LOCK HIM UP! (Open Thread)
Roger Stone is back before Judge Amy Berman Jackson, trying to explain why she shouldn’t throw his sorry ass in jail. Here’s a tweet from Tierney Sneed, a TPM reporter:
Now we’re discussing how Stone found the image, among two or three of Berman Jackson. Stone said he chose it “just randomly.”
Berman Jackson: “You closed your eyes and picked?”
Doesn’t sound too promising for Stone so far.
In other news, Republican cheater Mark Harris, who stole the NC-9th district House race through election fraud, has conceded that a new election is warranted. Because he’s a cheating cheater who cheated.
Open thread!
It’s my birthday on Saturday and all I want is Roger Stone in prison. Pretty please!! I’ve been so good!!
Yeah, I thought for an image that he just randomly found on the internet, it was just amazing that it turned out to be his judge. Dude should have spent the rest of the day in a gambling house.
Tierney Sneed again:
So, question jackals, especially the legal contingent. Would you put Stone in jail?
ETA: Apart from debit, who is blowing out her birthday candles and crossing her fingers.
Wait…why is this thread not about Jussie Smollett? EVERYTHING ELSE IS, if you ask our national snooze media. Oh my stars and garters, are they ever going nuts over this. It’s like racism doesn’t exist, because you know, Smollett.
Meanwhile…an officer in the US Coast Guard with enough firepower to wipe out a small city was…planning on wiping out a small city’s worth of liberal politicians and anti-trumpov media types. (yawn) (so boring!) (makes RWNJs touchy just by implication, so better play it down)
Hoo boy.
/rant
Yes, Stone does look like, um, Stone in trying to make these lame excuses. The sooner he’s behind bars and stays there, the better.
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Does he think Judge Jackson just fell off the turnip truck? She’s a federal judge and has heard plenty of liars in her time on the bench. People like Stone may be able to bamboozle their acquaintances, but people in the courts hear this stuff all day, every day. They are not going to buy your bullshit.
On Britain Eakin’s tweeter account “Stone is off the witness stand. His defense attorney called his action “indefensible.” ABJ responds: “I agree with you there.” ABJ being the judge in question.
@debit:
Happy Birthday! We share the same day! Cheers!
@Sebastian: Happy Birthday to us!
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Given the environment today, I think his posting of his judges picture was intended to be intimidating, at least. There is always a risk of stochastic terrorism; some random nutjob acting on his postings. Since Stone can’t seem to recall the name of the people he allows to post in his name, I think it’s likely best that he completely cut off from social media – that is, jailed.
He wouldn’t have, if the Dems hadn’t forced him to. So, once again, it’s all Hitlary’s fault.
Do not pass GO, go directly to jail.
put.that.muthaphucka.IN.JAIL.
Another one:
It’s a good day for rich and powerful criminals being held accountable, and treated like all other classes of criminals.
It was a bad idea to coddle them. It’s made them brazen and cocky and they’ll keep committing more and more crimes and then there’s the ancillary corruption! Like Mr. Acosta here. Root and branch.
@debit:
You ARE good people, and yes, I want that birthday present for debit too :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
@debit & @Sebastian: Pisces friends! My birthday is tomorrow, and my husband’s was Tuesday. Seems like ALL the best people were born in February!
@Kay:
I believe he took a bribe for this plea deal.
What? A Republican admitting that there might have been some hanky-panky going on? Has Hell frozen over?
@Kay: Damn, that ruling is a breath of fresh air.
Speaking of locking him up, judge ruled that Federal prosecutors broke the law when they signed some plea agreement with him.
ie What Kay said.
Would someone tell the Q people we cracked the child sex trafficking ring and… it’s led us to the Trump Administration?
They didn’t see that coming I bet. I did, because I knew if they were accusing Clinton of it dollars to doughnuts they were involved themselves.
Re: Harris – Not surprising that he throws his own son under the bus, characterizing him as “little judgemental” and having “a little taste of arrogance” as a reason for not listening to him. It’s ironic a baptist “minister” calling someone else judgemental.
Where’s he going to headquarter his new campaign? D Block?
@Dorothy A. Winsor: yes.
@rikyrah: no question.
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I’m amazed they thought they could bury it. That the victims would just go quietly away. Those days are over.
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Disclaimer: not a legal eagle, nor anything approaching one.
That said: I would only put him in jail if there were no more-reasonable option. Where “more reasonable” is defined as: cat o’ nine tails, flaying, drawing and quartering, or some reasonable facsimile thereof. If prison is the only option, then I’d want him to have various things tattooed prominently on his body, before getting thrown into the pen: things like “All N*****s Suck!”
My apologies if I’m being too much of a squish.
@Betty Cracker: Happy happy birthday!
@Betty Cracker:
Happy Birthday Betty! So honored to be in such famous company! Swoon!
Regards and congrats to the spousal unit, too.
Just asking for a friend — can you run from congress from a prison cell ??
Because that’s where this SOB should wind up after being warned he was about to commit a felony – by his son the US Attorney for the Eastern District of NC !!!! Holee cow, Batman, Look, a Felony~!!?!!?!!~
Speaking of Cheating Mark Harris, it’ll be interesting to see how this shakes out. I don’t think calling for a new election as the cheater is now doing is the way to go. The election board should give the House seat to the Democrat, who didn’t cheat. Why should the Republicans be rewarded with a do-over and the Democrat have to go through another campaign? Nope, cheater goes to jail/pays fine/whatever, non-cheater goes to the House. That seems more like justice to me.
Credit to them too. Good job.
@Kay:
So if the prosecutors broke the law … will they face some sort of consequences?
What’s really exciting about this is that it closes in on Trump.
Amazing. Whenever the Democrats are accused of cheating you find that Republicans did the actual cheating.
Does this dope get to keep his name on the ballot?
I’m not sure what to do about the cheater Mark Harris. On one hand, I don’t want the state GOP to be able to sub in another candidate in the new election, since they might win. On the other, it would mean once and for all that cheating in an election means you don’t win, and until that message seeps in you’re not going to be able to root this cheating out — if the worst that can happen to you is a do-over, that’s not good enough. Unlike Republican cheater Mark Harris and his party, I’m actually tough on actual crime.
Damn, missed that! Happy Birthday, Miss Betty!
@Betty Cracker: Agree. My birthday is today! Happy birthday.
@Jeffro: Smollett was above the fold, A1 on today’s NYT. Coast Guard terrorist was A-18. It was in local news in the WaPo.
@Betty Cracker:
Truth.
No.
I’m with Cicero on this one. “Hang all the traitors!”
And he was a wealthy conservative.
@janeform: Happy birthday! So many Feb babies here today. We all deserve Roger Stone in jail for a present.
@Betty Cracker:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BC!
@janeform: Happy Birthday.
In other news President Dumbass wants the US to stop releasing 5G and jump directly to 6G mobile communications technology.
@Betty Cracker: Mine was Monday. I’m not sure that this supports your theory.
@Sebastian:
I don’t know. The victim’s lawyer said they blocked disclosure for 11 years, which would seem to indicate that they should suffer some sanction. Epstein is out. He did his joke of a jail term. I think he’s a registered sex offender though- they wouldn’t have been able to hand him a special “rich person” deal on that.
There’s no statute of limitations on trafficking though, so they could maybe charge him again – there are tens of victims and thousands of incidents. Seems like they could rustle one or two up.
@Betty Cracker:
Happy birthday to everyone!!
Will believe it when it actually happens.
@Betty Cracker: Wow It’s the month of birthdays. Happy birthday to you also
@Kay:
Oh hell yes, Jeffrey Epstein and everybody involved in his hand-slap of a sentence needs to be hauled up on further charges. He’s a much, much bigger monster than Weinstein and that’s saying something. And he pimped on behalf of our current president*.
@debit:
Feb 27 REPRESENTIN’ !
…and yep, R. Stone in jail would be a nice gift…
@Betty Cracker:
Aquarius here–mine was last week. HBDTYs for everybody!
@clay: Yes it does. You are also awesome.
Thanks for the birthday greetings, all!
RE: Stone — the judge is back, according to tweeting reporters! Let’s see if we Pisces babies get our present…
@Betty Cracker: My mom will be spending her birthday in Italy with my older brother. She honestly couldn’t ask for a better present for birthday number 69.
EDIT: her birthday is the first of March.
@Jeffro:
To be fair, that’s a pretty small “arsenal” for an ammosexual. My brother’s is quite a bit larger, and he’s severely limited by budget.
@Betty Cracker:
Happy Birthday!
@Betty Cracker: my question is also about the down ballot races, if these guys have testified that they altered the votes for the Congressional election, what about all of those other races on the ballot, couldn’t that have also affected their outcomes, especially so since those were a lot less likely to be marked than the Congressional ballot?
@jeffreyw: How’d you know I’m a sucker for coconut? :)
@Kay: I don’t think Epstein is a registered sex offender. They only charged him with prostitution.
These poor women have been waiting for justice for over a decade. Acosta’s labor dept spokessmuck said he followed all justice department guidelines, which the judge explicitly said they did not. I want all the men involved, from perpetrators to defense council to prosecution to have a few sleepless weeks as they wait to see if justice will finally fall upon them. I am supposing that since they never got Epstein on child sex or trafficking, they can go for those now that the npa is shown to be tainted.
Just tweeted
Happy Birthday everyone. Hope you all have (are having) a great day!
@debit: *blush*
Aw, damn. Looks like the judge is gagging but not jailing Stone. :(
@waspuppet: I wish they could award the seat to the non-cheater. The Democrat who very nearly won (and did win in other counties, right??)
This just clears the decks to run a more palatable Republican candidate. Like the incumbent GOP rep the cheater cheated in the GOP primary.
Seat should go to the Democrat. If I ran the world.
@janeform: What the heck, mine is too! Must be a Jane thing. ;-)
@AThornton: Some wags on the Twitter machine are suggesting that trumpov’s G “goes to 11” Love. It.
@Betty Cracker:
Just lucky, I suppose. By the way, be careful around the middle of next month.
No, Judge! Don’t wimp out now.
@SFAW:
No a thousand cuts from a vegetable peeler all over his body with a full submersion in a bath of lemon juice? I am disappoint, good sir. Disappoint I say!
Dang. Although, if no jail, maybe she’s just biding her time because Stone will run afoul of the gag order.
Jackson: “So no, Mr Stone, I’m not giving you another chance. I have serious doubts about whether you’ve learned any lesson at all.”
Looks like remand.
As a wise man once said, “Fuck ’em”.
ETA: Oops; I looks wrong, apparently.
Phuck outta here. He threatened your azz. Put. him. in. JAIL.
Does that mean he’s not going to jail?
“Reuters: JUDGE ORDERS STONE NOT TO SPEAK PUBLICLY ABOUT THE CASE, ADDRESS IT ON SOCIAL MEDIA OR COMMENT INDIRECTLY VIA SURROGATES”
Hey my half-birthday is this month… does that count????
Just a ‘strict’ media gag order? Didn’t she do the same last time around?
Gag.
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Not yet. Since he already stated that he talks too much, I expect he’ll be called back into court next week…
Speaking of Twitter wags, here’s ol Tricky himself (re: Stone pleading for his freedom)
@Elizabelle: It reminds me a bit of Manafort. Just how long can ol’ Rog keep his mouth shut?
@Wapiti:
I think there is still some stale air around. 1)Part of the agreement was not to go after all the other (powerful) people who may have been involved. Is that part of the agreement nullified? I doubt it.
2) Epstein probably still has his immunity.
More pillows. Must be nice being white.
Pisces rule! Also, happy Birthday to all the Jackals here who are celebrating Birthdays today; wow, didn’t realize that December was such an active month for undercover work.
Speaking of inciting speech, the president, Stone, and the right-wing industrial complex helped create this guy:
If you can’t click on tweets, it says “The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country. He must be detained pending trial.”
Happy Birthdays, all you wintertime Jackals !!
Here’s hoping that Hyena Roger Stone goes up the River for your birthday, just for his own safety, of course!
ETA: Went for a regularly schedules Dr’s appointment this morning, BP was 130/70, as Dr Bill called it, “Perfect” — I do take a med [1/2 a tablet of a mild diuretic] to keep it mediated, it’s working!!
Awwww, man! Disappointed. I may as well go be bad.
I’m very disappointed in you, Judge Amy
ETA: And debit’s birthday is ruined!
@Jeffro: Interesting that he knows the symbology of a random image he found on the internet and picked with his eyes closed.
A little more about Acosta’s role, from the same Miami Herald story from @Kay:
I think there will be updated reporting from Julie Brown at the link.
@Ruviana:
I suspect gagging Roger Stone only works for his erotic life.
Time will tell.
@catclub: Oh, there’s plenty a nasty air remaining.
I do wonder how a plea agreement with one defendant can set that there will be no criminal criminal liability for other suspects. I’d think each one of the scumbags would need their own plea bargain… but I’m not a lawyer, and not in Florida.
@debit: Hah, another entry for Steeplejack’s notes.
ETA: multiple entries! Happy birthday to all.
@Betty Cracker: I agree. I think the Dem should get the seat. No new election. If I were the cheater, I would be fine-tuning my cheating skills while awaiting a chance to use them in the new election. Duh.
@Elizabelle: Until a BOE can say “Well, you got the most votes but you lose,” cheating is going to happen. Granted, there’s a problem with that, especially is a bunch of Republicans are on the BOE because we know they cheat. I’m not sure how to balance it out.
@SFAW: Where “more reasonable” is defined as: cat o’ nine tails, flaying, drawing and quartering
Stone sounds like a truly soulless human, a person worthy of spending the remainder of his worthless life in a 9×6 cell. But I balk at drawing and quartering. Here is one definition I found:
The grisly punishment included the drawing of the convicted to the gallows, often by horse, the hanging of the body until near death, disembowelment and castration, followed by the beheading of the body, and finally the quartering of the corpse, or the division of the bodily remnants into four pieces.
I think that should be saved for treasonous politicians who sell out their country.
Happy birthday all you Pisces and almost Pisces! mr. tobie’s birthday was on Tuesday so I will join the chorus and say all the best people are born in February (or thereabouts). Many happy returns to all of you.
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Not going this time.
He will go the next, and I think there will be a next, knowing him.
@Elizabelle: [vomits]
@Humdog:
“Jeffrey Edward Epstein (born January 20, 1953) is an American financier, science and research philanthropist, and registered sex offender.[1] ”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Epstein
BTW, if the Prosecution actions were illegal, then Epstein’s immunity deal is null and void.
Happy birthday to all!
@waspuppet:
@Jay:
I wish it were so. You might even think that if the Prosecution actions were illegal, their convictions would be overturned too.
But it seems like all those prosecutorial misconduct cases turn out that way only when the defendant is very rich and powerful.
Otherwise, they stay in prison, until the Innocence Project gets around to their case.
and the plea deal being null and void, that sounds like the sanctity of contracts that applies when CEO bonuses of bailed out companies get paid, but the union contracts of those companies get get shitcanned. A one way ratchet.
While I’d really love to see Stone in jail (where all of his calls would be monitored and they’d likely catch him doing stuff as stupid as what Manafort did when he was in jail), I’m not surprised that the judge just tightened the gag order. Judges, even when saying they’re not giving you a second chance, like to look reasonable, and this looks reasonable to someone who doesn’t know about Stone.
Also, there’s something about giving a man enough rope that might apply to Mr. Stone.
@debit: @Sebastian: @Betty Cracker: @janeform: @clay: @JanieM: @daverave:
Happy birthday! and 1/2 birthday! and to all other Feb. babies here too ! May you each see the indictment you most desire come true this year. 🎁 🎉 🎁 🍾 🎁
@Aleta: I second this.
Happy birthdays, and indictments all around. For Trumpsters, not for the birthday babes.
@Steve in the ATL: LOL. I knew somebody would.
@catclub:
It requires lawyers and a legal team, and time.
A lot of people just give up, a lot of people take the settlement,
Seems that this lawyer is what you call “committed”, and so is his client.
Epstein’s still wealthy, so between the previous ruling in the other case, and this ruling, there will be a lot of “piling on”, on both Epstein and The State.
There’s blood in the water now.
@Jay: and Dersh? I can dream….
@debit: Sebastian : Betty Cracker : janeform: clay :
trollhattan : JanieM: daverave: mr. tobie:
Happy Birthday, and happy 1/2 birthday! And to all the other Feb babies! May you each dance at the indictment of your dreams come true this year! 🎁 🎉 🎁 🍾 🎁
@randy khan:
This is exactly what I suspect. In fact, it will be a perfect test for whether I have Stone pegged, as an asshole who has reached the stage of no self control, just raging id. If he’s a schemer, he should shut up now. He’s made his point without going to jail. If he’s a nutcase, he’ll keep running his mouth.
@Immanentize: good dream
Happy Birthday, Betty!
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I’m looking at all these great stories and wondering how Fox News will cover them. Republicans caught doing bad things and punished. Maybe they will go silent and just show a test pattern for the rest of the day.
@Betty Cracker: that can’t be right, cause I was born in March… and. Um. Never mind.. Happy birthday Feb jackals
@Aleta:
Hee-hee! Is Costner available? We can work up a screenplay right quick.
@AThornton:
“fuck it, we’re doing five blades!”
@Brachiator:
We all know Fox will go “Gay, black, gay, overpaid teevee star does stupid thing” for the next 48 hours.
I’ll hope for new names, charges and people who turn state’s evidence. Can the sealed records be unsealed? Does anything prevent civil suits against Epstein? Can Acosta be prosecuted or sued?
@Kay:
I know there are more important things going on in the country right now, but seeing a serial child abuser and pimp too powerful to suffer consequences who potentially could actually suffer consequences after all is very satisfying news.
@catclub:
Also, I’m not sure how easy that image was to find; it’s not in the first few pages of google image hits with a few different queries and an max date of Feb 1 2019. (It’s possible I missed an obvious query.)
Maybe he has a go-to special “opo research” search engine for this sort of thing. :-)
@Aleta:
There’s a 15 day period for the Plaintiff and The State to reach a settlement.
There’s a lot that the Plaintiff can “demand” other than money.
@Betty Cracker: @debit @Sebastian: Happy birthday to us all (mine is tomorrow, shared with the illustrious Ms. Cracker ). Tomorrow is National Margarita Day, also too.
@Bill Arnold:
The same way Trump just ‘happened’ to re-tweet an image with a star of david and dollars. There is a farm team system of people sending him images. I bet they percolate up.
@catclub: The theft of the Celtic Cross pisses me off. I know there’s myth and unsubstantiated story in my understanding. The early church in in the Islands had adherents to what was later called Pelagianism.
The Early Church had women priests and community property. Then
romans yammering about the previously libertine bisexual Augustine’s nearly deathbed advocation of women as deceitful Eves and homosexuality as a mortal sin showed up decreeing Papal authority and excommunicated all the nice, rational people.
Now the symbol I always wanted a tattoo of is the symbol of white supremacy.
Jesus wept
Wow, lots of birthdays! Happy birthday, everyone.
Disappointed Roger Stone isn’t going to prison but I kind of understand it. I expect he’ll violate this latest order and then off to prison he’ll go.
Jeffrey Epstein is a horrible person. Alan Dershowitz must be getting nervous about now.
@Betty Cracker: I was just saying this to my husband a couple hours ago … great minds think alike, etc. etc.
@SenyorDave:
I would respectfully suggest that you expand your “population set” to add “and those who helped traitors get into the Oval Office.” I think Stone is a two-fer in that arena.
You squish.
@Yutsano:
Humblest and sincerest apologies! The lack of inclusion of your suggestion was due to my limited imagination, not because I frowned ‘pon it.
@Betty Cracker:
Yeah, because the Rethugs are all about punishing cheaters. Unfortunately, it’s only Dems they CLAIM are cheating that get punished. Other Rethugs, not so much. (Feature, not bug)
@The Pale Scot:
A Celtic cross once kept me from buying a guitar. It was the one Epiphone put on the headstock of its Goth Les Paul Studio where Les’ signature usually goes. I am not Christian and don’t feel I have a right to carry a symbol of other people’s faith. I got the regular black Les Paul Studio. I understand that there are people who buy the Goth Les Paul Studio but cover up the Celtic cross to avoid political misunderstandings.
@Amir Khalid: you look pretty Irish; you could have pulled it off
@Amir Khalid:
Was a picture of Amy Berman Jackson engraved next to it, and that’s the real reason?
@The Pale Scot:
The Nazis don’t own the symbols they steal,
They just taint them.
The fact that Stone wasn’t locked up is bullshit. Any poor person without political influence or expensive lawyers would be in jail for doing something like this. He’s being judged on a curve and it’s not fair. We’ll see if Stone embraces his second chance, but he shouldn’t have been given it in the first place.