The award-winning writer and founder of the adversarial news site The Grayzone journalist and best-selling author Max Blumenthal, had his apartment swarmed by D.C police who pounded on his door and demanded that he open it, or it will be broken down. Max admitted to journalist and comedian Jimmy Dore that he was debating in his mind whether or not to open the door or let the officers destroy his property.
Max noticed police had his apartment surrounded, and instead of allowing the police to kick his door in, he opened his door, and armed officers swarmed into his livingroom and presented Max with a warrant for his arrest. DC police then arrested Max Blumenthal on a five-month-old warrant for simple assault stemming from an event in which Max Blumenthal attempted to smuggle food into the Venezuelan Embassy to activists of the Embassy Protection Collective.
The Embassy Protection Collective were guarding the Venezuelan Embassy to prevent it from being taken over by far-right Venezuelan activists. Who supported the ongoing attempted coup in Venezuela to overthrow President Maduro and replace him with Juan Guaido. Max Blumenthal and his colleagues at The Grayzone not only exposed the coup attempt in Venezuela, but they went to Venezuela and disproved the mainstream media’s propaganda in real-time.
No media outlet covered the coup attempt in Venezuela better than The Grayzone. Max Blumenthal did not have his house surrounded by police because they thought Max was going to escape out of a secret tunnel. They did not raid Max’s home because of a five-month-old bogus assault charge. Max Blumenthal had the sanctity of his home violated and was put in shackles for the egregious crime of telling the truth. Max has not perpetrated a single crime, but he has committed numerous thoughtcrimes.
From “Day of the Dead” back in 2002 to “Goliath” in 2014, Max Blumenthal has been reporting the truth. Max told the truth about the war crimes committed by Israel in Palestine at the Russel Tribunal on Palestine in 2014. Max told the truth about the chemical weapon attacks in Syria, the White Helmets, Saudi Arabia’s war crimes Yemen, Israel’s occupation Palestine, the false narratives around Russiagate, and the attempted coup in Venezuela. We should not be surprised that mainstream media refused to cover Max Blumenthal’s arrest, because he makes the mainstream media look inept just by having a moral foundation and being a real journalist.
The establishment sent a clear message to Max Blumenthal, which is that they can take his liberty away from him. Max doesn’t even have to commit a crime because what Max Blumenthal’s arrest has told us is that the government will manufacture charges against you. The government would love to lock Max in a Communication Management Unit and throw away the key. These false charges leveled against Max Blumenthal and the vindictive way in which Max’s arrest was carried out is a warning shot across the bow of independent journalism.
Max Blumenthal told journalist Aaron Mate on his show PushBack that he reread the warrant issued against him, and it listed Max as “armed and dangerous” this was not done because the police assumed or had any evidence that Max was armed and dangerous. Max was listed as armed and dangerous so that the police department could carry out their arrest warrant as if Max was an armed and dangerous violent criminal. DC Police wanted to swarm Max Blumenthal’s apartment with numerous officers with weapons drawn and a door ram purely to intimidate Max Blumenthal and any other independent journalist who dares to speak truth to power.
Max was shackled for five hours and incarcerated for thirty-six hours. Max was put in holding cell with about fifty other people, some of them also had the same charges of simple assault, but their cases were thrown out. A court officer even told Max Blumenthal that simple assault charges always get dismissed— yet the government is pursuing this case that has no merit against a journalist— which is a gross violation of press freedoms in this country. The mainstream media decries assaults against press freedoms ad nauseam, and then they are either silent or gleeful when real journalists are targeted by powerful governments.
Joziah Thayer is a researcher with the Pursuance Project. He founded WEDA in 2014 to combat mainstream media narratives. He is also an antiwar activist and the online organizer behind #OpYemen. This article was originally published on his website and is reprinted with permission.
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