Still working like hell to set us at each others throats:
"Delay in moving body fueled anger in Ferguson" by Julie Bosman and Joseph Goldstein | New York Times August 24, 2014
FERGUSON, Mo. — Just after noon on Saturday, Aug. 9, Michael Brown was shot to death by a police officer on Canfield Drive. For about four hours, in the unrelenting summer sun, his body remained where he fell.
Neighbors were horrified by the gruesome scene: Brown, 18, face down in the middle of the street, blood streaming from his head.
They ushered their children into rooms that faced away from Canfield Drive. They called friends and local news stations to tell them what had happened. They posted on Twitter and Facebook, and recorded cellphone videos.
Brown probably could not have been revived, and the time that his body lay in the street might ultimately have no bearing on the investigations into whether the shooting was justified. But local officials say the image of Brown’s corpse in the open set the scene for what was to become a combustible worldwide story of police tactics and race in America, and left some of them asking why.
“The delay helped fuel the outrage,” said Patricia Bynes, a committeewoman in Ferguson. “It was very disrespectful to the community and the people who live there. It also sent the message from law enforcement that, ‘We can do this to you any day, any time, in broad daylight, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’”
I keep forgetting this was during the day. I thought it was night, that was the impression I have been left with.
Btw, the message has been received many times.
Ferguson’s streets remained peaceful Saturday as tensions between police and protesters continued to subside after nights of violence and unrest that erupted after the killing.
Translation; the attempt to foment racial division in this country failed.
The St. Louis County NAACP held a youth march Saturday afternoon to the site where Brown was killed. Supporters of the officer, Darren Wilson, rallied in St. Louis. Earlier in the day, Normandy High School, which Brown attended, observed a moment of silence for him at the start of a football game.
A small stream of protesters marched in Ferguson as night fell Friday, but instead of confrontations with police, several stopped to talk one-on-one with officers about the killing and the tactics used by authorities during previous demonstrations. Two weeks after Brown’s death, interviews with law enforcement officials and a review of police logs make clear that a combination of factors, some under police control and some not, contributed to the time lapse in removing his body.
The St. Louis County Police Department, which almost immediately took over the investigation, had officers on the scene quickly, but its homicide detectives were not called until about 40 minutes after the shooting, and arrived around 1:30 p.m., according to county police logs. It was another hour before an investigator from the medical examiner’s office arrived.
Around 4 p.m., Brown’s body was taken to the morgue in Berkeley, Mo., about 6 miles from Canfield Drive. It was checked into the morgue at 4:37 p.m., more than 4½ hours after he died.
Officials said they were contending with what they described as “sheer chaos” on Canfield Drive, where bystanders, including at least one of Brown’s relatives, frequently stepped inside the yellow tape, hindering investigators. Gunshots were heard at the scene, further disrupting the officers’ work.
“Usually they go straight to their jobs,” said Officer Brian Schellman, a county police spokesman, of the detectives who process crime scenes for evidence. But that was not possible. “They couldn’t do that right away because there weren’t enough police there to quiet the situation.”
For part of the time, Brown’s body lay uncovered, allowing people to record it on their cellphones. Eventually, the police draped Brown’s body with a white sheet, but his feet remained exposed and blood could still be seen. The police later shielded the body with a low, six-panel orange partition typically used for car crashes.
Experts in policing said there was no standard for how long a body should remain on a scene, but they expressed surprise at how Brown’s body had been allowed to remain in public view.
Another message being sent?
Asked to describe procedures in New York, Gerald Nelson, a chief who commands the patrol forces in much of Brooklyn, said that as soon as emergency medical workers have concluded that a victim is dead, “that body is immediately covered.”
St. Louis County police officials acknowledged that they were uncomfortable with the time it took to shield Brown’s body and have it removed, and that they were mindful of the shocked reaction from residents. But they also defended their work, saying the time that elapsed in getting detectives to the scene was not out of the ordinary. Once those investigators arrived, the officials said, they faced delays in processing the crime scene because of the chaos on Canfield Drive.
Also, it was typical, given the limited resources of the Ferguson Police Department, to transfer a homicide investigation to the St. Louis County police, a much larger force with more specialized officers.
So they arm the cops to the teeth, but the offer of aid and comfort.... aaaaah!
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"Thousands protest N.Y. chokehold death" by Jonathan Lemire | Associated Press August 24, 2014
NEW YORK — Thousands of people expressing grief, anger, and hope for a better future marched through Staten Island on Saturday to protest the chokehold death of an unarmed black man by a white police officer.
The afternoon rally and march was led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and relatives of Eric Garner, who died July 17 after a New York Police Department officer took him to the ground with a banned tactic captured on a widely circulated video.
There is something hanging over that guy that discredits everything he does.
The marchers, starting at the intersection where Garner was first confronted, walked behind a banner that said: ‘‘We Will Not Go Back, March for Justice.’’
Police estimated that 2,500 people had taken to the streets. The crowd included representatives of the United Federation of Teachers and members of the Society of Friends, also known as Quakers.
James O’Neill, chief of patrol with the New York Police, credited the march organizers with helping to keep things orderly.
Earlier, Sharpton urged about 100 marchers who had gathered at a Staten Island church to remain nonviolent or go home.
He also repeated his call for a federal takeover of the criminal probe into the death of the 43-year-old Garner, a father of six who was placed in a chokehold after police officers stopped him for selling loose cigarettes.
They don't have better things to do, like go over to Wall Street and bust some real looters?
Activists have urged that criminal charges be brought against the officers involved.
Many in the crowd carried signs. Some said: ‘‘Police the NYPD’’ or ‘‘RIP Eric Garner.’’ But the most popular signs were ‘‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,’’ which emerged during protests in Missouri over the police killing of Michael Brown, and ‘‘I can’t breathe,’’ Garner’s last words.
Garner’s widow, Esaw, urged the crowd to march in peace toward justice.
She said she is too afraid to let her children go outside and asked those at the rally to ‘‘get justice’’ for her husband.
The marchers walked alongside dozens of police officers in parade gear, including polo shirts and pants. There were also officers in formal blue uniforms, but none had riot gear.
Related: Woman dies after her car strikes parade vehicle
The rally proceeded past the office of Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, who this week sent the case to a grand jury.
Sharpton has repeatedly called Garner’s death — and the shooting death of the 18-year-old Brown by police in Ferguson, Mo. — a ‘‘defining moment’’ for policing nationwide. Members of Garner’s and Brown’s families were invited to the march.
Did this all backfire on them?
Garner, who had asthma, was stopped July 17. He was placed in a chokehold and could be heard screaming as he was forced to the ground.
For selling loose cigarettes!
Soon afterward, he was declared dead. The city medical examiner ruled the death a homicide and two NYPD officers have been reassigned during the investigation.
So far, the US Justice Department has signaled it will probably wait for the local probe to conclude before deciding whether to launch a formal civil rights investigation.
But they rushed right up to Ferguson.
Saturday’s half-mile-long route wended through a heavily minority neighborhood, one of several in the nation’s largest city where residents have said they feel unfairly targeted by police for suspicion of crime and enforcement of low-level offenses.
In Staten Island’s 120th Precinct, where the chokehold death occurred, distrust of police officers is considered widespread.
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What's next in NYC, death squads?
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"A woman and her four passengers, including three children, were returning home from a family gathering when their car veered off a Long Island highway, struck a tree, and burst into flames, killing all of them, authorities said Sunday.
Myriam Lebrun, 37, was traveling on the Southern State Parkway toward Brooklyn just before 11 p.m. Saturday when her car left the westbound lanes near Exit 38 in Babylon and smashed into the tree, state police said."
Fell asleep at the wheel?
Related: Taking a Trip to Rikers Island
"In Washington, second thoughts on arming local police" by Matt Apuzzo and Michael S. Schmidt | New York Times August 24, 2014
WASHINGTON — Jolted by images of protesters clashing with heavily armed police officers in Missouri, President Obama has ordered a comprehensive review of the government’s decade-old strategy of outfitting local police departments with military-grade body armor, mine-resistant trucks, silencers, and automatic rifles, senior officials say.
Related(?): Is Obama Secretly Trying To End the Elitists’ War Against Humanity?
Is that why he ordered the review?
Have I been far too hard on the man, while at the same time offering him support and protection when attacked by Israel or threatened with assassination?
The White House-led review will consider whether the government should continue providing such equipment and, if so, whether local authorities have sufficient training to use it appropriately, senior administration and law enforcement officials said.
The government will also consider whether it is keeping a close enough watch on equipment inventories and how the weapons and other gear are used.
The review, coupled with proposed legislation and planned congressional hearings, opens the possibility for significant changes in Washington’s approach to arming local law enforcement agencies.
We have seen that before, and it has always been exploited for no good.
After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the government regarded the police as the front-line forces in a new war.
Exhibit A, and the source of so many things.
While that role for local law enforcement is expected to remain, changes may be ordered to the system under which federal grants and a military surplus program have sent gear and money to police departments, often with no strings attached, to prepare for a terrorist attack.
Then we better not get the one the government and media say is coming from ISIS. All that gear misused when terrorists were coming.
America got a glimpse of that gear over the past two weeks in Ferguson, Mo., as police officers in full body armor rode military-style vehicles, firing tear gas and pointing assault rifles at protesters.
Got more than a glimpse.
Like many other departments nationwide, the police in the St. Louis area have been outfitted by federal grants and military surplus.
Tyranny and oppression is good bu$ine$$!!
“The whole country and every representative and senator have seen the visuals, and at some level, it made all of us uncomfortable,” said Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee who will lead a hearing in September into police use of military-style equipment. “It’s a moment where we can take a timeout and look at these policies.”
Such reviews would have been unlikely in Washington before the Ferguson protests, which followed the shooting death of an unarmed teenager by a police officer. For years, internal audits have raised concerns about the management and oversight of federal grants, but nothing until now has prompted the government to question the wisdom behind the programs.
Maybe they have FINALLY SEEN the LIGHT on all this!!!
After the 9/11 attacks, the government pushed billions of dollars to local law enforcement agencies through the Department of Justice and the newly created Department of Homeland Security.
The grants paid for radios that allowed local police and fire officials to talk to each other during a crisis. Grants placed life-saving equipment in ambulances and hospitals.
For police departments, the money paid for computers, armored vehicles, body armor, weapons, training, and more. In Washington, the only debates were whether the George W. Bush administration was providing equipment fast enough and whether departments were getting their fair shares.
My county is the only one in New England that has not -- yet.
But the rush to arm America’s police departments made oversight difficult.
Now the excuses start.
If they can't oversee themselves how the hell can they oversee the rest of us?
Grant programs overlapped. Money often flowed to state governments first before arriving in local police departments, making it hard to track. In 2009, auditors cited examples of state governments that could not verify what equipment local authorities had bought.
The federal government also did not typically insist that local authorities be trained on how and when to use the new equipment.
Administration and law enforcement officials said the White House review would include an examination of training requirements.
The review will also look at a program that is well liked by the Obama administration. The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program is the leading source of Justice Department money to state and local authorities.
And speaking of dried out fruit.
Vice President Joe Biden is a longtime supporter of the grants, which can be used to hire police officers, expand drug taskforces, and buy weapons, armor, and other equipment.
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Related: Ferguson Residents Fight Instigators
All shriveled up now.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
"Tensions in Ferguson, Mo., flare, subside" Associated Press August 25, 2014
FERGUSON, Mo. — Tensions briefly flared then subsided late Saturday night and early Sunday in Ferguson as nightly protests continued two weeks after a white city police officer fatally shot an unarmed black 18-year-old man.
Police reported only a handful of arrests, and traffic flowed freely along the West Florissant Avenue commercial corridor near the suburban St. Louis apartment complex where Ferguson officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown six times on Aug. 9.
Once again, peaceful daytime protests gave way to angrier shouts and more defiant marchers as night fell — including some who argued angrily with one another. But there were no signs of police riot gear, tear gas, or armored vehicles that marked earlier street skirmishes in the first week after Brown’s death.
The funeral for Brown is scheduled Monday morning.
At a peace festival Sunday in St. Louis, the victim’s father, Michael Brown Sr., told the crowd that all he wants Monday is peace. He said he appreciates all the love and support from people in the community.
Hundreds of people gathered in St. Louis for Peace Fest, which was planned before Brown’s death but took on new meaning after it. The fest encourages peace over violence.
I'm not opposed to peace. Far from it. What I do oppose is controlled opposition protest prolifically presented by my war-promoting propaganda pre$$. Sorry.
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"Obama’s Kennedy; Five years ago, the president lost his only real friend in Congress" by Martin F. Nolan | August 25, 2014
It was a sad day for Massachusetts, for the Democratic Party, for civility in Washington, D.C., and, most of all, a sad day for Barack Obama and his administration.
Ted Kennedy, who died on Aug. 25 five years ago, was the last politician Obama respected or admired. The president may utter niceties about Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, but little evidence suggests that he heeds their advice. Nor has he much time for members of Congress from either party.
In 2009, from the pulpit of the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Mission Hill, Obama eulogized Kennedy as “a colleague, a mentor, and, above all, a friend.” Since then, Obama maintains many admirers and loyalists, but friends as peers, comrades, especially in Congress, where friends matter? The rambunctious rookie senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, probably has more.
How to explain a friendless leader? Cynicism, an occupational disease along the Potomac, cites Harry Truman, who allegedly said, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” (The Truman Library does not verify this remark.)
David McCullough’s meticulous biography, “Truman,“ details the day Vice President Truman received the news that Franklin Roosevelt was dead. Truman was among friends, mixing a drink in Speaker Sam Rayburn’s “Board of Education” room, where they met over bourbon and branch water “to strike a blow for liberty.”
As Kennedy said dozens of times over his 47 years in the Senate, “The only way to get anything big done here is on a bipartisan basis.” Today’s Republican Party may make that impossible, but congressional Democrats often have friends on the other side. It’s a start.
As a 30-year-old senator, Kennedy discovered that Senate friendships can begin with some humble pie and often a side order of whiskey. He learned the arts of courtesy and compromise before politics became more mechanized and more monetized.
The young Kennedy’s Senate career unfolded in a era of one-term presidencies, when five consecutive presidents did not complete two terms. Since then, voters have reelected Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama. All became unpopular during their sixth year in the White House. The Beltway culture swoons over campaign consultants who can deliver the magical 270 electoral votes. But these hired guns often abandon their hero, choosing lobbying over governing.
When he endorsed Obama in January of 2008, Kennedy said he chose a candidate “who inspires me, inspires all of us, who can lift our vision and summon our hopes.” Kennedy, who enjoyed speechifying himself, would not have hesitated to tell the president that oratory is not enough.
Had Kennedy lived, he would have insisted that being a salesman, party leader, and morale officer are all part of the president’s job description. “But you can have fun doing it. Go to Wall Street!” he might counsel. “They trash you every day there while the stock market keeps going higher. Mimic Stephen Colbert! Say, ‘I accept your apology.’ ”
Kennedy treated Republicans with respect, even sympathy. Gee, your job is tough, he might have said to John Boehner, then make the speaker smile by comparing Tea Party dissidents to “a dog who chases a car, then catches the car!” One can almost hear the senator’s roaring laughter.
The lion of Massachusetts was famously bipartisan, but also partisan and honored for it. “Ted Kennedy never moved away from party rivalry. He was a fierce partisan to the end,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in his eulogy. “But over the years he reminded the world of the great potential of this institution, and even came to embody it . . . How many times did we spot him coming through a doorway or onto an elevator, his hair white as the surf, and think: ‘Here comes history itself?’ ” McConnell’s first reaction to Kennedy’s death was, like that of most senators, genuine and heartfelt: “He was fun to be around.”
McConnell and Obama have a mutual friend, who has too many buddies, mates, pals, and chums to count. His name is Joe Biden.
Biden would be happy as Obama’s life coach. So you don’t like politicians? No problem. Just talk, but mostly listen. They might think you’re faking, but they do it, too. It’s worth a try.
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It was this nation that lost it's last true friend in the executive office when his brother was murdered on 22 November 1963, although a link in the above article got me thinking a bit differently and one could look at events in such a way when one readjusts the political prism for today. It looks like Obama has gone along to get along, and the further militarization and surveillance of the society was under his watch; however, he has staved off war with Iran so far, much to a certain tribe's chagrin. Like decades ago, it might be years before we get the real story behind the curtain. Certainly not going to see it in a daily newspaper.
