Things Fall Apart?

We saw how the Second Faux Impeachment quickly fell apart, but even so the Dem's laughable insurrection narrative continues to grind on--undergirded by a massively corrupt FBI and DoJ. However, even as the the FBI continues to conduct grotesquely overwrought "operations" supported by armored vehicles, against women and children, to arrest persons whose only apparent offense is to have been in the Imperial City on the Potomac on January 6, or to have spoken to fellow citizens, even liberal judges have been pushing back against these abuses.

One particularly egregious example of over the top federal behavior was documented yesterday at TGP:

Joshua James is a war hero, a veteran, a Godly man, a provider, and a business owner. Joshua James DID NOT commit any violent crime. He attended the January 6th speech by President Trump at the Ellipse along with a million other Americans.  He volunteered to work security with other members of the Oath Keepers.

The FBI is holding him until trial because he was seen speaking with two other members of the Oath Keepers that day.

James was lured away from his home and then arrested--follow the link for details. Then, the FBI showed up to search his home, where only his wife and 3 year old were present when this rolled up:

Without having read it, I very much suspect that the search warrant affidavit was extremely weak--granted by a magistrate judge only at the strongest urgings of DoJ lawyers.

James was arrested in Alabama, but the Feds want to move him to the Imperial City and hold him without bail until trial--and, as we'll see, nobody actually knows when that trial will be. Because he was seen to speak to other US citizens.

TGP quotes James' wife--so I can't vouch for this. Nevertheless, she's probably more reliable than Marc Elias:

Bail WAS recommended by the probation office & we were told prosecution would not argue against bail. But, somehow at the last minute prosecution decided to argue against it. My husband was in D.C. that day providing security detail for speakers of the rally that morning. FBI said under oath they do not believe my husband was part of any violence and they have NO proof that he was involved in violence. The main topic of their testimony was the Oath Keepers logo on his hat, the organization who asked him to provide security to the speakers that day. They kept referencing two other individuals who had the same logos on their clothing that day and their aggressive behavior. The public defender asked “Was Mr. James seen with these people exhibiting aggressive behavior?” FBI Response “No he was not.” Public Defender “Well then let’s talk about Mr. James actions instead.”

They said they have cell phone data that places Joshua pinging off a tower that provides service in the area that includes the Capitol. (That doesn’t prove anything other than he was in the radius of that tower which is about a 6 mile range).

Here is the judges reasons for denying bail: While Joshua doesn’t have a criminal background and has strong ties to the community and is not believed to be a flight risk and may not have been violent that day, he continued to have communication with members of Oath Keeps after the 6th which “proves” he has no remorse for the events of that day. And due to the fact he has PTSD from being blown up in Iraq serving his country and doesn’t take medication for his ptsd and owns fire arms, they feel that’s a volatile combination and see no reasonable scenario for granting bail.

There's more at the link. However, to argue that all this is dubiously legal is an understatement. Owning firearms? Yo! 2A judge? Talking to Oath Keepers? 1A? Not feeling remorse when no crime has been proven--or, except in speculative terms, alleged? I say "in speculative terms" because what's being alleged is a "conspiracy", and there seems to be only the most tendentious of links between James and anything illegal that happened at the January 6 Event.

And about that conspiracy, we're starting to see federal judges, even liberal ones, starting to push back against these excesses by the Feds and, specifically, to grant bail while calling into question the soundness of the allegations made by the Feds. For example, most recently--and again via TGP:

Alleged Oath Keeper Commander Thomas Caldwell who helped organize the organization’s presence at the US Capitol on January 6th will finally be released from prison.

This news account suggests some potential problems with this case:

A Virginia man alleged to have helped organize the Oath Keeper presence at the Capitol riot in January will be released from federal custody due to his deteriorating health, a judge ruled Friday.

Thomas Caldwell, who other militia members call “Commander Tom,” according to the FBI, was ordered released on bond Friday due to health concerns and the government’s failure to provide “direct evidence” that he entered the Capitol Building with other Oath Keepers.

 

My guess is that the evidence for some of the charges listed in the next paragraph is based strictly on conjecture derived from the cell tower information, which is why the judge addressed the issue of lack of evidence. Without evidence of actual entry to the Capitol, the cases against this Oath Keeper "Commander" falls apart.

 

Caldwell, 65, of Clarke County, Virginia, was taken into custody in January on charges of conspiracy, destruction of government property, obstruction of an official proceeding, violent entry or disorderly conduct and entering a restricted building. He is one of at least nine alleged members of the Oath Keepers now indicted in a growing conspiracy case connected to the Capitol riot.

Growing? Stay tuned.

 

The FBI has said it obtained communications showing Caldwell coordinating with co-defendant Jessica Watkins and others to plan Oath Keeper travel to D.C. before January 6 and presence at the Capitol on the day of the “Stop the Steal” rally.

Uh, since when was it a crime to coordinate travel to a rally to listen to the POTUS in Washington, D.C.? The Imperial City? What am I missing here? How does that become grounds to hold someone without bail? It looks like the judge was also unimpressed.

None of that is good news for the government case, which is why:

A bunch of loons taking selfies in the Capitol has become the most complex investigation ever prosecuted.

That is the stuff of deeply corrupt governments. https://t.co/of5vlAS3EH

— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) March 13, 2021

The government is asking to delay the running of the Speedy Trial Act to give them time to turn the defendants' lives entirely inside out on what we've seen is the flimsiest of evidence that there was ever any conspiracy at all. And that would mean keeping defendants in jail until a trial actually happens, which could be months down the road:

The obvious plan for the Dems--and, yes, I do think this is entirely politically motivated--is to turn this into the biggest trial circus in US history--they say so themselves:

"The investigation and prosecution of the Capitol Attack will likely be one of the largest in American history ...

A massive show trial that will somehow induce the country to forget about November 2020, vote for the Zhou Baiden regime's radical agenda, for Eric Swalwell on the Intel Committee, and all the other Leftist circus acts (Closed Schools, Masks as far as the eye can see, BLM, Antifa, Open Borders, the list goes on ... and on). Think of the Russia Hoax and the first Impeachment Hoax and the role they were put to--they're going for a Threepeat or a Fourpeat, or wherever we are in this process. "Deeply corrupt" says Mahncke, and I won't gainsay him.  This time what they're aiming for is to essentially put half--or more--of the entire population on trial--Domestic Terrorists all! 

ADDENDUM: Let me put this as straightforwardly as possible. At this point the Dem strategy--to include not just the projected show trial but also the continuing military occupation of the Imperial City is simply to scare their voters away from EVER straying toward the GOP--for the foreseeable future. They've seen enough of how the Populist appeal can draw from their ranks to be very worried, and this is the only way they can come up with to prevent that--short of alienating their radical base.

What the Dems need to continue this latest hoax, however, is just a little bit of evidence. That one weird trick that's proving so elusive. 

For that they'll need a compliant federal judiciary that will give them endless time, and I won't say that degree of compliance won't materialize. But they also may need some serious luck. This Zhou regime is already off to a rocky start. We'll see how the luck part works out.