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Supremes To Decide When Facebook Death Threat Sends You To Prison
Forbes ^ | 6-16-2014 | Kashmir Hill

Posted on 06/16/2014 9:58:52 PM PDT by Citizen Zed

Pennsylvania man Anthony Elonis has historically enjoyed saying outrageous things on Facebook, such as how he would like to murder his estranged wife; shoot up an elementary school; sneak into an amusement park he was fired from to wreak havoc; slit the throats of a female co-worker and a female FBI agent; and use explosives on the state police, the sheriff’s department, and any SWAT team that might come to his house. Elonis has never actually done any of these things, but he did spend the last three and a half years in prison for saying that he would.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: facebookisthedevil
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Let me guess. A registered Democrat?
1 posted on 06/16/2014 9:58:52 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
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To: Citizen Zed

Hopefully Youtube will remain safe for the time being.


2 posted on 06/16/2014 10:00:14 PM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" means something different to 0bama.)
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To: Citizen Zed

“I wonder how far I can go without getting into trouble.”

Well now you know, AH. Not quite that far.


3 posted on 06/16/2014 10:03:40 PM PDT by jiggyboy
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To: Citizen Zed

It’s simple ... don’t threaten people with bodily harm. They might get the idea you mean it - which is actually the way it SHOULD BE TAKEN if you open your mouth and say it (or write it).


4 posted on 06/16/2014 10:08:07 PM PDT by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
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To: Star Traveler

Elements of the crime are ability and intent to carry it out.


5 posted on 06/16/2014 10:11:51 PM PDT by ReaganÜberAlles (Remember, you can't spell "progressive" without "SS".)
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To: Citizen Zed

I hope my Farmville 2 Animals are not a threat.


6 posted on 06/16/2014 10:14:30 PM PDT by Patriot Babe
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To: Citizen Zed
play stooopid games, win stooopid prizes...
7 posted on 06/16/2014 10:16:39 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: Star Traveler

Terroristic threads or something similar, though my first thought if it isn’t someone tied to a terror organization would be of a nut that needs to go to a nut house.


8 posted on 06/16/2014 10:17:21 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Star Traveler

threats not threads


9 posted on 06/16/2014 10:17:36 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Citizen Zed

There’s a guy who has been posting lies about me on the internet for more than 3 years. He posts on every site where he thinks readers might know me. So far he hasn’t threatened me. I wish he would. He lives in a state that has a law concerning internet threats.


10 posted on 06/16/2014 10:19:25 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican
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To: ReaganÃœberAlles
intent is in the eye of the beholder... was it lying when he said it or was it lying after it got caught and said it didn't mean it???
11 posted on 06/16/2014 10:19:52 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: VerySadAmerican

Sounds like a plain vanilla libel case to me.


12 posted on 06/16/2014 10:21:48 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Citizen Zed

I bet he wins at the Court.

If not, any artist selling a song, poem, book, etc. on-line that advocated any kind of threat could be convicted.

It beyond the pale - especially since he prefaced his posts with terminology like, “I’m not saying that.”


13 posted on 06/16/2014 10:26:10 PM PDT by Lmo56 (If ya wanna run with the big dawgs - ya gotta learn to piss in the tall grass ...)
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To: Chode

did e have the ability to carry it out and had he made an concrete steps to carry it out?

Or was he just the equivalent of a guy standing on a street corner screaming at the moon?


14 posted on 06/16/2014 10:27:15 PM PDT by ReaganÜberAlles (Remember, you can't spell "progressive" without "SS".)
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To: ReaganÃœberAlles
murder his estranged wife; shoot up an elementary school; sneak into an amusement park he was fired from to wreak havoc; slit the throats of a female co-worker

yes i believe he did, the explosives? maybe...

15 posted on 06/16/2014 10:31:05 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: Citizen Zed

In California, under Penal Code Section 422 (I don’t know about PA Codes):

(a) Any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out, which, on its face and under the circumstances in which it is made, is so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her immediate family’s safety, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison. (b) For purposes of this section, “immediate family” means any spouse, whether by marriage or not, parent, child, any person related by consanguinity or affinity within the second degree, or any other person who regularly resides in the household, or who, within the prior six months, regularly resided in the household. (c) “Electronic communication device” includes, but is not limited to, telephones, cellular telephones, computers, video recorders, fax machines, or pagers. “Electronic communication” has the same meaning as the term defined in Subsection 12 of Section 2510 of Title 18 of the United States Code - See more at: http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/cacode/PEN/3/1/11.5/s422#sthash.0eilglN8.dpuf


16 posted on 06/16/2014 11:13:21 PM PDT by KJC1 (When you are dealing with the devil, the only answer is God.)
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To: Citizen Zed

“As Amanda Hess has explained so powerfully, women experience threats on social media in ways that can have crippling economic and psychological effects.”

Alright then, stay off the damned social(ist) pro-fruitcake pinko-run sites and there won’t be any threats and you can sleep at night. Wait for the nasty handwritten letter to be shoved under the doorjamb instead.

I feel like I’m watching a lost Donahue episode, and I never watched that fruity crap either. God I miss the 40’s.


17 posted on 06/16/2014 11:21:09 PM PDT by Up Yours Marxists
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To: Up Yours Marxists

It does take two to do that tango. One to write it, and one to read it. Ignore the creep and you can’t be intimidated by him.


18 posted on 06/17/2014 12:11:59 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

It does not take two to tango. Innocent people get attacked everyday.

Ignore threats directed to you at your own peril.

Anyone who thinks it “takes two to tango” has lived a charmed life, and insults innocent victims.

I don’t mean this personally against you, but damn, it was a short-sighted comment.


19 posted on 06/17/2014 12:44:59 AM PDT by KJC1 (When you are dealing with the devil, the only answer is God.)
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To: Patriot Babe

They are if Thad-Cochran is around.


20 posted on 06/17/2014 2:03:37 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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