The Gradual Return of Tohu Wawohu

What to think about President Trump’s blanket J6 pardon?

I was not pleased when Biden pardoned just about every other Biden. It has always been disturbing to see Biden prove honor and honesty mean absolutely nothing to him, and then see the left back him up as though he’s a fine man. What is it they call him? “A decent man” or something like that?

Really? The guy who abandoned his granddaughter and hung 6 stockings by the chimney for the other grandchildren? The president who called journalist Peter Doocy a stupid son of a bitch on camera? The famous plagiarist who nearly got thrown out of law school and, having learned nothing, went on to destroy his presidential campaign by committing more plagiarism?

Are habitual liars decent people?

Biden didn’t say he was reluctant to pardon his son. He said he would not do it, flat out. Then he did it. Remarkably, this actually bothered some leftists, to their credit. I guess Biden hit two of their raw nerves: white privilege and nepotism. Oops. Make that “Aryan godlike privilege.”

I completely understand why leftists don’t like wealthy frat boys who have snotty attitudes and rightly believe they can do anything to anyone and get away with it.

I thought it was wrong for Biden to pardon the J6 committee and Anthony Fauci, but it also stupid, because I don’t think any of those people were in danger of prosecution. They were just in danger of being investigated, which they should not object to if they care about their country. And a pardon won’t block investigation. Biden made investigations more likely by annoying his adversaries and obliterating the Fifth Amendment rights of all those he pardoned, meaning they will have to answer any questions the new J6 committee asks.

I thought the Biden family pardons were much worse. They’re akin to treason in that they were hostile to the legitimate and important interests of the United States. Tens of millions of dollars have suddenly appeared in the bank accounts of unelected Bidens, Biden himself has been shown a liar with regard to his claims he had nothing to do with his son’s business, and no serious, unhindered investigation has been done; no investigation with teeth. His son was allowed to walk out of Congress, defying a subpoena, while two Trump confidantes were put in prison for doing the same thing.

Bribery is a big deal. Selling access to the Vice President is a big deal. We can’t let things like that go.

The pardons were also trashy. Biden is a trashy guy. He’s not a blue blood whose family has a good reputation to protect.

So what about the J6 pardon?

I was upset about it when I found out, because Trump had said his people would go case by case. His supporters expected him to keep the violent and dangerous rioters in prison. When he let every J6 defendant go, it seemed to me that he didn’t care about police officers who were attacked. I felt that people who attacked cops should stay in prison for an appropriate length of time.

I’m also not a fan of Enrique Tarrio. While J6 was not a real insurrection to most rioters, who were more like overexcited tourists who got caught up in a moment and thought they could get away with doing what leftists had done countless times, Tarrio apparently thought the Proud Boys really were going to keep Biden from being certified. And he doesn’t seem like what I would call a quality person. He was a felon before J6.

Maybe his sentence was harsh, and perhaps it should have been shortened, but he doesn’t seem like a person who should go unpunished. What he did, if not treason, was close to it, and we should discourage things like that.

Now that more time has passed, I am not so sure Trump’s action was unreasonable.

We saw BLM (which I call Certain Black Lives Matter) and Antifa burn private and government buildings. We saw them set at least one policeman’s clothing on fire. We saw them fight cops over and over. They tried to lynch Kyle Rittenhouse. They tried to burn a government building with people inside.

Generally, they have gone unpunished. There is no Congressional BLM Domestic Terror Committee. There is no Antifa Committee.

My sense is that Trump and his people believe that when the law is selectively enforced for political reasons, as it clearly has been with regard to J6 defendants and leftist terrorists, it is unacceptable to continue to punish those who are prosecuted while ignoring the others.

Personally, I would not take that approach. I believe a person who really tries to mount a coup should go to prison. I believe a person who physically abuses a policeman who is doing his job properly should go to prison. I think we should imprison such people even if the law turns a blind eye to the offenses of those who oppose them, because we have a duty to our citizens.

I think it would make more sense to start going after leftist terrorists in order to balance the books. Unfortunately, a lot of the leftist terrorism that has been forgiven took place so long ago, statutes of limitations have passed. We could go after such people in the future, however.

Because Trump was so generous with J6 people, our government is going to look pretty odd going after anyone who commits the kinds of crimes J6ers, Antifers, and BLMers have committed. Prosecutors will have to suck it up and say, “Okay, we blew it in the past, and it may not seem fair to go after people now when we let them slide before, but we’re going to do it anyway, because the alternative is chaos.”

Trump is also pardoning people who were convicted under the FACE Act. These are people who supposedly blocked access to abortion. The rationale is that while the Act is facially neutral, it has almost never been used to prosecute people in favor of abortion.

That rationale may make more sense. After all, there aren’t many pro-abortion people who are willing to stand in front of businesses that help pregnant women and block the doors. Helping women raise their children is not murder, but abortion usually is, so people who are pro-life are much more highly motivated to do something to help the victims.

The law appears neutral, but it was clearly crafted with the intention of doing in pro-lifers, and it falls on them disproportionately. It’s a law designed to facilitate the killing of unborn babies.

This is not like other cases of disproportionate impact. For example, leftists opposed intelligence tests for public servants because blacks failed them at a higher rate. That’s a different situation. We can’t have stupid or undereducated cops. That should be obvious. And the tests were not designed to keep blacks out. They were implemented with the best of intentions. They were necessary, unlike charging Christians with felonies for crimes that would ordinarily be low-grade misdemeanors.

Disproportionate impact is fine, as long as it happens for good reasons and there is no unfairness.

Example: NBA tryouts have disproportionate impacts on whites and Asians. A smaller percentage of blacks get sent home. That’s perfectly acceptable. Changing things to assure equality of outcome would destroy basketball and harm worthy athletes with a great deal to lose.

When I was in college, Jewish friends used to joke that the thinnest book in the world was titled Famous Jewish Athletes. They never said something had to be done about the athetic world’s discrimination against Jews. It would have been foolish.

The FACE Act is a sick law, giving special protection to depraved individuals who profit from ripping babies up alive. Satan himself could have written it. We don’t have similar laws to guarantee people access to hospitals or government buildings. You can stand in front of a VA hospital and keep cripples out, and the worst likely consequence is a trespass order. Same thing, if you stand in front of an ER.

I’m not sure Trump was right about the J6 pardon. Maybe he was. It has to be tough, sitting in prison being abused by left-leaning guards, knowing that leftists who did worse things are being ignored or, worse, rewarded with riches, fame, and admiration.

Did Trump lie? Probably not. I think he simply changed his mind. Biden made a firm commitment not to pardon his son, but when Trump said his people would go case by case, it was just a statement of intention.

I can understand why a president would rather change his mind and draw flak than let others rot in prison when their counterparts are living normal lives in the sunshine.