By now we all know about conservative Fox News commentator Liz Trotta's sick remarks and Fox News anchor tacit endorsement of those remarks so I'm going to get to the bottom line.
In my opinion, Liz Trotta should be placed in handcuffs. Whether it's the Secret Service, the police, or an ordinary citizen exercising his or her powers of citizen's arrest, Liz Trotta committed a crime. And action is required because her words were intended to encourage someone in the Fox News Crowd to act on them.
US Code 18 Chapter 19, Section 373(a) of the Federal Criminal Code reads as follows:
(a) Whoever, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against property or against the person of another in violation of the laws of the United States, and under circumstances strongly corroborative of that intent, solicits, commands, induces, or otherwise endeavors to persuade such other person to engage in such conduct, shall be imprisoned not more than one-half the maximum term of imprisonment or (notwithstanding section 3571) fined not more than one-half of the maximum fine prescribed for the punishment of the crime solicited, or both; or if the crime solicited is punishable by life imprisonment or death, shall be imprisoned for not more than twenty years.
What Trotta did is advocate the assassination of a member of Congress and a major party candidate for President, both of which are also crimes.
We can not let Fox News and Liz Trotta get away with this. Options to consider are:
- Massive protests outside Fox News studios in Manhattan.
- Protests outside Liz Trotta's home. 99% of the time a person's home should be off limits but when you advocate violence against others, as Bill O'Reilly did against Mike Stark, this option should be considered. I'll leave it to others to comment on the merits and dismerits of this option.
- Arresting Trotta ourselves. The only danger would be that if you arrest a citizen and you are wrong, you could be liable for false arrest in a civil suit. So any person considering arresting Liz Trotta may want to consider consulting an attorney to weigh the risks. In my personal opinion (I do not give legal advice at this site) the grounds to arrest her exist.
Right wing conservatives have historically been the most violent people in history. When they don't get their way, they tend to get violent. That is why standing up to them with 100% vigor and isolating them as 4th party gadflies is a must in a healthy democratic society.
For the longest time, my signature line makes it clear that right wingers need to be voted out of American politics and relegated to 4th party status. Liz Trotta provided another reason why sooner rather than later is a necessity.
Correction: That was not Bill Hemmer. I apologize for the error.