I have always marveled at the relativism of the most extreme voices in our public discourse. As shown just yesterday, I have regularly criticized the failure of schools to discipline or expel students who prevent conservatives from speaking on campuses. This included my criticism of Howard University students who stopped former FBI Director James Comey from speaking. Yet, Laura Loomer, a conservative activist, believed it was her right to stop others from hearing from Comey at an event promoting his book in New York City. I felt Comey handled it well but it is beyond me how people like Loomer believe that they can prevent others from speaking or listening to opposing views. While I have been highly critical of Comey, including a column out this morning, he has every right to be heard and these people came to hear him — not Loomer.
Laura Loomer is a REAL journalist who asks the tough questions that the pansy, sycophantic, ball-washing leftist mainstream media genuflectors won’t ask. Laura Loomer is a modern day Lois Lane, complete with the alliterative name.
Turley wrote “. . . and Comey did the right thing in standing his ground and finishing with his comments.”
I have nothing to add to Turley’s observation. I just want to commemorate that sentence. Wait. I just thought of something: Perhaps Turley prefers to emphasize the notion of Comey “finishing with his comments.”
Jim Acosta, there’s a new journalist in town.
Just Making Stuff Up.
I can’t applaud the tactic. What I will note though is the initial shock of those in attendance that probably had never heard such words used since they are New Yorkers and for them, Rachel Maddow is a centrist. Then there is their reaction.
Laura Loomer has done some great investigative journalism. And, yes, she’s also an activist for American values. Publicly calling out a liar and fraud like James Comey is not inconsistent with free speech. She is, in fact, exercising her own free speech. And you cannot compare what she has done as an activist for American values to the anti-American Leftists who resort to physical attacks to get their way. That’s a huge difference that Mr. Turley wants to conveniently ignore to keep his bogus argument going. Plus, we should also recall that Laura Loomer was one of those brave individuals in the audience who stood up against the phony version of Julius Caesar presented in New York’s Central Park Theater, which was really just an excuse to depict the murder of President Donald Trump. Only a deranged Leftist like Mr. Turley would call Ms. Loomer’s actions an attack on free speech.
She disrupted the host’s right to peaceably assemble, which is no different than a cultural Marxist shouting down a conservative speaker on campus.
Total, BS, and you know it, paulmontagu. Laura Loomer asked Comey the hard questions that other so-called “journalists” are too timid and pusillanimous to ask. She was not being disruptive in the least. As you can see in the video of her, which I posted above, she only started to make statements, rather than pose questions, after the security guards were already on her ready to STOP her perfectly legitimate questions. Any comparison whatsoever to the Leftists’ shut-down of free speech is pure, unadulterated, unfiltered BS.
She asked him rude and argumentative questions and was escorted out. It was all over in < two minutes. How is this analogous to what happens on campuses? She's a lone wolf without any institutional support at all. If it were a campus no-platforming event, the following would have happened:
1. After it was set up, the administration would have (a) cancelled the event due to 'security concerns' or (b) have demanded a huge deposit from the organizers in advance.
2. After a letter from FIRE or some other organization providing legal counsel, the administration would have relented.
3. The place will be crawling with students holding signs and / or Antifa imports.
4 At the speaker's arrival, there would be (a) no security in evidence or (b) the security would be loitering around doing flat nothing.
5. Doing nothing until they take the speaker into custody and escort him away.
6. Should the speaker actually ascend to the podium, he'll be mobbed by students ("Mic check!") or Antifa.
7. If he isn't, he'll be drowned out by catcalls.
Most contrived efforts at being even-handed are like this one: smarmy. The truth is one you will not acknowledge: academic institutions are run by people of low character and the political factions they favor consist of obstreperous youths of low character.
I agree that Liberal hecklers have actually cancelled or materially interfered with events, with the implicit consent of university administrators. There have been many instances where they gather in mobs and threaten conservative speakers or attendees with physical violence.
I also think heckling is wrong. She was wrong. She was escorted out. It’s too bad that universities cannot seem to grasp how to handle similar situations, but then again, Liberals gather en masse to prevent conservative free speech. This lone actor was handled easier.
No, Laura Loomer did NOT ask any rude and argumentative questions She asked the REAL questions that phony so-called journalists are too timid and pusillanimous to ask. She was not being disruptive in the least. As you can see in the video of her, which I posted above, she only started to make statements, rather than pose questions, after the security guards were already on her ready to STOP her perfectly legitimate questions. Please see the evidence in the video for yourself, and NEVER accept Mr. Turley’s lies, deceptions, prevarications, and canards. His track record of being correct on ANY matter is worse than a broken clock.
Nii said, “The place will be crawling with students holding signs and / or Antifa imports.”
Where have those Antifa imports been since November 4th, 2017?
http://time.com/5008829/antifa-november-4-rumors/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/antifa-domestic-terrorists-us-security-agencies-homeland-security-fbi-a7927881.html
Excerpted from the first article linked above:
That these protests have metastasized in the far-right mind into a literal coup d’etat is a case study in how the internet alchemizes anxiety and immediacy to produce disinformation. Mainstream outlets like Fox News have amplified it, devoting airtime to the impending “Antifa apocalypse.” (President Trump himself has vilified the Antifa protest movement before, referring to “bad dudes on the other side” after the white nationalist demonstration in Charlotteville, Va. in August.)
Excerpted from the second article linked above:
In their April 2016 assessment, the DHS and FBI said the Antifa could become more dangerous if “fascist, nationalist, racist or anti-immigrant parties obtain greater prominence or local political power in the United States, leading to anti-racist violent backlash from anarchist extremists”.
The [move] comes as close to 350,000 people signed a petition calling on Mr Trump to “formally recognise” anti-fascists as terrorists.
Also excerpted from the second article linked above:
US security officials have classified the left-wing group Antifa as “domestic terrorists”, confidential documents have revealed.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reportedly been warning about the growing threat of violence between left-wing anarchists and right-wing nationalists since 2016, amid claims Antifa’s activity has become more confrontational, according to documents seen by Politico.
A confidential intelligence report by the DHS and the FBI accused the “anarchist extremists” of attacks on police, government and political institutions, along with any other symbols of the “capitalist system” or displays of racism, social injustice or fascism.
It described some of their activities as “domestic terrorist violence”.
The excerpt above was dated September 3rd, 2017. Today is April 22nd, 2018. Has anybody heard anything about Antifa since September 2017 or November 2018??? They seem to have vanished from the news. Is it really possible to defeat a domestic terrorist group simply by classifying them as domestic terrorists? That seems far too easy–too pat.
Strike November 2018 and make it November 2017, instead. No one is under any obligation to travel into the future and report back. More Aricept, please.
The Antifa were at the Richard Spencer speech at MSU last month:
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/03/05/violence-erupts-msu-campus-richard-spencer-speaks/397426002/
If your last name is Comey then you are known for coming. Ejaculation is not a public offering.
Can’t do any better than that?
True Comey should not be interrupted, but what I find interesting that JT does not point out is the double standard on how the jerk was dealt with. How many videos have we seen where the “authorities” bend over backwards to coddle and reason with the interrupting liberal jerk. A conservative jerk? She gets thrown out immediately.
non coitus interuptus.
“Laura Loomer, a conservative activist”
(1) If that’s an actual fact — that Loomer is a “conservative activist” — Turley neglected to provide supporting information. Consequently, my opinion is that Turley’s statement is a reckless and irresponsible assumption that he negligently or intentionally disguised as a “fact.”
(2) As an Independent pragmatist — aka NOT an ideologue, either “liberal” or “conservative” — I’m REALLY sick of ignorant, mind-conditioned people assuming that everyone on the planet is a member of their disgusting club of moron ideologues. I’m sick of “liberals” accusing me of being a “right-wing nut job,” and I’m sick of “conservatives” calling me a “leftard,” “libtard,” “communist,” etc.
There is no website where I can escape that abuse coming from both ends of the ideological baloney spectrum.
(3) The goals of “liberals” and “conservatives” may be different, but the flawed method of thinking is identical.
“Laura Elizabeth Loomer is an alt-right American political activist and Internet personality.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Loomer
Alt right political activist, to me, says she is a Conservative but so far out on the extreme right wing as to be deservedly classed with the other loony birds there like Neo Nazis, Birchers and White Supremacists.
Obviously not a person to be taken seriously.
NOT information contained in the article. Funny that Turley didn’t put that information in there. I guess you didn’t read my comment, and as usual are just looking to post garbage in bulk quantities.
Bayer, there you go again lapsing into insults and general unpleasantness.
And just after complaing of others abusing you! Such hypocrisy, no wonder you get abused.
https://www.lauraloomer.us/blog/categories/most-recent
This is her page. This is her Twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/LauraLoomer?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
She’s antagonistic to mass immigration and the construction of a Muslim colony in the United States, but otherwise evinces zero interest in signature alt-Right themes. You just cannot stop lying.
Why the knee jerk accusation of lying?
Aren’t you any better than that?
Perhaps the cited article is wrong. Could be. But the association with Project Veritas certainly doesn’t inspire me with any respect for her.
“There is no website where I can escape that abuse coming from both ends of the ideological baloney spectrum.”
Maybe it’s the way you interact with people; ya know, things like telling them to stop commenting, calling them names, and then crying to the hall monitor.
You seem like a righteous jerk, WB.
For Bayer to complain of others being abusive is comical.
I guess he never reads his own comments.
Have you read Jordan Peterson’s discussions about idealogues?
Sorry – my above comment was directed to William Bayer.
No. Gotta link?
I just go by my own personal experiences with the idiots who think everyone is an ideologue, and that if they disagree with something you write, they automatically assume you are an ideologue from the opposite end of the spectrum.
It’s enough to make a reasonable person puke — same as republicans and democrats assume that anyone that disagrees with them must support the opposing party — as if there aren’t more people in the USA who distrust and dislike both parties — Independents (like me) vastly outnumbering either republicans or democrats.
When his grandparents got off the boat at Ellis island and checked in with American customs officials the family name was changed to the town from which they came from, not their real last name. The Thieves actually came from Comey, Ireland. But the name Thieves would not make it in America. It did in Ireland.
I did hear that only one “paying” guest was at the event. The rest were journalists. Evidently, the rest of the journalists did not mind a conservative journalist being silenced.
Reblogged this on The Inquiring Mind.
…clowns to the left of me jokers to the right.
And this is what happens when so many conservative speakers have been shouted down with the blessing of universities. CUNY folks just deemed the shouting down of a speaker, ‘free speech’.
So now we can expect disruptions when anyone gives a lecture or speech.
Our universities continue to fail our students in so many ways. They may learn what’s in the book, but are certainly not learning how to live and respect life.
I hope this becomes a boon for trade schools.
What was done by this lady is certainly not conservative. Such thuggery is done in Iran as epitomized by the beating up of a young lady who had a bit of hair out–we have to be tolerant of each other. The problem is that conservatives are always touting themselves to be the victim even though they have had almost a free reign on the political discourse, backed by major monies (including the Koch Brothers) and enabled by outltes such as Sinclair, Fox News and right wing nut jobs like Judicial Watch who seem to have nothing better to do that to do file FOIA lawsuits on nebulous BS nonsense–this is a the House GOP pulled another BS Stunt about the memos that was subsequently leaked. When will the freak show stop and actually governing and tending to the people’s business in a mutually respectful way occur?
Laura is an Alt right conservative activist. In other words, an embarrassment to real conservatives and a person who more closely resembles the loonies on the extreme left, the other side of the same crazy town coin.
wildbill99 – nobody can clearly define the alt-right nor decide who belongs to it. People have been labeled alt-right who are not even conservative.
Good point, Paul. There seems to be some controversy as to whether she is alt right at all.
Her disrespect for the free speech rights of others, however, doesn’t mark her as any sort of a conservative that I would want to know.
wildbill99 – I would agree that she overreached, but I wouldn’t drop her from my Rolodex.
She has one point of intersection with the Unz crew: an opposition to mass immigration. So, no, she’s not alt-right.
I think you’re missing my point. This isn’t a left or right wing issue. By universities refusing to protect speakers from being shouted down, it gives license for all speaking engagements to be shouted down.
Your blame on right wing outlets shows that you neglect to mention all of the Soros based counter outlets.
Plenty of blame to go around from both sides. In the meantime, public discourse just keeps getting worse.
We have to be the change we want to see in the World….we can start now….Thnks for your thoughts….:)