Minnesota Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar this week was hit by a “community note” flagging a common false statement made about January 6th and how multiple officers were killed that day. Democratic leaders routinely refer to multiple deaths of officers when the only person to die on January 6th was Ashli Babbitt, a killing of an unarmed protester that remains controversial after a whitewashing by the Capitol Police. Klobuchar, who has been a vocal supporter of censorship to quell “disinformation” on social media, repeated the false narrative and declared that “Police officers were injured and killed.”
Klobuchar joined other Democrats in repeating the claim in her post on X:
“Four years ago, the electoral vote certification was interrupted by a violent mob. Police officers were injured and killed. Our democracy hung in the balance. I knew we had to do our duty and complete the count – and in the early hours of January 7th, we did.”
That posting quickly led to a “Community Note” by X that said, “No officers were killed.”
Immediately after the riot, Democrats started to repeat this claim, particularly concerning the later death of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. The New York Times helped spread the false claim that he died as a result of being hit with a fire extinguisher.
In reality, Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes the day after the riot. As the note states, “The medical examiner found Sicknick died of natural causes which means ‘a disease alone causes death. If death is hastened by an injury, the manner of death is not considered natural.’ Four other officers committed suicide days to months later.”
While repeating this claim, Democrats also downplay the riot around the White House in the previous summer, including some like Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md), who has bizarrely insisted that the protests were “peaceful.”
While many today still claim that the protests were “entirely peaceful” and there was no “attack on the White House,” that claim is demonstrably false. It is only plausible if one looks at the level of violence at the start of the clearing operation as opposed to the prior 48 hours. There was, in fact, an exceptionally high number of officers injured during the protests. In addition to a reported 150 officers injured (including at least 49 Park Police officers around the White House), protesters caused extensive property damage including the torching of a historic structure and the attempted arson of St. John’s. The threat was so great that Trump had to be moved into the bunker because the Secret Service feared a breach of security around the White House.
Of course, January 6th was bad enough—it does not need embellishment. Many of us immediately condemned it at the time as a desecration of our traditions and values. It was a disgraceful riot that interrupted the constitutionally mandated transition of power. However, the repeated use of this false claim is a disservice to the public and a misuse of this national tragedy. This repetition is referred to by psychologists as creating the “illusion of truth.” If repeated enough times, the lie becomes the truth, and those who object are then attacked as “deniers” or “insurrectionist sympathizers.”
On “misinformation,” Klobuchar has pushed social media companies to “take this crap off.” She has sponsored legislation to support censorship, particularly when it comes to the pandemic and COVID-19. She has stressed “how lethal misinformation can be and it is our responsibility to take action.” In this case, the lethality was the misinformation.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
….including some like Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md), who has bizarrely insisted that the protests were “peaceful.”
Jamie Raskin would drive anyone to commit suicide. oh wait.
Dennis:
Perhaps this will affect YOU! If so, then you are approaching a Learnable Moment! If this doesn’t affect you, then it can still be a Learnable Moment for you!
* Some may think it’s a planned decoy to continue the lies. It’s not. They’re simply truly stupid. That’s all.
Another false claim will soon be opened to inspection, I hope. The SECOND FBI probe into Trump being a Russian agent. Horowitz did not investigate that probe, and so far, we have little information how it began.
Jonathan: You are at it again. Trying to rewrite the events of four years ago. The attack on the Capitol on Jan.6 was violent and deadly. While no Capitol police officer was directly “killed” by the violent insurrectionists 174 Capitol police suffered a variety of serious injuries directly from those same people.
DC Chief Medical Examiner Francisco Diaz found that USCP Officer Brian Sicknick died of “natural causes” from a heart attack but added that “all that transpired played a role in his condition”. Sicknick fought with the insurrectionists, was sprayed with chemicals and struck on the head with a fire extinguisher. The Capitol police accepted Diaz’s findings but said “This does not change the fact Officer Sicknick died in the line of duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol”.
Four other Capitol police officers committed suicide in the days and months after Jan.6. Officer Jeffrey Smith was one. He committed suicide on Jan. 14. His wife told the WP that her husband “wasn’t the same” after being struck on the head by a metal pole thrown by the insurrectionists. Smith’s wife said he was in constant pain. Jonathan Arden, the former DC chief medical examiner, provided a declaration that stated “there is hard and reliable evidence that Jeffrey Smith changed after the physical and emotional trauma he experienced on Jan. 6, 2021 as he became withdrawn and upset. These facts, together with the timing of the suicide (nine days after the trauma) strongly supports causality”.
Normally, death benefits are not awarded for an officer who commits suicide. But in March 2022 DC’s Police and Firefighter’s Retirement & Relief Board declared that officer Smith’s suicide was a direct result of “performing his duties and that his injury was the sole and direct cause of his death”. As a result Smith’s wife received an annuity of 100% of her husband’s salary.
No amount of revisionist history will change the facts. Five Capitol police died trying to defend the Capitol. The real “illusion of truth” is what you continue to peddle about what happened on Jan.6. It was an attempt by supporters of DJT to violently overturn the results of a legitimate election. No amount of misinformation will change that!
@Dennis
You are a sad, sad person, and we are at the point now where people have found their courage. I imagine you with a cardboard sign on a street corner. You are lying, quite blatantly, and it doesn’t work anymore, not even a little bit. I do not know why you waste our time everyday, unless your livelihood depends on it. NEWSFLASH: it will not be a viable livelihood going forward, not anymore, no one believes your sheet, we are done. If you are just this bored, than we also no longer have time to entertain your delusions, and we won’t.
So either get on board, Dennis et. al., or eat our dust. Because you are about to, whether you like it or not, for a long, long time.
hey Jim, just ignore him. He’ll go away.
Hey Dennis, how many law enforcement agents were harmed during the May riot at the WH?
You are the one denying the truth. Look at that statement of yours: “Five Capitol police died trying to defend the Capitol.” No they didn’t. The rest of your comments prove that. Sicknick died the next day. He was not trying to defend the Capitol. Neither was Smith. Stop misinterpreting the facts.
The rooster crows and makes the sun rise everyday, Dennis. Few people know that except you. Congrats! Gifted…
Sicknick fought with the insurrectionists, was sprayed with chemicals and struck on the head with a fire extinguisher.
No, he wasn’t.
Why are they bothering to waste their time at this point? Many of us have known they were lying to our faces long before Musk bought Twitter. It’s really is a clown show at this point, and it isn’t going to work anymore. They do not seem to understand this. The modern leftist has a room temperature IQ and is far, far too impressed by money and the superficial. They are about as enlightened or educated as my big toenail. I’ll say it again: this is NOT going to work anymore. Go blow, all of you. We are taking our country and our lives back. We do not care if you are a part of it.
If you want to live under aristocratic socialism, immigrate to Britain. Ah, but there’s the rub: if you aren’t one of the pet immigrants they can virtue signal about, they will kick you out of the country the second your visa expires, if you overstay. The modern left are all children, and the spankings you have needed for decades are coming. The rest of us will not feel bad about this. Karma is a b*tch, and reality is inevitable, no matter how hard you hide in your own mind or exclusive neighborhood.
The fires in pacific Palisades might as well be symbolic, and I guarantee you, those people fleeing while their mayor is in another country, will never get the point. Abandon the sinking ship that is the modern left and vote differently. Or stick to your insularity and suffer and complain. Just know that the rest of us will no longer entertain any of this boosheet, so if you move, bear that in mind. You will be marginalized wherever you go, and nobody cares how much money you have at this point. The tide is turning, and it is very much against the idiotic notion that there is such a thing as consensus globalism, or that socialism/communism is a good idea.
Your comment is fine. But I wish people would STOP referring to Democrats as “aristocratic” or “elite.” These are terms they gave themselves, trying to create a new image (like the “in-crowd” that everyone wants to be part of) after decades of being characterized as lower-educated, union-membered laborers. Now the Democrats are split into two groups–the traditional Dems, and the wealthy politicians/corporations who saw power and fame at their feet by speaking on behalf of these “commoners.”
Maybe someone can answer this.
1) Who was responsible for securing the Capitol prior to the protest to assure the protest remains peaceful? The President or the Speaker or perhaps the Mayor of DC?
2) Who is responsible for securing the White House?
3) Once a riot has started, who now is responsible?
Note: inaction is NOT a crime. When Trump called on the protesters to march to the Capitol and peacefully protest, and then the protest turned into a riot, his inaction, maybe irresponsible but it is not criminal. If inaction were a crime, Mayorkas would have been in impeached by the House and be sitting in jail right now
I called her out on her lies and was able to get a community note on the post that it was false. I doubt she’ll care and will continue with the lies.
* Klobuchar and others haven’t been given a new script. They’re repeating the old script hoping it will miraculously come true.
OT. LA hydrants are dry and some stolen as scrap metal the fire dept reports. The mayor, Madam Bush, is in Ghana attending the installation of its president.
All you smarties, why don’t coastal areas use ocean water?
* OT. Gulf of America 😂
Golf of El Trumpo!
Why haven’t elected representatives who are supposed to serve the people, not tell them how to live, assured a pipeline to Great Bear Lake, Canada, or some other reasonable facsimile?
Some ports do use dry hydrants. These lines are not pressurized so the pumper trucks have to be capable on the suction side. It’s not as easy as appears, marine growth on the intake side, net pump suction, head loss. It would be tough and costly to have something other than a centralized system.
That’s why…
NTM what would almost certainly be a substantial increase in equipment maintenance and replacement costs as a result of using salt water.
Four people died on Jan 6… all protesters. In addition to Babbit, one protester died of a stroke and one of a heart attack due to innapproriate police action like firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. Also Susan Buyland was trampled to death and repeatedly beaten with a metal baton in the tunnel due to actions taken by the police.
You mean Roseann Boyland. She was trampled to death in the melee between rioters and cops. At the 1 year mark, her family laid the responsibility on Roseann herself for becoming a believer in QAnon garbage and related conspiracy theories.
Both Roseann and Ashli lost their lives at the Capitol during the J6 riot. It’s a measure of political infowarfare if you can only remember Ashli’s name, or repeat the biased narrative as Jonathan does above that “the only person killed on J6th was Ashli Babbitt”.
How ironic! In criticizing Klobuchar’s political revisionisms about who died on J6th, Turley makes the same mental mistake he is pointing out. I hope he corrects this in the future.
The push by the left to move America’s base society into the abyss of a delusional paradise where morals, culture rules, and agreements are under assault by ill-educated lying half-wits who reckon in the simplest of terms man can be woman. They may be able to remodel the anatomical human body but at this station in history it is impossible for a male or female to become anything but a remodeled body.
Putting that aside: evolution, science, an abhorrent medical practitioner, or other un-foreseen happenstances may sway the human species to evolve (anagenesis) into another species all together.
American society has become fractured where state and individual are at odds with each other, where the very meaning of the Constitution, and agreed upon laws are ignored and Lady Justice has been weighted with nonsense tilting here and there.
May God help us ALL!!!
Like a fool, Klobuchar continues to recycle lies that have already been proven ineffective. All the lies that have been told have been for naught. The Glorious Restoration is almost upon us. Documents will be released without redaction, cover-ups uncovered, missing evidence found; all the things the Left thought they would be able to conceal forever will be revealed. The Reckoning is about to begin.
I agree. One time there was a term known as Minnesota nice. It has been replaced by the term Minnesota stupid.
Klobuchar is a self serving liar and speaks to serve only in furthering herself … approaching dishonest, unacceptable.
Yes, a police officer got slammed in the head with a fire extinguisher and died of strokes the next day. Direct correlation. He reportedly was even a magat, so, you know, just like the assclowns who frequent this blog…
And Babbit was full on doing a home invasion. Yes, it’s sad she was the only magat who got smoked that day when so many more deserved it…, the Capitol steps that day could easily been covered with dead bodies. And I don’t feel any less sorry for her than I do the 4 or so cops who committed delayed reaction suicide as a result of the insurrection.
But geez, give it a break, Comrade. You shill for a guy who tried to overthrow the governmant. You’re not going to be able to whitewash one of the ways he tried out of existence.
Whatever you say Amy.
The Democratic Left has to live in Fantasy Land, because what is the alternative – to admit that their ideas are stupid, childish, impractical, and that their party is rotten to the core, and lies and cheats to stay in power?
Some Democrats have actually done just that, and they walked away from the Democrat party. Like Tulsi Gabbard, RFK, and millions of others. But the ones who didn’t walk away? Their fragile egos will not allow them to face Reality, so they spin a web of lies to permit themselves to continue to believe that they are morally good, morally superior, in fact, and smart, and far above those hoi polloi Deplorables.
It has become laughable, the things they believe. Gender mutilation of children, people can change their sex at will, white people drool, while black people rule, borders don’t matter, shoplifters should not be prosecuted, etc. Laughable.
Ashli Babbitt was a victim of the kind of police state illiberal progressives like Klobuchar hold dear. None of them should ever hold positions that might tempt them with any measure of power over anyone.
Babbitt is not a victim. She was a rioter who made a very stupid decision and it cost her. Making her a “victim” is making an excuse for her stupidity. As a veteran she should have known better. Once she was shot others got wise fast came to the realization that there is a limit to ignoring law enforcement and those with guns drawn. She was an idiot, not a hero.
Hardly her fault. Byrd, the shooter, with a Pelosi patronage position to direct people to restrooms, was properly trained. There was no threat to him. Panic set in due to his lack of proper training. There was no reason to shoot when he did. There were other officers behind her that could have intervened if there was a danger. There was a whitewash investigation. “Once she was shot others got wise fast came to the realization that there is a limit to ignoring law enforcement…” No, what they realized is there an out-of-control active shooter loose. I’ve been in riots. My guess is you haven’t. Pelosi should have taken up the offer for more professional security.
“Panic set in due to his lack of proper training”
Was it panic, or did Byrd see a golden opportunity to shoot someone who represented something that he detested, and get away with it? I’m not making that claim, but had the incident been investigated properly, his motivation, including that possibility, would have been examined
I’m not surprised but nevertheless sorry you feel that way. Ashli Babbitt took part in a protest as one who was unarmed and not threatening to human life. She did not deserve being targeted and shot point blank by an incompetent cop. Perhaps she was not a ”hero”, but she was not an “idiot” either. For anyone but an extreme and dogmatic illiberal progressive it is shameful not to abide her for her political beliefs and accept her as one’s fellow human being.
Ron: WHY was Babbitt at the Capitol that day? WHY did she step over broken glass and the remains of doors and windows that were smashed, and proceed up the steps to the point where her life was ended, if she was only there to “protest”? She could have stayed outside to simply “protest”. What do you mean she was “targeted”? Did Are you saying Lt. Bryd knew her and killed her because he had a grudge against her–or what? WHAT right did she have to be there? WHY did she proceed through the smashed side light, knowing there were guns pointed at her? WHAT was Lt. Byrd’s duty to the members of Congress that day? I say it was to protect members from harm using every means possible, including deadly force, if necessary. The Speaker’s Lobby was the last barrier to the floor of the House. Babbitt was shot breaking through the side light after furniture had been piled against the main doors to prevent intrusion, so the side light was the only means of entry, and she chose to proceed in the face of drawn guns–and Lt. Byrd was not the only one pointing a gun at her, either.
HOW was Lt. Byrd supposed to know that she was “unarmed”? And, why do you say she was “not threatening to human life”, knowing that the angry mob Trump sent there intended to lynch Mike Pence and kill Nancy Pelosi? She was not killed because of “her political beliefs”, she was killed because she believed the Big Lie–she was told to “fight like hell or you’re not going to have a country any more”, and she was intending to get to the floor of the House to do just that. She left Lt. Byrd no choice other than to shoot her–and he had no way of knowing whether she was armed–and there WERE Trump fans there who WERE armed that day.
Donald Trump is directly responsible for Ashli Babbitt’s death, and he owes her family damages for wrongful death. Being a malignant narcissist and, therefore, never wrong, he feels no remorse whatsoever over her death. But, he’s not the only one who bears responsibility–MAGA media played a role, too, by not pushing back against the Big Lie–which is the point many of us who believe in the traditional values of the fourth estate try to make–publishing lies is wrong, and it has consequences, which is why traditional media follow the precepts of responsible journalism, which includes fact-checking and speaking truth to power. Well, Trump has bullied social media companies to stop doing these things, which Turley hails as protecting freedom of speech. This is the reason he’s on the Fox payroll–but it’s still wrong, and they are still lies. MAGA media does not follow any principles other than to peddle whatever crap it takes to get DJT and Republicans elected so they can get massive tax breaks and rolling back of consumer protections and environmental regulations. In addition to publishing Trump BS and never calling out his lies, missteps and unhinged attacks, they engage in culture wars and endless attacks on Democrats. Turley has chosen to lend his voice and credence to MAGA media, He has traded whatever respect people might have for a law professor for a fat paycheck. Today’s assignment is to attack Amy Klobuchar and try to downplay the violence inflicted on Capitol Police, now 4 years later. In addition to several officers losing fingers and one lost an eye, several officers committed suicide as a result of the violent injuries inflicted on them by Trump fans–the depression following a violent beating from Trump fans for doing their job and protecting members of Congress, including Republicans, constant pain and lack of remorse or apology from Trump and Republicans, whose lives they helped save, drove several of them to suicide. Turley can play all of the little games he wants with the facts, but Sen. Klobuchar is not a liar, and MAGAs are not conservatives. Conservatives support law enforcement and respect the rule of law–MAGAs don’t because they are a cult of personality.
Bryd miserably failed whatever training he had received. Force used by police officers must always be commensurate with the force used against them. Babbitt should not have been so intentionally shot and killed. Bryd failed humanity when he arbitrarily decided not to allow her to live the remainder of a life that had not borne anyone physical harm. Do not allow yourself to become so spiteful and hung up on MAGAs that you forget about the humanity we all deserve.
If you truly believe that the proper legal sanction for “stupidity,” as you so articulately put it, is the death penalty, then you should start looking for a new home in a country that does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
The one thing you accidentally got right, however, is that the only people with guns who fired them that day were law enforcement, not the “stupid” citizens. Some insurrection!
Why shouldn’t the mendacious Amy Klobuchar lie??? After all, even that most wonderful of Presidents, Barack Obama, lied very recently about Trump, saying the Neo-Nazis were fine people. A lie that has been debunked for years. But Obama was desperate to keep his power and influence, so he lied like a dirty dog, while he was castigating black men for not voting for the stupid and idiotic Kamala Harris.
It would be a shame to waste a good lie.
Rephrase, A good Lie is worth repeating.
(Particularly when you know it’s a good Lie)
That’s a Mountain of Lies the Dems recapitulated for the past 4 years.
So now they have to bury the Mountain of “misinformation”.
‘Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive’
The murder of police officers is a major capital felony. The Democrats conducted a nationwide inquisition in their search for “hooliganism” on J6. Given all that, why was no one been charged with the murder of police officers on J6?
Because Democrats actually know the claim is a lie; otherwise, at least one suspect would have been charged and perp-walked to a national show trial. Democrats would never pass up an opportunity like that. This is absolute proof they know they’re lying.
When words don’t match actions, it’s a Democrat.
Hi Lil, I dont think we will have 150 people attending. Can I give you a final number on January 15th, which is a week before the event? Thanks – Jeanie Hoholik