by WorldTribune Staff, September 10, 2020
A University of Rhode Island professor who said he saw “nothing wrong” with an Antifa member stalking and shooting a supporter of President Donald Trump in Portland appears “to justify the murdering of those who hold opposing views,” said George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley,
The Rhode Island professor, Erik Loomis, was commenting in a blog post on the murder of Aaron “Jay” Danielson allegedly by Antifa member Michael Reinoehl, whom Loomis described as “the guy who killed the fascist in Portland last week.”
Reinoehl was killed after police said he pulled a gun on them when they attempted to arrest him.
“He admitted it and said he was scared the cops would kill him,” Loomis said of Reinoehl. “Well, now the cops have killed him. I am extremely anti-conspiracy theory. But it’s not a conspiracy theory at this point in time to wonder if the cops simply murdered him. The police is shot through with fascists from stem to stern. They were openly working with the fascists in Portland, as they were in Kenosha which led to dead protestors.”
One commenter on the blog said to Loomis: “Erik, he shot and killed a guy.”
Loomis responded: “He killed a fascist. I see nothing wrong with it, at least from a moral perspective. … Tactically, that’s a different story.”
Turley noted that Loomis insists “that any problem in gunning down right-wing counterprotesters was tactical not moral.”
“I testified in the Senate about the erosion of free speech and rise of violence on our campuses and in our streets,” Turley wrote on JonathanTurley.org on Wednesday. “Antifa and related groups have succeeded in advancing anti-free-speech agendas as students and faculty justify attacks on those with opposing views. Loomis has long espoused extremist views and violent language, including calling for NRA executive Wayne LaPierre’s ‘head on a stick.’ ”
Turley asked: “So it is merely a tactical not a moral question to stalk and murder someone with opposing views?”
He said the specific context in Portland “is that Danielson went with a right-wing group to advocate for his own views, just as protesters from Black Lives Matter have been doing. He was stalked and murdered, which Loomis finds perfectly moral.”
“What is so striking is how Danielson is no longer treated as a human being with family or even individual worth,” Turley wrote. “Loomis seems to revel in the notion that such lives are now inconsequential and can be taken for purely tactical reason. It is the liberating element of extremism. Once uncoupled from the confines of morality, Loomis and others can assume a license for violence, even murder, to advance their agenda.”
Loomis responded to Turley: “[Turley] thinks I support murder. Meanwhile, his preferred policies kill people around the world every day. But hey, I’m not bought and sold by capitalists. Wonder what it feels like to be a disgusting human being.”
Turley noted that Loomis simply was continuing “his signature style of hurling insults rather than addressing the underlying issues addressed in the blog.”
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