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1. Embed this notice
   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jun-2026 02:16:36 JST Paul Cantrell

   This is extremely, extremely alarming.

   Look, if you show up for a protest and you slash car tires and break a security camera, you doing that understanding that there may be personal consequences — and for vandalizing gov property, as the price of civil disobedience, maybe you accept your 9-month sentence + probation.

   You do not accept a 50- or 70- or 100-year sentence. Many murderers get less time than that. If they murdered Alex Pretti or Renee Good, they apparently get no time at all.

   This isn’t justice. It’s suppression. It’s authoritarianism.

   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/23/prairieland-ice-protesters-texas-sentenced

   • Rich Felker repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Jennifer Kayla | Theogrin 🦊 (theogrin@chaosfem.tw)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jun-2026 05:09:28 JST Jennifer Kayla | Theogrin 🦊

     in reply to

     @inthehands

     The phrase 'politically motivated sentencing' should immediately cause every journalist covering this case to sit up and take notice, because it is precisely the high-profile event which should be described as a part of the rapid downslide into a fascist, authoritarian hellscape.

     These people were not sentenced as they were because they committed crimes. These people were so sentenced because they were Trump's enemies. By being protesters they declared themselves in opposition to the reign of the Kumquat Komrade, and that is, evidently, worthy of a functional death sentence.

   • Embed this notice
     RealGene ☣️ (realgene@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jun-2026 06:51:03 JST RealGene ☣️

     in reply to

     @inthehands
     So motivated protesters have nothing to lose, then.

     50 years for slashing tires, or 100 years for shooting a government thug.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jun-2026 08:01:44 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     A couple of important points for Mr. Reply Police here:

     ⁃ If you read the whole article, you’ll learn that several of the people given half-century-plus sentences were unconnected to the ones who brought guns, but lumped in with them by prosecutors and given equally harsh sentences.
     ⁃ A 100-year sentence is wildly excessive for shooting someone in the shoulder. It would be a pretty striking sentence even for murder (cf Kyle Rittenhouse) — and in this case, nobody was murdered.

     Yes, the accused were probably not making good decisions here. As per my OP, it is the sentences that are the problem.

     I am sure that many of you can provide additional info to Mr. Reply Police, and I encourage you to do so, but please please ••un-CC me•• when you do.

     https://mastodon.social/@NathanMurdock/116801847084207461

   • Embed this notice
     Zandy (iskandarv@mastodon.star-one.org.uk)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jun-2026 11:35:01 JST Zandy

     in reply to

     @inthehands If, as a protester, you can see such a long sentence as the potential cost, then some people might consider more extreme covert forms of protest instead. This is the way that truly extreme terrorist groups are created. If you have very strong views, and are going to get 50 years for a property damaging protest anyway, why not try blowing some people up instead?