This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
An American writer who relocated to Germany some years ago now is facing up to three years in jail for violating that nation's censorship rules.
He posted a satirical image on social media featuring a white swastika behind a white medical mask – suggesting the links between Germany's COVID-19 policies and requirements of the government in its efforts to control the population during COVID to the government's behaviors exhibited during the Nazi regime.
It is the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression that is reporting on the case involving CJ Hopkins, an American writer who relocated to Germany in 2004.
He's was accused of disseminating propaganda after he posted two images on X featuring "an illustration of a white swastika behind a white medical mask," FIRE reported.
He was acquitted in January, but government officials there refused to accept the decision and sent him to the Berlin Appellate Court, which granted government officials' demands and reversed the lower court's ruling.
Hopkins, in an interview with FIRE, said, "It's been going on for what feels like forever. It does grind you down. I'm not going to stop fighting, but I'd be lying if I said I don't get knocked down sometimes, so this is a knockdown."
Hopkins said the appeals court reversal was expected.
"If this court had any intention of respecting the law and following the law, it would have just dismissed the prosecutor's arguments in the first place," he explained.
The case now is expected to return to the Tiergarten District Court, which originally acquitted him, for a sentence that could range up to three years behind bars.
He said ultimately he intends to take his case to the Federal Constitutional Court, which is similar to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could dismiss the case or allow it to move into another level of lengthy legal arguments.
He told FIRE, "I said from the beginning, I kind of feel like it's my responsibility. A lot of people can't afford to do this. Part of what keeps me going is, I know a lot of people out there are grateful for it."
While America's First Amendment would appear to protect personal opinions, including satire and parody, the governor in California, Gavin Newsom, recently signed into law a ban on political parody, prompting speech proponents to take him to court for the apparent constitutional violation.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Leftists have made a practice in recent years of advocating violence against their political opponents, especially President Donald Trump.
Joe Biden has claimed the ability to beat up Trump, if they were in school and they'd out behind the barn.
That rhetoric, going on for years already and routinely describing Trump as a "Hitler," is thought to be at least partly to blame for the two assassination attempts against Trump in recent weeks.
According to Collin Rugg of Trending Politics, "MSNBC panelist Eddie Glaude nearly starts crying on live air, says Kamala Harris needs to win to protect babies and so children don't get bombed. Glaude was so emotional that Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill had to tell him to take deep breaths."
What Glaude said included, "[Harris] needs to bust him in his mouth. I'm saying it like that because he's dangerous. He's dangerous to particular people. … We got to keep this troglodyte out of office because if he comes in, our babies are gonna be in danger because, remember, we know children are gonna grow up with the memory of having to not go to school for the threat of bombs, and somebody told them that their moms and dads eat cats and dogs."
Eventually his diatribe trickled to a halt, and McCaskill told him, "Okay, take a minute. Deep breath."
An editorial at Twitchy explained, "Everyone at MSNBC is not well. They don't call it Trump Derangement Syndrome for nothing."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Iran's leaders responded Sunday to the elimination of Hezbollah General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah in a massive Israeli airstrike Friday, with two linked announcements; the first a declaration of a five-day memorial period, and the second a well-worn refrain, "the blood of our martyrs will not go unavenged."
It was ironic that Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei made these statements shortly before being whisked off to a secure location for fear Israel will take the battle directly to Tehran. While there are some who might advocate for this, it is not at all straightforward to understand exactly what the benefit of this would be.
Taking out leaders of terrorist organizations is one thing; assassinating the sitting president of another country is another altogether. However, it is instructive how off-balance Khamanei and his coterie are, because they cannot be sure how deeply Israeli intelligence has penetrated.
Also killed alongside Nasrallah was IRGC Deputy Commander Abbas Nilforousha, against whom the United States imposed sanctions in 2022, due to his suppression of protests in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini following her arrest for allegedly not wearing her headscarf to the police's liking. His death, according to the Iranians, would also not go unpunished.
It is a threat Israel – and the United States on the assassination of Qassem Soleimani – have heard before, and there is a danger it will be viewed in Jerusalem and other parts of the Middle East, as posturing with diminishing returns. Iran vowed to avenge the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh too, who was killed along with his bodyguard, in an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound – a sort of Iranian version of the Blair House – at the end of July.
Haniyeh was in Tehran as an honored guest of the Islamic Republic, and was in attendance at the swearing in of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. His death – and the manner of his demise – was a moment of deep humiliation and shame for the Iranian regime. However, two months later, the retribution Tehran promised has not yet materialized, even if the U.S. did move another aircraft carrier and F-22 Raptor strike group into the eastern Mediterranean.
The relationship between Haniyeh and Hamas, and Nasrallah and Hezbollah cannot exactly be equated. Hamas as an off-shoot of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood with its origins in Egypt was very much considered a junior partner in the terrorist groups, which are attempting to encircle Israel in a so-called "ring of fire," with Tehran pulling the strings.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah was viewed as a much more critical component of Iran's long-term strategy toward Israel; particularly its usefulness – due to its missile arsenal – as a buffer against potential Israeli adventurism vis-a-vis Iran's nuclear program.
What will Iran do?
While Khamenei is Iran's undisputed leader, there is a spectrum of opinions among the country's leadership. More conservative hardliners advocate for a direct response to Israel's elimination of Nasrallah and nearly all of Hezbollah's top brass – as well as senior IRGC figures – while the more moderate voices counsel against such action.
There are different schools of thought as to which stratagem will be employed. Iran could go for a direct attack, like the April 13 ballistic missile and drone strike, which ended up a bit of a damp squib – repelled as it was by a combination of the U.S., Israel, the United Kingdom, France, and others, as well as many projectiles, which failed to make it out of Iranian airspace.
In the interim at least, it's likely Iran's proxies, including the Houthi in Yemen, pro-Iranian forces in Iraq and Syria, and even Hezbollah, will want to force as much of Israel's populace as it can to scamper for shelter from incoming missiles.
Iran could also take a longer view and create the conditions for a war of attrition. It might conclude it lasted nearly a decade in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, it could do the same again, and with potentially less threat to its civilian population than that war. That would also not be in Israel's favor, which might be another reason Tehran could think of doing it.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A leftist school district, in the news in years past for contracting with a company that allowed students to access pornography through its web portals, now is facing a charge it violated the constitutional speech rights of a worker.
American First Legal announced it is suing the Cherry Creek School District in federal court in Colorado for "retaliating against an employee" after he stated he "identifies as an American who believes the U.S. is the greatest country in the world."
The comment came during one of those notorious "diversity training" schemes often used by schools to promote leftist ideologies, like the now-popular "diversity, equity and inclusion" campaigns that use race as the sole reason for making decisions.
AFL explained the case was prompted by the termination of Patrick Hogarty, formerly the dean of students at Campus Middle School in the Cherry Creek District. Defendants are the district and its officials.
They are accused of trying to force him to "embrace race-based ideologies" during a mandatory "training."
"During the January 18, 2024 training, Hogarty reportedly responded to a question about his experience being a white U.S. citizen by saying he 'identifies as an American who believes the U.S. is the greatest country in the world,'" the lawsuit said.
So the school's "equity" chief claimed, in a complaint to the principal, that the comment included "racist undertones."
In short order, the school eliminated Hogarty's position and then put him on administration leave for "unprofessional conduct" when he protested, then fired him.
"Cherry Creek School District blatantly violated the First Amendment rights of our client when they terminated him because his pride in the United States of America did not align with the district's political ideology that America is a systematically racist nation. Like other school districts across the country, Cherry Creek has replaced the Bill of Rights with the 'DEI Manifesto,' and teachers, students, and parents are being silenced for standing up for the values that make America great," explained Ian Prior, AFL senior adviser.
AFL pointed out that the "training" scheme was from Pacific Educational Group, and the legal team previously revealed that organization's "Courageous Conversations" plan was "trying to implement critical race theory" to change school leadership and force white staff members to recognize their "whiteness" as a problem.
CRT is an extremist ideology that teaches everything about America is racist.
AFL reported, "At the beginning of the 'Courageous Conversations' training that AFL's client attended this year, program facilitators assured participants that all comments would remain confidential and would not impact employment status. During a training breakout session, participants were asked to discuss questions such as 'What does it mean to be white?' and 'How do you identify?' AFL's client responded by stating he identifies as an American and believes the United States is the greatest country in the world."
"Immediately following the training, the district's Equity Director reported AFL's client's comments to the school's principal as having 'racist undertones.'" the legal team said.
The report also noted the school's claim the position was eliminated for "budgetary reasons" was contradicted by its own records.
"As alleged in the complaint, Cherry Creek School District blatantly violated the First Amendment rights of our client when they terminated him because his pride in the United States of America did not align with the district's political ideology that America is a systemically racist nation," Prior explained.
The parties named in this lawsuit are the Cherry Creek School District, the Cherry Creek School District Board of Education, board president Angela Garland, Supt. Christopher Smith, Angie Zehner, Courtney Smith, Lissa Staal, and the "equity" executive, Ronald Garcia y Ortiz.
The district previously was in the news when it used a company to provide database resources to students, and that company was sued for including pornography embedded in computer files.
The outside company was sued for violating Colorado's Deceptive Trade Practices Act for boasting its products are age-appropriate.
The district ultimately dropped its contract with that company after an uprising by parents.
A report from the nonprofit organization MassResistance said children attending middle schools in the district had been provided "access to extremely graphic sexual and homosexual pornography, material encouraging them to become sexually and homosexually active, descriptions of 'sex toys,' and much more."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
There's been another alleged threat against the life of President Donald Trump, who has survived two apparent assassination schemes in just the last few weeks, and a spokesman for his campaign blames it directly on the "violent rhetoric" of Kamala Harris and other extremist Democrats.
A report in the Daily Mail explains Warren Jones Crazybull, 64, of Sandpoint, Idaho, allegedly made at least nine calls to Trump's Florida residence, saying he was going to kill Trump.
The calls came July 31, just weeks after Trump was shot and injured in the ear in an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"In one call, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit first reported on Monday, Crazybull threatened to 'find Trump' and said he was 'coming down to Bedminster tomorrow,' which is the town where Trump National Golf Club is located in New Jersey," the report said.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said the threats were because of the rhetoric from Harris.
In fact, Joe Biden, Harris, and a long list of other extremists in the Democrat party have for several years described Trump as a "Hitler." They've insisted he would be a dictator if he ever returned to office. They make wild claims that he would destroy "democracy" if elected. Such rhetoric is widely considered to be one of the reasons for the sudden spate of threats against and attacks on Trump.
"Kamala Harris and liberal Democrats are the ones who are deranged," Cheung said in a statement Monday. "There have been two heinous assassination attempts on President Trump, and their violent rhetoric are directly to blame."
He said Harris should "apologize for their hateful rhetoric" and to "tone down" the attacks on Trump.
Otherwise, he charged, Democrats are "explicitly advocating for and inciting more bloodshed" against Trump and Republicans who support him.
Crazybull's identity was confirmed by Secret Service through phone records and comparing the voice of the threatening calls recorded by the Mar-a-Lago security staff with a video he posted to Facebook.
The report said Crazybull was tracked, through his phone, into Montana, where he was arrested and then indicted. A trial is scheduled October 28.
He's accused, in one call, of saying, "I am going to down him personally, and kill him."
He's pleaded not guilty to the crimes.
The Secret Service was informed after the threatening calls were received.
The first assassination attempt was by the now-dead Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who shot at Trump at the Butler rally, nicking his ear.
Then weeks later, a Secret Service agent shot at Ryan Wesley Routh, who had positioned himself, with a rifle, on a golf course where Trump was playing a round.
Routh, 58, fled and was arrested a short distance away.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A trial date has been scheduled on July 20, 2026, for a case triggered by shooting death, by a police officer, of Ashli Babbitt, one of the protesters who went to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to protest the decision by Congress to legitimize the presidential election victory for Joe Biden.
Michael Byrd, then an officer with the U.S. Capitol Police, shot and killed her while she was inside the building.
His fatal attack came, apparently, with no warning or notice.
The group said Judge Ana C. Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia scheduled the date, and confirmed a request may be made to move the case to California, where Babbitt's family lives.
"Ashli Babbitt's family is relieved Ashli's case is moving forward to trial on all fronts," Tom Fitton, of Judicial Watch, said. "They seek justice and accountability for Ashli's violent and lawless death at the hands of U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Byrd."
The violence happened on January 6, 2021, as supporters of President Donald Trump opposed the certification of Biden's victory.
Babbitt was among members of a crowed trying to get into a U.S. House room near the actual chamber.
The case charges, "Byrd later confessed that he shot Ashli before seeing her hands or assessing her intentions or even identifying her as female. Ashli was unarmed. Her hands were up in the air, empty, and in plain view of Lt. Byrd and other officers in the lobby."
Further, it charges Byrd was not in uniform and did not identify himself as an officer.
Babbitt, 35, owned and operated a pool business with her husband, but traveled alone to Washington to attend a rally featuring President Trump at the time.
WND previously reported the judge earlier refused to dismiss the case.
Tom Fitton, of Judicial Watch, said, "Ashli Babbitt's family is thrilled the $30 million wrongful death lawsuit for her outrageous killing is moving full speed ahead."
After she was shot, the FBI opened a criminal investigation of Babbitt and at the same authorities refused to prosecute Byrd for the shooting.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Billions of people on Planet Earth today are personally acting out important messages from God in their own beds every night and morning, without even being aware of it in most cases.
So says the author of a best-selling book unlocking hidden messages embedded in every aspect of life.
"On a daily basis, everyone goes to sleep at some point, and usually wakes up the next day. But what most people don't realize is they're actually illustrating two of the most important messages from God," says Joe Kovacs, author of "Reaching God Speed: Unlocking the Secret Broadcast Revealing the Mystery of Everything."
"Going to sleep and waking up mean much more when we open our ears to hear what's being said at the higher, Spirit level, the parable level, what I call 'God speed.'"
He says Scripture states in Matthew 13:34 that Jesus spoke to crowds only in parables, and "he did not say anything to them without using a parable."
"In other words, everything is a parable," says Kovacs, "packing a secondary, metaphorical or symbolic meaning beyond the physical meaning at which most people initially hear the words."
The author says sleeping and waking up are among the easiest examples of understanding the Spirit level of God speed.
"To put it simply, the word 'sleep' in Scripture doesn't just mean snoozing away in our physical bodies. It's often associated with death. For instance: 'I sleep the sleep of death' (Psalm 13:3).
"Perhaps the best illustration is Jesus awakening his friend Lazarus out of sleep, which wasn't your typical, natural, bedtime sleep, but actually death: 'Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. So Jesus then told them plainly, 'Lazarus has died'" (John 11:13–14 CSB).
"Hence, the term 'sleep' plainly refers to death in the spiritual story that the Bible is. It's a daily reminder to us all that we are mortal, and we are going to physically die at some point. In other words, because we're not awake all the time, we're not immortal. If we don't have God running our lives right now, we're actually already dead, spiritually speaking. Without God, we are spiritually sleepwalking. Just as a person who walks in their sleep may be moving around and even talking at times, he or she is not really awake. And in our daily lives, even though we may be walking, talking, and even conducting business, we're still spiritually dead without God, thus making us sleepwalkers."
But going to sleep is not the end of our story in the daily cycle of us mortals, says Kovacs, known for his popular "Shocked by the Bible" series.
"There's more to come, and that's the good news. It's called waking up.
"As the prophet Daniel notes: 'And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake'" (Daniel 12:2).
Kovacs says waking up from a solid sleep is one of the best feelings a physical human being can have.
"It's when we're totally refreshed, bursting with energy to live the brand-new day of tomorrow that has suddenly become today. That's because every single time we wake up, we're being told the end of the story: that we'll be awakened by God to live in the next day, tomorrow, which is the day of eternal life for the obedient servants of God. We're instantly refreshed to begin life again. So, at God speed, waking up signifies resurrection, rising from the dead!"
A few simple verses about our awakening from the sleep of death include:
"WAKE UP, sleeper, RISE from the dead, and Christ will shine on you" (Ephesians 5:14 NIV)
"I lie down and sleep; I WAKE AGAIN because the LORD sustains me" (Psalm 3:5 CSB)
"As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I AWAKE in Your likeness" (Psalm 17:15 NKJV)
"WAKE UP, WAKE UP; put on your strength, Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the Holy City!" (Isaiah 52:1 CSB)
"But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust WAKE UP and shout for joy…the earth will give birth to her dead" (Isaiah 26:19 NIV)
"Thus," says Kovacs, "it's plain to see the daily cycle of being awake, going to sleep, and then awakening again the following day is another way God is telling us that we live, then we die, and then we are awakened to another day of life, which pictures everlasting life. At God speed, sleeping equals death, and being awake equals being alive. It's that simple."
"Reaching God Speed" is being called "eye-opening," "inspiring and insightful," "lighthearted" and "penetrating" by top believers of Holy Scripture, including Hollywood legend and Christian champion Chuck Norris.
The book nothing short of a biblical breakthrough, cracking the divine code on hundreds of Bible passages – both well-known and obscure – to reveal the higher meaning of the verses, going beyond the obvious physical meaning to shine light on what God is broadcasting on the Spirit level, what he calls the incredibly quick and alive "God speed."
Kovacs is confident even readers with little previous knowledge of Scripture will finally know the secrets of famous Bible events, including mysteries the so-called "experts" have little clue about.
"Reaching God Speed" features a myriad of stunning biblical revelations, as the book:
Besides Scripture itself, the book also probes God's hidden messages embedded in popular movies, hit songs from (Adele and the Beatles to Frank Sinatra and Led Zeppelin), the stories we tell our children, everyday phrases we all say, famous commercial campaigns, historic news events, nature itself, and typical life activities such as such as inhaling every breath you take, sleeping, waking up and many more.
"Reaching God Speed" numerous times has hit the #1 best-seller spot in the Amazon category "Musical Philosophy & Social Aspects," ahead of the popular book by Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama, "Renegades: Born in the USA."
It also ranked #1 and #2 (Kindle edition) in Spiritual Self-Help, and #5 and #11 in Christian Personal Growth.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The Rumble video platform has been handed a major victory in its war against leftist ideologues who run a web influence operation that purports to offer information about online advertising.
The company now will be allowed to seek discovery, or evidence in the case, while it remains pending in federal court.
A report at the Federalist notes the case eventually could expose how closely connected are Democrat operatives and efforts to censor conservative outlets.
The report explained the ruling was that a federal judge said Rumble could proceed with discovery against Nandini Jammi and Claire Atkin, who founded Check My Ads.
"The court's ruling also suggests the efforts by the Check My Ads co-founders to have Rumble's civil case tossed will fail, meaning the country may soon learn much more about how the censorship-industrial complex functions — including Democrats and Media Matters' alleged role," the report explained.
Rumble's complaint, filed in court in Florida, charges that Jammi and Atkins run Check My Ads, a tax-exempt group "purportedly serving as 'an independent watchdog reshaping the digital advertising industry.'"
Other defendants are thought to include Media Matters, David Brock's leftist group, and others.
The case was triggered by an October 24, 2023, article that alleged that Rumble "is heavily monetized by Google Ads."
It accused, "Rumble loves to boast about being free from Big Tech. In reality, the business appears to be heavily dependent on Google Ads, by far its largest advertising partner — and advertisers often have no idea their ads are appearing there. Rumble is part of Google Video Partners, which means Google dumps inventory there that many advertisers assume is going to YouTube. And it seems to know brands wouldn't appreciate appearing next to some of Rumble's content: it has taken steps to minimize the risk of advertisers waking up to screenshots of their ads next to Alex Jones' face."
Then Jammi and Atkins post social media statements claiming Rumble was beholden to Google ads, including one claim that Rumble was 90% funded by Google ads.
The agenda is accused of intending to pressure advertisers to stop allowing their ads on Rumble.
But the lawsuit charges the 90% was false, that it actually was getting "less than 1% of the company's total revenue" there.
Rumble charged the defendants made false claims to imply it is susceptible to a material financial risk, that they diminished Rumble's brand in the eyes of shareholders and more.
"The complaint highlights interactions between Rumble and the defendants which plaintiff alleges shows they knew the claims about dependency on Google were false. Rumble further alleges that Atkins and Jammi knew their claims were false because the duo were familiar with Media Matter's statement from 2022 that 'Google's ad network made up [only] 2% of total advertiser spending on Rumble.com in the last year,'" the report said.
Discovery now, the report said, "could well expose how tightly connected the Democrat Party is to efforts to censor conservative outlets.
The defendants wanted a judge to order discovery halted for now, but the court declined.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Only a day after thousands of booby-trapped pager devices used by Hezbollah operatives exploded, killing about a dozen and injuring hundreds more, a second wave of explosions was documented, this time apparently involving walkie-talkie devices.
The Washington Examiner said explosions were reported all over, including in Beirut and Dahiyeh, a "Hezbollah-dominated suburb of the capital."
The report said social media videos and images confirmed fires erupted.
A report from Axios cited sources to say thousands of Hezbollah walkie-talkies were blown up.
The report alleged they were "booby-trapped long in advance by Israeli intelligence and delivered to Hezbollah, which had ordered them as part of the group's emergency communications system to be used in the event of war with Israel."
Three were killed when the explosions hit Sohmar in the Bekaa Valley, the report said.
The Al Arabi Network claimed there were more explosions Wednesday than from the pagers on Tuesday, when 12 were killed and thousands injured.
WND reported that the pagers exploded simultaneously.
According to Iran's Mehr News Agency, the Islamic Republic's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was one of those wounded in the synchronized explosions. As a result of the attack, which has immediately been blamed on Israel, but for which it has not taken responsibility, Hezbollah terrorists have been ordered to discard their pagers – which were brand new models and were only received in the last few months.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A recent study reveals that a stunning number of Americans actually support violence against President Donald Trump in order to keep him from returning to the White House.
More than 26 million.
And the results are being cited by a constitutional expert who is warning that those who now are "toying" with such extremism could end up the targets of extremists.
The numbers are from political science teacher Robert Pape's "Political Violence and the Election: Assessing the threat from the Left and the Right."
The June results show that, with a margin of error of about 3%, those 26 million say the "use of force is justified to prevent Trump from becoming president."
The violence and lawfare against Trump, in fact, has generated a faction of some 18 million who also say the use of force is justified to "restore Trump to the presidency."
The study noted those 26 million are "active, dangerous" and have "growth potential."
Nine million of them, for example, own guns, and five million have attended a protest over the last 12 months.
It is a threatening situation, according to Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, author of "The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage," and frequent witness before Congress on the Constitution.
He cited a number of politicians working with leftist, and sometimes extreme, groups.
"These politicians are playing a dangerous game in toying with groups like Antifa, which will not stop at threatening their opponents. Politicians like (Minneapolis council member Jeremiah) Ellison could easily find themselves the next target as groups seek to 'strike fear in in the heart' of the establishment."
He called the poll results "a chilling account of the growing radicalism in America, particularly after the second foiled assassination attempt of former president Donald Trump."
In fact, since then multiple organizations have published long lists of individuals, including politicians, celebrities and officials, who have threatened Trump, some calling for his death including one that told a suspected assassin to take shooting lessons to not miss again.
"For some, violent language can become violent action. There is a normalization that can occur as extreme actions become more acceptable to more and more citizens," Turley noted.
He quoted from his own book: "We are living in an age of rage. It permeates every aspect of our society and politics. Rage is liberating, even addictive. It allows us to say and do things that we would ordinarily avoid, even denounce in others. Rage is often found at the farthest extreme of reason. For those who agree with the underlying message, it is righteous and passionate. For those who disagree, it is dangerous and destabilizing."
He pointed to the "unrelenting claims of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and others that democracy is about to die in America," explaining "some now feel a license to commit criminal acts in the name of 'saving democracy.'"
In fact, twice-failed Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, even after the second assassination attempt against Trump, was on the stump with her favorite message over the years: Trump is a threat.
But Turley said, "It is the ultimate form of self-delusion that one saves democracy by committing political violence against those with whom you disagree."
He cited the attitude as coming from "higher education" into "society at large."
"Years ago, many of us were shocked by the conduct of University of Missouri communications professor Melissa Click who directed a mob against a student journalist covering a Black Lives Matter event. Yet, Click was hired by Gonzaga University. Since that time, we have seen a steady stream of professors joining students in shouting down, committing property damage, participating in riots, verbally attacking students, or even taking violent action in protests," he said.
Now it's common for "professors" to support "strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters" and more.
He pointed out, "While Democratic leaders have condemned the second assassination attempt on Trump, they have continued the unhinged rhetoric of how this may be our last election and democracy is about to die in America."
And they've "allied themselves" to violent groups.
One of those is Antifa.
"Former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, once said Antifa would 'strike fear in the heart' of Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence and its website was banned in Germany. Ellison's son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa in the heat of violent protests," he noted.