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Edited on Wed Nov-18-09 05:58 AM by JoeyT
There seems to be a great deal of confusion as to exactly how far the crazy people can go in threatening our President. Rather than hijack someone's thread, I figured it'd just be easier to post all this into a new one. Threats against the President, Vice President, and others (Like Pelosi) are *not* protected by the 1st Amendment. The relevant portions of the US code follow.
Threats against the President and successors to the presidency: TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 41 > § 871 (a) Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect, or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Yes, Nancy Pelosi is in the order of succession, Mr. O'Reilly.
Advocating overthrow of the government: TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 115 > § 2385 Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof— Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
Is that too complicated? What part of "Organizing a group who advocate or encourage violent overthrow of the government" being illegal is giving you trouble? Do you not understand that bumper stickers, t-shirts, fridge magnets, mousepads, and signs all fall under "print, missive, or document"? All those words can pretty much be summed up as: "Don't talk about how good it'd be to overthrow the government or kill President Obama, Vice President Biden, Speaker of the House Pelosi, or anyone else, for that matter." It's a pretty simple concept. If you find it too difficult to grasp, keep it up and you may have 5-20 years of incarceration to ponder it.
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