Keith Olbermann calls for the arrest of Marjorie Taylor Greene for threatening Biden (video)

boing
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I agree that’s a fair question for a court to determine. And the Supreme Court seems to agree in that they held in 2023 that a threatener’s subjective intent only has to be proven to be reckless (i.e. they knew or should have known their words could result in injury), though they seem split on whether that’s the right standard for true-threat doctrine cases in this Counterman v. Colorado case:

So while I agree a court could find this individual’s reckless intent made his statement a true threat and therefore not protected by the First Amendment, I think it’s more likely they find it was protected political hyperbole, like some politically charged rap lyrics, for instance.

But I disagree that this individual necessarily doesn’t care about mandated vaccines. In fact he seems to feel quite strongly about it. That people like MTG have spoon fed him lies about vaccines and encouraged violence as a solution, that’s where I think the greater criminal intent lies. YMMV

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Oh, that’s not what I said. I said that he doesn’t care whether the administration actually pursues such a policy. He already assumes they have or will do so. He also doesn’t care whether it’s Biden or the state, county, or city that imposes such a mandate. It doesn’t matter if such a mandate is imposed by a private organization such as a restaurant, his workplace, a concert or sporting venue or such. The MAGA rhetoric blames Biden even if he has nothing to do with it, just like they did with Obama.

So my point is that, even if his threat is worded as an “if” statement, he assumes the condition is already met.

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