When do the real arrests start? Arrest them all, which means the people that initiated the riot, the people that paid for it, the people that planned it, the people that made Mike Pence nervous enough that he refused to get into a Secret Service SUV below the Capitol. Arrest them all.

Until then, it is almost offensive to hear of another patsy – for that’s what the non-violent are – reaching a plea deal in which they’ll maybe get a month or two of jail time, and with respect to Jacob Chansley, it will probably be limited to time served. Chansley, of course, is the man in the photographs that went around the world, the Q-Shaman. Chansley’s agreement and sentencing will happen Friday.

Chansley might be the ultimate patsy because it sounds like he did have genuine mental health issues prior to the riot that made him particularly susceptible to the type of manipulation we saw on January 6th. We never ever make light of mental health issues.

“Mr. Chansley, a long avowed and practicing Shaman, has repudiated the ‘Q’ previously assigned to him and requests future references to him be devoid of use of the letter ‘Q’,” Watkins said in the statement. 

Watkins is Chansley’s attorney. But let’s see how Chansley acts six months after his sentencing before we let him off the hook entirely from the whole “Q” thing.

“The road leading up to the events of January 6 traversed years. The path charted by Mr. Chansley since January 6 has been a process, one which has involved pain, depression, solitary confinement, introspection, recognition of mental health vulnerabilities, and a coming to grips with the need for more self-work,” Watkins said. “It is imperative that patience and compassion be accorded those, who like Mr. Chansley, were non-violent, peaceful and possessed of genuine mental health issues which rendered them more vulnerable to the propaganda of the day but who, at the end of day, seek to be accountable for their actions.”

The mental health stuff does sound more genuine than most. He did show up clothed a little differently than one would expect. We will see. He is a patsy and he didn’t “hurt” anyone.

Arrest them all, including the non-patsies.

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