Everyone jailed for the January 6 protest is nothing but a political prisoner-- even if I disagree with their reasons and politics. It completely exposes the nature of the US government to anyone who cares to look. (But if they haven't realized by now...)
The severe "January 6th" prison sentences teach me one lesson: If I ever deem it necessary to go to Washington DC because of something government has done, it’s pointless to go unarmed and with the intention to merely protest. If it's important enough to travel to that hideous swamp, go all out. There's nothing to lose. (I can't imagine anything that would get me to show up there, regardless.)
When the penalty for doing a minor thing becomes comparable to the penalty for doing something more serious, do the thing that will make a difference. Why not?
I pointed out years ago that when you'll be punished just as severely for having a semi-automatic firearm (bump-stocks, pistol braces, FRTs)-- or even something that no one besides government's BATFEces mafia would be stupid (or dishonest) enough to call a "machinegun" when it's clearly not even a gun or a machine ("Auto Key Card")-- as for having a full-auto gun, the reasons to not get the firearm designed from the ground up as fully-automatic have been eliminated.
If you go to DC to protest-- on "public" property owned BY YOU-- an election that reasonable people say at least looks sketchy, and the penalty is in the same realm as it would have been had you shown up armed and ready to actually kick out the trespassers (Congressvermin and their staff), why do the weaker thing? The thing without any real point or possible payoff?
Not advice, just an observation.
Draconian punishment removes good reasons to tread carefully. Unintended consequences and whatnot.
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