Douglass Mackey, the man who posted a Hillary Clinton meme ahead of the 2016 election, was sentenced to seven months in prison Wednesday for the crime of “conspiracy against rights,” meaning, in this case, election interference. Mackey’s sentencing is unprecedented. It means America is now a place that puts citizens in prison for posting information disfavorable to the left, including satire, a form of speech protected by the First Amendment.His tweet was a harmless joke. The DoJ could not find a witness who was fooled. I do not see how it can be a crime, if no harm was done.Mackey is going to prison for posting a fake Hillary Clinton ad prior to the 2016 election telling voters to “vote from home” by texting “‘Hillary’ to 59925.”
He is allowed to appeal, but he must serve his sentence while the appeal is pending. Otherwise Trump might be elected in 2024 and pardon him.
The conviction was under an obscure Civil War Reconstruction law that has rarely been applied.
I am beginning to doubt the value of our jury system. Do ordinary American citizens really think that someone should go to prison for something like this?
We have federal criminal laws that are way too vague, and a federal prosecutor system that is way too powerful and political.
2 comments:
I would have liked to have seen what the jury looked like. I've noticed that if you have a jury of very activist people, you don't get rulings, you get 'social justice', which is the same as 'now it's our turn'. I believe rulings by the jury should be as justified in their verdict as the rest of the court proceedings, you can't just make any verdict you like because 'felt like it', or 'cuz' reezuns'.
I guess the recipients of the texts didn't get the joke
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