John Adams Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 2 hours ago, B-Man said: Not much of an insurrection 😄 No treason or sedition charges for January 6 rioters The number of people who have been charged in connection with the January 6th riot at the Capitol Building has now grown to over 500. Few of the accused have achieved the level of “fame” that Jake Angeli, the so-called Qanon shaman has achieved, but they are all facing a variety of charges ranging from disturbing the peace to vandalism, with a smaller number facing assault raps. Plea deals are being struck already, with some of the participants agreeing to cop to lesser charges to avoid a trial. But Michael Tarm of the Associated Press thinks he sees something missing from all of these proceedings. Why, he asks, has nobody been charged with sedition or treason? {snip} The events of January 6th were a travesty and the actions of many who broke into the building (as opposed to those who remained out in the streets and simply protested) were clearly criminal. But did they actually rise to the level of treason, or even sedition? Rioting, even on government property, doesn’t really sound like it rises to those levels or else we’d have a lot more treason and sedition cases going to court than we do these days. But let’s give Mr. Tarm the benefit of the doubt and explore this for a moment. The definition of treason is pretty straightforward. It comes straight from the Constitution and is defined in Title 18 as “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.” This is broadly understood to mean engaging in acts of war against the United States in support of our enemies. Both the terms “act of war” and “enemies” are considered by some to be vague enough to leave at least some room for interpretation, but I would argue not nearly as much as would be required here. Treason isn’t typically understood to include “all enemies foreign or domestic.” It refers to actual warfare, which takes place between countries or organized subsets of countries in the case of civil war. Those are the “enemies” that come to mind when you throw around words like treason. If a couple of hundred people throwing bottles at the police and breaking into a building qualifies as war, then pretty much every BLM riot over the last couple of years was an act of war. And since they frequently attacked police stations and the police themselves – part of the executive branch of government – then they were all traitors too. Sedition may be another matter, though. Seditious Conspiracy, as defined by code, covers a lot of territory. It begins by describing a situation where “two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States.” While the rioters were, at least in some cases, working in concert with each other, their apparent goal was to prevent the certification of the 2020 election results. I somehow doubt you could make a very good argument in court that trying to force a different outcome to an election is the same as trying to completely overthrow or destroy the government attempting to hold that election. But the code goes a bit further. Seditious Conspiracy can also be charged if two or more people “oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States.” That’s actually such a generic description that sedition could apply to a wide swath of criminal activities. If two people attempt to prevent a police officer from apprehending a suspect, allowing them to escape, that could be considered sedition, but we almost never charge anyone with that. (In 2010, members of the Hutaree militia in Michigan were charged with Seditious Conspiracy, but those charges were eventually thrown out.) There are plenty of crimes associated with rioting that can be brought, not that you would know it from the curious lack of prosecutions and convictions of BLM rioters. And those are most likely the ones you’ll see going forward with these defendants. https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2021/07/13/no-treason-or-sedition-charges-for-january-6-rioters-n401954 Any part of this article that you didn't paste?
B-Man Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 The actual reason for making an insurrection out of a riot, 1
Chef Jim Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 5 hours ago, Beach said: try a day without twitter. its actually wonderful. I do every day. Well except for the cavalcade of Twits shared here all day every day. 13 hours ago, BillStime said: And what dangerous orders are we actually talking about here?
Westside Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 5 minutes ago, Chef Jim said: I do every day. Well except for the cavalcade of Twits shared here all day every day. And what dangerous orders are we actually talking about here? Liberalism is a disease
All_Pro_Bills Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 1 hour ago, Chef Jim said: I do every day. Well except for the cavalcade of Twits shared here all day every day. And what dangerous orders are we actually talking about here? Dangerous order was telling the generals to go out and actually win a war this century.
B-Man Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 They're like Nazis, except for the fact that they were idiot droogs wearing Viking horns rather than the a government-backed armed force? We were on the verge of a coup, except not a single person in the entire military chain of command supported Trump's supposed aspirations?
B-Man Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 It's not just a semantic quibble. The fact that nobody has been charged with fomenting insurrection doesn't stop them from using the term. That's because it's crucial to keep fear levels elevated to justify the full range of authoritarian measures they're undertaking in its name. 1
Westside Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 44 minutes ago, BillStime said: We should find out, right? Let’s just waste more money. At this point, does it even matter?
BillStime Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 26 minutes ago, Bidens_basement said: Let’s just waste more money. At this point, does it even matter? Some investments pay dividends.
Westside Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 1 minute ago, BillStime said: Some investments pay dividends. You’re beating a dead horse for political purpose with tax payers money.
Doc Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 2 hours ago, B-Man said: It's not just a semantic quibble. The fact that nobody has been charged with fomenting insurrection doesn't stop them from using the term. That's because it's crucial to keep fear levels elevated to justify the full range of authoritarian measures they're undertaking in its name. Anything the Repubs do is the worst thing ever. It's beyond stupid at this point.
BillStime Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 1 hour ago, Bidens_basement said: You’re beating a dead horse for political purpose with tax payers money. Not if it prevents Trumps next coup. And…. don’t ever talk about spending tax dollars after the multi year GQP politically admitted Benghazi investigation.
Westside Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 6 minutes ago, BillStime said: Not if it prevents Trumps next coup. And…. don’t ever talk about spending tax dollars after the multi year GQP politically admitted Benghazi investigation. Benghazi was nothing compared to the phony impeachment cost
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