Glenn Greenwald
SUBSTACK.COM
Just as with the Russia Bounty debacle, they will never acknowledge what they did. Their audience wants to be lied to for partisan gain and emotional pleasure.
It was crucial for liberal sectors of the media to invent and disseminate a harrowing lie about how Officer Brian Sicknick died. That is because he is the only one they could claim was killed by pro-Trump protesters at the January 6 riot at the Capitol.
So The New York Times on January 8 published an emotionally gut-wrenching but complete fiction that never had any evidence — that Officer Sicknick's skull was savagely bashed in with a fire extinguisher by a pro-Trump mob until he died — and, just like the now-discredited Russian bounty story also unveiled by that same paper, cable outlets and other media platforms repeated this lie over and over in the most emotionally manipulative way possible. Just watch a part of what they did and how:
As I detailed over and over when examining this story, there were so many reasons to doubt this storyline from the start. Nobody on the record claimed it happened. The autopsy found no blunt trauma to the head. Sicknick's own family kept urging the press to stop spreading this story because he called them the night of January 6 and told them he was fine — obviously inconsistent with the media's claim that he died by having his skull bashed in — and his own mother kept saying that she believed he died of a stroke.
Articles on this Substack, Feb. 16, 2021 and Mar. 5, 2021
Because of its centrality to the media narrative and agenda, anyone who tried to point out the serious factual deficiencies in this story — in other words, people trying to be journalists — were smeared by Democratic Party loyalists who pretend to be journalists as "Sicknick Truthers,” white nationalist sympathizers, and supporters of insurrection.
"But these employees of corporate media outlets have been taught the exact opposite model: that their primary obligation is to please and flatter the partisan agenda and political sensibilities of their audience even if it means lying or recklessly spreading unproven theories to do it. That is their profit model. And they have trained their audiences to want and expect this..."
For the crime of trying to determine the factual truth of what happened, my character was constantly impugned by these propagandistic worms, as was anyone else's who tried to tell the truth about Sicknick's tragic death. Because one of the first people to highlight the journalistic truth here was former Trump official Darren Beattie of Revolver News and one of the few people on television willing to host doubts about the official story was Tucker Carlson, any doubts about the false Sicknick story — no matter how well-grounded in truth, facts, reason and evidence — were cast as fascism and white supremacy, and those raising questions smeared as "truthers”: the usual dreary liberal insults for trying to coerce people into submitting to their lies:
Because the truth usually prevails, at least ultimately, their lies, yet again, all came crashing down on their heads on Monday. The District of Columbia’s chief medical examiner earlier this morning issued his official ruling in the Sicknick case, and it was so definitive that The Washington Post — one of the media outlets that had pushed the multiple falsehoods — did not even bother to try to mask or mitigate the stark conclusion it revealed:
The first line tells much of the story: “Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes a day after he confronted rioters at the Jan. 6 insurrection, the District’s chief medical examiner has ruled.” Using understatement, the paper added: “The ruling, released Monday, likely will make it difficult for prosecutors to pursue homicide charges in the officer’s death.”
This definitive finding from the medical examiner not only rids us of the Fire Extinguisher lie but also the second theory to which these media outlets resorted once they had to face the reality that they spent weeks spreading an outright lie (needless to say, they provided no real accountability or even acknowledgement for the fact that they did spread that Fire Extinguisher tale, instead just seamlessly moving to their next evidence-free claim). They changed their story to claim that pro-Trump protesters still murdered Sicknick, not with a fire extinguisher but with bear spray, which video shows at least one protester using in his vicinity.
Clockwise: Tweet of Associated Press, Jan. 29; Tweet of NBC’s Richard Engel, Jan. 9; Tweet of the Lincoln Project’s Fred Willman, Jan. 29; Tweet of The New York Times’ Nicholas Kirstof, Jan. 9
The problem with that theory is that bear spray is not usually fatal, and the medical examiner's findings ruled out the possibility that this is what caused his death:
In an interview with The Washington Post, Francisco J. Diaz, the medical examiner, said the autopsy found no evidence the 42-year-old officer suffered an allergic reaction to chemical irritants, which Diaz said would have caused Sicknick’s throat to quickly seize. Diaz also said there was no evidence of internal or external injuries….
Diaz said Sicknick suffered two strokes at the base of the brain stem caused by a clot in an artery that supplies blood to that area of the body. Diaz said he could not comment on whether Sicknick had a preexisting medical condition, citing privacy laws.
So there goes that second fairy tale. The Post did note the medical examiner's observation regarding Sicknick's participation in defending the Capitol that day that “all that transpired played a role in his condition.” That of course is true: just as it is true for the two pro-Trump supporters who had heart attacks that day and the other pro-Trump supporter who died from too much amphetamine in her system, having a stressful encounter as a police officer likely played a role in why someone would have two strokes the following day. But police officers are trained for stressful encounters, and that obviously is a far cry from being able to claim that any pro-Trump supporter murdered Sicknick.
I'll have much more on this story as it unfolds. A significant amount of media accountability is warranted. But you're seeing why there is so much resentment and so many attacks on platforms like this one that permit journalists to report and analyze facts and dissect media narratives without being constrained by liberal orthodoxies and pieties and while remaining immune from liberal pressure tactics: it's one of the few ways that real dissent to their lies and propaganda can be aired.
The New York Times, in a now-”updated” article, Jan. 8, 2021
Truth matters. Noble lies are never justified no matter the cause, especially in journalism. But these employees of corporate media outlets have been taught the exact opposite model: that their primary obligation is to please and flatter the partisan agenda and political sensibilities of their audience even if it means lying or recklessly spreading unproven theories to do it. That is their profit model. And they have trained their audiences to want and expect this and that is why they never feel compelled to engage in any self-critique or accountability when they get caught doing this: their audiences want to be lied to — they are grateful for it — and would prefer that they not admit they did it so that their partisan interests will not be undermined.
What is most depressing about this entire spectacle is that, this time, they exploited the tragic death of a young man to achieve their tawdry goals. They never cared in the slightest about Officer Brian Sicknick. They had just spent months glorifying a protest movement whose core view is that police officers are inherently racist and abusive. He had just become their toy, to be played with and exploited in order to depict the January 6 protest as a murderous orgy carried out by savages so primitive and inhuman that they were willing to fatally bash in the skull of a helpless person or spray them with deadly gases until they choked to death on their own lung fluids. None of it was true, but that did not matter — and it still does not to them — because truth, as always, has nothing to do with their actual function. If anything, truth is an impediment to it.
Editor's Note: As usual, this article by Glenn has a triggered a storm of comments, reflecting a wide variety of viewpoints, yet, due to the existing confusion, misguided passions, and the stubborn gnorance that permeates all political discussions in the United States, many of the comments are simply disappointing. Many respondents seem happy to get tangled up in personal arguments with other commenters. Still, among the large number of replies (close to 900), there are some that are definitely worthwhile and thought provoking in their own right.
Below a very small sampler.
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Glenn Greenwald is the author of several bestsellers, including How Would a Patriot Act? and With Liberty and Justice for Some. Acclaimed as one of the 25 most influential political commentators by The Atlantic, one of America’s top 10 opinion writers by Newsweek, and one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers for 2013 by Foreign Policy, Greenwald is a former constitutional law and civil rights litigator. He was a columnist for The Guardian until October 2013 and a founding editor of a new media outlet, The Intercept, from which he resigned in 2020. He has won numerous awards for his NSA reporting, including the 2013 Polk Award for national security reporting, the top 2013 investigative journalism award from the Online News Association, the Esso Award for Excellence in Reporting (the Brazilian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize), and the 2013 Pioneer Award from Electronic Frontier Foundation. He also received the first annual I. F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism in 2009 and a 2010 Online Journalism Award for his investigative work on the arrest and detention of Chelsea Manning. In 2013, Greenwald led the Guardian reporting that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service.
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take issue with this: “...Ashli Babbitt, who was shot point blank in the neck by Capitol Police ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????????).”
Unarmed does not *not dangerous.*
+++
She was unarmed. That's a fact. I wasn't commenting on whether the shooting was nonetheless justified under the circumstances, though I do think it's ironic that the whole point of the summer protests was that cops should stop shooting unarmed people, including in protests and even riots where violence is sometimes used.
I disagree, Glenn. The officer was justified to use lethal force under the extraordinary circumstances he found himself in to protect lawmakers under siege in the Capitol building. Yes, she was unarmed. But the officer didn't know that fact. I think you are viewing the incident from your biased perspective of a tendentious commentator. I just view the world differently through the prism of being a Vietnam veteran. I probably would have shot her too. And I don't particularly like admitting that to you. The female Vietnamese VC were just as brutal as the men. And they would kill you in the blink of an eye. Now, if you had somehow freed yourself during recent home invasion, got a weapon and then shot and killed those robbers, I think it would have been a case of justified homicides.
Well justified in your country. If this was a civilized country like say Scotland where I live, shooting an unarmed person in the neck or wherever who was storming the Parliament would be considered unjustified and murderous, but hey ho, we live where we live.
I've seen a great deal of violence in my life, both as a medical corpsman in Vietnam and when I returned home, and also in the working class neighborhood I grew up in as a young man. Scotland is a civilized world? Apparently, you've never seen the cult classic "Trainspotting" about heroin addiction and its alcoholic and drugged ambiance of casual violence.
Lol, you've watched one movie well done, just goes to show your intellect. You live in an oligarchy on steroids, every construct of your Government and media is owned by billionaires, and sadly you're a product of this society where obviously the murderous, criminal invasion of Vietnam has clouded any judgement of what a fair and just society should look like.
Spare me the sermon, reverend. And your posh condescending attitude about life. You bore me, Mate.
"Sorry if my honest, blunt opinion disturbed you so much."
"You seems, at least to me and mu subjective perspective, as so hysterical, even out of bounds in your diatribe, with your underlying and extended even rigid polemics, it's almost Leninist in its rigidity to reason ns open debate."
These are quotes from you. Do you even notice how hypocritical you are in your behavior? Because we all do.
Adam, I really don't care what you think. Or if you see my behavior as hypocritical. But thanks for your honesty.
Amen, you soul has been cleansed pagan..
Hyperbolic ad hominem bullshit.
Just being honest.
M. Gary Westhead added nothing of substance.
projection .......
1. She was surrounded by other security on her side and neither of them reacted to her like this.
2. The door was still closed and the glass even though had breaks was not broken and nor could she climb through once the glass was gone (It wasn't).
3. No warnings were given to her - the cop legit just randomly decided to shoot.
4. The cops let the crowd into the building. There's several videos of the cops saying "I don't agree with it but can respect it" while letting the people into capitol.
5. We still don't even know the name of the cop who shot her. If you can't see how this is not politically biased, then you are intentionally being blind.
6. Where were you during the anti-kavanaugh protests storming the capitol, senate and SCOTUS actively encouraged by Democrats? Or entire last year of riots and burning down of court houses?
Please go to DuckDuckGo and search for images of:
"anti kavanaugh protests capitol"
"anti kavanaugh protests senate"
"anti kavanaugh protests Supreme Court"
"anti kavanaugh protests storm"
And let me know what was different.
I think "you doeth protest too much," Sir. I'm not really being intentionally blind. In fact, I went to the local LensCrafter just today and got an eye exam and ordered new eyeglasses. But thank you for your concern about my visual acuity. (Other than early signs of developing cataracts, common in old age, I can see things just fine from my perspective. Thank you, very much.) The Kavanaugh protests were a long and extended exercise in hysterical political theatre. I watched the hearing and the protests on CSpan. Viewing the death of Ashli Babbitt from the perspective of the officer seems justified. What do the police men who allowed the protesters into the building have to do how that officer reacted? That was their decision from their point of view. What surprises me is that you seems quite peevish and rather condescending and angry with me, and I didn't realize how dogmatic you are when it comes to your opinions. I'm just happy we avoided a incident similar to the burning down of the Reichstag in the last days of the Weimar Republic in 1933. And I understand why the officials refused to publish the name of the officer. They probably thought he would be attacked. But his name will eventually come out and I'm sure being the great investigative journalist that you are, you will address that issue in a subsequent substack column. Sorry if my honest, blunt opinion disturbed you so much. That was not my intent.
"you doeth protest too much" is usually used when someone's hiding something and considering my comment has nothing to do with hiding facts (quite the opposite), that statement doesn't make much sense.
> And I understand why the officials refused to publish the name of the officer.
And this is why you are blind to the double standards and hypocrisy of the current political climate. If she was a black Biden supporter, buildings would have been burnt. If she was black Trump supporter or white Trump supporter in this case, she got gunned down and nobody from the "defund the police" crowd cares.
Considering you spout hysterical MSNPC propaganda about "burning down of the Reichstag" when that's literally what the Democrats encouraged all year last year, you are simply projecting and not arguing in good faith. Even mentioning anything to do with Germany makes me know you know nothing more than MSNPC talking points.
> The Kavanaugh protests were a long and extended exercise in hysterical political theatre.
Oh yea? Destroying an innocent man's life is politics? Pray to god you or some male family member of yours doesn't get their lives ruined by 36 year old false gang rape charges. Democrats literally created the very monster by encouraging protestors to storm the capitol, SCOTUS and Senate chambers 2 years ago. Kamala was literally bailing out the rioters from last year. They literally created the very monster.
But it's not worth arguing over as clearly we aren't living in applying consistent standards.
You seems, at least to me and my subjective perspective, as so hysterical, even out of bounds in your diatribe, with your underlying and extended even rigid polemics, it's almost Leninist in its rigidity to reason ns open debate.
We had exactly a Reichstag Fire incident on Jan. 6th. Completely analogous. A trumped up excuse for unleashing a war on the political opposition. Thankfully the radical leftists haven't yet adopted the same level of ferocity...but I'm afraid it's coming.
Not sure how you can compare the two either as an act or as an outcome. One was a demonstration that got out of control, the other was arson. Reichstag arson was committed at night, by one or a few persons (that's unclear based on evidence). It wasn't poorly protected by police some of whom offered mob entry into the building, others preventing entry. One was severely damaged (Reichstag).
Reichstag ended in curtailment of civil liberties and WW2. Jan 6 led to the inauguration of President Biden, despite a number of legal challenges.
Some historians argue it was a false flag op by the Nazis, not a comintern plot. Is that what you're referring to? That the Jan 6 was a false flag op? The day after the fire, Hitler suspended most civil liberties. Very different situation and outcomes from my POV. Those rights were not reinstated until after the Nazis were toppled. If anything, the opposing party has pushed hard to reduce civil liberties. All depends on your political POV, I suppose. Have a nice day.
Well spoken. The cops that were behind and around her turn to leave right before the shots ring out, check it out. Another point every discussion ends up about race. I and many people I know are fed up with it.
Most of us get along at work at play in church in cities in country sides. When politics became the super bowl and Replaced sports along with religion and infused race into the American consciousness is when this slide into race addiction started. It’s every where. It as if the Madison ave marketing gurus just discovered hey there are black people. Asian hate crime hits the news awe man we better bring Asians into every spoke of advertising. Are there pockets of racist idiots, absolutely, is it rampant? It may be now thanks to the evolution of politics as the WWF or MMA of daily entertainment with a constant feeding frenzy of social media self proclaimed “journalists” in the Twitterdome and hundreds of other platforms springing up around the globe. Let us not forget the thousands of “researchers” googalizing us with “facts“ of alien conspiracies and baby eaters, diluting the truth with one grain of salt in a tub of dirty bath water. To quote a famous philosopher “can’t we all just get along”
Ashli Babbitt was killed and, there is a killer walking around because Nancy has his back plain and simple. This country will not survive by having no justice for all.
I totally understand your point of view. But does that absolve the rioters and the looters who stormed the Capitol building? They must bear responsibility for an escalation in violence when things completely spun out of the control of the mob. Did they think they were engaging in some performative street theater which they could later post on Facebook as if they had just visited Disneyland? I'm a Vietnam veteran. I've seen gun violence. It scared the shit out of me. That's all that I'm saying. But to compare what the rioters and looters did to a miscarriage of justice seems bizarre and absurd to me.
When you have to keep bringing up "I'm a Vietnam veteran" in every single comment, it's clear that you are not making a point of substance but appealing to authority. And if we are really doing that, then Babbitt was also an airforce veteran, served two tours in Afghanistan and Iraq before later deployments with the National Guard to Kuwait and Qatar. She got killed by the very politicans who send kids to foreign lands but don't want to hear anything from their own constituents about election issues and shoot their constituents while hiding under a desk.
> rioters and the looters
The lack of self awareness and reflection from Democrats did and encouraged for past 2 years - from anti kavanaugh protests to riots all year last year (and still ongoing), tells me you are full of shit and don't actually care about any "miscarriage of justice." Admit it - you enjoy political violence and exploiting legal system against your political opponents. You love it.
Babbitt decided to join the armed forces. There was no draft as with us baby boomers. I had the draft breathing down my neck like the neighborhood pedophile. She had troubles in the military. She never rose above the rank of E-4 (Senior Airman) in her long career. I made E-4 in three years (back then called the rank of Sergeant). She should have attained the rank of at least E-6 or E-7 ( Senior Sergeant ranks) before the end of her career. That was the first red flag I got about her troubled life. (I told young guys thinking about joining the military after the 9/11 attacks: "Don't! I was on a fool's errand in Vietnam. Don't be like me. This war would be no different from Vietnam." I was right now with this era of useless forever wars. I angered a lot of civilians and fellow Vietnam veterans I knew with my blunt predictions.) She was facing severe financial problems, behind on loan payments with her business perhaps even near bankruptcy. That was when she became a fanatical Trump supporter. We no longer have a functioning democracy. Both political parties are corrupt and beyond reform. I abhor violence. I had enough of that in Vietnam. So spare your pathetic attacks against me and characterizing me as getting a vicarious release from televised violence. You seem so naive about how politicians in both parties have abandoned average Americans and are merely paid lackeys of the military/industrial and the corporate oligarchs. Poor Ashli Babbitt was a useful idiot for Trump just as she for the MIC during her military career. I actually felt sorry for her and her sad demise as fanatical Trump supporters tried to portray her as a fallen martyr. Telling me I am full of shit shows how troubled you are. But I could care less what you think of me. Actually, you seem as sad as poor lost Ashli. I hope you seek out the personal help you need to deal with her anger.
Thank you for your service. I do know violence and, actions have consequences. What I see is a bunch of old war criminals in power choosing who to prosecute which eventually will open the door for a real white supremacy uprising or a civil war. Unfortunately, the judicial branch is no longer the pillar of our Republic but an arm of the Democratic Party.
What's so richly ironic are the male baby boomers wielding power in Washington, D.C. who avoided military service during our last draft by either a series of student deferments. Joe Biden and Dick Cheney did so, or either by getting into the National Guard, Dan Quayle and George W. Bush took this route, thus avoiding overseas duty in Vietnam. Then there's Bill Clinton who went to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and avoided the draft. We've never had a baby boomer president, who did a tour of duty in Vietnam, which is a break with historical continuity. George H.W. Bush was the last of the Greatest Generation who fought in the Second World War. Yet the baby boomer presidents, both Democrat and Republican, are responsible for this era of forever wars. I agree with you, the wars they prosecuted were just as criminal as the one I served in as a medical corpsman. I abhor war. Even John Kerry and Albert Gore, who did TDY tours ( temporary duty assignments - a couple of months in Vietnam), were for the Iraq War. (I exclude Barack Obama, a late baby boomer, who was three or four years old when I was in Vietnam; yet he willingly prosecuted the Nato bombing of Libya which turned that nation into another failed state and embraced his drone wars like a long lost lover.) So I'm an anti-war Vietnam veteran, yet they had no moral qualms sending other citizens' sons and daughters in the volunteer armed forces off to these illegal wars. I know I should say thanks to you for acknowledging my service. But' Basenji7, I made a terrible mistake. It still heavily on my conscience even in old age. We tried to commit genocide against the Vietnamese people. We were no better than German soldiers who fought in the Second World War for the Third Reich. I acted like a moral coward caving into the draft, feeling trapped as a working class kid. But that's a lame excuse. I have no one to blame but myself. I could have gone to Canada. But I didn't have the "cajones" to act like a real man. I also agree that even if Trump decides not to run for a second term, there will be a Trump 2.0 candidate, perhaps Sen. Tim Cotton or Sen. Josh Hawley, who are more polished types of demagogue, in the coming years. We baby boomers really fucked things up for younger Americans who will suffer for the sins that we committed in our youth.