Independence Day Doesn’t Mean Freedom for Everyone

We are supposed to be celebrating today. I know, right? As much as I hate to be a downer, my heart is heavy on this most American of all days – Independence Day. No, I’m not depressed. I don’t need “help” but there are those who do – those who really need our help. Most will be forgotten on this day by a majority of our nation. If you are still guessing, I am not speaking of those brave men and women past and present who have given so much in defense of our nation – up to and including their very lives. We’ve set aside special days to remember them and our gratitude doesn’t stop at that, at least not for many of us.

Instead I’m speaking of some Americans who are just like you and me. We could call them “brave” but really, I’ve no evidence of exceptional bravery exhibited by most of them. There may be a few among this group who have notably gone above and beyond, but bravery is not a determining factor here. They do all have one thing in common – they showed up. More specifically they were in our nation’s capitol on January 6, 2020. Of course I’m talking about the J6 Political Prisoners. But wait! Their ordeal is over or nearly so… right? No. Not by a long shot.

The latest SCOTUS ruling, now nearly a week old, will likely pertain to a handful of the nearly 350 J6ers. Note, due to the myriad of confusing circumstances, that number is merely a vague estimation. Plus the DOJ still seeks more citizens to notch up. This from the DOJ’s own website:

In the 37 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,313 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 469 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.

Just now I took time out to listen to a youtube video by Raven’s Radar.interviewing Texas J6er Jalise Middleton. Raven is a little over the top at times but her good heart shines through. Jalise and her husband Mark,founded American Patriot Relief helping other J6ers cope with their ordeals.

Jalise describes her experience in detail and what she says is stunning. What impressed me the most is her transparency. She made some mistakes, the most damning of which is appearing and posting a video on Facebook that provided fodder for the prosecution. I have yet to see the video. Nor have I seen the video the DOJ used as evidence against the Middletons. All I can speak on at this point is what Jalise has to say about the incident in question and what I’ve read on a DOJ press release.

The Raven video itself was released a bit more than a year ago so some of what I’ve drawn from it is just that dated, but it is the best I have at the moment. I’ve found it challenging to obtain current information about any of this and even more challenging to accumulate actual facts and evidence surrounding January 6. Case in point, the “justice” department’s own press release, linked above lists the date of the Middleton’s sentencing as June 12, 2024. I am fairly certain they have yet to be sentenced as of today, July 4, 2024 and I think that hearing is in the near future. Can’t even nail the buggers down on a court date for goodness sakes.

One thing I did glean from this broadcast is Jalise stated as of the time of the video, there were 111 J6ers in prison at that time. I know of at least one J6er, Brandon Fellows, was released just a short time ago, but who knows who has been arrested, released, or possibly just “detained” at this time? I sure don’t.

What I do know is there are American citizens in prisons right now who have not seen their day in court. Then there are those who have stood trial and been convicted, some of whom never set foot in the Capitol. Oathkeepers Stewart Rhodes is currently serving an 18 year sentence for “seditious conspiracy” (defined here).

Let’s face facts here. Assume the “Justice” department’s case is actually valid and Stewart Rhodes and co. did indeed intend to
“conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof,”

Even IF they did such a thing, their efforts were laughable. I mean really? Just a brief glace at the “Justice” departments own PR demonstrates how ludicrous their charges are.

“More people were convicted of seditious conspiracy in connection with the siege of the Capitol on January 6, 2020”

Siege? Here is how this term is defined: “a military operation in which enemy forces surround a town or building, cutting off essential supplies, with the aim of compelling the surrender of those inside. ”

Have you stopped laughing yet? WHAT “military operation”? WHO “surrounded the building and/or cut off essential supplies? To compel WHO to surrender? This is insanity. Let me be clear – THERE. WAS. NO. SIEGE. You know this. At best the whole thing can be described as chaos and yet, the video of citizens’ actions in the Capitol Building itself was mild as milk toast. Granted there remains several disturbing videos, including the one where Ashli Babbitt was gunned down. She was unarmed, unlike Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd who seems to lead a charmed life considering his record on the force.

PBS, partially funded by our tax dollars, calls Ashli Babbitt an “insurrectionist”. If I were her family, I’d be filing suit for defamation and/or libel. Not ONE citizen has been convicted of insurrection due to the events of January 6, 2020. Bluntly put, I’m tired of people, the media especially, tossing words around to sway the public with no regard to what those words mean. Often enough, they are the very ones trying to slam shut any dissent to their narrative citing “disinformation”. Well HELLO PBS, do tell me what the word “insurrection” means and how the term can be rightfully applied to Ashli Babbitt or any of those charged in conjunction with the events on January 6, 2020 in Washington DC. I’ll wait.

No matter what happens due to the SCOTUS ruling last week, hundreds of citizens will continue to be harassed, their lives and finances decimated, until enough patriots, and I mean you and me and others, stand up to those fomenting this nonsense and make them stop. Meanwhile, they need our help in other ways. First is financial help. Defending yourself in court is expensive. I can tell you this from personal experience. Recently my wife was a defendant in a civil suit that was thrown out but not until it cost us thousands of dollars. Jalise Middleton estimates attorney fees alone in her case cost around $70K before they were forced to seek a public defender. She never mentioned any other costs but you and I know nothing is free nor cheap these days. For one thing, the day after 22 Federal agents descended on their property, and carted her and her husband off to jail, they were released only to discover they were also unemployed. They are not alone.

As I am lacking any substantiated information, I won’t go into the abhorrent treatment many of these prisoners are suffering. From what I’ve read in various publications and discovered from other sources, many would have fared better in a third-world rathole than they do in our prisons. How can this be?

What I can say is those citizens now languishing in jails, without benefit of adequate legal counsel, if any legal counsel at all, often without proper medial care, or even decent food, all while being denied their constitutional right to a speedy trial, need a voice – our voice – as well as some financial help for themselves and their families.

What you can do right now is visit American Patriot Relief to learn more and/or donate. They are a non-profit organization so your donations are tax deductible. Their financial reports can be accessed under the About Us/Transparency submenu.

Visit them. Then get your cc out if you can spare a few bucks.

God bless,

Andy