Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP File Photo: Jacob Chansley, the “Q-Anon Shaman” yells out while storming the U.S. Capitol with a flagpole topped with a spear on Jan. 6, 2021.
Column By Mike Bibb
For former Navy veteran and Arizona resident, Jacob Chansley, his peaceful participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, protests at the United States Capitol finally concluded with his return to Arizona to spend almost four years in prison.
Coincidentally, he’s doing his time at the Federal Correctional Facility in Safford, Arizona.
Presently, there are still many individuals in jail – two years later – awaiting trial for taking part in the Jan. 6th upheaval.
Chansley was charged – and convicted – of “obstructing an official proceeding.”
Except, recently released Capitol video surveillance tapes show he was assisted in this alleged obstruction by Capitol Hill police officers.
It’s interesting to note Chansley, also known as the “QAnon Shaman,” because of the face paint, bison-horned headdress, and costume he wore that day, did not violently break into the Senate chambers, didn’t destroy government property or threaten anyone.
He didn’t carry weapons, other than an American flag attached to a short spear-tipped shaft.
Actually, he was escorted within the chambers by several police officers who voluntarily walked with him into the halls, opening office doors within the building. At the time, they made no attempt to arrest him.
In a later jailhouse interview, aired on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight program, on March 6, Chansley admitted, “The one very serious regret that I have is believing that when we were waved in by police officers that it was acceptable.”
Which seems logical. Otherwise, why would police willingly remove barriers and assist in permitting protesters access to the Capitol?
Capitol Police have insisted they didn’t have sufficient personnel to successfully repel the protesters. As a result, they were compelled to acquiesce to the demands of the crowd.
This excuse is flimsy, at best.
I’ve commented upon this story before, wondering about the reasoning and conduct of the Capitol Hill Police Department’s handling of the situation. There were questions that didn’t seem to have answers. At least, no logical answers.
If an old country boy from Safford, Arizona is bamboozled by the government’s apparent incoherent reaction to a civil disturbance a few thousand miles away in the nation’s capital, then there must be underlying circumstances promoting the disorientation.
Especially, considering the police had ample time and resources to prepare for it.
Reportedly, various intelligence agencies, including the FBI, advised Pelosi and Bowser that an exceptionally large protest was expected and additional police presence was advised.
Apparently, their advice was ignored.
If there was inadequate police attendance that day, Nancy and Muriel can point fingers at each other, make excuses, and screech all day about “Trump’s Insurrection,” and D.Cs. lack of preparation.
The same President Trump who encouraged protesters to peacefully and patriotically march to the Capitol to let their voices be heard.
When the truth was finally disclosed, Nancy and Muriel had no one to blame but themselves for their incompetency, or ignorance, in failing to alert the police and National Guard.
Apparently, Tucker Carlson has obtained over 40,000 hours of previously unaired video footage, revealing new data and witnesses not seen on mainstream media news accounts, or the Jan. 6th Congressional Hearings.
Similar to many of the COVID-19 deceptions, video evidence is beginning to be released that the Jan. 6th protests were not exactly what we’ve been led to believe.
The government has known of the existence of these tapes but has refused to acknowledge them, knowing full well their revelation would alter the public’s opinion of what actually took place that day in early January 2021.
Maybe, five cops were not killed? Maybe, not even one who was reported as having his head bashed in by a fire extinguisher-wielding protester, while is also shown on videos directing crowds inside the Capitol.
A total falsification of the truth.
In actuality, there were no police officers killed during the melee. There was, however, a single unarmed female protester shot dead by a Capitol cop, firing from another room.
Maybe, that’s closer to the truth? Yet, no respectable government official wants to talk about it, for the simple reason it wouldn’t fit the narrative Trump engineered the disturbance because of his disagreement with the election results.
If this was true, why wasn’t Trump arrested for inciting an insurrection?
Now, many of these same sanctimonious government managers demand Fox News stop airing the Capitol videos. Chuck Schumer (NY-D), Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, read a prepared statement the following day, March 7, urging Fox News to prohibit Carlson’s continued broadcasts of the protests. Fearing, perhaps, viewers may be compelled to believe their own lying eyes and ears.
That, somehow, a news organization’s reporting of a major historical event should be canceled because it doesn’t portray the situation in a manner certain Washington and media executives deem permissible.
That, somehow, the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution isn’t relevant in this particular case.
That, somehow, the government’s theatrical presentations by a hand-picked panel of like-minded members of the Jan. 6th Committee, would intentionally suppress evidence and testimony of the other side of the story – in blatant contradiction to fairness and free speech.
Maybe, that’s what this whole convoluted mess has been about. The truth is always there; it’s just a matter of expending the necessary time and energy to uncover it.
Or, wrestle it from those who don’t want it to be heard by others.
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.
Editor’s Note: According to a 2020 lawsuit regarding Tucker Carlson and his opinion show, fox lawyers convinced U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil that the “‘general tenor’ of the show should then inform a viewer that [Carlson] is not ‘stating actual facts’ about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in ‘exaggeration’ and ‘non-literal commentary,’” Judge Vyskocil said. In other words, what he says is his opinion and not actual facts.
Most recently, evidence released in the Dominion lawsuit shows Carlson knew guests promoting election fraud were themselves fraudulent and baseless yet continued to promote their theories. Carlson also wrote of former President Donald Trump, “I hate him passionately.”
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