Commentary: The Difference Between Free Speech and Violent Rhetoric (It’s Not What You Think)

United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) hit the airwaves to connect the recent assault on Paul Pelosi with “fascism” and “white nationalism.” She insists that both are now ubiquitous. And both prompt increasing politically motivated violence. (Ocasio-Cortez remains oblivious to the greatest sustained political violence in our recent history; the 120 days of Black Lives Matter and Antifa-fueled rioting, arson, looting, and mayhem of summer and fall 2020—often cheered on or defended by public officials and social media.)

The deplorable violent attack on Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), has been described as the logical reification of increasing bitter political discourse. Shrill accusations spread even as full details of the attack are still not known. But the general picture of the assailant is one of an unhinged conspiracy freak of all flavors. He seems to have been a lunatic, drug-crazed white supremacist and anti-Semite, a former hemp jeweler, and nudist, who was either homeless or was living in a cluttered hippie-like commune in Berkeley plastered with pride and BLM flags. 

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FBI Finally Labels Congressional Baseball Shooting as Domestic Terrorism

Scalise supporters at the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game

After initially labeling it “suicide by cop,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has officially updated the designation of the 2017 congressional baseball practice shooting, which left GOP Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA-01) critically wounded, to “domestic violent terrorism.”

The change comes after Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-02) questioned FBI Director Chris Wray about the designation during a late April House Intelligence Committee hearing. 

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EXCLUSIVE Scott DesJarlais Interview: ‘Going Forward, I Don’t Want to Confirm or Deny Whether I Carry Or Not’

Tennessee Star

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) tells The Tennessee Star in an exclusive interview Saturday morning, “Going forward, I don’t want to confirm or deny whether I carry or not.” The Star asked DesJarlais whether he currently has a permit to carry a gun. “I don’t have a carry permit,” DesJarlais says. “I usually have somebody with me that does. It’s easier for me to communicate with people one on one without having a weapon on me,” he adds. In light of the shooting of Congressman Steven Scalise (R-LA), staffers, a lobbyist, and Capitol Hill Police by James Hodgkinson at a practice of the Republican Congressional baseball team in Alexandria, Virginia on Wednesday, DesJarlais made it clear to The Star that he will immediately reconsider his previous personal policy concerning whether he will be armed or not. “Going forward, I don’t want to confirm or deny whether I carry or not,” DesJarlais says again for emphasis. That statement suggests that anyone who intends on harming DesJarlais in the future will be met with an immediate and forceful response. As The Star reported Friday night, “Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) was one of six Republican members of Congress–all of whom belong to the conservative…

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