From the reaction of the establishment media you would think Sean Hannity and others raising questions about the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich had committed the crime themselves. Such collective, concentrated and contrived outrage always makes me suspicious. Throw in their jackbooted online allies at John Podesta’s Media Matters and I get really suspicious.

The Hypothetical

Let’s pose a hypothetical:

It’s July 2016, in the heat of the campaign. A Republican National Committee staffer is murdered under curious circumstances. A couple weeks later a website — let’s call it “TrikiLeaks” — begins publishing a trove of emails from the RNC that indicate some sort of collusion between the RNC, Donald Trump and Russia.

The owner of  TrikiLeaks hints that the dead staffer was involved. Even puts up some of his own cash as a reward for the capture of his killer. The RNC doesn’t let the FBI check its computers to determine the leak source. A TrikiLeaks operative denies the emails were from an outside hack, insisting he met up with an inside source in D.C.

A year later, with the crime still unsolved, a famed hacker with known connections to TrikiLeak, steps up and says, “Yeah, I was working with the RNC staffer. He was ticked at the collusion.” Meanwhile, an anonymous federal investigator tells CNN, “I saw the emails the staffer sent to TrikiLeaks.” A regular contributor to MSNBC says his police sources are telling him pressure from Republican politicians has put a damper on the investigation.

Question: What is the top story on CNN/MSNBC tonight and for the next month? What are the headlines from The New York Times and Washington Post?

The Twists and Insults

You know the answer: The late RNC staffer would be hailed as the greatest martyr since Joan of Arc. The RNC would be called the greatest crime syndicate since the Costra Nostra. As for President Trump? Well, he’s already compared to Hitler and they’re screaming for his impeachment. So I guess they’d be left to just scream “Murderer!”

Meanwhile, anyone who suggests the RNC staffer may have simply been the random victim of street thugs will be throttled and battered in a raging Twitter storm.

However, in this case we see something quite different. On Friday, The New York Times published “The Demented Detectives on Seth Rich’s Case.” CNN calls the possibility of Seth Rich’s involvement in the WikiLeaks exposure of DNC emails a “myth.” The Los Angeles Times calls it “nothing but noise.” The Washington Post calls it “absurd.” Vox calls it “bonkers.”

(Funny how the same folks that are calling those raising questions “bonkers” and “demented,” are the same people who insist Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton secretly met on a plane during the Hillary email investigation to discuss grandchildren.)

Seth Rich may or may not have been the source for the DNC WikiLeaks. His efforts may or may not have led to his death. Do your own searching.

However …

However, the murder is unsolved. Six-figure rewards have dangled unclaimed over the mean streets of Washington. The botched robbery theory is just that … a theory. And it is a simple fact, as revealed by the emails obtained by WikiLeaks, that the DNC conspired against Bernie Sanders on behalf of Hillary Clinton. Plainly put, Sanders got robbed.

My point: It is hardly “bonkers” to propose that a young, gifted and gung-ho Bernie Sanders supporter became disillusioned over how Sanders was robbed by the DNC and wanted to do something about it. (This is even before getting to the statements of Julian Assange and Kim DotCom.)

I see the photos of Rich dressed in clothes decorated with American flags, and I can’t help but picture Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. An earnest Midwesterner who believed the stories about government, only to discover the system and even his own hero were corrupt and eager to crush him. For any Sanders supporter — or even those who believe in a level playing field — what was going on within the DNC must have been devastating.

The Right-Wing Conservative Conspiracy Theory Conspiracy

Which gets to another of last week’s media deceptions, what I call “snake news.” How often did you hear the phrase “right-wing conspiracy theory” or “conservative conspiracy theory” in regards to the Seth Rich story? The full title of the LA Times article is “Sorry, Trump Supporters, Unlike Trump’s Russian Adventures, the Seth Rich Story is Nothing But Noise.”

While Sean Hannity may be the loudest high-profile voice raising questions, lots of digging in the case is being done by Sanders supporters, as The Stream‘s Rachel Alexander points out. This includes popular internet sleuth George Webb, who on Tuesday laid out who he thinks murdered Rich.

Rachel also introduced us to the Pandas4Bernie. Here’s what they posted on their Reddit account after the nickname “Panda” was linked to Rich:

We may not be Seth Rich, but we can do justice to his life by extending the effects of his work, by honoring the courage of whistleblowers who put their lives on the line to expose the truths that animate our demands for justice, and ultimately to break the power of corrupt, undemocratic elites once and for all over our lives and institutions.

Panda is the name Kim DotCom says Rich used when contacting him. The notorious hacker claims he worked with Rich to get the DNC material to WikiLeaks. Nobody’s expecting to see Kim DotCom at CPAC.

Onward

So while any right-minded conservative would want the murder of Rich solved, it is disingenuous and downright deceitful for the media to make the search for the truth simply a rabid right-wing mission. And when news outlets are being deliberately deceitful you have to wonder why. Especially when they also start throwing around words like “absurd,” “bonkers” and “demented.”

When you lie to me and call me names you are telling me you have something to hide or something to fear.

That alone is reason for citizen journalists and interested reporters to carry forward. The truth is still out there to be had, wherever the chips fall. Murderers are still out there. If sincere inquiry can be silenced with boycotts and abuse, then the First Amendment itself is shot in the back and left for dead.

Let facts be uncovered, for truth’s sake; not for scoring partisan points. Arrogance and anger have no place. Mockery does not align with justice.

The political community of the Nation’s Capital lost one of their own. A bright light was snuffed out in D.C.’s Bloomingdale neighborhood. And here we must follow the words of Paul: Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.