ALJACOBSLADDER.COM 

AMERICAN SCUMBAG

1-  WORDS HAVE MEANINGS —   Take the word Rocker for example can mean —   “ You are a music aficionado” , it can mean “ Wonderfully crafted rocking chairs that are made to relax on” .  But “ When you are off your rocker" you become dangerous.  Four former instructors, one a Laymen, one Psychologist, One psychiatrist, One with Religious Credentials from college interviewed simply believe as they put it kindly — he’s (T-RUMP) off his frickin rocker! or his dementia meds.

2-  CONSENSUS —  “ Donald J T-rump, the man is simply the most dangerous individual besides Putin since the advent of Hitler and the NAZI regime.  He is the fourth Reich, very dangerous and he should have  been put away or put down a long time ago”  He appeals to the weak minded, less-educated, lower scale of humanity who believe in the Tooth Fairy and that the IRS is there to hurt  you.  He is a believer in authoritarianism or singular ruling and decision making just like Hitler and Putin.  He is a very sick, man.

3-  UNBELIEVABLE — (CNN)Donald Trump's pledge to pardon January 6 rioters may help fire up his supporters, but several defendants facing federal charges say they no longer believe the former President's promises.  

Even defendants who are holding out hope for clemency are clinging to a false hope. Most of their cases are likely to be resolved in court long before the 2024 presidential election. This week alone, following Trump's comments, seven people have cut guilty plea deals.

"What we have learned from the year that has gone by, is that my clients, apart from their families and their lawyers who are representing them, is that no help is coming," Joe McBride, a lawyer representing five riot defendants, including ones in jail, told CNN.   "It is us, and we're going to have to make do with what we've got," he added. 

4-  THE MANHUNT CONTINUES —  The nationwide manhunt for the hundreds of rioters who descended on the US Capitol has become the largest criminal investigation in US history.   Nearly 735 defendants, almost all of whom have professed their support for Trump, are facing charges for joining the attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden's electoral college win in the 2020 election, ranging from minor trespassing offenses, to assaulting police, to seditious conspiracy. The probe has also led to an unprecedented government crackdown against right-wing extremist groups, including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

In the past week, Trump said the January 6 defendants are being treated unfairly, while teasing a 2024 presidential run and suggesting he would pardon rioters if he were reelected.   "If it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly,” T-Rump  said during a Texas rally over the weekend. 

Trump repeated the promise in an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday, saying, "I would absolutely give them a pardon" and calling the punishment "20 times out of proportion. These people are being persecuted.” 

3-  FRIEND-ENEMY-FRIEND-ENEMY-   Trump fires back at Lindsey Graham in interview, thats the pitcher of sh*t throwing to the catcher of sh*t who changes teams about every six months:  Object: Spread more sh*t!

Trump had made similar promises back when he was still serving as President -- with some January 6 rioters jailed for the 14 days at the end of the presidency. Then too, Trump didn't come through, nor has he helped January 6 criminal defendants with their legal bills. 

"He could have pardoned some or all of them before he left office between January 6 and January 20 last year," defense lawyer Jonathon Moseley, who represents accused Oath Keepers, said on CNN's "New Day" this week. He pointed to earlier commitments from the former President including that he would help defendants with legal bills. 

"I'm not sure exactly what people think he should have done in every case, but there is a feeling he could have done more." Moseley said. 

6-  EDITORIAL ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTION BOX:  THE HANGINGS — I’m festooned with, approve of and would welcome with applause the Vigilantes, I loved their simplistic plan,  “ Hang the accused first if it is conclusive and then, only then  give them a fair trial”.  

I still am a fan of hangings as the best deterrent for traitors, especially when the stupid bastards are on tape.  
Adding let's get financially secure and frugal over the costs of  Super Bowl Stadium Rentals,  Wood for gallows, and Rope.  ( Good Rope)

We need to charge $1.25 - $10. 95 a seat depending on location, rent the Super Bowl Stadium in any of five cities for the road tour and we will knock em’ dead ( Pun Intended) and clean up. ( Organ donors ) The Taliban did it successfully.

7-  ABOLISH THE JESUS ABSOLUTION ACT  — When the Evangelicals pulled the Jesus Act of Salvation on our dumbass politicians, and gave killers room and board for the rest of their lives, because they removed the DEATH PENALTY — Killings, murders and crime went up. No consequence, no stoppage, fear is gone. 

8-  ABOLISH THE TAX FREE STATUS OF THE NRA/ BRIBERY HAS CONSEQUENCE —  When The NRA paid off the politicians on the GOP year after year, bribe after bribe, with denial of  gun acts - school shootings went up.  Our kids deserve better than what that bunch of liars and crooks bribe out politicians with.

9-  TIME FOR TERM LIMITS —  When the same scumbag politicians on the Reptilian Party do nothing year after year and don’t get voted out,  just gang vote against anything good, with obstruction by goose-stepping politicians, we lose again. We need term limits and get rid of the fakirs and mongrels of indecency.

10-  GET RELIGIOUS BULLSH*T OFF THE AIRWAVES -TAXATION FOR NON RELIGIOUS USE— When religion gets into politics we get social hatred and prejudice.  Hitler did it,  T-RUMP did it against immigration and our jerkoffs in Washington just sit around the fire and sing KumBaYa.  

11-  START GRADING POLITICIANS ON WHAT THEY ACCOMPLISH  — We pay those bastards?  For what, to sit there and say no because of politics — We are becoming the Germany of the late thirties and sooner or later things will explode when reason is dictated by political frickin morons.  January Sixth was just the beginning.  It could have, if kicked up a notch, gone “ Nuclear” as it was disclosed there was a gun stash by the Oath Keepers.

12-  ONE OF THE OLDEST TRUTHS BROUGHT FORTH BY THE ANCIENTS —  I found variations on this theme in many cultures and religions down through time. This was the one that caught my eye - it’s almost poetic. 

HE WHO SINGS THE SONGS OF THE LIAR IS INDEED ALSO A LIAR

What more truth do you need and if you support the GO, why would you defend scumbags?  the ancients tell us — he who sings the song of the liar is indeed also a liar — mind-less, ball-less cowards who blame everyone just like T-rump does and has done every day of his life.

JANARY 6th TRAITORS TO THE CONSTITUTION

Lawyers who represent multiple, high-profile people charged in the sprawling January 6 investigation aren't changing their legal strategies because of the former President's promises, according to the lawyers, who understand a pardon that is years away is not a viable approach to cases in court now. 

OATH KEEPERS LEADER  — AMERICAS NUMBER ONE SCUMBAG TERRORIST — 

Answers some questions from January 6 committee, his lawyer says, But More evidence appears And for even the highest profile cases for defendants who maintain they are not guilty, their trials would be set for the coming months. That means that if convicted, judges could be handing down steep sentences by the end of the year -- and several of the defendants facing more serious allegations related to January 6 are already sitting in jail as they await trial. 

"The comments by Trump are, for J6 Defendants, more than a day late and a dollar short," Al Watkins, the attorney who represented Jacob Chansley, the so-called "QAnon Shaman," said this week in an email. Chansley had made a public plea for a pardon while Trump was in office, then pleaded guilty this fall, telling a judge he was wrong to have broken the law by taking part in the insurrection. 

CNN —  FEB 2022 — Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes will be held in jail while he awaits trial, a federal judge in Washington, DC, ruled on Friday after prosecutors revealed new Signal app messages where Rhodes allegedly called January 6  “ The final nail in the coffin of our republic” and instructed his followers to prepare for violence. 

The messages from the encrypted app, which were presented during hearings Wednesday and Friday, allegedly show how Rhodes advocated for then-President Donald Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act.  If Trump didn’t, prosecutors allege, Rhodes repeatedly suggested that his followers should be ready to act without Trump’s support.  

• “Be prepared for a major letdown on the 6th to the 8th, and be ready to do it ourselves,” one message read aloud in court said. 
• “He must know that if he ( T-RUMP) doesn’t act, we will. He has to understand that we will have no choice,” said another message. 
• After the riot, Rhodes allegedly messaged associates that if Trump failed to invoke the Insurrection Act before he left office, “patriots should… prepare to walk the same path as the founding fathers.” 

Prosecutors used the messages as evidence that Rhodes is too dangerous to be let out of jail while he awaits trial. Friday, federal district Judge Amit Mehta agreed to keep him detained.  Mehta said Friday that Rhodes presents a clear and convincing danger, calling him an “extremely sophisticated individual” and that there was “simply no way” to mitigate the risk to public safety Rhodes poses.

• “There is quite a bit of communication suggesting Mr. Rhodes was encouraging others to prepare for violence,” Mehta said. “The words he used were quite graphic, of bloody revolutions and the like.”
• Mehta also noted that the decision to keep Rhodes detained was not about his right to free speech. “I am the first to recognize there is expansive protection under the First Amendment for speech… but Mr. Rhodes is not being accused of just speaking. He is being accused of taking action, planning and preparing people to stop the certification of the electoral college vote.”
• Rhodes has been in jail since his arrest in mid-January on charges that he led a seditious plot to overthrow the presidential transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden in January 2020. 
• Rhodes has pleaded not guilty to the seditious conspiracy charges and other federal charges. He and 10 other alleged members of the Oath Keepers are set to go to trial in July. 
• During the initial detention hearing held Wednesday, prosecutors said Rhodes was “the leader in the conspiracy” with a “particularly dangerous role.”
• Defense lawyers argued there is a lack of evidence Rhodes conspired with others before, during, or after January 6, and said that Rhodes’ cooperation with the government for over a year after the Capitol riot suggests he isn’t likely to flee and is not a threat to the public.  
• But Judge Mehta disagreed.  “The evidence is quite strong that it is unlikely that Mr. Rhodes did not know about, at a minimum, if not order [members of the Oath Keepers] into the Capitol,” Mehta said, adding that the Oath Keepers – an organization known for recruiting former military and police officers – would not “do something without the blessing of their commanding officer.”
• Rhodes’ lawyers also maintained that Oath Keepers were not prone to violence and had previously stationed Quick Reaction Forces in Virginia at two other DC events they provided security for without incident.  
• CNN —  Members of the Oath Keepers paramilitary group likely stored weapons at a hotel in Arlington, Virginia, as part of their plan to have an armed rapid-response force during the January 6 insurrection, federal prosecutors said.
• The new details flesh out previous accusations from prosecutors that members of the Oath Keepers assembled a “quick reaction force,” or QRF, in Virginia that could deploy into the nation’s capital if needed. For the first time, prosecutors have revealed photos of an alleged Oath Keeper carrying what looks like a weapon inside the hotel where the QRF was stored – the Comfort Inn in Arlington, Virginia.
• Prosecutors said on Monday that Kenneth Harrelson, who has been charged in the Oath Keepers conspiracy, “likely contributed” weapons and brought “what appears to be at least one rifle case” into the hotel. Harrelson is one of 12 defendants in the case, the most prominent case tied to the insurrection.
• At a court hearing Wednesday, federal Judge Amit Mehta said Harrelson was too dangerous to release from jail before trial because of his role with the QRF, which he said was “a sign of future dangerousness.” 
• “Thankfully, (the weapons) were not used on January 6, but nevertheless they show a degree of planning, and preparation, and sophistication,” Mehta said. “And it’s something that projects into the future, if there are public demonstrations or government proceedings in the Capitol or in statehouses where these types of confrontations might occur.” 
• Harrelson and the other Oath Keepers who have appeared before judges in Washington, DC, have pleaded not guilty. Harrelson’s lawyers dispute that he brought weapons to the DC-area hotel.
• Only a few dozen January 6 defendants are detained while they wait to go to trial. The standard to hold anyone in pretrial detention is very high, and federal judges in Capitol riot cases have reserved those orders for defendants accused of violence, defendants with troubling criminal histories, and those who, like Rhodes, are accused of taking leadership roles in conspiring with others.

Witness Tampering? — Just A False Claim from The Wannabe Emperor — 

• Still, Trump has managed to direct political conversation toward his supporters who stormed the Capitol last year -- with two House Democrats investigating the Capitol attack saying they believe Trump could be tampering with witnesses. 
  
  
• Though pardons could only apply to criminal defendants, and nearly all defendants who are charged at this time were at the US Capitol on January 6, critics of Trump have raised the possibility he could be trying to buy the silence of close advisers who didn't participate directly in the insurrection. 
  
  
• The House select committee is seeking information from rioters, as well as Trump confidantes and supporters. There's little indication at this time that the Justice Department is targeting the advisers closest to Trump with investigations that would touch on his actions, though the Department has charged Steve Bannon and is considering whether to charge ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows with contempt of Congress for failing to testify under subpoena in the House investigation.
  
  
• Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, a Democrat who is a member of the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack, accused former President Donald T-RUMP of tampering with witnesses by floating the possibility of pardoning those who took part in the insurrection.January 6 committee member says Trump 'absolutely' tampering with witnesses as he continues to dangle pardons
  
  
• On Friday morning, Rep. Elaine Luria, a Democrat on the House select committee, said on CNN's "New Day" Trump's comments "could certainly color" criminal defendants who are choosing between sharing facts and avoiding consequences.  "He just literally keeps restating these things very publicly and openly and to reaffirm ... what he wanted the outcome to be," Luria said. "The more he does this, the more he's making a case against himself.” 
  
  
• Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst, said the specter of future pardons could reduce a person's willingness to cooperate.   "If you think you can get the ultimate sentence reduction without cooperating, you will opt for that.  Now it's more complicated in this scenario," Honig said.  "But again, someone who is thinking more long term could think, well, now I'm going to stretch things out," Honig added. "Now I'm going to not cooperate and hope that if I do get sentenced to prison it will get cut short, if Donald Trump becomes president again.”
  
  
• McConnell breaks with Trump over his latest vow if he wins the 2024 presidency.  But at least one lawyer has said that Trump's comments are likely to influence rioters, potentially making them less likely to accept a plea deal or to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation. 
  "I think the former president continues to motivate, to impact, to suggest the actions of those who support him. He did on January 6th, and I don't think anything has changed since that time" said attorney Robert Jenkins, who represents both members of the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters, on CNN's "New Day" this week. 
  "He is certainly putting his fingers on the scales," Jenkins added. 
  The idea that Trump could pardon January 6 defendants doesn't even make logical sense to some of the attorneys.
  It's so far out of their calculations, Trump's pardon comments barely even registered in the chatter on an email list used by the January 6 defense attorneys, sources familiar with the group told CNN. 
  Defense attorneys representing January 6 defendants are looking closely at timing as their clients head to trial or consider plea deals -- and pinning hope on a theoretical Trump return to the presidency three years from now isn't feasible. 
  
  
• "The next election is still three years away, so it's kind of premature to say I hope Donald Trump gets elected and grants pardons to my client," Guy Womack, who represents three January 6 defendants, said.  One of the rioters, Edward Jacob Lang, in jail now awaiting trial, said recently he felt "completely abandoned by the political hierarchy." 
  Speaking to right-wing personality Stew Peters in a jailhouse interview last month, Lang said, "Where are our leaders standing up? Our congressmen, our senators, our president? Trump, where are you?" 
  "We're rotting in jail because we stood up for what you told us to stand up for," he added. 
  
  
• 'Despite their skepticism on Trump coming through for defendants, almost all of the attorneys CNN spoke to said they would still ask Trump for pardons for their own clients if he returned to office. Many are also asking for Biden to consider pardoning defendants who trespassed onto the Capitol grounds but say they were nonviolent. 
  "I would hope that any president, including President Biden, would grant pardons" to people who walked in the building and quickly walked out, Womack said, referring to one of his clients, Texas realtor Jenna Ryan who was charged with a misdemeanor and sentenced to 60 days behind bars. 
  Ryan publicly asked Trump for a pardon shortly after she was arrested last year, and he didn't deliver. 
  Womack noted this week, speaking to CNN, that Ryan isn't angry Trump didn't pardon her before he left office.
  "Everyone facing criminal charges would like to receive a pardon and not have to undergo trial," Womack said. "I don't think there was anything done wrongly there. And I didn't expect the President to even address it, and he didn't."