[LucianOfSamasota]

I really hate the notion of ‘hate’ crimes.
If battery was committed, then battery is the crime.

The idea that some crimes deserve extra punishment because they were perpetrated upon on or by a certain demographic is repulsive. It is the converse of the American and Christian ideal that Justice is blind.

‘Hate crime’ is the less known but equally Orwellian equivalent of ‘thought crime’.

[jsanders2001]

I think the point is that the government has extended it’s definition of hate crimes to include different belief systems and will probably continue to expand that definition to include religious belief systems with the exception of Islam of course. Treading in dangerous waters.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I strongly agree. If there's kidnapping, battery, and felony criminal conspiracy, thenm that'sd what it is. Prosecute and give them the maximum, if that's what it is. But the additionl layer of "federal hate crime" is bringing in the Feds to determine some special class of perp or special class of victim which is dangerously ideological.

The tough sentence doesn't bother me. The ideological groundwoprk being laid --- thoughttcrime, federalization of prosecution --- bothers me a lot. The "thought-crime" category is dangerous to us all.