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#Ferguson – Vox sniffs “Grand Jury had too much evidence” [Darleen Click]

Better to have evidence, especially exculpatory evidence, excluded when one is in pursuit of “Justice” …

The reason that most grand juries don’t go very long, as Vox’s Amanda Taub has written, is they’re typically only looking at a selection of the evidence that’s been cherry-picked by the prosecutor. In the Ferguson case, however, St. Louis County Attorney Robert McCulloch’s office deliberately presented the grand jury with as much evidence as they could possibly find.

Oh THE HORROR!! How dare the Grand Jury (an investigative body) be given the whole picture to enable it to sort through what was fact and what was made up sh*t.

88 Replies to “#Ferguson – Vox sniffs “Grand Jury had too much evidence” [Darleen Click]”

  1. dicentra says:

    So, they know they prize the narrative over truth, it’s not an unconscious process.

    Shame on them.

  2. Shame is not in their vocabulary.

  3. sdferr says:

    Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (1987), Part Three: The University, The Sixties — p. 313-314:

    *** “You don’t have to intimidate us,” said the famous professor of philosophy in April 1969, to ten thousand students supporting a group of black students who had just persuaded “us”, the faculty of Cornell University, to do their will by threatening the use of firearms as well as threatening the lives of individual professors. A member of the ample press corps newly specialized in reporting the hottest item of the day, the university, muttered, “You said it, brother.” The reporter had learned a proper contempt for the moral and intellectual qualities of professors. Servility, vanity and lack of conviction are not difficult to discern.

    The professors, the repositories of our best traditions and highest intellectual aspirations, were fawning over what was nothing better than a rabble; publicly confessing their guilt and apologizing for not having understood the most important moral issues, the proper response to which they were learning from the mob; expressing their willingness to change the university’s goals and the content of what they taught. As I surveyed this spectacle, Marx’s overused dictum kept coming to my mind against my will: History always repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. The American university in the sixties was experiencing the same dismantling of the structure of rational inquiry as had the German university in the thirties. No longer believing in their higher vocation, both gave way to a highly ideologized student populace. And the content of the ideology was the same — value commitment. The university had abandoned all claim to study or inform about value — undermining the sense of the value of what it taught, while turning over the decision about values to the folk, the Zeitgeist, the relevant. Whether it be Nuremberg or Woodstock, the principle is the same. As Hegel was said to have died in Germany in 1933, Enlightenment in America came close to breathing its last during the sixties. The fact that the universities are no longer in convulsions does not mean that they have regained their health. As in Germany, the value crisis in philosophy made the university prey to whatever intense passion moved the masses. It went comfortably along until there was a popular fit of moralism, and then became aware that it had nothing to contribute and was persuaded by a guilty sense that its distance from the world made it immoral. Hardly any element in the university believed seriously that its distance was based on something true and necessary, the self-confident possession of the kinds of standpoint outside of public opinion that made it easy for Socrates to resist the pious fanaticism of the Athenian people who put their victorious generals to death after Arginusae, or to refuse to collaborate with the Athenian tyrants. Socrates thought it more important to discuss justice, to try to know what it is, than to engage himself in implementing whatever partial perspective on it happened to be exciting the passions of the day, causing the contemplative to be called unjust and impious.”

  4. Ernst Schreiber says:

    In the Ferguson case, however, St. Louis County Attorney Robert McCulloch’s office deliberately presented the grand jury with as much evidence as they could possibly find.

    That’s because Obama supporting Democrat County Attorney McCulloch was looking for anything to hang an indictment on Officer Wilson.

  5. sdferr says:

    Don’t think that’s as true as that DA McCulloch was looking for an avenue to escape responsibility for the conclusion he had already reached that no case could be brought against Officer Wilson Ernst, and Pilate-like no matter how the grand jury came down, McCulloch could point a finger of responsibility at that jury.

  6. geoffb says:

    From the Governor on down it’s all Democrats in this scripted play.

  7. Shermlaw says:

    Lost in this, of course, is that McCulloch repeatedly said that all evidence which he had, had been given to the Feds. N.B. there has been no move by federal authorities to prosecute the officer either. The feckless Obama administration is letting Missouri twist in the wind, even though it is unwilling to proceed itself with the same evidence.

  8. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Well, like I said earlier, the physical evidence, taken together with Officer Wilson’s testimony was sufficient for a no true bill finding (or whatever the legalese is). So, given the political context, together with the fact that it was like 6 weeks ago that it first leaked that there was eyewitness testimony corroborating Officer Wilson’s version of events, I can only conclude that somebody in the proceedings was looking for a bone to toss to the mob.

  9. Ernst Schreiber says:

    And what was the point of mobilizing the National Guard a week or so ago if they were just going to sit a watch?

  10. sdferr says:

    A bone (to be owned to the decision of the jury) in potentia, we might say, so long as that bone is not from among DA McCulloch’s own potential political future bones, yeah.

  11. sdferr says:

    what was the point?

    Gov. Nixon may have had prevention of last night’s events in mind as a practical matter when he mobilized the Guard, but I think he took instruction from HappyRioterHolder (who once occupied Columbia U. offices armed with a handgun, we are told) that as Gov. he would incur the wrath of the Federales were he to continue with his prudent militarization of the streets of Ferguson, and so changed his mind with regard to the Guard.

  12. SDN says:

    Calling Vox “dumb as a sack of hammers” is an insult to hammers…. and sacks.

  13. sdferr says:

    ***Obama and Holder commanded the police to behave themselves. The police behaved, and look what happened.***

  14. Darleen says:

    DA McCulloch was looking for an avenue to escape responsibility for the conclusion he had already reached that no case could be brought against Officer Wilson Ernst,

    Yep. And he knew enough that without having the Feds in at the beginning and sharing everything, he’d always be subject to race-baiters’ everywhere saying “why didn’t you look at THIS or THAT!”

    I hear idiots demanding the Feds indict Wilson on 1st degree murder and I want to know what evidence does the DOJ have that was NOT presented to the grand jury that would support ANY criminal charge, let alone 1st degree?

  15. sdferr says:

    By way of an aside, surrendering to the mob in Ferguson is not so very far from the ongoing act of surrender to the Mullocracy in Iran, when we boil the whole business out.

  16. happyfeet says:

    it’s same as how they did obamacare

    they don’t want people having all the information

  17. sdferr says:

    Darleen, I wonder whether HappyRioterHolder’s minions aren’t on the lookout for an entirely different sort of evidence to use against Officer Wilson, such as any casual remark he may have made at any time in his life which carries even the least implication of a racist type belief or can be manipulatively construed as such, in order to bring a charge of violation of the nasty Michael Brown’s civil rights on grounds of racial animus. Officer Wilson isn’t out of the woods yet, in my estimation.

  18. sdferr says:

    A few days ago murderous al-Shabab jihadis seized a Kenyan bus in northern Kenya, off-loaded its 60 passengers, nominally separated those passengers by physical characteristics (did they look Somali? or typically Kenyan?) and by apparent religious creed (could they recite the Shahada?) and then proceeded to execute some 28 supremely unfortunate culls by gunshot to the back of the head.

    So: thus are jihadis more discriminate in their absurd attacks than the good rioter people of Ferguson. What a world.

  19. LBascom says:

    The grand jury didn’t get all the evidence anyway, I don’t think. Not all a courtroom jury would get anyway.

    Like, for example (and what I’d be keenly interested in myself), what Mr. Brown was up to in the hours leading up to the robbery, along with his reputation in the community, any prior run ins with the police, and the chemical content of his blood and hair.

  20. Shermlaw says:

    LB, according to McCulloch, toxicology reports were presented to the grand jury and part of the record.

  21. sdferr says:

    Just now ran into this post at Right Scoop about the National Guard: *** Missouri’s Lt. Governor wants to know if Obama and Holder told Governor Nixon to keep the National Guard out of Ferguson last night because it’s clear they weren’t there and were desperately needed. ***

  22. LBascom says:

    Any trace of Skittles?

  23. sdferr says:

    New law proposal from the MichaelBrownchil’ parents: every police officer in every city be required to wear a full-time body camera when on duty.

    Hmmm.

    What of a law requiring full-time body cameras for lil’ (or big!) MichaelBrownchil’ type chilluns? Who wouldn’t enjoy watching footage of lil’ MichaelBrownchil’ type chilluns getting their tokey deranged-groggy on?

    What of everyone else?

  24. LBascom says:

    What I heard a few hours before the verdict was announced, was that the NG was going to be deployed at various facilities (govt buildings, hospitals, schools, like that) to guard, “freeing up law enforcement to deal with the protesters”.

    Which makes sense to me; using the military should be a last desperate resort in cases of domestic disobedience, for many reasons. The whole situation is enough of a national embarrassment as is, without the optics of soldiers shooting down citizens in the street.

    As with the genesis of the whole mess, where the cop is blamed for handling a violent brute with less than optimal results, I am reluctant to cast blame anywhere but on the violent brute, which last night was the mob.

  25. Ernst Schreiber says:

    A body camera might have averted the whole tragicomedy.

    At least until somebody from the community proclaimed that The Jews doctored the video.

  26. Ernst Schreiber says:

    “[U]sing the military should be a last desperate resort in cases of domestic disobedience public violence, for many reasons. The whole situation is enough of a national embarrassment as is, without the optics of soldiers shooting down citizens rioters in the street.”

    How many rioters, do you suppose, the Guard would have had to shoot before the rest decided they had better things to do elsewhere?

    I seriously doubt tonight is going to be better than last night was. Maybe I’m wrong though. Is there anything left to burn in Ferguson?

  27. LBascom says:

    I don’t have a problem with cops wearing cameras while on duty. A lowly 7-11 clerk has a camera on him at all times.

    My thoughts towards any legitimate grievance the protesters might have, are that all police shootings should be subject to public reviews, not internal police reviews. Even in my little podunk town there have been a couple of sketchy police shootings, but all we end up hearing is an announcement months later the officer is exonerated by internal investigation.

  28. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I forgot to add the “edited in accordance with the Truth in Rhetoric Act of 2014 disclaimer” joke to the editorial emendations there.

  29. LBascom says:

    How many rioters, do you suppose, the Guard would have had to shoot before the rest decided they had better things to do elsewhere?

    I dunno. It only took 4 in Ohio to make the situation in the whole country worse though. Nothing quite like it to give protesters legitimacy.

  30. sdferr says:

    At this late date in the post-history of our lamented one-time republic we are surely entitled to maintain a severe skepticism against every tomdickandharry who leaps to their feet in outrage genuine or feigned to bellow “There oughtta be a LAW!”. Fuck these fucking morons.

  31. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Kent State was before my time, so I can’t say. I vaguely remember Anne Coulter opining that actual, physical confrontational unrest actually lessened after Kent State. Maybe she’s talking out of her ass. Maybe that was because the war was winding down rather than college kids who didn’t care for the prospect of getting shot at in Vietnam really didn’t care for the prospect of getting shot at here at home.

    And while I see your point about media driven perceptions. I for one am sick and tired of making policy based on worries about how something is going to look on the fucking 6 o’clock news.

    This is why we can’t win a war anymore, let alone put down a riot.

  32. Darleen says:

    What the heck is a “full body camera”?

    BTW, a couple of my agencies already have body cams and another is looking to launch it (they already have belt recorders and dashcams) the issue isn’t the camera but the storage space for all the video and coming up with retention policies for each.

  33. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Earlier, Hannity aired a soundbyte of a reporter at Lawyer Crumb’s [STET!] presser asking if they thought the [white] police deliberately allowed the [black] protesters rioters burn down the [black] neighborhood (because of raaaaacism implied).

    So there’s no winning with the media anyways. If you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, then you should do the right thing and damn the consequences. In this case, the riot thing was to protect the property of the innocent citiznes of Ferguson by dispersing the mob.

  34. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Cameras and protocols wouldn’t matter anyways. Because you’re dealing with the type of people who think fire doesn’t melt steel and all the Jews were told to stay home on 9/11.

    In other words, Grubers

  35. LBascom says:

    sdferr, body cams have actually been discussed for some time now, and many departments already use them. Thing is, I believe they are most useful to the cops, this episode being a case in point.

    Ernst, I can dig it.

    Mobs are notoriously dangerous beasts, always have been and always will be. The trick is to not let them form in the first place, and LE should have spent the day preventing that from happening. Problem is, sometimes rulers and tyrants find mobs useful…

  36. Ernst Schreiber says:

    At least he didn’t say bumrushed!

    Bloom objected to the characterization of Michael Brown’s actions as “charging” Officer Wilson, because it’s racist.

    “This issue about charging,” Bloom said, “which I find to be a racially tinged offensive word in and of itself, but I would have asked him, what exactly does that mean?”

  37. Ernst Schreiber says:

    sometimes rulers and tyrants find mobs useful…

    That was the point of the essay sdferr linked above.

    In case anybody hasn’t read it yet.

  38. LBascom says:

    I think it came from a black witness, who testified Brown “charged him like a linebacker” or some such.

    “Linebacker” is probably racist too. What color are most lines? Exactly.

  39. LBascom says:

    Hot off the press:

    Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon says more than 2,200 National Guardsmen will be in place in the region near Ferguson on Tuesday night in the event of more violence.

    (h/t Drudge, who also reports “Russian Official: Ferguson Highlights ‘Serious Challenges To American Society, Stability’…” in case you need a chuckle…

  40. sdferr says:

    If some cracker happens to encounter Lisa Bloom on the street and chooses to charge her and tackle her nasty ass like a football player would do, he should make sure to enquire of her “How ya like your categorization of charging as a racist term now, ya skanky bitch?”

  41. dicentra says:

    Shame is not in their vocabulary.

    It is when they want to make everyone feel ashamed to be white/Christian/American/wealthy/exhaling CO2.

    Pathological liars eventually lose the ability to tell you what they really had for breakfast. I’d call it sad if it weren’t very deliberately and willingly self-inflicted.

    Revelation 22:

    14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

    15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

  42. dicentra says:

    If some cracker happens to encounter Lisa Bloom

    Excuse me.

    The proper term is “Saltine American.”

    If you please.

  43. sdferr says:

    We do love our saltines, which is probably why cracker is the fond term of endearment it is.

  44. geoffb says:

    [S]ometimes rulers and tyrants find mobs useful…

    That was the point of the essay sdferr linked above.

    It was also the point of the Trotsky quote in the piece of mine bh put up a couple of posts ago.

  45. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Every reporter and editor who works for the NYT ought to have the same happen to him/her.

  46. Ernst Schreiber says:

    In case you wondering why we need the 2nd Amendment in the 1st place.

  47. sdferr says:

    Is DeceasedScholarMichaelBrownChil’s step-dad in jail awaiting charges of incitement to riot? If not, how come?

  48. sdferr says:

    Merely publishing the addresses of Timesmen and Timeswomen doesn’t seem all that close to the effects we can suppose will come to Officer Wilson and his wife insofar as they — unlike the Timesmen and Timeswomen — don’t live in either a security guarded community or in a security guarded highrise in Manhattan. Better, perhaps, to invite Timesmen and Timeswomen found on the street to participate in football practice with those who find them.

  49. geoffb says:

    Another voice of calm and reason steps out.

    “Local officials in Ferguson utterly failed in their duties to conduct an open and transparent investigation,” NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks said in a statement. “We will not allow this to be another Sanford, Florida. We will not allow the justice system to let us down once more. Take action today, for Michael, and for all of our sons.”
    […]
    “Brothers and sisters, this is a devastating setback in our fight for justice,” Brooks said. “But the grand jury’s decision does not mean a crime was not committed in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9. It does not mean we are done fighting for Michael Brown.”

    Brooks said that “we are all filled with frustration, disbelief, and anger over this decision” and then continued to push the false “hands up” narrative, declaring that it is “appalling” that “the officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man with his hands in the air remains free.”

    Charlie M. just smiles and continues rocking back and forth. All is proceeding as he foresaw it. Just 40 years late.

  50. sdferr says:

    How to enjoy a riot and keep your property.

  51. newrouter says:

    >Consider a 1988 mob in Chicago. Obama, according to Stanly Kurtz in his book Radical in Chief, was deeply involved in a group called UNO that “favored civil disobedience and tactics that went to extremes.” In a demonstration that Obama helped plan, a mob of one-hundred activists burst into a private boardroom where bank officials were discussing plans to develop a landfill with Waste Management Corporation. Obama and his UNO gang delivered their message of opposition and intimidation

    When Eric Holder was at Columbia, Holder helped a mob take over the Navy ROTC office until the demand was met that it be renamed the “Malcom-X lounge.”

    Michelle Obama, dressed all in black, helped a mob take over the dean’s office at Harvard Law School to demand that the administration hire professors on the basis of race.

    Mobs, to these people, are sometimes seen as partners, not threats.<

    link

  52. sdferr says:

    The police and prosecuting authorities will at least know immediately whether the Treehouse’s testifying “witness” speculation is true of that murdered young man. Will those prosecuting authorities speak out about that with the same immediacy though?

  53. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I’m throwing this out there mostly as shamelessly pointless provacateurism, with just a dash of aristotelian point-making about people unable to control themselves needing to be controlled by others:

    In light of the fact the the african american community has once again demonstrated a propensity for victimizing itself, maybe we ought to reconsider the whole emancipation/13th amendment thing.

  54. newrouter says:

    > the african american community has once again demonstrated a propensity for victimizing itself, <

    you left out commie thugs and the proggtarded.

  55. Ernst Schreiber says:

    They’re the enablers encouraging blacks to kill each other.

    Starting in the womb.

  56. Blake says:

    Meanwhile, the Inciter-in-Chief, Obama, is calling for calm.

    Right now, I’m trying to puzzle out how the people in Wilson’s neighborhood can defend themselves against any rioters that venture their way. (I’m assuming Wilson and his family have left the area. I know I would have)

  57. newrouter says:

    my ? for the “african americans”

    >you be acting white<

    is that the proggtarded kind or the intelligent kind?

  58. newrouter says:

    negro fatigue syndrome,

  59. newrouter says:

    negro = black spanish

    si se puede

  60. palaeomerus says:

    “What color are most lines? Exactly.”

    Koans scare me.

  61. newrouter says:

    happy thanksgiving pw

    Thrive

  62. LBascom says:

    In light of the fact the the african american community has once again demonstrated a propensity for victimizing itself, maybe we ought to reconsider the whole emancipation/13th amendment thing.

    They are just the most vulnerable to the indoctrination, as their family history hits a wall after just a few generations, so the family structure is weaker to start with.

    Everybody else isn’t too far behind though.

    This is not just an opinion. According to Children-our investment.org, ,a href=”http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2010/11/72_percent_of_africanamerican_children_born_to_unwed_mothers.html”>homes without fathers ultimately affect children in numerous tragic ways:

    * 63 percent of youth suicides are from fatherless homes
    * 90 percent of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes
    * 85 percent of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes
    * 80 percent of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes
    * 71 percent of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes
    * 75 percent of all adolescent patients in chemical-abuse centers come from fatherless homes
    * 85 percent of all youths in prison come from fatherless homes

    These statistics apply to African-American homes in disproportionate numbers. Compared with the 72 percent in our communities, 17 percent of Asians, 29 percent of whites, 53 percent of Hispanics and 66 percent of Native Americans were born to unwed mothers in 2008, the most recent year for which government figures are available. The rate for the overall U.S. population was 41 percent

    The answer to the black community’s problem is not ending racism, no matter what the propagandists have taught the American public. The answer for us all (The number of children living in single-parent homes has nearly doubled since 1960, according to data from the 2010 Census. *) is strengthening marriage, which would mean reversing 40 years of American doctrine (at least), ending the governments roll as society’s sugar daddy, and men stepping up to take responsibility for their family.

    About as likely as the 13th amendment being repealed, that is…

    *

  63. LBascom says:

    Crap.

    This is not just an opinion. According to Children-our investment.org, homes without fathers ultimately affect children in numerous tragic ways:

  64. Ernst Schreiber says:

    If you want to understand why Ferguson was allowed to burn, all you have to do is take alook at this pantload product of our elite schools:

    Not once did I consider our attackers to be “bad people.” I trust that they weren’t trying to hurt me. In fact, if they knew me, I bet they’d think I was okay. They wanted my stuff, not me. While I don’t know what exactly they needed the money for, I do know that I’ve never once had to think about going out on a Saturday night to mug people. I had never before seen a gun, let alone known where to get one. The fact that these two kids, who appeared younger than I, have even had to entertain these questions suggests their universes are light years away from mine.

    As an aside: congratulations to ‘feets for making the cover of Time. You should have told us.

  65. LBascom says:

    By the way, if we are to believe Walther Williams, more black kids lived with both parents during the slave years than do now.

    Think about that. Seventeenth century slave owners cared more about their black families than modern democrats care about their black constituents.

  66. happyfeet says:

    depending on the lighting sometimes my eyelashes just need that extra zazzle

  67. Ernst Schreiber says:

    heh

  68. McGehee says:

    I’ve finally figured it out. Race causes insanity.

  69. sdferr says:

    Has the mob been in discussion of the question whether DeceasedScholarMichaelBrownChil’ was a racist in his beliefs, and if so, why? One might suppose not, since the mob would be led thereby to the discussion of the same questions of themselves. And that just wouldn’t be right, since the mob cannot, by definition, have a character beyond mere self-regarded righteous moral revenge and pillage: “Deranged? Us? Impossible, for we are the very yardstick of truth and justice! Now, have a bottle of urine to your head!”

  70. EBL says:

    It is no secret, cops get a far different standard than regular people do when it comes to shootings like this. That is because it is part of their job to be in harms way and the government has a vested interest not throwing every cop involved in a shooting under the bus. Provided all the prosecutor did was give the Grand Jury all the evidence, presented it in an unbiased manner (or at least as neutral as he could), and let them decide, I do not see a problem with that.

    If only that were the standard for the rest of us. Unfortunately, it rarely is.

  71. EBL says:

    McGehee says November 26, 2014 at 8:02 am
    I’ve finally figured it out. Race Media causes insanity.

    Just a suggestion. Actually race and media together. And lack of accountability.

  72. palaeomerus says:

    I had a dream that Obama renamed “secretary of defense” to Secretary of Global Security Through Amity and Cooperation.

  73. palaeomerus says:

    There was also a secretary of Fair Carbon Management. Population Maintenance and Adjustment, Ethnic Relationship Counseling, and Perpetual Panopticon Rat Fucking

  74. palaeomerus says:

    Mitt Romney was there. He kept telling me that Belize is nice and nodding at me like a kind grandfather who is waiting for his lifelong buddy to arrive for their golf date.

    I had to fill out a form to borrow a bike two weeks in advance and I no longer remembered what potatoes look like because starch was contraband.

  75. cranky-d says:

    I guess we had a protest here in Minneapolis about this last night. I probably made a mistake speaking up about it today at work, noting that the riots/protests were over a 300 lb “teenager” who had recently committed a strong-arm robbery and who was legally shot by a cop.

  76. happyfeet says:

    at work i love letting other people talk about it cause I’m eager to not be the most recent hire

  77. sdferr says:

    The loss of DeceasedScholarMichaelBrownChil’ is, when one thinks about it only a little (or rather, especially only a little) an enormous blow in opportunity cost to the potential productive discovery output of academia, which stood to benefit from DeceasedScholarMichaelBrownChil’s future accomplishments. Pity. He held such promise.

  78. cranky-d says:

    I think everyone has learned to ignore everything I way anyway.

  79. cranky-d says:

    We got to go home early because of snow, so I did my shopping early and worked later at home.

    Exciting, I know, but that’s my life.

  80. happyfeet says:

    snow has the final word on so so many discussions i’m finding

    it’s like white geraldo

  81. happyfeet says:

    i like this musics for winter

    i know it’s very gomez

    but still

    it works for me

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