A few comments on the Ferguson riots.

- It seems that most of the people interviewed on TV do not understand that homicide is not a federal crime.  With certain exceptions a homicide is entirely within the jurisdiction of the state in which it is committed.  None of the exceptions are applicable in this case.  Therefore the federal government has no jurisdiction in the homicide involved and there is no apparent way that the federal government can seize control of the legal process concerning homicide.  A state grand jury begins to hear evidence today.  In the US a grand jury does not decide guilt or innocence.  It decides if there exists "probable cause" to believe that a crime was committed and if it so believes it indicts the probable culprit and remands him/her for trial on a specific charge.  If the accused is not a flight risk nor dangerous, bail is set and the accused is released until trial.  Because the grand jury does not "try" the case, hearsay evidence is admissable and in this case Wilson will be invited to testify.  This grand jury is said to be "diverse" and a Black assistant prosecutor will present the case.  I have served on two Virginia grand juries and IMO the system functions well.

- Failing that the federal government can prosecute Wilson for depriving Brown of his constitutional rights by killing him without sufficient justifcation BECAUSE he was Black.  This would be under the Civil rights Act of 1968.  To do that they, will have to convince a grand jury (in this case a local federal grand jury) and then get a conviction in federal court in St. Louis.  That might be difficult.  Federal law requires trial on a federal charge by a federal court in the state in which the deed was done and as close as possible to the scene. 

- The federal government (DoJ) can also launch a proceeding against the entire Ferguson city government including the police department for a "pattern" of behavior prejudicial to the constitutional rights of African Americans.  With that method they can seek a judgment from a federal judge that places a reorganization of the of the city government under federal control.

- The Obama Administration faces a difficult congressional election in November.  Aggressive intrusion into this local matter involving race is a risky thing for them to do. 

- Based on last night, the level of violence seems to be declining in the town.  If this continues that will make use of the "Insurrection Act" more difficult for the Obama Administration. 

- AG Holder has publicly declared that "the DoJ stands with the people of this community."  We probably know which community he is talking about and it is unlikely to be Missouri as a whole. 

- It is disappointing that the TV media are clearly siding with the mob and IMO are encouraging disorder.  A Black TV anchor today interviewed the Black mayor of an adjoining town and asked him what would satisfy "the people."  The mayor responded "arrest, trial and conviction."  The anchor responded with "excellent."

- As in the case of the mayor cited above, the Back lawyers, Black state legislators , and Black people interviewed on the steets,  it seems clear that many Black people do not want "justice" in this matter.  What they want is vengeance, and they are quick to say that what is implied is vengeance against all.  That is sad and it echoes exactly what happened in the Zimmerman case.  pl

Comments

[alba etie]

All
This to me is an object lesson in how our basic Comity is being eroded in our Public Square . We all need to let due process be our guiding principle in the Micheal Brown shooting. This could be a teachable moment for us all .

[omonaija12]

Its all a distraction and a media circus. As a friend pointed out, more have been killed indiscriminately in Chicago from black on black crime than in Ferguson, similar outrage is lacking.

[Tyler]

Another election year and another "War on Blacks" narrative to gin up the Democratic base.

This is why we can't have nice things, like a Republic.

[William R. Cumming]

Agree with all of this post!

[kao_hsien_chih]

Both sides are getting tribal, with no intetest in "the law" whatsoever. And we think what happened in Yugoslavia or Ukraine are foreign affairs...

[Tyler]

I've been saying this forever now.

If the Dr. K's and Edward Amane's of the world want a multicultural utopia free of hate and violence, they should move to Iraq and let me know how that works out.

[Matthew]

omonaija 12: Selective outrage is a universal trait. Nancy Grace, for one, has made a career out of generating national outrage over local stories.

[Fred]

Tyler,

It also serves to distract from 1) Iraq i.e ISIS 2) Syria 3) Ukraine

[kao_hsien_chih]

I do think police acting irresponsibly under color of law is a different matter altogether. In this sense, this is inherently different from the Zimmerman case, where the liberal establishment tried to whiteface and railroad a Hispanic man. There are serious questions that need to be addressed about problems with militarized policing, especially the overly aggressive attitude of the cops.

But, the impression I keep getting is that the administration (and much of the establishment elite) don't care to talk about militarized policing. The "race" problem in this strikes me as a distraction. I suppose police abuse is fine as they don't lead to ruckus.

[turcopolier]

KHC

"Both sides are getting tribal, with no interest in "the law" whatsoever." I could not disagree more. I see no evidence of racist tribal behavior on the part of the City of Ferguson or Missouri. pl

[Edward Amame]

Agreed Feds will have limited as possible involvement with this. FBI is running an investigation into whether or not Brown's civil rights were violated. But prosecutors would have to prove the cop acted with the intent to violate his civil rights and that's not easy.

Would suggest that SOME of the TV media is siding with PEACEFUL protestors. Some of that may be due to the not-smart way Ferguson’s combat-equipped SWAT PD manhandled a number of reporters.

[Tyler]

Dont forget the illegal executive amnesty and the ongoing border crisis.

[Tyler]

They want a sacrifice. Justice plays no role in this.

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2014/08/18/anderson-cooper-accidentally-tweets-mindset-of-ferguson-community-protestors-why-wont-police-offer-just-one-cop-for-a-sacrifice/

[Tyler]

I know the Left never met a dead cop it dididnt like but expecting Officer Friendly to lay down and die in the face of molotov cocktail hucking rioters seems a little much.

Journos mad cause tear gas doesnt differentiate between them and rioters. A bloo bloo bloo.

[Tyler]

The police should have all the guns when the topic du jour is gun control.

The police shouldnt have any guns when the topic du jour is race.

Liberal thought.

[VietnamVet]

Colonel,

I agree with your analysis. But, I would like to point out that besides the black and white tribal conflicts, a militarized police will automatically provoke a response when shooting and gassing a crowd.

There are additional factors that triggered the riots in Ferguson MO:
1) 50% unemployment and a high concentration of young males.
2) The city’s main source of revenue is fines. Young black males will be pissed off when ticketed by white cops for walking down the middle of the street. If unemployed how do they pay the fines: theft, selling drugs, mooching off their Mothers or jail time?

I remember reading that 25% or greater youth unemployment leads to revolutions such as Iran’s. Google found a Working Paper on the subject “Demographics: The Ratio of Revolution”:

http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/research/doc.cfm?did=47411

From 2011 the paper indicates that Saudi Arabia and the Congo are ripe for revolution but not the USA. This is probably true for white America. Except, youth are being saddled with student loan debt. Austerity is dampening the job market and good jobs continue to be outsourced. Inevitably there will be pockets of revolts. Will the surveillance state, militarized police and racial scapegoating keep it in check or will the remnants of the American bourgeoisie finally see the light and throw out their overlords who are the only ones benefiting from today’s “greed is good” world?

[oofda]

And the Ferguson and St Louis County PDs have not shown a great deal of professinalism in the way they handled the immediate aftermath of the shooting. The worst and almost incomprehensible being to let the cop drive his car away. It should have been kept there and checked for prints on the side and had other forensic details taken. There should have been photos taken of the car in relation to the body and measureents made. The police confiscated cell phones from witnesses- apparently no chain of custody. and where are they now? Did the shooter cop have to get medical attention? Where is the report on that? Any photos of the injury?
Was there a crime scene investigation? What about the shell casings - where were they in relation to the body? Again, the details are likely to be unavailable until trial, but if the Ferguson police are going to produce a narrative that excuses the shooter cop's actions, and the Ferguson police are also the sole holder of any evidence related to that action, it seems only sensible that they release this information—especially when failure to release it represents an ongoing threat to the community.

[Edward Amame]

Another mitigating factor may be that Ferguson is approx 67% black and 29% white. Ferguson's mayor is white, 5 of the 6 members of the city council are white, 6 of 7 members of its school board are white and 50 of Ferguson's 53 cops are white and 3 are black.

[Jack]

VV

Who saddled the youth with student loans?

What austerity are you talking about? The Feds, State and Local government have run up the debt continuously for over 70 years. Austerity will come when the cost of borrowing starts to really rise. That is in the future and not in the present or past.

[Edward Amame]

Apparently I'm supposed to be included in the "Left" that "never met a dead cop it didn't like." So I guess the pot gets to call the kettle black and assume the "Right" never met a black teen it didn't like?

[Laura Wilson]

If the police were trying to serve a populace that was "less armed," they might be "less afraid" and, therefore, more able to do their job without over-reacting.

[Richard Armstrong]

The late Gov. Carnahan signed into law an act that requires all law enforcement agencies in Missouri to capture and report the race of every individual stopped, detained, searched, arrested, charged, convicted, etc.

The Attorney General's office compiles the very comprehensive data and presents it for review and analysis on the AG's website at: http://ago.mo.gov/VehicleStops/.

In order for the information at that site to be meaningful, one also needs to find out the population/race ratio of whatever county or city they are researching.

What is amazing is that the original act was called the "Sunshine Law", the idea being that somehow the act of shining a light on a problem would have a positive affect.

The AG's site clearly shows that blacks are very much more likely to be stopped, searched, detained, arrested, and charged than are whites. This is not my opinion, this is a fact confirmed by the data.

I cannot offer an explanation as to why the disparity exists. I'll leave that to others who traffic in opinion.

[Laura Wilson]

Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor and long-time human rights activist, was arrested today in front of Governor Jay Nixon's downtown office along with eight others.

Epstein, charged with failure to disperse, was protesting Nixon's actions in Ferguson, and said after her detainment, "I've been doing this since I was a teenager. I didn't think I would have to do it when I was 90. We need to stand up today so that people won't have to do this when they're 90."

We might want to all take a deep breath and remember that the "Rule of law" runs both ways and to consider what it means when a police force sees its local citizens as the enemy.

[Tyler]

Yes because lawful gun owners are the ones out there committing all these crimes.

Liberal Thought 101

[Tyler]

Sure.