DAYS OF TRIAL: Carlson, Hannity, Levin declaim!

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021

The trial as seen in Their Towns: Yesterday, starting at noon, we watched the Senate trial.

At 8 P.M., we decided to see how the trial was being described over there, in the "news channels" viewed in Their Towns. Skillfully, we clicked to Fox News, where we watched Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Instantly, we heard some a claim we hadn't heard before. We can't tell you if it's true. That isn't our  point at this time.

Instantly, Tucker said something about Officer Brian Sicknick's death which we hadn't heard before. Millions of people were hearing the claim over there in Their Towns. 

Here's a version of what we heard, as reported by The Daily Mail:

GRIFFITH (2/10/21): The FBI and federal prosecutors are reportedly reviewing new video that could help bring charges in the death of U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, but more than a month after he died, much remains mysterious about the case.

Investigators are using the new video evidence to narrow down a handful of suspects who might have played a role in Sicknick's death, as well as determine what caused his death, CNN reported on Wednesday. 

More than a month after the January 6 riot, an autopsy revealing the cause and manner of Sicknick's death has yet to be released. Earlier reports that he was beaten with a fire extinguisher were false, sources tell CNN and multiple other outlets.

Say what? "Reports that [Officer Sicknick] was beaten with a fire extinguisher were false?" 

We can't tell you if that statement is true. But The Daily Mail linked to a CNN report—and it wasn't a "link to nowhere," as so many links today are.

In part, CNN's report said this:

EVAN PEREZ ET AL (2/10/21): One leading theory that investigators are considering is that the suspects sprayed an irritant, perhaps bear spray, that caused Sicknick to suffer a fatal reaction, the official said and CNN has previously reported.

[...]

Investigators have struggled for weeks to build a federal murder case in Sicknick's death as they pored over video and photographs to try to determine the moment when he suffered his fatal injuries. Investigators have determined that initial reports suggesting Sicknick was struck with a fire extinguisher aren't true, CNN previously reported.

As CNN "previously reported?" Perez provided no link, but CNN had previously reported that the fire extinguisher story was false. That said, we'd never heard that report until we decided to visit The Others' Towns last night.

Citizens, let's be clear! It isn't obvious that this (apparent) new fact actually matters all that much. That said, Tucker was pushing the new fact hard as part of a larger story.

According to Tucker, the false report about Sicknick's death is part of a larger bundle of lies—lies the Democrats and the media have been telling us the people about the Capitol riot. Below, you see part of what Tucker said. 

Warning! One of Tucker's statements here is flatly false:

CARLSON (2/10/21): At the impeachment trial this week, Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., described what happened at the Capitol as "an armed insurrection."

[Videotape of statements by Cicilline]

David Cicilline is a former mafia lawyer from Providence, so presumably he knows what it is to commit a felony with a firearm. Doubtless he does. There are no reports of rioters at the Capitol building Jan. 6 discharging weapons or threatening anyone with a gun. So what exactly is David Cicilline talking about?

Apparently, he's referring to the death of Officer Brian Sicknick. In the hours after the riot, the New York Times reported that Trump supporters had brutally beaten Officer Sicknick to death with a fire extinguisher. The news of Sicknick's death by violence was quickly picked up by countless other media outlets that repeated and then amplified it.

That account forms the basis of the myth that Democrats have constructed around Jan. 6. Sicknick's remains lay in honor at the Capitol building. Streams of politicians, who just months before had told us that cops were racist by definition, praised Brian Sicknick as a hero. They had finally found a police officer who served their political uses.

Just one problem: The story they told was a lie from beginning to end. Officer Sicknick was not beaten to death, with a fire extinguisher or anything else. According to an exhaustive and fascinating new analysis on Revolver News, there's no evidence that Brian Sicknick was hit with a fire extinguisher at any point on Jan 6. The officer's body apparently bore no signs of trauma. In fact, on the night of Jan. 6, long after rioters at the Capitol had been arrested or dispersed, Brian Sicknick texted his brother from his office. According to his brother, Sicknick said he'd been "pepper sprayed twice" but was otherwise "in good shape". Twenty-four hours later, Officer Brian Sicknick was dead.

How did he die? The head of the Capitol police union has said he had a stroke. His body was cremated immediately, and authorities have refused to release his autopsy. No one has been charged in his death, and no charges are pending. Whatever happened to Brian Sicknick was tragic, obviously, but it was also very different from what they have told us. They have lied about how he died. They've lied about a lot.

With Tucker, every misstatement by the others will be described as a "lie." Does that sound like anyone else you know—like the people who live in Our Town?

As Freud famously said, sometimes a misstatement is just a misstatement! As far as we know, that's true of the initial report about Officer Sicknick's death, assuming that the initial report does turn out to be false.

Except in a land where children dream, misstatements aren't always lies! But while we're on the subject of misstatements, let's consider a beauty by Tucker!

Warning! We're going to show you what Tucker said. But what he said was false:

"David Cicilline is a former mafia lawyer from Providence..."

We wondered if that statement was true, so we fact-checked it early this morning.  No, the statement isn't true. It's part of a larger story, but the thrilling statement is false.

This morning, you can watch the first twelve minutes of what Tucker said last night. At that link, Fox News has even published a lightly adapted transcript of his remarks—remarks we saw starting at 8 P.M., when we decided to visit Their Towns to see what we could see.

(Woody Guthrie: Well, now I just wander round to see what I can see. / It's a wide and wicked world, Sure a funny place to be.")

Tucker was full of conspiracy fables last night. He also said some things which are true and might be worth considering. 

One hour later, Hannity threw to "The Great One," Mark Levin, and Levin proceeded to rant without interruption for an entire segment. A very different type of story is being told in Their Towns!

We had many reactions to yesterday's presentation. We were struck by how amazingly stupid many of the rioters were—amazingly stupid, but also amazingly violent.

Mostly, we were struck by how completely deranged the former commander seems to have been. With that in mind, we were newly amazed to think that, right through last night, the leading lights here in Our Town refuse to discuss his endless crazy behavior as a possible artefact of a vast mental illness.

Medical experts wanted to speak. In Our Town, we didn't allow it!

By agreement of the guild, we don't discuss such topics in Our Town! Instead, we relentlessly dream our dreams of prosecution and punishment. We've chased those dreams, in Groundhog Day fashion, year after year after year, with our worthless "legal contributors" contributing the thrilling predictions we constantly long to hear.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but we Americans are now living in two different sets of towns. The things we hear, over here in Our Town, aren't at all what the others hear, over there in Their Towns.

There's no way to run a modern nation on this gong-show model. We've been mentioning this problem for decades. Will this news ever spread to us dopes here in Our Town?

Tomorrow: More days of trial