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by arjie 38 days ago
The sentences are pretty crazy but what’s with the strange understatement.

> One fired an AR-15 at the police, which goes beyond legitimate protest into inciting violence (and maybe even deliberate provocation)

The accurate statement is that he shot and wounded a police officer who he intentionally targeted according to his own testimony (where he claims he did so because he thought the cop was going to shoot his guys).

> Signs you're a dangerous terrorist: using Signal, moving zines

The accurate statement is: “hiding zines that could be considered evidence of affiliation at the request of your arrested wife”.

Listen, the sentences seem politically motivated. They’re quite long. But if you joined a protest group where the organizer shoots a policeman and you’ve all got weapons at home and then you tell people to move the material you have at home that indicates you’re part of the group then I think the convictions are pretty accurate.

This is pretty out there stuff. And I’m not going to give the benefit of the doubt to the guy who yells “get to the rifles” then gets to the rifles and shoots a policeman that he could have been ‘potentially inciting violence’ by shooting. He committed violence. And hiding the facts here does not make me sympathetic.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/sentencing-for-8-accused-o...

3 comments

> But if you joined a protest group where the organizer shoots a policeman and you’ve all got weapons at home and then you tell people to move the material you have at home that indicates you’re part of the group then I think the convictions are pretty accurate.

30 years though? And for moving what material exactly?

I think you can have some kind of rationale for why these people should be prosecuted. I'm not sure that's the issue for many though — the issue is the proportionality of the sentence.

> One fired an AR-15 at the police, which goes beyond legitimate protest into inciting violence (and maybe even deliberate provocation)

Sounds like attempted murder for a start rather than incitement or provocation. Or worse, given there was a crowd.

>if you joined a protest group where the organizer shoots a policeman and you’ve all got weapons at home and then you tell people to move the material you have at home that indicates you’re part of the group then I think the convictions are pretty accurate.

Oh, tell that to the president of the United States and half of Congress and half of the Senate (and half of the country). Remind me what was their reaction and actions after the pardon of Jan 6 rioters?

The Jan 6 rioters were convicted and given similarly long sentences. Certainly Trump doing something doesn’t make it valid.
> similarly long sentences

Enrique Tarrio got 22 years for masterminding an attempt to violently overturn the results of a Presidential election.

Daniel Sanchez-Estrada got 30 years for moving some magazines.

The median Jan 6 sentence was 10 months. The shortest sentence for a protestor here was 30 years.

Ok, that guy’s sentence is egregious (they all are, as were the Jan 6 ones, but I think he shouldn’t even have jail time).

I have less sympathy towards those who vandalized and the one who shot at police. 100 years is insane, but those acts are blatantly illegal.

> as were the Jan 6 ones

30 years was the MINIMUM sentence given to this group. The MAXIMUM sentence given to J6 rioters was 22 years. Are you honestly still trying to conflate the two?

30 is way way too long

22 is still way too long

Well, if he did it and there was no opposition, it certainly makes it "valid". Where exactly has it been made invalid? Has anyone done anything to make it invalid? Aren't they free, and can they do it again?

And the slush fund for the Jan 6 rioters is just suspended, not canceled. It will come back.

Just because something happened doesn’t make it “valid”: it’s not moral, and your side doing it may not have the same effect (good people can’t use evil tools as effectively as evil people).

I don’t really care whether Jan 6 rioters are free, they’ve spent months-to-years in jail anyways. What’s important is preventing future crimes, which punishing deserved people broadly on your side helps.

> Can they do it again

In 2028 if a Dem wins? At best they’re looking at another few years. (Trump won’t successfully pardon a crime as egregious as this (before anyone serves time) unless the Dem is really ineffective, because of how similarly it can be used against his side.)

>Just because something happened doesn’t make it “valid”

If nothing happens to change it, it is valid just by being a fait accompli. Your words are just words, if they don't translate into a tangible reality. An hallucination.

>I don’t really care whether Jan 6 rioters are free, they’ve spent months-to-years in jail anyways. What’s important is preventing future crime

Enrique Tario has been harassing former capitol policemen. Any Jan 6 rioter is free to go after the police, or family or friends or anyone who denounced them.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/22/enrique-tarr...

>In 2028 if a Dem wins?

No, in 2026. After the 2020 election, polling places and local state officials were threatened and attacked in dozen of places.

>Trump won’t successfully pardon a crime as egregious as this

It doesn't make sense, he's done far worse already, and he is preparing to do far, far worse. Hesgeth is more than ready to use the Army against the US population:

https://www.npr.org/2025/09/30/nx-s1-5557232/hegseth-general...

VP Vance is ready to invoke the insurrection act:

https://archive.is/85Zmd

They were given similarly long sentences, despite shooting zero people.
Honestly, I think both Jan 6 and these rioters deserve punishment, but not such long sentences. Prevention and deterrence - prevention by monitoring (at least to prevent them from going near “enemy territory”) and taking their guns, deterrence by at most a few years in prison, other penalties (like fines), and the social consequences. Anything more is unnecessarily harmful and wastes prison resources.