Power abusers only put evidence of their nature on public display when they are absolutely certain that no one can or will hold them accountable. That certainly is the case with New York State Attorney General Letitia James, but then this has been the pattern with all of the (inevitably) Democrats in her office since the days of Eliot Spitzer and before. Her latest example of unethical use of her office, however, is especially ominous.
The pro-Trump Reawaken America Tour has been criss-crossing the U.S. for more than a year, and because speakers currently include former General Michael Flynn, a Trump ally, the Left has been trying to interfere with the event whenever possible. An online petition intimidated the owner of the Rochester’s Main Street Armory cancel its hosting of the event, so the Cornerstone Church in the tiny town of Batavia, NY. took over hosting duties. Borrowing heavily from the anti-speech petition (for talking about some topics are the equivalent of violence, you know), James sent a threatening letter to tour organizer Clay Clark and Flynn, along with the church itself.
Its objective: chill a legal gathering’s free speech rights by intimidation.
Alluding to the imminent danger of “extreme views,” James warns her targets that she is “New York’s top law enforcement officer.” Her concern, she writes, is that the ReAwaken American Tour “could spur extremist or racially motivated violence.”
These concerns center around the event’s proposed dates, which coincide with the five-year anniversary of the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and past extremist statements made by yourselves and the other featured speakers on the tour. I am especially concerned about featured speakers’ regular allusions to white nationalist ideals connected to the “Great Replacement Theory,” a conspiracy theory that warns of white genocide and efforts to replace native born immigrants. The theory is frequently linked to violent actions, including the racially motivated mass shooting that killed 10 people at a Tops Friendly Markets store in Buffalo. Especially in light of this racist mass shooting, and other recent episodes of racially motivated violence in New York and throughout the country, the Office of the Attorney General is concerned that such rhetoric could contribute to violent or unlawful conduct at the ReAwaken America Tour’s upcoming event.
Black Lives Matters, Critical Race Theory, Islamic theology and other ideas James approves of are also “linked” to violent actions. This is the current poisonous drift of what once what was liberalism: ideas and words are dangerous, and must be stifled and regulated. By them.
Are dates considered threatening now? That’s going to make scheduling anything a chore, then. I remember the dates of the Charlottesville riot as a marker of when a peaceful and legal march with proper authorization was disrupted by violent counter-protesters without authorization whom the police stood back and refused to control. But I digress. The letter continues,
The Office of the Attorney General writes to remind you that New York law prohibits racially motivated violence, harassment, or interference with another person in the exercise of their civil rights. New York Civil Rights Law §79-n empowers the Office of the Attorney General to investigate acts of violence, intimidation, threats, or harassment directed at people based on a belief or perception regarding an individual’s race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability, or sexual orientation. In addition to actual damages, any person who violates this statute can be held liable for $5,000 in penalties for each violation.
A reminder! How considerate! This is like the “reminder” Obama’s Education Department sent to colleges and universities to “remind” them that there could be investigations and lost funding if the schools continued to displease the administrations’ radical feminists by insisting on extending due process and fairness to male students accused of sexual assault or harassment….
Additionally, New York Civil Rights Law §40-c prohibits discriminating against another person in the exercise of their civil rights-including their right to peacefully protest- based on similar protected characteristics. Finally, New York Executive Law §63(12) empowers the Office of the Attorney General to take action against any business engaged in significant fraud or illegality- including the violation of New York’s civil rights laws….
There is no hint in the tour’s promotions or in any of its stops that discrimination is a threat, except that James is dedicated to advancing the Big Lie that conservatives are racists.
The letter ended with an overt threat
The Office of the Attorney General has a duty to protect New Yorkers from extremist and racially motivated violence. We stand ready to investigate any violation of the laws above and, if necessary, to enforce them to the fullest extent available. You are therefore instructed to take all necessary steps to ensure that the event complies fully with the requirements of New York’s civil rights laws and all other applicable state and federal statutes.
Pastor Paul Doyle of Cornerstone Church has publicized the letter; naturally, the mainstream media doesn’t see anything especially newsworthy about the top legal officer in New York using threats to try to stop an event she deems offensive, because they deem it offensive too. Wouldn’t anybody?
Funny, I deem the flagrant abuse of power and office by partisan bullies offensive.
Pastor Doyle calls the letter harassment. “I feel harassed,” he says. “I am a law-abiding — I’m a businessman. I’m law-abiding, I’m God-fearing, and I’m hosting an event.” He also noted,
This letter is a deliberate and arrogant act of government intimidation…The letter is filled with inaccurate and irresponsible language. The past events that the Attorney General indicates had absolutely nothing to do with this event. It clearly has a politically partisan agenda to it by calling the views of some of the speakers as “extreme”. By carelessly using the terms “racist” and “violence” it attempts to skew people’s perspective of the agenda of the event. I feel it is defamation of the event, its speakers, Cornerstone Church and me personally as pastor of the church.
The news media does not care; reporters think anyone who opposes them—you know, the good people—deserve to be harassed. Until Americans of all beliefs and political affiliations join to show aspiring totalitarians like James that their methods and contempt for freedom of thought and speech will not be tolerated, these episodes will continue and escalate.
Which reminds me…did you know that the Republican Party poses an existential threat to democracy?
The dangerous event in Batavia drew a crowd of approximately 3,500 people.
There was no violence.
______________________
Pointer and Facts: Legal Insurrection
Ethics Alarms 
What the hell is a “native born immigrant”? Is that like being a well-read illiterate?
I wondered about that as well. I guess this is the obverse of Native American. But wait, didn’t the Native Americans migrate from Eurasia?
Yup, that’s the story going round on the street.
Right/ bad. Stop them at any cost or we will lose this country to violence like the shooters and none of us will ever be safe!
The smart friends I see gripped in this fear, and what they are posting on social media BLOWS MY MIND! They have been utterly brainwashed, and have no idea. None. Zero.
Too bad.
I saw this over at LI yesterday or the day before and I was considering mentioning this in the Open Forum tomorrow; however, I was also hoping you would do a post on the story and add your thoughts and you did.
If I didn’t hate the idea of moving so much, I’d move out of NY; the older you get the less you want to hassle with moving – at least for me. Fortunately, I live in one of the more conservative counties (Chemung).
It’s still aggaivates me that this story hasn’t gotten the attention it should have. It’s only known to me through LI and EA. It seems we are all powerless to do anything about this abuse of power. Maybe as the story gets to more people some type of backlash will occur; but, I’m not holding my breath.
I attended college in upstate New York and met Mrs. OB in Connecticut. She’s from Massachusetts. We got out of the northeast in our early twenties and have never regretted simply removing ourselves from the all-encompassing, insufferable, self-satisfied, arrogant groupthink that is the northeast.
It seems to me that the letter itself is violating all the laws it cited.
I should say James is violating the laws cited by virtue of the letter sent under her name.
Is this letter a confession to the crime of ‘deprivation of Constitutional rights under color of law’? for which the penalty is a range of imprisonment up to a life term, or the death penalty.
PS I admire the committment of the pro-freedom activists of the past
I couldn’t justify putting this in the post, but I do thing the pastor was obligated to write a “Bite Me” letter to the AG and release it to all media. I would LOVE to write that letter!
Jack, it’s Batavia, N.Y. As opposed to Batavia, Dutch East Indies, which we now know as Jakarta, Indonesia. The Dutchies were all over upstate New York. They’d go anywhere you could grow milk.
Great example of how the eye sees what it wants to: I thought Batvia rhymed with Latvia. Fixed! Thanks.
I’m surprised she didn’t threaten to take away the church’s tax-free status. I guess the local IRS office has that in the works.