Raleigh J6 journalist under threat of arrest, State Auditor pleads guilty, Durham Council Member accused of extortion
No. 12 — Mar. 19-25, 2023
Independent journalist from Raleigh under threat of arrest for covering January 6th
This Tuesday, local journalist Steve Baker appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show to talk about how he was threatened with arrest by the DOJ for covering the riot at the Capitol Building on January 6th, 2021. Baker has been writing under The Pragmatic Constitutionalist for years, and had travelled to DC to cover the protest/rally. At the end of 2021, the FBI interviewed Baker, and informed him that he would be arrested and charged for covering the riot (see Baker’s press release). Over a year later, the DOJ has not followed through, but Baker still faces the possibility of arrest as he continues to investigate and publish articles about January 6th which run contrary to the government’s desired narrative. (Note, this is not the same Steve Baker who was arrested after livestreaming at the Capitol on January 6th)
State Auditor Beth Wood pleads guilty in hit-and-run case
Although the State Auditor has now plead guilty to in relation to the hit-and-run from December, Wood has indicated that she will not resign. Wood told the judge she had only had two glasses of wine before the accident, and was not impaired. Two men who were passengers in Wood’s car at the time have now been charged with misdemeanors as well.
Profanity-filled outburst follows criminal allegations at Durham council meeting
Durham City Council member Monique Holsey-Hyman has been accused of extorting a developer. Holsey-Hyman allegedly suggested to a property developer that she would support a project in exchange for a donation to her campaign. As a newcomer to politics (Holsey-Hyman was appointed to her seat in 2022), perhaps she was not aware that the exchange of financial support for political favors is best left unstated. An outright request for such an exchange is quite gauche, as well as potential indicative of a sting operation.
After the meeting, fellow council member DeDreana Freeman was caught on camera by WRAL screeching at Mayor Pro-Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton over the allegations: “This is how you treat black women!” Middleton is black, like all but one of the council members.
Freeman is also quoted by WRAL taking a classic critical theory/intersectional approach to defending Holsey-Hyman:
"It's troubling how this has come forward, and it's been troubling me as a matter of the way in which council member Hyman has explained the mis-representations that she did explain, and how it's dismissed in a very matter of fact ways," Freeman said. "It's often dismissed whenever a woman is speaking at this dais.”
Does Freeman truly believe that a white male council member would not have been reported and investigated for the same behavior? We’ll probably never know.