…. ends up just being bullshit!

Before the bitter, washed-up, hacks who compile this column get stuck into dear old Aunty for one unlast time, let’s all remind ourselves of what verify means.

Pretty definitive, right?

So let’s now have some fun with this overnight ABC NEWS Verify segment (at top and below).

Either-or doesn’t sound much like verifying, does it? Maybe they didn’t write the online heading, but surely when Lucy Carter and Michael Workman put their names to a commentary column called Verify, they should be able to take a view that any sensible, rational, decent person would be entirely warranted in coming to – that the ICE shooting of that innocent US citizen and mother of three was anything but SELF FUCKING DEFENCE?

We’ll also quibble briefly with the view that a column about that shooting shouldn’t start with this…

The fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman by immigration agents in the US city of Minneapolis has sparked a political firestorm.

In a statement released shortly after the incident, the Department of Homeland Security stated that “violent rioters weaponised” a vehicle and attempted to run over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots,” the statement said.

US President Donald Trump then posted a short, slowed-down clip of the shooting on Truth Social, claiming it showed:

“The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer.”

Even if Carter and Workman were simply reporting that death, even an opening five pars like this before offering the alternative view of what happened would be very questionable.

But it’s what they write as their own commentary based on their own observations that sparked the MGH‘s interest. Here they are assessing one of the many videos taken before, during and after the shooting.

ABC NEWS Verify has examined multiple videos and angles of the shooting and its aftermath.

One of the clearest videos starts 16 seconds before the shooting takes place.

An unmarked grey utility vehicle that had a flashing light visible in the side window pulled up to the scene and two armed ICE officers walked up to a stationary maroon SUV that appeared to be blocking a snowy road.

The two officials can be heard asking the driver of the maroon vehicle to step out of the car.

Twelve seconds into the clip the maroon car’s reverse lights can be seen before the agent reached the driver’s side door.

A second later, the agent attempted to open the driver’s door and the maroon vehicle reversed.

A third ICE agent can then be seen standing in front of the maroon car as it reversed and moved forward.

The third ICE agent pulled a weapon and proceeded to jump out of the way of the maroon car as it drove forward and to the right. It is unclear if the vehicle struck him.

The vehicle’s tyres appeared to be turning right as it went forward and not towards the ICE agent.

That agent fired three shots in quick succession into the front windscreen and through the open side window of the maroon car, which then continued forward and crashed into two parked cars further down the road.

Okay, back to us again.

To say that the third ICE man was standing in front of the car as it reversed and moved forward is wrong. The woman’s car turned quite a way to the right before he was momentarily in front of it and then beside it. Any inference that that third ICE officer was ever put in any danger and needed to protect himself or others from harm or worse would be wrong.

Any vision the MGH has seen – even any slowed down and maybe manipulated by Trump or the
White House does not show the ICE shooter “proceeding to jump out of the way” as the victim’s car veered right.

It is very clear to anyone watching the same videos Carter and Workman viewed professionally over and over again that it was very clear the victim’s car DID NOT strike the shooter.

And, yes, her vehicle’s wheels were not just appearing to turn right but were ALWAYS TURNING RIGHT. Appearing might be a fair word to use in journalism but it gets a bit wishy-washy sometimes and open to misinterpretation.

Which means, as our final clip shows …

… the third ICE man was well left of the woman’s vehicle and … we repeat … in no danger of his life nor was he shooting in self-defence. He’d go down for murder if the US could still find 12 decent, honest, fair-minded citizens to judge his actions.

So what should our verifyiers written and in what order, given the disgraceful far-right-wing interpretations of that killing that erupted out of the White House and Trump and V.D Chance’s lying lips, totally ignoring what any sane, reasonable, decent person around the world actually saw? The absolute bullshit that poured out of their mouths so quickly after the shooting was about as clear an example you can get of the deep shit the USA is in at the moment.

MGH strongly believes that Carter and Workman would have been totally entitled to call out these vile assessments and stop attempting some sort of balance they maybe think they are required to show seeing they work for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. As our heading at top suggests; seeking balance when none is deserved leads sadly to what we’ll call bullshit.

They could have verifyingly displayed matters truly and accurately without any hint whatsoever that they have breached Aunty’s journalism standards. Or if they worked anywhere else, for that matter.

True, they should leave it to platforms like The Bug to call out the USA’s descent into oblivion and the way we get stuck into the vile, fascist and ruthless dictatorship that Demented Don … sorry, President Trump! – is hellbent on creating but just every now and then, ABC journos must be entitled to call a spade a spade, especially in a commentary column called Verify, but only using far better language and descriptors than we use, of course.

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