The Nation is under criticism this week for another column that appears to entirely discard the facts in advancing a narrative of police misconduct. Despite its writers supporting forms of censorship to fight “disinformation,” Nation columns regularly omit or misrepresent key facts in national controversies. The latest example is a column published from Reps. Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib, who accuse the Atlanta police of covering up a police killing during the “Cop City” demonstrations. They claim that the evidence shows that “Georgia State Patrol officers shot and killed Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán, a nonviolent activist” after one officer accidentally killed another. The Nation and the members omit evidence that directly contradicts those claims.
In January, heavily militarized Georgia State Patrol officers shot and killed Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán, a nonviolent activist protesting in the local forest that Cop City would destroy, in a hail of 57 bullets. In the immediate aftermath of their killing, law enforcement claimed that Tortuguita possessed a firearm and fired first. This was a lie. Body camera footage suggests one officer shot another, and autopsies showed Tortuguita had their arms raised and no gunpowder residue on their hands when they were killed.
The column cites articles that preceded findings from the police lab and other sources. Some, like the suggestion of friendly fire, came later from speculation of officers who were not involved in the shooting.
As critics have noted, the members are citing a family-funded autopsy for the claim that Terán had his hands up. The actual autopsy is less clear and the man who performed the autopsy has been previously attacked for misrepresenting his record and bias in past cases where he was hired by families.
However, the official autopsy found that there was no way to conclusively establish Terán’s position.
It is also not true that residue was not found. The article refers to no gun residue being seen on the hands at the scene. However, a test was used and the report “revealed the presence of particles characteristic of gunshot primer residue.”
More importantly, the gun was found to match the bullet recovered from the trooper’s body: “Investigators say a forensic ballistic analysis confirms the remains of the bullet pulled from the trooper’s body during surgery on Wednesday afternoon was fired from the Smith & Wesson M&P Shield 9mm recovered at the scene.”
Moreover, the gun was previously purchased by Terán: “Investigators say they received confirmation Monday that the firearm used in the Jan. 18 incident was bought legally in September 2020 by Manuel Esteban Paez Teran.”
So, the actual findings showed that Terán bought the gun, the gun was used to shoot the officer, and Terán had gun residue on his hands.
The two members use these distorted facts to “call on the Department of Justice to investigate Tortuguita’s killing, its subsequent cover-up, and the deprivation of civil rights.”
I have previously expressed my own concerns over the use of domestic terrorism charges against these and other protesters. However, the Nation’s readers were given a clearly false understanding of the findings in the case to suggest the murder of a protester and the covering up of the crime by Atlanta police.
Remember censorship in the name of protecting “our democracy ™” is a good and glorious thing.
And it is only “democracy” if the correct, desired results occur.
The election of Trump – not democracy
Bolsanaro in Brazil – not democracy
Orban in Hungary – not democracy
Brexit in the UK – not democracy
Supression of the Adf in Germany – that is the protection of democracy
Sentencing of unarmed, disorganized January 6th protestors to long prison sentences – that is the protection of democracy
Allowing the “Brave, Masked, Wonderful Warriors of Antifa(tm) and BLM to engage in “mostly peaceful protests” in the summer of 2020 – that is the protection of democracy
Maybe we should suspend the constitution and election of 2024 in order to “protect democracy”?
S@@ew “our democracy(tm).
The election of Trump (if it did nothing else) has made the left to reveal what that really think and would do to their political opponents, if they could.
The covid lockdowns and forced vaccination of millions with a non-sterilizing experimental treatment also performed a similar task.
I am afraid this will not end well. Let it come what may. G-d help us!
antonio
Lincoln in America “protected” and “saved” the Union.
American freedom lasted for a mere 71 years; from 1789 to 1860.
Lincoln didn’t bat an eye about destroying the Constitution and American freedom.
He threw the baby out with the bathwater; he threw the Constitution out with reprehensible slavery.
In a society of laws, Lincoln must have followed THE law, not HIS law.
Slavery was withering on the vine (Washington released his slaves in his will) but “Crazy Abe” was obsessed and consumed with saving the Union over adhering to and perpetuating the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Not to mention that, on January 1, 1863, the status of slaves changed from that of “property” to “illegal alien” per extant immigration law, the Naturalization Act of 1802, requiring compassionate repatriation to the countries of origin from which slaves had been originally abducted – the most profound desire of all abductees is to return home.
George, Do you have any sources to indicate that slavery in the South was withering on the vine in 1860 other than Washington freeing his slaves in his will when he died in 1799? Thanks.
Henceforth, the following people will be referred to as “they”, under penalty of a TP shower.
Dennis
Smeagol (ATS)
Bug face
Fishlips
Wally
Sammy
Bob
Bill (the goofy one)
Gigi (Natacha, Svalez, Concerned Citizen, whatever they is today)
Any other Anonymous who spews the same nonsense as these tools
I feel this is justifiable for two reasons.
1. They spend most of their time talking to themselves
2. They all say the exact same thing
If you disagree, and refuse to do this, I accuse you of being stoogephobic.
Wow — we have been “Tom listed” on Professor Turley’s blog on Constitution Day.
Wellllll, if you can not run with the bulls, stay on the porch and chase your tail all day. Some of us men got it and none of you trolls got the right
stuffspunkPit bull semen from America used to breed XL Bullies in UK
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/17/banned-pit-bulls-sold-as-semen-uk-breed-american-xl-bullies/
+1000
“Natacha Ex-Husband says:”
This alone has me ROFLMAOSHIDMSACOMT
Wow, thats the thanks I get for making sure you theys get your correct pronouns?
Are you the Concerned Citizen that plays Smeagol to Gigi’s Gollum? If not, you gotta pick your own pronoun.
Sh!t, my bad. I meant “Are
youthey the Concerned Citizen that plays Smeagol to Gigi’s Gollum?”Bush and Tlaib despise the country they represent. They are the quintessential “Cafe Communists” in today’s Amerika. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
As long as we’re considering revoking the right of women to vote, will that also revoke the right to vote for men who’ve transitioned to becoming female —
Maybe we should consider going back to the days when if one didn’t own real property, or other simiilar criterion, you did not have a right to vote.
Some people believe that part of the left-wing progressive agenda is to call a cessation to voting altogether —
I’m buying Kevlar for my whole family — a year from now, who knows where we’ll be as a country — one thing is for sure — Joe Biden will have reached the point at which he cannot speak in public pretty much at all —
“will that also revoke the right to vote for men who’ve transitioned to becoming female —”
I need clarification. The right “to vote for them” or the right “of them to vote”?
“men who’ve transitioned to becoming female”
Straw man alert!!!! There is no such thing.
@tom
If merely saying “I’m a girl” would put me in the same dressing, shower or bedroom with Jennifer Connelly, where do I sign up?
Maybe one of our “good white” s@@tlib friends can advise.
antonio
Our illustrious President, Pedo Joe Briben, would probably know where to sign up for that.
When are Bush and Tlaib going to be ‘held accountable’ for spreading what is clearly mis-information?
For starters, at least one committee of the House of Reps. can request they both provide in-person testimony in ‘support’ of their dissemination of provably erroneous information. I don’t see how they can refuse such a request, at risk of being held in contempt — censured even?
Millions have been spent tearing down people who tell the truth, why not go after those who cause damage by telling lies. Is there no crime when people, believing untruths, act because of the lies they believe are true? Should these people who use lies to promote an agenda be prosecuted for their transactions once the data shows the lies? Lies build on lies and the end result is what we are seeing today. Reputations are ruined and peoples’ lives are broken by a system that has little accountability. It is easier to listen to and remember sound bytes than to read an article of facts! Politicians need to be accountable and it should not wait until the next election cycle. Congress needs to censure their own.
National Disgrace
Article should be titled the Communist in Congress use a Communist rag to disseminate communist lies.
Bush and Tlaib are two of the most dishonest, racist and stupid members of the House. Intellectually too lazy to actually do their homework, these race hustlers will tell any lie and grab any chance to bash the police — but only when they perceive some wrongdoing to the BIPOC community. Meanwhile, they are silent on all black-on-black and black-on-white/Asian crimes, which far outpace any police assaults on blacks. They also deliberately fail to note that most of the high-profile killings of blacks by police occur when the suspect is either attempting to resist, flee, or has actually attacked police first. I don’t know who actually votes for these divisive race baiters, but citizens should look more closely at the people they choose to represent them.
The Teran case appears to b e “open and shut”, Bush and AOC should be called out for deliberate misrepresentations.
Though I would note that the FACT that Teran owned the gun that killed the officer – even that he fired the fatal shot that killed the officier is strong evidence justifying his shooting,
But it is NOT absolute proof. Teran could have dropped his weapon and could have been surrendering. I doubt it, but it is not impossible.
Regardless for Teran to be legitimately killed by the police he had to be an immediate threat of serious bodily harm to others.
Teran’s killing of another officer is evidence that is the case, it is NOT incontrovertible proof.
Finally I would ask where AOC and Bush were regarding Alishi or Boyland – both of who were unarmed and murdered by police on J6.
My outrage over the death of an armed protestor who killed a police officer is far less than that over the killing of two unarmed police officers neitehr of who had weapons, neither of whom was a threat of serious bodily harm or death to anyone else.
I fully argree with Preof. Turley that demostric terrosim charges – as well as the level of law enforcement that claims of terrorism drive is inappropriate.
Teran is a protestor who engaged in criminal conduct. He should be regarded as such.
Violent protestors should be dealt with using the ordinary law regarding acts of violence.
Protest does not justify violence.
We also need to regain our sanity regarding protests.
There is a vast difference between protesting governemnt at or in a public government forum – the Capital of Michigan, the Federal Courthouse in Portland or the US Capital.
We would prefer these remained non-violent – but these are all legitimate and traditional forums for free speech.
A construction site In Atlanta, a car dealership in Kenosha, a Neiman Marcus in Portland are NOT legitimate venues for political protest.
I would note that the standards I address above have nothing to do with left or right or politics.
The Kavanaugh protestors, the J6 protestors, the BLM protestors, the Dobbs protestors, the Portland protestors should all be held to the same standards – regardless of their politics.
Those who engaged in violence should be held accountable by the law for that violence to EXACTLY the same extent. That is what equality before the law requires.
Those who protest on private property are trespassers.
Those who protest on public property that is NOT a forumn for petitioning government, for free speech do not have the free speech protections of those who do.
Those who protest non-violently at courthouses, at legislatures, or other public forums for free speech MUST have the strongest protection of their right to protest, to speak, to petition government – regardless of whether we like what they are saying.
I can’t decide who is worse: young progressives like her, or the hippy generation who have become so politically ignorant, insular, and naive they still think they are fighting the man in 1968 (not realizing who ‘the man’ was in the first place) and pushing for the Constitution to be ‘updated’ for the 21st century (their way of saying they’d like to revoke the inalienable rights of anyone that disagrees with them) – it’s like their cultural revolution never happened or that it really *was* just an elaborate temper tantrum. They are children, all, and it shouldn’t be any surprise it’s all playing out generationally among the privileged. Idjits, the lot of ’em.
Today fanatics the likes of Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib can only “call’ on the Department of Justice to prosecute their agenda. Tomorrow their goal is to be able to order it.
Ron: “Tomorrow their goal is to be able to order [the DOJ to prosecute their agenda.]”
+++
Don’t be too sure something like that isn’t happening now. Neither of these women comes across as an intellectual powerhouse. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the Richard Jewell Building helped them with the grammar, spelling and narrative of their article.
The two “Reps” state that “THEY” were killed when referring to the “activist”. So was it two people killed or do the “Reps” not have basic language skills?
This is occurring as a LA sheriff is in a morgue after being assassinated last night. Will actions such as these be blamed for the killing of cops? Of course not. Dems are made of teflon.
Next up we will get these two lying America haters telling us we need to censor disinformation!
Cori Bush is about as dumb as anyone I have ever seen in public life. Of course we have Maxine Waters and Hank Johnson (Guam fame) as well as Eric Swalwell competing with her, but I think Bush is the dumbest. As for Tlaib, she is a moron, but she is also a racist supporter of terrorists..so she has that burden to carry as well. Dumb and a terror supporter is a bad way to go through life you loser.
The Nation is about on par with the Guardian, AP, Slate, Salon, MSNBC, CNN, NBC, the NY Times, WAPO, the Boston Globe, the LA Times, the Miami Sun and almost every other media outlet that we are saddled with these days.
Hey “Anonymous” and Dennis, any comment on these two members of your party and their attack on police? Come on guys, you comment 100 times a day, let’s here your defense of these two disgusting idiots.
Pretty sure “they” is a “non-binary”. Notice no comment on “they” buying an “automatic weapon of war” and frangible bullets.
Tom, as a huge Jeopardy fan I get so disgusted when Ken Jennings, the new host, calls some fool they because the fool is demanding that people use incorrect language when being addressed. While discussing the results of the game one night Jennings actually said about on panelist, “he had a strong game” and with regard to another panelist “she finished 3rd” and about the winner…”THEY HAD A GREAT GAME”. THEY!!!
Funny enough when the fool being called THEY was discussing the game the winner said “I” did this and “I” did that and but never said “WE” did this or “WE” did that. So which is it? What the left is doing to our culture is getting more and more dangerous. This is how we have a VA school board transfer a boy that raped a girl in a GIRLS bathroom while he had on a skirt, not notify the police and subsequently have the boy rape another girl in his new district. It is because they are trying to make us afraid to say anything when these nuts do nutty things.
Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy fatally shot while sitting in his patrol car. Democrats like Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib, Kamala Harris, et al incite violence against cops like this ambush against a third generation LAPD. Their hate speech is a reason to prosecute them not that Merrick Garland’s banana republic DOJ will defend the local women and men in blue
Cori Bush gives the middle finger to her constituents.
In her two years in Congress, Bush has drawn criticism for the amount of money she spends on private security while also being one of the most vocal advocates for a movement to defund the police.
Since January 2021, when Bush took office to begin her first term, her campaign has paid a total of $557,676 for security services. A February 2022 article in Axios showed Bush as having spent more than any other U.S. House member for the 2021 year, about $233,000 dollars, in security spending.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/joe-holleman/congresswoman-cori-bush-of-st-louis-marries-member-of-campaign-security-team/article_371b4df3-f882-52d8-a80a-90a8b61a0b4a.html
The Nation omitted evidence that refutes, not contradicts, those claims.
The bullet that killed the police officer came from Teran’s gun. That was the categorical determination of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Case closed. The rest is just noise by interested parties.
When Georgia authorities say Democrats won the election, Democrats cheer. When Georgia authorities say a progressive murdered a police officer, suddenly nobody is allowed to trust Georgia authorities.
Progressives are as blind to their own hypocrisy as they are blind to what a woman is.
Democrats WORSHIP people that hate America
Great. Just great. Let’s turn to the Department of Justice for an impartial investigation and a just decision on this.
Oh goody! [/Sarc]
Bush and Talib make a strong case for why we need repeal the 19th Amendment. We should do it before they burn the country to the ground.
I strongly support the 19th amendment that granted women the right to vote. I would hope that position has widespread support across the political and ideological spectrum on this blog.
Imagine if Cori were dropped during the night, in the middle of her district, Ferguson, dressed in her usual bling, WITHOUT her highly paid security guards. What could possibly go wrong?
Anon asks, “What could possibly go wrong?”
Karma is never wrong 😉
Better make sure your coffee is piping hot, Concerned.
Repealing the 19th Amendment wouldn’t necessarily keep people like Bush and Tlaib from holding public office. They could still run, and men could still vote for them. Elizabeth Cady Stanton ran from New York for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, even though she did not have the right to vote, for herself or even for her opponent.
Repealing the 19th Amendment would not keep Bush and Tlaib from running for office; men could still vote for and elect them. Elizabeth Cady Stanton ran from New York for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives though she couldn’t vote for herself or even for her opponent.
@Brian
That is a very crass thing to say, and I doubt it’ll get much support from this audience.