"Death to Obama" Sign Holder Detained by Secret Service

[Lebam in LA]

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/politics/Death-to-Obama-Sign-Holder-Detained-53134147.html

More at link

There were signs comparing President Barack Obama to a Nazi and showing him with an Adolf Hitler-style mustache, but federal officials believe another sign referencing the president and his family went too far.

A man who was holding a sign reading "Death to Obama" Wednesday outside a town hall meeting on health care reform in Hagerstown, Md., has been turned over to the Secret Service.

Washington County Sheriff's Capt. Peter Lazich said the sign also read, "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids."

[rurallib]

1. Bet we'll be hearing some whining about free speech pretty soon.

Why can't you carry a sign threatening the Presidential family? Why can't you go to a speech packing.
When the retarded one was president you could barely be in the same city if you had an anti-war bumper sticker on your car.

[JaneQPublic]

5. Yeah, like they did about Dubya's First Amendment Zones...

...not.

[paulsby]

12. not from me

i defend free speech imo more than anyone i know. but this isn't free speech. it IS a threat. i contrast this with, for example, the guy with the jefferson quoteand the handgun on his leg.

threatening the president is illegal. period. good for the SS

[rurallib]

16. I took the guy with the gun and the jefferson quote to be an implied threat.

I saw your defense on another thread. I will admit this is a truly sticky example. But there seems to at least be an attempt to intimidate if not terrorize.

[paulsby]

17. right. i am just distinguishing

i know a fair amount of case law in regards to threats cases (i have investigated several complex cases involving same, testified in them, etc.).

generally speaking, the presumption should be that speech is legal unless it's pretty clear it's not. iow, you give the actor the benefit of the doubt because it's a strongly protected constitutional right.

CLEARLY, in this case (imo) it met the elements and it's a valid threat to investigate, and if the facts pan out - even to prosecute.

the law doesn't (nor should it) allow for "implied threats". there is just WAY too much room for abuse and that gives the government WAY too much power.

iow, you can get pretty fricken provocative. if you study the history of speech around the time of the revolution, they were hardly squeamish about provocative speech. stuff at LEAST as bad as calling tiller the "baby killer" as oreilly did (which many here think makes him culpable for "incitement" which is complete crap).

at least we can agree on this case.

one of the things i greatly love about the US is our respect of speech, moreso than any nation i am aware of, other nations having adopted various "hate speech" statutes that severely limit controversial speech.

but there are many bright lines, and you simply do NOT threaten to kill the president. you can say anything negative about him you like, call him a killer, a murderer, a nazi, etc. but that's opinion and fully protected. a threat is a threat.

glad we can agree on something.

[NYC_SKP]

2. "Michelle and her kids"??? So, how worse can it be, how long before someone acts on these ideas?

Fuck. :nuke:

[BlooInBloo]

3. Prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.

[noiretextatique]

4. racist america strikes again

clearly these people have no legitimate concerns about policy. they are just mad as hell that black people are in the white house.

[Kingofalldems]

6. Palin supporter

[Raschel]

9. A 'real American'.

[KingFlorez]

7. I'm waiting for them to cry political oppression

[lpbk2713]

8. Look who's "stupid" now.

Dumbass.

[Vektor]

10. Glad the asshole is in cutody, and as disturbing as this is...

It also shows how ignorant, unimaginative, and completely and utterly incapable of forming an independent thought or action these "morans" are on their own.

Obama portrayed as a Nazi? Really? They stole that straight from the signs portraying Bush as a Nazi, with the slogan "Same Shit, Different Asshole" next to Hitler.

I guess it's totally lost on these dumb fucks that the Nazi movement was very RIGHT wing, not left wing. Sorry, idiot right wingers, if anyone here is Nazi like in their behavior, it's you and yours.

Regarding the "death to Obama" sign, this is definitely a flat out threat, and this person needs to be punished to the fullest extent allowed for threatening the president's life. An example needs to be made of these pieces of shit - that this sort of thing will NOT be tolerated.

[BonnieJW]

11. But look at the comment at the end of the article!

UglyinLA

Its already been proven that these anti-Obama signs are being brought in by Obama people (union thugs). YouTube videos show union thugs waving these signs and then storing them away when they start handing out flyers. We are being manipulated by Obama and the Obama Love media who are using an old Saul Alinski community organizer tactic. This is getting really ugly. I'm dumbfounded that our government is doing this to us.

[AspenRose]

13. Good

Throw his ass in jail

Enough is enough.

[armyowalgreens]

14. A comment below the story...

"Its already been proven that these anti-Obama signs are being brought in by Obama people (union thugs). YouTube videos show union thugs waving these signs and then storing them away when they start handing out flyers. We are being manipulated by Obama and the Obama Love media who are using an old Saul Alinski community organizer tactic. This is getting really ugly. I'm dumbfounded that our government is doing this to us."


Face/palm

[Lebam in LA]

15. Pretty amazing

isn't it. Sounds alot like my sister:cry:

[Kievan Rus]

18. Good