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Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket Connecticut victims' funerals

jimbo said:
If their argument is that God punishes gay marriage by having kids killed, then they should be picketing God, not kids.
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God is everywhere. They are not picketing the victims, they are picketing the community that invited the evil into by their refusal to reject gays apparently. Not defending their reasoning, just trying to interpret their logic.
 
I would certainly believe it possible were a news story to inform me that one of those drone strikes intended for Pakistan misfired and hit Kansas, instead.
 
Fisher said:
God is everywhere. They are not picketing the victims, they are picketing the community that invited the evil into by their refusal to reject gays apparently. Not defending their reasoning, just trying to interpret their logic.
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Actually, they don't picket the communities. They picket the funerals of murdered people and fallen soldiers as if somehow the innocent had something to do with their cause. They show up here once in a while. Often other groups just happen to be holding meetings between the churches and the protesters. The bikers in some cases hold up flags to shield the families from these idiots. In other cases, pickups have gotten stalled blocking the Westboro bunch and preventing them from getting out.

As I said, their stated belief is that God is punishing individuals for the actions of the many. Their web site is godhatesfags, although they don't limit their actions to "fags". They attempted to picket the funeral of aVa Tech student who was killed when she was locked out of a Metallica concert at UVA on the grounds that God hates heavy metal music.

IMO Phelps and clan are the most despicable abusers of the first amendment in the country. But unfortunately they have the same right to speak as I do.
 
Fisher said:
As best as I can tell following the article back to the twitter account is that they are of the opinion that God is punishing Connecticut for supporting gay marriage, not anything particular to the children per se, though I cleaned up their language in translation.
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Oh.

So that's okay, then.
 
LaMidRighter said:
You are much kinder than me about this, I think people should lob a molotov or two into the whole "congregation" and fry that scum. It would at least allow them to acclimate to the extreme heat they are in for in the afterlife.
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Law enforcement may have a hard time finding any witnesses to who threw it. Amazing with all those people counter protesting the Phelps inbreds and nobody saw the molotov flung.
 
jimbo said:
. But unfortunately they have the same right to speak as I do.
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They have the right to speak. Why they have the right to stalk and harass for the express purpose of causing others emotional distress is beyond me.
 
Gardener said:
They have the right to speak. Why they have the right to stalk and harass for the express purpose of causing others emotional distress is beyond me.
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I think it would be more appropriate to say they are legally protected to harass good people.

Just because the law protects something doesn't mean it is right. My even being here today is proof the law is not always right.
 
Gardener said:
They have the right to speak. Why they have the right to stalk and harass for the express purpose of causing others emotional distress is beyond me.
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Unfortunately, Westboro has been at it so long that they know exactly where the line is and do not cross it.
 
Would love it if a bunch of people just show up at thier little picket wearing clothing from head to foot (ski masks and all) and just beat the ever loving crap out of these people. Can't sue someone you can't identify.
 
Kal'Stang said:
Would love it if a bunch of people just show up at thier little picket wearing clothing from head to foot (ski masks and all) and just beat the ever loving crap out of these people. Can't sue someone you can't identify.
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It really isn't that far fetched. Many here may remember the town in Texas with a kiling of a town bully.

Ken Rex McElroy, 47, was a big, burly man with bushy sideburns, cold eyes and an ever-present gun. He was the Skidmore bully. On July 10, 1981, on a hot summer morning in a fed-up town, he was shot to death in plain view of 30 to 40 people who gathered around his Chevrolet pickup outside a beer joint on Main Street.

Killed instantly by rifle bullets, his foot pushed the accelerator to the floor. The engine roared. Like something in literature, no one shut it off. They just walked away.

Except for McElroy’s wife, nobody told who did it. Investigators and grand juries heard the same thing time and time again: “I heard shooting and got down. Didn’t see a thing.”

Apparently, McElroy was mean enough to unite a town of plain, good folks to do murder. He had terrorized Skidmore for years. He allegedly stole livestock, burned houses, chased women, preyed upon young girls — and threatened a bullet or buckshot for anyone who got in his way.

Read more here: 3 decades on, who killed Skidmore town bully still secret | McClatchy
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The only real answer is for everybody else to just stop showing up and stop reacting.

They're already generally relegated to a spot away from the actual event. If NOBODY showed to up protest their protest, and if NOBODY showed up to record and broadcast their presence, or even existence, then they would gain nothing and slowly fade away. It would be just a half-dozen nutjobs on a street corner with unnecessary police protection... and even that police protection would disappear in short order.

Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of self-restraint ourselves. They will be around as long as we encourage them.
 
Kal'Stang said:
Would love it if a bunch of people just show up at thier little picket wearing clothing from head to foot (ski masks and all) and just beat the ever loving crap out of these people. Can't sue someone you can't identify.
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I think in that case he would sue the city or town for not protectring him and his clan.

He might win too.
 
The Giant Noodle said:
I know its horrible to say but why cant THESE people get blown away!? Why do these nut-jobs kill innocent people instead of people from this cult??? At least THAT makes SOME logical sense.
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Because this isn't China, North Korea, USSR etc just yet...

Despite how vile these crazies are - we still have First Amendment rights. You don't have to agree with their message (and I don't think many do) but they still have the right to let their voices be heard.

If they can't speak their mind then that means you cant speak your mind.

If you can sensor their speech than whats to stop authority from censoring your speech - you see - it's a real slippery slope.

The best thing to do would be to just ignore them or tolerate them for the sake of our Bill of Rights.
 
Mr.Nick said:
Because this isn't China, North Korea, USSR etc just yet...

Despite how vile these crazies are - we still have First Amendment rights. You don't have to agree with their message (and I don't think many do) but they still have the right to let their voices be heard.

If they can't speak their mind then that means you cant speak your mind.

If you can sensor their speech than whats to stop authority from censoring your speech - you see - it's a real slippery slope.

The best thing to do would be to just ignore them or tolerate them for the sake of our Bill of Rights.
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I think the best thing to do would be to create some really really offensive signs (to westboro of course) and picket the picketers. They might have 10 or 20, so surround them with 100 and just keep chanting something clever and offensive to them.

Maybe even provoke them into an assault, so they could be sued for a gazillion or so.
 
Evenstar said:
These nutjobs need to be tear-gassed next time they protest at a god damn funeral. Seriously.
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**** tear gas. Throw some mustard their way.
 
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gunner said:
It would be interesting to see some stats, on where and when, citizens were charged over such issues. For me, that looks easily open for abuse.

It looks to be quite a complex issue

Freedom of speech in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul
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They don't really keep stats on that but there are some interesting court cases from the last century that established a few standards and tests for the limits of a right. Hate speech isn't illegal as it is in other countries however there is a limit. Basically one may not defame someone, assault them, incite violence, or be profane in certain times/places/manners. Sedition used to be a crime, the court overturned that, sedition was basically issuing anti-war propaganda during a time of war at the hinderance of the effort.
 
Jonsa said:
I think the best thing to do would be to create some really really offensive signs (to westboro of course) and picket the picketers. They might have 10 or 20, so surround them with 100 and just keep chanting something clever and offensive to them.

Maybe even provoke them into an assault, so they could be sued for a gazillion or so.
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That's THEIR shtick. Provoke and sue. It would take a person with an immense amount of self-control and wonderful acting ability to beat them at their own game.

They are profiteers of the first amendment. No, they are not religious. No, they don't hate fags. They just love money and they love free speech (to the extent that it helps them extort money from people at their weakest/least rational moments via the civil justice system).
 
Take a look at THIS:

Hackers target Westboro Baptist Church after Newtown threat | Internet & Media - CNET News

Hackers target Westboro Baptist Church after Newtown threat

After church leaders announce plans to protest at site of school massacre, Anonymous posts the personal information for dozens of members of the extremist group, including names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers.
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Anonymous demonstrates that they CAN be useful idiots. Seriously... good for them for using their powers for good instead of evil.
 
Neomalthusian said:
They are profiteers of the first amendment. No, they are not religious. No, they don't hate fags. They just love money and they love free speech (to the extent that it helps them extort money from people at their weakest/least rational moments via the civil justice system).
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I don't agree with the bolded. Nothing I've seen or read suggests that they aren't true believers. They know how to sustain themselves and work the system, but their beliefs are real.

The father is the leader of the cult. He physically and mentally abused his children and created a climate where they feared leaving because it would anger God. (And his way is, of course, God's way.) There is probably little hope at this point for the adults who didn't escape earlier in their lives like a few of his children did, but my heart aches for the young kids now being brought up in the group. The next generation of abused, brainwashed haters is being created. Very sad,
 
Where's those drones when you need them.......
 
Mr.Nick said:
Because this isn't China, North Korea, USSR etc just yet...

Despite how vile these crazies are - we still have First Amendment rights. You don't have to agree with their message (and I don't think many do) but they still have the right to let their voices be heard.

If they can't speak their mind then that means you cant speak your mind.
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They're con-artists, scammers. It's not about 'free speech' it's about provocation, and getting people to strike out at them so they can sue.

We don't allow child pornographers to speak their mind.

They bend and twist the law, mocking us for tolerating them (legally speaking).
 
This is how they advertise their law firm.
 
I heard elsewhere that they have attracted a following of ex-military guys on Harleys, who drown them out.
 
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