Roundup
(1) Christopher Wray’s lips are sealed on Officer Sicknick’s cause of death. Do we even know if there’s been an autopsy? Will we ever know?:
“I certainly understand and respect and appreciate the keen interest in what happened to him — after all, he was here protecting all of you. And as soon as there is information that we can appropriately share, we want to be able to do that. But at the moment, the investigation is still ongoing,” Wray said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked if that meant the FBI “have not determined” the cause of Sicknick’s death.
“That means we can’t yet disclose a cause of death at this stage,” Wray said.
Grassley pressed on, asking Wray to confirm whether the FBI has determined a cause of death.
“I didn’t say that. We’re not at a point where we can disclose or confirm the cause of death,” Wray said.
You didn’t say what? You didn’t say anything other than some weaselly claptrap. My guess is that you’re searching frantically for a Trump supporter to pin it on, and you haven’t found one yet. I think if you never find one, you hope we’ll all just forget about it and move on.
(2) There are about 3 million missing children in the US since COVID began. Not the kind on milk cartons; the kind who haven’t signed onto any virtual learning while school is closed. It would be nice if they were all being home-schooled by loving parents, but I very much doubt it.
(3) The war against Dr. Seuss heats up.
(4) Texas drops the mask. Will women start wearing lipstick again?
Regarding 4) if it’s like my experience in Florida over the past year (and I believe it will be), many restaurants and stores will still require them for entry so Texans will need to have one with them at all times in case a place they are headed requires them.
Regarding 1), what Constitutional routes do we, the people, have to the FBI? This can’t be classified requiring a security clearance, like the game the CIA plays. I know the FBI is part of the Executive branch, and with the current administration we will not see any push from there to make the FBI release the information. Aside from FOIA requests, is there any obligation the FBI has to we, the people?
Restaurants and other businesses that require masks will see far fewer customers. The public have their own lying eyes and can figure out who is credible. The information about the CCP virus today is not controlled by the media to the extent it was a year ago.
Here in Washington state our Idiot King in Olympia may not actually have a plan to get beyond Phase Too to Phase Three (much less Phase Free).
Wray is dirty.
Is there ANY actual justification for not releasing the cause of death in an ongoing investigation? I mean, there are legitimate reasons for holding back certain information in situations like this. But two months after a death, the FBI investigating that death won’t even identify what caused it?
Can anyone even imagine a vaguely valid excuse?
Mike
VERY unlikely that there was an autopsy, as he was cremated so soon after his passing. Autopsies typically don’t release the corpse for a couple of days.
This stinks to high heaven.
I dreaded listening to NPR this morning because I knew that FBI Director Wray’s mind-boggling testimony from yesterday – that they had no evidence of Antifa’s significant participation in the Capitol riot – would be featured! (I listen to the “top” hour of NPR every morning so you don’t have to…) Today I also reviewed the transcripts of the rest of the Morning Edition show.
Imagine my surprise when these was no reference to Wray’s testimony about Antifa! Yes, there was a reference to his testimony as part of a longer piece, but only a vague reference to its content, and no mention of Antifa!
Something is up here, boys and girls! The Director of the FBI unequivocally stated that the FBI had no evidence that Antifa played no “significant” role in the riots! Maybe someone at the office reminded him that they had obtained a warrant against Antifa figure John Sullivan and brought him in for questioning, based on a video SHOWING HIM INCITING the crowd?!
I wonder what kind of pipeline exists between the FBI and NPR, that allows NPR to create stories the FBI likes out of whole cloth, and makes stories they find embarrassing go away like magic… poof!!
Personally, I would like one of these Senators to make them tell us who shot Ashli Babbit and why. It’s time we found out.
Most businesses have been open for a long time in my area (SETX). Of course masks and distancing were strictly adhered and the flavor of the day while being open.
This order just makes it official.
What Wray means is that the true cause of Officer Sicknick’s is not USEFUL to The Narrative(TM) and revealing it could only cause problems to certain people in the FBI and less than convenient for the Cabal that was recently “elected” to run the country (IOW Obama).
Or…giving Wray the benefit of the doubt here, it may mean that those in charge actually did screw up (the disclosure of which likewise does not help The Narrative).
As long as this is the case, the cause of death will likely NOT be disclosed. (Remember: TRANSPARENCY is the Democratic Party—and increasingly, the FBI—credo.)
And so the cause of death will remain undisclosed (“for reasons of national security” no doubt!?—IOW, the public does NOT have a “need to know”, nor apparently does the family) for a long, long time…or at least until whenever Obama decides that the public has lost interest. Or that “it no longer matters”….
It is also entirely possible that they really don’t know what the cause of death is—that is, it could be either for this reason or that reason—and they cremated Officer Sicknick while the death-by-fire-extinguisher-wielding-TRUMPIST lie, which served their purposes perfectly, was still not able to be disproved.
Now that that lie has begun to unravel, they need to employ some creative stonewalling (lie-craft?), which they seem to believe they’re pretty good at.
File under: Anything Comey can do I can do better?
First they came for Horton who heard a Who
But what could I do?
Then they came for the Cat in the Hat
But again I just sat
Then they came for Dr Seuss
Now I’ll cook their goose.
My 5 and 8 year old grandsons attend a yeshiva, an orthodox Jewish parochial school, and they’ve been having 100% in-class education since the school year began in September. I’ve heard of no cases associated with the school.
The orthodox Jewish community has been hit hard by Covid but people understand there is minimal risk from sending kids to school. One of the first cases of Covid in the United States was a lawyer who attended services at Young Israel of New Rochelle, NY. I live in Detroit and don’t know anyone that goes to YIoNR, but I assumed a year ago that I was no more than 3 degrees of separation removed from that guy. Combine that with the fact that my daughter in law in an obstetrics nurse at a hospital that is in the 3rd hardest hit zip code in the state and that pregnant women get Covid too, I’ve assumed I’ve been exposed to the virus already.
Still, I have an appointment for my first vaccination shot tomorrow. I believe it’s the Pfizer version, which pleases me as it’s being manufactured here in Michigan. Pfizer bought out Parke-Davis, which had a large presence in Detroit and Kalamazoo.
Barry and Homeric:
I like your wit!
Wray testified that White Supremacists and White Nationalists are the most dangerous domestic terrorists at this time. Well, that’s a relief, that he’s on it. I’ve been so worried about those crazy White Nationalists burning and looting my city. I guess I can quit buying ammo and going to the range now. 🙂
I’m also relieved to learn that that Dr. Seuss didn’t really mean what he wrote in his story of the Sneetches. How nice to know that the star belly Sneetches really are special – like SJWs or BLM activists. Sure has opened my eyes. 🙂
Can it get any worse? Well, we do have 3 years and 11 months of Biden/Harris left. Ugh!
Re: (4). I’ve had to remember to put in earrings occasionally so the holes don’t close up.
I saw this AP story about Mr. Sicknick in our local paper a few days ago.
It does look like there is an autopsy and an eventual report. My armchair knowledge is that even in a good ME department it can take many weeks to get good toxicological test results. A cynical take on this is that they are going to keep sending the body fluids out for more and more detailed tox testing until they find something unusual and then use that to pin a murder on the guy with the sprayer.
Homeric is right. What (or “who”) is next? Babar? Alice? Madeline? Charlotte? Mother Goose? Etc.
Will we have to be passing these classics around in samizdat?
No doubt the more entrepreneurial amongst us have already started snapping up all the copies they can get their hands on…given the prices currently going for Dr. Suess’s works.
(Hey, maybe the Democrats can open up a library, or museum, filled with “Decadent —or Racist—Literature”….)
“In a statement late Friday, …” That would have been Feb. 26.
TommyJay:
Three weeks delay? Yes, perhaps. Eight weeks? Don’t think that’s even remotely normal.
Barry Meislin:
Don’t forget the Little Prince. They will come for him too.
The Little Prince. Nah, he’s gay.
Paul, but is he trans? I’m not sure that being gay is enough
Neo,
I think 6 weeks is on the long end of normal, for a good ME operation. And that is for a solid standard tox screen. My guess is that they have those results and they show nothing, so now they are in the midst of a super-duper tox screen. They can probably stay in the midst of that for as long as they want, if nothing interesting pops up.
The LP should be relatively easy to fix—I mean protect, that is, save:
Change his complexion a bit, dye his hair, toss in a bit of purple rain, and he’s good to go.
(Besides, he lives on his own planet. Mostly.)
Books, movies, music, any artistic effort is subject to cultural revisionism and can be either “edited” or “retired”.
I’ve got my dvd of Tropic Thunder, and yes, Robert Downey Jr is hilarious. “never go full ……”
And BTW weren’t the BeeGees all white? Got to be a racist group, anyone who likes listening to them must therefore be….
IIRC, Wray was recommended to Trump by Rod Rosenstein. Wray, as far as I can tell, has made it his mission to protect bad actors in the FBI. Yes, he is a Bush II administration alum. The farther you get in time from the Bush cavalcade, the worse they all look.
Years ago, the defense counsel to the stars Jack Litman offered his assessment of U.S. Senators as cross-examiners: ‘pathetic’. He was referring in particular to Howell Heflin, who at one time had been a judge. One of our problems is kakistocracy.
Homeric:
Actually, the Bee Gees’ music – especially the disco/R&B era – is extremely popular with black people, as you can see from the “reactors” on YouTube. There are some pretty funny videos about that on YouTube.
The FBI has tracked down and arrested 300 of the 800 Capitol trespassers. Could there be some selectivity in choosing those to be arrested? You, know, let’s get the “white supremacists” and leave the 500 Trump Repubs alone?
Every Prez makes mistakes. Wray’s appointment was a Trump biggie, but the Senators share the responsibility by confirming him.
Wray is a sly weasel who will be FBI director for years, decades even. He’ll hang on just like Fauci.
If the autopsy showed that Sicknick’s death was due to blunt-force trauma from an attack by another person it would have been on the front page of both the WP and NYT by 8Jan. Since that did not happen, and references to other “natural” causes have been scrubbed, the answer is already there for any thinking person.
To admit to no homicidal act means that all the carrying-on about the “insurrection” and all the impeachment proceedings are pure fabrication. Why they worry is the mystery. Facts like that made known would change very few votes by their people.
As to Dr. Suess: where can one view these illustrations and racial words so we can “learn from them” and avoid having our books, written and imagined, cancelled?
“Will women start wearing lipstick again?” I can just picture a Dallas girl with Big Hair saying “Hon, the real Texas women never stopped.”
Re 4: we’ve been in Florida now for over a week scouting real estate. Mask situation here no different than CT. All places we’ve been have required masks for entry.
Maybe TX will be the leak that eventually brings the dam down. I’d love to attend a mask burning bonfire.
Like that other virus, Wray and Fauchi are forever?
Every mask in our vehicles console has lip stick traces. She never stopped.
Don’t Sicknick’s next of kin have the right to release his cause of death? What’s going in with them? Also since when are death certificates not public documents? I was taught that there is no right to privacy for the deceased—is that no longer the case? Finally, the GOP obviously knows or could find out, so they must be collaborating in this coverup…sad.
Laurence, There is no cause of death yet.
From the AP a few days ago: “Capitol Police said the medical examiner’s report on Sicknick’s death is not yet complete.”
Look at the very political death examination for Jeffrey Epstein. Many weeks went by without a completed autopsy report. When they finally declared it a suicide, the doctor who performed the autopsy refused to sign off on the suicide declaration. So his boss signed off on it.
Here we go again.
physicsguy,
That’s why I think Texans who believe all masks disappear next week will be disappointed. Like Florida, a lot of businesses will keep the policy in place; for legal liability reasons, if not any other reason. Cities like Austin and Dallas will likely not change much from the current situation. Rural areas will likely open wide up, but like Jack wrote, that’s been mostly the case already.
What we see with Florida and DeSantis is local communities and individuals adapt to the facts on the ground, as they see them. Which is why all these state mandates have been foolish and a federal mandate would be even more foolish.
Hi there, Johann Amadeus. I’m glad to see you here, since you’re a Michigander.
As to Pfizer’s acquisition, are you sure you’re not thinking of Upjohn? Or strictly speaking, Pharmacia, since first we had Upjohn for the long time in Kzoo, of course, then Pharmacia bought it and made it ‘Pharmacia & Upjohn’ for only a little while; then it was just Pharmacia after that, and then Pfizer bought Pharmacia finally. And now that I think of it, half a sec – there is this spin-off now, Mylan. So it’s been a bit convoluted.
It surprises me that they’re making vaccine at the Kzoo facility, since I thought that was for veterinary stuff (assuming we’re talking about the Portage Rd. large facility). This in spite of the fact that there is also Zoetis downtown at the same time. Did Pfizer repurpose the plant, or have they expanded lately such that they can run both businesses? I don’t mind if they’re producing it there; I’ll accept any boost for the ol’ homestead.
(Well, almost any – I just heard about some wacky idea for a spaceport up by Marquette?!? Really? A rocket range was tried briefly in the Keweenaw, so I sort of vaguely get the notion on technical grounds, but…. really???)
Generally rocket launch sites work better closer to the equator AFAIK. physicsguy can explain …. But may only apply to biological cargo, “Spam in a can” and the Van Allen radiation belts?
om, yes, but back in the sixties the site did get used a little bit for some small-rocket platforms to send up some little data collection payloads for studying the atmosphere. Here is a fairly lengthy writeup of the history on it: Spaceport Michigan
I had thought at first that a main motivating factor was access to certain orbits, but it seems the more important thing was having a wide area downrange for spent rocket stages to land – in that case, Lake Superior. That article mentions that they had to think about commercial freighter traffic in that area, however, as well as military air traffic over that part of North America. The latter would not be so much of a factor now, since Sawyer base closed years ago (though it does still serve as an international airport, it seems) and the only other airports with significant civilian traffic up that way are Hancock and Marquette; Duluth should be far enough away that necessary airspace detours on launch days would not be too much of a hassle.
I had thought to try to find that old rocket base on my trip up there, but it’s tucked away off several miles of back roads with which, I was told, my Civic would have serious problems if I were to make the attempt. And I wasn’t really up for a fifteen-mile hike that day, so….
Long story short, I guess it’s not completely wacky, but it just wouldn’t feel right to me. On the other hand, I’d like to see folks up there with some good jobs. Well, fortunately it isn’t up to me.
om,
Doesn’t matter what you’re trying to launch; people, dogs, monkeys or communications satellites, the closer to the equator the faster the initial boost from the Earth’s spin. It’s pretty straightforward. The Earth takes 23 hours 56 minutes and ~4 seconds to rotate completely on its axis (we’ll round up to 24 hours). Detroit, Michigan is at about 40 degrees latitude (north), and the Earth’s circumference there is about 19,080 miles. The Earth’s circumference at 0 degrees latitude (north or south ;-)) is about 25,000 miles. Something traveling 25,000 miles every 24 hours travels faster than something that only travels 19,080 miles every 24 hours, so that’s why we want to launch close to (or from) the equator.
The way I heard the story is that when the U.S. was looking for a location to put Cape Canaveral as a launching site the two big criteria were close to the equator and on the East coast so any errant rockets could be blown up safely over the open ocean. (Launching to the west goes against the Earth’s rotation and instead of getting a boost you get a lag.) So unless we wanted to conquer Brazil, Florida was the best we could do.
However, Florida is subject to hurricane activity and we wanted to minimize the risk of hurricanes. When geologists looked at the coastline they found little evidence of hurricanes reaching landfall near Titusville*, so that’s why they located Cape Canaveral where they did.
*Titusville does get hurricanes passing over it. Some hurricanes literally cover the entire state of Florida. It’s just that they rarely seem to do a direct hit there.
Rufus T Firefly:
Thanks for the explaination. The USSR was never blessed with such geography and shipping manned rockets to Havana for launch never was in the plan of the Fearless Leader or Mr. Big.
LAURENCE JARVIK:
I believe you are making a host of unwarranted assumptions. The family has already said they were told initially that he died of a blood clot and stroke but that other than that they haven’t received any more word. I see no reason to imagine that GOP members of Congress have been told anything. They are trying to get Wray to tell them. My sense is that the original report to the family – blood clot and stroke – is what the autopsy revealed (if indeed there ever was an autopsy), and the FBI is trying to pin that cause of death on some Trump supporter or supporters before they release any information on it.
Has anybody heard from the Kopechne family in the last few decades?
Lee on March 3, 2021 at 2:33 pm said:
VERY unlikely that there was an autopsy, as he was cremated so soon after his passing. Autopsies typically don’t release the corpse for a couple of days.
This stinks to high heaven.
Agreed. I think there was but it is being kept secret because it does not support the narrative. Cremation means no second autopsy if there is a dispute. Very smelly.
Has anybody heard from the Kopechne family in the last few decades?
Her father and mother lived quite long lives (both past 90) and died in 2003 and 2007 respectively. The Kopechnes were married in 1939 and Mary Jo was by what accounts I’ve read their only child. She herself was unmarried and childless at the time of her death.
She had about 25 first cousins. It wouldn’t surprise me if a double-digit set were still alive.