We now know the name of the man who committed the desperate act of self-immolation. We know where he lived. He was a senior citizen, so I’m sure he has family, friends and neighbors who can provide some insight into his life. He lived in Mount Laurel NJ, just outside of Philadelphia.
If he was just depressed over something, he could have committed suicide in his house. But he drove to the nation’s capital and committed a ghastly suicide in a spot where it would generate huge notice. He was making a statement. Of course, the MSM has been keeping an extremely low profile on this tragedy. If he was a white man who had shot a few black kids, I’m guessing the MSM would be all over it 24/7.
The MSM and the powers that be don’t want the American public to see how desperate people are becoming in this Greater Depression. It is their job to distract, mislead, and misinform.
This public hari kari on the National Mall was designed to send a message. This man surely left a manifesto describing why he did this. When will it be revealed? Or will the authorities cover it up? We’ll see.
N.J. man identified in National Mall fire suicide
LET THE COVER-UP BEGIN. FAMILY PUTTING OUT STATEMENTS FROM THEIR LAWYER. I CALL BULLSHIT
Man Who Set Self on Fire on National Mall Identified
WASHINGTON October 8, 2013 (AP)
The death of a New Jersey man who set himself on fire on the National Mall was the result of his long fight with mental illness, not a political statement, his family said.
John Constantino, 64, of Mount Laurel, N.J., poured the contents of a canister of gasoline on himself in the center portion of the mall Friday afternoon, police said. He then set himself ablaze, with passing joggers taking off their shirts to help put out the flames.
Police had said Constantino conscious and breathing at the scene, but he died later that night at a Washington hospital.
“John Constantino was a loving father and husband. His death was not a political act or statement, but the result of his long battle with mental illness,” his family said in a statement issued through attorney Jeffrey Cox.
The statement did not address the nature of the mental illness.
The family said in the statement that it “would like to acknowledge the heroism of the paramedics and bystanders who attempted to save” Constantino.
The family “is shocked and deeply saddened,” the statement said. Describing the incident as a “personal family matter and not an issue of public concern,” it asked that the media respect its request for privacy.
It’s all too convenient. All the MSM outlets immediately report that it was not a political statement. He was just mentally ill. Look away. Focus on Miley Cyrus.
His act seems pretty well planned out.
How many mentally ill people self immolate themselves on an annual basis?
Why did the family lawyer up so quickly?
I thought the authorities didn’t even identify him until late last night.
I await all of the MSM journalists digging into the motive. Or will they just report the press release created by the authorities and given to the family.
Where is Steve Croft and the 60 Minutes crew?
Maybe Chris Matthews can get his fat ass out of the MSNBC studios and do some reporting.
We will hear the sound of crickets from these captured douchebags.
If it wasn’t “political”, then a rope, a chair and a garage would have done just as well.
“Authorities and witnesses said they believed he had poured gasoline from a container onto himself before igniting a fire.” ———– article
Then, after some nifty detailed CSI-level forensic work, the po-leece concluded …
“It is now apparent that he set himself on fire,”.
Fuckin’ brilliant.
Fuckin hilarious.
Go copfuks!!!
Maybe his “mental illness” was the same we all suffer from — awareness of what’s really going on, ridicule from family & neighbors, despair for the future and a label of “potential terrorist” from authorities.
Komrade, in the new FSA, failing to love your Obamassiah is mental illness. Clearly this guy was ill!
Admin
I share your skepticism.
That said, studies show that mentally ill OLDER people who are treated with psychotropic drugs, aka SSRIs, tend to have thoughts of suicide (and in many cases act on them), while, as we all know, the mentally-disturbed and younger, developing minds treated with psychotropics sometimes veer off into a homicidal, never-never land. From the actual cases of mentally ill older people who have committed suicide, it is usually close to where they live, if not their home, and involves a gun or overdose or carbon monoxide poisoning or something like that. Never read about a case of self-immolation, which is the most ghastly way to commit suicide that I can think of.
The sad part is none of us will probably ever know the truth, given the “lawyering up” by the family and bogus claims of privacy for a DEAD MAN. In closing, I share your skepticism.
Regina Horner, a neighbor, told Reuters Constantino was a pleasant man.
“He was very friendly and showed no signs of depression,” Horner said.
“He did not want to talk about politics because the government did not care about us,” she added.
Hmmm.
THE PRESS RELEASE IS A LIE. HIS NEIGHBORS SAY HE WAS NOT MENTALLY ILL. HE DID RAIL AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. THIS WAS A POLITICAL STATEMENT.
Neighbor says man who set himself on fire at National Mall had railed against America
The family of John Constantino, however, released a statement saying the man’s act on Friday was the result of mental illness and ‘was not a political act or statement.’
By Rich Schapiro AND Corky Siemaszko / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, October 8, 2013, 11:22 AM.
The New Jersey man who died after setting himself ablaze on the National Mall in Washington had railed against the government and told a neighbor “America is falling apart.”
John Constantino “didn’t like the government for some reason,” neighbor Joe Horner told The Daily News.
“He said they were a waste of time, effort and money,” Horner, 56, said. “He said to me, ‘They’re no good. They don’t look out for us and they don’t care about anything but their own pockets.’”
Horner spoke out after Constantino’s family lawyer issued a statement saying his dramatic death Friday “was not a political act or statement, but the result of his long battle with mental illness.”
Horner said he saw his 64-year-old friend on Thursday and he showed no signs of being insane.
“He was his happy self,” said Horner, who lives on a few doors down from modest, two-story, book-filled townhouse in Mt. Laurel, N.J., that Constantino shared with his wife.
“There was no evidence, no sign of anything that would make you think he’d even be considering a think like that,” he said.
“People who are sad and depressed don’t do that,” he said. “I’m baffled.”
Constantino, a father of three grown children who once lived in Queens, was friendly, outgoing, and a member of the neighborhood association, neighbors said.
“If you needed a helping hand, that guy would help you,” Horner said. “It breaks my heart that he did that. I would have done anything to help but I didn’t know.”
Constantino’s incident took place on the National Mall in between the National Gallery of Art and the Air and Space Museum.
A second neighbor who only identified himself as John echoed Horner, calling the dead man “a good friend, a good neighbor.”
“John will be missed,” the distraught neighbor said, his voice halting.
Constantino’s kin declined to discuss their family tragedy.
“I am not aware of any anti-government statements made by him or any ill will he may have had against the government,” Constantino family lawyer, Jeffrey Cox, said.
Constantino’s dramatic self-immolation came as Washington was on edge day after a troubled Connecticut woman was killed by cops near the Capitol after a high-speed car chase — and as the nation remains in the grip of a partial government shutdown.
‘(Constantino’s) death was not a political act or statement,’ a lawyer for his family said Tuesday.
Constantino, who was described as a “loving father and husband,” doused himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire between the Air and Space Museum and the National Gallery — and in front of hundreds of shocked onlookers.
Passing joggers stripped off their shirts and doused the flames.
Despite his severe burns, Constantino was still conscious and reportedly said thank you before he was airlifted to the local hospital where he died. But he was so badly burned cops needed DNA and dental records to identify him.
This is a “personal family matter and not an issue of public concern,” Cox said in a statement.
Constantino’s family “would like to acknowledge the heroism of the paramedics and bystanders who attempted to save his life,” the statement said.
Why do you think the latest NSA leak discussed by the NY Times proves that they ARE creating profiles on every living being who uses the internet. “Mental illness” will be the NEW war that must be waged against! This is not to say that there aren’t people suffering from mental illness…I’d like to think a lot of it is influenced by decisions made thousands of miles away in the name of each one of us; but what do I know…..
Mental illness seems to be a good catch-all through which tptb will stifle dissent. This is horrible news for those that really suffer. There is already a large stigma against them, now they’ll all be considered terrorists. Suicides will increase, possibly dramatically.
“In the twentieth century, systematic political abuse of psychiatry took place in the Soviet Union …. psychiatry was used as a tool to eliminate political opponents (“dissidents”) who openly expressed beliefs that contradicted official dogma.”
“Stalin claimed, “All dissidents are mentally ill.” Khrushchev elaborated, “There is no one in the Soviet Union who disagrees with the Soviet communist system, there are only the mentally ill.”
We. Have. Become. Russia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry_in_the_Soviet_Union
“Mental illness seems to be a good catch-all through which tptb will stifle dissent”
That is the reason liberals and libertarians demanded that most mental patients be released to begin with- because too many people, especially poor people, minorities, and women, were classified as “mentally ill” and forcibly hospitalized and subjected to sometimes-brutal treatment until the 1970s, merely for being “different” or “non-conforming”, or for expressing views and pursuing lifestyles not in conformity with what was expected of them.
I’m beginning to smell a trend towards hospitalizing mentally ill people against their will once more, and the specious excuses offered are the same as they were in 1955. But the real reason is the same, which is that most people effing can’t abide anyone “different”, and our authorities cannot abide dissent.
Wake up, people. Out of all the bums and bag-ladies you encounter who smell, talk to themselves, and panhandle, how many of them have been a serious threat to you? Think about that before you demand incarceration for people who are mentally ill, and consider that out-of-control authorities are a much bigger threat to your health than any lunatic could ever be.
Chicago – I wasn’t aware of that piece of history, though I knew at one point there was a massive release of mentally ill people. When someone brings the subject up they usuall speak on it as an indictment of the failure of cutting taxes. It is never spoken of in terms of liberty and the stifling of political dissent. Thanks for filling in that piece of history.
Good commentary here, and here:
Why the Media Ignores Self Immolations | Weapons of Mass Distraction
“Everyone” (including the NRA) supports gun control for the mentally ill. If you can’t ban guns, you can label those who own them as nuts. Obviously any civilian who thinks he needs a gun must be mentally ill-gun ownership problem solved. Not directly related to the OP, but why I have been cautious about the “mental health” clause in background checks/ownership rights. Who makes that call, Constantino’s family? They should be honoring the poor bastard, or at least grieving their loss, not throwing him under the “crazy train” bus. Fuckers.
The death was horrific but the MSM response is bizarre. Normally they’d analyze and explore this guy’s life every way from Sunday, but nada, zilch.
Instead they STFU on the details and just give a quicky sketch and move on.
Now if Mr. Constantino was depressed, we should know who his doctors are at least. We know that about the shooter in Aurora, Co. Yet this guy is still a blank to a large degree.
To me it either points to a political statement by him or he was on SSRI’s. But I never read or heard of such a act. So i don’t see that as a possibility.
If I were to make a bet, I’d put money on a political statement. If this is the case, then there is every reason to cover it up, because this is the way martyr’s are created and that’s something no political party or elite can tolerate.
“If I were to make a bet, I’d put money on a political statement. If this is the case, then there is every reason to cover it up, because this is the way martyr’s are created and that’s something no political party or elite can tolerate.”
—-TheCynic
Facts, however thin, are trending toward exactly what you, and Admin, said about this horrible event. But you must remember that the guy was a 64 yr old black man. That makes it DOUBLY important that this tragic incident be moved off Page One asap.
Wonder what agency sent the suits to talk to the family? My bet is on Homeland Security and a good ole’ “shut the fuck up or we destroy you” talk.
The lawyer stated that HE hadn’t heard any such statements, well was he John’s lawyer? Or the guy that the family called after their (I’m sure frightening) visit by the authorities?
Why would a FAMILY of a VICTIM need a freaking lawyer? What, are we now using the Korean justice system of three generations?
The new requirements for our health insurance allow for increased psychiatry and meds for all.
Coincidence?
The NRA (now proving why I quit supporting them long ago), is actively PUSHING to help the state take away guns from the “mentally ill.”
Coincidence?
The new ACA requirements have docs asking us if we are “sad or depressed,” thus tagging us for “mental health issues” if we answer in the affirmative. I guess in the NWO we are no longer allowed to be “sad” when bad things (like our dad burning himself alive, or our cousin dying in Afghanistan, or our husband leaving for the neighbor’s wife) happen, if we express human emotion we are weak and should be denied the basic rights of everyone else.
Coincidence?
Accidental? Hardly.
Scary, scary, things are heading this way.
At least John Constantino won’t have to sit back and watch his family be destroyed by it. In that respect, he is a lucky, lucky man.
DC shooter, “insane”……mother shot by police in her car, “insane”….John Constantino, “insane”. I believe only one of those people was actually insane. Don’t believe anything you hear from anyone in Washington DC.
You’d have to be insane to believe anything the government or MSM tells you.
There are several details which are fading away.
!) Self-immolation has been used as a dramatic form of political protest going back at least to the 1960’s. The people doing this – including Tibetan monks – were not mentally ill. They chose it because it is such a horrifying symbolic act.
2) Early news articles reported that witnesses saw Constantino give a crisp military salute to the Capitol Building before he lit himself on fire. Was he a veteran?
3) Witnesses also reported seeing a man nearby with a camera tripod, who could have been making a video-recording of the event. Might Constantino have made a statement on that tape, stating why he was taking such an extreme action?
The photographer if there was one involved, ran away as people noticed the fire and began closing in on the scene. Unless he was somehow wirelessly making a back-up copy. Ten bucks says we’ll never know anything about even the existence of a tape.
This will never be investigated – that is the most infuriating part of it all.
John Constantino was a veteran of the Vietnam War, as stated in the following news article:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20131009/NEWS01/310090054/Mental-illness-factor-D-C-fire-death?nclick_check=1
UPDATE: Mt. Laurel vet who set himself on fire had served during Vietnam War
Written by Angelo Fichera
Courier-Post – South Jersey News
MOUNT LAUREL — The Mount Laurel veteran who died by setting himself on fire in Washington, D.C., Friday served his country during the Vietnam War, officials say.
John Constantino, 64, was an active-duty Marine from December 1968 until May 1973, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. President Richard Nixon ordered U.S. forces to withdraw in 1973, and the war ended in 1975.
Constantino was also receiving veteran benefits, a Veteran Affairs spokesman said.
The Courier-Post reported earlier today that property tax records indicated Constantino was a disabled veteran. It’s not clear at this time what that disability was.
However, Constantino’s family members said he had long struggled with mental illness.
The day after police in Washington confirmed Constantino’s identity, Virginia-based attorney Jeffrey Cox issued a statement on the family’s behalf:
“John Constantino was a loving father and husband. His death was not a political act or statement, but the result of his long battle with mental illness.”
Question: Why was the NJ family represented, immediately, by a lawyer from Virginia? Could be an innocent thing, but it is curious.
2 questions, folks. And I ask seriously — not in order to provoke rage. FIRST – most suicides involve mental illness. Statistically over 90 percent result from long term battles with either major depression or bipolar disorder. SECOND – having a political cause AND a mental illness are not inconsistent. Also, politics does not lead to mental illness. Some of these arguments assume that he knew something so ghastly that he became depressed and took his own life. That’s very far-fetched. It is inconsistent with how most suicides look. A more likely story – he is one of many persons who commit suicide who are suffering from mania at the time. Extreme mania causes behavior like this. That he drove to DC from NJ is not peculiar. Remember the woman who drove from Texas to Florida in a diaper to kill another woman in a love triangle? She was suffering from mania. PS: I am a medical provider; so I have experience treating people with these illnesses.
Someone is actually citing to Wikepedia which is supposedly citing to Stalin for the purpose of discrediting psychiatry? What a joke!
A lot of people commit suicide and never make the news. They shoot themselves; jump from bridges, inhale CO, etc. Why should self-immolation receive more coverage? Because it’s done in public, typically? Or because you suspect, without more, that there is some overarching legitimate political cause behind the suicide? Even if there were a political cause, it isnt necessarily legitimate.
It was in protest of current climate change and lack of action by the government. Your reporting is atrocious and self serving while continuing the narrative everything is fine while we are literally seeing the world on fire around us (see active wildfires already going in states).
Dystopian future is now.