Yves here. I am particularly fond of posts that look at media coverage of important news stories. The aversion by many outlets to providing important details about the alleged Mangione assassination, such as withholding his short manifesto, demonstrates how their class and economic interests are skewing their coverage.
While on this topic, a wee sidetrack. Per the aversion of many in the power structure to give Mangione any more attention than he is already getting, the last thing they want is a trial. But Mangione has the money to hire good legal representation and seems very unlikely to cut a plea deal. I hope he has a food taster.
But assuming Mangione gets his day in court, and if I have it right that his first shot hit Brian Thompson in the calf, he could try claiming that he did not intend to kill him but to kneecap him, to subject him to the same pain that he and his mother had suffered. If he jury bought that, he’d still be likely to found guilty of manslaughter in the first degree. New York sentencing guidelines call for 5 to 25 years in prison.
If he still has regular back pain, those prison beds and chairs will only make it worse.
By Thomas Neuburger. Originally published at God’s Spies
CEOs come and go and one just went
The ingredients you got bake the cake you get
—Jesse Welles
From one point of view, media behavior in the Luigi Mangione case is bizarre. According to journalist Ken Klippenstein (video here), New York Times management has said they don’t want to show photos of Mangione, the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Klippenstein from his Substack:
NY Times Doesn’t Want You to See Shooter’s Face
Internal New York Times messages about its coverage of alleged gunman Luigi Mangione have been leaked to me and the contents are revealing. On Tuesday, management said “the news value and public service of showing his face is diminishing,” instructing staff to “dial back” its use of such photos.
“News value is diminishing” is the opposite of what’s true. As Klippenstein and the Breaking Points hosts point (see video linked above), big print media today is obsessed with traffic. With this order, they’re cutting their throats (metaphorically) to spite his face.
Klippenstein also notes that not just the Times, but all other media outlets who have Mangione’s “manifesto,” have refused to publish most of it. You can read the full document at Klippenstein’s site. It’s in fact little more than a note of explanation. But why is he alone in presenting it?
Three Reasons
There are three layers of reason for this odd behavior, both with respect to his photo and “manifesto,” each more instructive and important than the last.
The So-Called Copy-Cat Problem
The first and uppermost layer of reasoning is a professed fear of inspiring a copy-cat, someone so craven or weak-willed that they’ll copy the act. Call this the fanboy factor.
“I think we will still not pub the whole thing,[”] editor Andrea Kannapell added, “so as not to provide bullhorn.”
This has not stopped media in the past, however. Any number of killer “manifestos” have seen print, including both Dylann Roof’s and Ted Kazinsky’s in the Times. In addition, this document has been circulated widely but privately in both press and non-press circles. Clearly the copy-cat fear isn’t that strongly held.
The Times justification, according to the chat, is that photographs and words might have the effect of “amplifying the crime and inspiring others,” as reporter Andy Newman said. Besides the New York Times’ inflated view of its ability to de-amplify a crime that practically everyone is already talking about, the internal chat sheds light on the other arguably bigger reason the media shies away from disclosure […]
Captured by Sources or Eager Security Partners?
Klippenstein suspects a deeper reason: “its fear of antagonizing the sources it relies upon for scoops.”
News people clearly need sources among the cops and other “security” forces, and those sources are in position to extract concessions. “By donning the ‘public safety’ hat, the major media is in effect deputizing itself as a branch of the national security state,” writes Klippenstein.
He underplays their current delight in this role, but the observation is spot on. Ever since the summer of 2016 and emergent Trump-Russia allegations, big media, rightly or wrongly, has been gladly on board, seeing its duty as aiding the security state at every turn.
Why would it not do so here? After close to a decade of practice, it’s a well-trod path.
The Class War Comes Home
But the deeper reason, which Klippenstein doesn’t address, is in fact the most obvious. It’s so obvious that everyone but media is pointing it out.
The billionaire class, the maybe 1000 people who run the country plus a bunch of their CEOs, has been milking the country of cash since at least Reagan days, and we’ve been allowing it, willing if not eager participants.
Cows being milked (source)
Humans being milked (from The Matrix)
But the constant advantage-taking has taken its toll. Ever since Obama promised us hope-and-change…
…and failed to deliver, the nation has been pre-revolutionary. Certainly both Sanders campaigns showed that the hunger for relief was not just felt on the Right, but in the whole country.
Bernie Sanders rally, Minnesota, 2019
Crowd comparisons from the 2016 Democratic Party primary
For a variety of reasons, this discontent has given us President Trump two times out of three, and while many on the Right are best pleased, those on the Left or the silent uncared-about center (voters and non-voters alike) aren’t feeling well served.
Okay, that’s a euphemism. The nation is pissed. Health care in particular is a death trap for many, who pay and never get back, and then often die. UHC in particular is an industry apex predator:
And Thompson is a perfect example of a CEO class that, let’s be honest, kills for profit by aggressive denial of care. His compensation is estimated at $10 million per year and the company’s “hugely profitable 2025 financial outlook [includes] expected revenues upwards of $450 billion.”
People watch people die and the rich grow fat. How else to explain the massive swell of support for Mangione’s deed? It’s hard to find articles documenting it, but the phenomenon itself is rampant on Twitter and TikTok. And it’s not just the kids. Doctors and patients weigh in.
Check it out for yourself. People sing Mangione’s praise and almost literally dance above Thompson’s grave.