Former Congressman Dares AG Loretta Lynch To Arrest Him For Anti-Muslim Rant [Video]
Ex-Congressman Joe Walsh is apparently no fan of U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and probably won’t be sending her a Christmas card this year, which he made clear in a anti-Islam video rant embedded below that is going viral.
The former lawmaker (not the Eagles guitarist) took to Facebook to strongly denounce Lynch’s comments made on the day after the San Bernardino mass shooting carried out by Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, that left 14 people dead and many more injured. According to multiple media accounts, Malik pledged allegiance to ISIS on her Facebook page shortly before the attack.
“Farook and his wife later died in a fierce gun battle with authorities several hours after their commando-style assault on the gathering of Farook’s colleagues from San Bernardino County’s health department,” the Daily Mail explained.
In a speech to the nation last night, President Obama said, among other things, that he has ordered a governmental review of “the visa waiver program under which the female terrorist in San Bernardino originally came to this country.” He also underscored that “just as it is the responsibility of Muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all Americans, of every faith, to reject discrimination.”
In remarks made before a Muslim advocacy group that prompted the Walsh rant, Lynch vowed to prosecute anyone for anti-Muslim rhetoric, which she described as her “greatest fear,” and also advised parents to contact the Justice Department about instances of bullying of Muslim children.
Parenthetically, it’s unclear as to whether Lynch ever expressed similar concerns about potential discrimination against Christians or Jews.
[Update: Lynch this morning recalibrated her earlier remarks by acknowledging that “Of course, we prosecute deeds and not words.”]
Separately, Lynch — who replaced Eric Holder in April as the top Department of Justice official in Washington and previously was the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York — deemed the San Bernardino shooting “a wonderful opportunity and a wonderful moment to really make significant change,” which presumably could be Washington code for more gun control via executive order or administrative rulemaking.
Former Rep. Walsh posted the video commentary on his Facebook page, which has been viewed more than 700,000 times (with another 40,000 views on YouTube) in response to Loretta Lynch, in which he claimed that Islam is evil and dared Lynch to prosecute him for the backlash he claims he intends to encourage.
“…That doesn’t happen in this country. I can say whatever I want about Christians, Jews, or Muslims. I think Islam has a real freaking problem, alright. There is a cancer in Islam, and if they’re not going to learn to assimilate, I don’t want them in this country. You got a problem, Loretta Lynch, with me saying that? Then throw me in jail… you’re worried about a backlash against Muslims? Fourteen Americans were killed three days ago, and you come out the next day and say your greatest fear is anti-Muslim backlash…”
In a Facebook message accompanying the video, Walsh underscored his freedom of speech argument.
“…I have a 1st Amendment right, Ms Lynch, to say whatever I want about Muslims, Christians or any other religion…And I will continue to speak the truth about Islam in the hopes that others will wake up to this truth and do what we can to defeat this evil in our midst.”
Do you think that Joe Walsh was engaging in xenophobic hate speech or freedom of speech, or both, in his anti-Islam rant in response to Attorney General Loretta Lynch?
[Photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP]
