facepalm
Category: Uncategorized
Michael Brown family statement
Michael Brown family statement on Ferguson grand jury decision
Let’s not just make noise, let’s make a difference
sigh….
Ferguson reaction
Ferguson reaction: Cars vandalized, gunshots heard after word of no indictment in Michael Brown shooting
hmmmmm
Gunshots or exploding bullets that were carelessly left in police cars parked in areas where an angry protest (and the tipping & burning of cars) was expected?!
Turkey president Erdogan: Women are not equal to men
Turkey president Erdogan: Women are not equal to men
dickless, ignorant loser.
Why It’s Impossible to Indict a Cop – The Nation
Why It’s Impossible to Indict a Cop
It’s not just Ferguson—here’s how the system protects police.
Police shootings are only one function of living in one of the most heavily policed societies in the world. Any movement to roll back this creeping overcriminalization is going to have to look beyond criminal prosecutions of individual police and take in the big picture.
…Wanton overpolicing had poisoned relations between the people and their government well before Darren Wilson shot dead Michael Brown. Less mediagenic than police militarization and far more insidious is law enforcement’s daily harassment of citizens for petty offenses
…The feeling of being under occupation by an armed force that cares more about meeting revenue quotas than public security corrodes all trust in law enforcement, and is the sort of environment in which police are more likely to open fire.
hmmmmmm
Police misconduct
Police are rarely indicted for misconduct, Wilson decision illustrates
sigh….
Criminal prosecution of a police officer for killing someone in the line of duty, if no corruption is alleged, is extremely rare. Even when officers are convicted, the charges are often minimal.
True story.
Typically, prosecutors make a short presentation to the grand jury in which they call for specific charges to be considered and then put on their best show of the evidence to see if it passes muster. Indictments occur in more than 90 percent of cases, owing to the low threshold of probable cause and the one-sided nature of the proceedings. In Wilson’s case, however, the DA said he planned to provide the grand jury with all the evidence and allow them to decide, without any prompting, whether an indictment was justified and for what offense.
…First, this approach allowed him to absolve himself of any responsibility for the outcome. Second, it served to confuse and undermine the confidence of the grand jury. …By giving the jurors a wide variety of conflicting evidence and little framework in which to evaluate it, the DA is opening the door to a he said/he said dynamic in which they may err on the side of caution and avoid an indictment.
Nice to hear I’m not the only one this occurred to.
Obama’s statement on Ferguson
Watch President Obama’s full statement on Ferguson grand jury decision
I like the bit between minutes two and three.
At around the 4:00 minute mark, did he just say, “much needed criminal justice reform?” From his lips to action I hope.
At about the 4:50 mark, “there are still problems and communities of color aren’t just making these problems up.” Good on ya Barack!
At about the 5:25 mark, “what we need to do is to understand them and figure out how do we make more progress.” Again with the ‘these are all important issues and we need to discuss them more and work on them together but not really actually do anything about it’ phrasing that turned me off to BHO the first time I heard him. (This is not a cocktail party. The theory and the discussion is not the point, the result are, man! Jeesh.)
That said, I prefer the sound of making progress to the sound of completely fixing thing or -even worse- tearing everything down and starting over. (Sue me, I prefer to aim for the possible.) Are we hearing a more mature BHO here, one who is ready to publicly acknowledge that the goal is to make progress and not to hold out for total wins? Just in time for justice system reform? Be still, my pragmatic heart.
No seriously, what specifically are your plans? What exactly is being proposed and implement by the Justice Department? You’re not running anymore, now is the time. Oh, and, you mind answering the federal charges question?
Tear gas fired at Ferguson protesters; police cars set afire
Tear gas fired at Ferguson protesters; police cars set afire
What kills me about this (and this and this) is that officials have been planning their crowd control for a while. A State of Emergency was declared days ahead of time. They have had days, weeks, months to position their forces and craft a crowd control strategy. Why. The. Hell. …Did they position all of those empty police cars in the area, with no show of force near-by?
No, wait. Maybe it’s best not to answer that.
No Indictment of Officer in Missouri Death
No Indictment of Officer in Missouri Death
Grand Jury Does Not Charge Darren Wilson in Ferguson Case
Legal experts say police officers typically have wide latitude to use deadly force when they feel their safety is threatened.
Or to put it another way, they have wide latitude to define when deadly force is necessary. Think South Park.
Mr. McCulloch, the St. Louis County prosecutor, directed his staff to present “absolutely everything” to the grand jury, meaning that the jurors would see and hear more evidence than they would have normally.
OK, my immediate thought is that it sounds like the grand jury would be hearing testimony that they usually wouldn’t have heard because of its relevance or credibility. Not to say this happened but if someone did want to direct information away from something, I imagine burying it in an avalanche of other information might not be such a bad tactic.
In the event the jury does not indict Officer Wilson, Mr. McCulloch has said he plans to release audio recordings and transcripts of the grand jury proceedings.
(Dear New York Times, Please hire some copy editors and make sure you update/correct articles before you publish them, even online. Thank you, -The Public)
Absolutely only the play the prosecutor could make to ensure his conduct in this affair was protected from much critique was to release every little thing, before anyone asks.
A few ends will be served beyond the public’s thirst for information.
On the chance that some information contained somewhere in the grand jury proceedings leads to light being shone any malfeasance, on the part of any level of law enforcement, the prosecutor has separated himself from it by releasing the information so promptly. If there is anything, even remotely resembling say stereotypical thin blue line cover-ups to be found, his hands are clean. Nice butt-covering.
Less cynically, McCulloch repeatedly expressed his desire that people keep working on and discussing the issues involved in this tragedy and even made non-specific statements about laws being changed so things work better. That bit was nice but I wonder if he will be speaking about this a month from now.
Captain of San Diego-based warship relieved of duty
Captain of San Diego-based warship relieved of duty
Capt. Wayne Brown was relieved as commander of the San Diego-based amphibious assault ship Boxer after an investigation concluded that he had “lost the respect, trust and confidence of his subordinates” because of his temper and his behavior toward female crew members, according to the investigative report.
hmmmm.
Comments From The Peanut Gallery 