Progressives wrote Althea Bernstein’s lie.
One of life’s enduring mysteries is how a con artist like Al Sharpton gets a news and commentary program on cable television (albeit MSNBC). Sharpton promoted the Tawana Brawley hoax, which destroyed careers and prompted a suicide. The race huckster has never apologized for it. Far from it, his flogging of that fake hate crime launched a career worth millions of dollars. (Pay your taxes, Al.)
Everyone connected to the Althea Bernstein hoax needs to apologize, starting with the young woman herself. She won’t heal — Madison won’t heal — until she makes a public confession of her guilt and begs our forgiveness.
Until then, we call on U.S. District Attorney Scott Blader to prosecute. Althea Bernstein is an adult. She knew what she was doing. She with malice aforethought fanned the flames of racial hatred as surely as any Klansman.
So must Michael Johnson apologize. He is the Bernstein family’s spokesman and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club. Madison’s Al Sharpton. Said he couldn’t think of a more obvious example of a hate crime.
“Here’s a young lady that was minding her own business and somebody decided to set her on fire, and it’s unacceptable,” Johnson said. “Somebody tried to cause bodily harm because of the color of their skin.”
So must Madison Mayor Satya atone for her official statement that “This is a horrifying and absolutely unacceptable crime that I will not tolerate in Madison.”
So must Capital Times emeritus editor Dave Zweifel, who swallowed the improbable tale whole and — incredibly! — in a nakedly partisan attack blamed Republican legislators for condemning the riots that night [06-23/24-2020] but for “saying nary a word about the white guys who threw lighter fluid in the face of a Black young woman stopped at a traffic light and set her afire.”
So must former Progressive magazine editor Ruth Coniff: “Worst of all was the horrifying attack on Althea Bernstein, a bright, loving young woman …” In forgiving her attackers, Coniff wrote, “Bernstein’s open-heartedness seems almost superhuman.”
So must the two most stupid people in the United Kingdom, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who signaled their privileged wokeness by promoting this obvious deception.
So must Good Morning America, which aired a sympathetic interview with the non-victim. So must Wisconsin Public Radio and other “news” outlets who reported the lurid fable without even the hedge word “allegedly.” Their eager credulity fed hyperbole like this one:
“Attack on Althea Bernstein seems linked to Boogaloo Boys”
Some were never fooled
A few weeks after this non-crime, Blaska Policy Werkes concluded that “This hoax is for progressive folks.” (Only in the English language would “hoax” rhyme with “folks.”) It never passed the smell test for a host of reasons — the four frat boys on a shut-down campus — carrying charcoal lighter fluid down State Street!, the lighter that stayed lit, the 24/7 cameras coming up empty, etc. All on the same night of the riot in Downtown Madison that tore down statues and tried to immolate the City-County Building.
We wrote then, after Jussie Smollett, that some of us have learned to hold our fire until the facts are in. After Michael Brown (“Hands up, don’t shoot”) was found to be an urban myth five years ago. It’s why kids in Madison public schools make up stories about racial hate, like that bratty girl at Whitehorse middle school who got Mr. Rob fired. Even the Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake stories are crumbling.
These narratives are critical to BLM/Antifa/Progressive Dane and other Marxists to Defund the Police, to Derail the Jail, to demonize white people, and to excuse criminality.
Racism works both ways
Michael Johnson was correct about one thing: “This is an escalation of racial tensions felt all across the country,” he said when he was promoting a story he so desperately wanted to believe. To convince people that America is racist, as Dennis Prager said, you have to fake it.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Sadly, progressives yearn to believe any cockamamie story that alleges the worst about America. Their AmeriKKKa is irredeemably, institutionally racist. (1619 Project, anyone?) No wonder impressionable people like young Ms. Bernstein try to become heroes by pretending to be victims.
62 responses to “Faking a hate crime is a hate crime”
Simple good manners, and indeed restorative justice for the soul, might suggest that she be compelled to write a full, reflective apology to the Madison Police, and to each individual fraternity on the University of Wisconsin campus.
Perhaps she could present her letters in person to four randomly-selected fraternity members.
Who else was invited to Satya’s “briefing?” And why did she need to give a heads up to these “community leaders?”
I’ll tell you why. Because she didn’t want them digging the hole any deeper by protesting the systemic racism that resulted in dropping the case. She didn’t want one of those hasty, errant protests against police like they had in Monona last week. That perp clearly shot himself to death, but that didn’t prevent immediate protests that accused the police of lying about it.
The last thing she wants is for BLM and Freedom Inc. to look as stupid as they actually are.
Interesting (IMO) comment (typos/poor grammar included) from a channel3000.com article Family of Althea Bernstein Provides Update Week After ALLEGED HATE CRIME:
“Jim Loftus As Firemedic with many experiences with flameable liquid burns. Lighter fluid burns would have drip marks. Meaning smaller towards the bottom. Alsmost like a tear drop. Fluid runs down. Thanks to that crazy thing called GRAVITY. Also here hair would have got singed. Look at how close the marks are to her hair. If it was fire. I am guessing it had something to those peaceful protesting happening that night where people were throwing Molotov Cocktails at police and buildings. There is a reason the media is not promoting this story much anymore. As for nurse at the hospital she supposely told her not to call the police because high on meds she was giving. NOT ONE PERSON IN THE HOSPITOL WOULD EVER DO THAT. They would open up themselves and hospital for liability.” (bolds/italics mine)
Other…um…externalities:
*They appear to be accelerant blow-back burns.
*No hair burned.
*Alleged victim waits 16 hours to seek medical treatment.
*No “lighter” that “stayed lit” while being “thrown” found/admitted as evidence.
*Despite the “perfect storm” no major media picking this up and staying with it until the moron Royals “reached out,” but even that’s subsided.
*No video evidence of four (4) “classic Wisconsin Frat Boyz” yahooin’ it up, and
*”Frat Boyz” on a campus that’s been closed for ~ 3 months, AND during summer break, would stick out like a sore @$$.
*No cellphone footage despite there being any number of them in the vicinity
*Her desire to “move past this” and “hope” her alleged assailants might “learn” from it.
Hmmm!
The Gotch
I agree with everything in the blog above. Everything that she has said is a lie. But she DID get burned, and lied about it. How? Why? I read the entire (heavily redacted) case file from the link provided here yesterday, and here is my theory. (I assume the police ruled out “hard core” Antifa status for her and the boyfriend. Hundreds watch arson and heavy fireworks, few are close enough to get burned.) Willie (her brother) doesn’t want her driving his car because it is “unreliable” . When she goes to leave the boyfriends house to return the car, after sitting for hours it won’t start. She puts on the sweatshirt, pops the hood, and not having a flashlight in the darkness, she uses her lighter to see. WHOOOMP!!!!, followed by more darkness and a very hot face. She gets the car started, returns it, but her face is burned. Does she tell Willie that she almost blew up his car? Does she tell the world that she looked for a gas leak with a lighter? (No one is THAT stupid!) It is common knowledge that hundreds of “white supremacists” have gathered in Madison to riot, burn, and besmirch the “peaceful protesters” – so just blame them. It will be no big deal, just an “incident”. This would fit everything in the narrative (timeline, all cars smell like gas to dogs, lack of evidence inside the car, initial attempts to downplay the experience, etc.). If you know anyone involved with the investigation, ask them if Willie’s car had a small gas line leak.
“we call on U.S. District Attorney Scott Blader to prosecute” …
I can’t quickly tell, without more digging than I’m inclined to do, just which authorities she talked, which is to say lied, to if any. Did she talk to federal authorities? If she did, she could be charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 1001, (felony to make material false statements to federal investigators; think: Michael Flynn). If she didn’t, then what would be the possible charge?
State charge would be similar. Lying to police officers is obstructing, 946.41, “knowingly giving false information to the office” (Class A, 9-months in jail, misdemeanor). Nonetheless, calling on DA Ozanne to prosecute that offense would be an exercise in futility, I imagine. Unless and until the Madison electorate sees fit to punish Ozanne and Mayor Satya at the ballot box — and those prospects appear bleak — then the inconvenient truth of Althea Bernstein’s lying is destined for the memory hole.
Now it will just be another statistic. Since she wasn’t charged with lying, it would just go down as not proven. But that won’t stop the liberal groups from adding it to their total of hate crimes comitted during 2020.
AP story today says: “But footage does show her in Middleton, a suburb about 15 minutes from downtown Madison, just before 1 a.m. GPS data from her phone corroborates that as her location, the reports said.”
Oh, and is Althea getting a pass because of her family’s status and connections in the community?
What exactly IS her family’s status and connections in the community?
The Gotch
I don’t know but I note that she was on CCAP before when I checked and today she is not. I believe she was adopted by a local nonracial-minority family. Something stinks.
Curious -w was she on CCAP for?
She’s getting a pass because she’s the right color and gender.
It is amazing how fast they are trying to hide this story on their site, versus how fast and prominent they made the story of evil white people in Madison and cast Republicans as part of the problem. A fascinating story from the beginning, and even more amazing how she failed to think through that there would be GPS evidence quickly dispelling her lie. I love how the memories were starting to fade from her memory in August. And what about the systemic racism that allowed so many people to believe the stories could be true… that all white people are somehow evil unless they publicly profess their guilt.
“I love how the memories were starting to fade from her memory in August.”
Memory loss of this particular type of Inconvenient Truth happens to be a certifiable manifestation of the (drum roll) systemically oppressive RAYcist White Supremacist Patriarchal Sovereignty!
The Gotch
Difficult to remember something that never happened.
“Difficult to remember something that never happened.”
Only until you GET CAUGHT…
The Gotch
Restitution by Althea? P’roly the same result as Tawana…
“2013 -Fifteen Years Later, Tawana Brawley Has Paid 1 Percent Of Penalty”
“In 1998, Steven Pagones, who was the county prosecutor at the time, won a defamation suit against Sharpton, Brawley and Brawley’s attorneys. They had accused Pagones of being among Brawley’s attackers.”
“It’s been 15 years. With interest, the judgment against the now 40-year-old Brawley has grown to more than $430,000.” It was $190K originally….
BUT she should at least offer a sincere mea culpa for all the distress (and huge expense) for her narcissistic behavior. And so should ALL of those Dave mentioned, who promulgated & supported her OBVIOUS humbug…
So what’s the big deal if Althea is allowed to skip on this one considering how many of you guilty white devils have gone free because of your connections, affluence, and white privilege?
Name them.
Common SJW:
I don’t have to name them because I don’t speak with the white devil and besides my H.S. teachers and college professors taught us all about the horribly unfair disparities in sentencing so I know it’s true plus my parents and all my friends agree with me!
On a serious note:
One could spend hours if not days researching the plethora of studies and that is probably what it would take to begin to notice the truth on the subject.
Here is a partial of one interesting study that seems pretty well done and unbiased.
https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/research-projects-and-surveys/miscellaneous/15-year-study/chap4.pdf
Thanks, lots to assimilate, but I’ll check manana w/ coffee..
So what’s the big deal if Althea is allowed to skip on this one considering how many of you guilty white devils have gone free because of your connections, affluence, and white privilege?
Asking for an acquaintance.
Guess this makes up for Hunter Biden in your world but some of us would prefer that both of them face some consequences.
This most definitely has to be prosecuted, not just on its own merits, but because not prosecuting it only emboldens would-be hoaxers. She may be young, but she’s not a child, either.
Those perpetuating and fanning identity & grievance politics are self-serving grifters who could care less about helping at-risk Black communities. If they did, they’d put the focus on scholarship and family values instead of blaming the cops and “nefarious” white people.
I hope every Black person would realize that they are being used as pawns, and that when the hucksters move on to their next grift, the at-risk Black communities will still be where it was before. Actually, they’ll have fewer police resources because of progressive policies.
These hucksters are not just grifters, though: They’re RACISTS. Degrading an entire group of people because of the color of their skin IS racism. How dare they try to classify all of us or judge us by my ethnicity rather than character? How DARE they.
Also shameful is the complete silence from the people you mentioned, plus anyone who ran with this before allowing due process to take its course.
This form of RACISM is destroying the soul of this nation, and I don’t respect or trust for a split second ANYONE who participates in it. That goes for the two-faced, weak-minded phonies who backpeddle when (if) this virus of hate abates.
AMEN. Only thing I’d add is that in today’s world, and especially in Madison, a “focus on scholarship” by definition means expanding true school choice. This also means embracing vouchers rather than just more (controllable) charter schools. Give poor and middle class families the opportunity to leave the Plantation and then STAND BACK. We’ll see how dumb and incompetent some of these folks really are.
Agreed, Amos.
Controllable is the key word. School is where much of the leftist indoctrination begins, and school choice would derail the Progressives’ sick need to control the message.
I so want Black Americans (all Americans really) to reach their full potential. When they’re stronger, we’re stronger as a nation.
This is not going to happen if students are being taught they’re either oppressors or victims, that their racial composition trumps their character, accomplishments, and even efforts. I’d go as far as to say that this child abuse.
It is MOST CERTAINLY child abuse in my book.
Fun to learn of Althea’s boyfriends Bill and Melinda Gates connection . Here’s Nick Livingston in “Gateway to “College” (or is it more like BLM Patrise Cullors Marxist Training for their Corporate Billionaire sponsors) The pic in the article is HILARIOUS w/ the invocation by one “student” ; ” I just want to be famous, to be quite honest.” https://www.wiscnews.com/news/local/education/university/dropouts-bypass-high-school-drama-on-way-to-college-success-at-matc/article_ade58278-4b11-5243-9017-9281e8057bb4.html
I read the linked article and do not understand why you have a problem with this program.
Could you please explain?
Well, The indoctrinaires (monopoly BILLIONAIRES like BM gates) see some slip their grasp, some who need more of a Nudge to an entrencht position in the “progressive” system , a “self-ownership” of their enslavement. and be “Grateful !” for that support that “got them” in “college” , meaning being erased to a more “Collectivist” spirit of obedience to their “higher calling” (Debt-slavery comes in a miriad of forms and billionaires have the $$, and the psychological research to forward and fold in many a YOUNGish outlier ) I bet dollars to donuts that Nick, Althea and many others in this program are OUT IN THE STREETS Burning down their “enemy” to their “self-actualization”.
Ugh. I must check spelling/grammar , at least a little , (fr cryin’ out loud) before “post”. Sorry for the mess.
Do you all remember Audrey Seiler, the UW-Madison college student who faked her own kidnapping? She rightfully had to pay restitution to the city and I believe, get professional help.
I was outraged that she did what she did to the city, but at least she was held accountable.
Double standards?
There are two things Madison’s clueless elites do especially well: double standards and denial. They’ll take their cue from the Duke and Dutchess of Suussex: stick your royal snoot in the air and pretend none of this ever happened.