“The line between citizen and terrorist had been blurred,” warns Adam Johnson, one of a thousand (mostly peaceful) Americans arrested on Jan. 6 charges. While Johnson was persecuted for non-violently moving furniture on Jan. 6, J6 prosecutor Patrick Scruggs reportedly bailed himself out with no conditions after viciously attacking two motorists. There’s a two-tiered justice system in America.
Of course, while the January 6 prisoners may be particularly disturbing examples of this unequal application of justice, they are not the only ones. BLM and Antifa rioters literally burned down cities with few or no consequences, and even with the praise of the left. But concerned parents who spoke up at school board meetings were targeted with government anti-terrorism tools, and the FBI also had plants in Catholic churches. Meanwhile, there’s evidence of international money laundering and other crimes committed by Joe and Hunter Biden, but the media ties itself into knots protecting them.
Peaceful pro-life activists face years in jail, while violent pro-abortion activists face no consequences for burning and damaging pro-life centers and churches. Two Chinese Communist Party spies who were charged with running an illicit CCP police station in New York City were out on bail almost immediately, but Steve Bannon ally and vocal CCP dissident Miles Guo keeps being denied bail. The list, unfortunately, could go on.
Adam Johnson, a father of five, penned a piece for The Federalist on his experience with the two-tiered justice system. Johnson was caught on camera smiling and waving while carrying then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) podium through the Capitol rotunda on Jan. 6, as he explained in his piece. He was arrested and kept in isolation for four days without the ability to shower or brush his teeth. This tallies with other J6 prisoner reports of inhumane conditions. Johnson met Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Scruggs when he headed to the courtroom; Scruggs insisted, “Everyone should be held accountable for their crimes.”
At the time, Johnson explains, Scruggs’ words sounded “reasonable.” He sarcastically noted that he “had made the inexcusable decision to enter a building through open doors and carefully move furniture without permission.” Ultimately, Johnson writes, “My firearms and passport were confiscated, I received a nightly curfew, and I was ordered to wear an ankle monitor, be drug tested at random, and not travel beyond a few select counties in my state.” At the time, “I was just happy to be back home with my family.” (If only he’d been an illegal alien crossing the border instead of a citizen entering the Capitol, the Biden administration would have rewarded him.) Johnson describes himself as being unsure if he was lucky; as it happens, he was lucky compared to other Jan. 6 protestors. But when compared to violent pro-abortion activists, Antifa rioters, or Scruggs, he received a harsh sentence.
A peaceful 69-year-old cancer patient who was present on Jan. 6 went to jail. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was unarmed, peaceful, and never entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for “seditious conspiracy.” Richard Barnett, who carried — but did not use — a walking stick that doubled as a stun gun on Jan. 6 and was photographed at Nancy Pelosi’s desk, received a 4.5-year jail sentence. A Green Beret Jan. 6 whistleblower was handed a seven-year prison sentence after he “trespassed” at the Capitol. Former Proud Boys leader and Purple Heart recipient Joseph Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in prison because he tore down a fence. These are just a few examples.
Johnson wrote at The Federalist:
But on Sept. 26, 2023, Patrick Scruggs was arrested and charged for brutally attacking a motorist with a deadly weapon during a road rage incident. He allegedly stabbed another motorist with a pocket knife. Within 24 hours, Scruggs posted bail with no conditions set for his release.
Scruggs demanded accountability for “crimes” — until he was the criminal, “charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault and armed burglary.” His supposed objective justice was apparently a sham. Johnson added that the concept of who the “bad guys” are in our society has so changed that people moving furniture in the Capitol are called terrorists:
But on Jan. 6, 2021, a group of unarmed “terrorists” managed to shut down an entire nation by walking through hallways, praying in gathering spaces, and moving furniture.
These new bad guys didn’t hide in caves or plant explosives in public spaces, with the exception of one shadowy figure who would adopt a legacy akin to the Sasquatch. Terrorism had a new face, and this time he wore Cabela’s and questioned a school board’s decisions to include pornography in libraries meant for children. An inquisition would ensue, and the ivory tower that once stood as a beacon of light for all nations would turn its gaze upon the very citizens that reinforced the bricks of its foundation…
If we have learned anything over the past two decades, it is this: Any power we are willing to give away so our enemies might be smitten will inevitably be used against us as well given a long enough timeline.
While Jan. 6 was the biggest such event, it’s hardly unprecedented for protesters to storm or threaten government buildings, Johnson noted. Normally, however, the protestors are violent leftists instead of largely peaceful MAGA supporters. A horde of angry women poured into offices on Capitol Hill in 2018 to protest the Supreme Court nomination of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Protestors lit fires near the White House and wounded Secret Service agents, causing then-President Trump to take temporary refuge in a bunker. “Move a lectern 20 yards for a photo opportunity, however — well, that’s now ‘terrorism,’” Johnson remarked dryly.
Related: Peaceful Oath Keeper Gets 18 Years Jail, Man Who Shot Pro-Lifer Gets Community Service
A recent example of leftist double standards in this area is the violent “transurrections” at multiple state Capitols. The left mostly ignored them because they sympathize with LGBTQ radicals and don’t want to address the issue of LGBTQ extremism. And, as noted above, not a single one of the pro-abortion activists who attacked and burned pro-life pregnancy centers or churches was reportedly arrested. Yet peaceful pro-lifers and Jan. 6 protestors face years in jail.
More than 1,000 individuals have been charged as a result of the events on Jan. 6. Their homes were raided, their livelihoods destroyed, and their reputations dragged out like the entrails of field-dressed prey. Bail was denied, they endured months of isolation, and the Geneva Conventions was [sic] violated.
The inquisitors were hailed as heroes of democracy, despite the fact that most of the crimes committed were nonviolent misdemeanors that had historically resulted in fines and probation, when they were prosecuted at all.
Johnson compared it to Ancient Rome. Nero arrested many innocent people as scapegoats and turned their executions into entertainment; that included, of course, one of the major historical persecutions of Christians. “The mob cheered as their neighbors were persecuted and slaughtered by Nero. Justice had become bloody retribution to entertain the masses,” Johnson wrote. He compared that situation to our own today.
The current administration might not be executing people, but it’s certainly trying to destroy the lives and livelihoods of more than a thousand of their political opponents. We have the choice as to whether we will follow the example of the ancient Roman mob, allowing the “bread and circuses” to keep us content and prevent us from calling out the lawbreaking of those in charge. “Justice is not demanding we prosecute vindictively. She is blindfolded to narratives, balanced without bias, and consistent in punishment,” Johnson concluded, emphasizing that only when justice is again blind will our nation heal.