wife with the knife and a machete, managing to slice...

After an anti-Trump protest in San Jose descended into mob violence last week, Emmett Rensin, one of Vox’s crypto-Marxist editors, suggested people should indeed stage riots if Donald Trump comes to their town. “All violence against human lives and bodies is categorically immoral,” he wrote. “Property destruction is vastly more negotiable.” To Ezra Klein’s credit, Rensin was promptly suspended from his position at Vox. One imagines Rensin might feel differently about property violence if the property in question were his own, but presumably he’s hoping it won’t come to that. Maybe his building’s doorman will be able to turn the...

San Jose Chief of Police Eddie Garcia, who is under fire for his handling of rioters in his city Thursday night after a Trump rally, promised a “progressive” administration in a post-Ferguson environment when he was first sworn in. According to The San Jose Mercury News, back in late January Garcia stressed deploying de-escalation strategies before using force in riot situations. “We have to be progressive. We have to listen to what the community says,” he said. “Our officers don’t have their heads in the sand. They see what’s going on in other places. There are things we can do...