My position on the afternoon of January 6th has been consistent since the early evening of January 6th. Here's what I said to Tucker a couple of hours after the whole rigmarole began:
I was in a bad mood because so many pundits of the American right had signed on to the "citadel of democracy" twaddle. As you may recall, I called it a "citadel of crap": I felt a bit bad when American newspapers picked up on my coinage, because it didn't seem entirely becoming for an immigrant to have to point it out. But, on the other hand, it is a citadel of crap.
Likewise, the Capitol Police is not really a police force. It's a personal security guard for the Emirs of Incumbistan. That's why they're exempted from the freedom-of-information laws that apply to real constabularies: If Ashli Babbitt had been shot dead by an officer of the Dead Moose Junction Municipal Police Department, you'd know his name; but she was shot instead by a member of the Congressional Praetorian Guard, and thus you have no right in law to know his name. This is yet another example of the political class opting out of the legal regime they impose on everybody else.
The biggest lie of January 6th was that the "rioters" were somehow responsible for multiple deaths that day. Very belatedly, the DC coroner confirmed that, aside from Ashli Babbitt, everybody dead had died of natural causes - including Officer Sicknick, whom most Americans still believe was murdered by Trump supporters bludgeoning him with a non-existent fire extinguisher. The Capitol Police, in both their formal statements and their leaks to media chums, helped advance that lie.
Have they played similarly fast and loose with other aspects of the "investigation"? The criminal indictment against Jacob Chansley, the "Q Shaman" with the viking horns and face paint, asserts that Officer Robishaw directed Chansley & Co to leave. The newly obtained video at American Greatness, by contrast, suggests that Robishaw was "willing to work with" Q Shaman et al. It also supports Mr Chansley's contention that he was admitted to the Capitol by permission of the police.
Unfortunately for the accused, he has a hard-ass politicized judge, one Royce Lamberth:
Though defendant has no criminal history, the Court finds his blatant disregard for the law on January 6th to be a telling indicator of how defendant would act if released pending trial.
Oh, really? And what "blatant disregard" would that be?
Not only did defendant have the audacity to enter the US Capitol during a joint session of Congress...
Ah, yes: "Have the audacity". You've nailed it right there, Judge: lèse-majesté.
But don't fret: His Honor has found further evidence of "defendant's willingness to openly break the law":
A pre-trial services report prepared in the District of Arizona reported that defendant smokes marijuana three times a week.
Gee, maybe he's planning on running for president and wants a little recreational drug use to make him sound cool, like Kamala did. In any case, in the State of Arizona, smoking marijuana is legal. Such is the feeble grist for Lamberth's mill.
In post-constitutional America, there is no equality before the law: If you riot violently in Minneapolis or Portland, you'll be cheered on by the media and Democrats, and bailed out by Seth Rogen or a Kamala Harris staffer. If you're let into the US Capitol by its so-called "police" and leave the statuary et al untouched, you'll be charged with trespassing, and, despite having no criminal record, will languish in prison (for over four months so far) until trial begins.
Those jailed for the events of January 6th are what we would call in other countries "political prisoners". Mr Chansley is in the slammer to concentrate his mind: right now, it's trespassing, but we see you used an ATM en route to DC, and you wouldn't want us to throw in "disrupting interstate commerce", would you?
As I've said for a long time, "federal justice" is an oxymoron - and, if you get a whiff that you're attracting the attention of this dirty rotten stinkin' evil system, flee the country. Meanwhile, I'm thinking of making a complaint to the UN Human Rights Council about the detainees of January 6th: If nothing else, it'll give the Cubans and Sudanese a laugh.
~On this fourth birthday of The Mark Steyn Club I thank all those who've decided to re-up for a fifth year. Among them is Cameron Tait, a First Month Founding Member from Down Under:
Keep up the good fight Mark and never lose your great sense of humour. The MSC is an outpost of civilization in a world that grows crazier by the day.
It's all outposts now, Cameron. Citadels of crap vs outposts of civilization: we need to grow the latter.
~It was a very busy weekend at SteynOnline, beginning with our ongoing audio serialization of Mark Steyn's Passing Parade and contrasting approaches to the musical life. Our Saturday movie date found Rick McGinnis contemplating a Coward-via-Lubitsch-and-Hecht Design for Living, and our Sunday musical beano had enough earworms for a year. Our marquee presentation was the latest in our anthology of video poetry, the first poem ever published in Australia - and on a most appropriate subject.
If you were too busy interfering with interstate commerce this weekend, I hope you'll want to check out one or three of the foregoing as a new week begins.
Mark Steyn's Passing Parade and Steyn's Sunday Poem are special productions for members of The Mark Steyn Club. You can find more details about our Club here - and we also have a great gift membership.
