Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Loretta Lynch: We will prosecute hateful rhetoric about Muslims that "edges towards violence"
Hot Air.com ^ | December 4, 2015 | ALLAHPUNDIT

Posted on 12/04/2015 7:13:52 PM PST by Kaslin

Via BuzzFeed. To be honest, I’m not sure my headline captures what she’s saying. Watch the clip and ask yourself if she’s talking about hateful acts or hateful speech. Not so clear, is it? She mentions speech and rhetoric and the First Amendment but she keeps coming back to prosecuting actions. If all she’s saying is that she’ll charge anyone who acts violently towards Muslims, that’s not newsworthy. That’s her doing her job. If what she’s saying is that she’ll charge anyone who speaks violently about Muslims, that’s something else. She could have spoken perfectly clearly on this subject if she wanted to. The fact that she didn’t means she intended to be vague. How come?

You have the right to say you hate a particular person or a particular group. You don’t have the right to try to harm that person or group. One is speech, protected by the First Amendment, the other is action. The gray area is when someone uses speech to encourage someone else to act violently. Even then, speech is usually protected. You can say, e.g., “let’s kill the atheists” without fear of going to jail. If you say that, though, to someone who seems like he really does want to kill some atheists and there just so happens to be some atheists nearby at that moment, then you can be prosecuted for saying it. That’s incitement. The rule courts follow in analyzing a case like that is whether the speech was intended to produce, and likely to produce, imminent lawless action. Because of that, it’s almost impossible to be guilty of incitement in most situations. If you’re addressing an angry mob, you’re in the danger zone. Anywhere else — especially if your speech consists of writing, not spoken words, since writing can’t trigger “imminent” action — and you’re safe. Threats operate similarly. If you say “the atheists should be killed,” courts will chalk that up to hyperbole or political grandstanding and refuse to let the state prosecute for it. If you say it, though, to a group of atheists while your hand rests uneasily on your holstered semiautomatic, well, that’s different. That threat seems real. You can go to jail for that.

So, with that as background, what does this mean?

"Now obviously this is a country that is based on free speech," she said. "but when it edges towards violence, when we see the potential for someone lifting that mantle of anti-Muslim rhetoric or, as we saw after 9/11, violence against individuals when we see that, we will take action."…

"I think it's important that as we again talk about the importance of free speech we make it clear that actions predicated on violent talk are not America. They are not who we are, they are not what we do, and they will be prosecuted," she concluded.

Actions will be prosecuted? Yup, that’s typically how law enforcement works. Speech that “edges towards violence” will be prosecuted? That’s … sometimes how law enforcement works, if it meets the rule I described above about threats or incitement. If it doesn’t, though, then she’s talking out of her ass — or at least, she is for the moment. Some Democrats are jonesing for a new legal standard that would let the state charge people with “hate speech.” Is Lynch one of them? Is she going to try to prosecute someone for writing “kill all the Muslims” or whatever on Facebook, hoping/expecting that the Supreme Court will revisit its rules for free speech and allow that conviction to stand? Or is she just pandering to her audience (a Muslim advocacy group) by floating some legal gobbledygook about speech that “edges towards violence,” when in reality all she means are the threats and incitement that are already criminal under the law?

TRUNEWS VIDEO: AG Loretta Lynch to Prosecute 'Anti-Muslim Speech'


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: 1stamendment; attorneygeneral; brandenburg; doj; firstamendment; hateful; highcrimes; incitement; lorettalynch; lynch; muslim; obama; rhetoric; treason; waronfreespeech; waronmuslimwomen
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-116 next last
To: grey_whiskers

If you are short on time, don’t log in.


61 posted on 12/04/2015 7:44:54 PM PST by Misterioso (Jihadists are driven by the Prophet motive.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Lurkinanloomin

Yup.


62 posted on 12/04/2015 7:44:55 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to to God!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin; Old Sarge; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; freeangel; kalee; TWhiteBear; Salvation; ...
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

63 posted on 12/04/2015 7:45:27 PM PST by LucyT
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: doc1019

Hey, I love your tag line. You describe me to a “T”, whatever that actually means.


64 posted on 12/04/2015 7:46:04 PM PST by RitaOK ( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Misterioso

Sorry. I misinterpreted you post.


65 posted on 12/04/2015 7:46:34 PM PST by Misterioso (Jihadists are driven by the Prophet motive.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar

LOL!!!


66 posted on 12/04/2015 7:48:25 PM PST by RitaOK ( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Loretta,

What about the hateful rhetoric toward Christians? (Example: “Infidels, we will kill you.”


67 posted on 12/04/2015 7:48:32 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RitaOK

If radical islam prevails they will have to keep a few of us alive to provide jokes and levity.


68 posted on 12/04/2015 7:50:39 PM PST by SpaceBar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

69 posted on 12/04/2015 7:50:53 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Tell me again about chants of “Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon”, Aunt Giggles.


70 posted on 12/04/2015 7:51:44 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar

Priceless! Hubby and I are still laughing! I had to interrupt him watching the National Finals Rodeo on TV, to come read your little opus! We needed that hearty laugh! Thanks!


71 posted on 12/04/2015 7:51:58 PM PST by RitaOK ( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: RitaOK

My point exactly. Madness is an option, I guess ... if not, oh well. LOL!


72 posted on 12/04/2015 7:52:24 PM PST by doc1019 (Out of my mind ... back in 5)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: TexasGator
Refusing to bake wedding cakes for homosexuals;

or (even more pertinent)...

anything that "offends" : which in the case of San Bernardino, gives a whole *new* meaning to the term "TRIGGER WARNING".

Remember: when guns are outlawed, only Muslims will own guns.

73 posted on 12/04/2015 7:53:19 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: GreyHoundSailor

Lived and worked in muslim countries, too, and I admire NOTHING about their dysfunctional cultures.


74 posted on 12/04/2015 7:54:41 PM PST by CitizenUSA (Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: St_Thomas_Aquinas
Remember after the Gabby Giffords shooting, the county sheriff was on a radio show blaming Sarah Palin, and openly admitting on the air he was doing so without evidence.
75 posted on 12/04/2015 7:54:56 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: doc1019

So TRUE!! LOL! Just a great thought and a fun tag!


76 posted on 12/04/2015 7:55:24 PM PST by RitaOK ( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Ob-la-di ob-la-da life goes on...
La-la how the life goes on...

Only for some, friends, only for some. For others, life is a party and a wild, uncontrolled ride. HELL HATH NO FURY like a woman scorned. This may not be a true woman but she still has the fury.
GO TRUMP! GO CRUZ! ~ YOU WIN OR WE LOSE!!


77 posted on 12/04/2015 7:55:39 PM PST by V K Lee (u TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP to TRIUMPH Follow the lead MAKE AMERICA GREAT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RitaOK

You are welcome to it, I stole it from somewhere.


78 posted on 12/04/2015 7:58:00 PM PST by doc1019 (Out of my mind ... back in 5)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

She is blowing way too much hot air.


79 posted on 12/04/2015 7:59:10 PM PST by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Thanks to all of the repub pukes that voted to confirm this turd.


80 posted on 12/04/2015 8:08:04 PM PST by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-116 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson