Tag Archives: #CapitolKerfuffle

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Oh, it sends a message, alright!

Another of the Capitol kerfufflers has been sentenced, and Federal Judge Thomas Hogan said that he hoped the sentence would send a message:

    Judge: Sentence in Capitol riot case should send message

    By Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press | Friday, October 8, 2021

    A federal judge said Friday he hopes a three-month sentence behind bars in a U.S. Capitol insurrection case will send a message to other defendants who don’t seem to be “truly accepting responsibility.”

    U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan spoke as he sentenced Robert Reeder, a Maryland man who had originally described himself as an “accidental tourist” before video emerged of him grabbing a police officer.

    “It’s become evident to me that many of the defendants pleading guilty do not truly accept responsibility. They seem, to me, to be trying to get this out of the way as quickly as possible, stating whatever they have to say … but not changing their attitude,” Hogan said.

    He said he believed Reeder is sorry now and sentenced him to half of the six months prosecutors had wanted, but the judge said some of Reeder’s previous statements had been “disingenuous and self-serving.” Hogan said he hopes the sentence sends a signal that people convicted in the riot will face jail time.

    “This was an attack on the operations of Congress and the Capitol of the United States, a really sacrosanct building,” he said.

There’s more at the original, but Mr Reeder’s sentence does send a message: it sends the message that what I have long called the Capitol kerfuffle was not nearly as serious as the left have made it out to be. President Biden called it “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War,” forgetting such things as the September 11th attacks, Pearl Harbor, and the assassination of President Kennedy.

If by some miracle I ever became President, I would pardon every last one of the Capitol demonstrators!

It was the functional equivalent of an out-of-control fraternity keg party, leaderless, directionless, shouldn’t have happened, but nowhere near as bad as a whole summer of urban rioting in 2020, with people killed, businesses looted, buildings burned, innocent lives disrupted and, on one case, several blocks of a major city seized and held as an ‘autonomous zone”.

It wasn’t as bad as President Biden, through his minion Attorney General Merrick Garland, trying to sic the FBI and United States Marshalls on sensible people protesting at school board meetings.

Apparently “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War” has drawn almost entirely single misdemeanor plea deals, because that’s all the Department of Injustice can muster up against the kerfufflers.

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Judge Emmet G Sullivan needs to recuse himself from all cases involving the Capitol kerfuffle He has just, in open court, shown himself to be thoroughly biased against the defendants

As we noted Monday, Dawn Bancroft, 59, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was going to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building, the penalty for which is a maximum of six months in jail and a fine of $5,000.[1]40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G).

    A Doylestown woman who said she wanted to shoot Pelosi ‘in the friggin’ brain’ pleaded guilty to Capitol riot charges

    Dawn Bancroft said she didn’t mean to threaten the House Speaker and called her remark a “stupid comment.” A federal judge questioned whether she was getting off too lightly with a misdemeanor plea.

    by Jeremy Roebuck | Tuesday, September 28, 2021

    A Bucks County gym owner who recorded herself during the storming of the Capitol saying she was looking for Nancy Pelosi “to shoot her in the friggin’ brain” pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor Tuesday, making her the latest Pennsylvanian to admit her role in the Jan. 6 riot.

    Dawn Bancroft, 59, of Doylestown, told a federal judge she didn’t mean to threaten the House speaker and described her remark in hindsight as a “stupid, juvenile comment” made in the heat of the moment.

    Yet, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan expressed concern about Bancroft’s statements and questioned why prosecutors had agreed to let her plead to a misdemeanor count of illegally demonstrating, picketing, or parading inside the Capitol — which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison — instead of pursuing more serious charges of threatening a member of Congress.

    “It’s very troubling to hear that the reason [she] was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was essentially to murder the speaker of the House,” the judge said.

How can that be considered the statement of an unbiased judge? Would any of the Capitol kerfufflers who appeared in his court for an actual trial get a fair shake?

    His remarks came on a day that saw two other Pennsylvania residents admit that they took part in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Also pleading guilty Tuesday was Diana Santo-Smith, 32, of Bucks County, who traveled by train with Bancroft to Washington and who appeared in the background of her incriminating selfie video.

    Sullivan ultimately accepted the misdemeanor pleas from both women despite his reservations. But he warned them he would have much more to say about their conduct when it came time for sentencing in January.

    He marveled at just how many otherwise law-abiding citizens had “morphed into terrorists” that day and said he agreed with recent comments from former President George W. Bush alluding to the Capitol riot as an act of domestic terrorism on par with the Sept. 11 attacks.

Former President Bush, for whom I twice voted, was being stupid when he said that. Comparing what was, in effect, an out of control college keg party in which the only people who died were the partiers, one of whom was shot in the head by a Capitol policeman, with four hijacked airliners, used as weapons, to kill thousands of people. The Inquirer reported that:

    (Mrs Bancroft and Mrs Santos-Smith) broke into the building through an already shattered window and spent less than a minute inside, prosecutors said, before making their way back out again.

    It was while they were trying to push their way back out through the crowd that Bancroft filmed herself and Santos-Smith.

    “We broke into the Capitol. We got inside. We did our part,” she said. “We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain. We didn’t find her, but all is good.”

They spent less than a minute, according to prosecutors, but Judge Sullivan wanted Mrs Bancroft charged much more harshly. The prosecution noted that Mrs Bancroft’s remark was made as they were leaving the building, and there is no evidence that either of them was armed.

Every defense attorney for any of the kerfufflers assigned to Judge Sullivan’s court should be ready with a demand that Judge Sullivan recuse himself in the event of anything more than a guilty plea under 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G), because His Honor has proven himself not to be honorable, proven himself to be thoroughly biased against the defendants.

References

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Another Capitol kerfuffler pleads guilty

I have long called the January 6th ‘insurrection’ what I believe it to be, the Capitol kerfuffle.

On Monday, Gary Edwards, 68, of Churchville in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to a single count of “parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol,” 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G) a charge which could result in probation or a sentence of up to six months in jail. Mr Edwards became the 8th out of 55 Pennsylvanians charged in what amounts to a fraternity keg party getting out of control to plead guilty.

Two more suburban Philadelphia residents are expected to join those ranks this week. Dawn Bancroft, 59, and the owner of a CrossFit gym in Doylestown, and Diana Santos-Smith, of Fort Washington, are scheduled to plead guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan.

The Feds identified Mrs Bancroft and Mrs Santos-Smith from a selfie taken during the kerfuffle; does it look like they were engaged in a major operation, a serious attempted coup d’etat, against the United States?

Social media posts have played a large part in helping the Feds identify the kerfufflers. Mr Edwards’ wife found out just who the family’s friends really are.

There was little on his own public-facing Facebook account to suggest what brought him to Washington in January.

But his wife, in her own posts, described how her husband had followed a “small group of young men dressed in military garb” into the building after watching them break down police barricades, smash a window to climb inside, and then break furniture on their way toward storming the upper floors.

She claimed her husband spent his time in the building helping to flush tear gas from the eyes of other rioters, chatting amicably with police and singing “The Star Spangled-Banner.”

“These were people who watched their rights being taken away,” she wrote. “Their votes stolen from them, their state officials violating the constitutions of their country.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that it was one of Mrs Edwards Facebook friends who took a screenshot of the post, and forwarded it to the FBI.

Yeah, I’d unfriend that bitch!

But it’s interesting how the Inquirer, which normally doesn’t run mugshots of accused criminals, posted that photo of Mrs Bancroft and Mrs Santos-Smith. The credentialed media, who really don’t want to make life harder on actual criminals, have been very free with the photos of the kerfufflers.

These are the typical charges placed against the vast majority of the kerfufflers:

  • 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1) – Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority. Since the Munns are not accused of harming anyone or carrying a deadly weapon, the maximum punishment under (b)(2) is a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.
  • 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(2) – Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds. Since the Munns are not accused of harming anyone or carrying a deadly weapon, the maximum punishment under (b)(2) is a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.
  • 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D) – Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building: utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress; The penalty for violating 40 U.S.C. §5104(e)(2) is a misdemeanor conviction punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 fine or up to six months in prison, or both.
  • 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G) – Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building; The penalty for violating 40 U.S.C. §5104(e)(2) is a misdemeanor conviction punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 or up to six months in prison, or both.

It’s simple: hammer down on charges, to ‘encourage’ the kerfufflers to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor. After all, if convicted on all four charges, and with judges who have already expressed displeasure that those who have pleaded guilty have done so to such a minor charge, those convicted could be sentenced to three years and possibly crippling fines. That Attorney General Merrick Garland, who hates Republicans because the GOP denied him a seat on the Supreme Court, has allowed his minions to offer pleas on only one misdemeanor charge, is indicative of the fact that this ‘insurrection’ wasn’t much of a much.

Were I to, by some miracle, become President, my first act would be to pardon all of the kerfufflers, and my second to fire Mr Garland in the most humiliating manner I could find.

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Two more Capitol kerfufflers plead guilty to misdemeanors

The seriousness of the Capitol kerfuffle is revealed in the fact that the feds are charging most with just misdemeanors. The bias of the Lexington Herald-Leader is revealed in how they played up the story.

Fired Kentucky nurse, husband plead guilty in Capitol riot case. Sentencing next.

By Jeremy Chisenhall | July 28, 2021 | 01:46 PM | Updated 1:52 PM EDT

A Kentucky couple who were at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in Washington, D.C., have pleaded guilty to participating and face a maximum punishment of six months in prison, according to federal court records filed Tuesday.

Thomas and Lori Vinson, who were arrested on Feb. 23 and charged with participating in the riot and other related crimes, have each pleaded guilty to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol Building, according to plea agreements filed in federal court. In addition to a maximum prison time of six months, the two defendants could also face a fine of up to $5,000. Continue reading →

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Overreact much? Justice Department wants to make sure Texas family never approves of anything Democrats ever do

I have been referring to the January 6th ‘insurrection’ by what I believe to be the proper term: the Capitol kerfuffle. But Attorney General Merrick Garland, his hatred for Republicans continually seething ever since then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) denied him a seat on the Supreme Court, and doubtlessly at the urging of President Joe Biden, has been pursuing the kerfufflers with as much savagery as he can muster. From The New York Times:

    A Texas family joins the list of more than 500 people arrested in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

    By Alan Feuer | July 13, 2021 | 4:10 PM EDT

    Among the more than 500 people arrested so far in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, there have been several married couples and any number of parent-and-children teams. There have even been sets of siblings charged.

    The Munn family. Photo by Department of Justice. Blacked out face is of uncharged minor member of the family. Click to enlarge.

    On Tuesday, however, in what seemed to be the first move of its kind, the Justice Department unsealed a complaint against almost the entire Munn family of Texas, accusing the father, the mother and three of their children of illegally breaching the Capitol through a broken window.

    Prosecutors say that Thomas Munn, the family’s patriarch, began writing about going to Washington for a pro-Trump rally in late December, posting an image on Facebook with a caption reading, “POTUS HAS REQUESTED YOUR ATTENDANCE WASHINGTON DC JANUARY 6TH 2021.”

    Then on Jan. 5, court papers say, Mr. Munn posted another Facebook image showing what appears to be the family’s car and trailer on the road from their home in Borger, Texas. A homemade sign is visible on the back of the trailer reading, “D.C. Bound We are Q,” in an apparent reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory.

    According to the complaint, the Munn parents and their children Dawn, Joshua and Kayli entered the Capitol through a broken window at around 2:25 p.m. on Jan. 6 and took what amounted to a brief tour of the building, breaking nothing and harming no one. Afterward, court papers say, they all posed for a photo with another family member — a minor child — who was not charged in the case. The exact ages of the children were not released.

    The charged family members were arrested in Borger on Tuesday and could not be immediately reached for comment. A lawyer had yet to file an appearance in their case .

    Prosecutors say that investigators tracked the family down with the help of a tipster and interviews with at least three of the Munn children’s teachers. The F.B.I. also obtained private Facebook conversations that some members of the family had with their friends.

Here is the government’s claim:

The Munn family are charged with four counts:

  • 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1) – Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority. Since the Munns are not accused of harming anyone or carrying a deadly weapon, the maximum punishment under (b)(2) is a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.
  • 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(2) – Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds. Since the Munns are not accused of harming anyone or carrying a deadly weapon, the maximum punishment under (b)(2) is a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.
  • 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D) – Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building: utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress; The penalty for violating 40 U.S.C. §5104(e)(2) is a misdemeanor conviction punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 fine or up to six months in prison, or both.
  • 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G) – Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building; The penalty for violating 40 U.S.C. §5104(e)(2) is a misdemeanor conviction punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 or up to six months in prison, or both.

So, let me get this straight: the feds spent half a year investigating the Munns, “tracked the family down with the help of a tipster and interviews with at least three of the Munn children’s teachers. The F.B.I. also obtained private Facebook conversations that some members of the family had with their friends,” all to get four misdemeanor charges, with no claim that any of them did anything violent, or destroyed any property?

So, what will the feds get out of this? The only person actually convicted and sentenced took a plea bargain, and received probation, with no jail time, though she was held in jail for two days before she made bail.

    Anna Morgan-Lloyd, a 49-year-old hair salon owner, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine. Washington, D.C., District Judge Royce Lamberth also ordered her to complete 40 hours of community service and pay $500 in restitution.

Basically, she got nothing. Her conviction is a misdemeanor, not a felony, so she will not lose her right to vote for Republicans or keep and bear arms. Mrs Morgan-Lloyd received a sentence commensurate with the seriousness of her offense, which was: not very.

It also set the standard: Mrs Morgan-Lloyd was made to apologize, in exchange for her plea bargain:

Prior to sentencing, prosecutors said they found the sentence “appropriate,” despite what they called Morgan-Lloyd’s initial “ill-considered and misguided commentary,” in part because there was no evidence that she preplanned her attack or incited others, and because she worked with investigators, admitted to her actions, and expressed contrition.

Before receiving her sentence, Morgan-Lloyd tearfully apologized to the court for participating in what she called a “disgraceful” day.

“I went there to show support for President Trump peacefully, and I’m ashamed that it became a savage display of violence that day,” Morgan-Lloyd said.

She did not face any major charges for her role. The day after her sentencing, Mrs Morgan-Lloyd pretty much walked back everything she said in her ‘tearful’ apology.

    Anna Morgan-Lloyd, the first defendant sentenced in the attack, told Fox News that she personally saw no violence on Jan. 6.

    “Where I was at, we see nobody damage anything. People were actually very polite,” Morgan-Lloyd told Fox host Laura Ingraham.

    The interview comes a day after Morgan-Lloyd said in court that she felt ashamed for the “savage display of violence” on Jan. 6. The Bloomfield woman traveled to D.C. that day with her friend Dona Sue Bissey for then-President Donald Trump’s rally before following the mob inside the Capitol for an estimated 10 minutes.

Essentially the same thing with which the Munn family are charged.

So, the Munn family will have to make ‘heartfelt apologies,’ which they will subsequently recant after sentencing. Yet the government will have spent more in manhours investigating this little bit of nothing. And you can bet your bottom dollar that the Biden Administration will get nothing but hatred and contempt from the Munn family and all of their friends.

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Free the Capitol kerfufflers!

On Christmas Day of 1868, President Andrew Johnson, who was not re-elected after having failed to be re-nominated, issued a blanket pardon for all remaining Confederate officeholders. An earlier pardon, in July, covered all Confederates who were not already under indictment, meaning that only Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and a few others, faced any possibility of trial.

On May 10, 1865, Mr Davis was captured by Union soldiers in Irwinville Georgia. Sent to Fort Monroe, off Old Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia, he was imprisoned in a fortress casement, in leg irons ordered by General Nelson Miles. His health deteriorating, he was removed from leg irons and the conditions of his captivity improved. He was indicted on charges of treason, but though the Congress wanted a treason trial, there were many worriers in the North that the legal process of a trial could somehow declare secession to be constitutional. From Wikipedia:

After two years of imprisonment, Davis was released on bail of $100,000, which was posted by prominent citizens including Horace Greeley, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Gerrit Smith. (Smith was a member of the Secret Six who financially supported abolitionist John Brown.) Davis went to Montreal, Quebec, to join his family which had fled there earlier, and lived in Lennoxville, Quebec, until 1868, while his son Jefferson Jr. and William attended Bishop’s College School. He also visited Cuba and Europe in search of work. At one stage he stayed as a guest of James Smith, a foundry owner in Glasgow, who had struck up a friendship with Davis when he toured the Southern States promoting his foundry business. Davis remained under indictment until Andrew Johnson issued on Christmas Day of 1868 a presidential “pardon and amnesty” for the offense of treason to “every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late insurrection or rebellion” and after a federal circuit court on February 15, 1869, dismissed the case against Davis after the government’s attorney informed the court that he would no longer continue to prosecute Davis.

Robert E Lee was indicted but never tried, and never imprisoned.

Now, why do I bring this up?

The Civil War lasted for four long years, and resulted in almost a million deaths of soldiers and civilians. The damage to property was immense in the South, where almost all of the war was fought. Yet, after the Confederacy was beaten, the United States imposed very few legal penalties against the people who led and fought for the Confederacy. There was considerable concern that putting the Confederates on trial would greatly hinder reunification.

Also see: Good News: Jan 6th Investigations Will Resurrect Democracy!

Yet, today, following the ‘insurrection of January 6th, we see so many on the left who want to lock up those I call the Capitol kerfufflers for years upon years, for an uncoordinated demonstration in which nobody who was not one of the kerfufflers was killed, and which lasted only a few hours. As an ‘insurrection,’ it makes the Beer Hall Putsch seem like a masterpiece of planning and execution. Elie Mystal of The Nation wanted all of the kerfufflers rounded up and arrested, and was incensed that some were released on bail. Federal prosecutors have been arguing, and in a few cases succeeding, for keeping some of the Putsch leaders in jail, held without bail, even though some accused murderers are allowed to go free on bond. Elwood Dowd wants them all locked up, while Brad Bannon, a Democratic pollster writing in The Hill says that a meaningful investigation “will resurrect democracy.”

Yet somehow, some way, the left are united in their resistance of post election audits, in a race in which millions of people believe that massive fraud occurred. If the left believe that the election was almost completely clean and above board, why would they disapprove of an audit to prove such?

The left, in their all-consuming hatred of Donald Trump, want to treat something about as serious as a keg party which got out of control more harshly than the United States treated the leaders of the Confederacy! All that this can do is further anger the people who supported President Trump and slow any reconciliation between Republicans and Democrats.

Not that all Democrats want such reconciliation in the first place!

The best thing that President Biden could do, now, is to simply issue a blanket amnesty for the kerfufflers. If he does not, the next President – and may he be a Republican elected on November 5, 2024 – should pardon everyone accused, indicted, tried or convicted in the incident!