Tuesday, December 02, 2014

If we can believe the story as factually true despite its source: At least there is one capable and honest lawyer with the power to indict, and the will to see justice done. It's good we as a nation elected him.

Barack Obama filed federal civil rights charges against officer Darren Wilson moments after a Missouri grand jury found “no probable cause to indict” the officer in the shooting death of Ferguson teenager Michael Brown.

Obama’s sixteen-count indictment cites “multiple, unwarranted civil rights violations resulting from harsh and excessive police tactics leading to the death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown, Jr.”

“I have done what the Missouri judicial system and even my own Justice Department failed to do in order to right this wrong,” said Obama, shortly after St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced the grand jury’s decision. McCulloch made a 25-minute statement [...] appealing for calm and taking questions from a small group of local media.

Reports of mounting tensions between Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder over the AG’s handling of events in Missouri surfaced over the summer, culminating in Holder’s September resignation announcement after serving 6 years as Obama’s Attorney General. Obama made no reference to Holder or to his own civil rights lawsuit against Wilson during a live statement from the White House press room reacting to the grand jury’s decision.

Those following this link will see that the opening of the item which includes the above quoted factual claims was interlaced with an offensive, bogus, presumptive and inflammatory editorializing opening phrase; making the entire item from the very start of the post, and later, more an editorial than a report.

The remainder of that item, including the content where the ellipsis appears above (i.e., editorial content apart from the factual claims as they stand quoted), is both scurrilous and conclusory while pandering to passions of those opposed to a President who, race aside, dislikes a whitewash. (Add race as it attaches to the Wilson shooting of Brown; and gee, a double meaning.)

That the omitted content is suspect can be inferred from the website's using leading banner images of Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin, in the site's identifying itself and its prejudices. You cannot doubt whose political worldviews you are being propagandized with; yet, the above quoted facts, hopefully, are correctly stated.

Not finding any corroborative reporting along the lines of the item content is disturbing. Indeed, more disturbing if it is true content strangely unreported more universally, and less disturbing if it is specious meandering of a single biased outlet. If there was immediate Presidential action as the item states and it has been undermined as if not news, one must wonder who defines the near universal direction and content of coverage of the St. Louis County Attorney's grand jury presentation and its having its foreseeable effect.

More Brown-Wilson-Ferguson coverage, here, here, here, here and here.

Readers having other links in line with or contradictory of this "National Report" presentation are urged to submit comments with links. While the N.R. factual averments are intriguing if true, the outlet and its reporting has to be regarded as unreliable without confirmatory second sourcing.

UPDATE: N.Y. Times links to an annotated online transcript of Wilson's grand jury testimony. It's too bad Brown is not around to have testified to his version.

FURTHER UPDATE: Neither here, nor at whitehouse.gov was there any easily identifiable corroboration of the N.R. claim that the President moved quickly and decisively in a manner many would applaud as just, or as in pursuit of a complete and just evaluation apart from the grand jury in St. Louis County looking at whether state criminal statutes were breached by police officer Wilson.

That the grand jury was irregularly handled has been suggested based on opinion language written by Justice Scalia, as reported here and here.

This Google presents images of ham sandwiches, in line with commentary within one of the sidebar items.

FURTHER: Good commentary here.

More.

LAST DEPARTING THOUGHT: The Wilson weapon held 13 rounds. Wilson fired twelve rounds [his testimony plus shell casing count] in a RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD. That's insensitive to the dangers, given he only hit Brown six times. Where the other rounds ended up, without bystander injury, is a miracle. Wilson showed a disregard for human safety he likely would not have shown in a white neighborhood. It's that simple. He consciously kept his final round chambered but unfired, to contend with circumstances. He was that cautious for himself. But bystanders, screw them. He was pissed because of uppity things Brown might have said. Wilson could have made up any story he wanted given he shot the other witness dead. Through the top of the head. Wilson is a dangerous killer. Endangered? Get real. He had a petty crime suspect retreating, and blasted away as if he were Schwarzenegger. What's his IQ?

The federal government should avoid a similar whitewash. Worse, that tainted grand jury process; making the grand jurors triers of fact rather than determinants of whether a threshold suitable to put facts to a trial, their actual job, and that was orchestrated by the prosecutor in chief, whose behavior was unconscionable.

_____________UPDATE AND HAT TIP______________
Terry Hendriksen emailed this link, which states in opening:

Claim: President Obama filed federal charges against Darren Wilson moments after a grand jury's decision not to indict him was announced.

FALSE

Example: [Collected via email, November 2014]

there is an article that states Obama filed federal charges against Darren Wilson following the grand jury decision.

Is this true?


Origins: On 25 November 2014, the National Report published an article titled "Obama Files Federal Charges Against Darren Wilson Following Grand Jury Decision in Shooting Murder of Michael Brown." That article claimed President Obama had filed "federal civil rights charges against officer Darren Wilson" immediately after a Missouri grand jury declined to indict the policeman in connection with the shooting death of Brown.

Describing Obama's putative decision as the "boldest overreach" of executive power in American history, the site quoted the President as saying:

"I have done what the Missouri judicial system and even my own Justice Department failed to do in order to right this wrong," said Obama, shortly after St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced the grand jury's decision. McCulloch made a 25-minute statement debunking several exaggerated social media accounts of last August's incident, while defending the use of deadly force by police, appealing for calm and taking questions from a small group of local media.

In the aftermath of the controversial grand jury decision in St. Louis County, Missouri, the story spread quickly on social media sites. However, National Report is a fake news site known for publishing click-baiting, fabricated stories [...]

So, that is it. The federal government is moving at its usual glacial pace; if moving at all. End of story.