The Overzealous Prosecutors of January 6

            “Government,” observed the 14th century Arab political theorist Ibn Khaldoun, “is an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself.” Draconian prison sentences handed down to those involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot highlight this truism.

            Though he didn’t enter the Capitol that day, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, 57, received 18 years in federal prison for seditious conspiracy under a law whose retrograde origins and vague definition ought to worry those who care about due process. Florida chapter leader Kelly Megg will serve 12 years for the same offense. Peter Schwartz, 49, who attacked police officers at the Capitol with a chair and then chemical spray, got 14 years. Richard Barnett, who was photographed with his feet resting on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk, received 4½ years. The Department of Justice has obtained prison sentences in at least 250 of the thousand-plus January 6th-related cases it is prosecuting. DOJ is also undermining defendants’ ability to hire attorneys, by asking judges to issue fines big enough to offset donations to legal-defense funds.

            Like most Americans, I am disgusted by the events of January 6th. The rioters rioted without cause even to protest; there was insufficient evidence of irregularities in the 2020 election to believe Biden hadn’t won. Many of them succumbed to idiotic nonsense; they believed in QAnon and Pizzagate. Too many were xenophobic, racist, homophobic partisans of the far right, the embodiment of what the historian Richard Hofstadter described as the paranoid style in American politics. Rhodes, who also participated in the 2014 standoff by far-right anti-government extremists at the Bundy Ranch, would probably despise me and my left-wing politics. (Though, you never know. Rhodes’ Oath Keepers supported Edward Snowden.)

            I abhor the defendants and their politics, as well as their actions on January 6th. Yet I can see that the events of that day, shocking as they were, have been exaggerated by Democrats and their media allies in order to gain partisan advantage. Now they are being punished beyond reason.

A reasonable person cannot conclude that these punishments fits the crime. The average prison term for a person convicted of murder in the United States is 17½ years. The average term for rape is seven years. Nothing Rhodes did, in the aggregate, comes close to taking a life—yet he will go behind bars for the same period of time as a stone-cold killer. Appropriate January 6th charges would include burglary, trespassing and vandalism and, in cases like those who called for violence against government officials, menacing. Rhodes, however, was sentenced as a terrorist.

His real offense was challenging the authority of the government at its seat of power.

Prosecutorial discretion and the inherent non-uniformity of sentencing judges ensure that there will be a range of prison terms for defendants convicted of similar offenses, and that certain crimes that seem less serious will result in harsher verdicts. But a criminal justice system worthy of its name should strive for internal consistency and fairness whether its overall tenor is lenient or harsh. The January 6th sentences do not meet that standard.

The riot caused $1.5 million worth of damage to the Capitol building, the same amount New York City paid to renovate a nondescript children’s playground in Harlem. One Capitol Hill police officer died, the following day. The coroner attributed his passing to natural causes; prosecutors did not file charges against anyone in that incident. One cop lost the tip of a finger and others suffered concussions—unacceptable to be sure, yet far short of what one might expect. As riots and insurrections go video and photo evidence make clear that January 6th was hardly the full-scale attempt to overthrow the republic portrayed by Democrats.

Charges and convictions were appropriate, just not at this level. Years-long sentences against nonviolent offenders suggests that prosecutors were less interested in holding wrongdoers accountable than sending an unmistakable message: don’t mess with us.

            The prosecution of Barnett, the man who invaded Pelosi’s office, notes that he left her a note calling her a “bitch.” “Court documents also state that Barnett had a stun gun in his pants while in the speaker’s office and that he took an envelope from the office,” CNN reported. “Prosecutors said he left the Capitol showing the envelope to other rioters like it was a ‘trophy.’”  An unused stun gun? A crude message? An envelope? Four and a half years?

            Cesare Beccaria’s 1764 manifesto On Crime and Punishments set a philosophical ideal for justice in Western Europe, a standard enshrined in constitutions that was so influential it inspired the title of Dostoevsky’s great novel. “In order that punishment should not be an act of violence perpetrated by one or many upon a private citizen,” Beccaria concluded, “it is essential that it should be…the minimum possible in the given circumstances.”

            When prosecutors and judges impose excessively harsh punishments, they cede the moral high ground to those they seek to condemn. The convicted are transformed into aggrieved parties while the government feeds into their narrative that it is vindictive and oppressive. “I consider every J 6er to be a political prisoner because all of them are grossly overcharged,” Stewart Rhodes told U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta at his sentencing hearing.

            “You’re not a political prisoner, Mr. Rhodes,” the judge retorted.

            Of course he is.

            (Ted Rall (Twitter: @tedrall), the political cartoonist, columnist and graphic novelist, co-hosts the left-vs-right DMZ America podcast with fellow cartoonist Scott Stantis. You can support Ted’s hard-hitting political cartoons and columns and see his work first by sponsoring his work on Patreon.)

 

The Final Countdown – 6/1/23 – FBI Director Faces Contempt of Congress Over Biden Probe

On this episode of The Final Countdown, hosts Manila Chan and Ted Rall discuss breaking news, such as the FBI Director facing contempt of Congress. 

Angie Wong:
 Journalist
Dr. Dombrowski: CEO of the Washington Pain Center and practicing physician 
Scott Stantis: Cartoonist for The Chicago Tribune 
Nick Cruise: Co-founder of Revolutionary Blackout Network  
 
In the first half hour, the hosts were joined by journalist Angie Wong to discuss the FBI director facing contempt of Congress over the Biden probe. 
 
In the second half of the hour Dr. John Dombrowski, CEO of the Washington Pain Center and practicing physician joins to discuss the Sackler family lawsuit. 
 
In the last hour, Scott Stantis, cartoonist for The Chicago Tribune  joins to discuss the DeSantis campaign, Chris Christie, and Mike Pence. 
 
The show wraps up with Nick Cruise, co-founder of the Revolutionary Blackout Network to discuss the organization being censored by Youtube. 

DMZ America Podcast #103: Debt Ceiling Madness, Gaming the GOP Primaries, and the War on Gay

Editorial cartoonists Ted Rall (from the Left) and Scott Stantis (from the Right) analyze the week in politics, and what’s coming up next. Tune in for informed passionate debate between two best friends who prove that it’s possible to disagree while remaining civil.

A controversial compromise bill negotiated between President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy goes to the House of Representatives for a vote. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. Will the US government default on June 5? Even if this bill gets through, is it too late to preserve America’s credit rating?

Donald Trump has a full slate of new primary rivals for the GOP presidential nomination, most notably, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who had a disastrous launch and is now seeing his polls go exactly the wrong direction, and former Vice President Mike Pence. Does Trump face any credible threat from these competitors?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has made a name for himself, declaring war on “woke,” even including Disney in his campaign to demonize LGBTQ people. Why do Republicans keep waging culture war even though it’s a loser at the polls? Also: separating reactions to gays and lesbians from controversies over transgender people.

Watch the Video Version of the DMZ America Podcast:

DMZ America Podcast Ep 103 Sec 1: Debt Ceiling Madness

DMZ America Podcast Ep 103 Sec 2: Gaming the GOP Primaries

DMZ America Podcast Ep 103 Sec 3: The War on Gay

Erdogan Retains Turkish Presidency While Kosovo Witnesses Upheaval

On this episode of The Final Countdown, hosts Manila Chan and Ted Rall discuss top news, such as Erdogan retaining the Turkish presidency and clashes between Serbia and Kosovo. 
 
Melik Abdul: Conservative commentator, Cohost of Fault Lines 
Nebojsa Malic: Serbian-American journalist, blogger and translator
Mark Sleboda: International Relations and Security Analyst 
Scott Stantis: Cartoonist for The Chicago Tribune 

In the first half hour, the hosts were joined by Conservative commentator and Cohost of Fault Lines Melik Abdul to discuss the debt ceiling deal. 
 
In the second half of the hour Serbian-American journalist Nebojsa Malic discusses Serbia’s clashes with Kosovo.  
 
In the last hour, International Relations and Security Analyst Mark Sleboda joins to discuss an array of topics, including drone attacks on Moscow, the Turkish elections, and Zelensky requesting Ukraine to sanction Iran. 
 
The show wraps up with Scott Stantis, Cartoonist for The Chicago Tribune, on Memorial Day weekend gun violence. 
 

The Final Countdown – 5/26/23 – Debt Ceiling Default Approaches Amid Bipartisan Talks

On this episode of The Final Countdown, hosts Manila Chan and Ted Rall discuss breaking news, such as the debt ceiling default approaching. 

Steve Gill: Attorney and CEO of Gill Media  
Mark Sleboda: International Relations and Security Analyst 
Scottie Nell Hughes: Conservative commentator, Host of 360 View on RT 
John Kiriakou: Cohost of Political Misfits 
 
In the first half hour, the hosts were joined by Attorney and CEO of Gill Media Steve Gill to discuss the IRS Whistleblower coming forward. 
 
In the second half of the hour International Relations and Security Analyst Mark Sleboda joins to discuss Russia deploying nukes to Belarus. 
 
In the last hour, Conservative commentator Scottie Nell Hughes joins to discuss the 18-year sentencing of the Oath Keepers founder. 
 
The show wraps up with John Kiriakou, Cohost of Political Misfits, on Henry Kissinger turning 100. 

Ron DeSantis, Torturer and Future President

Hello. I’m Ron DeSantis and I approve of the following message.

As you may have heard, I’m running for President of the United States. You could only have heard it because I announced it on an audio-only platform called Twitter Spaces, which my friend Elon Musk assured my staff is futuristic and will therefore appeal to hipster kids. We also like it because no one got to see my face and my face scares people.

I own it: I have the face of a torturer. That’s because I am a torturer.

If you see my face, there’s a chance you are being tortured.

So audio is better.

Some guys say they didn’t choose the torture lifestyle, torture chose them, but that’s not true about me. I was obsessed with the movie “A Few Good Men,” which takes place at Guantánamo. When Jack Nicholson barked at Tom Cruise, “you can’t handle the truth!” I was hooked. Like Tom Cruise, I became a JAG and volunteered to go to Gitmo. But I was more into the Jack Nicholson character. His character carefully cultivated a culture of abuse I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into. Evil is so cool.

When I got to Gitmo, hundreds of terrorist Muslim scumbags—OK, they’ve pretty much all been released because none of them actually did anything, but whatever—were on hunger strike. My C.O. asked me: “How do I combat this?” I was, like: “Hey, you actually can force-feed. Here’s what you can do. Here’s kind of the rules for that.”

It was awesome! They strapped the dudes into a chair. Then they stuffed a rubber tube down their nose and poured down two cans of some protein drink. (There was also “rectal rehydration” but I officially didn’t get to see that, wink wink, “would” have been so rad!)

I watched this terrorist dude—OK, they never charged him and the wusses at the Pentagon he was “innocent” or whatever—named Mansoor Adayfi getting force-fed. He wrote that “a male nurse forced that huge tube into my nose. No numbing spray. No lubricant. Raw rubber and metal sliced the inside of my nose and throat. Pain shot through my sinuses and I thought my head would explode.” Hilarious! He totally remembered me, especially me grinning and making fun of him.

            Like I said: if you see my face, you might be getting the hardcore business end of Uncle Sam.

            If elected, I will personally torture anyone who annoys me, even if they are innocent —especially if they are innocent. I will torture migrants and gays and abortion sluts. I will torture Mickey Mouse.

            I won’t lie: it’s not going to be easy. Trump is ahead of me among Republican primary voters 58% to 16%, and his lead keeps increasing. My plan is to let Trump get up to 100%. He has nowhere to go but down after that.

            My other plan is to spend $200 million on my campaign. If nothing else, I’ll stimulate the economy in the crucial campaign worker sector. Maybe my campaign workers will repay my generosity by voting for me.

            If those don’t work, I’ve got my ace in the hole: torture.

            I’m an outstanding torturer, but I’m only one man. I can’t torture all the voters I need to become the Republican nominee, much less all the swing voters in key states I’ll need in the general election while evading process servers from the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. But I don’t need to torture everyone in order to win.

            If you’re thinking about voting for someone else, however, consider this: I may torture you. Do you want to wake up in the middle of the night, strapped to a chair rubber hose, jammed down your throat? Do you want to gag and scream, then catch a glance of my smirking face with my dead piggy eyes and bloated cheeks and realize you could have avoided all this pain by donating generously to my campaign and wearing nothing but my T-shirts, and covering your car with my stickers and voting for me? Believe me, the answer is no.

            Do not make me torture you. Actually, go ahead.

            It’s more fun than being president.

(Ted Rall (Twitter: @tedrall), the political cartoonist, columnist and graphic novelist, co-hosts the left-vs-right DMZ America podcast with fellow cartoonist Scott Stantis. You can support Ted’s hard-hitting political cartoons and columns and see his work first by sponsoring his work on Patreon.)

The Final Countdown – 5/24/23 – Ron DeSantis 2024? Florida Governor to Announce Candidacy

On this episode of The Final Countdown, hosts Manila Chan and Ted Rall discuss hot topics, such as Ron DeSantis planning to announce his candidacy. 
 
Mitch Roschelle: Media Commentator, Podcaster, Macro Strategist 
Rev. Gregory Seal Livingston: Ordained minister, pastor, Civil Rights leader 
Nebojsa Malic: Journalist, blogger, and translator
Kiji Noh: Journalist, political analyst, writer and teacher 
 
In the first half hour, the hosts were joined by Media Commentator, Mitch Roschelle to discuss Ron DeSantis’ 2024 candidacy. 
 
In the second half of the hour Rev. Gregory Seal Livingston, ordained minister, pastor, and Civil Rights leader joins to discuss the Illinois clergy abuse cases. 
 
In the last hour, Nebojsa Malic, journalist, blogger, and translator, to talk about the Target controversy. 
 
The Final Countdown wrapped up with Kiji Noh, to talk about the U.S. defense pledge with Papua New Guinea. 

The Final Countdown – 5/22/23 – Ukraine to Receive F-16s After Loss of Bakhmut

On this episode of The Final Countdown, hosts Manila Chan and Ted Rall discuss hot topics, such as Ukraine’s loss of Bakhmut. 
 
Mark Sleboda: International Relations and Security Analyst
Steve Gill: Attorney and CEO of Gill Media 
Melik Abdul: Co-host of Fault Lines 
John Kiriakou: Cohost of Political Misfits, Former CIA Analyst 
 
In the first half hour, the hosts were joined by International Relations and Security Analyst Mark Sleboda to discuss Ukraine’s loss of Bakhmut and the U.S. wanting to supply F-16’s to the country. 
 
In the second half of the hour Attorney and CEO of Gill Media, Steve Gill joins to discuss the latest out of the debt-ceiling debacle. 
 
In the last hour, The Final Countdown talked to Co-Host of Fault Lines Melik Abdul to discuss the latest abortion bans and how it affects the 2024 elections.
 
The Final Countdown wrapped up with John Kiriakou, Cohost of Political Misfits about the Greek and Turkish elections.

The Logic of Militarism

The Washington Post published an opinion piece today that epitomizes the logic of militaristic imperialism. Check out this excerpt:

These are words. They’re scary words. If China invades Taiwan, these words argue, our daily lives—here! in the United States!—would be dire-ified! Scary as they are, though, the words don’t really say anything.

Each sentence, taken individually, is a massive leap of logic. How, exactly, would America’s position in the Asian-Pacific region be “gravely weakened”? The authors don’t say. No hows are included in this argument—which is typical of this sort of neo-con argument, going back to the domino theory.

A great way to test grandiose claims like this is to turn them around. What if the argument appeared in China Daily, and read like this:

What if the U.S. invades Grenada? China’s geopolitical position in the Caribbean, and the perception of China’s allies in the Caribbean, would be grievously weakened. This would increase America’s global hegemony, which it would use to weaken our (Chinese) prosperity and mess up the everyday life of Chinese people. Therefore, China must defend Grenada!

Such an argument would rightly be dismissed as nonsense. China doesn’t have, nor should it have, any say over the Caribbean. If the U.S. invades Grenada, China would not be affected.

So it is with Taiwan.

(Missing here is the highly relevant fact that the U.S. legally considers Taiwan to be part of China. Under American law, China can’t “invade” its own territory.)

I’m pointing this out because this is exactly the kind of twisted logic used to justify invading Iraq, and Vietnam, and defending Ukraine. What if what if? This then that then this other thing—but if you take a beat to think about what’s actually being said, none of it makes sense.

Warmongers are like used-car salesmen. The sell comes hard and fast—to keep you from thinking.

The Final Countdown – 5/18/23 –

On this episode of The Final Countdown, hosts Manila Chan and Ted Rall discuss hot topics, such as the Ukraine-Russia grain deal extension. 

James Bradley: Asia, Indo-Pacific historian, critically-acclaimed best-selling author
Nebojsa Malic: Serbian-American journalist, blogger, and translator
Mark Sleboda: International Relations and Security Analyst 
Camila Escalante: Journalist, and correspondent in Latin America 
 
In the first half hour, the hosts were joined by best-selling author and Asia Indo-Pacific historian, James Bradley to discuss Biden’s trip to Japan for G7. 
 
In the second half of the hour Serbian-American journalist Nebojsa Malic joins to discuss the White House lax regulations for U.S. Think Tanks.  
 
In the last hour, The Final Countdown talked to International Relations and Security Analyst Mark Sleboda about the Ukraine-Grain Deal extension. 
 
The Final Countdown wrapped up with journalist Camila Escalante about the Ecuadorian President’s impeachment. 
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