Finally the questions about the death of Officer Sicknick are getting a wider audience
Not wide enough, of course. But wider.
I already wrote about my questions concerning Officer Sicknick’s cause of death, in posts appearing on January 11, January 26, January 30, and February 5. The ambiguities and contradictions in the articles, plus the missing autopsy report, were clear signs that something was not right with the version we had been getting so far. But now a site called Revolver has picked up the story (I doubt from me) with this February 9 article entitled, “MAGA Blood Libel: Why Are They Hiding The Medical Report?”
And now Tucker Carlson has taken up the question as well, and the intrepid Glenn Greenwald has been tweeting up a storm about it (to read the Greenwald thread please scroll up as well as down).
One tweet of Greenwald’s also mentions that the initial reporting about the rioter with the zip ties is false, too. I hadn’t heard that before, but I had heard about the zip-tie guy. In the first few days after January 6th, an upset relative had sent me a photo of “zip-tie guy,” and asserted that this picture proved that people came into the Capitol prepared with equipment and the intent to take members of Congress hostage.
I certainly thought that was possible – after all, I have no trouble assuming there would be some opportunistic people in the crowd bent on worse than a protest. But later I recall reading a story – I don’t recall where – that the zip-tie guy said that he had actually picked up the zip ties while in the Capitol, and that he had found them lying around. This seemed improbable to me at the time, but doing a search just now I see that the prosecutor in his case agrees with that description [emphasis and additions in brackets mine]. The misleading headline is “The Capitol riot’s ‘zip-tie guy’ appeared to take the plastic handcuffs from Capitol police, prosecutors say,” which for me conjures up an image of him taking them from the hands or pockets of police. But if you read the article it says instead that prosecutors claim that the zip-ties were on “a table” when zip-tie guy picked them up:
Munchel, who broke into the building with his mom, was labeled “zip-tie guy” after he was photographed barreling down the Senate chamber holding the restraints. His appearance raised questions about whether the insurrectionists who sought to stop Congress from counting Electoral College votes on January 6 also intended to take lawmakers hostage.
But according to the new filing [by the prosecutor], Munchel and his mother took the handcuffs from within the Capitol building — apparently to ensure the Capitol Police couldn’t use them on the insurrectionists — rather than bring them in when they initially breached the building.
“At one point, MUNCHEL spots plastic handcuffs on a table inside a hallway in the Capitol. MUNCHEL exclaims, ‘zipties. I need to get me some of them motherf—ers,” and grabs several white plastic handcuffs from on top of a cabinet,” the filing says, adding: “As MUNCHEL and [his mother, Lisa Eisenhart,] are attempting to leave, Eisenhart says words to the effect of, ‘Don’t carry the zip ties, just get ’em out of their hand.'”
Prosecutors submitted the filing in an effort to keep Munchel, who was arrested on January 10, detained until his trial.
He and Eisenhart each face several charges in relation to their actions at the Capitol building and are among at least 169 people currently charged.
Much of the evidence included in the filing was taken from videos recorded by Munchel himself: He kept an iPhone mounted to his chest…
Video footage reviewed by prosecutors also suggests Munchel and his mother carried weapons while in Washington, DC — despite the district’s strict gun laws — and abandoned them only before they got into the building.
“We’re going straight to federal prison if we go in there with weapons,” Eisenhart told Munchel before they entered the Capitol building, according to prosecutors.
We can put ’em in the backpacks,” Eisenhart then said, before stashing “tactical bags” outside the building, according to prosecutors.
They sound really intent on murder or kidnapping, don’t they? The complaint against Munchel alleges that he dressed in tactical gear, had weapons that were not brought into the Capitol, shouted “treason,” picked up the zip ties “gleefully”, ” and may have been guilty of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, conspiracy, and civil disorders.
Oh, and that shaman? Was he going to assassinate someone? Apparently not:
In a filing seeking the detention of “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley, for example, prosecutors said he planned to “capture and assassinate elected officials” before walking back on that claim.
NOTE: By the way, in the impeachment trial, the Democrats have asserted that Trump’s words are responsible for “murder”:
In its article of impeachment, the Democrat-controlled House alleged that former president Donald Trump, by his “incitement of insurrection,” was responsible for murder. That is an essential rationale for impeaching Trump. It is the most serious accusation that has been leveled. The impeachment article states that, incited by Trump to storm the Capitol and “fight like hell,” Trump supporters “injured and killed law enforcement personnel,” among other heinous acts.
The accusation about killing law-enforcement personnel refers, of course, to Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who was pronounced dead on the night of January 7, more than 24 hours after the siege on the Capitol had ended.
Adding to the serious but vague accusation in the impeachment article, the Democratic House impeachment managers, who are the prosecutors in the Senate trial, elaborated in their publicly filed pretrial memo (at p. 28): “The insurrectionists killed a Capitol Police officer by striking him in the head with a fire extinguisher.”
Now there’s a move to abandon the seemingly unprovable fire extinguisher claim, and they’re trying to say that Officer Sicknick was killed by bear spray wielded by some rioters. I’ve looked up whether bear spray can cause death, and there’s no mention of it in the many articles I read, although it definitely can cause temporary nasal and eye problems if sprayed up close and in the face. But Officer Sicknick took ill many many hours after his pepper spray encounter. And again, we have had no mention of any autopsy reports even though it’s been about five weeks since his death.
And then there’s the whole “Calvary/cavalry” thing.
Fully as grotesque as the politicization of Sicknick’s very unfortunate death is the elevation of Eugene Goodman into some kind of “savior of the republic” who prevented Romney from coming to harm at the hands of the evil “insurrectionists.” There is certainly no reason to doubt that this Capitol Police Officer is a decent man, but there is also no reason to believe (aside from the hysterical and lachrymose fabrications of AOC, Tlaib and others) that the life of any politician was ever in danger from unarmed members of a shambolic and unruly mob mostly intent on acting stupidly and taking selfies. Goodman, like the tragically-deceased Sicknick, is being used only as ideological manipulation, as insincere propaganda, and as political theater.
The reactions to Greenwald’s tweet storm are worth a read (not in a good way). Basically, “what does it matter how he died? They murdered him”. I guess you could say “what does it matter that the media lied for years about the ‘many fine people’ quote, we still know Trump’s a racist”. And so on.
The democrat’s tactics once again demonstrate that there is no depth of deceit that they will not engage in, no greater proof of unfitness for the office they hold need be given. That those who elected them rationalize and justify the deceit demonstrates that they are those who are no longer our countrymen.
I see that Andrew McCarthy is walking back his charge of murder on Trump’s hands. From:
___________________________________________
[Pleading the case this way] would have made Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was murdered, the face of impeachment. An impeachment manager opening the presentation to the Senate could have declared without hesitation: “When Officer Sicknick needed a president, Donald Trump was missing in action. When America needed a commander-in-chief to protect the seat of its democracy, Donald Trump wouldn’t be disturbed — he was busy watching television.”
https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/01/the-trump-impeachment-is-deeply-flawed-but-he-deserves-conviction/
___________________________________________
To:
___________________________________________
Many reports and commentators, myself included, relied on the Times’ reporting in describing the gravity of then-President Trump’s misconduct. But it must be acknowledged that this reporting suggested that the details of Sicknick’s death and what led up to it were murky. As is too often the case, the “newspaper of record” depended on anonymous sources for its weightiest allegation…
https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/02/what-happened-to-officer-sicknick/
___________________________________________
Which doesn’t let McCarthy off from jumping the gun at this crucial moment in US history. McCarthy, if he were intellectually honest, had every reason to doubt the immediate, self-serving NYT narrative, rather than jump on their never-failing “by any means necessary” anti-Trump bandwagon.
Currently there is a full-on blacklist to hunt down any lawyer who has provided any aid to Trump. I can’t help but wonder if McCarthy, consciously or no, was weighing such retribution when it came to expressing this public opinion. I’m sorry to see it.
___________________________________________
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
–Upton Sinclair
huxley:
I think McCarthy has long had a couple of problems. The first is that he’s somewhat naive and trusting (for example, of Comey, against whom he finally turned but it took a long time). The second is that he has an aversion to Trump. That doesn’t mean he won’t defend him at times – he will, but he has to overcome his natural aversion to the man in order to do so, and he’s often willing to think the worst of him. It’s almost a relief to him to think the worst of him, I think, so in this case he jumped right back into it for a while. But his basic honesty led him out of it again.
neo:
I give McCarthy half-credit. Accusing someone of murder flat, then later admitting that the story was “murky,” isn’t quite full moral responsibility in my book.
Indeed. McCarthy appears to have spelled “WRONG” incorrectly. There is absolutely zero evidence that the fire extinguisher episode happened and plenty of evidence suggesting it did not. That isn’t “murky”, it’s flat out wrong
That McCarthy took credence in the “reporting” by the NYT is quite a shock. I now know where to send my Nigerian princes and Brooklyn bridge salesmen. Sad how far and total has been his fall. TDS led to self-defenestration.
I understand that Officer Sicknick’s body was cremated shortly after the autopsy was performed. I don’t know if that was in response to his prior wishes or that of his family. And of course some religions demand burial very quickly after death, so a parallel viewpoint might have been operating here.
But given the large amount of (at least public) uncertainty about what had happened, and that we now have modern refrigerated morgues, I found the move towards cremation to be rather rushed. Are we sure that all relevant physical and medical and forensic evidence has now been obtained and is available for law enforcement use and / or public explanation? I can’t say just how long of a delay might have been wise in this circumstance, but I would not have felt a three week to three month “time out” was unjustified, to help ensure any later developing information was integrated properly into this very complicated event.
I also noted that Sicknick’s funeral took place only a day or two after his passing. I wondered if he was Jewish, Sicknick being a sorta-could-be-possibly-maybe Jewish name, and in Jewish tradition the funeral takes place very soon after death. However cremation is not sanctioned by Jewish law.
Also regarding the whole fire extinguisher charge, I heard early on that there was video of an officer being struck with a fire extinguisher but it was not Sicknick. Did not further investigate.
“And then there’s the whole “Calvary/cavalry” thing.”
Please neo, no cavilry.
In other news, that notorious power-crazed shape-shifting grifter Nimrata Randhawa AKA (to CivNats) Nikki Haley just done gone stabbed the Donald in the back. A Girl’s gotta do what she can to get by, you know.
I am also very curious about the suicides of two officers involved in the event; one was several days later, and the other several weeks. Are we to assume that these were unrelated to their experience on Jan. 6 or what? At one point it seemed that they were being officially treated as being related, but now they are not included by media in the death toll of five. It seems extremely odd that two police officers who happened to be on duty would have had underlying suicidal tendencies that were triggered. But no explanation seems to be forthcoming.
I am also very curious about the suicides of two officers involved in the event; one was several days later, and the other several weeks. Are we to assume that these were unrelated to their experience on Jan. 6 or what?
Yes. People have problems in living, including police officers. Trouble with wives, girlfriends, kids, finances, health. And sometimes its just baffling despair.
I also noted that Sicknick’s funeral took place only a day or two after his passing. I wondered if he was Jewish, Sicknick being a sorta-could-be-possibly-maybe Jewish name, and in Jewish tradition the funeral takes place very soon after death. However cremation is not sanctioned by Jewish law.
The name is evidently Danish / Norwegian. There’s been for some generations quite a concentration of Sicknicks in Middlesex County, NJ. In fact, every person named Sicknick recorded by state and federal census enumerators during the period running from 1905 to 1940 lived in that one county, so it appears to be one family. Presumably Lutheran.