I had not heard of the rock group Rage Against the Machine (RATM) until the news of the riot following their concert in Minneapolis Wednesday night. So I googled them and found this MTV article about their plan to play in Minneapolis during the Republican national Convention in St. Paul (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1592142/20080805/rage_against_the_machine.jhtml). They also played in Denver during the DNC. The MTV article said that "according to Minneapolis' Star Tribune, [RATM] will bring their incendiary politics and anthems of violent revolution to the Target Center September 3." The article also went on to say: De la Rocha recently called for President Bush to be "tried for being a war criminal," and during the band's Lolla set, he raged against the last eight years of Republican rule and even had a word of warning for "Brother Obama," referring to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama.
"Now, we know Brother Obama. ... But I tell you what, if he comes to power come November and he doesn't start pulling troops out of Afghanistan, I know a lot of people who are gonna stand up and burn down every office of every Senate [Senator?]." What De la Rocha said comes perilously close to incitement to riot and violence. The last I checked, incitement to riot is not protected by the First Amendment. It would appear that Rage Against the Machine is out of bounds.
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