Wow, Q-Anon Shaman's Attorney is a Real Piece of Work!! OMG!!!

[Beetwasher.]

Watkins, the “Q Shaman” Jacob Chansley’s attorney, said his client had Asperger’s syndrome and indicated that Chansley’s mental state — and the impact of Trump’s “propaganda” efforts — would play a role in his case.

“A lot of these defendants — and I’m going to use this colloquial term, perhaps disrespectfully — but they’re all fucking short-bus people,” Watkins told TPM. “These are people with brain damage, they’re fucking retarded, they’re on the goddamn spectrum.”

“But they’re our brothers, our sisters, our neighbors, our coworkers — they’re part of our country. These aren’t bad people, they don’t have prior criminal history. Fuck, they were subjected to four-plus years of goddamn propaganda the likes of which the world has not seen since fucking Hitler.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/capitol-rioters-trump-defense-comes-up-again-and-again-will-it-make-a-difference

[mikeysnot]

1. My son is painintheassburgers*

And he can tell reality from bullshit.
















*what we call it…

[Schmice3]

19. x2

[LiberalArkie]

37. I am a 73 year old painintheassburger. Of course growing up with it you think everyone else

is the problem. It wasn't until a few years ago that I found out I was the problem in my family.

Of course back when I was a child the options was to be locked up in State mental hospital or my parents deal with it and take care of me.

In my thinking before anyone is locked up in prison, they should have a real mental evaluation and maybe some medications and counseling might help them and society.

[Boxerfan]

2. The last sentence is spot on.

The rest is a pathetic attempt for sympathy?.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

22. Yes but we have the options to completely ignore or scorn Trump and his bullshit.

In Nazi Germany, failure to not show complete obedience and fealty to Hitler and the Nazi Party would result in a visit from the Gestapo.

[Boxerfan]

24. It may be more subtle but it has to be

And at some worksites they play AM radio nonstop. And if the boss is a RW ideologue you will be subject to a go along to get along mentality.

And we are talking about real time tested brainwashing techniques. It may not be in your face arrested for non compliance. But if you want too keep your job you go along. And if your personality prefers a dominant character vs independence they are quickly on the hook.

40% of America has basically proven the damage that this technique can do.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

29. Very good points and

I work with some RWers. We don't have AM radio blaring out in the workplace but I have heard occasional broadcasts on people's personal devices and I can tell it is some kind of RW programming. Listening to that stuff at all times is definitely going to brainwash someone eventually.

[yonder]

43. +1 on the unavoidable RW AM radio and it's effects.

Hell, just AM radio in general would do it too.

[abqtommy]

3. Ha! A doctor, police officer or judge can see to it that these dangerous people are

sentenced to jail, prison or a secure mental health facility. And their scumbag attorney
too. Problem solved.

[NJCher]

35. here's a pic of him

I tried to track down the clip but wasn't successful.

[hlthe2b]

4. WOW... Well, painfully crude. Still not a defense.

[vanlassie]

56. Twinkie Defense

[ck4829]

5. Well, this is a defense attorney's job... this will become a label that will stick with them though

[Jerry2144]

6. Being mentally challenged

Has not worked as a defense when the accused is a person of color. Why should it work for someone who truly is a threat to society? It is a well known fact that White suprematists have problems with their mental machines. But they must still face justice for their crimes

[Sucha NastyWoman]

55. And the fact that they don't have an arrest record has to do with skin color too

They excuse a lot of good old boy “ mistakes”

[jcgoldie]

7. Well he sounds very professional!

[uponit7771]

8. Last sentence is true and unartful second paragraph is true but they need to be held accountable

[Buns_of_Fire]

9. Watkins is obviously auditioning for a spot on Rump's defense team. nt

[Champp]

10. The short-bus republiQons need to step up

and start acting like decent folk.

They might find they like it. I, for one, like it a lot when people are honest. It builds my confidence, and sense of well being. So I definitely recommend honesty and decency for all the short-bus republiQons--as they refer to themselves--as a cure for their sorryass soul sicknesses.

[liberalla]

11. O. M. G. I will admit to being surprised and offended at these comments. What an unprofessional

jerk. A bottom of the barrel attorney for a bottom of the barrel defendant.

[lastlib]

12. Dean Wormer said it best:

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

[Buns_of_Fire]

20. ...and the very final scene is of... "Senator John Blutarsky" nt

[eppur_se_muova]

57. (R). nt

[dalton99a]

13. "You gotta let them go cuz they were born that way"

Bullshit.

[anotherOKIE]

14. correct to some degree...

but don't jump all over me. I do not accept this argument as a defense for trying to forcibly take over the government. The right wingers in general are not whole people and having to work with a lot of them for decades I came to refer to them as "invalid people". They do not accept that we are all children of one creator (whoever or whatever she is). At a casual glance, they are seemingly OK but when they begin espousing their beliefs about most anything you quickly realize that they are seriously psychologically disturbed.

They are empty vessels that will only accept hateful and dark thoughts so their only defense can be that someone else made them think this way. It's not their fault they claim: we are the victims. Drumpf and Faux News made me do it (and Putin's brainwashers). Edit: and also and maybe first most brainwasher Rush Limburger. How could I forget the years of that hateful bile.

Sorry if I am too negative.

[Delmette2.0]

23. Don't apologize.

R Limburger spewed for decades. I hope he is rotting in Hell.

[Moostache]

50. I use this as an analogy for the impossibility of "hell" a lot...

IF there is a hell, then most would agree people who do harm to others would populate it...HOWEVER, if the people like Limbaugh are there, then I could NEVER be sent to "hell" because I would get personal satisfaction and dare say enjoyment from seeing him suffer for what he did on Earth...on the flip side of this, if there is a "heaven", most devout religious people believe that they would populate it...HOWEVER, if the Bible-thumping evangelical crowd were there, then I could NEVER be sent to "heaven" for it would be my personal hell to spend 5 minutes with them, let alone eternity...

There is no 'hell' nor 'heaven' only the fading time we each have in the here and now...but just incase, I am practicing on not smiling while envisioning Limbaugh being skewered and burned over and over...

[Delmette2.0]

60. Good answer.

[KS Toronado]

25. You're just honest with your feelings, not negative.

Welcome to DU!

[NJCher]

31. about time we acknowledge this

Interesting to read about your first hand experience with them. I have suspected this, just from watching them. Plus, as a teacher who largely worked in public institutions, one learns to spot them in the first class. And they are the ones who can get into college. Imagine those who can't even handle the college admission process.

Nothing is ever their fault and they will run to the dean as soon as they realize they're not getting any better than a C. They cause trouble for as long as they are in one's class and then some. I had one guy I caught cheating--he copied answers off his neighbor's test--right in front of my eyes, and for three years he harangued the administration to change his grade from an F. THREE YEARS I had to write paperwork on this case, long after I received my paycheck for that class at that institution.

If we acknowledge this, it sheds a whole new light on how to deal with these people and also our responsibility as a society to let this kind of lying go on, knowing what damaged people we have out there.

No, it's not a surprise that a dimwit evil manipulator like trump learned to take these people in hand and use it for political and financial advantage.

This is just a disgrace.

Also I don't think you're being negative. I think you are being realistic.

[Evolve Dammit]

41. I actually agree with your post completely. The hate drives them and has been ingrained. Welcome

[NoSheep]

49. totally agree with your post

[Brother Buzz]

15. I'm not an attorney, nor do I play on on television, but...

it looks like this Watkins dude knows he can't win and is shooting for a mistrial.

Take the money and run, Baby, assuming there's money to take.

[FakeNoose]

18. He needs to take a course on how to speak to the media

NO lawyer - winning or losing - talks like this to the media (with or without expletives), especially before the trial even begins. If he's this looney for real, he needs to find another profession.

[bucolic_frolic]

16. The Full Monty

and Republicans don't like nudity

[carpetbagger]

34. Lol, do you know the Greitens story?

GOP Missouri gov, took nekked pics of his mistress without her knowledge, got charged and had to resign after questionably legal and sketchily obtained leaked audio from the woman discussing being blackmailed was released by her ex husband's attorney. Who was that attorney? Yup.

[bucolic_frolic]

44. OMG, no I didn't know that.....

Al Watkins.

[aeromanKC]

17. Pounding the table I see

[IronLionZion]

21. That could describe millions of MAGA Trump supporters

[getagrip_already]

26. Someone needs to check and verify he is really a lawyer....

There is probably a code of conduct against talking like that. Both profanity and disparaging entire groups of people with mental illness isn't something that is generally considered professional conduct.

That is just stunningly stupid.

[SunSeeker]

58. He's definitely a lawyer, and has a long, skeevy history representing Republicans.

https://www.kmov.com/news/attorney-in-greitens-case-ordered-to-perform-community-service/article_4e732452-d3b9-11e8-92c5-6f823257248d.html

[KS Toronado]

27. Good, "the impact of Trump's "propaganda" efforts"

Hope more defense attorneys for republicans start using a brainwashed with propaganda defense.
Then maybe just maybe MSM will start talking about propaganda.

[Warpy]

28. Uh, people with Asperger's are not crazy or stupid

and most aren't even ignorant

This guy is all three.

I don't know what his major maladjustment is, but being on the spectrum has nothing to do with it.

If this was a bid for sympathy, he just lost mine forever. Throw him in the clink and leave him there until he's too old to do anything but gum his pureed diet while sitting in a wheel chair.

[quaint]

30. +++

I live in a totally Red city in a Red county (but in a beautiful Blue state), still surrounded by Trump flags on Valentine's Day, but somehow managed to ignore the Fucking Propaganda.

[Haggard Celine]

45. Thank you!

Being on the "goddamn spectrum" does not make a person retarded. In fact, a lot of people on the spectrum are quite intelligent, certainly more intelligent than this ridiculous lawyer.

[world wide wally]

32. He's on the right track anyway

[world wide wally]

33. He's on the right track anyway

. “These are people with brain damage..."

[Politicub]

36. OMG - His attorney has a few screws loose. And I'm going out on a limb

by predicting the Aspergers is self-diagnosed.

Reddit (the internet, really) is awash with self-diagnosed people with Asperger’s. They refer to themselves as Aspies, and will fight you if you want to know more about their experience. It usually boils down to them being shy and bad at small talk.

The Aspie trend died down, for the most part, until Elon Musk self-identified as having Aspergers. Now it has started up again. Ugh, I hate the term Aspie.

If someone is indeed on the spectrum, it can be a factor in how they go about their day-to-day life. However, it is not an excuse for seditious acts. If Q Shaman’s condition is so severe that he has no self control and is as susceptible to being controlled by messages from the internet and TV, as his lawyer claims him to be, he needs to be placed in a state hospital before he offends again.

[Thunderbeast]

38. People "on the spectrum" are NOT retarded!

Autism (including Asperger's) is a whole different set of atypical brain function. Would you consider Elon Musk a "short bus" candidate? How about Greta Thunberg or possibly Albert Einstein?

Stop disparaging neuro-atypical people as low IQ.

[yonder]

46. +1.

[BobTheSubgenius]

39. Not exactly Clarence Darrow.

Not even a bus stop advert for an ambulance chaser.

[obamanut2012]

40. He is either a fucking bigot and idiot, or is setting up for an appeal

[multigraincracker]

42. He was ok enough to serve in the U.S. Navy for 25 month.

Here's what mom said.

Martha Chansley also spoke to the press about how proud she was of him, calling him "a great patriot, a veteran, a person who loves this country”. She revealed that Angeli, who had attended Moon Valley High School, was a "navy veteran".

Roughly 15 years ago, Angeli wore a Navy uniform for 25 months, according to his service record information. Angeli served in the Navy as a 'supply clerk seaman apprentice', joining in September 2005. He left in October 2007, shortly after earning the rank of E-2.

[Iggo]

47. Goddamit, if I can't win, I'm at least going to be famous.

Kardashian.
Trump.
Jenner.

Had enough?
I have.

[bedazzled]

48. short bus? retarded?

what is this guy, a nasty fifth grader?

hey, asshole, they may be our neighbors, but these trump humpers are definitely BAD PEOPLE

[lindysalsagal]

51. Because the guy who ransacked the speaker's desk is helpless. Right.

[Dave in VA]

52. As an educator of students with special needs

with 30+ years experience teaching hundreds of students who were diagnosed as "on the spectrum," I could not see a single one of them dressing up as some kind of witch doctor and violently forcing their way into a federal building to attempt to overthrow the government because of their psychological diagnosis.

Everything that I have seen and read about this individual it would appear to me that he made his choices based on his political/religious beliefs, not due to his learning/social differences.

Just my $0.02

[cayugafalls]

53. I did Nazi see that coming...

[NQAS]

54. Wow

Sometimes "our brothers, our sisters, our neighbors, our coworker" commit crimes. They may be "on the spectrum." They may be supreme assholes. They might be pretty nice folks. But sometimes they commit crimes. Sometimes they get into bar fights and hurt people. Sometimes they just lose it. And sometimes they kill people. And for that they go to trial, are convicted (ideally), and go to prison. Just because someone is autistic or is someone's brother or is otherwise a nice guy doesn't absolve them of anything.

Oh, and one more thing. These were not "nice" folks. They were violent, vile, savage people whose goal was to overthrow the country. They might not have been successful, but that's not the point. The failed bank robber still gets arrested for bank robbery. The failed murdered still gets arrested for a host of crimes. You don't have to be good at coup-making to be arrested for a shit-load of crimes related to that effort.

[liberal_mama]

59. Wow, he speaks so eloquently!

People just act and talk so badly now. It's disgusting.

[nilram]

61. Sounds great. Hinkley's plea was that he wasn't in his right mind

and he was locked up for treatment longer than if he had been convicted for a non-fatal shooting.

[Silent3]

62. Your honor, my client is an idiot n/t