Two January 6 rioters are refusing their pardons!

[thewayne]

Amongst the flurry of presidential orders that were issued Monday after a weird old felon from Florida was sworn in to allegedly lead the USA for the next four years, was a pardon for all of the people convicted of crimes involved in the infamous January 6 riots. This was a campaign promise, though Vance the Veep had stated that the most violent offenders would not be pardoned. Looks like Vancey was wrong, as they were.

Well, two rioters are refusing the pardon!

One is Jason Riddle of New Hampshire, who - in a direct quote - said that the weird old felon "... can shove it up his ass". He went on to say “I am guilty of the crimes I have committed and accept the consequences", was sentenced to 90 days in prison which he served. He had a problem with alcohol along with an obsession with the weird old guy and is dealing with it. Part of his sentencing was enrolling in an alcohol treatment program, which apparently has helped him a lot.

The second is is the "MAGA Granny", Pamela Hemphill, 71, from Idaho. She says “I’m not going to take it. I gotta do some research on who to contact to refuse it,” and further “The message is, if I took a pardon, that what I did that day was OK,” she said. “They were criminals. They broke the law. I broke the law. Pay the price.”

The Supreme Court decided over 100 years ago that presidential pardons can be refused.

I think it's an extremely noble and brave thing that these two are doing, I'm hoping that others take note and do the same thing. On the other hand, there are others who are posting that they're going out and buying guns, having had to surrender theirs once they were convicted.

The question is, will these two be targeted by the MAGA 'faithful'?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/capitol-rioters-reject-trumps-pardons_n_67924045e4b0c94316ec6d0a

Comments

[conuly]

I had no idea people could refuse pardons!

[thewayne]

I knew it, it's a pretty rare thing.

[white_aster]

Lol, I'd heard about the granny, but not the other guy. Good for both of them.

[thewayne]

I thought it was quite awesome and showed both great character and great intestinal fortitude.

[selki]

Same here, I'd heard about her but not him. And I agree, taking accountability for their actions is good.

[disneydream06]

Brave for what other MAGAs might say and/or do, but it annoys me that now granny thinks it was criminal? :o
Hugs, Jon

[selki]

People can break themselves free of cults, sometimes. They can reflect and realize they were caught up in a frenzy -- even a slow-burning frenzy -- and be accountable for what they've done. https://mindly.social/@blogdiva@mastodon.social/113874099465296628

[disneydream06]

Would be nice if more had a conscience.

[silveradept]

Vance presumably said that they wouldn't pardon the most violent offenders because he, at least, understands that saying you intend to let out the people who did the violence is not good politically, but I doubt somehow that he actually believed that there would be restraint exercised in this manner.

So it's good that some people are refusing the pardons because they have come to realize the error of their actions and take responsibility for what they did, but for the most part, the administrator wanted to make sure he had all of his mob back out on the streets for the next time he called them to action.

[gingeriana]

so, in rare cases you can actually be cured from being MAGA, huh. interesting!

[thewayne]

Amusingly, there's a schism developing amongst "the faithful".  There's the ones who want him to bring jobs back - but American jobs, and then there's the Muskbros who are in favor of the H1B crowd.  And there's also a lot of disillusionment about him saying that 'Inflation is a lot more complicated' and he might not be able to do anything to bring down the cost of eggs and bacon.  The real pity is that these idiots didn't have this realization back in September or October when it might have made a difference.  Of course, they would have had to overcome their misogyny and brought themselves to vote for a woman.

[kaishin108]

Yes, it is very noble of those two but I agree, they could become targets.