When I wrote my book on Free Speech in an Age of Rage, I never thought Virginia would become ground zero for rage politics. Yet, recently, the Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Abigail Spanberger, told supporters, “Let your rage fuel you.” Then her running mate, Ghazala Firdous Hashmi, seemed to declare the death of the Constitution and democracy … unless they are elected, of course. Now, a shocking series of statements by Jay Jones (the Democratic candidate for Attorney General) from 2022 has been released in which he talks about putting two bullets in the head of a political opponent, “pissing on the grave” of a dead Republican, and asking whether a Republican colleague and his wife were “breeding little fascists.”
In a series of texts, Jones was responding to the eulogies for a Democrat, Del. Joe Johnson, D-Bristol, who was known for working across the aisle with Republicans to achieve bipartisan results.
In messages to Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chester, Jones referred to “the glowing tributes from the Rs,” including by former Virginia House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert. Jones insisted that the deceased “leaked everything to your [Republican] caucus. It’s why Gilbert gave him such a glowing tribute.”
Jones then promised that “if those guys die before me, I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves. Send them out awash in something.”
He did not stop there. He stated, “Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler, and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.” To bring that menacing point home, he added: “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.”
Coyner replied with “Jay. Please stop.”
He responded with “Lol. OK, OK,” but later added, “I genuinely was [asking questions]. I wasn’t attacking you. I was trying to understand your logic.” When Coyner disagreed, Jones replied, “Yes, I’ve told you this before. Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”
In yet another message, Jones considered whether Gilbert and his wife Jennifer were “breeding little fascists.”
Notably, such claims of fascism were being raised in 2022 and directed against local Republicans by figures like Jones.
In fairness, these were not public comments, but they are still shocking in the use of rage rhetoric. It was notable that, even with the passing of this legislator at age 90, Jones’ inclination was to attack him for working with Republicans. While Jones may have thought some of it was funny, it does not appear to have been taken that way by the other legislator.
Such “rage rhetoric” is becoming all too common in politics and remains unabated even after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. In my book, I note that:
“As shown throughout our history, rage is addictive. It bestows a certain license to shed the confining expectations of reason and civility. … At times, our politics seem like a collective primal scream session where only the loudest prevail. Yet, for some, the license to rage goes beyond the amplification of their own views and becomes a demand for the silencing of others.”
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of the bestselling book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Thank you, Jay Jones, for this illuminating insight into your character.
I’ve been around Virginia politics and law for over 40 years. I’ve never seen anything as disgusting as this vile stuff. We’ve fallen so far, so fast, it’s unbelievable. If Jones doesn’t get out and godforbid wins, the Commonwealth has truly moved to the dark side. Like Jefferson, I fear for our state when I remember we live under a just God.
Hear Hear!! Gov. Glenn Younkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears and AG Jason Miyares have done a great job restoring Virginia to Sanity, even leaving a Huge Surplus for the first time in many years.. and now we have heavily s 0 r os endowed Dem TDS ranting & raving Rage politicians like Jones, Spanberger & Hashmi acting like Brownshirts, to make it clear they want to overthrow the stable structure Youngkin brought and regress to the socialist/communist playbook.. oh yes, that includes bringing CRT back to schools……
SUPREME COURT, WAKE THE —- UP!
THE COMMUNIST AMERICAN WELFARE STATE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
FREEDOM IS CONSTITUTIONAL.
____________________________________
DEBT, DEFENSE, AND GENERAL WELFARE (i.e. all, or the whole, well proceed).
Article 1, Section 8
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes…to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare….
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“THEY ARE NOT TO LAY TAXES AD LIBITUM FOR ANY PURPOSE THEY PLEASE.”
“Taxation”
“To lay taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States, that is to say, “to lay taxes for the purpose of providing for the general welfare.” For the laying of taxes is the power, and the general welfare the purpose for which the power is to be exercised. They are not to lay taxes ad libitum for any purpose they please; but only to pay the debts or provide for the welfare of the Union. In like manner, they are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase, not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please, which might be for the good of the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless.”
“It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and, as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please.”
– Thomas Jefferson
General welfare is security and basic infrastructure, for example, roads, water, post office, electricity, internet, airports, sewers, etc.—commodities and services that are not readily available in the free markets of the private sector.
No, General welfare references pursuit of happiness. It’s a feeling.
Jay Jones general welfare, pursuit of happiness is hatred. Its awful being Jay Jones.
Judges and justices swore an oath to support the Constitution.
Why in the world don’t they?
The control on the courts is impeachment and conviction for dereliction, negligence, and judicial nullification.
Recall when Charlie Kirk called for the death of President Biden?
Kirk is recorded as saying: “Joe Biden is a bumbling, dementia-filled Alzheimer’s, corrupt, tyrant who should honestly be put in prison and/or given the death penalty for his crimes against America.”
The Right has practically deified Kirk, a man with such horrific ideas. No charge, no trial, just put President Biden to death, a man Kirk considered unable to understand what was happening around him as expressed in that same sentence.
Did I miss something? Kirk called for imprisonment or the death penalty sentence for Biden which could only come AFTER Biden had been convicted of crimes against America; not the assassination of the man.
sheesh.
-g
-g,
What charge did Charlie suggest? What evidence did Charlie give?
None, to both of those questions.
Charlie decided that President Biden was both mentally incompetent and competent and deserving to be put to death. Kirk was a partisan hack looking to groom college students into a lack of empathy for others and his statement is clear evidence of that inability to have empathy.
Charlie Kirk, “Called for the death” or said “should honestly be put in prison and/or given the death penalty for his crimes against America.”
In China, officials who commit corruption or egregious errors, such as causing pet food to kill pets in America, may be and are given the death penalty.
In recent centuries, challenging the power of the sovereign in Great Britain, or otherwise acting against the crown or his immediate family, constituted high treason, the penalty for which was Drawing and Quartering.
.. Anonymou, again pathetically your TDS takes eveything OUT OF CONTEXT… being given the death penalty is based on going thru the LEGAL SYSTEM.. vis-a-vis Jay Jones’ idea of taking justice in his own hands, even deciding how many bullets to use… etc.
He didn’t say what President Biden would be charged with. He didn’t mention a trial first. He declared President Biden guilty of a crime deserving the death penalty, apparently because he won the 2020 election and Trump didn’t.
You are whitewashing what Kirk said. It’s weak.
Your reply boggles the mind. OK, I thought I was dealing with an intelligent human. I see that I was mistaken.
No. You apparently failed third grade reading comprehension. Kirk was, very clearly, calling for prosecution – i.e., due process of law, and speculating as to the punishment he thought warranted. He did not “call for the death of Joe Biden.” He suggested the man was guilty of crimes against the nation, and should be held to account for them.
So, how is that”hateful,” at least in the sense of the hatefulness, the evil, of those celebrating the murder – a crime – of a young man who, despite the Biden Administration’s diligent efforts to find one, was not guilty of any crime, except to annoy by his success at winning young minds and hearts, the left?
Ellen
This is typical of the left.
Lying is something they love to do.
Well, Ellen Evans, the word “prosecution” is not in that quote. Kirk named no crime. Kirk said President Biden was so mentally disabled, a disability so profound that no court would have a trial, but still should be killed.
Jim Jones won hearts and minds. Pol Pot won hearts and minds. Adolf Hitler won hearts and minds.
Charlie Kirk was grooming teenagers to become minions to billionaires – and he was paid by some very wealthy people to do it.
Prove it liar
Just like george, you post lies and never back it up with proof.
Ummm…did you not understand the phrase “given the death penalty”? That can only occur after charges being filed, indictment and a trial. It was not a call for a “summary execution”. Charlie was correct in his statement. It’s you who are engaging in “whataboutism”. Grow up.
One more thing. As the solid smoking gun evidence comes out in torrents. It shows that Obama, Biden, Comey, Clapper, Brennan and Schiff are guilty of treason and attempted coup d’etat. All of them should be charged, indicted, Comey is the first, snd tried. Then if found guilty executed as traitors to the country.
“We the People of the United States…secure the Blessings of Liberty TO OURSELVES and OUR POSTERITY….”
– Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, 1789
““We the People of the United States…secure the Blessings of Liberty TO OURSELVES and OUR POSTERITY….”
I have a small problem with your first ellipse. I think the words “in order to” are crucial to that statement.
And to whom were the Blessings of Liberty NOT secured?
There lies your revelation.
I’m an American. My ancestors first arrived here in 1607. I want my country invaded by people who were denied citizenship and various and sundry other illegal aliens past and present. I want to give all my money and private property to parasitic foreign invaders as welfare. Those are my deepest longings and greatest desires as an unhyphenated and patriotic, actual American.
These Ds and so many other Ds have nothing of value (politically, socially, economically, morally) to contribute to a campaign or the workings of government so .. they spew their own hate, bias, holier-than-thou mindset, violent temperment, etc. and do so in an effort to infect others who FOOLishly listen to them.
Democratically controlled states outperform Republican controlled states, the majority of which receive more in Federal help than they contribute to the support of the Federal government and, therefore, the defense of this Nation.
Liberals don’t fly the flag of traitors, don’t “Roll Coal” as an assault on others, don’t call for allowing corporations to freely poison the water and the air and the food, to allow corporations to fix prices and to rob customers. These are all policies that conservatives follow.
Yawn… Tell us how well Calif is doing highest debt, highest level of homeless. A huge retirement dept to the public. Out of control crime and the worse of all. They can’t put out fires.
The homeless go to where the money is and where the weather is nicer. If they wanted to be without any hope at all they would stay in Oklahoma or Louisiana and die from drug overdoses or from poisons in the water from fracking or dumping chemical waste in the waterways or freeze to death in alleyways.
Not sure where the fires are linked into this. Is this more “rake the forest” nonsense? Clearly they can put out fires, but forests are huge and climate change has increased the levels of drought, making them more vulnerable. Without California leading the way, major cities would still orange from car pollution during the summer.
Anyway, here’s hoping that the Christian conservative “Red” states continue to withhold food from the hungry, shelter for the homeless, and not to care for the sick; just like Jesus told Christians to do. Or was that something else? Maybe the Red states should stop dumping their problems on the Blue states and man up and fix them.
Me: The earth is 4.6 billion years old.
DG Snowden: That reminds me, I haven’t crapped all over the Jews yet today. Time to start.
Me: I love the Jews, especially the young NYC Jews .. . it’s the policies and practices of the nation-state of Israel that are so disturbing.
*The Elder of Zion: in the beginning, God created Israel. .. and aught else beside it.
It doesn’t matter who created Israel. One doesn’t need to believe in God to recognize that Israel fulfills more criteria for their statehood than all or almost all of the others.
Israel lives; get over it.
Looks like you are NOT! Poor DG
Typical antisemitic blather: I like Jews, I hate Israel. Maybe that used to work but not anymore.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Ds_of_antisemitism
P.S., the “the policies and practices of the nation-state of Israel” that you find so “disturbing” include the fact that it is the only country in the Middle East that recognizes gay rights – even celebrates Gay Pride Month – women’s rights, economic freedom, religious freedom including freedom to convert (which Muslim countries do not recognize as a right), an independent judiciary, and so many more values that align with the West.
Go pick on nations where the “policies and practices” really are abhorrent, like North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and so many more. The fact you single out Israel for your sniveling little criticisms day in and day out clearly reveals what you are.
I am sure most gay people would give up Israel celebrating Gay Pride Month if Israel would also give up running Gaza as an open air concentration camp where they torture and abuse Palestinians in order to steal the land that was Palestinian before the British showed up.
Bibi has recently crippled that independent judiciary, ramped up the torture, and continues to give Arabs and Muslims in Israel just enough token participation to convince people looking at the glossy propaganda the impression that Bibi and the conservative Right in Israel are not on the path to purify Israel to be Jews-only. His buddy, Gvir, was kicked out of the IDF for being extremist.
What is complicated is that the population of Israel increases by about 100,000 a year, so the current population of Gaza represents 20 years; there’s not a real push to get that land when they are also stealing it from the Arabs in the West Bank.
So, why the big push to Gaza? Bibi needs an enemy to unite his party behind him. If he ultimately defeats that enemy, his leverage is gone. The more torture, the more they fight back, the more he can sell them as an existential threat, even though this huge attack by Hamas was a bare scratch on the population numbers in Israel, the equivalent of less than 6 days of population growth, a setback of not even one week. Not in any way an existential threat to Israel, regardless of the bluster.
It is appropriate for Americans to be more critical of Israel than enemy nations since the US hands them, for free, 5 Billion dollars a year for weapons they use to kill Palestinian children. Sure, a lot of that money is actually spent inside the US on defense contractors to build the weapons Israel uses to kill Palestinian children, but it frees up Israeli funds.
As for other countries, they are already subject to sanctions and military actions; that’s above the level of criticism of Israel.
“to steal the land that was Palestinian before the British showed up.”
Before the British showed up, they were Ottoman subjects.
Stop lying in the gutter with your bottle. You’re displacing the rats.
That post was the single most ignorant, anti-semitic piece of drivel that you have ever posted on here. And there have been many, many of these from you. Everyone who read that is now measurably dumber for having been exposed to it. Grow UP!
Then say Israelis. Just can’t, huh?
good post Floyd, they have no idea what can of whoop ass they opened up and are doing their best to receive.
The Left’s nonsense of supporting rebellious actions against the Government are contrary to the 1ST Amendment which protects the right to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances, not to cause mayhem by force.
GW, we are all assured the reason anyone can just go buy a gun under the 2nd Amendment is when the 1st Amendment is a failure at gaining redress. However, it wasn’t the left literally climbing the walls of the Capitol building at the behest of Trump to “fight like hell or you won’t have a country anymore.”
“Floyd. Please stop.”
Don’t have time to refute all your ‘rage rhetoric’ today, but do want to address the Charlie Kirk assassination.
Briefly, the ‘official’ story has more holes than a hunk of Swiss cheese. Presently, we, and I use that term loosely, don’t know who assassinated Charlie or why. .. and there’s a good chance we never will, imo.
*keep you posted.
You could warm a siberian hootch with that gaslighting, fek off.
Who let ’em in?
Most certainly not the Founders after they quite simply cut the bull—- and TOOK America from the Indians and Great Britain.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Naturalization Acts of 1790, 1795, 1798, 1802
United States Congress, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” March 26, 1790
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof….
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Americans are no longer Americans; America is no longer America.
America has been stolen and “fundamentally transformed,” its Constitution shredded.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
“Sometimes you gotta say what the —-! Make your move.”
– Joel Goodsen, “Risky Business”
For a moment in time God could take people like you anon and put them back in time when “indians” lived geographically within the borders of the US before the English, French, Spaniards arrived. A time before the wheel, horses, metallurgy and coin, so the stolen land idea could really sink in. I won’t be part of your hunting party.
He could.
Coherent much? Seek help immediately!
tPA STAT!
Quite coherent…
I think your much-vaunted blog editor should have put “pissing on their graves” in quotes. To quote it without quote marks is unseemly.
Dear Prof Turley,
Is that official? .. . or just some silly selected clippings from a ‘private’ hyper-partisan feud between the Hatfields and McCoys all the way back in 2022?
Speaking of ‘rage rhetoric’, perhaps you missed President Trump and Sec. of War Hegseth’s recent direct orders to the entire gathering of U.S. flag officers ‘fat generals’ in Virgina? . .. That is official.
To recap: the U.S. is at war from the ‘enemy withing’ .. . that is; radical Democrats, various hateful vicious leftists, antifa/other designated domestic terrorists’ groups, drug runners from Venezuela and, as always, the barbaric hordes of rapists, murderers and mental patients -the ‘worst of the worst’ – flooding across our borders (aka immigrants.).
Sec. of War Hegseth issued a direct warning to the ‘enemy within’; FAFO
*it was not ‘debatable’.
So what DG….
Hegseth announced the start of a political purge. I suppose only those with the Mark of the Beast upon their foreheads will be spared.
Hamas has the same attitude about Jews as Jones has about Republicans
Profound ignorance, profound , anon. I seriously know you haven’t any free will. Stay away from firearms, knives and cars.
Jews? Jews again? DO YOU MEAN ISRAELIS?
So approx. 3 years passed by before this unprofessional texting was revealed to the public/media. Obviously this clown wasn’t brazenly broadcasting his Rage, merely relishing in it with a colleague. Ryan Armagost, CO House Republican wisely resigned after he was called out over inappropriate private commentary with others over how a Dem. Representative dressed for her speaking during session. Of course local media would NOT show how she dressed, but the primary flap were the suggestive and demeaning comments, so reaping consequences for “Private” Commentary as a public official is par for the course. Expectedly, Dems in the House made much political hay over this and the guy both apologized and then resigned before being officially and publicly censured by his peers. There are far more concerning behaviors exhibited by various Democrats in Colorado Legislature that have never been held to account by the majority party over the past several years, as political standards are expectedly lower for party machine majority members.
He says he takes full responsibility, which would mean withdrawing his candidacy. But he follows that statement with a declaration that he is *not* going to withdraw his candidacy. IOW he thinks that saying “I take full responsibility” is the same as actually taking responsibility.
And then went on to blame Trump and his team for releasing the texts????
hullbobby and Not.SoOld;
Your points are well taken. I had never heard of this man before today. SO I looked up his credentials, as well as those of the Republican candidate he is running against, -current/incumbent AG, Jason Miyares. I can objectively say that based on print records and comparing the two, if Jay Jones wins this election and ousts Miyares, you can be sure that he was elected based on race and Party, -not on professional record and personal character.
Sadly, they’ll probably get elected. While Virginia as a whole is conservative, Northern Virginia and the Richmond area are cesspools of leftwing Democrats and they control elections. Harris “won” Virginia in the 2024 election, meaning certain precincts in Northern Virginia held their results until they saw how many she needed to win. Youngkin’s win was a fluke.
They follow progressive principles, subscribe to the Pro-Choice religion, and, as an ethical imperative, entertain abortive ideation to relieve a “burden”. There are Diverse precedents for social Equivocation and Immolation.
“I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves”
~+~
Grа̀ve Àccent