I don't think Trump's speech on Wednesday meets the legal definition of incitement to riot—i.e., I don't think he could be prosecuted. But it inarguably contributed to the riot. He should resign, and if he doesn't, he should be impeached, removed, and barred from seeking office.
For the Founders "high crimes and misdemeanors" did not literally mean criminal behavior, it meant abusively abhorrent public misbehavior. Having egged on a crowd that ransacked the Capitol, resulting in 5 deaths, I think it's hard to argue that standard was not met.
If your rebuttal is “but Democrats” or “but media unfairness,” then you are not actually responding to the charge that what Trump did and said was horrible. Enough excuses.
I take mob violence extremely seriously. I’ve assailed the progressive left for giving up on free speech and accepting violence as a legitimate tactic on college campuses and in major cities around America. I wrote a whole book about it! amazon.com/Panic-Attack-Y…
It’s wrong to excuse one ideological mob—and the leaders who encourage it—while condemning another. What happened in Portland was an abomination. What happened at the Capitol last week was also an abomination.
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Like most people with a vaguely functioning moral compass, I was horrified by The New York Time's story, "A Racial Slur, a Viral Video, a Reckoning." But I don't blame the teen who publicized the video. I blame the NYT editors who lionized him for it. reason.com/2020/12/28/new…
I refer to Jimmy Galligan as cancel culture's Count of Monte Cristo for his unusually elaborate revenge scheme. But really, there's nothing unusual about teenagers being extremely cruel to each other. Maybe you don't remember high school? I sure do!
Young people say and do awful things to each other. The point of school is to socialize them out of this, to teach better behavior, to allow them to fail, to learn, to grow. That's why it's wrong to expect perfect behavior from a 15-year-old. No one can pass this standard.
It's a huge problem that many in the mainstream media and pundit class (i.e. the people attacking Maggie Haberman for daring to share NY Post's Hunter Biden scoop) now think its their job to suppress information they don't want the public to read. reason.com/2020/10/14/hun…
Would social media sites reduce distribution of the mainstream press's articles, which are often thinly or anonymously sourced? Would the BuzzFeed report on Steele Dossier need to pass a fact-checker's muster before you could share it? What are the rules here?
In defending publication of the Steele Dossier, @benyt wrote: "We trust you to reckon with a messy, sometimes uncertain reality." Try squaring that statement with all the mainstream media and social media moderators now asserting it's wrong to even note the Hunter Biden story.
Yes, I am aware that "orientation" has existed for some time as an alternative, and some people have—dare I say it—a *preference* for it. I really don't think the former is typically malicious, though.
This is really being made into a thing, I guess? "Orientation" can also be used in a way that implies a choice, though: i.e. people say "political orientation" all the time. slate.com/news-and-polit…
Every election year, in the interest of full disclosure, @reason lets its writers explain who they are voting for. I am voting for LP candidate Jo Jorgensen, for the following reasons. reason.com/2020/10/12/how…
The bottom line is that Jorgensen recognizes the government's coronavirus response "has been the biggest assault on our liberties in our lifetime," which is more than sufficient to earn my vote in these insane times.
I cannot vote for Trump. Biden had a small opportunity to win me over by picking an independent-minded veep—I would have voted for him had he selected Tulsi Gabbard, for instance. He didn't, obviously, so no vote.
Thread: I just had an unbelievable encounter with a Karen in DC. I was running outside—unmasked, which is permitted during recreation per the mayor’s orders—and as I passed a woman (also running) she pulled down her mask and loudly blew air at me on purpose.
I stopped, whirled around, and demanded to know whether she had just done what I thought she had done. She said yes, but she was only treating me the way I was treating other people (by running without a mask).
Again, running without a mask is permitted. If you think you are likely to catch covid outdoors during brief, incidental contact with another person—in a city with an extremely low infection rate—please educate yourself.
Was just instructed (nicely) by the protesters not to take pictures.
Lots of banging, fireworks, and some smoke canisters.
Many on foot, many bicycles, some scooters, some skateboards, some fancy motor wheels, and at least one roller blader, who wiped out right next to me. As an infrequent blader, I can relate. (I’m on a scooter right now.)