Today a tearful Kathy Griffin told the world how she has become a victim of bullying from President Trump because of a photo she posted showing her holding the severed head of the President. Later in a news conference with her lawyer she was portrayed as someone being denied her first amendment rights. Her lawyer, Lisa Bloom, even went so far as to call this the sign of an authoritarian state.

If this were indeed an authoritarian state Ms. Griffin would be in jail (see Turkey under Erdogan). The question then is does she have a first amendment right to do what she did. The answer is yes. Unlike what many college students of late have said, even hate speech is protected. What Griffin and others have to learn is that legal rights are a two way street and there are consequences for actions.

Tearfully Kathy Griffin cried out that the president and his family had attacked her and broken her and destroyed her career. What the president and family said and the reaction of CNN, which fired her and the venues that cancelled her act, acted legally and within their constitutional rights to express opinion and act in the best interest of their companies.

This is a short post to say to Kathy Griffin that while you have the right to do what you did you must also accept the blow back. Put yourself in the shoes of the family of David Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistan and his head displayed online for the world to see. Think of all the families of those beheaded live online by ISIS. PLEASE THINK of the impact of your actions before you or anyone else doses anything this foul and disgusting, albeit legal and protected, again.