February 20, 2020

“Wearing sunglasses and a dark fedora, Stone... strode past a giant inflatable rat dressed as Trump with a red tie and yellow hair - a common prop in street protests - and a sign calling for his pardon.”

From a Reuter’s article about the Roger Stone sentencing, happening now.

UPDATE:  3 years!

AND: I've said it before and I can say it again: "I happened to be wearing a fedora when I ran across that." (Reason for wearing a fedora while blogging explained at that link.)

ALSO: From the NYT write-up:
Judge Amy Berman Jackson excoriated Mr. Stone, saying his behavior inspired “dismay and disgust”.... She said that for months, Mr. Stone carried out a deliberate and calculated effort to hinder an important congressional inquiry by blatantly lying, hiding hundreds of documents and pressuring a fragile witness. Mr. Stone enjoys “mind games” and political gamesmanship, she said, but “nothing about this case was a joke. It wasn’t a stunt and it wasn’t a prank.”

She added, “He was not prosecuted to give anyone a political advantage. He was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president.”...

John Crabb Jr., a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, apologized during the sentencing hearing for “the confusion” over the government’s sentencing position and stressed that the prosecutors who quit from the case were not to blame. He said that department policy is to follow the sentencing guidelines in recommending punishment, and those prosecutors did so....

Judge Jackson questioned him closely about the process, asking whether he wrote the second sentencing memorandum or simply signed it. And she asked him point-blank about the last-minute switch in the prosecution team. “Why are you standing here today?” she demanded. Mr. Crabb deflected some of her questions, saying, “I apologize I cannot engage in discussions of internal deliberations.”...

In a last-ditch effort to delay the sentencing, Mr. Stone’s lawyers moved for a new trial on the basis of juror misconduct.... Judge Jackson said she would review the motion and the government’s response and would schedule a hearing if necessary....

At the sentencing, Judge Jackson took special umbrage at the defense team’s argument to the jury that Mr. Stone’s lies did not matter. “The truth still exists. The truth still matters” in official government proceedings, she said. Otherwise, she said, “everyone loses.”

154 comments:

Bay Area Guy said...

I don't think he should be pardoned -- there was no reason to lie to Congress under oath. I say, maybe, 30 days in jail.

mccullough said...

That’s a Hamburg hat, not a fedora

mccullough said...

Selective prosecution is a good reason for a pardon

Ann Althouse said...

I was wearing a fedora when I blogged that. Still wearing it. It’s my standard headgear indoors in the winter light.

mccullough said...

I meant Roger Stone was wearing a Homburg hat.

mccullough said...

Bring back the pork pie hat

Bay Area Guy said...

"Selective prosecution is a good reason for a pardon"

Yeah, I don't have a strong opinion on it. How 'bout a compromise? Commute the sentence to "time served" and move on.

Anonymous said...

He always seems to have a bit of pimp in his dress, though I suppose one could call him a dandy instead - either way it's not much better than if he wore shorts.

Earnest Prole said...

He always seems to have a bit of pimp in his dress, though I suppose one could call him a dandy instead.

In short, fabulous.

henry said...

Stone did it to himself. The process that followed has been ridiculous, with Mueller's people throwing the book at a self promoting stooge. This is an instance where nobody looks good.

Sebastian said...

"Stone did it to himself."

Yes. But "it" amounted to little and metastasized into gross injustice.

Amadeus 48 said...

So, are we going to push impeaching Amy Jackson Berman if we don't like the sentence? That's what the Demmies would do. Of course, they are idiots.

Bay Area Guy said...

Have any of you people (channeling Howard) read any of Stone's books?

His account of Trump's 2016 victory is authoritative. He nails it.

However, his books on the Nixon impeachment and JFK murder are wild conspiracy theories. Very enjoyable, but rife with truths, half-truths, omissions, falsehoods and zaniness.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

I'm all for Stone going to prison as long as Brennan, Clapper and McCabe are there to greet him. Those three did much worse but they received only rewards.

Ann Althouse said...

3 years.

So everyone can stand down.

gadfly said...

Judge Berman Jackson: “He was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the President, he was prosecuted for covering up for the President.”

traditionalguy said...

The whole prosecution was to threaten Stone into testifying that he and Trump were Putin's agents. Upon his refusal to flip and testify as told and enter a plea to probation, he gets a rigged DC Jury trial followed by this death in prison sentence.

If Trump pardons Stone the Dems get to impeach Trump again. That's the rules of Federal Prosecutors and their friends for life Federal Judges with life tenure.

Bay Area Guy said...

3 years is way too long. Pappadopolous got 15 days or so. I say 3 months, at worst.

The Dems have come a long way: From impeaching the President of the United States (thereby negating 63 Million popular votes) to sentencing Roger Stone to jail for a trivial offense.

Michael K said...

Judge Berman Jackson: “He was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the President, he was prosecuted for covering up for the President.”

Absolute bullshit. Only idiots like gadfly think Stone knew anything to cover up. He is a clown and lied to make people think he knew something.

Ken B said...

3 years does not mean stand down. It means Trump was right and the prosecutors were playing a game.

Anonymous said...

Maybe he should threaten some more people on social media.

Perhaps a couple more threats against dogs will change public opinion in his favor.

Yancey Ward said...

Jackson and gadfly are idiots. Stone didn't lie to cover up for Trump- Mueller's own fucking report demonstrates there was never anything for Stone to cover up- there was no collusion with the Russians, and there was no collusion with Wikileaks. This sentencing hearing itself is now reversible error given the judge's own false statements.

J. Farmer said...

Roger Stone is a devotee of Alan Flusser, a menswear designer and creator of bespoke suits in New York. He has written several good books on men's style, and he was the designer of Gordon Gekko's suits in Wall Street.

Dude1394 said...

3 years when mccabe/comey/brennan and the rest are walking free. NO

Kevin said...

Now let's throw him in solitary until he says something impeachable about Trump!

FullMoon said...

Has to go through appeal process to hopefully be granted new trial . Then, govt declines to prosecute again because lack of evidence. Hopefully, anyway.

Bay Area Guy said...

It's hard to overstate how important the WikiLeaks DNC dump was in 2016. It gave tons of fuel to Trump's campaign, bolstered his claims against HIllary's secret server and destroyed emails, and caused major chaos and confusion within the DNC and Hillary campaign.

It likely got Seth Rich murdered, too.

High level Dems, at the time, must have recognized how damaging it was to Hillary's chances, but instead, chose to hold their fire, miscalculating that Hillary would squeak by.

The ex-post mop up operations against Manafort, Stone, Flynn, pale in significance.

Yancey Ward said...

For the 10th time or so- Stone pretended all during the 2016 general election that he had an inside source at Wikileaks. He made predictions about release dates to support that claim, but the fact is all his predictions were based on Wikileak's own Twitter feed and Assange's various public statements. Even if you didn't follow Wikileaks yourself, you could tell all Stone's batherings were bullshit based on his predictions about the content of the material to be released- it was always "this is the end of the Clinton Campaign" or "after this Clinton will be going to prison" etc. When the e-mails were released, they were all big fat nothingburgers- all of the releases.

Stone got himself into trouble for trying to hide the fact that he was a bullshit artist. His closest form of a contact was Jerome Corsi's claimed third party source to Assange, but Corsi has more or less admitted he lied to Stone about how much inside info he had. Now Credico does have some connections to Assange, but he never really ever gave Stone anything, but Stone wanted Credico to lie and say that he was Stone's source. Credico told Stone to just tell the truth since the truth was no evidence of a crime.

And to top it all off, Mueller and his henchmen tried to get Corsi to flip on Trump- they threatened him with charges, too, but Corsi refused to sign a plea agreement. And you can know it was all bullshit because Corsi was never prosecuted by Mueller. If there had ever been collusion with Wikileaks, Corsi was the key person, not Stone given that it was Stone's lies that led to Corsi in the first place, but then the trail ended right there.

Stone is a fool. The truth would have never hurt him legally, though the truth would have required him to admit he was a bullshit artist.

Paul Snively said...

Dr. Althouse: 3 years.

So everyone can stand down.


Exactly. The court hands down a sentence that's well within the scope of the reduced sentencing recommendations while bloviating wildly about how just the original guidelines were, and how inappropriate Trump and Barr's "interference"-by-commenting is. Meanwhile, Trump and Stone fans get to claim their ire over those original guidelines led to the reduced outcome.

They call it a "win-win" for good reasons.

Yancey Ward said...

If I were Trump, I would pardon him on the lying charges- they were immaterial- they were lies covering nothing up but Stone's previous public lies about being a person in the know. I wouldn't pardon him for the subornation charges, though- there is no excuse for Stone's behavior in that regard.

Kevin said...

For comparison, we have Martha Stewart:

"After a highly publicized six-week jury trial, Stewart was found guilty in March 2004 of felony charges of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to federal investigators, and was sentenced in July 2004 to serve a five-month term in a federal correctional facility and a two-year period of supervised release (to include five months of electronic monitoring)."

Browndog said...

@CBSNewsRadio's @BillRehkopf is live tweeting the #RogerStone sentencing hearing at US District Court.

Very good play-by-play of what went on in court today.

Remarkable.

gadfly said...

Here is the breakdown.

40 months on count one
12 months on each of counts two through six, but concurrent
18 months on count seven, concurrent
24 months of supervised release
$20,000 fine

So Michael Cohen got three years for helping unindicted co-conspirator Donald Trump cover-up Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal (pun intended) and Stoney-one-so-true is sentenced to 40 months of jail time in place of Trump for hiding illegal dealings with the Russians. All is fair for Bozo.

readering said...

3 years 4 months.

traditionalguy said...

40 months pound of flesh . And the Judge says the sentence reflects that the CrossFire Hurricane investigation by the FBI was totally legitimate in every way. Which means she is another corrupt fake Judge.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Yancey nails it above.

The only interesting karmic connection, is that Stone, as a young Nixon aide, was too young and low-ranking to get nailed in Watergate.

But what a political career! Watergate to Russia-Gate spanning nearly 50 years. He is the political equivalent of Forest Gump.

Balfegor said...

Re: mccullough:

I meant Roger Stone was wearing a Homburg hat.

Wow, so he is! You don't see those very often these days.

Inga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bay Area Guy said...

The RCP Betting Odds show that Bernie just launched up, while Bloomy launched down.

Let's break out the champagne! (No, don't get cocky.)

I Callahan said...

unindicted co-conspirator

You keep telling yourself that if it makes you sleep better at night.

Inga said...

Good for Judge Jackson. Great job cross examining the prosecutor, who OK’d the change? Was it approved by the DOJ, there won’t be any truth there, will there be? Well, not yet anyway. The Judicial needs to defend their branch of government from overreach by the Executive

Fernandinande said...

Everybody must get Stone.

effinayright said...

traditionalguy said...

If Trump pardons Stone the Dems get to impeach Trump again. That's the rules of Federal Prosecutors and their friends for life Federal Judges with life tenure.
****************

Bullshit. The POTUS has plenary power under the Constitution to pardon anyone, for anything, except in cases of impeachment.

You're just making shit up.

effinayright said...

Inga said...
Good for Judge Jackson. Great job cross examining the prosecutor, who OK’d the change? Was it approved by the DOJ, there won’t be any truth there, will there be? Well, not yet anyway. The Judicial needs to defend their branch of government from overreach by the Executive
***********

Idiocy on parade. Judges don't "cross examin" prosecutors. The DOJ AG has the power and authority to override recommended sentence by his underlings. There IS no overreach.

Bay Area Guy said...

Ok, sometime within the next year, when we launch into a debate over a proposed pardon of Stone, can we ask the question now:

Do we all agree that it's perfectly legal under Article 2 for Trump to pardon Stone or commute his sentence?

I am not asking whether it's a "good idea". I'm asking does anyone, any legal eagle out there, think it is unlawful or unauthorized?

Speak up now!

Browndog said...

Stone's gag order is still in place, even after being sentenced.

hstad said...

I was holding my judgement of taking the attacks on Judge Berman Jackson at bay. But after today's sentencing (not because of the lenght) but the comments made by Judge Berman Ace of Spades has an interesting take on Judge Berman Jackson's ruling and statements. The Judge said -- that "...Stone deserved a long sentence because his "lie" caused the Mueller Report to be "incorrect," by which she means, It did not deliver what CNN and MSNBC promised me it would deliver, and I'm here to rectify that..."

"...So, yes, Stone is being sentenced by a Trump-deranged Russian Collusion Truther..."

"...She will not accept the Mueller Report as proof there was never any "collusion," and she's decided that the man standing before her, Roger Stone, is the reason that her paranoid fantasies were not proven to be true..."

What an absolute moron of a activist Judge who has an ax to grind. Just another political hack!



NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Balfegor said...

Wow, so he is! You don't see those very often these days.

Or the round bakelite* glasses. He's also been known to wear those old-style wide pin stripe suits as well. I think you could say his fashion sense stopped somewhere around 1922.


*Probably not actual bakelite, but that's what the originals were made of.

rcocean said...

So is Zilinsky and his band of Martyrs going to attack the left-wing Judge now? After all, she agreed that 7-9 years was unreasonable. Now, they just look like a bunch of left-wing hacks trying to make Barr look bad.

And Putin smiled.

rcocean said...

I suppose Stone will appeal, so there's no reason for Trump to pardon. That can wait till November.

rcocean said...

Comey and McCabe skate and Flynn and STone go to jail. Perfect situation for a Pardon.

stevew said...

Three years seems fair to me. I suppose he will be eligible for early release. What is not fair is that others, particularly Democrats and current and former Government officials, that committed the same or similar offenses have not been punished. Indeed, no one other than Trump associates have even been charged. That's what isn't fair and what undermines confidence in our legal system.

Let's hope Trump pardons him at the moment guaranteed to illicit maximum Democrat anguish.

Inga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
wild chicken said...

Stone should get four months for shooting his mouth off. Looks like that loose shit was the excuse for the Mueller investigation, as I suspected.

Inga said...

“Judges don't "cross examin" prosecutors.”

Are you on the Autism Spectrum? The term I used “cross examine” is hyperbole. Judge Jackson grilled the Prosecution, does that make it more clear to you?

Browndog said...

Stone doesn't have the time or the money for an extended appeal.

I want a full pardon by the weekend. The judge's statements today prove she's a political hack.

narciso said...

William jeffersons atty of record, what was her defense, the ice box where they kept the Nigerian bagmens cash was too cold,

D.D. Driver said...

It's hard to overstate how important the WikiLeaks DNC dump was in 2016. It gave tons of fuel to Trump's campaign

I disagree. I think its pretty easy to overstate it and the media routine overstates it. It started with "alleged attempted Russian interference." Then we dropped the "alleged" and started calling it "attempted Russian interference." Then, a funny thing happened: we dropped the "attempted" part and we are left with a media narrative of that the Russians actually, in fact, interfered with the election. Not that the Russians tried. They did it.

Show me the email that had any effect whatsoever on voter opinion on a significant scale. The email dump was boring and banal.The only thing even remotely juicy was the Donna Brazile revelation. Remember how the Dems argued how boring and banal the email dump was at the time? Now, the narrative is that the email dump was actually so important that it turned the tide of the election. BS. That's sour grapes and excuses HRC.

Hillary lost because she sucks. The emails had nothing to do with it. If you doubt me, here's a fun experiment: ask people you know which one of the Wikileaks emails was most damaging to HRC's campaign.

Earnest Prole said...

Once again: Run, don’t walk, to see the Netflix documentary Get Me Roger Stone.

Browndog said...

Jackson got her narrative:


Bloomberg
‏Verified account @business

Roger Stone, the longtime Republican operative and Trump associate, was sentenced to 3 years and four months behind bars for lying to Congress and tampering with a witness to protect the president during the Russia investigation

__________


New York Daily News
‏Verified account @NYDailyNews

BREAKING | Roger Stone was sentenced to 40 months in prison for lying to Congress and obstructing the Russia investigation in a bid to protect Trump.

______

Implication is Trump is guilty of crimes, and Stone impeded the investigation to prove it.

Fuck this.

Fuck all of this.

Browndog said...

It's hard to overstate how important the WikiLeaks DNC dump was in 2016.

Hard to overstate how overstated this is.

The media went full blackout, never covered it, so it pretty much never happened. The only people that payed any attention to it were Trump supporters.

Earnest Prole said...

Show me the email that had any effect whatsoever on voter opinion on a significant scale.

The emails confirming the DNC conspired against Bernie Sanders were instrumental in convincing a significant portion of his voters either to stay home on election day or to vote for Jill Stein. In an election decided by less than 100,000 votes, that was as important as any other single thing in Trump’s victory.

It may help you to swallow that if you think of it as the DNC getting exactly what it deserved.

effinayright said...

Inga said...
“Judges don't "cross examin" prosecutors.”

Are you on the Autism Spectrum? The term I used “cross examine” is hyperbole. Judge Jackson grilled the Prosecution, does that make it more clear to you?

******************
Snort! Next thing, your excuse will be "I was just testing you."

Sebastian said...

"he was prosecuted for covering up for the President."

WTF?

Hey, Amy, there was nothing to cover up.

Fernandinande said...

Wearin' sunglasses and a dark fedora
Livin', lovin', he's just a convict
Mister cool strides past a giant inflatable rat
Livin', lovin', he's just a convict

Come on, dude on the round about, the guideline plainly applies
We all know what your name is, so you better lay your money down.

Anonymous said...

Fernandistein - don’t feel all alone.

mccullough said...

It’s a Hamburg hat. Not a fedora.

Inga said...

“It's hard to overstate how important the WikiLeaks DNC dump was in 2016.”

Indeed. I can’t wait to see what happens with Assange.

Lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told a court on Wednesday that a witness statement application claimed that then-California representative Dana Rohrabacher went to visit Assange at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London on the instruction of the "President."
According to the statement described by Fitzgerald, Rohrabacher's mission was to offer Assange a US pardon, if he would "play ball" by saying the Russians had nothing to do with the leak -- an assertion Assange had previously made.

Anonymous said...

Very similar to the hat Michael Corleone was wearing (although his was gray) when he surprises Kay at work after being gone for a couple of years. Similar overcoat too.

Inga said...

‘...he was prosecuted for covering up for the President."

WTF?

Hey, Amy, there was nothing to cover up.”

I find it amazing that Trumpists are shocked to learn that not everyone agrees with them on this. Guess what, more than half the country believes there was/ is fire behind all that smoke.

mccullough said...

I like the dark Homburg hat better than the gray

narciso said...

the media were colluding with Hillary, 60 reporters vetted their copy, Haberman, who gave me 'the rizzotto tray' shorthand, harwood now with cnn, those are two that just come to mind, they pretend they give a fair shake but they don't have any such pretense, when Assange was revealing diplomatic cables and sigint programs they were fine with that,

Nonapod said...

He was prosecuted for covering up for the president. (the Judge said this)

I have to confess my ignorance about the specifics of this case. What exactly to Roger Stone "cover up" for the president? Was it crimes? If so, what were they?

I Callahan said...

Guess what, more than half the country believes there was/ is fire behind all that smoke.

1/2 the country is either stupid, ignorant or both. There has not been one single shred of evidence whatsoever that any Russian collusion took place. Not one. Your “beliefs”, and everyone else’s, have no place in the discussion whatsoever.

Inga said...

“Snort! Next thing, your excuse will be "I was just testing you."

Only pigs snort. Or were you using hyperbole, or did you really snort like a pig? Hey, does your wife still want to kill Trump supporters? I can’t believe you admitted that the other evening in the Cafe thread. Hope she doesn’t kill you.

Fernandinande said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fernandinande said...

He is the political equivalent of Forest Gump.

More like Tsutomu Yamaguchi.

MayBee said...

Good for Judge Jackson. Great job cross examining the prosecutor, who OK’d the change? Was it approved by the DOJ, there won’t be any truth there, will there be? Well, not yet anyway. The Judicial needs to defend their branch of government from overreach by the Executive

Oh, so are we back to the Judicial branch being a co-equal branch of government, with a say when the other branches might overreach?

Francisco D said...

Inga said: I find it amazing that Trumpists are shocked to learn that not everyone agrees with them on this. Guess what, more than half the country believes there was/ is fire behind all that smoke.

That fire is in your brain. It is a delusion that you willingly embrace.

I do not doubt that Inga buys the hoaxes. That is how the Democrat base stays loyal. The smarter ones are making up the bullshit because they are cynical and love manipulating the gullible, unreasoning base.

Bay Area Guy said...

Judge Jackson:

At the sentencing, Judge Jackson took special umbrage at the defense team’s argument to the jury that Mr. Stone’s lies did not matter. “The truth still exists. The truth still matters” in official government proceedings, she said. Otherwise, she said, “everyone loses.”

And yet:

1. John Brennan lied to Congress.

2. James Clapper lied to Congress

3. James Comey lied about the FISA warrants.

4. Andrew McCabe lied to the FBI.

5. James Wolfe lied to the FBI -- sweetheart deal.

Big Mike said...

That hat is a homburg. You can buy it from Amazon through the Althouse portal, complete to a jaunty red feather tucked into the hat band. A fedora is similar, but has a lower crown and a flatter brim. I have never seen a fedora with a feather, but for all I know they do exist.

chuck said...

My respect for judges has evaporated over the past several years. Global warming?

narciso said...

yes material lies


sorry about that

narciso said...

https://thefederalist.com/2020/02/20/john-bolton-admits-last-minute-impeachment-leak-was-a-publicity-stunt/

D.D. Driver said...

The emails confirming the DNC conspired against Bernie Sanders were instrumental in convincing a significant portion of his voters either to stay home on election day or to vote for Jill Stein. In an election decided by less than 100,000 votes, that was as important as any other single thing in Trump’s victory.

I mentioned the Donna Brazile thing because I do think this was substantive. But I still highly doubt it affected the election.

In order for that to be true, you would have to honestly believe that there was a scenario where the Bernie Bros lined up and voted for HRC. I'm sure the email dump made Bernie supporters really angry, but if they weren't going to vote for HRC anyhow, the extra anger doesn't have any effect of the election. It's not like the Bernie Bros can "not vote" for HRC twice because they are twice as mad.

I'm not saying you are wrong, I'm saying I haven't seen any evidence that its actually true and there is cause to doubt it.

Jaq said...

“nothing about this case was a joke. It wasn’t a stunt and it wasn’t a prank.”

Reasonable people may disagree. The whole case was a joke based on the wrath of the woman America scorned. A tissue of lies from the start. When is Steele going to be dragged off into prison?

Static Ping said...

It would help if the judge had not proven completely incompetent by allowing an obvious rank partisan as the jury foreman, and then insisting to go along with sentencing despite this coming out. It seems to me that the judge wanted her moment to grandstand and so she got it.

Our elites are corrupt morons.

Jaq said...

"In an election decided by less than 100,000 votes, that was as important as any other single thing in Trump’s victory.”

These are the kinds of things that people who flunk out of statistics courses say. Not to mention that nobody has ever questioned the emails authenticity.

Jaq said...

Is the judge allowed to make a partisan speech like that? I guess we will find out on appeal. Pro tip: If gadfly rushes to Althouse to quote somebody’s speech, it was partisan.

Jaq said...

All of the things that Hillary supporters complain about seem to involve people actually learning what Hillary actually did. It’s as if telling the voters true things somehow undermines democracy.

Big Mike said...

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand Roger Stone is such a sleazy guy I feel that he deserves some degree of punishment. OTOH there are people running around who are more sleazy and lied worse than Stone did who are running around free — Clapper, Brennan, Comey, and the jury foreman of this very trial come immediately to mind. So there’s a basic issue of fairness involved in Stone’s trial and sentence.

I hope this judge committed reversible errors.

Jaq said...

"Guess what, more than half the country believes there was/ is fire behind all that smoke.”

I don’t see a lot of evidence of that. But you go ahead and believe *without evidence* whatever you want to believe.

Jaq said...

The jury foreman lied to the court on questioning to inveigle her way onto the jury in the first place. It remains to be seen how deep the judges commitment to the idea that the truth matters really is.

Jaq said...

"What exactly to Roger Stone "cover up" for the president? Was it crimes? If so, what were they?”

Stone got their hopes up that they could find that Trump colluded with Wikileaks. Of course it was all bullshit, but there are people who still believe it, *without evidence*.

effinayright said...

wholelottasplainin' said...
Inga said...
“Judges don't "cross examin" prosecutors.”

Are you on the Autism Spectrum? The term I used “cross examine” is hyperbole. Judge Jackson grilled the Prosecution, does that make it more clear to you?

******************
Snort! Next thing, your excuse will be "I was just testing you."

And I should add: The judge DID reduce the sentence according to the AG's recommendations, so how can dopes like you argue "undue influence"--unless you want to say that she knuckled under?

Good luck with that line of attack.

Leland said...

I suspect Trump will hold off on any pardon, and wait and see if the appeals court slaps Berman Jackson for ignoring the blatant bias of the foreman juror.

Wa St Blogger said...

Guess what, more than half the country believes there was/ is fire behind all that smoke.

And this is why there will never be peace. No one trusts the system. No one believes that the truth can be found. We start with our preferred position such as "Trump is guilty" and then we reason all other evidence in light of that. "Trump was not impeached because of the rank partisanship of the Republicans." No one could get Trump partisans to tell the truth, maybe because of some nefarious blackmail or threats, or the people are sleazy and corrupt and just protecting their money train." You can come up with a dozen rationalizations. This can all be reversed as well. "McCabe is not prosecuted because of the deep state." Etc.

The truth is, we might never know the truth. Even when we GET the truth we see it with such a strong filter that one side or the other will reject it. We lack a true disinterested arbitrator. We simply pick our team and assign all goodness to them and all badness to the other and truth is defined by what we choose to believe.

Michael said...

Well, 3 years is less than the average 4 for rape. More in line with your average armed robbery sentence.

effinayright said...

Inga said...
“Snort! Next thing, your excuse will be "I was just testing you."

Only pigs snort.

>>>>You need a remedial course in the proper use of words: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snort

Or were you using hyperbole, or did you really snort like a pig? Hey, does your wife still want to kill Trump supporters? I can’t believe you admitted that the other evening in the Cafe thread. Hope she doesn’t kill you.

>>>LOLZ. My wife is a Trump supporter.

>>>I'd say you were confused, but your problems run a lot deeper than that.

Browndog said...

. We simply pick our team and assign all goodness to them and all badness to the other and truth is defined by what we choose to believe.

Speak for yourself. I'm nobody's slappy.

chuck said...


Jeffrey Epstein got 13 months in a Palm Beach jail with a day pass -- @JackPosobiec

Jaq said...

"What exactly to Roger Stone "cover up" for the president? Was it crimes? If so, what were they?”

Yes, the judge claimed *without evidence* that there was a cover up of some crime.

Earnest Prole said...

In order for that to be true, you would have to honestly believe that there was a scenario where the Bernie Bros lined up and voted for HRC.

The vast majority of Sanders voters are not Bernie Bros and ended up voting for Clinton in the general election, but enough of them were, and were disaffected enough not to vote. That, combined with some Bernie voters who actually went over to Trump (they both appeal to working-class whites in declining states), was enough to swing the election. But the same could be said about half a dozen other things in 2016, including Hillary’s refusal to visit Wisconsin and Michigan, James Comey’s reopening of the Hillary inquiry weeks before the election, and Hillary’s emails turning up on Anthony Weiner’s computer seized in a underaged sexting investigation.

Inga said...

“>I'd say you were confused, but your problems run a lot deeper than that.”

I’d say you’re stupid and don’t know how to write cogent sentences. You made an entirely new paragraph stating how your wife hates Trump and would be happy to kill him. You’re next to being illiterate, by the way you write. I had a lot of fun trolling you.

Earnest Prole said...

Not to mention that nobody has ever questioned the emails authenticity.

If you read my comment again you’ll see we’re in violent agreement.

dreams said...

She's just another crooked liberal democrat, Washington DC is infested them.

Andrew said...

"Or the round bakelite* glasses. He's also been known to wear those old-style wide pin stripe suits as well. I think you could say his fashion sense stopped somewhere around 1922."

Where Winston Chuchill glasses bakelite?

J. Farmer said...
"Roger Stone is a devotee of Alan Flusser."

J. you suprise me, well done. Actually Flusser like Stone dresses Ivy League with a flare, lots of flare.
Stone leaves court dressed conservatively, banker stripe suit, cut away collared shirt under a double breasted Chesterfield collared overcoat.

Real American said...

and yet, Congress lies to us all the time.

effinayright said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rehajm said...

We're debating the length of a sentence instead of discussing the outrage of the political asymmetry in prosecution.

Andrew said...

Real American said...
"and yet, Congress lies to us all the time."

And they are for sale.

D.D. Driver said...

The vast majority of Sanders voters are not Bernie Bros and ended up voting for Clinton in the general election, but enough of them were, and were disaffected enough not to vote.

Not saying you wrong. But I am asking, is there any actual evidence of this?

effinayright said...

Inga said...
“>I'd say you were confused, but your problems run a lot deeper than that.”

I’d say you’re stupid and don’t know how to write cogent sentences. You made an entirely new paragraph stating how your wife hates Trump and would be happy to kill him. You’re next to being illiterate, by the way you write. I had a lot of fun trolling you.
******************

Here's what I wrote:

If a civil war starts, I KNOW I will be defending myself from the ***batshit-crazy Bernie bro***who lives across the street.

My wife has shown me her Facebook page, and she would be happy to kill every Trump supporter she could get her hands on. She's shown me the comments of four other female friends, all of whom are rabid haters of conservatives.

(She just keeps quiet.)
*********************

Got that? the antecedent for "her" is ***batshit-crazy Bernie bro***----not my wife.

Everything else in my comment is consistent with that reading. Yet you excised that first sentence, one more example of your utter dishonesty.

FullMoon said...

Trump on Fox talking about Stone and bringing up swamp, Judge,clinton, other crooks. Rally style, not interview..

Gonna let this process play out. Perhaps court system was not fair.
Love FBI but people at the top are bad, Comey, McCabe..

FullMoon said...

Roger Stone has not been treated fairly..
Fake news

Steven said...

You can't cover up a crime that didn't happen. The judge should be impeached, removed, disbarred, and disenfranchised; she's clearly as incompetent to exercise any power of any kind over her fellow man as Inga.

Jim at said...

Once again, rules for all or rules for none.
Choose wisely, leftists.

Inga said...

“Everything else in my comment is consistent with that reading. Yet you excised that first sentence, one more example of your utter dishonesty.”

You really are that dumb. You made your first paragraph about Bernie Bros. Then instead of continuing that paragraph with your sentence about your wife you sloppily made another paragraph about “she” wants to kill Trump supporters. Of course I understood you meant the Bernie Bro chick, but because you constructed your comment so poorly and were such a jerk I decided to troll you a bit. You never caught on, as I asked earlier, are you on the Autism spectrum? That you had no idea I was trolling you tells me you are not only a bad writer, but not too bright, or you have trouble understanding nuance. So maybe you should take a remedial course in how to write a cogent paragraph without breaking up your related thoughts into numerous unconnected sentences.

effinayright said...

Ah, Inga:

I feel so..."schooled".

NOT

You are very obviously deflecting.

Your earlier comment about the judge "cross-examining" the prosecutors is so vapid and utterly off-the-mark that you simply changed the subject with a purported grammar flame.

S N O R T

narciso said...

meanwhile mark warner who made his fortune, through Yandex ru, had a back channel to steele through waldman, which also contacted Assange, waldman and steele both having worked for deripaska, now represented in a round about way by david Vitter, for mercury partners,

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Small pedantic point. Not sure if Althouse has a ratfucker tag but this post is not about rats but ratfuckers. Big difference.

Inga said...

“I feel so..."schooled".”

As you should, if you were normal. But that you don’t, gives me hints about your condition. You’re a sloppy writer. You try to engage in “gotchas” without realizing you only “got” yourself. You’re not very intelligent. You’re a jerk.

effinayright said...

Inga said...
“I feel so..."schooled".”

As you should, if you were normal. But that you don’t, gives me hints about your condition. You’re a sloppy writer. You try to engage in “gotchas” without realizing you only “got” yourself. You’re not very intelligent. You’re a jerk.

*************

Sez the Resident Ditz on this blog.

S N O R T

Beasts of England said...

Alan Flusser is old school elegant.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

"[Stone] is not some poor indigent defendant railroaded by a judge and prosecutor into a wrongful conviction. He is not a victim. Nor is he like the thousands of prisoners sitting today in state or federal penitentiaries who would benefit from the sort of prosecutorial charity Barr offered last week in reducing Stone’s sentencing recommendation. Stone was caught red-handed lying to Congress and then caught trying to obstruct justice by impeding the testimony of a witness who would have exposed his lies. He was convicted by a federal jury following a contested trial in which he was ably represented.

If that were all Stone had done it would have been enough — dayenu — to justify a significant prison sentence. But while his case was pending he demonstrated his lack of remorse or regret by threatening Judge Jackson by posting a picture of her with crosshairs on it, as if she were or ought to be a target of gun violence. The idea that a defendant could make such a threat and then earn leniency from the Justice Department is part of the reason why the Federal Judges Association held an emergency conference call this week to discuss Trump’s continuing attacks on judges whose decisions he dislikes. The truth still matters to them."

Guildofcannonballs said...

"We simply pick our team and assign all goodness to them and all badness to the other and truth is defined by what we choose to believe."

This is what the brainwashing and/or social programming is meant to elicit from the message receivers.

To take a page from the great paraphraser E. Warren: So you just admitted there is nothing that matters, nothing right or wrong, nothing to separate evil from good, since "simply" people pick their team.

Well, you ass, I very hardly chose my team, as my natural inclination to not join any team wasn't fruitful. Were I, or anyone, to merely choose simply a team they would near-unanimously choose the progs, based on Satan funding the culture's hatred of decency and beauty through mass media and entertainment, the education structures pre-K through post grad, and large corporations demanding unwoke concentration camping.

I understand how easy it is to blame all sides when Trump may realign things in a way that may not be so rigged, but I won't allow without my dissent your comments to bring down society to your snake-level perspective of false equivalency.

Guildofcannonballs said...

One of my regrets during Obama's presidency was applauding him calling Kanye a jackass.

I won't be so quick to agree with any prog proclamations again, in this lifetime.

purplepenquin said...

Snort!
Snort!
S N O R T


Cocaine is a hell of a drug

FullMoon said...

Here is the breakdown.

40 months on count one
12 months on each of counts two through six, but concurrent
18 months on count seven, concurrent


40 +12+12+12+12+12+18=118

He got much more than 40 months. Concurrent obviously means forty months real time but she could have given less time on each conviction and still reached forty.

118 months is just shy of ten years, so as to satisfy the judges peer group. 40 months satisfies Barr. She covered bases pretty well.

elkh1 said...

The judge is anti-Trump biased.

How did she know Stone was hiding documents? Any proofs? From the FBI, whose credibility is in the dumps?

How did she know Stone was lying? Any proofs? From the Media who are known to fabricate anti-Trump fake news?

The judge has nothing. She is running a vendetta against Stone for not implicating Trump.

Drago said...

elkh1: "The judge has nothing. She is running a vendetta against Stone for not implicating Trump."

Same deal with Manafort....and wouldn't you know it? Same Judge!

Well, that is a tidy little coincidence, isn't it?

Oh, it gets better of course: This is the same judge that has been assigned the Strzok case! Wow. Trifecta! Double plus good will be the 100% democrat partisan jury! Why not just hold the trial at DNC headquarters?

Did you hear about this case?

Highly connected democrat/lefty Devon Archer (pal and business partner of Hunter Biden and buddy of John Kerry) was convicted by a jury in 2018 for scheming to defraud Native Americans!

So he was sent away to jail, right? I mean, complete trial, conviction by jury, etc etc "rule of law" etc etc "no one is above the law!" etc etc

But wouldn't you know it! What a stroke of "luck"!

The judge hearing the case threw the conviction out! And this judge was, naturally, an obama appointee, Ronnie Abrams.

Now, guess who Abrams is married to? If you guessed Mueller team member Greg Andres, well. You would be very very very correct.

But remember. It's all on the up and up in DC. Nothing to see here. Move along....

Guildofcannonballs said...


"Since it cost a lot to win
And even more to lose
You and me bound to spend some time
Wondering what to choose

Goes to show you don't ever know
Watch each card you play
and play it slow
Wait until that deal come round
Don't you let that deal go down, no, no"


- Grateful Dead

n.n said...

He was prosecuted for criminal processes during a multi-trimester witch hunt and warlock trial, from annnouncement ("conception") and with progress after inaaguration ("birth"). The Judge projects of whom she speaks. That said, the hunters and judges are on trial. Justice for witches and warlocks. Social justice for the hunters and judges.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Boy, I only listened for a few minutes to Pete Boyle today, but by God this guy gets it. I think he is an atheist with extreme respect for others. Like I expect Althouse is blog-wise here.

Talking about John Hickenlooper, he (Pete) says paraphrasing --though without E. Warren's supreme master ninja calculatated take-downs-- I'm such a good little boy, I'm John Hick and I've done everything they wanted, like a good little boy. I'm so pure and right and will win because everyone sees it, look at my record. I'm such a good little boy. I dressed as a fury. I'm such a good little boy.--

Guildofcannonballs said...

n.n you may be right the Dead caused more abortions than prevented, but their art was pro-life.
Nobody gives a fuck about that though, as far as I can tell. I ain't got proof otherwise.

But their art was pro-life, for what it's worth (life,,,. Oh, and yeah art too.).

Original Mike said...

Inga said…"I find it amazing that Trumpists are shocked to learn that not everyone agrees with them on this."

Guess who does agree. Robert Mueller.

Guildofcannonballs said...

This is a link Pete Boyles, there shan't be others like it.

He's a special guy.

effinayright said...

Inga said...
“It's hard to overstate how important the WikiLeaks DNC dump was in 2016.”

Indeed. I can’t wait to see what happens with Assange.

"Lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told a court on Wednesday that a witness statement application claimed that then-California representative Dana Rohrabacher went to visit Assange at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London on the instruction of the "President.""

>>>WHO made that claim? Was that witness statement application admitted as evidence? If not, the claim is hearsay--no matter what the judge said. In the UK , if the claim is in a document, the document must be put before the court.
>>>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearsay_in_English_law

"According to the statement *****described by *****Fitzgerald, Rohrabacher's mission was to offer Assange a US pardon, if he would "play ball" by saying the Russians had nothing to do with the leak -- an assertion Assange had previously made.

>>>If Assange had previously made that statement, why would saying it again have any value?
Is there any other evidence that Russia had anything to do with the leak? Remember: the DNC wouldn't let the FBI look at the actual PC where the data was stored.

>>>And, here's Rohrbacker's response to the claim:

“At no time did I offer Julian Assange anything from the president because I had not spoken with the president about this issue at all. However, when speaking with Julian Assange, I told him that if he could provide me information and evidence about who actually gave him the DNC emails, I would then call on President Trump to pardon him,” Rohrabacher added.

That's a heulluva lot different from what is claimed.

Guildofcannonballs said...

We are the greatest as evidenced by our having to try and control the influx of people both within our laws and outside our laws.

America, as a country is that which I refer to.

Guildofcannonballs said...

So, as Buckley well knew, and hence had Reagan solve it, there are issues.

So Trump is going to solve them, and we all will vote accordingly.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Oh 1986 horrible!!!

Good point.

But that, in 2020, disregards 1994.

You ought to know.

Guildofcannonballs said...

The repercussions of Buckley in America far supersede that of any Communist and always will.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Foreighnors, idiots, are only able to see Buckley gave all for not his bloodline, just, "merely" some may label it, his country.

America.

God Bless William F. Buckley.

Iman said...

Disgust, in my heart, for the Judge...

Iman said...

Let's see some 6AM amphibious assaults on the likes of Clapper, Brennan, McCabe, Comey and several other lying liars...

AZ Bob said...

The judge said she was throwing the book at him and handed down a three-year sentence.

What does that say about the Mueller prosecutors that were asking for 8-9 years?

Drago said...

Guess who the new prosecutor assigned to the Stone case is?

Go ahead, guess!

I'll give you a hint: it was the DOJ lawyer who refused to prosecute Andrew McCabe for lying 4 times to FBI investigators and who illegally leaked classified info to the press...and then publicly blamed subordinates for his leak.

Yep.

Not a smidgen of corruption or bias!

Iman said...

purplepenquin said...
Snort!
Snort!
S N O R T

Cocaine is a hell of a drug


deviated septum
Dripping from a penguin's beak

Guildofcannonballs said...

Having let in more refugees than any entity ever, why isn't America for having not let yet many many more in.


Makes sense to Will Whilhem voters. Okay... Have all the fun you can.

Bunch of people are willing to live in the area you vote for death, as by definition are you.

Guildofcannonballs said...

decency I will define temporally as me winning and Althouse loving.

zefal said...

Drago said...
Guess who the new prosecutor assigned to the Stone case is?

Go ahead, guess!

I'll give you a hint: it was the DOJ lawyer who refused to prosecute Andrew McCabe for lying 4 times to FBI investigators and who illegally leaked classified info to the press...and then publicly blamed subordinates for his leak.

Yep.

Not a smidgen of corruption or bias!



Corrupt eric holder going off on reporter for exposing molly gaston's deep state ties. https://twitter.com/314truthseeker/status/1230616376215265280?s=21



Eric Holder

@EricHolder
·
Feb 19


Why don’t you shut the hell up. Your bias is showing. I bet you’ve never been a prosecutor or have any idea how DOJ works. People like you-who want to use the justice system for political reasons-are both dangerous and ignorant. The case was-like you-an obvious loser.
Quote Tweet


Paul Sperry

@paulsperry_
· Feb 18
BREAKING: Molly Gaston, the asst US Attorney who signed letter to McCabe's lawyer informing McCabe she was closing criminal case against him, is Democrat who's given thousands to Dems including Obama & who once worked for Dem side of House Oversight & whose mother worked for WaPo

Nichevo said...

Funny that the previous post is about Afghanistan. The last time I remember this much intermarriage and incestuous relationship building was when Osama Bin Laden and his people came in and married half of everybody that counts in Afghanistan.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Foreighnors, idiots, are only able to see Buckley gave all for not his bloodline, just, "merely" some may label it, his country.

America.

God Bless William F. Buckley.

None of you cunts are worth a billionth of Buckley.

Touhidul Islam said...

Example 1