The Commentariat -- August 19, 2014
Emily Wax, et al., of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder. Jr. will travel to [Ferguson, Missouri,] Wednesday to meet with FBI agents and prosecutors investigating the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teenager.... President Obama announced Holder's trip in remarks Monday afternoon at the White House, during which he said the attorney general and other Justice Department officials would also sit down with community leaders 'whose support is so critical to bringing about peace and calm in Ferguson.'" ...
... Mark Landler & Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "President Obama said Monday [in the same remarks to the press] that Iraqi special forces, backed by American war planes, had retaken a strategically critical dam near Mosul, the latest in what he described as a string of positive steps in halting the march of Islamic extremists across the country":
... Washington Post liveblog: "At least two people were shot, numerous fires were set and more than 30 people were arrested in Ferguson, Mo., early Tuesday, Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald Johnson told reporters early Tuesday." ...
... St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Two men were shot during the chaos of demonstrations late Monday and early today near West Florissant and Canfield, police confirmed. Officers weren't involved in the shootings. There was no immediate information on the identities or conditions of the victims. Police also confirmed that 31 people were arrested, including some who had come from as far as New York and California. In an emotional news conference around 2:30 a.m. in the area of the protests, Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald S. Johnson said the shootings demonstrate 'a dangerous dynamic in the night' in which a few people determined to cause trouble can pull a whole crowd into it." ...
... Kevin McDermott of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "With armed Missouri National Guard troops posted to area streets for the first time in modern history, violence erupted anew Monday night as protesters hurled bottles at police and fired shots, and officers responded with sound cannons.... Later, police fired tear gas at protesters who defied orders to disperse." ...
... St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "The Ferguson-Florissant School District announced Monday night that schools would stay closed for the rest of the week.... The district said it would hold the first day of classes on Monday, Aug. 25." ...
... Washington Post brief: "Scott Olson, a photographer for Getty Images, was arrested Monday evening while covering protests in the St. Louis area, according to reports on Twitter." ...
... Here are some of the photos Olson took over the past week in Ferguson. CW: Makes you think the cops might have had it in for him. ...
... Update. Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "Police were preventing people from gathering in the area, and Olson is thought to have declined a request to move on. He was later released."
... John Eligon & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "Gov. Jay Nixon lifted a curfew in this embattled city on Monday, hours after deploying the Missouri National Guard, as officials struggle to control unrest that has paralyzed the community since an unarmed black teenager was killed by a white police officer. The role of the National Guard will be limited, Mr. Nixon said in a statement. Troops will protect the police command center here, which the authorities said came under a coordinated attack on Sunday night." ...
... Evan McMorris-Santoro of BuzzFeed: "Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon called the National Guard to Ferguson late Sunday without letting the White House know first." CW Note: Nixon complained on the teevee Sunday that the Ferguson police didn't tell his office they were going to release the convenience store surveillance tape. There are apparently a lot of lonesome cowboys in Missouri, each one just doing his own thing. ...
... Another Bad Idea. AP: "Authorities are setting up a designated protest zone for nightly demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri. The plan was announced Monday by St. Louis County police." ...
... Emily Wax, et al.: Michael Brown "had marijuana in his system when he was fatally shot six times by a white police officer, two people familiar with the official county autopsy ... said Monday. ...
... CW: Something I Missed. Mike Kosnar of NBC News (August 16): "The Department of Justice urged Ferguson police not to release surveillance video purporting to show Michael Brown robbing a store shortly before he was shot and killed by police, arguing the footage would further inflame tensions in the St. Louis suburb that saw rioting and civil unrest in the wake of the teenager's death." The DOJ persuaded the policy not to release the video Thursday, but the police did so Friday, claiming they were acting in response to media FOIA requests. CW: Because, really, they like reporters. ...
... Michael Wines & Erica Goode of the New York Times: "Large mobilizations of police or National Guard forces have played a role in calming many riots. But by studying unrest in Cincinnati, Oakland, Los Angeles and elsewhere, big-city police officials have learned that the speedy release of information and close ties to religious and civic leaders are perhaps even more crucial to stopping violence once it starts, said Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington.... Critics say officials in Ferguson have added to tensions by making contradictory statements, declining to release details about the shooting and dispatching police units bearing military-style equipment into the streets.... Experts said that Ferguson appears to have little of the social infrastructure that helps other cities restore calm in times of crisis.
... Angela Davis in the New Republic: "... accountability for the killing of Michel Brown rests in the hands of one person -- the prosecutor.... Prosecutors are not required to justify their charging decisions to anyone, and there is much potential for abuse.... Bob McCulloch is the prosecutor for St. Louis County and has held the position for 23 years.... Bob McCulloch's father was a police officer who was killed in the line of duty when McCulloch was a child. And McCulloch was very critical of Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's decision to place the Missouri State Troopers in charge of security.... St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and others have asked Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to remove McCulloch from the case and have called for the appointment of a special prosecutor, claiming that McCullough is too biased to be fair." ...
... Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast: "In Ferguson and many towns like it, majority African-American communities most grapple with mostly white county governments.... This leads to dysfunction, racial tension, and a skewed justice system." CW: So, jurisdictional apartheid. ...
... Charles Pierce: "Maybe we should admit it to ourselves, we of the dwindling white majority, that the racial divide is something essential to holding our idea of the country together. The American idea, the American dream, and the American experiment -- all of these things had limits, and the people who set those limits, as well as the people penned in by them, have always been fully aware of them." ...
There's no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons. -- Gov. Ronald Reagan, 1967
Pierce recalls the days when the NRA liked gun control because ... black people. ...
... Here's more on the history of the NRA vis-a-vis gun control, by Steven Rosenfeld of AlterNet, published in Salon in January 2013.
Ed Kilgore: When modern Republican Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.) crossed the aisle to caucus with Democrats (& give them control of the Senate) in 2001, it signaled "the end of one era but just ahead of an ideological whirlwind." Jeffords died Monday; See Monday's Ledes. ...
... Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "It was one of those rare singular moments when one lawmaker, with one vote, truly bent the arc of politics in a different direction. It also served to highlight the feud between the still-dominant conservative wing and the increasingly marginalized moderate faction of the Republican Party."
Elsewhere Beyond the Beltway
You're on Your Own, People. Rose Hackman of the Guardian: "Detroit police chief James Craig -- nicknamed 'Hollywood' for his years spent in the LAPD and his seeming love of being in front of the camera -- has repeatedly called on 'good' and 'law-abiding' Detroiters to arm themselves against criminals in the city.... The city, strapped for cash, has only 2,300 police officers -- unchanged from a year ago, before the bankruptcy, but still not enough.... In a city where houses sometimes sell for $500, buying and maintaining a gun is a significant expense. For those who choose to earn concealed pistol licenses..., the application fee is $105 and courses might set you back anywhere between $100 and $250. Purchased guns cost interviewees of this story between $450 and $700, with accessories; including ammunition, add another possible $200-$300.... Michigan passed a self-defense act in 2006, referred to nationally as a 'stand-your-ground-law'. The law removes an individual's duty, when acting in self-defense, to retreat."
Here are the Washington Post updates on the McDonnell corruption trial. "On Monday, jurors heard testimony from Brenda Chamberlain, who served as a bookkeeper for the MoBo partnership. Now, they heard more about Chamberlain from the perspective of the Mo in MoBo -- Maureen McDonnell, the former governor's sister. She testified that in early 2013, she, her brother and another sister realized that the books for MoBo were 'a complete disaster.' She had gone through a final separation from her then-husband Michael Uncapher and discovered that he had not been updating financial documents properly. What's more, she found that he had engaged in 'mystery transfers,' including what looked like writing checks to himself from the entity's account." ...
... Here's Monday evening's WashPo story, by Matt Zapotosky, et al.: "A longtime aide to former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell drew a stark contrast between her boss and her boss's wife at the couple's trial Monday, describing the onetime Republican rising star as 'Mr. Honest' and the former first lady as a manager so 'diva-ish' that her staff once threatened to quit en masse. The testimony from former secretary of the commonwealth Janet Vestal Kelly came on the first day of the McDonnells' defense. It could help both Robert and Maureen McDonnell as they fight corruption charges."
Senate Races
Chad Livengood of the Detroit News: "Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Gary Peters and his wife paid an effective federal income tax rate of 18 percent in the last three years, a contrast to the less than 3 percent tax Republican opponent Terri Lynn Land paid on her income after sizable deductions.... Land's separate tax return disclosures have sparked questions about why [her husband Daniel] Hibma [-- a wealthy land developer --] doesn't disclose his earnings, since Land has drawn on a joint marital bank account to pour $3 million into her Senate campaign." Norm Ornstein, whom Livengood cites extensively, accuses Land of being shady. CW: Livengood IDs Ornstein -- correctly -- as "a congressional scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute." Never mind that Ornstein himself is not particularly conservative. This straight news piece is a win for Peters.
Heidi Przybyla of Bloomberg News: "Republicans seeking to unseat the U.S. Senate incumbent in North Carolina have cut in half the portion of their top issue ads citing Obamacare, a sign that the party's favorite attack against Democrats is losing its punch. The shift -- also taking place in competitive states such as Arkansas and Louisiana -- shows Republicans are easing off their strategy of criticizing Democrats over the Affordable Care Act now that many Americans are benefiting from the law and the measure is unlikely to be repealed.
Rose Duke, a 44-year-old from Raleigh who cast her ballot for Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, is one of Obamacare's new beneficiaries. Duke, who lost her flooring business after her husband died last year, says she now has a favorable view of the law and is angry at her state's Republican governor, Pat McCrory, for refusing to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Worse, Worser, Worstest. Today is primary day for Alaska Republicans. Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "The contest is a three-way race between [among!] Dan Sullivan, a former state attorney general and natural resource commissioner; Mead Treadwell, the well-known lieutenant governor; and Joe Miller, a Tea Party-backed candidate who defeated Lisa Murkowski in the 2010 Republican primary but eventually lost to her write-in candidacy in the general election. Mr. Sullivan is generally regarded as the favorite."
Presidential Election
Conservative Michael Gerson of the Washington Post: Rand "Paul has risen to prominence by employing a political trick, which is already growing old. He emphasizes the sliver of his libertarianism that gets nods of agreement (say, rolling back police excesses) while ignoring the immense, discrediting baggage of his ideology (say, discomfort with federal civil rights law or belief in a minimal state incapable of addressing poverty and stalled mobility). As a senator, this tactic has worked. But were Paul to become the GOP presidential nominee, the media infatuation would end, and any Democratic opponent would have a field day with Paul's disturbing history and cramped ideology. On racial issues, the GOP needs a successor to [former GOP Congressman & Housing Secretary Jack] Kemp -- and an alternative to Paul." ...
... CW: He doesn't mean to, but Paul Waldman makes a very good argument that Rand Paul will be our next president. Waldman's point is that Paul is not a "real libertarian," because a true libertarian ideology is antithetical to most Republicans' political beliefs. So Li'l Randy just sheds his old libertarian positions (to the point of pretending he never had them). I do believe he can keep on doing that right up to November 8, 2016. Rand Paul is weasly enough to make former Governor Etch-a-Sketch look like a piker. I'd add that political neophytes, as Paul was when he made some of his more controversial remarks, actually do change their opinions on key issues when they develop more of an understanding of the real-world ramifications of their views. When he was a U.S. senator, for instance, Barack Obama voted against raising the debt ceiling. He later admitted (instead of pretending it had never happened a la Randy) that he made a novice's mistake.
Alec MacGillis of the New Republic: "... regardless of how strong the charges against [Texas Gov. Rick] Perry are, it is worth noting how fitting they are. Put simply, the case against Perry points to an aspect of his political persona that is well known in Texas but has too often been overlooked in the national portrayal of Perry." ...
... Michael Lind of Salon: "When I heard that Texas Governor Rick Perry had been indicted, I thought, 'This had better be good, or it will backfire on the Democrats.' It turns out it isn't good and it may well backfire on the Democrats." ...
... James Moore in the Huffington Post on "why Rick Perry will be convicted.... Perry is accused of using his veto authority to coerce a publicly elected official into leaving office. And when the veto threat, and later the actual exercise of the veto didn't work, he may have tried a bit of bribery, which is why he is facing criminal charges. Not because he exercised his constitutional veto authority." ...
... Sahil Kapur presents three problems in the prosecution's case which suggest Perry will not be convicted.
Jonathan Bernstein in Bloomberg View: "The real reason wealth-related blunders won't hurt [Hillary] Clinton is that she apparently isn't going to be seriously challenged in the primaries and caucuses, where this sort of thing could matter. Personal characteristics, gaffes and clever rejoinders just aren't all that important for the general election, when partisanship and partisan trends kick in and swamp almost everything else." Also, in the general election, she's likely to have a wealthy opponent.
Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "A rash of relatively convoluted, thoroughly unsexy political scandals involving governors is moving through the country. So many of them involve Republican presidential hopefuls that conspiracy theorists could argue they must be manufactured, or at least overhyped, by wily Democratic strategists."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "The Islamic State militant group claimed Tuesday to have beheaded an American photojournalist in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes in Iraq. A video released online purported to show the execution of James Foley after he recited a statement in which he called the U.S. government 'my real killers. A second prisoner, said to be Steven Joel Sotloff, like Foley an American journalist who disappeared while covering Syria's civil war, then appears in the video. The masked executioner, speaking with what sounds like a British accent, identifies Sotloff and says that 'the life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision.''
New York Times: "Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed late Monday to extend a five-day cease-fire for Gaza that expired at midnight for 24 hours, reflecting the difficulty of reaching more durable agreements after two weeks of Egyptian-brokered talks but also an apparent lack of appetite on either side to resume the conflict." ...
... UPDATE: "Another Gaza cease-fire collapsed on Tuesday when Palestinian militants fired rockets into southern Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes from Israel and prompting the Israeli government to withdraw its delegation from Egyptian-brokered talks in Cairo for an agreement to end the latest conflict."
Guardian: "Armed groups in Syria have several hundred portable anti-aircraft missiles that could easily be diverted to extremists and used to destroy commercial planes, according to a new report by an international arms research group that cites the risk of the missiles being smuggled out of Syria by terrorists. The report was released a few hours after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice to US airlines banning all flights in Syrian airspace."
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Reader Comments (15)
So, Michael Brown had marijuana in his system when he was gunned down. That's important precisely why?
@JS, the MJ gives nodders more to nod about.
@James Singer. Re: your comment in yesterday's thread, according to this KSDK-TV report, it was a customer in the store who called the police.
As MAG wrote yesterday, it seems unlikely Wilson would have known about the theft 10 minutes later. If the Ferguson cops had to leave Michael Brown's body lying on the street for hours, as has been reported, because it takes them forever to get their shit together, then it probably took them more than 10 min. to receive, process & report to officers in the field the customer's 911 call. Besides, I doubt the protocol considers theft of cigars by an unarmed teen a calling-all-cars emergency.
Marie
Thanks, Marie. I missed that.
Next question: Many reports (including this one :http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/08/18/us/ap-us-police-shooting-missouri-timeline.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=WireFeed&module=pocket-region®ion=pocket-region&WT.nav=pocket-region) mention the protester throwing Molotov cocktails.
Since there were no reported fires, I assume the protesters don't know how to make a Molotov cocktail or the reports are full of shit.
I wonder which?
Re: Michael Brown. I have only one question, Where are the cigars?
Cowichan,
Darren Wilson is enjoying those tiparillos in the comfort of his Dick Cheney approved hidey hole.
@James Singer: There were two reported fires last night. I guess the miscreants are getting better at Molotov-cocktail-mixing.
Marie
@cowichan & @Akhilleus: According to two not-necessarily-reliable sources, (1) Brown had the cigars in his hand, leading Wilson to suspect him of snitching them from the convenience store (via Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson); (2) Brown had his hands in the air when Wilson shot him multiple times (Dorian Johnson).
Between these two events, both sides agree there was a physical struggle between Brown & Wilson, If the cigars were in Brown's hand, it's safe to assume he dropped them during the struggle.
The investigation is a big secret, with leaks tending to defame Brown, so maybe we'll find out soon that the police recovered the cigars from the scene & they're in the evidence room.
Marie
"@JS, the MJ gives nodders more to nod about." Whyte: yup, some folks just simply experience life from the sidelines. And they want to underwhelm and devolve everyone else to their decidedly less enabled existence. Think of it as 'ignorant & proud' as a lifestyle choice.
Charlie Pierce has some words about Ryan & Christe re their stance on the Missouri scene. Among the missing is someone
one might expect to hear from on the subject. Hillary Clinton. (See Charlie, see link to "House-of-Cards" style birthday card spoof for Bill." ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7pmnIitgeI )
Guess it is part of the effort to make Hillary seem warm & fuzzy to voters. However this, and her appearance on the Stephen Colbert shows someone who while clearly remembering her scripted lines—offers a delivery that is flat and impersonal. No Sarah Bernhardt here!
Preaching to the choir is enjoyable, but otherwise whistling in the wind. To wit:
Why is it so hard to adopt a zero tolerance policy -- for use of excessive force, gratuitous shooting, even abusive language, by police officers?! Penalties should span reprimand to prison time, which almost never happens. And militarization. And please, let's stop using the term "civilian" review board. The police ARE civilians, at least in principle (POTUS just made that point, indirectly). Just plain "review board" would suffice. Or external review board. How to effect change? Write your mayors and council members, and speak up at town council meetings, where public policy begins; most communities have such forums. There may be a more grassroots support for reform than we imagine.
And this fall: Unless your senator or representative is a shoo-in, go down to your local campaign headquarters and tend the phones or hit the pavement. Our Tim Walz and Mark Dayton may be safe, mostly, but Al Franken not so much. Even Minnesota can elect Michele Bachmanns.
Rick (not-a-partisan) Perry, pursued relentlessly by evil liberals has gone to the mattresses and pulled out the Hammer. Tom Delay has offered his two cents (unfortunately his two cents are both play money coins) in the latest Perry fiasco.
According to Delay--an unimpeachable source (wink, wink) when it comes to pests, because in his first career, he was a bug exterminator; and speaking of pests, after Delay bought the company, he was hit with three liens by the IRS for failure to pay payroll and income taxes. What a guy)--Perry is the victim of a--holy crap!--conspiracy!
What constitutes a conspiracy in the cock-a-roachy mind of Tom Delay?
It's been 9 years since Texas' Public Integrity Unit (sounds like Lone Star State oxymoron, don't it?) decided enough was enough with "Hot Tub" Tom and his criminal ways, and initiated the process leading to indicting him for conspiracy and money laundering. Now they're "going after" poor, honest Rick Perry.
Two cases against Republicans in 9 years. That's a conspiracy.
No, Tom, you tool. A conspiracy is Texas Republicans gerrymandering the shit out of the state to guarantee lifetime sinecures for wingnut assholes and creating a political machine to steamroll opponents and anyone attempting to block their road to money and power.
Must have been all those martinis he had back when he was in the Texas legislature, cheating on his wife and double-dealing his friends as well as his enemies.
Perry and Delay accusing Democrats of conspiratorial strong-arming is like Mafia hit men complaining that the police pursuing them aren't being nice.
Oh, and contra the Huff Po article declaring that Perry will be convicted, I have to reiterate what I wrote the other day. He will walk. If he's convicted on the first go 'round, he'll be exonerated upon appeal, just like that other pest, Delay.
What the Public Integrity people need to do is build a life size Roach Motel then send an invite to both Perry and Delay. "They check in, they never check out."
If only.
The Hill just reported that the White House is considering sending the Big O to Ferguson. This just keeps getting more and more complicated.
@ James Singer:
I don't think the president needs to come to Ferguson. It adds another distortion. We don't need that now. And we don't need any more people coming into Ferguson to help the poor people out during this time of trouble. What we need is a sense of calm and anything other than that is going to be dangerous. -- Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.)
A presidential visit requires a lot of security from local officials. Right now our local officials have their hands full. It is a very bad time for a presidential visit for the practical reasons — many of these people are not getting enough sleep. We are really taxing all of the jurisdictions on the police forces. -- Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)
Yeah, sending the POTUS to a protest about excessive police presence is an excellent idea. You want snipers on the roof? He's got plenty. You want roads blocked? Hey, he'll block all of 'em. You want cops everywhere? That's a promise. I hope the "considerers" will consider Emanuel's & McCaskill's more sensible views. The President should go get an ice cream on the Vineyard. -- Marie
John Oliver on Ferguson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUdHIatS36A