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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Andrew McCarthy at National Review: Prosecute the Rioters |
| 2017-02-04 |
| [National Review] rom time to time over the years, the eminent historian Daniel Pipes has lamented that treason, not just as a crime but as a concept, appears defunct in the West. The question of bringing treason charges against jihadists has been raised from time to time. Often its very asking proves Dr. Pipes’ point: Most radical Islamic terrorists are not American citizens; as to them, treason is not a cognizable offense because traitorous conduct is central to the crime. Even against American jihadists, a treason charge is of dubious usefulness. The 1996 overhaul of federal counterterrorism law codified crimes tailored to terrorism that are easier to prove than treason. The aim of an indictment in a national-security case should be the surest route to the severest sentence. The point is not to teach a civics lesson, regrettable as our education system’s default has been in that regard. Yet what is true of treason is not true of sedition. There are charges to bring against those who would destroy our society. They should be brought. Case in point: the University of California at Berkeley. As our National Review editorial observed in the aftermath of this week’s Berkeley rioting, "there is within the American Left an increasingly active element that is not only deeply illiberal -- fundamentally opposed to free speech -- but also openly violent." I’d further contend that the problem is not confined to this increasingly active element, the Left’s "progressives in a hurry." Whether it is Berkeley or Benghazi, it is standard operating procedure among the most influential, most allegedly mainstream Democratic politicians to rationalize rioting as mere "protest." In their alternative reality, violence in the name of sedition is "free speech" -- a passionate expression of political dissent -- while the actual political speech they so savagely suppress is the atrocity. There is no mystery about how we got to this dark place. Violent rampaging was the coming-of-age rite of the New Left. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #1 Coming from Never Trump headquarters, this reads like "I promise to stop putting the cat in the microwave, mommy. Really!!" |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2017-02-04 14:18 |