Pretty poor job by Turley. What Turley didn't mention in the story was that there was no one in the office and the building was pretty much empty when Starks attacked the Sen. Hoeven's door. Compared to the Jan. 6th where Congress was in session which is why many of those charged are charged with interfering with Congress. Further as we've seen many of those at the Capitol were actively engaged in both property damage and in active combat with LE. Starks did do property damage but didn't fight LE and it's not clear whether he intended anything more than property damage. Also note the Federal prosecutor did call for jail time. This seems more like an overly lenient judge than some sort of unequal treatment based on ideology. Also it's not clear what Stark's ideology is as he had been registered previously as a Republican, Democrat and Independent. Nor does this attack appear to be ideologically motivated but that he was upset over the slow pace of getting COVID-19 relief. https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/n...n.-John-Hoevens-office-entrance-avoids-prison Man who took ax to Sen. John Hoeven's office entrance avoids prison “It wasn’t right,” Thomas Starks said before he was sentenced to time served. “Violence has no place in politics.” FARGO — A North Dakota man will not get any prison time for using an ax to smash windows and an intercom at the entrance of a Republican U.S. senator's Fargo office last winter. Thomas Alexander Starks, 30, of Lisbon, North Dakota, walked out of the federal courthouse Thursday, Sept. 9, in Fargo after federal Judge Peter Welte sentenced him to time served for injury or deprivation against government property. Starks pleaded guilty in April to the charge that alleged he used an ax to smash parts of the entrance to Sen. John Hoeven’s 123 Broadway N. office the morning of Dec. 21. “It wasn’t right,” Starks said before he was sentenced. “Violence has no place in politics.” The maximum sentence was 10 years in prison, though sentencing guidelines suggested he should get between 10 to 16 months in prison since he has no criminal history. There is no mandatory minimum sentence for the charge. Starks will be under supervised probation for two years and could be subject to up to five months of home confinement at the discretion of federal probation officials, Welte said. The U.S. Attorney's Office recommended five months behind bars plus five months of home confinement for Starks. Defense attorney Tatum O'Brien recommended no prison time. Starks suffered stress from the coronavirus pandemic and was waiting for a relief check, O’Brien said. When Congress refused to vote on a relief package, he decided to visit his congressional leaders' offices in Fargo. O’Brien said Starks first went to see U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., but got no answer when he arrived the morning of Dec. 21 at the federal building in downtown Fargo. Starks then went to the downtown office of Hoeven, also a Republican from North Dakota, around 9 a.m. that day. Again, no one came to the door, O’Brien said. “He snapped,” she said. No one was in the office when Starks came up to the entrance, police said. Congress passed a coronavirus relief package late that night. The bill signed by former President Donald Trump less than a week later included direct payments of $600 to Americans. Video showed Stark returning to Hoeven’s office with an ax before using it to smash an intercom and two windows next to the entrance door. Starks was arrested Dec. 24 and served five days in jail. Starks had no intention of hurting anyone, O’Brien said. He had the ax in his vehicle because he previously attended a pipeline protest, she added. Born in Florida, Starks moved to North Dakota with his wife and family in 2015, according to court documents. O’Brien said Starks worried about losing his job and supporting his children if he was sent to prison. “Mr. Starks is a really good guy who made a terrible mistake,” the attorney said. Starks said it is important for members of the public to use their voices in politics, but they should avoid using violence. Starks was ordered to pay $2,784 in restitution. His friends plan to help him pay, he said as he wiped away tears and expressed gratitude for the family and friends who attended the hearing. Voters in North Dakota do not have to register with a party, and Starks had previously registered in Florida as a Republican, Democrat and Independent. A GoFundMe account was set up to help raise money to pay for a defense attorney. As of late January, it had gathered $8,400 in donations. That included donations from prominent North Dakota Democrats. The GoFundMe page has since been taken down. In response to the sentencing, Hoeven's office said, “We appreciate the hard work of law enforcement in investigating this incident, and are grateful to court officials for bringing this case to a close.”
Turley has done that several times. It's obvious that he writes with an agenda and selects and omits facts and evidence based on his pre-chosen point of view view. He's been that way for a while.
A Pollster’s Warning to Democrats: ‘We Have a Problem’ Focus groups with Virginia voters led to a bluntly worded memo on what Democrats need to do going into the midterms. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/02/us/politics/midterm-election-polls.html
Another retirement spells even more trouble for House Democrats On Monday, New York Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi announced he plans to leave his 3rd District seat behind to run for governor in 2022. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...n-more-trouble-for-house-democrats/ar-AARgTwD
Turley is well educated, experienced and used to do solid work. Now, his writing shows that he purposefully ignores facts and information which contradict the point he wishes to make. It might be for more clicks from a certain demographic. It might be because he has been surrounded by liberals who blindly follow their political leanings and he has thought about ways that the opposing side might 'reasonably' support contrary positions. That leads him to ignore relevant information. It could also be a combination of the two or that one of those things led to the other. Either way, he no longer takes a balanced approach at all.
Doesn’t make him any less of a partisan hack. He definitely isn’t a man of integrity…next you’ll be listing the great achievements of Dr Ronnie Jackson.
Looking back, he was always like this, except he was much more crafty and careful in hiding his bias when the world was not so black and white. With polarization as is now, he doesn't have to be so careful anymore and we can see it much easier.
Are the actions of an on-campus group at Arizona State really indicative of anything? Edit: oh he was a student there. Didn't know that. Yeah that's dumb by the student group. Then again, it's Arizona State. They admit everyone.
