The Commentariat -- Nov. 25, 2014
Internal links, defunct videos removed.
This Week in American Violence
Jamelle Bouie of Slate: "The truth is that the law gives wide berth to the police's use of deadly force.... When you add this climate of legal deference to the particular circumstances of the grand jury trial -- including McCullough's reputation for supporting police officers, and his decision to avoid a recommendation for charges -- the non-indictment was almost inevitable. Barring something extraordinary, Wilson was going to walk free. The judicial system as we've constructed it just isn't equipped -- or even willing -- to hold officers accountable for shootings and other offenses. Or put differently, the simple fact is that the police can kill for almost any reason with little fear of criminal charges." (Emphasis added.) ...
... The Guardian is liveblogging protests in Ferguson & elsewhere in the U.S. ...
... Chico Harlan, et al., of the Washington Post: "A night of rage left behind the kind of scars that Ferguson has witnessed before: smoldering buildings, looted storefronts, fire-gutted cars. What marked even more difficult ground Tuesday was finding a way forward as police braced for more unrest and many African American protesters said their only recourse was the streets." ...
... John Eligon & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "After a chaotic night of demonstrations that erupted in many fires, frequent bursts of gunshots, looting and waves of tear gas, Gov. Jay Nixon said early Tuesday that he would send additional National Guard troops to help quell the worst violence this battered St. Louis suburb has seen since a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in August." ...
... James Queally, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "At least a dozen buildings were burned and 61 people arrested during a night of violence and chaos in Ferguson, Mo., that followed a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the killing of an unarmed black man, police said early Tuesday." ...
... St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, speaking at a press conference at 1:30 a.m., said he was grateful nobody was killed but was disappointed at the amount of damage in the Ferguson area. 'What I've seen tonight is probably much worse than the worst night we ever had in August, and that's truly unfortunate,' he said. He said that there was basically 'nothing left' along West Florissant Avenue between Solway Avenue and Chambers Road." ...
... CW: All this violence is just as inexcusable as a policeman unnecessarily shooting dead a citizen. I find it more banal than aggravating, just a bunch of stupid people playing their expected roles. What percentage of these assholes in the streets do you suppose work to make the system better or even vote? The vandals have cancelled out any outrage I might have felt at a completely-expected outcome. Pardon me, but my liberal bona fides do not carry me into excusing violence as an acceptable form of remedial "justice." ...
... Julie Bosman, et al., of the New York Times read through thousands of pages of grand jury testimony & publish their overview here. ...
... Timothy Phelps of the Los Angeles Times: "Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., in a statement released late Monday, appeared to try to distance the ongoing federal investigation into the Ferguson, Mo., shooting death of Michael Brown from that of local authorities. St. Louis County Prosecuting Atty. Robert McCullough, in announcing earlier Monday that no charges were being brought against Police Officer Darren Wilson, repeatedly said that there had been close cooperation between county and federal investigators. 'While the grand jury proceeding in St. Louis County has concluded, the Justice Department's investigation into the shooting of Michael Brown remains ongoing,' Holder said. 'Though we have shared information with local prosecutors during the course of our investigation, the federal inquiry has been independent of the local one from the start, and remains so now," the statement said." ...
... Holder's full statement is here. ...
... Christine Byers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Darren Wilson issued a statement. ...
... For those interested in seeing the pictures, released late Monday afternoon, of Darren Wilson taken shortly after he killed Michael Brown, NBC News has them here. ...
... Here's the transcript of Darren Wilson's grand jury testimony, via Slate. ...
... Update: The Washington Post (and other news outlets) now has documents & transcripts of all of the evidence online. ...
... The police are firing smoke bombs at protesters in Ferguson. The officers are wearing gas masks. MSNBC is reporting there are few protesters. Chris Hayes of MSNBC said he heard gunshots in the area of the Ferguson police HQ. Protesters broke into a store, per MSNBC. There's a building on fire on Ferguson (or Florrisant) Ave., & MSNBC is reporting about four blocks of "chaos in the streets." There's a vehicle on fire outside of central downtown Ferguson. ...
... Here's the St. Louis Post-Dispatch liveblog.
Paul Waldman: "Seldom in Barack Obama's presidency has he looked quite so impotent as he did last night, pleading from a podium in the White House for calm while the cable news split screens showed clouds of tear gas enveloping the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. He repeated the same themes as every time he has spoken about this subject -- people have legitimate grievances but there's no excuse for violence, we've come a long way but we have a ways to go, and so on. It never rang more hollow. But ...." ...
The New York Times story on the Darren Wilson grand jury decision is here. CW: So far, seems as if everyone is performing to type. No surprises anywhere. Earlier today, the Onion (thanks to James S.) got this part of the story right: "Ahead of a grand jury's decision over whether to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, police in the city of Ferguson have reportedly heavily increased their presence this week to ensure residents are adequately provoked. 'We've deployed additional officers throughout Ferguson in order to make absolutely certain that residents feel sufficiently harassed and intimidated,' said St. Louis County police chief Jon Belmar, assuring locals that officers in full riot gear will be on hand to inflame members of the community for as long as is necessary." (Satire) ...
... As Joe Concha of Mediaite points out, McCullough's decision to make the announcement at night is "borderline reckless." CW: Yeah, but it sure fits in with the Onion "story." Moreover, the fact that McCullough & Gov. Jay Nixon "announced the announcement" hours ahead of time allowed for maximum trouble. The disinterested observer surely suspects the power structure there was going for "provocation" & "inflaming members of the community."
... The New York Times has live updates here. The Guardian has live updates here.
... McCullough is telling his version of what happened in the confrontation between Wilson & Michael Brown. He says a number of witnesses made statements inconsistent with the physical evidence; some changed their statements after news media reported the physical evidence. Wilson fired 12 rounds at Brown. ...
... Beth Ethier of Wonkette captures the essence of McCullough's presser: "St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch announced that Wilson will not face charges relating to the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9, as the grand jury found 'no probable cause' to charge him with anything. Social media, however, is definitely guilty. McCulloch spent 10 minutes on a laundry list of all the great things he did when he presented the case to the grand jury and how Ferguson is just a huge pit of liars, and how lucky the world was that he, Bob McCulloch, was able to guide the grand jury through the hellscape of deception to the sweet Land of Truth, where they found that physical evidence showed Officer Wilson had not committed any crimes." ...
...Alana Horowitz of the Huffington Post: "CNN legal expert Jeffrey Toobin called the press conference 'an extended whine' and 'entirely inappropriate and embarrassing.'" ...
... See also Charles Pierce's post on Utah police killings, linked below, for his view on Bob McCullough's performance & record. ...
... McCullough announces that the grand jury decided that no probable cause existed against Wilson & returned a no-true bill. So there ya go. Here's the Washington Post story. ...
... McCullough is dragging this out but so far it sounds as if the grand jury did not return an indictment. ...
... St. Louis prosecutor Bob McCullough will announce the grand jury's decision in the Darren Wilson case sometime after 9 pm ET Monday. The New York Times is carrying the announcement live on the front page. ...
... Julie Bosman & Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: "Records show that Officer [Darren] Wilson, 28, and Officer [Barbara] Spradling, 37, were married on Oct. 24. One of the two witnesses at the ceremony was Greg Kloeppel, one of Officer Wilson's lawyers. Christopher B. Graville, a municipal judge in Oakland, Mo., performed the ceremony." ...
... ** Think about This. Erin Alberty of the Salt Lake Tribune: "In the past five years, more Utahns have been killed by police than by gang members. Or drug dealers. Or from child abuse. And so far this year, deadly force by police has claimed more lives -- 13, including a Saturday shooting in South Jordan -- than has violence between spouses and dating partners. As the tally of fatal police shootings rises, law enforcement watchdogs say it is time to treat deadly force as a potentially serious public safety problem.... Nearly all of the fatal shootings by police have been deemed by county prosecutors to be justified. Only one -- the 2012 shooting of Danielle Willard by West Valley City police -- was deemed unjustified, and the subsequent criminal charge was thrown out last month by a judge." ...
... Charles Pierce: "There is something gone badly wrong in the way police are taught to look at civilians these days. This is the logic of an occupying power being employed on American citizens. Ever since 9/11, when we all began to be told that we were going to have to bend a little bit, and then a little bit more, to authority or else we'd all die, the police in this country have been militarized in their tactics and in their equipment, which is bad enough, but in their attitudes and their mentality, which is far, far worse. Suspicion has bled into weaponized paranoia, especially in the case of black and brown people.... Dick Cheney's one-percent idea brought to American cities and towns until Salt Lake City, of all places, winds up with cops who are deadlier on the streets than drug dealers." Pierce also has a few unkind words to say about Bob McCullough. ...
... Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: In its first examination of the limits of free speech on social media, the Supreme Court will consider next week whether, as a jury concluded, [Anthony] Elonis's postings [on Facebook] constituted a 'true threat' to his wife and others." ...
... David Carr of the New York Times calls out the media, including himself, for enabling Bill Cosby's alleged serial assaults & rapes. ...
... Margaret Carlson of Bloomberg View: "The default response when powerful men behave badly is to say they didn't: priests, presidents, athletes, TV evangelists and movie stars." ...
... Dahlia Lithwick on the Rolling Stone article on a University of Virginia gang rape (I write "a" because there was more than one): "Our confusion about the objectives in addressing campus rape problems has led to confusion in the solutions we have forged. If the purpose of the current internal adjudication [as opposed to going through the criminal justice system] is to increase transparency and reporting, that runs against the most basic institutional incentive to hide bad news. If the object is to counsel and support survivors, it's not clear that has worked very well either. And if the object is to keep the campus safe, it has failed spectacularly." ...
... Lithwick's summary of UVA's reaction to the Rolling Stone piece is telling:
A passive statement issued by President Teresa Sullivan was full of deflection and jargon, with a promise to have the police investigate the substance of the Rolling Stone charges. Then came Rector George Martin's staggering decision to appoint as independent counsel a former federal judge named Mark Filip. Immediately after which it was revealed that Filip had once been rush chair of a different chapter of Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity at the center of the campus' gang-rape scandal. Filip was taken off the job the next day. Last week Phi Psi voluntarily suspended its operations. On Saturday, Sullivan announced in a letter to students and alumni that all the school's fraternities have been suspended effective immediately."
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Rudy 9/11 Giuliani's "insights" about black-on-black crime: "The American people have one of the highest murder rates in the industrialized world. Almost all of these people are killed by other Americans. War hustlers and Bin Laden pimps love to go around screaming, but 9/11! Three thousand people died on 9/11. Nearly 15,000 Americans were killed in 2012. Americans perpetrate roughly five 9/11s against other Americans every year." ...
... CW: It's impossible to quantify, but I always wonder how many Americans have been killed because of the gun lobby & its politician-enablers. ...
... BUT. The crime rate has actually dropped dramatically over the past several decades. Dana Goldstein of the Marshall Project lays out "10 (not entirely crazy) theories explaining" the decline. Via Paul Waldman.
Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Right after President Obama announced the resignation of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the White House on Monday, he walked over to a meeting of his entire National Security Council staff, where he told the embattled group that they were critical to an ambitious foreign policy agenda. The timing was a coincidence, but it seemed an unmistakable sign that Mr. Hagel's departure does not portend a broader internal shake-up. If anything, it may represent the final triumph of a White House-centric approach to national security.... With his core team intact, and with none of the candidates to succeed Mr. Hagel likely to show the independence of Mr. Obama's first defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, the White House seems likely to keep a tight leash on foreign policy for the remainder of Mr. Obama's presidency." ...
... Shane Harris of the Daily Beast: "... President Barack Obama's decision to replace Hagel ... doesn't come as much of a shock. But the timing is conspicuous and fuels allegations that Hagel is being made a scapegoat for the myriad foreign policy crises that the White House has bungled, from the rise of ISIS to the resurgence of a nationalist Russia to the response to an outbreak of Ebola. Hagel wasn't brought in to tackle these crises, and some defense sources say he simply wasn't up to it. The presumption at the beginning of his tenure was that he would be a drawdown defense secretary -- something that world events ultimately wouldn't allow." ...
... Dylan Scott of TPM interviews Steve Clemons on Hagel's departure. Clemons cites several factors that contributed to Hagel's uneasy fit in the Obama administration. ...
... Dana Milbank: "When Barack Obama looks in the mirror these days, he must see a terrifying visage staring back at him: that of George W. Bush. In a cruel echo of history, Obama is morphing into the president whose foreign policy he campaigned to overturn. Obama on Monday morning sacked his Pentagon secretary, Chuck Hagel, after huge midterm election losses in the sixth year of his presidency -- just as Bush did in sacking Donald Rumsfeld after midterm losses in the sixth year of his presidency. As with Bush, the ouster comes as a war in the Middle East is going badly -- then, the Iraq war, now, the bombing of the Islamic State terror group. Rumsfeld's ouster led to the surge in Iraq, and Hagel's departure comes amid signs of an expanded role for U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. And, as under Bush, this guarantees that Obama will leave his successor an ongoing U.S. war in the Mideast -- quite possibly the sort of ground war Obama vowed to undo."
Gruber v. Issa. This Should Be Amusing. Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Jonathan Gruber, the former ObamaCare adviser in hot water for his comments about the 'stupidity of the American voter,' has agreed to testify at a House panel next month, setting up a healthcare showdown in what could be the final week of this Congress. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will also hear from Obama administration official Marilyn Tavenner, who is under fire this week for using inflated enrollment figures for the healthcare law."
CW: I've covered this before, but it bears repeating. Norm Ornstein in the Atlantic on the "sweeping steps" Mitt Romney promised he would take to disable the ACA. "... Romney would have acted unilaterally to thwart the intent and specific language of the law. Compared to extending protections from deportation to family members of those already under the umbrella of protection, or making choices about deportation when Congress, by providing much less funding for that purpose than necessary to deport all undocumented people, explicitly gives the president discretion to make choices, Romney's proposed moves were more daring, more cutting edge, more of an application of executive power to the max. I have searched to find cases of conservative lawmakers like Ted Cruz, or constitutional scholars, much less columnists like Charles Krauthammer, raising alarm bells about this brazen plan to short-circuit the policy process, give the middle finger to the Senate, and thwart a duly enacted law, or raising questions about an imperial president-to-be shredding the Constitution. Strangely enough, I can't find any." ...
... CW: So, "conservative family values" look like this: allowing people to suffer & die by depriving them of healthcare coverage -- A-Okay. Keeping families intact -- un-fucking-constitutional.
Peggy McGlone of the Washington Post: "President Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian honor -- to a diverse and distinguished group of activists, artists, scientists and public servants Monday afternoon, including actress Meryl Streep, Congressman John D. Dingell, physicist Mildred Dresselhaus and musician Stevie Wonder." ...
... Here's a list of the winners. CW: Sadly, Tom Brokaw was among them. The only thing I can say in Brokaw's defense is that he once reported on the capture of a guy who "assaulted" me. Maybe I'll comment on that. ...
... White House: "President Obama honors the 16 recipients of this year's Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the Nation's highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors":
Peter Beaumont of the Guardian: "A controversial bill that officially defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people has been approved by cabinet despite warnings that the move risks undermining the country's democratic character. Opponents, including some cabinet ministers, said the new legislation defined reserved 'national rights' for Jews only and not for its minorities, and rights groups condemned it as racist. The bill, which is intended to become part of Israel's basic laws, would recognise Israel's Jewish character, institutionalise Jewish law as an inspiration for legislation and delist Arabic as a second official language." ...
... Juan Cole: "Netanyahu’s measure is much worse than that of Mississippi fundamentalists who want to declare Mississippi a principally Christian state and want to celebrate the white-supremacist Confederacy as part of the state's heritage.
Presidential Election
Arlette Saenz & Jeff Zelany of ABC News: "Sen. John McCain is prodding one of his closest allies in the Senate to consider a run for the White House -- Sen. Lindsey Graham. 'I think he is looking at it, and I am strongly encouraging him to take a look at it,' McCain, R-Ariz., told ABC News. 'I know of no one who is better versed and more important on national security policy and defense than Lindsey Graham, and I don't think these challenges to our security are going away. He is eminently qualified,' McCain added." CW: Aah, McCain is just finagling for my First Lady spot.
Charles Pierce sees Rudy 9/11 Giuliani as the Republicans' 2016 law-and-order candidate, a stance Pierce reckons will find an audience "in the rural precincts of Iowa," especially if Ferguson blows up (CW: as it apparently is doing as I write).
News Lede
Washington Post: "This week's winter storm is shaping up to be a travel nightmare for Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving and the busiest travel day of the year. A coating to several inches of snow could accumulate along the I-95 corridor on Wednesday. While temperatures have been unseasonably warm early this week, snow is still likely to accumulate along coastal interstates, especially during periods of heavy snowfall."
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