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The Commentariat -- August 18, 2014
Internal links, defunct video removed.
Julie Pace of the AP: "President Barack Obama returned to Washington just after midnight Monday for a two-day break from a summer vacation, during which airstrikes in Iraq and violent clashes in a St. Louis suburb intruded on his golf and beach plans."
Anna Palmer & Carrie Brown of Politico: "Senior White House officials are in talks with business leaders that could expand the executive actions President Barack Obama takes on immigration.... The outreach is an effort to broaden the political support for Obama's decision to go it alone on immigration...."
Thomas Frank, in Salon, suggests a few things President Obama could do to salvage his presidency: 1. "... instruct his Attorney General to start enforcing the nation's antitrust laws the way Democrats used to do.... 2. Investigate and prosecute fraud committed during the housing bubble.... 3. Make it clear that he will no longer tolerate the college tuition price spiral." CW: Sorry, Presidential Candidate Audacity turned out to be mostly talk & not much walk. But, hey, maybe he returned to Washington for two days to follow through on Frank's suggestions.
AND Now We'll Take a Short Break for Some Good News. Ylan Mui of the Washington Post: "The recovery in America's job market is finally spreading to industries with good pay after years of being concentrated in fields with low wages. Hiring has picked up steam in areas such as construction, manufacturing and professional services in recent months -- sectors with a median hourly wage of at least $20. Nearly 40 percent of the jobs created over the past six months have been in high-wage industries, compared with just a quarter during the last half of 2013...."
Jill Lepore in the New Yorker: It appears corruption -- depending upon the definition of corruption -- is now a First Amendment right.
Paul Krugman: "War in the preindustrial world was and still is more like a contest among crime families over who gets to control the rackets than a fight over principles. If you're a modern, wealthy nation, however, war -- even easy, victorious war -- doesn't pay." But some leaders -- Vladimir Putin -- appear to use war as a distraction from troubles at home, like a faltering economy.
Lenika Cruz of the Atlantic: "All of the U.S. Treasurers Since 1949 Have Been Women," six of them Latina & one African-American. The position is largely ceremonial. All of the U.S. treasury secretaries have been white men.
Steve M.: Not everyone on the right is all Rand Paul-y about the militarization of our police forces. Wingers -- including His Holiness's Emissary to the New York Times Ross Douthat -- are claiming that heavyhanded policing & sentencing are holding down the crime rate. Douthat applauds Paul & writes,
I want lower incarceration rates and fewer people dying when a no-knock raid goes wrong. (CW: Yes, Ross, it's such a shame when police knock down the wrong door & shoot some innocent people.) I want lower incarceration rates and fewer people dying when a no-knock raid goes wrong. But there may be trade-offs here: In an era of atomization, distrust and economic stress, our punitive system may be a big part of what's keeping crime rates as low as they are now, making criminal justice reform more complicated than a simple pro-liberty free lunch.
... CW: There are numerous factors that may reduce the crime rate. Policing-after-the-fact & incarceration are two of them. They are neither the most desirable nor the most cost-effective.
Beyond the Beltway
Now Soldiers. Alan Blinder & Tanzina Vega of the New York Times: "Gov. Jay Nixon announced early Monday that he would deploy the Missouri National Guard to [Ferguson] as part of a fresh attempt by the authorities to quell the unrest that has paralyzed the town....Mr. Nixon said in a statement that he chose to activate the National Guard because of 'deliberate, coordinated and intensifying violent acts.' 'Tonight, a day of hope, prayers and peaceful protests was marred by the violent criminal acts of an organized and growing number of individuals, many from outside the community and state, whose actions are putting the residents and businesses of Ferguson at risk,' Mr. Nixon said. The governor's decision came after the worst night of violence since the unrest began. On Sunday night, hours before the start of a second day of a mandatory curfew that the governor had ordered, police officers came under assault from gunfire and firebombs and responded with their largest show of force so far." ...
... Gov. Nixon's official statement is here. ...
... Alex Altman of Time: "'These people are not protestors. This is something different and it has little to do with #JusticeForMikeBrown,' tweeted Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman and community leader who has emerged as an important mediator. French and others believe the provocateurs are doing damage to a heartfelt cause. The images of looting and rioting threaten to rob Ferguson's peaceful majority of political sympathy.... The peaceful majority are trying to assert control." ...
... Cops Will Be Cops. Gabrielle Bluestone of Gawker: "Police in Ferguson were caught on camera Sunday night threatening to mace one reporter and shoot another. At least two other journalists also claim they were arrested while following police orders." With video. CW: Worth a click. ...
... More from Margaret Hartmann & Abraham Riesman of New York. Video & tweets. ...
... CW: Worth noting: that nice Capt. Johnson appears to be right in there arresting reporters. ...
... Frances Robles & Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "Michael Brown ... was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, a preliminary private autopsy performed on Sunday found. One of the bullets entered the top of Mr. Brown's skull, suggesting his head was bent forward when it struck him and caused a fatal injury, according to Dr. Michael M. Baden, the former chief medical examiner for the City of New York, who flew to Missouri on Sunday at the family's request to conduct the separate autopsy. It was likely the last of bullets to hit him, he said." ...
... On Sunday, Captain Ronald Johnson spoke at a memorial service for Michael Brown at Greater Grace Church in Ferguson:
... Julie Bosman & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Sunday that the Justice Department would conduct its own autopsy of Michael Brown, the unarmed African-American teenager who was fatally shot more than a week ago by a white police officer. A Justice Department spokesman, Brian Fallon, said in a statement that the autopsy, which would be in addition to a state autopsy, had been ordered because of 'the extraordinary circumstances involved in this case and at the request of the Brown family.'" ...
... Jerry Markon, et al., of the Washington Post: Missouri "State officials on Sunday defended their tough response to the chaos that enveloped this St. Louis suburb on the first night of a curfew and imposed a second night of restrictions as signs emerged of heightened federal involvement in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager." ...
... Chuck Raasch of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "In multiple appearances on national television Sunday morning, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon repeatedly emphasized the role of the federal investigation over the local one in the shooting death of Michael Brown. He said that St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch, who has publicly criticized Nixon's decision to bring in the Missouri Highway Patrol, has an opportunity to 'step up here and do his job.' Nixon appeared on four morning talk shows.... The governor said that his conversation on Thursday with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder had led to the deployment of 40 more FBI officers to investigate the shooting.... Nixon also told ABC's 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos' that his office was unaware that Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson was going to release on Friday a videotape showing what is alleged to be Brown, 18, in what police have called a 'strong-armed' robbery of cigars in a convenience store shortly before he was killed. 'We were certainly not happy with that bring released, especially in the way that it was,' Nixon said. 'It appeared to cast aspersions on a young man that was gunned down in the street. It made emotions raw.'"
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in Time: "Ferguson is not just about systemic racism — it's about class warfare and how America's poor are held back." CW: There's a short, straight line between Abdul-Jabbar's essay & Jill Lepore's, linked above. ...
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
Emily Smith & Stephanie Smith of the New York Post: "Ousted 'Meet the Press' anchor David Gregory was paid $4 million to leave NBC and signed a contract not to speak out against the network, sources told Page Six.... A source said Gregory's contract extended into next year, so NBC had to pay him for the rest of the term, plus an extra fee to ensure his silence. In return, he was asked to sign a nondisparagement clause, which explains -- despite the drama behind the scenes -- his saccharine message on Twitter to announce his departure.... But quietly, sources say, Gregory is 'angry and humiliated' at the way he was treated by NBC suits...." CW: Bear in mind, this is "Page Six" so not necessarily reliable, but the story at least sounds plausible. Via Caroline Bankoff of New York.
Senate Race
I know that this state is know for its wind energy, for corn, for soybeans, but that woman is an onion of crazy. Every time you peel back a layer, you find something more disturbing about her views. -- Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.), on Iowa U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst. Wasserman-Schultz was speaking at the Iowa State Fair.
Presidential Election
Annie Lowrey in New York on "why Hillary Clinton doesn't really have a Mitt problem": "What has been strange about Clinton's responses to the questions about the many tens of millions she and her husband have pulled in of late is that there is an elegant and obvious rich-Democrat way to answer them. She simply has to say, 'Yes, we're really lucky. And I know first-hand that we don't need a tax break for our millions in earnings or our private jet.' It's a well-worn response, too, given by Barack Obama and Bill Clinton among many others. But it is a response that Mitt Romney, whose economic policies would probably have slashed his own taxes while raising them for lower-income Americans, could never give." ...
... CW: I dunno. I think if you're planning to run for president, & you know your party is going to push you toward a populist message, traveling around like a queen is not the best "optic."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "James M. Jeffords, the former U.S. senator from Vermont who gave Democrats control of the closely divided chamber in 2001 when he left the Republican Party to become an independent, died Aug. 18 at a retirement residence in Washington. He was 80."
New York Times: "Separatists rebels on Monday attacked a caravan of cars carrying refugees trying to flee war-ravaged eastern Ukraine, killing 'dozens' of people in a devastating barrage of artillery fire, Ukrainian military officials said, though rebel leaders denied there had been any attack at all."
Guardian: "The US State Department banned a senior member of the Islamic State (Isis) on Monday.... Now banned from any financial dealings in the United States or with people in the United States is the group's spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, a Syrian whose given name is Taha Sobhi Falaha. Also banned was Said Arif, an Algerian member of the rival Nusra Front who escaped house arrest in France and was linked to a plot to bomb the Eiffel Tower."
AP: "Aided by U.S. and Iraqi airstrikes, Kurdish forces Sunday wrested back part of Iraq's largest dam from Islamic militants who had captured it less than two weeks ago, security officials said." ...
... Reuters: "Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Iraqi counter-terrorism forces have pushed Islamic State militants out of Mosul dam, state television reported on Monday.... An independent verification was not immediately possible."
Reuters: "Russia on Monday said all objections to it sending a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine had been resolved but said no progress had been made in Berlin talks toward a ceasefire between government and rebel forces in the east of the country."
Reuters: "Israeli troops on Monday demolished the homes of two Palestinians it suspects of the abduction and killing of three teenagers in the occupied West Bank in June, the army said."
Guardian: "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said he 'will be leaving the embassy soon' during a press conference at the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has sought asylum for more than two years."
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Reader Comments (7)
Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri State Patrol is eloquent and vigorous in his expression of solidarity with the citizens of Ferguson:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ron-johnson-michael-brown-family
Implicit in his remarks, it seemed to me, was a belief that the shooting of Michael Brown was unjustified, although even police reports of the incident have yet to be made public. Makes you wonder what he knows.
I wonder what happened to the cop who shot the kid. I read that he'd skipped town, but nothing since.
@James S. He commandeered Cheney's Undisclosed Location.
Marie
@Victoria D: Tried to find the article that I believe appeared yesterday in the WaPo, but, could only find this more recent one: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/justice-department-orders-new-autopsy-of-michael-browns-body/2014/08/18/023a4d12-2694-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html
The other article had a kind of timeline, which showed the shooting occurred some ten minutes after the convenience store theft. It appears that it would have been unknown for Officer Wilson to be aware of the incident.
Apparently, "Big Mike" (who was somewhat less than the angelic college bound boy we first heard about) and his buddy were heading home a few blocks away, and walking down the middle of the street. Probably feeling full of themselves, when along comes a patrol car and the officer (Wilson) tells them to 'get on the sidewalk.'
That was met by disobedience, the patrol car stops, is put in reverse and supposedly bumps Brown. Officer gets out of the car, likely a lot of back & forth trash talk....and then six bangs, et al.
Other then mouthiness, there appeared to be no threat to the officer or reason for him to draw a gun.
Or 'justifiable' reason to draw a gun to retrieve a box of cigars.
This is my understanding so far!
I try not to offer any conclusions to events like the Michael Brown shooting but several things (what, only several?) are extremely troubling.
If this was a righteous shooting, if everything was done by the book, and there was no other way out for an officer who feared for his life, then fine. Bring it all out and let the guy speak, or at least have the department speak for him with his name divulged along with the particulars of the shooting. The public does have a right to know what is being done in their name, particularly when someone dies because of it.
But in Ferguson, first, we have what looks like a cover-up to a racial profiling stop which turned deadly. The shooter is hidden away, his name and whereabouts kept secret, eyewitnesses vilified, and no official report offered other than to smear the dead man.
Then you find out that it's possible the kid, Brown, was surrendering, holding up his hands, but that he was shot anyway. And not just once. He was shot six times, according to the information provided by Dr. Michael Baden who also apparently reviewed the autopsies of JFK and MLK (it appears there was a magic bullet in this shooting as well; according to Dr. Baden a single bullet entered, exited, re-entered and caused at least 5 different wounds. Wow.); six times, six bullets. And perhaps from a distance, which, if true, raises serious doubts about fear of imminent bodily harm.
Finally, you read that Michael Brown's body was left on the street for hours before an ambulance came to take him away. Just something really weird about all of these things. And everyone is still in the dark.
Once again, if everything was good, why the stonewalling? Maybe there's an explanation for all of it, but if so, letting it drag out for weeks is only going to get someone else killed. Then the police will really have a reason to stop and shoot black men on sight.
Last week I watched a PBS documentary on 1964. The riots that overtook many American cities in the wake of the MLK murder had been in the offing for years waiting only for a spark. Black communities today, in the wake of decades of racial profiling, substandard housing, schools, opportunities, all caused by direct policies put in place by legal means, directed largely by one of the two major political parties, and then having their right to vote, the only legal means at hand for many to have a say in what goes on, diminished, curtailed, taken away, in order to maintain control and debasement, could be ready for another spark.
Can't you just hear the sanctimonious preaching from the right if that happens? It will make the self-serving speeches in the wake of the 60's riots sound like they were written by Stokely Carmichael.
Good thing we have all those right-wing politicians to protect us from lazy blahs who loll in hammocks all day and live the life of Riley, when they're not plotting to rape white women and shoot white men.
The problem is, in the absence of any official information, many people may feel compelled to come up with their own conclusions. And those conclusions won't be offering anyone a peaceful night's sleep any time soon.
According to Mother Jones, the Ferguson event is not an anomaly.
Surveys done of other cities report a stunning number of black males shot by police. One startling example is Oakland: "In Oakland, California, the NAACP reported that out of 45 officer-involved shootings in the city between 2004 and 2008, 37 of those shot were black. None were white. One-third of the shootings resulted in fatalities. Although weapons were not found in 40 percent of cases, the NAACP found, no officers were charged."
I don't have any hard data on this (how could you get any?) but the constant stream of denunciations and insults directed toward African-Americans, their families and communities, especially by conservative politicians and media ("Take that bone out of your nose", "Blah people") seek to convey an image of blacks as layabouts, moochers, liars, irresponsible, violent, untrustworthy, and unworthy of respect.
This mindset takes hold and makes it far more likely that cops who subscribe to such a view won't think twice about drawing their weapon and using it, because black people are portrayed as less than human by much of the right-wing.
These assholes have a lot to answer for.
Keeps getting weirder. Now the store owners, through their attorney, have told the local St. Louis Fox station that neither they nor any of their employees called the cops to report the cigar shoplift.