The five Stanford students accused of vandalism in the 2024 anti-Israel protests are finally being tried for the property damage. No comment more summed up the mentality on many of our campuses than that of German Gonzalez, who declared, “It is ridiculous for me or for any of us co-defendants to be accused of property damage.” There remains a sense of license to commit crimes.
Gonzalez dismissed the notion of being held accountable for damages estimated to run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars: “This is all just a distraction from the very real property destruction and crimes that are occurring in Gaza every day because of Stanford University’s investments and actions.”
Defense counsel Leah Gillis justified spray painting “genocide” on buildings by saying, “Using the word genocide is the same as saying the sky is blue.”
The comments before a criminal trial show a continued sense of entitlement to commit crimes. These students did not adopt such views in isolation.
It is now common in higher education to hear inflammatory language from professors advocating “detonating white people,” denouncing police, calling for Republicans to suffer, strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservative protesters and other outrageous statements. One professor who declared that there is “nothing wrong” with such acts of violence as killing conservatives was actually promoted.
A student last year published a column asking “when must we kill them?” Even high school teachers are calling upon the Secret Service to kill Trump and his supporters.
It is no wonder that students believe that occupying and trashing university buildings is justified and commendable. The students in the protest spray-painted messages such as “kill cops” and “death to Israel.”
What is most striking is how these defendants and their counsel are making such statements before a criminal trial. Usually, defense teams are circumspect in making inflammatory or incriminating statements. Perhaps these defendants are simply hoping for jury nullification given the liberal jury pool.
Earlier accounts indicate that at least one protester is now a cooperating witness who will testify against others.
In this coverage, one member of Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Amanda Campos ‘26, explained that
“Students acted to break through indifference, to force attention on an injustice that holding signs outside an office could never achieve. DA Rosen is wasting judicial resources to score points in a Trumpian attack on free speech and dissent, consistent with his history of overcharging.”
It reflects the same absurd claim that attacking people or buildings is a form of protected speech. It is not.
Drawing the line on free speech rights is often a difficult one. In my book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” I argue for universities to focus on conduct rather than the content of speech. Occupying buildings, harassing students, destroying property, and shouting down speakers are forms of conduct that should be subject to suspension or expulsion.
This case is an important effort to maintain that line between speech and conduct. The “ridiculous” element is the notion of these defendants that they have a license to commit criminal acts so long as they view their cause as righteous.
Leftwing fascists are a true threat to democracy.
“Defense counsel Leah Gillis justified spray painting “genocide” on buildings by saying, ‘Using the word genocide is the same as saying the sky is blue.’”
Is Gillis arguing for the defense or the prosecution?
If those vandals had spray painted on buildings “the sky is blue” — they’d be guilty of the exact same crime.
The world has truly gone mad.
John Say, thank you for sending me an email, but I have three times tried to reply to it and you seem not to have received any of them.
Sorry
I will look tomorow.
That is not my regular email.
It is the one I use for politics.
Let’s be clear.
Donald Trump will indict the Fed Chair, kidnap foreign leaders and kill American citizens if it distracts you from asking WTF is in the Epstein files because HIS BASE doesn’t like pedophiles. None of this is normal.
But everything he does is from weakness right now.
He is dangerous in the same way that a cornered, rabid raccoon is dangerous.
He is looking for points of weakness where he can escape. Stay focused on the reasons why the walls are closing in.
Don’t flinch when he froths at the mouth.
Trump is dangerous because what you see is what you get – there is no hidden agenda.
He is the rock You can bash yourself to death fighting.
Or you could join the real world.
“He is looking for points of weakness where he can escape. ”
In what world is it that you think Trump is looking to escape ?
He is having great fun at your expense.
Some time in the future he is going to die happy – and you are going to die miserable – blaming everyone but the one person responsible for your $hitty life – you.
“Stay focused on the reasons why the walls are closing in.”
Really ? Trump has not accomplished everything he prommissed – but he is making substantial progress.
Barring another pandemic like Covid or Katrine II striking New Orleans most everything is going his way.
The fed has already cut rates and is poised to do so two more time.
Inflation is down a little
Energy costs are way down and we can expect them to drop even further. And energy effects the cost of everything.
Wages are rising again – especially for the working class.
The US standard of living rose 3% in 2025 and is projected to rise 4.8% in 2026 – and that is unheard of. I can not recall a full year of near 5% growth in my lifetime.
You idiots on the left keep claiming the world does not respect us. I have no idea and I do not really care if the Davos crows respects us nor does most of america.
But they certainly do know our Awesome power.
Venezuela may be messy – but it will be better than under Maduro.
It is likely Iran is next – possibly within hours. That is likely to be even messier. Iran has massive problems.
But regardless of those problems it will be better than under the Ayatolahs.
Further the larest state sponsor of terroism will be gone.
Hezbolla and Hammas will be significantly impoverished – if they survive.
Cuba is unlikely to last the year.
Putin is losing Allies right and left.
The Russian and Iranian Shadow fleets are now Dead.
Numerous factors – Venezuela, Iran, and China are going to make it harder for Putin to continue in Ukraine.
He had better take the deal he has now – if it is still on the table.
China is increasingly isoloated.
China and Russia have just been kicked out of the western hemisphere.
The US has $16T of investment headed in.
The europization of the US is over – we are done with the pathetic growth that has plagued europe as a result of “social democracy” through much of the 21st century – but Europe is NOT done with it.
Europe is deindustrializing, the US is reinductrializing.
We have deported about 3/4M criminals and a total of 2.2M illegals have been deported or self deported.
A significant portion of the non-criminal Venezuelan diaspora is likely headed back to Venezuella to repair the damage of socialism.
Most of the world is headed in directions that are good for the US.
None 0f this has gone smoothly or perfectly – nor will it in the future – left wing nuts will have plenty of glitches to rant about,
But on the net the country is improving – and the world is moving to be far more beneficial and far less trouble for the US.
Let’s be clear– replying to yourself is LAME!! Kill American citizens?? Proof??? NONE!
We already know that there’s nothing in the files that could possibly put Trump in a bad light, because if there were the Biden administration would have made sure to leak it.
Instead the Congressional Democrats have been forced to resort to pathetic attempts to alter and forge photos in order to somehow make them reflect badly on Trump, but everyone saw through them. They wouldn’t have had to do that if there were anything actually incriminating.
The TDS is strong in this one.
You have ranted that Trump is pulling all kinds of illegal schiff – but you have entirely failed to make that case.
Biden and Obama repeatedly acted unconstitutionally.
Trump is enforcing the laws we have – not the ones the left wishes we had.
And he is working to change the ones he does not like -= while complying with them.
Only left wing nuts desparately hoping to take Trump down think the Epstain files will do that.
If DOJ or anyone else had anything – it would have been used or leaked.
There is no pee tape – and the idotic Trump pedo claims have even less merit.
Trumps supporters absolutely expect damning information from the Epstain files – they expect damning information about the left wing nut Davos crowd. They also want consequences for the deep state and al those on the left who have tried to make their lives miserable.
But for the most part neither your wet dreams nor theirs are going to come true.
The Epstain files may embarrass some people – but if there were anything worse than Bill Clinton in a dress we would have all seen it by now.
There may be new names added to the list of people too close to Epstain – but there is nothing else.
One of the ways you can tell is that for every story a document tells – there must be real people that made that document.
If there is video of Bill Clinton with underage girls there are underage girls – now women to tell us of how they were perved by Clinton or whoever. There are a few claims like Guifre that have made it to court, but not all that many and none involving Trump.
Regardless unless there are lots of bodies of underage girls burried on lolita island – and even that would have been uncovered,
all you can expect to learn is more of what we have already.
As to MAGA’s hopes of seeing the deep state in orange jumpsuits – it is not going to happen.
Many have been fired – that can happen. A few like Comey and James may be prosecuted – but they will get a slap on the wrist if convicted.
As for the rest – many of them violated the constitution. Some violated the law. But few like Comey actually violated criminal laws.
“None of this is normal”
Correct – by definition restoring normalacy is not normal – because we are starting from left wing nut insanity.
John Say has his eyes permanently shut with Super Glue.
If he doesn’t see the evidence, it never happened, even though it did.
ATS
I ask you and the rest of the left for evidence all the time.
If I get anything – it is the same lies you have been shilling for a decade that were long ago debunked.
I have no expectation that idios like you will ever change,
Anyone who thinks the shooting of Alishi Babbet was justified but the shooting of Rene Good was not – is clearly blinded by ideology.
Regardless – the lies of the left get bigger bolder and more crazy
You look stupid and desparate.
But you are not going to change – but the world arround you is changing – and changing in a way that is not friendly to your ideas.
While the National German Social Workers Party was still only one of a number of political parties (before its boss got himself made Chancellor of Germany) it was eagerly causing violence and damage in public. The Party’s self-justifying excuse was that in light of the terrible condition Germany had been put in by the Treaty of Versailles then the Party’s violence was simply a way of bringing into stronger public view the ’emergency’ that now existed and the dangers that faced Germany. Thus, to be concerned instead merely about the Party’s own violent and actually illegal acts was nothing but a repellent and gross ignoring of the big problems that Germany faced, problems that the Party’s violence was merely and rightly seeking to draw attention to. While I very much doubt these five students actually know anything about the history of Germany in the very early 1930s and perhaps couldn’t even find Germany on a map of the world, they seem to have adapted the same approach to political activity.
Excellent comparison!
Washington, D.C. (March 24, 2025)— Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Thomas E. Austin, the Architect of the Capitol, requesting he make clear to the American taxpayers how much they are being forced to pay to repair the damages caused by January 6th Capitol Attack rioters.
“On his first day in office, despite warnings from senior Republicans, President Trump issued a blanket pardon to the more than 1,500 people charged in the deadly January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. While these sentences can be erased with the stroke of a pen, the damage done that day is not so easily repaired,” wrote Ranking Member Connolly. “The total cost of the insurrection to the taxpayers is estimated to be $2.7 billion, and that does not account for the lives lost due to the violence that day. Thanks to President Trump’s reckless pardons, convicted rioters can not only walk freely, but they also are no longer required to pay their court-ordered restitutions, much of which was owed directly to your office.”
Restitution was “one of the most common sentences handed down” to January 6th insurrectionists, but offenders were slow to repay their obligations, and taxpayers were “far from being made whole.” A June 2024 CBS News investigation found that only a small fraction—$437,000, which is just 15%—of the nearly $3 million owed in restitution by Jan. 6 offenders for the damage they inflicted on the Capitol had been repaid in the years since the attack.
The official numbers from the Architect of the Capitol remain unknown and must be released.
The Government Accountability Office estimated that the true cost to taxpayers was $2.7 billion, a figure that included property damage, expenses incurred by the Capitol Police, the District of Columbia, and federal agencies, and costs to improve security.
However, many of the costs of the January 6th attempted coup cannot be measured in dollars. Five police officers lost their lives as a result of the attack and scores more were injured. There has also been lasting harm to the psyche of the American people and to our democracy.
“The American people deserve to know how much they have been forced to pay to fix the damage of the January 6th attack while insurrectionists have been let off scot-free. Releasing these figures is not just a matter of fiscal accountability. With President Trump attempting to whitewash history, the unpaid restitution must serve as a concrete record of the damage inflicted to the people’s Capitol on that terrible day,” concluded Ranking Member Connolly.
When you produce numbers like 2.7B – all you do is destroy your own credibility.
No one Nuked the capital.
Trump is building a large addition to the WH for 400M.
Nor does anyone sane beleive that a few busted windows cost $2.7B
In fact no one rational beleive there was $2.7M of damage.
The only lives lost were those of Protestors – so
AGAIN you are lying.
If those of you on the left re going to lie – do not engage in Crazy lying.
It just makes you look stupid.
Please provide an itemized list of the actual damage including costs,
as well as the video from the 100,000 hours of video showing the specific damage that you are claiming.
That supposed figure of $2.7B includes “expenses incurred by the Capitol Police, the District of Columbia, and federal agencies, and costs to improve security”. In other words almost all of it had nothing to do with the protesters.
The actual damage to the Capitol was far less than the damage Democrat occupiers did to the Wisconsin Capitol when they occupied it for over a month back about 15 years ago, and no one tried to recover that from them. Nor did anyone try to attribute to them all the police overtime that was necessary because of their defiance of the law.
Those of you on the left had some early success painting J6 as a major incident
But you have lied so much, and the lies keep getting exposed that no one believes you any more.
What happened to the little boy who cried wolf ?
Most People do not believe the left, democrats, or you regarding MSM anymore.
They do not believe you because you have been caught in so many lies.
J6 is only one of the things you have been caught lying repeatedly about.
Right now we are dealing with all the lies about the ICE event in Mineapolis and the CBP incident in Portland.
Once again – you shilled narratives that proved to be false. So the rest of us get to watch as democrat leaders say nonsense that makes them look like fools, and we watch small numbers of left wing fools protest – and often get themselves arrested.
You are free to engage in all the non-violent protest you want – everyone has the right to make fools of themselves.
But increasingly the initial assumption when the left makes a claim.
The response used to be “Do your own research” – but increasingly people don’t – the just assume if it is a claim from the left – its a lie.
You did this to yourselves.
The actual moral of the story of the Little Boy Who Cried Wolf is that even liars sometimes tell the truth. What happens in the story? The little boy gains a reputation as a liar, so when there really is a wolf and he raises the alarm, the owners of the sheep he’s looking after ignore it and the wolf eats their sheep. Who loses out? They do. It’s no skin off the boy’s nose; he didn’t lose anything. They can’t even accuse him of negligence — he raised the alarm exactly as he was supposed to. So they can’t in good faith fire him. They’re the ones who lose, because they assumed that a liar can’t tell the truth.
“The moral stated at the end of the Greek version is “this shows how liars are rewarded: even if they tell the truth, no one believes them”.
It echoes a statement attributed to Aristotle by Diogenes Laërtius in his The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, in which the sage was asked what those who tell lies gain by it and he answered “that when they speak truth they are not believed”.
William Caxton similarly closes his version with the remark that “men bileve not lyghtly hym whiche is knowen for a lyer”.”
In the english version of the story the wolf eats the boy.
I’ve never heard that version, and it’s not a thing that would happen. The wolf wouldn’t go after the boy when there are so many tasty sheep available.
Its a fable – a myth, a morality play. It does not have to be perfect.
Did the toroise and the hare actually negotiate a race ?
Did a frog actually agree to take a scorpion across the river. ?
Fables as not meant to be taken literally just seriously.
You arw absolutely correct – if a REAL Wolf comes and the lft warns us of it – no one will beleive them.
The good news is that we have people who have a reputation for telling the truth to rely on.
We can safely ignore the warnings of liars.
Even the democrat-MSM would try to pass your posted nonsense as factual. J6 was designed and carried out for use as leftist propaganda, and for those stupid enough to believe it, it was a success. There is of course, the truth – https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/01/08/jan-6-5-years-later-were-we-played/?utm_source=TDS_Email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=see-for-yourself-one-video-blows-up-countless-media-narratives-about-minnesota-ice-shooting&_bhlid=dc4927999a086da6597cf602896204169cd04a8f
Washington, D.C. (March 24, 2025)— Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Thomas E. Austin, the Architect of the Capitol, requesting he make clear to the American taxpayers how much they are being forced to pay to repair the damages caused by January 6th Capitol Attack rioters.
Stick around long enough to tell us why the Democrat Borg demands that history only began six months AFTER the July 1st White House Assault rioters failed to murder Trump in the White House.
Church torched; 50 Secret Service agents hospitalized with wounds suffered fighting rioters assaulting White House as Donald Trump is taken to ‘terror attack’ bunker
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11752998/trump-secure-bunker-friday-george-floyd-protests-white-house/
Give us a quote from Rep. Gerald E. Connolly asking about that!
Your move Tovarisch… drop your dump to deflect and disappear – or stay and explain why history doesn’t exist before January 6th.
. Federal Judge stopped Zero Mamdami in his housing project. Guess plan B will do, looting.
^^^ . Commie Zero might cut a deal with new owners. Cut property taxes and the tax break pays for the repairs? ☺ DJT would.
^^^ Summit properties buyer. Israeli arm involved and probably against Zeros principles.
There was a sense of license for the J6 mob to break stuff.
If you are going to lie – don’t tell crazy lies – that just makes you look like a fool.
Your make-believe comment needs a point of reference –
https://politifix.com/summer-of-love-looting-and-murder
The cost of repairing damages from the attack on the U.S. Capitol and related security expenses have already topped $30 million and will keep rising, Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton told lawmakers on Wednesday.
The events of Jan. 6, he said, were “difficult for the American people and extremely hard for all of us on campus to witness.”
Blanton said that congressional appropriations committees have already approved a transfer request of $30 million to pay for expenses and extend a temporary perimeter fencing contract through March 31.
But more money will be needed, he added: “History teaches us that project costs for replacements and repairs beyond in-kind improvements across campus will be considerable and beyond the scope of the current budgetary environment.”
So first the amount is 3.7B, then it is 30M – in new security.
New security is NOT repair of damages.
If your honda civic is involved in an accident and totaled and you decide to buy a Lamborghini to replace it – the insurance company is not going to pay for the lamborghini.
You cite “more money will be needed” – Why ? Everythign actually damaged was replaced long ago.
Please show us the windows that are still broken or the damage that has not been repaired.
Again if your going to lie – craxy lies are a really bad idea if you wish to be beleived.
“And related security expenses”. Cost of fixing the damage: Probably less than $5,000. “Related security expenses”: Unlimited.
Apparently, immigrants have been hiding from ICE in the Trump-Kennedy Center.
It’s very safe, because nobody goes there anymore.
They could hide out for months or even years.
Did Turley ever write a piece condemning the property damage caused by the January 6 rioters?
There have been stories about that by the MSM – ultimately nearly all of them proved fraudulent.
Most attributed damage or conduct that occured during the Kavanagaugh protests to J6.
No J6 protester has claimed they were entitled to destroy property.
This is a legal blog and a free speech blog – Turley does not cover broken windows with no intersection with free speech.
Their actions said this for them.
What actions ? Walking respectfully through the capital staying between the Velvet ropes ?
Again watch the actual video.
The few minutes of video the left ran within a day or two of the event is ALL THERE IS showing violence and damage.
The release of over 100.000 hours of video provided no more video of violence or damage.
Aftermath of January 6
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_January_6_United_States_Capitol_attack
No one trust wikipedia on anything political -= not even wikipedia’s founders.
A broken window? Already repaired.
Denying the 30 million in damages to the Capitol is like denying the Holocaust.
If you want people to beleive 30M – then do not claim $2.7B
Regardless improvements are not repairs.
There were no 30 million in damages. Even your own quote says “and related security expenses”. Fixing the damage probably cost less than $5,000. “Related security expenses” is unlimited.
Anon 5:09pm The Professor has no reason to fabricate lies, as you yourself seem to do as a hobby. Here’s some actual damage, once again caused by the destructive left.
https://politifix.com/summer-of-love-looting-and-murder
Did Turley ever write a piece condemning the property damage caused by the January 6 rioters?
Is it a rhetorical question to ask why you pretend you weren’t part of the July 1 assault on the White House a few months earlier? Would you like to put up a post justifying your attempt to murder Trump in the White House?
Church torched; 50 Secret Service agents hospitalized with wounds suffered fighting rioters assaulting White House as Donald Trump is taken to ‘terror attack’ bunker
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11752998/trump-secure-bunker-friday-george-floyd-protests-white-house/