It'll be interesting what Judge Amy Jackson in the Stone case decides on for a sentence.

[gratuitous]

9. In my dreams

In my dreams, everyone gets before Judge Jackson at the sentencing. Stone is smirking, knowing the whole thing is rigged. The DOJ attorneys look alternately as if they're proud to be there and ready to crawl into a hole. They too know the whole thing is rigged, but some vestigial trace of conscience remains that they shouldn't be a party to such a travesty. Judge Jackson is running a carefully timed five minutes late for the hearing to start. The delay is just long enough for everyone to get just a little nervous.

Judge Jackson comes in, everyone stands, she sits down and shuffles some papers. Everyone sits down. Then she launches into a very detailed question and answer for the DOJ attorneys. You originally recommended 7 to 9 years, then you backed off. Way off. Why? Who was involved in the original recommendation? Who ordered the change in recommendation? Who wrote up the new recommendation? Get it all on the official court record, every last detail, and every last fingerprint on how the sentencing recommendation came to be so foreshortened.

She turns to Stone and his attorneys. Stone is still smirking, maybe even smirking a little more watching the government attorneys get raked. Judge Jackson asks if Stone's attorneys have anything to say? No, your honor. Very well.

Judge Jackson then goes into a detailed history of one Roger Stone, from his earliest days ratfucking for Nixon to the present. Sadly, the court is constrained to consider only the charges of which Stone has been convicted, not his entire criminal career. But the case is damning enough. Nine years.

Yeah, Stone gets his pardon and he's a free man before the echo of Judge Jackson's gavel dies. But the DOJ is now on the record as to how this case got so fucked up. And everyone involved in an official capacity knows that the statute of limitations won't run until after Donald Trump is no longer the president. Your reward for blowing your career to smithereens is Roger Stone's freedom. Congratufuckinglations.