What’s interesting in the news today?
UPDATE!
Well this changes the entire perspective of this case. With a Hat Tip to Kbells.
From TalkingPointsMemo “Michael Brown, the African-American teen who was shot by Ferguson, Mo., police Saturday, was the primary suspect for an alleged robbery at the time of the shooting, according to reporters on the ground piecing through a police report released Friday.
Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson said officer Darren Wilson, a six-year veteran, was the officer who shot Brown. He gave a timeline of the shooting, which included a response to a 911 call from a convenience store shortly before the shooting around 12 p.m. Saturday.
The police also released an incident report about the robbery, which said that Brown was the “primary suspect,” according to reporters at the scene who had access to the physical copies. Brown had stolen cigars from the convenience store, the report stated, and had pushed an employee who asked him to pay for them.”
Photos from the store’s cameras confirm it was Brown roughing up the owner.
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1. It’s too bad the President’s supposed foreign policy theory of “Don’t do stupid stuff” doesn’t apply to his domestic policies too.
From TheHill “The executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police criticized President Obama Thursday for his remarks about law enforcement in Ferguson, Mo.
“I would contend that discussing police tactics from Martha’s Vineyard is not helpful to ultimately calming the situation,” director Jim Pasco said in an interview with The Hill.
“I think what he has to do as president and as a constitutional lawyer is remember that there is a process in the United States and the process is being followed, for good or for ill, by the police and by the county and by the city and by the prosecutors’ office,” Pasco added.”
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2. Meanwhile the Missouri Highway Patrol have taken control in Ferguson.
From MSNNews “The Missouri Highway Patrol seized control of a St. Louis suburb Thursday, stripping local police of their law-enforcement authority after four days of clashes between officers in riot gear and furious crowds protesting the death of an unarmed black teen shot by an officer.
The intervention, ordered by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, came as spoke publicly for the first time about Saturday’s fatal shooting of Michael and the subsequent violence that shocked the nation and threatened to tear apart Ferguson, a town that is nearly 70 percent black patrolled by a nearly all-white police force.”
“After a particularly violent Wednesday night, Nixon said local police would no longer be in charge of the area, although they would still be present. He said Highway Patrol Capt. Ron , who is black, would be in command.
The change was meant to ensure “that we allow peaceful and appropriate protests, that we use force only when necessary, that we step back a little bit and let some of the energy be felt in this region appropriately,” Nixon said.”
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3. Rand Paul, as did some of you, has made a good point. Enough already, the police shouldn’t be mini-militaries.
From Time “The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting. There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.
The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action.
Glenn Reynolds, in Popular Mechanics, recognized the increasing militarization of the police five years ago. In 2009 he wrote:
Soldiers and police are supposed to be different. … Police look inward. They’re supposed to protect their fellow citizens from criminals, and to maintain order with a minimum of force.
It’s the difference between Audie Murphy and Andy Griffith. But nowadays, police are looking, and acting, more like soldiers than cops, with bad consequences. And those who suffer the consequences are usually innocent civilians.”
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4. Maliki is stepping down in Iraq. I doubt it helps, but it’s the right thing to do.
From CNN “Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gave up the fight Thursday to keep his post, clearing the way for a new leader that many hope can hold Iraq together as the country battles brutal extremist fighters.
In a televised address, al-Maliki withdrew his candidacy for a third term and endorsed the Prime Minister-designate, bringing to an end a political battle that just days ago saw him vow to hold onto power as he ordered tanks into the streets.
“I announce to you today that I am withdrawing my candidacy in deference to my brother, Haider al-Abadi, in the highest interest of the country,” he said.”
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5. Kirsten Powers is hitting the President for ignoring the plight of Christians in Iraq.
From USAToday “It’s starting to seem as if the Obama White House operates on a time delay. In the case of Iraq’s religious minorities, the results have been deadly.
On June 10, the barbaric extremists called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) captured the city of Mosul. By mid-July, they issued an edict to the Christians who remained to “convert, leave or be killed.” The White House said nothing.
Beginning on July 22, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., took to the House floor six times to plead for attention from the Obama administration as a genocide threatened Iraq. Not a word from the president.
On July 24, a resolution sponsored by Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., “condemning the severe persecution (of) Christians and other ethnic and religious minority communities … in Iraq” was introduced on the floor of the House. It called for the administration to “develop and implement an immediate, coordinated and sustained humanitarian intervention.” Crickets.
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6. Many of you may have already read Matt Walsh’s take on the Robin Williams suicide. He’s taken a lot of flack for his comments. If you haven’t read it, here it is.
From TheMattWalshBlog “The death of Robin Williams is significant not because he was famous, but because he was human, and not just because he left this world, but particularly because he apparently chose to leave it. Suicide.”
“It’s a tragic choice, truly, but it is a choice, and we have to remember that. Your suicide doesn’t happen to you; it doesn’t attack you like cancer or descend upon you like a tornado. It is a decision made by an individual. A bad decision. Always a bad decision.
And that’s why I felt compelled to say something here. There are important truths we can take from the suicide of a rich and powerful man, yet I’m worried that we are too afraid to tackle the subject, or too blind to tackle it with any depth, so we only perpetuate the problem. But worse than the glossing over of suicide is the fact that we seem to approach it with an attitude that nearly resembles admiration.”
Over at The Federalist Bill McMorris agrees, and thinks this might be an opportunity to revive the stigma.
From TheFederalist “Robin Williams is dead. It is a tragedy. The greater tragedy is that he committed suicide. The greatest tragedy is that we can’t talk about it, not honestly. When Christian blogger Matt Walsh attempted to do so, the purveyors of moral preening, both Right and Left, came out of the woodwork to exercise their lungs and position themselves as righteous. Their case amounted to this: how dare he suggest that eliminating the stigma of suicide isn’t the best suicide prevention technique.
I read and re-read his post, trying to find the passage that invited all this scorn. Here’s the most offensive passage to the virgin eyes of the twenty-first century:
It’s a tragic choice, truly, but it is a choice, and we have to remember that. Your suicide doesn’t happen to you; it doesn’t attack you like cancer or descend upon you like a tornado. It is a decision made by an individual. A bad decision. Always a bad decision.”
“The outrage over Walsh’s column points to the changing status of suicide in our new world. Self-annihilation, once regarded by the Christian West as the greatest sin, is now treated through the prism of Eastern religions: the ultimate symbol of martyrdom.”
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Wandering Views 
A J, Thanks for posting #6.
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On #3, I disagree with Rand Paul, and think he is wimping out by not supporting the police in Missouri. However, Paul may just be electable: he is a strong supporter of free enterprise, he is a non-interventionist in foreign policy and he takes stands like this to show he isn’t a “bad old racist”. Maybe Hillary isn’t inevitable after all.
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New evidence on the Ferguson situation. It would seem that Michael Brown was a very strong suspect in a strong arm robbery a half a mile away and that the Officer was treated for injuries at the hospital.
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I can’t imagine why anyone would take offense at Matt Walsh’s comment. It is true. I haven’t paid much attention to it because I can’t recall ever seeing him. But suicide is bad on many levels.
The Federalist has no issue but tries to make one anyhow.
If the likes of Kirsten Powers turns on Obama, he’s in trouble.
Frank Wolf is from a district next to ours in N. Va. He is a good man. Been there a long time. We’ll miss him when he leaves.
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Thanks Kbells. I’ve updated the post to reflect the new info.
Also, there are photos that were released as well that show Brown strong arming the store owner.
The cops behavior seemed bizarre and excessive. Not so much now.
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Expressing concerns about overaggressive cops–many of which cases are well-documented–is not the same as being opposed to good cops or all cops. Those concerns are only part and parcel of vigilance in monitoring overall government abuse, and they’re legitimate.
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Interesting new info in the Ferguson story. It certainly makes more sense than the ‘we were just walking along in the street minding our own business’ scenario.
I still think there’s a serious issue of shooting an unarmed man (and a robbery, not a murder suspect) who was running away (and then allegedly continuing to shoot the suspect multiple times after he turned around and put his hands up, at least according to several witnesses).
And why in the world didn’t police release the robbery suspect information from the beginning?
Police departments out here, most prominently LAPD, are turning more and more to installing video cameras on all squad cars as a way to protect both citizens and police officers when these kinds of disputes occur.
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Funny story posted on FB: “When Christopher Reeve was in the hospital, awaiting a back surgery that had a fifty/fifty chance of killing him, a man burst into his room. He was wearing surgical scrubs, talking in a Russian accent, and said he was there to give a rectal exam. It was Robin Williams; the two men had been roommates together at Juilliard. Later Reeve said of his life-long friend: ‘For the first time since the accident, I laughed. My old friend had helped me know that somehow I was going to be okay.'”
I appreciated Matt Walsh’s post. It needed to be said (and at least one person from a suicide prevention group has expressed similar concerns over how suicide is now portrayed as a way to “freedom”).
I think it’s possible to have both compassion for those who feel desperate enough to take that route — but also to have the moral and intellectual clarity that says this is a horrible ‘solution’ that spreads so much pain for those left behind.
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I suspect the police were reluctant to release the robbery video for fear of being accused of attacking the poor shooting victim. Also now that the FBI and the DOJ are doing an investigation why are people still protesting. Wasn’t that what they claimed to want from the start?
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AJ, don’t you think eyewitness accounts of the shooting portray the cop’s behavior as excessive, regardless of whether Brown was suspected of anything? Or are you referring to the behavior of another cop or cops?
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As long as Al Sharpton is up there fomenting stuff, people are gonna protest.
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Solar,
So far the only eyewitness account I’ve seen are from the guy who was with him. I’d be interested to read other accounts if you know of any. What he says doesn’t mention the robbery or that the cop was questioning him about it. Also, he says there was no fight/scuffle, which doesn’t pass the smell test. There’s a video out of him telling his side, but the language is horrible so I won’t post it. Also, this witness ignored police when they sought to speak with him about it. He got an Al Sharpton wannabe to “represent” him and they both ignored repeated efforts by the police to speak to him. Not a very reliable witness in my opinion.
That’s not to say the cop didn’t go way overboard, after all, you don’t continue to shoot an unarmed suspect when he’s giving up. That’s gonna be real hard to justify.
And lets face it, it’s not like the cops in this country aren’t over-militarized. They are, big time, and it needs to stop. They’re supposed to serve and protect, but anymore they act like brownshirts and thugs. It’s not surprising that people are fed up with them.
I think both sides raise some valid issues, but both are also leaving out relevant details to help their story. But I doubt that a just and total investigation can be done with this DoJ. That’s a shame.
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In Texas people know that if you assault a police officer or resist arrest, you may be shot. If you rob a store or assault a clerk, you may be shot. People are moving to Texas from other states for reasons other than our strong economy.
I am happy when people in other states criticize their police officers and encourage them to be gentle with criminals. Our remaining criminals can rent those U-Haul trucks we now have and move to “kinder and gentler” states.
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There is some humor in every tragedy. In this story one Yankee kills another Yankee (who was behaving like an idiot) and a third Yankee blamed the South for the whole thing.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Sports/2014/08/12/Blame-South-for-Ward-Death
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AJ, I’ve seen the clip you refer to–and agree the language is ridiculous and indefensible–along with quite a few other accounts contained in stories like this one:
RickyWeaver: I don’t think there’s much disagreement that cops may be justified shooting someone resisting arrest–and certainly little disagreement that shooting is justified in response to *assault* (for cryin’ out loud), but when people are complaining about cops being out of hand, it’s in reference to instances when cops *provoke* altercations, or detain *innocent* people, or escalate force far beyond what is necessary. Those things happen a lot, and even if rare, when they aren’t properly resolved, it’s a big problem. That stuff is poison in a free society.
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Seriously, there’s an editorial in our local paper this morning (the liberal York Daily Record) blaming the current situation in Iraq on George Bush.
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We do not have an “out-of-control” cop problem in this country. A bigger problem is that our cops are afraid to act for fear of being called a racist, homophobe, etc. Our biggest problem is that we have a segment of our society who continue to commit a huge share of violent crimes. People never move to get away from out of control cops. Thousands of people move every month to get away from our criminal element.
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And it turns out that the cop didn’t stop him for the robbery, which he didn’t know about it at the time. That’s why the info wasn’t released by the police right away.
So it seems we’re back to square 1.
As for Iraq being Bush’s fault, that’s the first thing someone posted on a link I put up several weeks ago about the present-day killings of Christians in that country.
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http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/15/us/missouri-teen-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Ferguson, Missouri (CNN) — The Ferguson police officer who shot Michael Brown didn’t stop him because he was suspected in a recent robbery, but because he was “walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic,” the city’s police chief said Friday. Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson told reporters the alleged “robbery does not relate to the initial contact between the officer and Michael Brown.”
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As a conservative who supported Ronald Reagan in 1968, 1976, 1980 and 1984 and regards all Bushes as liberals, the situation in Iraq is Little Bush’s fault. He deposed a dictator who was no serious threat to us, who was a counterbalance to Iran and who (through terror) held Iraq together. He disbanded the Iraqi army and police and created anarchy. He created a democracy which was certain to create a Shia government that was friendly to Iran and an anathema to the Sunnis. So, thank you Little Bush for our current situation.
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Our Iraq operation was similar in many ways to Reconstruction. The US removed from power and disenfranchised the people who had run the place for decades. The US placed in power a group who had no experience with self-government. There was a low-grade guerrilla war until US forces were removed. Once that occurred there was bound to be a resurgence of the folks who had ruled the place for decades. Little Bush was probably planning fraternity parties when he should have been in history class.
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Donna, the robbery is relevant for two reason. One, Brown is clearly not the innocent young teenager they have been making him out to be and two, if Brown had just committed a crime he was probably in a combative mood when he was stopped by the officer.
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But it still leaves open the issue of what seems like (unless we’re missing something else) an over-the-top reaction by the officer who killed an unarmed teenager.
What was the threat?
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Jaywalking with an attitude?
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Re- The situation in Ferguson: This is not a comment on the innocence or guilt of anyone involved, but a question: Why is Ferguson being called a “small town” by the press? I guess because it is not New York, Chicago or LA. Has anyone looked at a map? It is a suburb Northwest of St. Louis, with 22,000+ residents, squeezed in between other suburbs near the airport. That’s no small town. In Missouri, 22,000 is a medium sized city regardless of location. Small towns don’t have large populations nearby. Small towns have problems, but don’t get troublemakers form neighboring suburbs stirring things up. The press makes it seem like Mayberry when they say “small town”.
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Peter, that’s interesting. I think it is somewhat relative — I live in the port area of L.A. and, like many of the city’s many communities, we are considered something of a “small town” (with more than 80,000 residents) — I guess by comparison?
We’re part of LA city proper, our town is within the city boundaries, but we are geographically 25 miles away from the central part of the city and have many other qualities that seem small-townish.
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Exactly, why would the officer react that way unless Brown gave him a reason. Did he just get up that morning and say, “I’ll think I ruin my life today by shooting an unarmed kid in front of witnesses.”?
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The reason there is an “out-of-control” (not my phrasing) cop problem in this country is not because bad cops are the majority, or there’s a conspiracy to implement a police state or anything, but because when cops murder citizens by overreacting to, and sometimes provoking, incidents, there is too often not a proper *institutional* response and resolution. Because of institutional support, cops very often are permitted to commit unlawful acts that other citizens would be prosecuted for. There definitely is that problem. And cops don’t need tanks.
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So why haven’t the authorities explained what happened, if there’s an explanation that could have mitigated some of the unrest that’s erupted all week long?
Meanwhile, on the political front:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/15/rick-perry-indicted-power_n_5683406.html
“AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday for allegedly abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto funding for state prosecutors investigating public corruption — making the possible 2016 presidential hopeful his state’s first indicted governor in nearly a century.
“A special prosecutor spent months calling witnesses and presenting evidence that Perry broke the law when he promised publicly to nix $7.5 million over two years for the public integrity unit run by the office of Travis County Democratic District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. Lehmberg was convicted of drunken driving, but refused Perry’s calls to resign. …”
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On the contrary, every single time a cop kills a young thug under circumstances that are the least bit questionable, Jesse Jackson, Sharpton and all the extortionists and poverty pimps treat the case like it was the Holocaust, Obama has to make a public statement, thousands of other thugs go on a looting frenzy and the press talks of nothing else for a month. The “institutional response” of civic leaders is to cower in fear and let the looters loot.
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We probably need to build a wall around Austin and turn it into a penal colony and put the Travis County prosecutors in solitary confinement.
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Al Sharpton, et al, aren’t institutional. They’re just clowns. Yes, I know they make things worse. An Internal Affairs division of a police department is institutional, and too often overlooks police-on-citizen crimes, even when the victims are white guys.
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SolarP, It turns out that my favorite writer Mark Steyn is on your side.
http://www.steynonline.com/6524/cigars-but-not-close
I am just an out-of-date Law and Order Conservative. I am 56 and have never known a person who was the victim of a police on citizen crime, but if I was a criminal policeman I would definitely pick a white victim. No one protests or riots over dead white people.
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You got that right, RickyW. I’m sick of the bad guys on both sides of this one.
A good chronicler of cop-on-citizen crime is Will Grigg over at http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/. And he writes with flair.
If you do check him out, I’d give him more of a look than just his handling of the Ferguson thing.
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