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kpete

kpete's Journal
kpete's Journal
November 26, 2014

The Ferguson grand jury was never intended to bring an indictment

St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch

When you think of a grand jury, you think of a fair system in which the prosecutor makes his or her best case for bringing someone to trial for committing a crime, presenting the best evidence in a coherent narrative that the jury can then weigh to determine whether or not there is probable cause to try that suspect—to indict them. That's not what happened in St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch's grand jury investigation in Officer Darrell Wilson's shooting of Michael Brown.

And St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch did not want an indictment. He also didn’t want a non-indictment. Instead, as he explained it to the 12 members of the grand jury, this proceeding was about investigating the case and letting the jurors decide.

"Everything that's been collected, every statement that has ever been made, it will all be here for you," McCulloch said on the first day, August 20. "You need to keep that open mind."


In other words, he didn't want his fingerprints on the ultimate decision. But the choices he made in how the evidence was presented and in how his prosecutors behaved when questioning witnesses definitely reflect how he steered this decision. Consider the questioning of Witness #42, who testified, "I didn't deem it to be a hostile situation to where the officer needed to have his gun raised. […] Mike was coming like, 'stop shooting' And he's shooting him and kept shooting him. I'm like, he don't pose no threat. […] He was ready to give himself up." Here's what Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kathi Alizadeh asked him about that testimony: "The first time you talked to the FBI, which was a week after this happened, you told them a story that had a bunch of lies, isn't that right?"

more:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/albertsamaha/ferguson-grand-jury-purpose-not-indictmenthttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/26/1347684/-The-Ferguson-grand-jury-was-never-intended-to-bring-an-nbsp-indictment#
November 26, 2014

Cartoon: Maybe let’s stop killing black kids?

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November 26, 2014

Nation Doesn’t Know If It Can Take Another Bullshit Speech About Healing




WASHINGTON—In the wake of a grand jury’s divisive decision not to charge Ferguson, MO police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, a weary American populace told reporters Tuesday that they are not sure if they can take another bullshit speech about healing. “If I have to watch some politician, law enforcement official, or pretty much anyone regurgitate the same meaningless platitudes about setting aside our differences and coming together as a nation, I might just lose it,” said Atlanta resident Samantha Hubbard, echoing the sentiment of hundreds of millions of Americans who are uncertain if they can stomach even a single empty call for respect and civility. “I honestly don’t know if I’m physically capable of listening to another community leader recite the same unbearable garbage about how it’s time for an open and honest dialogue. I swear to God, if I hear even one goddamn person assert there’s more that unites us than divides us, I will immediately blow my brains out.” At press time, the nation was particularly apprehensive at the prospect of a bullshit speech that declared words were not enough.



http://www.theonion.com/articles/nation-doesnt-know-if-it-can-take-another-bullshit,37541/
November 26, 2014

Being A Cop Has Never Been Safer

It’s an important reminder when Cleveland police kill a 12-year-old boy carrying a toy gun. It’s an important reminder when we see stories that police have killed more people in Utah over the past five years than any other form of violence outside of domestic conflict. Police have killed more people in Utah since 2010 than gangs or drug dealers. Obviously, it’s a positive that fewer officers are being killed in the line of duty, just as it’s a positive that crime trends are heading down. We should be worried, though, if police internalize the idea that this increase in their own shootings is what is keeping them safe in the field and not the general drop in crime.

http://reason.com/blog/2014/11/24/killing-of-police-officers-down-for-seco?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reason%2FHitandRun+%28Reason+Online+-+Hit+%26+Run+Blog%29
November 26, 2014

Transcripts show #DarrenWilson lied to the grand jury

Transcripts show #DarrenWilson lied to the grand jury
By: Masoninblue Wednesday November 26, 2014 4:55 am

Officer Darren Wilson testified that he knew about the theft of a box of cigarillos from the Ferguson Market, before encountering Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson. However, Officer Wilson’s supervisor testified that he spoke to Wilson after the shooting, and that Wilson “did not know anything about the stealing call.” In an apparent effort to turn unreasonable actions into a reasonable excuse to pull the gun out, Wilson connected the stop to the call about the in-store theft.

First we have a transcript of his grand jury testimony:

Question by Prosecutor Ms. Whirley:

Q: Okay. Did you get any other calls between the time of the sick baby call and your interaction with Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson?
A: While on the sick case call, a call came out for a stealing in progress from the local market on West Florissant, that the suspects traveling toward QT. I didn’t hear the entire call, I was on my portable radio, which isn’t exactly the best. I did hear that a suspect was wearing a black shirt and that a box of Cigarillos was stolen.
Q: And this was your call or you just heard the call?
A: It was not my call. I heard the call.
Q: Some other officers were dispatched to that call.
A: I believe two others were.
Q: Was it a call you were going to go toalso?
A: No.
Q: So you weren’t really geared to handle that call?
A: No.

/snip/

A: As I approached them, I stopped a couple of feet in front of Johnson as they are walking toward me, I am going toward them. As Johnson came along my driver’s side mirror I said, “why don’t you guys walk on the sidewalk?” He kept walking, as he is walking, he said, “we are almost to our destination.”
Q: Do you think he used those words destination, we are almost to our destination?
A: Yes, ma’am. He said we are almost to our destination and he pointed this direction over my vehicle. So like in a northeasternly (sic) direction. As he did that, he kept walking and Brown was starting to come around the mirror and as he came around the mirror I said, “well, what’s wrong with the sidewalk?” Brown then replied, um it has vulgar language.
Q: You can say it, say it.
A: Brown then replied, “fuck what you have to say.” And when he said that, it drew my attention totally to Brown. It was very unusual and not expected response from a simple request.
When I start looking at Brown, first thing I notice is in his right hand, his hand is full of Cigarillos. I looked in my mirror, I did a double check that Johnson was wearing a black shirt. These are the two from the stealing.
And they kept walking, as I said, they never once stopped, never got on the sidewalk, they stayed in the middle of the road.
So I got on my radio and Frank 21 is my call sign that day, I said Frank 21 I’m on Canfield with two, send me another car.
I then placed my car in reverse and backed up and I backed up just past them and then angled my vehicle, the back of my vehicle to kind of cut them off, kind of to keep them somewhat contained.

[GJ, Vol. V pp. 202-209]


Second, now we have a transcript of his direct supervisor’s testimony. Sergeant LNU* responded to the scene within minutes after the shooting and was the first person to interview him.

Question by a Prosecutor Ms. Alizadeh

Q: Did he know about it? Did he talk about knowing about the stealing?
A: He did not know anything about the stealing call.
Q: He told you he did not know anything about the stealing?
A: He did not know anything. He was out on another call in the apartment complex adjacent to Canfield Green.
[GJ, Vol. V, pp. 52-53]

Question by a GJ member

Q: Now, my question to you is this. Are you saying that because he told you he didn’t know about it or are you saying that because he didn’t mention It to you when you were talking to him?
A: He did not mention it to me again. I learned about it at a later time.
Q: Has he ever told you, yeah, I didn’t know anything about what happened up at the Ferguson Market?
A: Yes, he told me that in subsequent conversations.
Q: He told you he didn’t know about there being a stealing at the Ferguson Market?
A: Correct


[GJ, Vol. V, p. 58]


The shooting happened on Saturday, August 9, 2014. Wilson was not questioned by anyone else until after he conferred with his lawyer at the station house. Both witnesses testified before the grand jury on September 16, 2014, which was 5 weeks after the shooting.

My question is, how can anyone believe Officer Darren Wilson regarding any material issue of fact when he lied about the reason he stopped the boys to portray them as criminal thieves?



MORE:
http://my.firedoglake.com/blog/2014/11/26/over-easy-transcripts-show-darrenwilson-lied-to-the-grand-jury/
November 26, 2014

"GOBBLEGATE"

Breaking via Rex Huppke at The Chicago Tribune:

On Wednesday, our lawless president, Emperor Barack Hussein Caesar Obama the Dictator King, will goose-step into the Rose Garden, wipe his feet on the Constitution and do something no president in the history of this great nation has ever done: Pardon a turkey.

?1356968585
Emperor Obama: palling around
with a juicy, succulent terrorist?


That's right, just days before Thanksgiving, Obama and his liberal cronies will grant amnesty to a presumably delicious turkey, denying the creature its God-given right to be eaten by a patriotic American family. […]
Clearly, Obama must be stopped before America is irrevocably changed.

I'm calling on all members of Congress who believe in freedom to halt this imperial president by suing him, threatening to impeach him and refusing to confirm any of his judicial or executive nominees. So basically just keep doing what you're doing.

As for the rest of you, please take to social media and e-protest Obama's unlawful activity by using the hashtag #ProtestThePardon.

By tweeting at the top of our lungs, our collective voice might be loud enough to put the president in his place (prison) and the turkeys in theirs (on large serving trays).


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/26/1347379/-Cheers-and-Jeers-Wednesday
November 26, 2014

....Meanwhile in white America, two cute angels are buying coffee

The Daily Edge @TheDailyEdge ·
Darren Wilson says Mike Brown "looked like a demon."
:large
Meanwhile in white America, two cute angels are buying coffee


https://twitter.com/TheDailyEdge/status/537369332616294400

November 26, 2014

OBAMA: "The problem is not just a Ferguson problem, it is an American problem.”

"If any part of the American community doesn't feel welcomed or treated fairly, that's something that puts all of us at risk, and we all have to be concerned about," he said. "The problem is not just a Ferguson problem, it is an American problem.”

MORE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/25/obama-ferguson_n_6221766.html

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