Actually, the thing that I was looking for was precisely what was posted, that it's illegal in the United States to threaten the President of the United States. The point being, that which the opposition in Venezuela does as a matter of course would never be tolerated here.
However, and notwithstanding single bullet statements, we do have the following.
-CITE- 18 USC Sec. 878 01/22/02 -EXPCITE- TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I - CRIMES CHAPTER 41 - EXTORTION AND THREATS -HEAD- Sec. 878. Threats and extortion against foreign officials, official guests, or internationally protected persons -STATUTE- (a) Whoever knowingly and willfully threatens to violate section 112, 1116, or 1201 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both, except that imprisonment for a threatened assault shall not exceed three years. (b) Whoever in connection with any violation of subsection (a) or actual violation of section 112, 1116, or 1201 makes any extortionate demand shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. (c) For the purpose of this section ''foreign official'', ''internationally protected person'', ''national of the United States'', and ''official guest'' shall have the same meanings as those provided in section 1116(a) of this title. (d) If the victim of an offense under subsection (a) is an internationally protected person outside the United States, the United States may exercise jurisdiction over the offense if (1) the victim is a representative, officer, employee, or agent of the United States, (2) an offender is a national of the United States, or (3) an offender is afterwards found in the United States. As used in this subsection, the United States includes all areas under the jurisdiction of the United States including any of the places within the provisions of sections 5 and 7 of this title and section 46501(2) of title 49. -SOURCE- (Added Pub. L. 94-467, Sec. 8, Oct. 8, 1976, 90 Stat. 2000; amended Pub. L. 95-163, Sec. 17(b)(1), Nov. 9, 1977, 91 Stat. 1286; Pub. L. 95-504, Sec. 2(b), Oct. 24, 1978, 92 Stat. 1705; Pub. L. 103-272, Sec. 5(e)(2), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 1373; Pub. L. 103-322, title XXXIII, Sec. 330016(1)(K), (N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147, 2148; Pub. L. 104-132, title VII, Sec. 705(a)(4), 721(e), Apr. 24, 1996, 110 Stat. 1295, 1299.) -MISC1- AMENDMENTS 1996 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104-132, Sec. 705(a)(4), struck out ''by killing, kidnapping, or assaulting a foreign official, official guest, or internationally protected person'' before ''shall be fined''. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104-132, Sec. 721(e)(1), inserted '' 'national of the United States','' before ''and 'official guest' ''. Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 104-132, Sec. 721(e)(2), inserted first sentence and struck out former first sentence which read as follows: ''If the victim of an offense under subsection (a) is an internationally protected person, the United States may exercise jurisdiction over the offense if the alleged offender is present within the United States, irrespective of the place where the offense was committed or the nationality of the victim or the alleged offender.'' 1994 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103-322, Sec. 330016(1)(K), substituted ''fined under this title'' for ''fined not more than $5,000''. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103-322, Sec. 330016(1)(N), substituted ''fined under this title'' for ''fined not more than $20,000''. Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 103-272 substituted ''section 46501(2) of title 49'' for ''section 101(38) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, as amended (49 U.S.C. 1301(38))''. 1978 - Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 95-504 substituted reference to section 101(38) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 for reference to section 101(35) of such Act. 1977 - Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 95-163 substituted reference to section 101(35) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 for reference to section 101(34) of such Act. -SECREF- SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS This section is referred to in section 11 of this title.
At 04:58 PM 7/26/2004 -0400, you wrote:
At 04:31 PM 7/26/2004 -0400, you wrote:
My recollection is that calling for the assassination of the President is a serious crime in the United States. [clip] You can't just go around threatening the President of the United States, even if you're a Senator, that's a serious crime.
Ah, but note the caveat--it's a serious crime to threaten the President *of the United States.* It's unlikely that U.S. law extends a similar protection to chief executives of other countries. (And apparently, from Justin's just-now posting, it doesn't.)
Gil
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