Weeks ago, I pressed Chansley's lawyer Al Watkins on whether his client would renounce QAnon. He first ducked the question and said his client would deliver a statement.
Chansley never did, and as seems clear here, stands by it.
After Chansley's self-professed shamanism won him organic meals behind bars, I reached out to a top shamanism scholar Michael Brown for context:
"Jacob Chansley’s shamanism bears scant resemblance to the real thing, although he gets high sartorial marks for headgear and ink."
FWIW, the argument that this topic does not deserve a platform strikes me as off-base and counterproductive.
This conspiracy theory helped inspire an insurrection, claims millions of adherents, and arguably closed a branch of Congress today.
It must be covered, critically.
More on the scholar's thoughts on "QAnon Shaman":
"Traditional shamans consume organic foods largely because that’s all they have access to. Some take hallucinogens as part of their practice, while others don’t."
(cont'd)
"But traditional shamanism is closely connected to specific communities and their cultural understandings, which hardly seems to be the case for him.
We certainly live in interesting times."
Not only must QAnon being covered closely and critically, I would argue that the national attention this case has gotten means there needs to be more public education about how shamanism has been traditionally understood vs. those who claim its mantle.
A few final thoughts:
1) Chansley did himself no favors in this interview, contradicting weeks of messaging by his lawyer that he's seen the errors of his ways and blames it all on Trump.
2) Prosecutors will likely mention that at his bail hearing, tomorrow.
Finally, interviewing people accused of acts of domestic (and international) terrorism has a long history in journalism.
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Watkins rattles off the civil, criminal and congressional actions and inquiries since the Jan. 6th siege.
He calls for a shifting of the dialogue from a "lynch mob" mentality, a phrase Watkins has repeatedly used to describe the *reaction* to the noose-brandishing pro-Trump mob.
Watkins:
"Jacob Chansley is 33 years old. He does not have a passport. He has zero criminal history."
Save for his military history, Chansley has never been out of the country, he adds.
During the ongoing detention hearing, prosecutors said that authorities found that Oath Keeper Jessica Watkins had bomb-making recipes from the "Anarchist's Cookbook."
Watkins just renounced the Oath Keepers during her detention hearing.
"My fellow Oath Keepers have kind of turned my stomach against it," she said, adding that she will cancel her membership when it is over and disband her militia in Ohio.
Jessica Watkins:
"We're done with that lifestyle... I think I'm going to focus on my business, your honor."
She added that she stands "humbled" and "humiliated."
As the Senate Homeland Security Committee probes the Capitol siege, a detention hearing is just about to begin in the case against Oath Keeper Jessica Watkins.
Both Durbin and Grassley brought up Garland's experience prosecuting the Oklahoma City bombing case.
The debut of my podcast "Objection" interviewed attorney Aitan Goelman, who was on Garland's team in that case and spoke about the parallels with Jan. 6. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/was…
Pressed by Grassley on whether he spoke to President Biden about his son Hunter, Judge Garland firmed responded: "The answer to your question is no."
He added that POTUS's public statements about the AG's independence are why he is seeking the position.
According to this website, it's steadily restoring now back to ~515,000—and anecdotally, I'm back in power and will be reporting again today. poweroutage.us/area/state/tex…
Compared to millions here in Houston, my wife and I've had it easier than most.
Our power went out for ~32 hours, including one chilly evening spent bundled up. Data was spotty. Downed traffic lights made driving treacherous, & the city's still on a boil-water notice.
But we're healthy, have a bottled-water supply, and were reasonably prepared for an event that had little advanced warning.
One handy item that kept us informed when our devices were down: a crank radio tuned into Houston Public Media