The Volokh Conspiracy: Michael Brown grand jury process was fair. Officer Wilson speaks,

 

 

 

WaPo  "The Michael Brown grand jury has spoken, declining to return charges against Officer Darren Wilson. The evidence that the grand jury reviewed has made available to the public and can be found here.  Since I haven’t yet had an opportunity to review the voluminous testimony, in this post I discuss not substance, but procedure.  Contrary to the complaints of some critics, the grand jury process was clearly fair.

"Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch described the process that he used.  The grand jury was one that a judge had previously selected, well before the shooting occurred.  After the shooting, the grand jurors were asked to extend their service to hear the evidence.  Prosecutors then called before the grand jury everyone they could that had evidence relevant to the case.  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch summarized the process neatly:" ...

Darren Wilson explains why he killed Michael Brown ... "On a hot August day, Wilson drove down a street and spotted two young black men walking down the middle of the road. One wore a black shirt. The other held cigarillos. The details of a robbery earlier that day, blared out on a police radio, clicked into Wilson’s head. Were they suspects? He told the two young men, one of whom was Brown, to move to the sidewalk.

"Things then happened very quickly. Wilson said Brown was at his car window, enraged. Wilson said Brown hit him in the face, grabbing for his gun. Two shots fired. Brown bolted down the street. Wilson pursued. As Wilson told it, Brown charged the officer, reaching into his pants. Wilson raised his .40-caliber Sig Sauer and aimed for a lethal shot."

Ferguson officer: 'I know I did my job right'  ... "Wilson says he felt like it was his duty to chase Brown after a confrontation at his police vehicle. When asked about witness accounts that Brown at one point turned toward Wilson and put his hands up, he responded "that would be incorrect.' "

[VIDEO] Obama in 2006 said “I stole ideas from Jon Gruber”

Wayne Dupree  "Obama in 2006: “You have already drawn some of the brightest minds from academia and policy circles, many of them I have stolen ideas from liberally, people ranging from Robert Gordon to Austan Goolsbee; Jon Gruber; my dear friend, Jim Wallis here, who can inform what are sometimes dry policy debates with a prophetic voice.'”
 

Missing the Crime Beat; Most of today’s reporters have never covered police day-to-day — and it shows.

NRO

 

"The generally abysmal media coverage of the Ferguson tragedy has raised one major question among those of us who once practiced the journalistic trade: Doesn’t anybody cover the cop shop any more?

"It was clear from much of the coverage that few of those assigned to the story knew very much about the law, and that they knew even less about how cops do their jobs. Time was, every genuine news organization had at least one often-grizzled and highly cynical veteran of covering the police beat, who would have suggested that it might not be good or accurate to refer to someone caught on camera pulling a strong-arm robbery as a “gentle giant.”
...
"Policemen and old police reporters have a saying about someone whose actions result in his own demise: He bought his ticket. As sad as it is, the person most responsible for Michael Brown’s death was and is Michael Brown. It’s a shame there were no tough old police reporters in Ferguson to see that."

What Obama said about the grand jury (and what he could have said)

American Thinker

 

... "Let's consider these words.  He starts by appearing to give both sides an even footing, but then he allows that anger is understandable, which is tantamount to it being justified.
 
"A man of peace, a man with compassion and yet a representative of the nation, would not say it is an understandable reaction – because it isn't.  It is not understandable to be angry unless you believe that a result of a lawful and objective jury decision is unfair – and angry with whom?  The police in general?  The government of the state?  The world?
 
"He then goes on not to say that justice has to be trusted, but to call for those who "protest" to be non-violent.  But he does in truth call for protest.

"Thomas Lifson adds:
Let’s consider what could have been.  President Obama could have discussed the thorough process of evidence review undertaken by the grand jury.  He could have discussed why grand jury secrecy is an important feature of the justice system in all 50 states.  He could have stressed that all Americans of all races are protected by the process of checks and balances built into the grand jury system.  He could have mentioned that the grand jury was representative of the demographic composition of the St. Louis area.  He could have urged all those with anger and frustration to take the time to review the evidence seen by the grand jury before jumping to conclusions.
But instead he stated that anger was “understandable.”

 

"Only Revolution Can Bring Peace!" "From Ayotzinapa to Ferguson/Down With Capitalist [something]," "No Justice in the Capitalist Courts!"

Ann Althouse  ..."But this post is about the white people — not the media white people who choose this distanced delicacy, but the white people who participated in protests. There's only one, I think, in the text of the article:

A middle-aged white woman wove through the crowd, yelling, “We need to shut this down across America!” and handing out fliers.

The woman, Jessie Davis, was a supporter of the Revolutionary Communist Party and came here from Chicago.

"And the slide show ends with a shot of protesters "disrupting traffic" in New York City. This crowd is overwhelmingly white (to appropriate a phrase famously applied to tea party crowds). I cropped out a section of the lower left so you could look at the signs:"

Major blowback from Obama's insult to Australia at the G20 in Brisbane

"Federal Coalition members are ... angry at the US President’s public intervention in the Australian climate change debate at the G20 last Saturday"

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/261560690831637187/

Thomas Lifson  Barack Obama has managed to damage the formerly close relationship between the United States and Australia, a cornerstone of our presence in the Pacific.  Unless you read American Thinker, you probably don’t know about the fuss created when President Obama stuck his nose in Australian domestic politics and insulted that ally during his closing remarks at the G20 Summit in Brisbane last week:
...
"Much, much worse than the verbal spat, Australia is being pushed into the waiting hands of China, eager to buy more of Australia’s vast natural resources, including coal.  You will remember that China can keep burning coal and emitting CO₂ in greater quantities for a decade and a half more thanks the “deal” that Obama made, obligating America to cut its emissions now, while China is allowed to peak its emissions “around” 2030.

"Australia is now contemplating a major step, pulling it away from the U.S. and toward China:" ...  Read more:

From the Melbourne Herald Sun:
Attention America: your windbag president is pushing Australia China’s way  "Robb told Sky News’s Australian Agenda program yesterday he was “surprised” by Obama’s speech, he believed the President was “not informed” about Australia’s climate change policy, that his “content was wrong”, that Australia’s 2020 targets were “roughly comparable” to those of the US and other nations, that his speech gave “no sense” to government efforts to protect the Great Barrier Reef and that his remarks were “misinformed” and “unnecessary”.

"In short, Robb dumped all over Obama"…

From the comments section:
The message to the US should be:
“The US may tolerate its leader lying to them, but Australians take a very dim view of it.”

 

Libs aim to destroy the Duggars; America responds

American Thinker  "Last week, transgender activists tried to get the popular TV show 19 Kids and Counting canned.  The movement, accustomed to capitulation, may not have expected a conservative counter-petition to overcome its Change.org push.

"The flap originally came about when Michelle Duggar, matriarch of the Duggar clan, sent out robo-calls in Fayetteville, Arkansas opposing an "anti-discrimination law" that would make it easier for men calling themselves women to share bathrooms with people's young daughters.  Transgender activists descended into a meltdown over Duggar's "transphobia.' "

Read more:

Mayor Rudy Dares to Ask the Unaskable: Why the Outrage Over Ferguson Shooting, But Not Black-on-Black Murder?

Rush Limbaugh  ..."Not only did Rudy Giuliani jump in with both feet yesterday on Meet the Press, he upped the ante on Fox & Friends this morning, and we have the audio sound bite of that.  He was on with Michael Eric Dyson.  Michael Eric Dyson is a professor at Georgetown University and is a well known African-American activist as well, and is somebody that's perpetually enraged.  And Giuliani, among other things on Meet the Press yesterday, said, "White police officers wouldn't be there," meaning black neighborhoods, "if you weren't killing each other."

 

Former Special Forces Commander to Hagel: Don’t Wait for Book Deal--Tell Truth Now

CNS News
... "The American people deserve and have a right to hear the truth about the damage the President's policies have inflicted on the military. We can't wait any longer to restore the readiness of our military. Our national security depends upon it.

"The reluctance of the current Joint Chiefs of Staff to resist damaging policies is having a devastating impact on military readiness and consequently national security. Programmed cuts in the military budget as well as cuts resulting from sequestration are reducing America's readiness to a dangerously low level. From personnel to major weapons systems, military leaders and defense analysts alike agree we are placing our national security on a dangerous footing. It's time for senior military leaders to go public with their objections even if it results in their resignation or termination." ...

Grand jury decision in Michael Brown case sparks anger: 'Kill white people'

Examiner.com

 

"On Monday, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch announced that Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson will not be indicted for the shooting death of Michael Brown. The decision sparked anger and riots in Ferguson, with a number of people expressing their desire to kill white people on Twitter.

" 'Let's kill all the white people," one person said. "[K]ill all white people," another person added.
A number of other people expressed the same sentiment. "Let's just kill all white people. We are long overdue for oppression," said Twitter user "Simon."

" ' 'I think we should kill all white people," another person added. "I'm just throwing it out there."
"Seasons greetings to all, except white people," said another Twitter user. "Kill all white people.' "...


Ferguson Protesters Torch Little Caesar's…  "So Mike Brown supporters were so outraged by the grand jury decision that they decided to burn a Little Ceasars?"

 

Pic: Ferguson Looters Carrying A Stolen Big Screen TV…

 

Demonstrations In Other Cities- DC, NYC, LA, Oakland, Seattle
All for this guy?

Conservative Blogger Tries to Prove ‘Violent Streak’ with Michael Brown’s Photos
He writes:

In stark contrast to the “gentle giant” portrayed in the national media Brown’s social media accounts reveal a misogynistic young man obsessed with drugs, money, and violence. He described his interest in “money, weed, and weather” on his Instagram.
Brown’s Instagram account also shows a violent streak that may help explain what led to a violent confrontation with Police officer Darren Wilson. “I’m Out Here To Claim What’s Mines,” Brown wrote on his Instagram profile. Brown’s bio included the eery line, “My Hands My Ammunition,” a statement made all the more creepy given his participation in a strong arm robbery.

 

inquisitr.com

 

Obama urges restraint after Ferguson grand jury decision 

Alan Caruba: Racism Can Be White or Black

Warning Signs

 

... "The “demonstrators” and “protesters” in Ferguson are a disgrace. They have put hard working, law abiding blacks at risk of being lumped in with their behavior. That, regrettably, is how racism works.

"If, however, you want to exploit the incident, you send the U.S. Attorney General to Ferguson to stir up the black racism that exists and you have the Department of Justice conduct both civil and criminal investigations.

"If you want to exploit the incident, you have the Attorney General participate in planting a tree last Monday in the memory of Emmett Till, a teenager who was murdered in 1955 by white bigots and have him speak of young black men "who died senselessly," but Michael Brown died as the result of an assault on a police officer." ...

 

 

How Obama Dumped Hagel (UPDATED)

Politico  He ‘just wasn’t the man for the job,’ president concluded.
 

"When President Obama first summoned Chuck Hagel to the Oval Office in October, he wanted to know how his Pentagon chief planned to cope with the dangerous new threat posed by the Islamic State that had drawn the reluctant president back into war in the Middle East, not to mention getting a sense of Hagel’s other plans for the final two years of Obama’s presidency.

"But after several lackluster, low-energy sessions, Obama was so unimpressed by the performance of his laconic, self-effacing defense secretary that he decided Hagel “just wasn’t the man for the job,” according to a senior administration official. That set in motion the decision that led to Hagel’s decorous dumping on Monday by a president who almost never fires anybody—and never admits it when he does." 
...
" ... he dashed off an uncharacteristically sharp memo to National Security Adviser Susan Rice slamming the administration’s Syria policy as rudderless and ill-defined."

" ... few expect his departure to solve the deeper problems plaguing Obama’s national security team given the iron grip exerted on foreign policymaking by Obama’s West Wing staff.
... "But Hagel’s main gripe, according to people close to him, was what he viewed as a disorganized National Security Council run by Rice—a criticism shared by McDonough, according to a senior administration official."  Read more:

Defense Secretary Hagel fired  "Obama couldn't fire Kerry.  He's a liberal Democrat who's very popular with Dems on the Hill.  Hagel, on the other hand, had outgrown his usefulness.  He had zero credibility with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, making him the perfect fall guy for Obama's incompetence.

"The world is going to hell largely because of a lack of American leadership on a wide variety(SP) of issues.  Obama should stop casting about for goats and look in a mirror to discover the reason for his failures."