Jeffrey Scott Shapiro: "No, Trump isn't guilty of incitement"

The president didn’t commit incitement or any other crime. I should know.  As a Washington prosecutor I earned the nickname “protester prosecutor” from the antiwar group CodePink.  In one trial, I convicted 31 protesters who disrupted congressional traffic by obstructing the Capitol Crypt.  In another, I convicted a CodePink activist who smeared her hands with fake blood, charged at then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a House hearing room, and incited the audience to seize the secretary of state physically.  In other cases, I dropped charges when the facts fell short of the legal standard for incitement.  One such defendant was the antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan. 

Hostile journalists and lawmakers have suggested Mr. Trump incited the riot when he told a rally that Republicans need to “fight much harder.”  Mr. Trump suggested the crowd walk to the Capitol: “We’re going to cheer on brave senators and congressmen and -women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.  Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness.  You have to show strength and you have to be strong.” 

In the District of Columbia, it’s a crime to “intentionally or recklessly act in such a manner to cause another person to be in reasonable fear” and to “incite or provoke violence where there is a likelihood that such violence will ensue.”  This language is based on Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), in which the Supreme Court set the standard for speech that could be prosecuted without violating the First Amendment.  The justices held that a Ku Klux Klan leader’s calls for violence against blacks and Jews were protected speech.  The court found that Clarence Brandenburg’s comments were “mere advocacy” of violence, not “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action . . . likely to incite or produce such action.” 

The president didn’t mention violence on Wednesday, much less provoke or incite it.  He said, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

~ Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, "No, Trump Isn't Guilty of Incitement," The Wall Street Journal, January 10, 2021

Paul Gottried on the use of riots for political gain

Riots by what Tucker Carlson aptly characterized as the “Biden voters” did not happen by chance. The Democratic Party and the overwhelmingly Democratic media condoned and even incited these “peaceful protests,” and former Vice President Biden’s staff labored mightily to bail out apprehended perpetrators of violence in order to put them back onto the streets. This is standard operating procedure for political movements trying to seize power. After World War II, the Soviets arranged for mob violence in Hungary, Poland, and other countries they occupied as preparation for the imposition of a Communist dictatorship. This violence, authorities claimed, proved the need for a new order. 

The Nazi Brown Shirts wrought havoc in Weimar Germany that Hitler then insisted only his rule would end. While Brown Shirts battled with real Communists on the streets of German cities, our media have less credible street enemies. The best they can come up with is the mostly powerless, racially integrated Proud Boys, policemen who killed or wounded several black men with long criminal records, and President Trump’s indelicate phraseology. Apparently, these troublemakers, not the Democratic-friendly BLM and Antifa, were behind the mayhem and looting during the “Summer of Violence.”

~ Paul Gottried, "What an American One-Party System Would Really Look Like," American Greatness, October 25, 2020

Tom DiLorenzo compares cultural Marxism to past Marxist revolutions

The whole history of Marxist revolutions is that the older civilization, which may have evolved over centuries, is in fact destroyed and then replaced with nothing but totalitarian thuggery, corruption, violence, and mass killing.

~ Tom DiLorenzo, "Your Marxist Revolutionary Sons and Daughters," LewRockwell.com, October 16, 2020

AP Stylebook offers guidance on using the word "riot"

New guidance on AP Stylebook Online: 

Use care in deciding which term best applies: 

A riot is a wild or violent disturbance of the peace involving a group of people. The term riot suggests uncontrolled chaos and pandemonium. (1/5) 

Focusing on rioting and property destruction rather than underlying grievance has been used in the past to stigmatize broad swaths of people protesting against lynching, police brutality or for racial justice, going back to the urban uprisings of the 1960s. (2/5) 

Unrest is a vaguer, milder and less emotional term for a condition of angry discontent and protest verging on revolt. (3/5) 

Protest and demonstration refer to specific actions such as marches, sit-ins, rallies or other actions meant to register dissent. They can be legal or illegal, organized or spontaneous, peaceful or violent, and involve any number of people. (4/5) 

Revolt and uprising both suggest a broader political dimension or civil upheavals, a sustained period of protests or unrest against powerful groups or governing systems. (5/5)

~ AP Stylebook, tweet, October 1, 2020

Kevin Duffy on the first Trump-Biden debate

Trump had the civil society vote in his pocket thanks to 4 months of "mostly peaceful" BLM protests. He lost that in 90 minutes of not being able to shut his mouth. 

Biden was cognitively on the ropes many times, but Trump saved him by interrupting.

~ Kevin Duffy, tweet, September 29, 2020

Micah Curtis on Antifa

One of my biggest issues since the death of George Floyd and the beginning of the riots has been the complete and total lack of honesty when it comes to Antifa. This is not just a group of people that dislikes far-right politics. Their name stands for anti-fascist action, but it is intellectually dishonest to look at what they are doing and think this has anything to do with fighting fascism. Their goal is revolution, and it’s likely that if you were to ask them if they think that Pol Pot did anything wrong, their answer would be no.

~ Micah Curtis, "Antifa in Portland Vow To Kill Cops, Along With Their Families, Children & Friends," LewRockwell.com, September 28, 2020

Lew Rockwell on looting, vigilantism and private security services

Ordinary Americans cannot rely on the police to protect them. In many cases, leftwing governors and mayors have ordered to police to stand down. For them, solidarity with the rioters is more important than the lives and property of decent citizens. We have seen the absurdity of rioters being called “peaceful protestors” when videos show cities aflame. When the police do their duty and counter the violence of the thugs, they are vilified as racists, indicted, and even shot at and killed. In these circumstances, they are hardly likely to stay on the job. If the police don’t protect you, you have no legal recourse, and in some places, police won’t even investigate cases of looting... 

What then are we supposed to do? In an interview on the Tucker Carlson show September 23, Danny Coulson, a retired Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI, condemned the rioters. But he thought that there was something even worse than the burning and looting, and this was the main reason he condemned them. Their actions might lead to “vigilante justice”. People must not take the law into their own hands—that could lead to chaos. Instead, we must unify around support of the police. 

His advice is useless, and it rests on a false premise. How can we support the police, when they aren’t protecting us? His advice is like urging us to put out a fire with a hose unattached to a hydrant. The false premise is that vigilante justice is bad. Is it? Let’s look at the definition of the term: “Vigilantism is the act of enforcement, investigation or punishment of perceived offenses without legal authority... 

In other words, you are a vigilante if you exercise your basic right of self-defense, without the permission of the predatory State that support the rioters and looters. In fact, if people defended and protected themselves, the result would not be chaos, but a far better system than we have now. As the great Murray Rothbard explained, people in a free market society would defend themselves by hiring private protection agencies. The agencies would compete to provide the services customers wanted, rather than cater to the whim of a mob or promote venality and power-seeking, as officials of the State do now. As Murray again and again stressed, the free market is always better at supplying goods and services than the State, and protection and defense are no exceptions.

~ Lew Rockwell, "Self-Defense and 'Taking the Law into Your Own Hands'," LewRockwell.com, September 26, 2020

Kenosha resident on the riots

If…you don’t live here… you could not possibly understand what we went thru. People should wait before they jump to conclusions. I just am disgusted beyond words at the judgement that’s happening. DISGUSTED

~ Kenosha, Wisconsin resident, "A Terrifying Eye-Witness Account of the Kenosha Riots: 'Everyone in the city was getting ready for a war'," LewRockwell.com, September 15, 2020

Nerdrotic on the mass exodus from San Francisco

I don't want to live in a city where rioting and looting is allowed.   I know, that sounds crazy.  I'm the bad guy here.  But I don't want to live in a place where it's against the law for my wife to go and run her business, but it's perfectly ok if someone wakes up in the morning and burns down my wife's business.

~ Nerdrotic, " San Francisco's Mass Exodus," YouTube, 2:08 mark

Paul Craig Roberts on "white privilege"

The vicious propaganda in the United States against white people is as bad if not worse than the Nazi propaganda against Jews, and it will have the same result. Indeed, it already has. What is the difference between krystallnacht and the looting and burning of white businesses?

~ Paul Craig Roberts, "White Privilege?," LewRockwell.com, August 21, 2020

Daniel Ajamian on the recent events and the cultural Marxism strategy

What I hear of college, and it also is true in business and government, are stories of various cultural indoctrinations – made ever-more intense given the pretext for these recent riots. Politically correct speech to include even compelled speech, cancel culture, self-flagellation, a fight for the gold medal in the oppression olympics. If you disagree with any of this, you are a fascist. To further cement this indoctrination, a requirement to take classes that tear down Western Civilization – even saying those two words in anything other than a scornful tone could be costly.

There is a purpose behind this, a strategy. Events that we have been living through recently are not spontaneous or random. This is not accidental. These events are the result of a political strategy designed to strip us of our liberty. It is an insidious strategy. It is also very effective.

~ Daniel Ajamian, "The Greatest Political Strategist in History," talk delivered at 2020 Mises University, July 18, 2020

Tom DiLorenzo on the BLM riots

[W]hat started out as riots supposedly over police brutality against black people turning into “demands” for an exponentially bigger welfare state, abolition of police and prisons, the abolition of capitalism and in essence the adoption of socialism. Toppling statues of Christopher Columbus, Ulysses S. Grant, abolitionist Albert Pike, and even of Lincoln is not a protest against police brutality but part of an effort to destroy the institutions of Western civilization and replace them with communism at long last.  As one of the founders of Black Lives Matter proudly boasted, “We are trained Marxists. (“Trained” by Obama-style “community organizers,” no doubt).

~ Tom DiLorenzo, "A Disease in the Public Mind, Part II?," LewRockwell.com, June 29, 2020

USA Today tries to downplay the term "riot"

Language choices matter: The term "riot" is loaded, and it's why many use "rebellion," instead, experts said. One suggests reckless violence. The other signifies political resistance to oppression.

~ Alia E. Dastagir, "'Riots,' 'violence,' 'looting': Words matter when talking about race and unrest, experts say," USA Today, May 31, 2020

Vasko Kohlmayer on the role of Democrats and Republicans in the 2020 riots

Perhaps more than anything, the riots revealed the dysfunctional state of our political system. One of our two major political parties openly encouraged and actively abetted the mayhem. Difficult as it may be to believe, the Democrats on all levels defended and excused the perpetrators from the very outset.

[...]

While the Democrats were busy plying their agitprop and sanctioning the vandalization of our country, the Republicans responded by doing exactly nothing. Rather than standing up for law and order in the face of violence and brazen lies, they meekly went along and silently conceded to most of the looters’ and democrats’ demands. Spineless and morally hollowed out, the Republicans completely ceded the moral ground to the criminal mobs and their abettors in the Democratic Party. Unwilling to defend the truth, justice, law enforcement and law-obeying citizens, they let the Left rule the day.

~ Vasko Kohlmayer, "America in Crisis: The Predicament," LewRockwell.com, June 25, 2020

Walter Williams on the breakdown of law enforcement during 2020 riots

That brings me to one of the most disturbing aspects of the rioting and looting. That is the seeming impotence of people whom we elect and pay to enforce the law. That includes governors, mayors and police chiefs who refuse to use their law enforcement powers to protect citizens and their property from criminals. Unfortunately, politicians who call for law and order are often viewed negatively. But that makes little sense. Poor people are more dependent on law and order than anyone else. In the face of high crime or social disorder, wealthier people can afford to purchase alarm systems, buy guard dogs, hire guards and, if things get too bad, move to a gated community. These options are not available to poor people. Their only protection is an orderly society.

~ Walter Williams, "Now What?," LewRockwell.com, June 17, 2020

Daisy Luther on the Seattle riots

As you can see, you can’t depend on anyone to come and save you when unrest shows up in your neighborhood. The people who were there, willing, and able to defend Seattle were forced to stand down. You have to expect to be completely on your own.

~ Daisy Luther, editor of The Organic Prepper newsletter, "A Shocking Account of What REALLY Happened During the Seattle Riots," TMIN, June 14, 2020

Michael Snyder on the mass exodus of businesses from cities as a result of the riots and looting

Urban communities all over the U.S. are now facing the possibility of a mass exodus of businesses, and many local leaders are freaking out because they realize what such a mass exodus will mean for their cities. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, peaceful protests were held in more than 300 cities all across America, and a recent CNN poll found that 84 percent of all Americans supported those peaceful protests. Unfortunately, rioting, looting and violence also erupted in major cities from coast to coast, and very little was done to suppress that violence. As a result, the core areas of many of our largest cities now resemble war zones, and in the months ahead there will be a constant threat that the violence could flare up again at any time.

~ Michael Snyder, publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, "As Businesses Flee the Violence, Will Major U.S. Cities Be Transformed Into Economic Wastelands?," June 10, 2020

Fox 9 News: "The state did not make much of a move to prevent this statue from coming down"

The state did not make much of a move to prevent this statue from coming down.  The state knew of this.  This was not a surprise.  The Public Safety Commissioner, John Herrington, said earlier today that he knew that there was a threat on social media against the Christopher Columbus statue.  He said that the state patrol would be out here to urge the group not to tear the statue down and to follow the normal channels.  There was only one trooper out here making that request to follow the normal channels.  The group didn't listen.  The statue is on the ground.

~ Fox 9 News, KMSP-TV Minneapolis-St. Paul, "Columbus statue toppled during live TV report at Minnesota capitol," June 10, 2020

Charlene Day-Castro on the toppling of the Christopher Columbus statue in St. Paul

For us as Native American people, we think yesterday was an awesome day.  It is huge, a significant event that happened yesterday, although it might’ve been against some laws, it wasn’t against our natural laws.

~ Charlene Day-Castro, "Native American families react to the removal of Christopher Columbus statue in St. Paul," Eyewitness News, KSTP-TV, June 11, 2020

Ryan McMaken on the connection between the Covid-19 lockdowns and the BLM riots

There were many reasons to oppose the COVID-19 lockdowns. They cost human lives in terms of deferred medical treatment. They cost human lives in terms of greater suicide and drug overdoses. Domestic abuse and child abuse have increased. There is also good reason to believe that lockdowns don't actually work. The lockdown activists capitalized on media-stoked fear to push their authoritarian agenda based not on science, but on the whims of a handful of experts who insisted that they need not present any actual evidence that their bizarre, draconian, and extreme scheme was worth the danger posed to human rights, health, and the economic well-being of billions of human beings.

Those who lacked the obsessive and irresponsible tunnel vision of the prolockdown people warned that there were other dangers as well, in terms of social and political conflict.

~ Ryan McMaken, "Three Ways Lockdowns Paved the Way for These Riots," Mises.org, June 2, 2020