Friend of the Treehouse, Peter Duke, introduced me to this story and it is blood-boiling, yet awesome.

A young man named Lucas Lepejian is in a battle with Burbank authorities who are trying to run him out of business.  Lucas is the 20-year-old son of Baret Lepejian the proprietor of a long-standing western-themed restaurant called Tinhorn Flats; a well known place to dine in Burbank, California.

Local authorities have attempted to shut down Tinhorn Flats repeatedly.  Each time Lucas defies the orders and reopens.

Lucas has been arrested three times in defiance of the ridiculous COVID shutdown.

The issue now is personal, the authorities are intent on destroying his business… Lucas, and a small battalion of supporters, remain defiant.

TIMELINE & DETAILS: Tinhorn Flats is the oldest bar in Burbank.  In March of 2020 they shut down in compliance with state guidelines.   They reopened in November 2020, and when the second lockdown was announced their defiance began.

Burbank authorities first cited and fined Tinhorn Flats.  Lucas refused to pay and stayed open.  Burbank authorities cut their utilities.  Lucas brought in generators and stayed open.   Burbank authorities Red tagged his restaurant and locked the doors.  Lucas cut the locks and reopened.  Burbank authorities boarded up the doors and ‘red tagged’ again as unsafe.  Lucas sawed off the boards and reopened his business.  Burbank police then arrested Lucas.  Lucas made bail and was released.

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This is long overdue, and worthy of support.  Most CTH readers are now aware what the Lawfare group is all about.  Inside the Lawfare network the far-left political ideologues organize and launch attacks against anything they view as adverse to their interests.  The Lawfare network is made up of Obama ideologues and former DOJ officials who manipulate the legal system for their political agenda.

Many, if not most, of the legal aspects connected to attacks against conservatives stem from inside this Lawfare network.  They operate inside government and outside in the private sector and compliment each other in their unified agenda.  An example was the attack against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh by both groups.

During her Senate testimony Kavanaugh accuser, Christine Blasey-Ford ,called the network her “beach friends” connecting the casual relationship they all carry.  The Lawfare group operate inside the DOJ, inside the FBI, inside the State Department and inside the institutions of government.  They connect ideologically to their allies in the private sector law firms and they share insider information to coordinate their attacks.

The Lawfare group also has a media strategy.  If the inside government group needs to advance a narrative to advance their interests they will leak to media (ex. Lisa Page and Peter Strzok leaking to Devlin Barrett, WSJ); and/or leak to their middle-men outside in the private sector who will leak to media on their behalf (ex James Comey to Daniel Richman who then conveys to the New York Times).

Today, former Senior Advisor Stephen Miller announces his launch of a Lawfare group of his own; a counter force against the conniving leftist objectives.  Miller is calling his MAGA legal network “America First Legal”.

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For the past two weeks several media outlets have been reporting on the lack of DOJ evidence to support the claims of “sedition” and a grand conspiracy around the January 6th DC protests.

Today Politico takes the walk-back reports one step further by warning the leftist ideologues that most of those arrested and/or accused will likely not serve any jail-time and will instead face misdemeanor trespassing violations.

A POLITICO analysis of the Capitol riot-related cases shows that almost a quarter of the more than 230 defendants formally and publicly charged so far face only misdemeanors. Dozens of those arrested are awaiting formal charges, even as new cases are being unsealed nearly every day.

In recent days, judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys have all indicated that they expect few of these “MAGA tourists” to face harsh sentences.

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Jackson County District Judge Michael Klaeren (Michigan 12th District) has removed charges of terrorism against three men accused in a plot to kidnap governor Gretchen Whitmer.  According to the Detroit News, judge Klaeren said: ” “There has to be some form of intent here to incite mayhem”, and no evidence in that regard has been presented.  The terrorism charges fail for lack of evidence.

MICHIGAN – […] The charges were dismissed against Paul Bellar of Milford and Joseph Morrison and Pete Musico of Munith. They are among seven men accused of having ties to the militia group Wolverine Watchmen who are charged in the alleged plot. The others include Shawn Fix of Belleville, Eric Molitor of Cadillac, Michael Null of Plainwell and William Null of Shelbyville. The men had faced a total of 19 felony charges for firearms and terror-related acts.

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Apparently the creation of the DOJ’s politically convenient “domestic extremist” narrative is starting to come under scrutiny.  After several federal judges initially granted the DOJ the benefit of doubt for their outlandish conspiratorial claims, now with judges ordering the targets to be released the media are catching on.

The 2021 political prosecutions against the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys are essentially akin to former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s 2018 indictments -on behalf of Mueller/Weissmann- for mysterious Russian operatives that never surfaced and were never prosecuted.

As a result, the conspiracy to engage in sedition is to 2021 as the conspiracy to interfere in the Clinton v Trump election was to 2016 (via Facebook memes).

The Associated Press now recognizes something is sketchy about the DOJ shift.  Somebody might possibly do something, at some place, in relation to something discussed with someone about some time; thus people were arrested for thought crimes.  However, the DOJ cannot show who the somebodies, something or sometime were all about.

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Interesting that Reuters would outline the walk-backs.  Even more interesting that the details of the walk-backs seem to prove the DOJ never actually intended to win any of these cases, but rather wanted to advance a political narrative about extremists through their earlier statements.

The approach of building a political narrative through false accusations and over-charging in the DOJ is the essence of Lawfare.  The government has endless taxpayer resources to fuel their political weaponization of the judiciary.

The process of the charges then becomes the punishment by design.  The targets are drained financially, sometimes physically detained under false pretense, and then the DOJ walks backwards when the judges finally ask for proof.

The process is the punishment for political affiliation.  The DOJ is fully weaponized.  The majority of Americans can clearly see this taking place.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Prosecutors made some serious claims after the deadly U.S. Capitol attack, saying they had evidence rioters planned to kill elected officials, suggesting a Virginia man at the building received directives to gas lawmakers, and accusing another suspect of directing mayhem on Jan. 6 with encrypted messages.

But the Justice Department has since acknowledged in court hearings that some of its evidence concerning the riot – carried out by a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump to try to overturn his election loss – is less damning than it initially indicated.

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I’ll admit to being a little befuddled by the explanation here by South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.  The SD legislature passed a bill to protect women’s sports by banning biological males from participating in biological women’s sports.  The bill has overwhelming support in South Dakota; however, Govenor Kristi Noem doesn’t support it.

When asked why she doesn’t support it, Noem seems to say she has received advice and counsel that the law would fail if challenged in federal court.  Specifically Noem implies the NCAA would sue South Dakota and she believes the state would lose a lawsuit based on the law.  If that is her position, essentially she is attempting to avoid litigation, proactively planning to lose that litigation, on a law supported by the majority in her state.  WATCH:

What is your take?

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The DOJ and FBI appear to be maintaining an aggressive posture against their political opposition on behalf of the ongoing ‘domestic extremist’ narrative.  In a remarkable statement prosecutor Michael Sherwin claims that charges of sedition are possible for those who attended the January 6th protest in DC against the outcome of the 2020 election.

Conducting political surveillance, abusing the NSA database by extracting personal information in violation of the fourth amendment, lying to a FISA court to get a title-1 surveillance warrant against Donald Trump’s campaign, fabricating a false Trump-Russia conspiracy theory, pushing knowingly false information to the media to support a fraudulent investigation, initiating a special counsel to hide the trail of wrongdoing; and the FBI conducting political operations against the Trump administration, was apparently no big deal. However, attend a protest against the corrupt interests of the deep state in DC and you are guilty of “sedition.”

The weaponized institutions of government are openly displaying their intent now.

WASHINGTON DC – Michael Sherwin, the federal prosecutor tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, told “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday night evidence collected thus far likely meets the threshold to charge some suspects with sedition.

Any person charged with sedition is effectively accused of attempting to overthrow the U.S. government and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

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You might remember the corrupt Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby who attempted to make a national name for herself in the prosecution of the “Baltimore Six”; six police officers she charged in the death of Freddie Gray back in 2015.

As Baltimore burned amid political fuel driven by Black Lives Matter, Mosby was the lead narrative engineer who attempted to frame the six police officers for the death of Gray until her fraudulent charges collapsed in the first two officer trials which resulted in acquittal.

According to recent media reports Marilyn Mosby and her husband, Nick Mosby, the Baltimore city counsel president, are facing a federal indictment as a grand jury is hearing evidence about the couple using campaign funds to pay for their personal expenses. Not surprisingly the AME church network is also under investigation.

BALTIMORE – […] WBAL-TV reports that Marilyn Mosby is suspected of using campaign funds to pay personal legal fees. The couple’s bank statements, tax returns, canceled checks and credit card statements dating all the way back to 2014 have are all being sought for review by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice.

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…”If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.”..  ~Sam Adams

Comrades, the Michigan COVID compliance ministry has arrested dissident Marlena Pavlos-Hackney, 55, the owner of Marlena’s Bistro and Pizzeria for refusing to comply with the dictates of the state lockdown.  Ms. Pavlos Hackney now faces more than three months in prison for her non-compliance.  A fellow citizen who attempted to assist the restaurant owner also had an arrest warrant issued for his support of her.

MICHIGAN – […] Ingraham County Circuit Judge Rosemaria Aquilina accused Pavlos-Hackney of having “selfishly not followed the orders” and accused her of doing so “for your own financial gain and apparently for the publicity that comes with it” during a hearing on Friday.

The restaurant owner will be in jail until the state is confident that her establishment is closed and after she pays $7,500, according to the Detroit News.

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