Ferguson

by

News/Politics 11-7-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Of course they are. That’s exactly what I would expect sore losers to do. I hope Harry doesn’t get too crazy. After all, whatever he does with 51 votes, can be undone with 51 votes, thanks to his nuclear option.

From TheWashingtonPost  “Before ceding full control of Congress to the GOP in January, Senate Democrats are planning to rush a host of critical measures to President Obama’s desk, including bills to revive dozens of expired tax breaks and avoid a government shutdown for another year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) is also aiming to chip away at a backlog of presidential nominations to the federal bench and the State Department over the next month, although Democratic aides say they will be unable to process all of the hundreds of pending appointments before turning the chamber over to Republicans.

Republican leaders, too, are inclined to clear the legislative decks of must-pass bills so they can start fresh in January, when they will have control of both chambers of Congress for the first time in eight years. Leaders from both parties are due at the White House for a lunch Friday to begin discussing the parameters of the possible in a new era of Republican domination.

At his first news conference since the GOP landslide at the polls this week, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday warned Obama to abandon his “go-it-alone” strategy of governing by executive order and to begin looking for areas of compromise with Congress.”

______________________________________________

2. Everything is bigger in Texas…. including Wendy Davis’ loss. 🙂

From NationalReview  “Wendy, we barely knew ye! Actually, that’s not true. We knew Wendy Davis well — too well. It is difficult to think of a more overexposed candidate in the 2014 election cycle.

We knew (from the get-go) that she was a publicity-stunt actress with show-stopping athletic shoes made famous when she spoke for eleven hours in favor of a woman’s “right” to kill her unborn child. We knew that she was the type of woman who leaves her husband and children in Texas to attend Harvard Law School, then divorces said husband the day after he pays her final law-school bill. And we found that she had — like many another brand-name politician — a politically convenient memory of myriad personal details. Of course, her memory was infallible when it came to the memoir she released less than two months before the election.

In case that was not enough, we found out, too, that she was not suited to running for homecoming queen, let alone governor of a state with an economy the size of two Switzerlands, about the functioning of which she seemed to be perilously confused. And if she was not on the campaign trail failing Civics 101, she was excelling in Advanced Mudslinging, accusing her wheelchair-bound opponent of exploiting his disability for votes, or of threatening to rescind the right to interracial marriage — despite the fact that he is married to a Hispanic woman.

As I wrote in my pre-mortem postmortem of the Wendy Davis campaign two weeks ago, Davis’s candidacy will never rise to the levels of infamy achieved by Todd Akin and Christine O’Donnell, because she had the benefit of a “D” next to her name. But Davis was a worse candidate than either, victimized not by a single foolish comment, but by managing to step on more rakes than Sideshow Bob. Adding to that was her determination to double down on those mistakes, so that she often looked not just bumbling, but mean.”

______________________________________________

3. They never learn. 

From AOL.com  “One of the longest-held prisoners at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay was sent home to Kuwait on Wednesday, the first release based on the determination of a review panel that has been re-evaluating some men previously classified as too dangerous to release.

Fawzi al-Odah had been told his release was imminent but didn’t know the date until shortly before he boarded the flight back to his country from the base in southeast Cuba, his lawyer, Eric Lewis, said.

The 37-year-old al-Odah had been the focus of an arduous battle to secure his release that had the support of his government. Lewis, who spoke to him about a week before the departure, said the prisoner just wanted to get on with life.”

“The release of al-Odah was criticized by U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a chief proponent of keeping the prison open. The New Hampshire Republican called it “yet another dangerous example of the Obama administration’s misguided motivation to empty and then close Guantanamo rather than protect the national security interests of the United States.””

______________________________________________

4. Huh. The mainstream press appears to have missed this story. I wonder why….? 🙄

Are they afraid to arrest her because they fear more riots? They’re gonna happen either way.

From TheDailyMail  “Michael Brown’s mother has been named as one of the ‘attackers’ who assaulted and robbed vendors selling t-shirts commemorating the youngster’s death.

A report from Ferguson police identified Lesley McSpadden, 34, as one of a group of up to 30 people that ran into the tent and ransacked the stall in the Missouri city on Saturday October 18. 

Pearlie Gordon, 54, Brown’s mother-in-law, and two men were selling ‘Justice for Mike Brown’ merchandise when the subjects ‘jumped out of vehicles and rushed them’ during what police are classifying as an armed robbery.”

“More than $1500 in merchandise and $400 in cash ‘was stolen by unknown subjects’ who managed to escape before police arrived.”

__________________________________

More here, from TheSmokingGun  “A police report detailing a fight last month between members of Michael Brown’s family over the sale of commemorative t-shirts identifies the late teenager’s mother as one of the “attackers” who beat and robbed vendors selling the merchandise from a tent in a Ferguson, Missouri parking lot.

A copy of the Ferguson Police Department report was provided yesterday by city attorney Stephanie Karr. When TSG requested the document two weeks ago, Karr noted that Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, was “described in the report” and had “specifically requested that the report be withheld from the media.”

“McSpadden’s mother, Desureia Harris, began to rip down t-shirts hanging on a line, Gordon told officers. Then, she added, other members of the group began “tearing her booth apart.” Gordon (seen at left) said that during the melee she was repeatedly struck in the head and knocked to the ground.

At one point, Gordon recalled, she heard McSpadden “yell to an unknown subject, ‘That’s Calvina’s mom, get her @#%.” [Calvina is the first name of Michael Brown Sr.’s wife.] “McSpadden then ran up and punched Gordon,” according to the report.

Gordon’s male associates were also beaten–reportedly with a pipe–during the confrontation, and one of the men was transported by EMS workers to a local hospital for treatment of “injuries sustained during the assault.”

______________________________________________

by

News/Politics 10-8-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. I’m sure this was part of the Bishop’s reasoning from the story yesterday. There already is a religious war happening, but only one side is fighting it.

From InternationalBusinessTimes  “A prominent Nigerian reverend has revealed Islamist terror group Boko Haram destroyed over 180 churches in the West African country following its capture of towns and villages in the north-eastern states of Borno and Adamawa.

Reverend Gideon Obasogie, the director of Catholic Social Communication of Maiduguri Diocese in Borno State, said the group’s seizure of territory in both states has seen 185 churches torched and over 190,000 people displaced by their insurgency.

In his statement, Obasogie said Boko Haram’s “ransacking and torching” of churches had forced priests to leave their homes for two months while displaced civilians were still unable to return to their towns and villages.

He added the destruction of churches was “sad, heart-aching and potentially dangerous to the territorial integrity and common good of Nigeria.””

_______________________________________________

2. Meanwhile in Syria ISIS continues it’s attacks against minorities and those of other faiths as well. The bombing campaign doesn’t seem to be slowing their advance.

From ChristianScienceMonitor  “Islamic State militants have reportedly advanced to southern and eastern districts of Kobane, a strategically important Kurdish town along the Syria-Turkey border.

The fall of Kobane would further undermine the security of the Kurdish-majority region in northern Syria. It also raises questions over the effectiveness of the US-led bombing campaign in Syria against the self-declared Islamic State. 

IS fighters fought their way into the eastern side of the city on Monday as they pushed back its Syrian Kurd defenders, the BBC reports. The militants then raised their black flag on buildings and hills. 

“These neighborhoods are Kobane’s shantytowns and there are still civilians there who couldn’t flee,” Ismet Sheikh Hasan, a senior defense official in the Syrian Kurdish region, told the Wall Street Journal.”

_______________________________________________

3. Everyone’s worried about Ebola, but we already have another epidemic running wild in the US.

From Atlanta/CBSLocal  “While the national media focus on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the patient in Dallas, the CDC is reminding Americans that sexually transmitted diseases are an ongoing but hidden epidemic.

In the United States, nearly 20 million cases of new STD infections are reported each year, reports Live Science. Since infections can persist for a long time, and because some victims are not even aware they have a disease and can easily spread it to others.

Based on data from 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the eight most common sexually transmitted diseases are: chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis B virus (HBV), genital herpes, HIV, human papillomavirus (HPV), syphilis and trichomoniasis.

About 50.5 million current infections are in men while 59.5 million are in women, for a total of 110 million Americans with STDs at any given time.”

_______________________________________________

4. Not if, the only question is when.

From MSN  “Missouri authorities are drawing up contingency plans and seeking intelligence from U.S. police departments on out-of-state agitators, fearing that fresh riots could erupt if a grand jury does not indict a white officer for killing a black teen.

The plans are being thrashed out in meetings being held two to three times a week, according to people who have attended them. The FBI said it was also involved in the discussions.

Details of the meetings and intelligence sharing by Missouri police agencies and their counterparts around the country have not been reported before.

The grand jury is expected to decide next month whether to bring criminal charges against police officer Darren Wilson, who shot dead Michael Brown, 18, on Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Missouri.”

_______________________________________________

5. Once again, never listen to what they say. They lie. Just watch what they do. Or better yet, don’t elect them to begin with.

From CapitolCityProject  “Yesterday, James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas Action released a video showing campaign staffers of  U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes admitting she’s deceiving voters on her energy plan. They promised if she were elected, she’d destroy the coal industry in Kentucky despite publicly “supporting” it.

Now, a newly released second video shows a real estate mogul and top donor to Democrats saying, “She’s going to @#$% em as soon as she gets elected.”

“Investigators secretly record video at Grimes fundraising event attended by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, real estate tycoon Niko Elmaleh and New York Knicks owner James Dolan at a swanky NY restaurant,” writes Project Veritas.

“She will do what she has to do to get elected then “@#$%” the coal industry says major donor.””

I hope loose drunken Dem donor lips sink ships.

_______________________________________________

by

News/Politics 8-22-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. That’s strange. 6 months ago Hagel called them a “JV Team” that he thought wasn’t much of a threat. Wrong again, eh Chuck?

From Reuters  “The sophistication, wealth and military might of Islamic State militants represent a major threat to the United States that may surpass that once posed by al Qaeda, U.S. military leaders said on Thursday.

“They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it’s in Iraq or anywhere else,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.

Hagel’s assessment of Islamic State, which gained strength during Syria’s civil war and swept into northern Iraq earlier this summer, sounded a note of alarm several days after the group posted a video on social media showing one of its fighters beheading an American hostage kidnapped in Syria.

Asked if the hardline Sunni Muslim organization posed a threat to the United States comparable to that of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Hagel said it was “as sophisticated and well-funded as any group we have seen.”

_________________________________________________

2. This should be interesting.

From NationalReview  “A federal judge ordered President Obama’s team to hand over some documents pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious and to provide a list of withheld documents.

Once House Republicans see the list of withheld documents, they will have a chance to challenge the withholding of particular documents.

“This Administration has been so intent on hiding the contents of these documents that it allowed Attorney General Holder to be held in contempt instead of just turning them over to Congress,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) said of the ruling. “The privilege log will bring us closer to finding out why the Justice Department hid behind false denials in the wake of reckless conduct that contributed to the violent deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and countless Mexican citizens.”

Holder was held in contempt in 2012 after he refused to produce 1,300 pages of documents subpoenaed by Issa’s committee. Obama said that the documents were shielded from congressional review by executive privilege.”

_________________________________________________

3. So it’s not the first time he’s made statements that weren’t true. Could be a problem if this is your star witness.

From IJReview  “Dorian Johnson, the primary witness to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, has an outstanding warrant for a 2011 theft in Jefferson City and pleaded guilty for filing a false police report related to that theft.

St. Louis ABC affiliate ABC 17 cross referenced Johnson’s name against several records and discovered the warrant.

Johnson will be the star witness for any potential prosecution proceedings against Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of Brown. Johnson was walking with Brown when the shooting occurred.

He has already done multiple media appearances where he falsely claimed Brown was shot by Wilson in the back.  He also has claimed that Brown never reached for Wilson’s gun, was “shot like an animal” and that Brown had his hands up and told Wilson he was unarmed.”

_________________________________________________

4. Don’t want to host a gay wedding on your farm? There’s a fine for that.

From TheBlaze  “Owners of a family farm in Schaghticoke, New York, are being fined $13,000 for refusing to allow a gay wedding ceremony to take place on their property in 2012, just one year after the state legalized same-sex nuptials.

Cynthia and Robert Gifford, owners of Liberty Ridge Farm, a family-friendly farm and special events venue, told Jennifer McCarthy and Melisa Erwin, a lesbian couple from Newark, New Jersey, that they were welcome to hold their reception on the property, but not the actual wedding ceremony, according to Religion News Service.

The Giffords live on the premises and these ceremonies are typically conducted on the first floor of their home or on the nearby property. Considering that they are Christians and consider marriage to be confined to relationships involving one man and one woman, the two weren’t comfortable hosting McCathy and Erwin’s nuptials.”

“McCarthy and Erwin weren’t happy with this rejection, so they took their complaint to the New York’s Division of Human Rights, claiming that they were discriminated against as a result of their sexual orientation.

A judge subsequently ruled in their favor in the case New York State Division of Human Rights v. Liberty Ridge Farm, rejecting the Giffords’ argument that the family owns a private business that is legally permitted to issue such refusals.”

_________________________________________________

 

by

News/Politics 8-20-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. A Grotesque Pantomime of Repression and Redemption

From CityJournal  “The American understanding of riots and racial violence was shaped a half-century ago, during the insurrections of the 1960s. To judge by the responses to the current rioting in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, little has changed since then. After riots have wrought their physical and psychic damage, some invariably declare that the unrest was constructive. Patricia Bynes, a Democratic committeewoman for Ferguson, rationalized that the events in Ferguson would benefit the entire metropolitan area because, she said, “St. Louis never has had its true race moment, where they had to confront this.” She was topped by Missouri Highway Patrol captain Ron Johnson, who has been leading the police response in Ferguson. Speaking to a unity rally at a local church, Johnson suggested that, somehow, Brown’s death was “going to make it better for our sons to be better black men.” One rioter, who wouldn’t give his name, admitted that “If it wasn’t for the looting, we wouldn’t get the attention.” The virtue of disruption, academics and observers argue, is that it gives African-Americans a crisis with which to bargain. But after 50 years, what has this bargain achieved, except to cultivate a community that excels in resentment?

It’s not just African-Americans who are stuck in the sixties. Reporters are still seeking out the Kerner Commission’s white racists, who are ultimately to blame for all racial problems. Historians and sociologists are offering structural explanations for the violence; whites in general, and small businesses in particular, have little to say but simply flee to safer climes. In Ferguson, after a week of unrest that included looting and rioting, we know very little about the incident that resulted in Michael Brown’s death, despite the release of the first pathology report. The officer involved is in seclusion and has given no public statements. The Grand Jury, should one be convened, will likely have only a vague picture of what happened.”

“In Ferguson, the media’s preferred narrative—a “gentle giant” of a young black man gunned down for no reason by a racist cop—was short-circuited by a videotape, taken minutes before his death, depicting Michael Brown strong-arming a diminutive store clerk who’d caught him stealing a box of cigarillos. Deflated, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer described the video as a “smear.” Does he think the tape should have been suppressed? His CNN colleague Jake Tapper, just back from apologizing for Hamas in Gaza and justifiably angered by the misuse of military equipment to intimidate suburban civilians, subjected the state’s Democratic governor, Jay Nixon, to a vigorous grilling. Tapper suggested that Nixon had some atoning to do for his supposedly racist past before he could be relied on to take action in Ferguson. If only Tapper had been so hard-edged with Hamas.”

_______________________________________________

2. Who are the agitators? And why isn’t this guy under arrest?

From WeaselZippers  “We’ve seen all manner of outside agitators at work seeking to use Ferguson for their own ends. Perhaps the worst of the lot are the Revolutionary Communist Party, who are actively ginning up the violence.

The white man in the middle inciting the crowd with the bull horn is Gregory Lee Johnson, a long term member of the Revolutionary Communist Party. The RCP has “Clubs” in various cities.”

“Antonio French, who tweeted the picture, is an alderman who has been tweeting coverage of the events in Ferguson. French claims Johnson was the instigator of the action. Other tweets id him as encouraging molotov cocktails, one even says Johnson had a grenade. Notice in the first video how he was within a few steps of police, including Captain Ron Johnson.

Gregory Johnson was infamously involved in the flag desecration case that ruled burning the American flag was protected speech. He was described by another activist as an “obnoxious young transplanted New Yorker” who would show up at “every local demonstration with a bloody, severed pig’s head (tendrils still trailing along) that he’d drag along on a leash and collar while shouting anti-imperialist slogans; the pig, of course, was the United States.” Truly a lovely human being.”

CONTEN WARNING!! for language in the video.

_______________________________________________

3. Well, you know what they say about payback….

From HotAir  “Well, who could blame them? After Harry Reid used the Senate floor for weeks to demagogue the owners of Koch Industries for their legal and instructive engagement in the political process, he had to be expecting a little pushback. The Kochs don’t do anything small, however, and Politico’s Ken Vogel and Burgess Everett report that they are laying the foundation for a two-year effort to send the Senate Majority Leader into a much-deserved political oblivion:

Harry Reid’s reelection is more than two years off, but the Koch brothers’ political machine is already methodically laying the groundwork that will be used to try to take him out.

The efforts in recent months have been largely subterranean, but they are unmistakable. A handful of nonprofit groups in the vast political network helmed by allies of the conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch have established or expanded permanent ground operations in Reid’s backyard. Focused on wooing key demographics like Latinos and veterans, they’ve also paid for ads assailing the Senate Democratic leader. …

As Reid last week ambled from an SUV to a side entrance of an MGM Grand here for a speech to the supportive United Steelworkers International Convention, he told POLITICO he wasn’t worried about the Koch forces’ buildup in his backyard. “I’ve always been targeted. … That’s not news,” he said, playfully dismissing a question about whether there was a personal element to the Koch effort. “I don’t see that they have any reason to come after me. Why would they?”

Ummmmm….. maybe because you abused your position of authority to bash them on the floor of the Senate on a daily basis. Ring a bell Harry?

_______________________________________________

4. Making the best of it.

From MSNNews  “Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry is pressing forward after a criminal indictment with a smiling mug shot and an ice cream run.

The potential 2016 presidential candidate will now lean on his high-powered legal team to try to quickly extinguish two felony charges. Perry was booked and fingerprinted Tuesday at the same Travis County courthouse where a grand jury indicted him last week.

The longest-serving governor in Texas history has dismissed the case as a political ploy. He’s planning to maintain a busy travel schedule of courting GOP voters, and even splurged for a vanilla ice cream cone after being booked.”

_______________________________________________

5. Oh boy…. They must be scraping the bottom of the new exhibit idea barrel. 🙄

From CNSNews   “Hundreds of photographs, papers and historical objects documenting the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are being added to the Smithsonian Institution’s collection Tuesday, including items from the popular TV show “Will and Grace.”

Show creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick along with NBC are donating objects to the National Museum of American History. The collection includes original scripts, casting ideas, political memorabilia surrounding the show and the series finale. The network agreed to donate props, including a pill bottle and flask, a sign from “Grace Adler Interior Design” and Will Truman’s framed college diploma.

Kohan told The Associated Press that the Smithsonian’s interest in the show featuring gay principal characters was a validation they never dreamed about when the sitcom began airing in 1998. “Will and Grace” ran through May 2006 depicting four friends both gay and straight, eventually ending with the main characters coupled off with children.”

_______________________________________________

by

News/Politics 8-19-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The more we know……

From TheBlaze  “For the very first time, an alleged “friend” of the officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Ferguson man Michael Brown is revealing new details about the controversial incident that has sparked unrest in cities across the country, CNN reported on Monday.

Calling into The Dana Loesch Radio Show on Friday, “Josie” claimed that Brown “bum-rushed” officer Darren Wilson moments after pushing him into his squad car, punching him in the face and trying to grab the cop’s gun.”

“The alleged friend of Wilson continued: “So he goes in reverse back to them, tries to get out of his car. They slam his door shut violently. I think he said Michael did. And, then he opened the car again, you know, he tried to get out. He stands up. And then Michael just bum-rushes him and shoves him back into his car, punches him in the face and then, of course, Darren grabs for his gun. Michael grabbed for the gun. At one point, he got the gun entirely turned against his hip. And he shoves it away, and the gun goes off.”

The caller went on to claim that Brown then ran from the officer, making it about 35 feet away before Wilson got up and ordered the suspect to “freeze.”

“Michael and his friend turn around. And Michael taunts him… And then all the sudden he just started bumrushing him. He just started coming at him full speed. And, so he just started shooting. And, he just kept coming. And, so he really thinks he was on something,” she concluded. “The final shot was in the forehead, and then he fell about two or three feet in front of the officer.”

_______________________________________________

2. The autopsy report conflicts with witness testimony, but still says excessive force was used. I have a feeling Holder’s autopsy will say otherwise. Call it a hunch.

From FoxNews  “Dr. Michael Baden, who conducted the autopsy at the request of Brown’s family, talked to Bill Hemmer by phone this morning. His findings do not line up with witnesses who have claimed that Wilson shot Brown from behind.

“This autopsy shows that there wasn’t any gunshot wounds in his back. Some people thought they saw that. An autopsy helps organize which witness testimony is more reliable,” he said.

But he said the presence of six gunshot wounds points to “excessive” force by Wilson. Baden noted that Wilson may have fired even more shots that missed Brown, explaining that the police would know the total number of shots fired.

“There is legitimate concern as to whether the shooting was overreacting. That has to be answered and we don’t have all the answers,” said Baden.”

_______________________________________________

3. I would add Holder, Sharpton, and Jackson to the list.

From Breitbart  “Former CNN anchor and Fox News Channel’s “MediaBuzz” host Howie Kurtz criticized some outlets for creating “almost a lynch mob mentality” in Ferguson, MO in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown. 

“Some liberal outlets [are] creating almost a lynch mob mentality around this, the Huffington Post today, screaming banner headline ‘Arrest Him.’ Now, the Huffington Post, nor you or I, knows exactly what happened” he said. And “when you cross that line into becoming an advocate and to demanding that somebody be prosecuted before the facts are in, while the investigation is going on, you’re grandstanding, you’re trying to keep the story alive and I really think it’s troubling.”

_______________________________________________

4. Who are the protestors?

From TheWashingtonPost  “The militants are one faction of many that have filled Ferguson’s streets each evening since Brown, walking unarmed between a convenience store and his grandmother’s apartment at midday on a Saturday, was shot at least six times and died.

There is a group of “peaceful protesters” that congregates around the QuikTrip, which was looted and burned during the first night of protest. Another gathers near the Ferguson police station. A third, more scattered faction uses the social-media community Black Twitter to organize demonstrators.

 “People have been tweeting, ‘We are ready to die tonight,’ ” said Mary Pat Hector, a national youth organizer with the Rev. Al Sharpton’s national action network. “It is a trending topic.”

Hector traveled from Atlanta, hoping her presence as a non­violent protester would help counter what she described as “so much negative energy.””

_______________________________________________

5. This is troubling, but not surprising. As the above story shows, nowadays the mob rules.

From TheGuardian  “An Israeli ship subject of a pro-Palestinian protest has docked, but demonstrations at the port of Oakland in California continue after between 2,000 and 3,000 pro-Palestinian activists streamed towards the port entrance on Saturday, chanting and waving flags. It remains unclear whether the ship’s cargo has been unloaded.

The protesters intended to form a picket line to prevent work crews from unloading the ship.

Activists had originally planned to meet at 5am for a blockade of the Zim Integrated Shipping Services vessel, but word that its arrival had been delayed prompted organisers to push the protest back until later in the afternoon.

The event began with a brief rally at a nearby transit station, followed by a march to the port. Sameh Ayesh, a 21-year-old Palestinian activist with the San Francisco-based Arab Youth Organisation, led the crowd in a chant.”

_______________________________________________

6. Not shocking either….

From TheWashingtonTimes  “The administration that vowed to be the most transparent in history now must defend itself against a federal lawsuit accusing it of thwarting the release of public information. It’s a case that could reveal just how much politics influences the processing of Freedom of Information Act requests, especially when such releases could embarrass the president.

The civic watchdog group Cause of Action on Monday sued the Obama administration, claiming that presidential attorneys have interfered improperly in the release of public documents under the landmark FOIA law in an effort to curb the release of derogatory information about the White House.”

_______________________________________________

7. First it was the Army clearing out the ranks of Majors, now it’s the Navy’s turn.

From USAToday  “Almost 8,000 senior enlisted personnel must go before a continuation board later this year to determine whether they can continue to serve or must retire.

The board — the first since early 2013 — will convene Oct. 27, according to a Navy document released Aug. 14.

At risk are between 7,500 and 8,000 retirement-eligible active and reserve E-7s, E-8s and E-9s with at least at least three years’ time in rate.”

_______________________________________________

by

News/Politics 8-15-14

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.

_______________________________________________

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.”

______________________________________________

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 President Barack Obama spoke publicly for the first time about Saturday’s fatal shooting of Michael Brown 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 Johnson, 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.”

______________________________________________

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.”

______________________________________________

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.”

______________________________________________

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.

______________________________________________

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.

______________________________________________

by

News/Politics 8-14-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Here comes more overreach.

From NationalReview  “Senator Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) called for Americans to pressure their senators about voting against President Obama’s expected executive orders on immigration, which he described as a “chilling” plot with activists to undermine national laws.

“Recent developments suggest the president’s planned executive amnesty could be increasingly imminent and broad in scope. House Democrat Leader Pelosi — clearly one of the White House’s closest allies — has just urged the president to issue ‘the broadest possible’ executive actions,” Sessions said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Open-borders groups have grown bolder and louder in their unlawful demands, launching a campaign for the president to ‘go big,’ and demanding that he ‘stand up’ to Congress and ‘expand DACA,’” he added, citing an Associated Press report that administration officials were meeting with immigration activists and the Chamber of Commerce.

“It is chilling to consider now that these groups, frustrated in their aims by our Constitutional system of government, are plotting with the Obama administration to collect their spoils through executive fiat,” he said.”

______________________________________________

2. On a related note….

From TheHill  “The Obama administration is preparing the nation’s schools to accept thousands of new students who illegally crossed the southwest border and are now awaiting trials on their possible deportations.”

“It says all children in the United States “are entitled to equal access to a public elementary and secondary education, regardless of their or their parents’ actual or perceived national origin, citizenship, or immigration status.”

The prospect of tens of thousands of children mostly from Central American countries attending school as they wait for their immigration status to be decided has the potential to be explosive after this summer’s emotional public debate about the border.”

______________________________________________

3. Is California about to try to force two Catholic universities to pay for abortion coverage, even after giving them approval to eliminate such coverage?

From TheSFGate  “California has some of the nation’s strongest protections for abortion rights. But the recent decisions by two Catholic universities, Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount, to eliminate most abortion insurance coverage for their employees were cleared in advance by state agencies.

Now Gov. Jerry Brown‘s administration is taking another look.

The state Department of Managed Health Care is conducting “an in-depth analysis of the issues surrounding coverage for abortion services under California law,” said Marta Green, the department’s chief deputy director.

What the department is reconsidering, as first reported by California Lawyer magazine, is whether the universities are violating a 1975 state law that requires managed health plans to cover all “medically necessary” procedures. Until the current controversy arose, insurers in California had treated all abortions sought by women in their health plans as medically necessary.”

______________________________________________

4. Things continue to simmer in Ferguson, Missouri. Actions like these by police won’t help the public”s perception that the police are out of control and regularly harass people.

From STLToday  “Wesley Lowery, a reporter with the Washington Post, was arrested Wednesday evening along with Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post, Lowery relayed on Twitter.

He wrote that police came into the McDonald’s on West Florissant Road where the two were working, and tried “to kick everyone out.”

“Officers decided we weren’t leaving McDonalds quickly enough, shouldn’t have been taping them,” he tweeted.

“Officers slammed me into a fountain soda machine because I was confused about which door they were asking me to walk out of,” he wrote. He said that he was detained, booked, “given answers to no questions. Then just let out.”””

STL Today has been on this story from the start and offer a lot of details and a timeline of events.  I recommend it.

______________________________________________

5. Finally some good news out of Iraq.

From StarsAndStripes  “In a dusty camp here, Iraqi refugees have new heroes: Syrian Kurdish fighters who battled militants to carve out an escape route for tens of thousands trapped on a mountaintop.

While the U.S. and Iraqi militaries struggle to aid the starving members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority with supply drops from the air, the Syrian Kurds took it on themselves to rescue them. The move underlined how they – like Iraqi Kurds – are using the region’s conflicts to establish their own rule.

For the past few days, fighters have been rescuing Yazidis from the mountain, transporting them into Syrian territory to give them first aid, food and water, and returning some to Iraq via a pontoon bridge.“

““The (Kurdish fighters) opened a path for us. If they had not, we would still be stranded on the mountain,” said Ismail Rashu, 22, in the Newroz camp in the Syrian Kurdish town of Malikiya some 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the Iraqi border. Families had filled the battered, dusty tents here and new arrivals sat in the shade of rocks, sleeping on blue plastic sheets. Camp officials estimated that at least 2,000 families sought shelter there on Sunday evening.“

______________________________________________

by

News/Politics 8-12-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The intelligence community has decided to push back against Obama’s attempts to throw them under the bus for the situation in Iraq.

From TheHill  “The U.S. intelligence community Monday pushed back at reports that the White House was not warned about the growing strength of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) ahead of the group’s recent offensive.

“The job of the Intelligence Community is to warn. We did that,” said a U.S. intelligence official. “In short, this was not U.S. intelligence failure. It was an Iraqi military failure.”

“U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal in a report published Monday that American intelligence agencies “often have underestimated the group’s ability to make rapid operational gains.” 

An intelligence official, though, pushed back against that characterization, saying that analysts have been closely tracking ISIS and its predecessor, al Qaeda in Iraq, for years. 

“Throughout the past year, the Intelligence Community has repeatedly warned that ISIL was on the march, gaining strength and picking up growing Sunni support, while the Iraqi Security Forces looked vulnerable,” the official said, using ISIS’s alternative name, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.”

________________________________________________

2. Obama also now says it wasn’t his decision.

From NationalReview  “President Obama refused to take responsibility for the lack of U.S. troops in Iraq, saying that American soldiers had to pull out due to political pressure from Iraqi leaders.

“This issue keeps on coming up as if this was my decision,” Obama retorted when asked if he had any second thoughts, in light of the terrorist force taking over regions of Iraq, about having pulled all American troops out of the country. “The reason that we did not have a follow-on force in Iraq was because a majority of Iraqis did not want U.S. troops there and politically they could not pass the kind of laws that would be required to protect our troops in Iraq,” he said.

A report in The New Yorker showed how President Obama failed to secure the status of forces agreement necessary to leave the troops in place after 2011.”

“When Obama announced the withdrawal, he portrayed it as the culmination of his own strategy.

“After taking office, I announced a new strategy that would end our combat mission in Iraq and remove all of our troops by the end of 2011,” he said. “So today, I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year.”

That’s funny, considering how many times he’s taken credit for it in the past.

Yeah…..

_______________________________________________

3. Rioting continued last night in Ferguson, Missouri.

From TheAP  ” Police in riot gear fired tear gas to try to disperse a crowd in a St. Louis suburb where an unarmed black teenager had been fatally shot by a police officer over the weekend.

Between two nights of unrest, a community forum hosted by the local NAACP chapter Monday drew hundreds to a sweltering church in Ferguson, the St. Louis suburb where 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot multiple times.”

“Authorities used tear gas and rubber bullets Monday night to try to disperse a crowd at the site of a burned-out convenience store damaged a night earlier, when many businesses were looted. Police said at least five people were arrested.”

_______________________________________________

4. Holder has announced a federal investigation into the shooting which set off the riots.

From TheHill  “The Justice Department has launched a federal investigation into the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teenager in a St. Louis suburb over the weekend, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Monday.

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division will participate in the probe, along with FBI agents from the St. Louis field office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Holder said.

“The shooting incident in Ferguson, Missouri, this weekend deserves a fulsome review,” Holder said.

“At every step, we will work with the local investigators, who should be prepared to complete a thorough, fair investigation in their own right. I will continue to receive regular updates on this matter in the coming days.””

_______________________________________________

5. And Anonymous is getting in on the act and promising retaliation against Ferguson’s websites.

From KSDK.com  “Thousands of threats have been made against the Ferguson Police Department and the city council, and the hacker group Anonymous allegedly took down the city’s internet and phone capabilities.

According to Captain Rick Henke of the Ferguson Police Department, calls have flooded the police station and city hall, with threats being made against the department and city council. No one has specifically been threatened, he said.

The police department conducted morning roll call to inform officers of these latest developments.”

“Henke said the city’s website had been down for several hours. The police and fire department email system was disrupted as well.”

__________________________________________