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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 18, 2023

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I don't agree that the "when we go in" comment constitutes proof of a conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. The core of a conspiracy charge is that there is an agreement to commit a crime - and an agreement requires at least two parties. The person who he's speaking to in that clip doesn't seem to even acknowledge him, much less say anything that implies any sort of agreement.

If that argument was confined to the courtroom, and resulted in a lighter sentence or acquittal, it would be one thing. I can't guarantee I'd be convinced (I'm biased towards conspiracy theories), but I would admit I have no way of arguing conspiracy over something mundane like "subtle difference in behavior, and smart lawyers who knew how to exploit it". The problem is we never even got to that point. It's absurd to believe that when law enforcement was hunting down people who weren't even present at the Capitol, and throwing every charge at them that they could think of, hiding exculpatory evidence, etc. etc., that they'd make an exception for this one guy for an innocent reason.