{"id":1111,"date":"2004-08-26T20:05:51","date_gmt":"2004-08-27T00:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wordpress\/2004\/08\/police_state\/"},"modified":"2004-08-26T20:05:51","modified_gmt":"2004-08-27T00:05:51","slug":"police_state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/2004\/08\/police_state\/","title":{"rendered":"Police State"},"content":{"rendered":"

That’s what some people would apparently like to see. Here’s what fair and balanced commentator Bill O’Reilly should be done with unruly GOP convention protestors<\/a>:<\/p>\n

However, the new problem is that these potentially violent protestors damage security efforts against the terrorists themselves, who want to kill us. And that’s a fact.
\nSo what should happen is that any illegal activity by these protestors should be considered a terrorist act on its face. Putting the lives of New Yorkers in danger by distracting the police is terrorism, period.
\nThere are reports of some anarchists who are going to douse themselves with gun powder to cause security alarms to go crazy. We also hear some of these people may roll marbles underneath the hooves of police horses. Any of that stuff is terrorism and the federal government should take over the prosecution.
\nInstead of being slapped on the wrist, violent and damage causing protestors should be slapped with federal prison time. Most Americans value protest. I certainly do. But we’re fighting a war here. And any act that puts this country in danger is sabotage. Again, a terrorist act.
\nHomeland Security Czar Tom Ridge should lay it on the line to the protestors. Behave yourselves. You’ll be respected. Put Americans at risk, you’ll be severely punished.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, if some protestors get out of hand and damage property or, heaven forbid, injure anyone, they should be punished . . . for those acts.
\nWhat does participating in a constitutional protest have to do with terrorism? Nothing. “Terrorism” is becoming a generic catchall phrase by proponents to empower the government to do whatever it is they want it to do. And fair and balanced citizens should find that troubling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That’s what some people would apparently like to see. Here’s what fair and balanced commentator Bill O’Reilly should be done with unruly GOP convention protestors: However, the new problem is that these potentially violent protestors damage security efforts against the terrorists themselves, who want to kill us. And that’s a fact. So what should happen […]<\/p>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"h-entry","8":"hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}