WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah is still trying to spin the Capitol riot into something benign and its perpetrators as victims. In his April 19 column, he complained that the officer who shot and killed protester Ashli Babbitt not only wouldn’t be charged, his name wouldn’t be make public:
Even more oddly, we may never know who fired the one and only shot during the so-called “Insurrection.” The only thing we know is she was shot in the chest by an unnamed federal officer.
Once again, it’s proof that there are two standards of justice in America. One is the kind of justice that’s for Ashli Babbitt – someone who was unarmed, not posing a danger to anyone, an Air Force veteran, who was killed in cold blood without a warning shot, without warning words expressed by the federal officer, surrounded by other heavily armed cops without apparently a concern about Babbitt.
That she was summarily shot and killed in the U.S. Capitol defied explanation.
Does it, Joe? She had broken into the U.S. Capitol with hundreds of other insurrectionists who were vandalizing the building, and Babbitt was trying to crawl through a broken window on the door of the Speaker’s Lobby outside the House chamber — a place she had no business being — when she was shot.
Farah then lamented: “I remember another unexplained death by the hands of Capitol Police and Secret Service – a young black woman by the name of Miriam Carey who made a wrong turn near the White House. How many shots were fired is still a mystery. How her child in the back seat survived is a miracle.” As we noted at the time, Farah cared nothing about Carey beyond the fact that her death occurred when a Democrat, Barack Obama, was president, so he could concern-troll her death as a cudgel against him.
Farah went on to hint that he concern-troll the Capitol riot and Babbitt’s death as a cudgel for Biden-bashing: ‘There are still people who remain in jail for this so-called “Insurrection.” They were arrested weeks ago, months ago. They are in solitary confinement. Nobody talks about this in Joe Biden’s America. And nobody talks about Ashli Babbitt’s killer.”
The next day, Farah worked up outrage over another storyline from the riot:
Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes, the medical examiner says.
Period. End of story.
The D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner says another desperate theory to blame Donald J. Trump and his “insurrection” at the Capitol Jan. 6 did not play any role in this death. First it was alleged that Sicknick was killed by being bashed in the head with a fire extinguisher. When that was proved to be false, fake and phony, a second cause of death was a “chemical irritant.” That, too, was eventually ruled out.
Officer Brian Sicknick died after suffering from two strokes, said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Francisco J. Diaz. In other words, he said, “acute brainstem and cerebellar infarcts due to acute basilar artery thrombosis” – strokes caused by blockages in the arteries in his brain and brainstem.
Except it’s not “end of story” — Farah omitted the fact that the medical examiner also said that “all that transpired” at the Capitol riot “played a role in his condition.” That can be interpreted as meaning that while no single incident from the riot directly caused Sicknick’s death, the riot did contribute.
Farah then complained that two people who have been charged with spraying bear spray at Sicknick, Julian Kater and George Tanios, are in jail becaus of it:
Khater and Tanios were the two guys originally fingered in the “bear spray” story. They are lifelong friends who have been in jail since January charged with the above offenses.
Even though the bear spray played no discernable role in Sicknick’s death, and even though exposure to it has not been known for causing any human deaths, it may be the only “weapon” the speaker has.
Note that Khater and Tanios are not charged with Sicknick’s death. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Most defendants initially plead not guilty, and onetime newspaper guy Farah very well knows that, so that’s irrelevant at this point. Farah closed out with some whining:
The Justice Department has charged more than 100 defendants for assaulting officers during the protests – not “insurrection.” It is unknown how many remain under arrest. By February, the investigation had stalled because of lack of evidence of any fatal injury, any firearms or any explosive devices connected to protestors.
The death of Ashli Babbitt, the only real victim among the inflated death toll of the protest, was attributed to a shooting by an unnamed federal officer. She was unarmed and received no warnings.
Some “insurrection,” huh?
If that mob of insurrectionsts had been targeting Trump instead of working on his behalf, Farah would almost certainly have a different take.