Punishment for protesters on opposing sides of political barricades has been wildly disproportionate
It’s turning into more and more apparent that there are two programs of justice at play in the US – one for Republicans and the opposite for Democrats. However how lengthy will the American folks tolerate such obvious hypocrisy of their courts?
Between Might 2020 and January 6, 2021, the US skilled two tumultuous occasions – one by the hands of liberals, the opposite of conservatives – that resulted in lots of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in property destruction, in addition to accidents and lack of life. But only one facet in these battles suffered extreme authorized penalties for its actions.
Through the Black Lives Matter/Antifa riots that swept the US in the summertime of 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd, protesters went on a rampage and stormed varied authorities buildings in Portland, Oregon. One of many attackers, Kevin Benjamin Weier, 35, was arrested for setting hearth to the federal courthouse. Many (right-wing) commentators have described that willful destruction of presidency property, and the numerous acts of violence by different protesters, as seditious acts in opposition to the US authorities.
For over 100 days the protesters stored Portland residents beneath a state of siege, as Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler appeared unwilling or unable to halt the violence. That ought to come as no shock contemplating that the Portland Metropolis Council slashed hundreds of thousands from the police finances, and even ordered the police to cease utilizing tear fuel in a futile try and appease the mob (Be aware to Portland: it’s unattainable to appease a mob). Lastly, President Donald Trump shocked liberal sensitivities by sending in federal brokers to assist restore order and arrest the perpetrators.
So what occurred to Antifa member Kevin Benjamin Weier and his motley crew of anarchists? Whereas many protesters across the nation had their jail bail paid by Hollywood celebrities, Mr. Weier, whose felony cost made him eligible for 10 years within the slammer, along with a hefty $250,000 nice, was in the end sentenced to 2 years’ probation and a $200 nice. In different phrases, about the identical slap on the wrist {that a} Los Angeles shoplifter may count on to obtain.
Simply six months after the BLM/Antifa protests had subsided, the American folks had been handled to one more historic show of pent-up passions as hundreds of disaffected Trump supporters descended upon the Capitol Constructing in Washington, DC to specific their outrage over an election they believed had been stolen.
Whereas there have been many scenes of chaos and pandemonium, with rioters breaching the doorway and finishing up acts of vandalism and looting, every thing was not fairly because it had appeared. Two years after the storming of the Capitol Constructing, 40,000 hours of surveillance videotape from that day had been lastly launched, and the photographs present that the institution media had been cherry-picking the worst scenes for public consumption.
“Taken as a complete, the video file doesn’t assist the declare that January sixth was an riot,” remarked Tucker Carlson, the primary journalist to show the tapes of their entirety. “The truth is, it demolishes the declare.”
Though there was undoubtedly a bunch of hooligans among the many hundreds of January sixth protesters accountable for wreaking lots of havoc, the overwhelming majority of the individuals “weren’t insurrectionists,” Carlson continued. “They had been orderly and meek. They had been sightseers.” Such a conclusion shall be very tough for most individuals to consider, however that’s solely as a result of the media regularly broadcasted essentially the most damning pictures from the Capitol Constructing, reinforcing the narrative of seditious rioters. Now evaluate that harsh ‘made for tv’ portrayal of January 6 with CNN’s “Fiery However Largely Peaceable Protests” model of reporting it used to downplay the severity of the George Floyd protests.
And whereas the Democrats and aligned media proceed to promote the January 6 riot as a violent right-wing insurgency, as they pursue their major purpose of placing ‘dictator’ Donald Trump behind bars, the one individual to undergo a violent dying on January 6 was a protester named Ashli Babbitt, a 36-year-old army veteran. A Capitol Police officer shot her within the neck, with a later rationalization by the division stating that he had “probably saved Members [of Congress] and employees from critical harm and potential dying.”
All issues thought of, the injury carried out by left-wing protesters throughout the George Floyd protests had been far worse than the crimes dedicated by the Trump supporters on Capitol Hill. That turns into extra evident when it’s thought of that acts of arson, vandalism, and looting that occurred between Might 26 and June 8 brought about roughly $1-2 billion in damages nationally, the best recorded quantity from civil dysfunction in US historical past. In the meantime, the financial injury brought on by the Capitol Constructing protesters was simply over $2.7 million. In the meantime, as we now have already mentioned, there have been no critical legal fees filed in opposition to the members of Black Lives Matter and Antifa, which brings us to essentially the most hypocritical a part of this story.
This week, Enrique Tarrio, the previous chairman of the far-right group Proud Boys, who wasn’t even in Washington, D.C. on January 6, was sentenced to 22 years in jail for plotting to maintain Trump in energy by pressure after he misplaced the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Stewart Rhodes, the founding father of the similar-minded group the Oath Keepers, and one-time Proud Boys chief Ethan Nordean, had been each handed 18-year sentences.
The three males had been discovered responsible of breaking the seditious conspiracy legislation, which was enacted after the Civil Struggle to arrest Southerners who continued to take up arms in opposition to the US authorities. To ensure that prosecutors to win a seditious conspiracy case, they need to show that two or extra folks conspired to “overthrow, put down or to destroy by pressure” the US authorities, or that they plotted to make use of pressure to problem authorities authority. Though the case has already been settled, the jury remains to be out for a lot of political pundits who, pointing to the January 6 surveillance movies, argue that the case for violent riot is weak at greatest.
Now, with former President Donald Trump heading for court docket on March 4, 2024, simply eight months earlier than the presidential election, America is wanting extra like a bona-fide banana republic than ever earlier than.
The statements, views and opinions expressed on this column are solely these of the writer and don’t essentially signify these of RT.
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