Yet more good news? Be still my heart.
A federal jury on Tuesday convicted Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and a top deputy of seditious conspiracy for leading a months-long plot to unleash political violence to prevent the inauguration of President Biden, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The panel of seven men and five women deliberated for three days before finding Rhodes and lead Florida Oath Keeper Kelly Meggs guilty of conspiring to oppose by force the lawful transition of presidential power. But three other associates were not convicted of the historically rare and politically freighted sedition count. All five were convicted of obstructing Congress as it met to confirm the results of the 2020 election. Both offenses are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Lock him up!
Although, I’m sad to say, it looks we can anticipate a little less happy news from these court cases in the future.
Rhodes and his co-defendants were the first accused of seditious conspiracy and the first to face trial and be convicted on any conspiracy charge to date in the massive Jan. 6 investigation. He is the highest-profile figure to face trial in connection with rioting by angry Trump supporters who injured scores of officers, ransacked offices and forced lawmakers to evacuate the U.S. Capitol.
What? That angry dork is the “highest-profile figure” arrested in the insurrection plot? That doesn’t seem right. I can think of a few members of congress and one ex-president who ought to be on the docket.
In case you’re wondering about the fierce pirate fashion statement, Rhodes did not lose an eye in gallant action. He dropped a loaded gun, it went off, and put out his eye. Yeah, he’s one of those bumbling gun-fondling dumb-asses.
Self-destructive man there in so many ways, so very many bad choices.. Also seriously toxic and dangerous as well as deluded. Great that he’s going to be locked up for a good long while.
May many more of them and higher ranking one’s esp please join him behind bars ASAP including the ringleader and lead inciter ex-POTUS himself. That cannot happen soon enough. Quite literally. (Why hasn’t it happened already?)
Incidentally, I know its legal for a candidate to run for POTUS whilst in jail but what about Congresscritters being able to vote from jail if some of them deservedly end up where this oaf-now-kept thug is going?
Well, his mom did warn him that he could shoot his eye out…
It’s uglier for Rhodes. When he shot his eye out, he was acting as a firearms instructor.
Oh well, at least he’s consistent. Incompetent instructor and incompetent conspirator. Even money, he’ll also be an incompetent prisoner.
I can’t wait to see today’s list of Truth Social meltdowns over this. Oh those delicious Republican tears are going to taste so sweet after work today.
I thought this speculation from Marcy Wheeler was interesting: “What If the Special Counsel Is about Scott Perry, not Just Donald Trump?”
But…he’s went to Yale Law!
Irony must have been asleep that Rhodes didn’t shoot his eye out on Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Srsly, though, what do these cosplaying Walmart Rambos hope to achieve? Old One-Eye spouted off about sparking a “revolution,” yet this cosplaying Che had no cause. Americans live in the Lap of Luxury in spite of goblins like Jeanine Pirro screeching about caravans of invading hoards or some such, or Tuckles Cartoon ranting about rampaging IRS agents. Americans have everything they need and an abundance of what they don’t need. There is no war, no famine, no desaparecidos, no mass dislocations, no secret police – life is good.
Hey, I ain’t got time for no revolution, the Steelers are playing this weekend!
If this is the end of the road for these prosecutions, well… That would suck but at least the DoJ wouldn’t be letting literally everyone off and just prosecuting the randos who showed up for littering or jaywalking or something. I feel like that’s the sort of thing we could have expected 20 years ago so it’s nice to see some minor improvement at least.
As far as the pirate fashion statement… It still amazes me that things I was taught about how to handle a firearm when I was something like 6-10 years old are still usually enough to look at a lot of the high profile gun-fondlers and say “That’s not right. You’re doing it wrong.” Is it too much to ask that if you have a dangerous hobby you learn the absolutely trivial basics that even a child can understand? Our current approach is like allowing a nascar driver onto the track as they’re just figuring out that maybe they’re going to want to make a lot of left turns.
This prosecution is being handled as a RICO case, which means that they’re going from bottom to top. The fact that their most recent prosecution was not only the head of the Oath Keepers, but also someone who had a contact within the Secret Service and with a go-between for Dolt 45 himself, means that larger branches will be coming down soon. There’s a reason why Trump is looking increasingly panicked.
Rhodes reminds me of a line from the movie “True Grit”: I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.
I think you are too pessimistic here. Actually, convictions for conspiracy are a necessary first step towards charging those who instigated (the conspiracy) Jan 6 but didn’t themselves punch a policeman or break a window. The convicted were communicating with people like Stone and some Republican Congress-people who are now linked to an established crime by these convictions. See Marcy Wheeler’s site for discussions of the cases and processes. https://www.emptywheel.net/
The appointment of the special prosecutor allows easier charging of politicians and insulates the cases from Republican House interference.
I did experience a classic gun-nut world experience when my Dad entered care and we had to sell off a pistol he had. We ended up at a rural gun shop, where the ten-year-old owner’s-son expertly checked the pistol wasn’t loaded and then took it and some ammo out to check out the gun on targets behind the store. The bathroom was lined with Hillary-targets and pictures of the kid with his first deer. The other touch was all the old boys sitting in chairs around the entrance. The big story was them ragging on the guy in their group who had just put a hole in his foot “cleaning his gun.” Of course, “cleaning your gun” is what you say when you shoot yourself practicing your quick-draw in front of the mirror. It’s really hard to shoot yourself cleaning your gun when the first thing you do is pull the magazine and open the chamber…
bcw bcw @12
Do a search on “gun goes off while cleaning and kills somebody”.
My dad’s little brother, Harry. His wife went to clean her gun in 1977 and it went off and killed him.
What people don’t understand is that there is no such thing as an unloaded gun.
The only question left is how softly are they going to slap Rhodes’ wrist. We can’t go around punishing white trash fascists. We might have another Oklahoma City or another Civil War if we stood up to these scum,
@5. SC (Salty Current) : Intresting article there thanks.
For those who have’t seen it or wish to again here’s I just shot myself the Musical – minor injuries, comical, swearing & 31 seconds long.
Re: JimB @ #13..
Both people in this anecdote being dead, it’s probably safe to tell it in (at least semi-) public…
My wife was doing SCA heralds secretarial work for Randall Garrett, then the principal herald for the Society. In need of some staples, she opened the center drawer of his desk, looked down, then up to ask Randall, “Is it loaded?” His reply was, “All guns are always loaded.” She quietly closed the drawer.