Yes, that was my first reaction when I saw him and his female coworker being interviewed myself. Until I realized that he was a far left reporter following the crowd and documenting the crowds crimes. He basically has video proof of his activities that show he wasn’t part of the protest and he recorded the woman being shot as she tried to enter the house chamber legally (and stupidly). He came forward immediately with that video. He wasn’t sneaking into the group to incite violence, but was documenting their crimes. A fine journalist who put his life in danger to report the story.
I dunno. I saw some video of him walking among the crowd in the hall of statues. He was smiling, not filming - at least at that time.
I would think that would be an uncomfortable situation for a person of color, but I’m not sure how much leeway I give someone to participate in illegal activities under the guise of being a self-proclaimed journalist. Just because I may not disagree with his politics (at least not as much as I disagree with the others’ politics) doesn’t IMO excuse his actions. How about anyone on the other side who claims they were just there to record what was happen as “journalists”?
I don’t know that it excuses everything. He should probably be cited for trespassing, as he was, and even if he were a journalist of a media outlet of record, that still doesn’t give you a free pass.
But, as long as he wasn’t breaking things or otherwise participating in the insurrection, that’s about as far as I would go.
And to be honest, I would say the same for anyone else, including right wingers, who were just there to document the happenings, as long as that was all they were doing, and not also helping to incite the actions and the violence.
I assume you meant illegally?
It’s an interesting issue, and an increasingly difficult one in an era of “citizen journalism,” with blogs and vlogs and everyone owning a device that can record audio, pictures, and video.
Where courts have addressed the issue, they have tended to construe the freedom of the press provision of the first amendment quite broadly. That is, you don’t have to be employed by a recognized news organization to be protected as a member of the press. These rulings have sometimes been in cases where police have arrested or otherwise harassed members of the public who were recording police activity, but were not actually hindering the police.
I’m not aware of any cases where the courts have specifically ruled on a situation like this, where people accompanied a trespassing mob in order to record and document its actions. This doesn’t mean that no such cases exist; my legal reading is for my own interest, and not part of my job, so I don’t have time to keep up with every new development in first amendment law.
I see this becoming a major sticking point in trying to convict criminal activity of those trying to claim they were there simply to record the proceedings and nothing else.
I’m all down for anyone who entered the Capitol to be cited for trespassing.
What more they should be charged with would be based on their actions.
It is not entirely clear that Sullivan is “far left” at all. From Rebellion Baby’s twitter thread, it looks like he is just a guy who like to stir up shit, using protests/insurrection as a medium for party down. I mean, nihilists, fuck me, say what you will about the tenets of national socialism, at least they had an ethos.
He’s been charged with ‘entering a restricted building’, same as many of the other people who were in the Capitol without committing violence. Does he get a pass under 1st Amendment because he was videoing? Lots of others who entered the restricted building were taking videos as well.
Unless they’re wearing insignia of some organization or other. And PLENTY of them were. Or screaming some version of ‘F*** the government’, or ‘Hang Spence!’. They def shouldn’t get a pass from Federal charges, I think. They clearly had an agenda. A dangerous to the public, and the well being of the state, agenda.
They don’t have to do jail time, but they should lose their guntoting and voting privileges, pay some hefty fines, restitution, and lots community service. And ‘No Fly List’ status for a year or two. Give them the choice between that or Federal prison see where they fall.
No, what he did was foolish and he should be prosecuted along with everyone else. You cannot embed yourself in a group committing illegal acts under the guise of journalism, or you open up the same defense to everyone in the group. Perhaps they were all journalists monitoring each other?
The only way such a thing could possibly work would be if he were some kind of confidential informant officially registered ahead of time with law enforcement.
“Spence - I hate that guy!”
Really?
I get that journalism is important, and the First Amendment and all, but does declaring oneself a “journalist” give one a pass for doing the exact same shit that others are being arrested and prosecuted for?
Anybody with a cell phone can say they’re a journalist.
There was an interview with one genius who was out to get “Peloski”. The Secret Service could probably just have put a Lone Ranger mask on Pence & Pelosi and walked them out straight through the mob.
I think the Fly Guy with his white GI Joe hair is just too distinctive for that to work.
According to the Just the News story,
So, maybe a “journalist”, maybe just a dick.
A journalist in the sense that some guy visiting pedophile sites is “researching”.
Not only that. He’s the dumbass who ultimately succeeded in “concern trolling” away the police guarding the door. Had he not urged them to leave, making explicit reference to the threat of the crowd he was with as motivation, those officers might not have moved aside, and that other dumbass (Ashli Babbitt) might not have gotten her chance at martyrdom.
He wasn’t just filming. He was an active participant who may well have been decisive in precipitating at least one death.
FWIW, not that I think it matters if he is truly a liberal or a leftist or whatever, but I am not exactly inclined to accept as true any protestations someone like this might make as to their true political leanings. Dylan Roof could release a statement through attorneys tomorrow in which he confesses that he really is and always has been an devoted Social Justice Warrior and that he only murdered his victims to highlight how bad the right is through a one-man false flag operation, but I wouldn’t care to believe him on his word alone.
I’m fine with charging everyone and letting them have their day in court. If prosecutors uncover new exculpatory evidence, charges can dropped before trial. That’s how the system is supposed to work, I think.
A clip of Lauren Boebert speaking on the morning of the sixth
She seems to have an odd speaking style, gapping between every 2 or 3 words. It is not pleasant.