I recently watched a video of Blaze TV’s James Poulos interviewing Steve Baker, author, journalist and host of his own podcast entitled The Pragmatic Constitutionalist. The general theme of the latter being the relentless erosion of the law and our personal freedoms here in the “progressive” West, Baker quite naturally wished to discuss his findings regarding the “legal” proceedings being conducted against the various ringleaders of the Jan 6 “insurrection.”
Did you know there were 1700 cameras in and around the Capitol recording the events of that day, which yielded 41000 hours of video evidence? Apparently Baker and only 4 other journalists had, at the point of this interview, been granted access to that evidence. Given what he saw, Baker became increasingly uncomfortable as he watched the trials of certain individuals he felt were being scapegoated, seeing the evidence used to depict them as fanatics intent on overthrowing the government, as highly tainted. Not only, he says, was a good deal of potentially exonerating video not presented in their defense, but some of what was presented was inconsistent with what he had seen, indeed seemed utterly fabricated.
Apparently prevented from speaking freely on certain issues by a “protective order” he had been compelled to sign, Baker refused in the interview in question to expand upon his concerns. But he did reveal with some outrage that he had been informed in Nov. of 2021 that he would likely be charged with illegally entering the Capitol building as he sought to record the events of Jan. 6. Finally subpoenaed this past Aug. for “interstate racketeering,” he finds it absurd that Biden’s DOJ is in essence trying to punish him for profiting from the videos he shot that day, videos which have been used by numerous organizations [i.e., the N.Y. Times] in their subsequent coverage.
Shortly after 1 P.M. on the 6th, hearing the uproar emerging from within the confines of the Capitol, Baker started his camera and proceeded to investigate what was happening. Is it because he is a known “conservative,” he wonders, that he is being prosecuted for simply trying to report the facts? Why, I ask myself, when the mainstream has been relentless and grossly overblown in its condemnation of the “insurrectionists,” has one who might offer a more balanced view been forced into silence by some “protective order”? In his interview with Poulos, Baker says he is continuing his research and may soon be free to speak. I look forward to what he has to say.
No doubt it will include details such as the Capitol Police willingly opening doors at several points of entry and allowing the crowds to peacefully wander in. No doubt it will not delete, unlike the hypocrites at CNN and elsewhere, Trump’s request that the demonstration be conducted “peacefully” and “patriotically.” Baker, as do I, admits some criminal charges are fully warranted. His outrage, as is mine, is with the brazenly Leftist bias with which the day’s events have been portrayed. But even more disgusting than the mainstream media’s refusal to report the facts honestly and impartially, is Biden’s use of the Department of Justice to silence those such as Baker. When the Law becomes a tool for the suppression of Free Speech, Democracy is clearly in peril. Sadly, that would seem to be true in many sectors of the “progressive” West!