Spocko's Brain

The right wing harasses, intimidates and threatens people online. They aren’t going to stop, because it works for them.

When you watch someone screaming and punching a flight attendant when they are asked to wear a mask, it changes what you might do when you see someone not wearing a mask.

When people show up with guns at school board member’s house they aren’t there using their 1st Amendment rights. it’s not a conversation about an issue. It’s a threat. 

In today’s House hearing on Justice Department oversight AG Merrick Garland was asked to re-edify Jamie Raskin’s colleagues on what the 1st Amendment protects and what it doesn’t protect. He said,
“What they are not allowed to do is threaten people with death or serious bodily injury.”

I admire the school board member who spoke out about her death threats, but how many people think, “I’m not going to be on a school board if it means getting death threats & people coming to my house with guns.”?

I’ve noticed that the media is very reluctant to push for any consequences for threatening speech. They get all balled up into questions of, “What is free speech?” and bend over backwards to give people the benefit of the doubt for their threatening speech.

The media never want to be seen as being against people’s speech.  But threatening speech is not protected speech.  When I use that phrase, it starts questions of definitions. What is the definition of a threat? What is “true threat”? What is actionable by law enforcement? What was the intent?

The justice system is slow. Social media & TV news is fast. When the media run threat stories, they usually can’t show any immediate legal consequences to the ones making the threats. Occasionally they can show people getting fired. Or kicked off social media. But often there are no negative consequences at all.

People are rewarded for their violent rhetoric with likes and shares. In some cases it leads to donations, electoral votes and political power.

If people are arrested, tried and punished for their threats, those cases can take years to be resolved. I think that the resolution of those cases should be widely publicized, but they are not.

I’ve been following up on cases of death threats to public health officials in Colorado, Idaho, California and Oklahoma from the start of the pandemic. Cases are still pending. The public hears NOTHING about what happened to the people doing the threatening until months or years later. But the impact on those threatened lingers, especially with no resolution.

There was a recent story saying that COVID lockdowns have made things worse.

Following the killing of Sir David Amess, there have been renewed concerns about whether lockdowns have created the conditions for a surge in hate, as frustrated extremists or people vulnerable to radicalisation hunkered down over their laptops and mobile phones.

‘Nastier than ever’: have Covid lockdowns helped fuel online hate? Guardian. 10-21-2021

Intimidations and threats to election workers, health care officials and politicians is all part of Trump’s legacy. I’ve seen multiple stories on Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes & Lawrence O’Donnell’s shows about this, but because they just happened, we can’t see the negative legal consequences to the people making the threat.

One way to address the slowness of the justice system regarding threats would be when the media runa a story about a NEW death threat, they could look at similar cases that have already made it through the legal system.

For example, do you remember the guy who called Rep. Ilhan Omar’s D.C. office on March of 2019 and threatened to shoot and kill the congresswoman? It made the news with the line that someone, “ought to put a bullet in her skull.” but few people know what happened next.

Patrick W. Carlineo, 55, of Addison New York spent a year in prison. He was released in March of 2021. The sentence could have been longer, but it wasn’t because of a request for leniency from Rep. Omar.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr., she had urged leniency and a restorative justice approach at sentencing, writing: “The answer to hate is not more hate; it is compassion.”

She said a lengthy prison term or a burdensome fine would “only increase his anger and resentment” while restorative justice would let him “make amends and seek redemption.”

In death threat case, court nixes penalty Rep. Omar urged, AP May 21, 2021

What has happened to all the men and women who have threatened AOC, Omar and others BEFORE 1/6? What about the people who threatened Dr. Fauci and multiple health care officials? How many have been charged? Are any in prison? How many were given a slap on the wrist? 

When I’ve brought up the need for consequences for those making death threats and violent rhetoric I’ve suggested multiple responses. My preferred method is to cut their revenue streams. Others have contacted their employers and licencing boards.

Another way is to alert the people in their community and social groups they belong too. The key is to find the groups whose opinion they care about and who publicly will come out against death threats.

Is Carlineo Catholic? Get his parish priest to condemn the death threats to Rep. Omar. Make it clear that what Carlineo said was not protected free speech and they will condemn it. Does he call himself a Christian? Find his minster and ask what Jesus had to say about threatening to kill others.

“But Spocko, what’s the point? He was probably a member of a nutball church, Oath Keepers & Proud Boys! They love it when someone attacks a member of the Squad!”

Sure, it’s possible all the groups he belongs to are extremists, but most groups publicly condemn violent rhetoric, death threats and threats of physical violence. In fact, many of them have by-law’s and organizational rules against threatening speech. Until Trump became President, the Republican party would publicly condemn threats of violence.

Why bother getting statements condemning violence from the groups people like Carlineo belong to? To RE-NORMALIZE that making death threats is wrong.

Yesterday Stephanie Grisham was on CNN pushing her new book. She said she thought it was a coup. That Trump was fomenting violence. Jake Tapper asked her if she had talked to the 1/6 commission. She said no, but that she would if they, “reached out.”

Grisham thinks Trump was trying to stage a coup. She's ready to say this under oath. She might have hard evidence of that.The 1/6 committee should have her testify under oath against the mobsters she worked with. @BennieGThompson @AdamSchiff pic.twitter.com/UUTj0rXgxT

— Spocko (@spockosbrain) October 7, 2021

Brazilians of books are being written by former Trump staff. They’ll be careful not to incriminate themselves, but they might incriminate others. If they didn’t commit the crime, they might have witnessed others committing them. People like Grisham and Omarosa aren’t experts on the law. They likely witnessed multiple crimes. They might have been told what was happening was legal. Or, they knew it was illegal, and looked the other way hoping the entire admin would never be prosecuted.I think the DOJ, state AGs and various committees investigating the Trump White House should get early copies of the books. Someone should be reading these books . . . → Read More: Send prosecutors advance copies of all Trump-staff books

On Chris Hayes’ show he discussed how the Republicans are fighting Biden’s vaccine requirements and why.

Incentives don’t work. Mandates work. These people are behaving like irrational children and therefore what do you do with children? You have to what’s best for children. Now a right winger watching this will say, “Look at that paternalistic, tyrannical person on MSNBC!” But that is the reality in a public health crisis going all the way back to George Washington.

Mehdi Hasan, All In with Chris Hayes 9-20-2021

I’ve developed 6 steps people can take to help make the vaccine mandates happen using the power of social media, existing national corporate HR policies, Federal OSHA reporting methods and local news coverage of the conflict over mandates. 1) Find videos and social media stories of people publicly saying, “I won’t get vaccinated!” Look for them at school board meetings, protests or of people in public places telling others about their intent.2) Alert their employer via email, Facebook and Twitter. Let the company know you will be filing a complaint with *OSHA (I’ll do a piece on the process and issues of contacting OSHA later, but from OSHA.gov/workers. “anyone who knows about a workplace . . . → Read More: How to use social media to help enforce vaccination mandates

I’ll admit it. I’m angry at anti-vaxxers and anti maskers. They are messing up our lives and plans. Yet only their anger is covered by the media? We get stories about how our officials are “frustrated” and “saddened” by their failure to get vaccinated. Where are the stories of our anger toward these “vaccine deniers and right wing loonies”?

What is bizarre to me is that the Anti-maskers are the ones showing rage. What are THEY so angry about? We are the ones whose lives they are f***ing up.I'm having a hard time finding stories of successful prosecutions of these anti-vaxers who threaten violence against others.

— Spocko (@spockosbrain) September 8, 2021

I don’t want to be like the right wing, screaming and threatening those who aren’t wearing masks or getting a vaccine. And I don’t want to inappropriately use the law like they have been doing with their Texas abortion ban. But I’m pissed and I want people punished for the harm they are causing.

What can I do to satisfy my need for an emotional catharsis without becoming a screaming banchee? I’ve been watching Unforgotten, a British murder mystery show about . . . → Read More: How do we get anti-maskers & anti-vaxxers to be logical and save lives?

Nearly 900 Secret Service employees tested positive for COVID-19 in one year. So why did the DHS IG reportedly block a proposed inquiry into how the agency handled the threat of COVID-19 to agents protecting high-level officials? https://t.co/QxuwCgADCq

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) June 23, 2021

I’ve been working on a story on how the Trump Campaign spread COVID-19 with their rallies. There is evidence of actions Trump knowingly took that endangered his staff and Secret Service employees. Public health laws were broken, people got sick & died. I believe there needs to be an investigation by state Attorneys General and prosecution for violations. But… as someone pointed out to me on Twitter:

This is an great point and one that I’ve been thinking about how to solve. Who else can be held responsible for intentionally spreading COVID in addition to Trump?

In the excellent podcasts by Noel Casler, he points out that Trump knows how to avoid responsibility. Casler describes how Trump is ALWAYS one level removed from being held accountable. in Episode 15, 15:40 he talks about how Keith Schiller protected Trump. Then at 19 :03 he explains how Trump hires NYPD guys because . . . → Read More: Who do we hold responsible for infecting 881 Secret Service employees?