;)
The Commentariat -- August 22, 2014
Internal links removed.
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday that the Islamic State militant organization 'is as sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen,' and left open the possibility that the United States may strike the group not only in Iraq, but also in Syria. 'They're beyond just a terrorist group,' Hagel said during a news conference at the Pentagon. 'They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded& ... This is beyond anything that we've seen, so we must prepare for everything.'" CW: A chief funding source: countries -- including continental European countries -- willing to pay ransoms for their citizens held captive by ISIS. ...
... Helene Cooper & Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria cannot be defeated unless the United States or its allies take on the Sunni militancy in Syria, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday afternoon. 'This is an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision that will eventually have to be defeated,' the chairman, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said in his most expansive public remarks on the crisis since American airstrikes began in Iraq. ...
... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "... the gruesome execution of an American journalist, James Foley, has drawn an intensely emotional reaction from lawmakers in both parties, with ... some urging Mr. Obama to redouble the fight against [ISIS]. There were signs on Thursday that the Obama administration is weighing that, with the White House and the Pentagon refusing to rule out military action against the group in Syria. But far from satisfying Congress, a wider conflict could put lawmakers, particularly Democrats, in a difficult position, since most deeply oppose any new war in the Middle East." ...
... Steve M.: "The body of James Foley was barely cold when Dick Cheney suited himself up to go on Sean Hannity's Fox show to blame (as he sees it) the real enemy: the Obama administration." ...
... Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry warned Thursday that Islamic terrorists might already have crossed the southern border into the United States with the intent of attacking Americans. In a fiery speech delivered before a conservative audience at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, Perry ... said the federal government's failure to secure the southern border has created 'great concern' that militants representing the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) might already have arrived from Mexico." CW: Huh. No mention that the U.S.-Canadian border, not to mention the thousands of miles of U.S. seacoast, can be breached easily.
... Martin Matishak of the Hill: "House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) on Thursday called for an inquiry into who leaked information about a botched attempt earlier this year to rescue photojournalist James Foley. It was 'unwise' for the White House and the Defense Department to formally acknowledge the operation and 'outrageous that someone would be so selfish and short sighted to leak it to the media,' the outgoing lawmaker said in a statement." CW: Yes, Buck, what we seriously need now is another House investigation of the Obama administration. ...
... Christopher Werth of the Los Angeles Times: "The black-hooded executioner who beheaded American journalist James Foley may have left more clues to his identity than he intended, experts said Thursday, beginning with his distinctly British voice, a sonic fingerprint that gives investigators a fighting chance of determining his identity. Scotland Yard, British intelligence and the FBI are all said to be scrambling to figure out the identity of the man who killed Foley...." ...
... Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: "An official State Department account tweeted photos Thursday of two members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) who were apparently killed in Syria this week. One of the men pictured, Abu Moussa, is an ISIS spokesman who recently told VICE News that the militant group would 'raise the flag of Allah in the White House.'"
Kristina Wong of the Hill: "The Pentagon broke the law when it transferred five Taliban detainees from Guantánamo Bay in exchange for prisoner of war Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, according to a report from ... the Government Accountability Office. [The GAO] said the Pentagon violated the 2014 Defense Appropriations Act, which requires the Pentagon to give certain congressional committees 30 days advance notice before any detainee transfer from the Guantánamo Bay detention facility.... The law also prohibits the Pentagon from using appropriated funds to conduct any detainee transfer, unless the Defense secretary gives the 30 days of advance notice. The Pentagon said it spent $988,400 on the detainee transfer, according to the report."
Lucy McCalmont of Politico: "Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill announced Thursday that she will lead a hearing in September looking into the militarization of local police departments, after recent tensions between law enforcement and protesters have rocked her state. The hearing, which will be held by the McCaskill-chaired Financial & Contracting Oversight Subcommittee, follows the Democrat's calls for demilitarization in Ferguson, Missouri."
Michael Corkery & Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "Bank of America and the Justice Department have a reached a record $16.65 billion settlement, capping the most sweeping federal investigation into the sale of troubled mortgages by a Wall Street bank since the 2008 financial crisis. The landmark settlement, announced by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in Washington on Thursday morning, requires Bank of America to pay a $9.65 billion cash penalty and provide about $7 billion in relief to homeowners and blighted neighborhoods." ...
... The DOJ's statement about the settlement is here. ...
... Michael Corkery & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "Documents released as part of the $16.65 billion settlement between Bank of America and the Justice Department read like a highlight reel of the mortgage sins that fed the 2008 financial crisis. As part of the deal, the bank and the Justice Department agreed to a 'statement of facts' that offers a window into some of the darkest corners of the Countrywide and Merrill mortgage machine that was responsible for funneling a stream of troubled loans that helped devastate the global financial system." ...
... BoA's "statement of facts" is here (pdf). ...
... Peter Eavis & Michael Corkery of the New York Times: The $16.65BB settlement the DOJ is touting may turn out to be a lot less than that: BoA is getting credit for mortgages it wrote down years ago. Plus, "The actual pain to the bank could also be significantly reduced by tax deductions.... Shares of Bank of America jumped 4 percent on Thursday, suggesting investors believe that the bank could take the settlement in stride."
Oh, STFU. Paul Krugman: "According to a recent report in The Times..., 'An increasingly vocal minority of Federal Reserve officials want the central bank to retreat more quickly' from its easy-money policies, which they warn run the risk of causing inflation.... That 'vocal minority' has been warning about soaring inflation more or less nonstop for six years. And the persistence of that obsession seems, to me, to be a more interesting and important story than the fact that the usual suspects are saying the usual things.... When economic myths persist, the explanation usually lies in politics -- and, in particular, in class interests. There is not a shred of evidence that cutting tax rates on the wealthy boosts the economy, but there's no mystery about why leading Republicans like Representative Paul Ryan keep claiming that lower taxes on the rich are the secret to growth."
"The Twilight of Antonin Scalia." Garrett Epps of the Atlantic: "Scalia has had nearly 30 years to alter the law, and in many ways, he has succeeded. Yet the pique of confronting error, the pleasure of forecasting doom, has led him over and over into rhetorical excess, until at last his Windsor dissent helped cement one of conservatism's most stinging defeats." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link.
Beyond the Beltway
Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "In an emotional second day of testimony in his federal corruption trial, former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell portrayed in searing detail the slow collapse of his marriage.... By the time he had reached the pinnacle of state politics, he and Maureen McDonnell were at emotional sword points, with him avoiding time in his wife's presence and her communicating frequently by yelling, he said. At one point, she threw a $25,000 check at him during an argument over their troubled finances." ...
... Jonathan Weisman & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "On his second day on the witness stand, Bob McDonnell ... deftly oscillated on Thursday between expressing sympathy for his wife, Maureen, and skewering her for poor judgment and emotional volatility, pressing his contention that the estranged couple could not have conspired illegally. Mr. McDonnell walked the jury methodically through their 38-year marriage, portraying the couple as drifting farther and farther apart as he relentlessly marched to higher office, from the Virginia General Assembly to attorney general to governor." ...
... The Washington Post's live updates of today's trial testimony are here. "The former governor said Maureen McDonnell -- without him knowing about it -- initiated the process in early 2012 for Richmond businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. to loan $50,000 to a real estate company he co-owned with his sister, whose first name is also Maureen. The governor said he first learned that his wife had been having loan discussions with the businessman by way of an e-mail, and it appeared to him a tentative agreement was already in place."
... Gene Robinson: "How far would you go to stay out of jail? Would you publicly humiliate your wife of 38 years, portraying her as some kind of shrieking harridan? Would you put the innermost secrets of your marriage on display, inviting voyeurs to rummage at will? For Robert McDonnell..., the answers appear to be: 'As far as necessary,' 'Hey, why not?' and 'Sounds like a plan.' ... A jury will decide whether McDonnell was an honest public servant. By his own account, he wasn't much of a husband." ...
... CW: McDonnell rejected a plea bargain that would have left his wife off the hook & would have required him to cop to one felony count. I suspect he would have got a suspended sentence, or at worst, an ankle bracelet. It's possible he would have gone to jail, but more likely not. So he's trashing his wife for little, if any, gain. He's doing it because he wants to, not because he has to.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "At a press conference shortly after 1 a.m., Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald S. Johnson said there had been seven arrests late Thursday and into early today. Five were for failure to disperse and the other two for minor offenses as well, he said. 'Today we had a good day,' said Johnson, who is in charge of the security forces on patrol in Ferguson." ...
... Joseph Goldstein & Mark Santora of the New York Times: "As tensions on the streets here seemed to ease on Thursday, Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the Missouri National Guard to begin withdrawing from the city." ...
"Anonymous Sources" Disagree. German Lopez of Vox: After an "anonymous source" told Fox "News" & the Washington Post that Officer Darren Wilson had "a fractured eyesocket" as a result of his encounter with Michael Brown -- and x-rays to prove it, another "anonymous source" told CNN that wasn't true & his "x-rays came back negative." He had a swollen face. ...
... These "anonymous sources" apparently think they are far more knowledgeable than the St. Louis county prosecutor. Mark Berman of the Washington Post: St. Louis County Prosecutor's spokesman Ed "Magee said that prosecutors have not received any medical records relating to Wilson so far. But he said that since Wilson was taken to the hospital, they assume there are medical records and they just haven't received them yet.... [Prosecutor Robert] McCulloch has been in touch with Wilson's attorney but has not spoken to Wilson himself. Wilson will be given an opportunity to appear before the grand jury, but he cannot be compelled to appear, Magee said." CW: Yeah, well the wheels of justice grind slowly, & sometimes evidence inexplicably gets lost, & hey, we're not going to charge this guy anyway, so what's the rush? ...
... Yishai Schwartz of the New Republic on why "convicting Darren Wilson will be basically impossible": "... in most states today, including Missouri..., as long as there is a modicum of evidence and reasonable plausibility in support of a self-defense claim, a court must accept the claim and acquit the accused." ...
... Robert VerBruggen of Real Clear Politics describes Missouri's lax law on police use of force. (Link fixed.) He includes jury instructions on when an officer is justified in using deadly force. ...
... Paul Cassell in the Washington Post: "... proving a crime in the Brown shooting will require close attention to the details, particularly details about the shooting officer's state of mind. Even if the officer made a mistake in shooting, that will not be enough to support criminal charges so long as his mistake was reasonable -- a determination in which the officer will receive some benefit of the doubt because of the split-second judgments that he had to make. And, of course, if it turns out that Michael Brown was in fact charging directly towards the officer (as recent reports have suggested), the officer's actions will have been justified under state law and no charges should be filed." ...
Steve King Has Black Friends! And by the way, it also should be said that someone like Lacy Clay, who's a member of the Congressional Black Caucus — there is no 'Congressional White Caucus.' It is a self-segregated caucus and it is a caucus that they drive an agenda that's based on race. And they're always looking to place the race card. They're always looking to divide people down that line. And I have friends in that caucus. I get along with them personally, but their agenda is to play the race card. And we have a President who had a perfect opportunity to eliminate a lot of this friction in this country, and instead, he and his attorney general have been in a place where they've created friction rather than eliminated it. -- Rep. Steve King (RTP-Iowa)
... Brian Beutler of the New Republic: The home video taken of the killing of Kajieme Powell conflicts with police statements about the circumstances under which police shot Powell dead. "Powell had a knife -- Police Chief Sam Dotson described it as a steak knife. But he was not wielding it in the way officers claimed (or in the way it may have felt to them in the moment). He was not two or three feet away, but perhaps eight or nine. He wasn't charging hard or issuing threats. To the contrary, he was demanding to be shot.... Everything the St. Louis police did in the aftermath suggests they sincerely believe this was a justified, by-the-book killing.... If this is proper protocol, then the protocol is bad." ...
... ** Ezra Klein on the killing of Kajieme Powell: "There is something wrong that the video seems obviously exculpatory to the police and obviously damning to so many who watch it. The dispute over the facts in the Michael Brown case offers the hope that there is a right answer -- that Wilson either did clearly the right thing or clearly the wrong thing. The video of the Powell case delivers a harder reality: what the police believe to be the right thing and what the people they serve believe to be the right thing may be very different."
Steve Rothaus of the Miami Herald: "In the first decision on same-sex marriage with statewide impact, a federal judge ruled Thursday that Florida's gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional, ordering the state to allow the marriage of same-sex couples and to recognize marriages performed elsewhere.... U.S District Judge Robert L. Hinkle of Tallahassee ... stayed most of the effects of his ruling pending appeal...."
Senate Race
James Hohmann of Politico: "The New Hampshire Senate race is tightening, according to a just-posted WMUR poll that puts Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen up only 2 points, 46-44, over Republican Scott Brown. That's within the margin of error. The same poll last month had Shaheen ahead by 12 points.... The poll found 60 percent of those polled have not definitively decided who they will vote for -- a suggestion that this could be a very fluid race."
News Ledes
New York Times: "A Chinese fighter jet flew within 30 feet of a Navy surveillance and reconnaissance plane this week in international airspace just off the Chinese coast, the Pentagon said Friday. The encounter, known as an intercept, 'was very, very close, very dangerous,' said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary. The Pentagon filed a diplomatic complaint with the People's Liberation Army on Friday morning, Defense Department officials said. As of Friday afternoon, it had not received a reply."
** New York Times: "Russian military has moved artillery units manned by Russian personnel inside Ukrainian territory in recent days and was using them to fire at Ukrainian forces, NATO officials said on Friday. The West has long accused Russia of supporting the separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, but this is the first time it has said it had evidence that the Russian military was operating in Ukrainian territory."
Guardian: "Iraqi government forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have launched attacks to recapture two towns in the north from Islamic State (Isis) militants, as Western governments consider how to mount an effective response to the threat posed by the extremist group that has redrawn the border of Iraq and Syria."
New York Times: "The first trucks from a long-stalled Russian convoy said to be carrying humanitarian aid crossed the border into eastern Ukraine on Friday, without the consent of the Ukrainian government and unaccompanied by Red Cross escorts, as had been earlier agreed upon. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a long statement in Moscow saying, in essence, that it had authorized the crossing because it was fed up with stalling by the government in Kiev." ...
... Washington Post: "Ukrainian authorities appeared to be scrambling Friday to decide how to respond to the border incursion. A Ukrainian military spokesman backed away from previous bellicose statements, but state security chief Valentyn Nalivaychenko told journalists in Kiev, 'We consider this a direct invasion by Russia of Ukraine,' Reuters news agency reported. He said Ukrainian forces would not use force against the convoy because they want to avoid 'provocations.'"
AP: "Gaza gunmen killed 18 alleged spies for Israel on Friday, including seven who were lined up behind a mosque and shot after midday prayers, in response to Israel's deadly airstrikes against top Hamas military commanders."
Washington Post: "Ever since the retirement of the space shuttle three years ago, American astronauts have had to hitchhike their way to the International Space Station aboard Russian spaceships. It is an increasingly costly arrangement..., made worse by U.S.-Russian tensions over the crisis in Ukraine. But in the coming weeks, NASA is expected to announce its long-awaited solution: a multibillion-dollar contract to build a U.S. spacecraft, which could help reignite a struggling American space program."
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Reader Comments (15)
Margaret Sullivan, the Times' Public Editor, criticizes the reporting summarizing witness accounts of the a Ferguson shooting. And the editor supervising the story pushes right back.
http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/a-ferguson-story-on-conflicting-accounts-seems-to-say-trust-us/
In a comment on his show tonight, Larry O'Donnell doubles down on his original criticism. (Which critism was noted in the Sullivan piece).
About the murder of Kajieme Powell by two St. Louis policemen: it is clear to me--and anybody who has witnessed or studied this phenomenon--that Kajieme was a "victim precipitated homicide." Classic. Jeebus, he even asked the cops to "Kill me. Shoot me." before he was shot and killed. Unfortunate and tragic that law enforcement in Missouri is so ill-trained--and there are so many--that they are unable to recognize a mentally unstable, suicidal person. Another term for this is: "suicide by cop." This is upsetting to me. I spent time (community service) in my professional career training policemen and paramedics to recognize the signs and call in a crisis team when they encountered a person who, in a sense, "dared" them to kill him/her.
Lesson not learned. Sad.
I have been away because I have a house full of Germans ( my son and family from Germany are with us for the month of August and part of Sept) plus other members of the family come and go making our usual quiet life one of beautiful bedlam. But their foray into New York for a few days gives me a chance to connect again to R.C. and I wanted to comment to Kate's message this morning. After I watched the video of the Powell shooting I was stunned and furious; so clearly was this a disturbed young man. The only positive that will come from these botched police maneuvers is an examination of the whole of the police tactics and a thorough reassessment.
As if the news isn't bad enough this week, I have to read, this morning, that racist beefcake boy, the carpetbagging Scott Brown is close to even with Jeanne Shaheen in the New Hampshire senate race.
So let me get this straight, this guy, an egotistical opportunist bereft of ideas or governing skills who has been living in New Hampshire for half and hour, is in what amounts to a statistical tie with a woman with decades of experience, who has lived in the Granite State for over 40 years, and who has done a helluva lot more for the state than whiz in Lake Winnipesaukee while on vacation.
This seat should be a lock, but thanks to Little Johnny and the Dwarfs, tens of millions of dollars are flooding into the state from largely untraceable sources to smear Shaheen, including, it appears, the Kochs. In my experience with New Hampshire residents, it would seem that they would not take kindly to oil billionaires from Kansas coming in and deciding who will be their next senator, but money does a lot that experience and the best interests of the state can't.
If this asshole wins again, he will have won two senate seats, not because people voted for him, but because they voted against his opponent.
He reminds me of the grinning imbecile in that Boccaccio story (I think it was Boccaccio) who falls in a pile of shit and emerges with a gold ring.
For something a bit lighter, I'd suggest a little satire from Ireland to calm homophobic nerves prior to an LGBT march in Dublin this weekend. Pretty funny.
Armagaydon is coming!
My favorite is the kid in the box.
Yesterday I mentioned the problems conservatives have with humor. The problem is even worse than I thought if this is what they find funny:
Joe the Plumber. Social scientist and part-time wingnut comedian. He sucks at both.
Yes, sometimes evidence does get lost.
This is what I heard from Marion yesterday:
"I taught in a one room school, grades 1-4 in the early 1950's for four years and worked on the ranch on the weekends. I made more money on the ranch than I did teaching. Things were going well until the last year when I paddled one of my students and his mother didn't like it. She thought I had paddled him too hard. She said he had bruises on his bottom and she took him to a doctor who looked him over and took a few pictures and gave them to the police.
There was a hearing later, I remember."
"So, what happened?" I asked.
Marion got that sly look again. "The police lost the pictures," he said. "All they told me after the hearing was I couldn't paddle any more kids, so I didn't."
That was corporal punishment sixty years ago, when schools and Marion, who is now in his eighties, commonly applied it. Today, when corporal punishment is generally frowned on, I suspect police departments wouldn't "lose" the pictures. Evidence and the people who supply it are both subject to social pressure and cultural mores. It quickly becomes a question of whose side are you on? Or how long can a police force in a democracy hold on to a minority opinion?
We're seeing the same tussle working itself out across the country when white cops shoot black men. The frequency of the practice tells us such behavior remains acceptable to the majority, but the prolonged protests over the Brown shooting and the too many others also suggests we may be approaching another tipping point. As outrage at police shootings mounts, evidence in such cases is less likely to be "lost," and we may soon count on investigations proceeding much more quickly and impartially.
As sad is the Ferguson affair is, it's possible some good will come out of it.
Maybe the Brown boy's senseless death will turn our to be the one shooting too many. I hope so.
That is if we don't once more forget, which is exactly the Ferguson police are counting on us to do and what the prolonged and muddled "investigation" is designed to accomplish.
This is a repost of a comment Akhilleus made late yesterday, minus two links that he embedded:
Don't know how I missed this, but I did.
According to the NY Times, "However, law enforcement officials say witnesses and forensic analysis have shown that Officer Wilson did sustain an injury during the struggle in the car.
As Officer Wilson got out of his car, the men were running away. The officer fired his weapon but did not hit anyone, according to law enforcement officials."
And, as Little Green Footballs suggests, this revelation "...makes it very clear that officer Wilson was firing his weapon at Michael Brown as he ran away — in other words, even though law enforcement officials say he didn’t hit Brown or Johnson, he was indeed shooting at Brown’s back.
That’s a confirmation of one of the crucial bits of eyewitness information, and an explanation for the initial reports that Brown was “shot in the back” — because Wilson did try to shoot him in the back. And that’s not supposition any more; it’s the direct word from law enforcement."
I don't think shooting someone in the back who was trying to run away, even if you don't hit them, is considered a reasonable thing to do, at least by most police departments. Then again, I could be wrong. Certain police departments might consider firing an RPG up the ass of a citizen trying to avoid a beating and/or shot in the back from police personnel A-Fucking-OK.
And if they did, I'm betting that Loofah Boy O'Reilly and his despicable right-wing posse would agree that that was the best thing to do to a (black) citizen.
Because uppity.
Akhilleus
@Akhilleus. I missed that, too, & I skimmed the article twice. The key passage from the Times piece, as you point out, is, "As Officer Wilson got out of his car, the men were running away. The officer fired his weapon but did not hit anyone, according to law enforcement officials."
Of course these "law enforcement officials" are unidentified (a major complaint of Lawrence O'Donnell's) & they are not testifying in court. Whoever they may be, they may offer up quite a different story on the stand, if they are called at all.
From a Newsweek piece I linked in yesterday's Comments section:
"... in 1985, the Supreme Court declared in Tennessee v. Garner that police cannot use deadly force to stop a fleeing felon who is not perceived to be dangerous."
However, as Paul Cassell details in the post linked above, the Supremes essentially modified Garner in 1989: "in Graham v. Connor which held that 'the calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments — in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving — about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation.' Missouri law also makes clear that the police officer has no 'duty to retreat' when attempting to make an arrest."
I would assume that Wilson had to write an incident report, tho perhaps if he lawyered up soon enough (and maybe he did), his lawyer would have advised him not to write a report. If such an incident report exists, it could go a long way toward establishing Wilson's "state of mind" -- which will be a key factor in the grand jury's determination of whether or not to charge Wilson, the prosecutor's decision on whether or not to go forward with a trial, & ultimately -- if it gets that far -- to whether or not a jury will convict.
(If you see a similarity between these well-established laws for police officers & the new "stand your ground" laws for private citizens, well, yeah.)
I'm not a bookie, but based on the posts by Schwartz & VerBruggen linked above, I think there about a 90-95 percent chance that Wilson will skate. (And wait for the outcry then!) The law provides Wilson with too many outs. Even if it comes out in court that he shot at Brown when Brown was fleeing, he can simply say that after their violent encounter, he reasonably believed that Brown posed a threat to the community & that it was necessary to use deadly force to stop him. While multiple witnesses claim that Wilson continued to fire at Brown (and here he didn't miss) after Brown turned around & tried to surrender, Wilson can say that with his impaired vision & all, it appeared Brown was moving forward to physically attack him again.
Frankly, if this weren't a white-on-black-kid shooting, I would be tempted to side with the officer. Brown was a big, powerful young man & he had apparently already inflicted some kind of bodily harm on Wilson, even if Wilson himself provoked it.
That said, I still think we may get a better idea of what really went down if we get a chance to see the videotapes that witnesses made. Did Wilson command Brown to stop as he was fleeing? Did he tell Brown to back off after Brown turned around? Or was he just out there firing his gun (in a residential neighborhood) at Brown no matter what Brown did?
I'm not hopeful for a satisfactory resolution. Our criminal "justice" system favors the police, which means that ordinary citizens regularly do not get what most of us would consider justice.
Marie
@Ken Winkes: "Maybe the Brown boy's senseless death will turn our to be the one shooting too many. I hope so."
But it didn't. Just 10 days later, & only 4 miles away, police unnecessarily shot & killed a young black man, Kajieme Powell. It took them 14 seconds to decide to shoot to kill. They had backup coming -- within 60 seconds, another patrol car arrived at the scene & 30 seconds later, a third car arrived. Yet the St. Louis Metro police chief Sam Dotson (who appears also to have distorted the facts surrounding the killing) confidently characterized it as a righteous shoot.
As Ed Kilgore (& likely others) pointed out a few days ago, the militarization of the police is not limited to their outfits. The cops who shot Powell were wearing normal patrol uniforms (which probably included vests which would have protected them from any life-threatening steak-knife stab wounds), but they thought it was quite all right to shoot to death a disturbed man. (They fired at least 9 shots, including some after Powell fell to the ground.) So the "militarization" here is a "militarization of the mind" -- the idea that the public is the enemy & if any disobeys a police order, he should be shot dead. (The footage -- linked here yesterday -- of the 20-year police veterans threatening to shoot to kill protesters, even though they actually were obeying the cops' rules, is another indication of that apparently pervasive mindset.)
This is a barbaric standard.
It doesn't take a brilliant mind or a lot of introspection to see that. If you listen to the commentary on the Powell tape, you hear the videographer & another onlooker saying, "They should have tased him." That seems obvious to ordinary people, myself included. (Or if not tasered, then talked him down or called in a crisis team -- see Kate Madison's commentary above.)
Marie
Soldiers who behave like the St Louis/Ferguson police get court-martialed. Actually, the police are turning into an organized, heavily-armed gang of thugs where the citizens should be more afraid of them than criminals.
I'll say this for the wingnuts, they have plenty of money.
According to NBC, a crowdfunding initiative has already raised nearly a quarter of a million bucks for poor Darren Wilson. "All proceeds will be sent directly to Darren Wilson and his family for any financial needs they may have including legal fees."
I wonder how much they've given to the family of the kid he shot and killed. I'm guessing.........nothing.
And I'm not holding out much hope that he'll face as much as an administrative slap on the wrist. I'm with Marie on this one. He's gonna walk. She's right. There are way too many loopholes, excuses, and fuzziness.
But if the last week has any bearing on the future, I'm hoping that mandatory video files of all police actions be available, even though, as Ken suggested earlier, in situations like this one, there might be an "Oops...oh, we lost that file."
Money and cheers for Darren Wilson. A grave for Michael Brown. That's the way it is. And not just in Ferguson, Missouri.
What the inciting news that Faux & "Newscorp" published about the orbital socket "injury" the murdering policeman got me wondering about is the financial relationship between Google and all the "Newscorp" title. When you look up Google news on wikipedia they don't even mention Fox. I won't click on anything put out by Murdoch; I may as well donate to the Ferguson, Missouri Police Benevolence Association. I just can't help but think of the quid pro quo these two businesses have and how much payola Murdoch gives to get such prime real estate for his shit.
According to http://annenberg.usc.edu/Faculty/Communication%20and%20Journalism/~/media/InternationalSociology.ashx. News corp together with GE/NBC did a $900 million dollar deal with Google, so they definitely have ties even if what is reported above isn't exactly about news content. I think Google has some quiet, evil business with bad people. What is evil to Google: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/what-is-evil-to-google/280573/.
So with the growing threat of ISIS and the heavy responsibility given to the Kurds to attempt to contain them, should we start seriously considering the formation of a future Kurdish state, etched out of the faded border between Syria and Iraq? Seems legitimate given their key role in the region and their growing clout as one of the only groups capable of actual governance. I'm sure the Palestinians would sit back in disbelief but their conflict will continue it's six year war cycle until i'm an old man.
@Citizen625: IMHO, Turkey, a NATO ally, would take a very dim view of your idea.