On September 14, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) tweeted that Gen. Mark Milley had worked "to subvert the military chain of command and collude with China," and that "He should be court martialed [sic] if true."Sen. Paul was referring to Milley subverting the chain of command by effectively attempting to omit the Commander In Chief (Trump at the time) from the decision-making process, and by phoning a top Chinese general to promise advance warning should Trump decide that an attack on China or Chinese forces was necessary.
If Milley did "subvert the military chain of command and collude with China," he could be guilty of treason, mutiny, and/or sedition as defined by
US Code. (More on that below.) Sen. Paul did not say what kind of punishment he would wish for Milley if he is ever court-martialed. So I replied to Sen. Paul's tweet by suggesting that Milley should be "
executed if convicted." US Code
allows for execution as a punishment for treason. But the fools at Twitter HQ don't care.
Note that I wrote, "if convicted." That's important because I was not advocating the unjustified killing of anybody. By writing that Milley should be executed if convicted I obviously meant after a legal trial (court-martial). If convicted, US Legal Code also calls for execution as a possible punishment. In other words, I was advocating the application of federal law.
Nevertheless, Twitter accused me of violating their rules of "abuse and harassment." I did neither.
I don't want to make this post about whether or not Gen. Milley is guilty of anything (although he is, in my opinion). Rather, this is about Twitter limiting my account for, in their flawed opinion, advocating the killing of somebody. (Note: It's also possible that some idiot at Twitter misinterpreted my reply to Sen. Paul as a threat.)
Twitter limited me on September 14 for saying that Gen. Mark Milley should be "executed if found guilty." They demanded that I delete the offending tweet.
I appealed it. Three times. No response.
That was no real surprise, of course, but I decided to wait it out just to see if I was wrong. After 13 days of waiting, I decided to delete the tweet and get back fully into the Twitterverse.
It's well know that Twitter is inconsistent with enforcement of their own rules. Just for fun, go to Twitter and search for "milley should be executed" or "execute milley" to see a ton of tweets still posted.
As I said earlier, I merely advocated federal law as defined by U.S. Code. Many say that Milley went rogue, and may have even committed treason. U.S. Legal Code offers some distinct possibilities for severe punishment, specifically:
10 U.S. Code § 894 - Art. 94. Mutiny or sedition (my emphasis added):
(a) Any person subject to this chapter who—
(1) with intent to usurp or override lawful military authority, refuses, in concert with any other person, to obey orders or otherwise do his duty or creates any violence or disturbance is guilty of mutiny;
(2) with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of lawful civil authority, creates, in concert with any other person, revolt, violence, or other disturbance against that authority is guilty of sedition;
(3) fails to do his utmost to prevent and suppress a mutiny or sedition being committed in his presence, or fails to take all reasonable means to inform his superior commissioned officer or commanding officer of a mutiny or sedition which he knows or has reason to believe is taking place, is guilty of a failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition.
(b) A person who is found guilty of attempted mutiny, mutiny, sedition, or failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.
Keep in mind that the Commander In Chief is a civilian and, therefore, embodies civil authority.
18 U.S. Code § 2381 - Treason (my emphasis added):
Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
It is plain that the US Code (federal law) says that Milley should (or could) be executed if found guilty of treason, mutiny, or sedition. All I did was echo that.
