…Maybe he thinks he’s BEN Grimm.
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If any of the rest of us pleebs comit an assult, we’re getting a harsher punishment than a “bad congresscritter” note in our permanent records. So should Grimm.
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This:
threatening his date’s husband
should probably read “estranged” husband. I was totally confused there for a minute.
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Being a bit melodramatic, aren’t we?
Being a bit smarmy and dismissive, aren’t you? When we’re able to start comparing our politicians’ dialog with journalists with those in war-torn Congo… there’s a serious problem.
You may be complacent with the United States lowering itself in a race to the bottom, but some of us aren’t satisfied with that and find it a dangerous and unacceptable path to go down.
If this situation doesn’t bother you, I’m surprised you lifted a pompous finger to even address me. I mean, this is hardly a serious threat, right?
it’s hardly a serious threat.
It’d be interesting to see how’d you feel if you were that journalist next to the railing when a person much larger than you who is already accused of corruption is violently invading your personal space while threatening to literally kill you and throw you over said railing when he thinks the camera is off.
The threat of physical force against a journalist by a politician is a dangerous precedent and it needs to be widely condemned immediately from the public and other politicians.
You may think this is all a joke, but it just makes me think you simply can’t grasp how serious this is for a powerful nation like ours to squander what we still have and break these kind of barriers and cross these kinds of lines. I just can’t take you seriously after a comment like that, sorry.
scapegoat
Bringing Grimm to justice for blatantly threatening to kill a journalist is somehow making him a scapegoat?
With your logic, we should stop putting people who murder one person in jail because it might send the “wrong message” to the public about the importance of mass murderers.
They don’t have to threaten actual harm in order to curb and censor them. Obama and everyone else has used their influence to avoid getting asked certain questions, including blacklisting, and puts pressure on the press to keep certain things quiet.
Blacklisting is circumvented all the time by sending in “expendable” reporters and also using some strong-arm tactics of the forth estate that includes amped-up, axe-grinding investigative journalism that can make things “difficult” for a politician.
But when you start threatening to kill journalists and the public does nothing and says things like “it’s hardly a serious threat”… journalists tend to get silenced if it keeps up. And, if people are as pathetically apathetic as you are, it tends to keep up.
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But the odds that outrageous comments by a left-wing Democrat are ever going to get posted here at BB are pretty small.
Don’t gamble in Vegas…
Then again, I’d like you to find where a left-wing Democrat has threatened to kill a journalist for trying to ask her or him a question?
Edit: Here’s a Democrat telling what I think is a journalist that he’s going to throw him out of a fucking window:
Wait for it… wait… for… it…
This is my gift to you in celebration of what will for now on be called:
National Break You In Half Like A Boy Day.
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you caused the whole thing.
I knew it would come down to this.
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I’m sorry to hear about your fear, perhaps you should seek offline help for it.
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[quote=“Cowicide, post:85, topic:21067”]
It’d be interesting to see how’d you feel if you were that journalist next to the railing when a person much larger than you who is already accused of corruption is violently invading your personal space while threatening to literally kill you and throw you over said railing when he thinks the camera is off.[/quote]
I don’t for a second think the threat was serious. It was loud mouthed bullying. I think our internet culture is starting to spill into real life, where one thinks it’s appropriate and is able to get away with saying horrible things.
[quote=“Cowicide, post:85, topic:21067”]
Bringing Grimm to justice for blatantly threatening to kill a journalist is somehow making him a scapegoat?[/quote]
Scapegoat was the wrong word, as any action would be merited. The whole situation makes for great click-bait and outrage. But while one froths and attacks the one guy dumb enough to “talk about fight club”, I think it diverts attention from the massive underlying problem that permeates the gov. and how they interact with the press.
Killing the ant that bit you may make one feel better, but it doesn’t effect the hive under your house.
[quote=“Cowicide, post:85, topic:21067”]
But when you start threatening to kill journalists and the public does nothing and says things like “it’s hardly a serious threat”… journalists tend to get silenced if it keeps up. And, if people are as pathetically apathetic as you are, it tends to keep up.[/quote]
I wonder how many people will see it as an honest, real threat. Personally I give it about as much credulity as someone threatening me for sucking at playing Halo online.
Ironically, one persons outrage can fuel another’s apathy.
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Seriously, does a congressman have immunity from prosecution for terroristic threats made in the Capitol Building?
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There was a study not too long ago, that said that many CEOs had similar traits to socio-paths. I wonder if the same thing is true of some politicians. I don’t think that House of Cards is far off, actually. It’s a corrupt system and even if you go in with the best of intentions, you’re going to get mucked up. But I bet having sociopathic tendencies helps to carve out a successful career as a politician.
Now I’m wondering if we are evolving to be more sociopathic, as a species. Wouldn’t that suck?
I think this might be my new favorite portmanteau!
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Here is a better version from NY1 with the transcript and subtitles in the clip.
NY1 death threats to reporter
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NY1 recently did a full story on this with a better version of the exchange along with the transcript and subtitles in the clip.
NY1 story on the death threats to reporter from Republican congressman
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I don’t for a second think the threat was serious. It was loud mouthed bullying. I think our internet culture is starting to spill into real life, where one thinks it’s appropriate and is able to get away with saying horrible things.
Once again, it’d be interesting to see how’d you feel if you were that journalist next to the railing when a person much larger than you who is already accused of corruption is violently invading your personal space while threatening to literally kill you and throw you over said railing when he thinks the camera is off.
You do realize that people really do kill other people in real life when they get that angry and threatening, right? At the very least, serious bodily harm can ensue at any moment. You act like that’s beyond the realm of possibility and that makes me think you’ve thankfully lived a pretty sheltered life.
Must be nice.
Scapegoat was the wrong word, as any action would be merited.
I don’t know about “any action”, but specifically he should be removed from office at the very least. Considering he made a terroristic threat, he should also be held in jail like any other citizen who threatens to kill another citizen of the United States and be brought before a magistrate.
Personally I give it about as much credulity as someone threatening me for sucking at playing Halo online.
Like I said… sheltered life, must be nice.
Let’s get to the crux of this. I think the difference between you and I is that I feel a civic duty to protect journalists. I’m not going to stand for this kind of physical hostility to a vital part of our republic whose main defense from this sort of thing is simply reporting it and counting on our public outrage to spur it to stop.
The reporter was later interviewed and he admitted that while he didn’t expect to end up on the floor, he was confused and frightened by the aggression. That’s all it takes. It’s one thing to refuse an interview, it’s quite another to threaten physical harm.
No one in their right mind who has seen the video thinks this idiot was “just joking” or “just venting” like one does at losing a video game except you. If he had said it with a sarcastic smile on his face while walking away from the journalist, this would be a different scenario. Instead we clearly see this man jump towards the journalist and repeatedly threaten him as he heaves his body towards him.
Like I said, I just can’t take you seriously if you can’t take this seriously. I think we just place a different value on the safety and security of our nation’s treasure, the journalists. They risk their asses to inform us, so we don’t have to.
Enjoy your Xbox.
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Isn’t this congressman a former FBI agent? He was carrying a gun in our collective name, and this is the level of self-control he has?
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Former Marine, too. The man was trained to kill.
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Holy shit. That is a must-read, and would be a good update to the main post to show this asshole’s history of abuse of power.
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I agree with this. I’ll point out that our public schools have no tolerance policies, where a kid drawing a gun on a piece of paper, or some such thing can get expelled and often times, they call the cops in to take care of the, and sometimes bring up charges. Sometimes, the kid makes “terroristic threats” because he or she is being bullied and can’t deal with it anymore. And they rarely punish the bullies, either. It’s always the kid defending themselves after being tortured by someone else. But a rich white congress critter can get away with it, becuase they are a rich white congress critter. Different rules apply to them than to the rest of us plebians.
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I was doing NY1 a favor by rushing to do their interview first in lieu of several other requests. The reporter knew that I was in a hurry and was only there to comment on the State of the Union, but insisted on taking a disrespectful and cheap shot at the end of the interviewThat’s not an apology… That’s him being a dick… he’s “doing them a favor”…? Really? Is NY1 from his district? Even if he’s not, that’s some grade A horse shit right there.
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I fear I’ve stumbled into something personal.
What does that even mean?
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