Insurrection Detection

     Enrique Tarrio is the person outside of the Trump White House most responsible for the events on the January 6th insurrection. The leader of the far-right Proud Boys, he was responsible for directing the army of over 100 Proud Boys from his hotel room in Baltimore, earning a conviction for seditious conspiracy and a 22-year prison sentence.      Ethan Nordean was the on-the-ground leader for the Proud Boys on January 6th and had a yearslong history of street-level violence in the Pacific Northwest that ended with a seditious conspiracy conviction and 18-year prison sentence.      Stewart Rhodes was the leader of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group that advocated for civil war to achieve an extremist vision of limited government. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy for organizing a group of dozens of his followers to breach the Capitol and stockpile weapons in a nearby hotel, and he, too, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.      Joseph Biggs, the head of the Florida P

     Joseph Lino "Jose" Padilla is a bad guy and was a key instigator of aggressive violence on the Lower West Terrace on January 6th. A user of the "thedonald" forum who repeatedly pressed up against police barricades, he shouted insults, calling one officer a "moral coward," before helping to breach a police line with a massive Trump sign. After making his way to the tunnel, he threw a flagpole that struck an officer in the head. For his spree of violence, one that included claiming that he had a right to try to overthrow the government and saying he was prepared to return with guns, Padilla was convicted of eight felonies and two misdemeanors carrying a maximum of roughly 90 years in prison. In reality, he'll probably wind up with a sentence of somewhere between five and 10 years. Seems like a fair verdict and a fair case overall, right?       Well, Mr. Padilla and his wife seem to disagree with most rational people on that. On "Christian"

Donald Trump , the former president who was willing to organize a criminal enterprise to subvert the will of the people and stay in power: $200,000. John Eastman , the disgraced racist constitutional attorney and professor who pushed the fake electors scheme and made false statements to pressure elected officials: $100,000. Rudy Giuliani , a racist rapist, international thug, and the head of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election who made false statements to pressure elected officials and organized a campaign of harassment against election workers like Ruby Freeman: $150,000. Mark Meadows , a former leading figure in the Tea Party movement and Trump's chief advisor who helped pressure elected officials: $100,000. Jeffrey Clark , an environmental lawyer who was willing to take the role of acting attorney general in order to help throw out the election results in the state of Georgia : $100,000. Kenneth Chesebro , a former liberal attorney considered the architect of the f

     Last week, the DOJ released its sentencing memorandum for the five Proud Boys convicted of a combined 31 felonies at trial back in May, including four convicted of the Civil War-era seditious conspiracy charge. Believe me when I say that memorandum is a whopper. The Justice Department wants 33 years for former Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio as well as Florida leader and former InfoWars figure Joseph Biggs, 30 years for Philadelphia Proud Boys leader Zachary Rehl, 27 years in prison for top Tarrio lieutenant Ethan Nordean, and 20 years in prison for New York recruit Dominic Pezzola. That's a combined 143 years in prison.       For reference, the DOJ sought a combined 149 years in prison for the NINE Oath Keepers defendants convicted at trial. They wanted just under 17 years in prison on average for each of the Oath Keepers defendants, but they want just under 29 years on average for the Proud Boys defendants. Why the difference?      For one thing, the groups' plots wer

     Just looking at the screenshot I took of the video you probably clicked here to read about, I'm sure you can tell this is going to be a wild one. I'm also sure you can tell what an absolute gem of a human being Joshua Lollar is. He was one of the earlier as well as one of the more interesting January 6th cases. An Army veteran who served in Iraq from 2001 to 2007, Lollar drove from Texas to Arlington, Virginia, with an AR-15, which he ultimately left at his hotel before heading to Washington, D.C. Wearing a bulletproof vest, a gas mask, and other tactical gear, he made his way into the Capitol rotunda and battled cops. Prosecutors described him as a "Weebles Wobble" toy, wobbling but not falling down as he was pepper sprayed but continued to push against a line of police officers. Lollar posted during the insurrection and after both text and video bragging about his involvement in the violence that took that day.      Released on a $50,000 bond, Lollar initially

     Today is the day. On August 1st, 2023, Donald Trump was indicted for his role in the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. We won't know more until the indictment is unsealed, but this is the indictment America and the world has been waiting for. Still, the work that I do, that online sleuths and reporters do, and that countless others do to hold accountable the people who physically committed illegal acts at the Capitol on that dark day will and must continue.      This next case is a perfect example of why. Michael Marroquin of Texas is the man behind the cell phone video that went viral soon after the events of that day, a man who shouted "traitors" at officers who had their weapons drawn in desperation as they tried to defend the citadel of democracy from a violent mob. The image below, taken from that cell phone video, is striking enough. The timeline also shows that many more of these cases will be filed. Marroquin was turned in by a loved one on Januar