Here’s a quote from the Los Angeles Times editorial about Ferguson Missouri “Even if it turns out that policy and procedure were scrupulously followed in the Ford shooting, it is hard to believe that police cannot refine their encounters with unarmed citizens to avoid the use of deadly force — “
The New York Times editorial board wrote: “Chief among the transparency issues for protesters has been local authorities’ adamant and inexcusable refusal to identify the police officer who shot Mr. Brown, saying the officer faced death threats. Residents have a right to know whether the officer has a record of reckless behavior, and whether the officer lives in the community among the residents being patrolled, or in a very different neighborhood.”
The Chicago Tribune noted: “The failure to provide real information, the failure to provide a genuine assurance of eventual justice, has incited resentment, anger and violence.”
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch added: “The bad decisions continued with the arrests and/or detentions of peaceful protesters and journalists. They continued as St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch refused to share even basic information about the case. Not the name of the officer who killed Mr. Brown. Not the autopsy findings about how many bullets struck him and where. Not an incident report. Not the most basic information generally available to reporters when the alleged shooter isn’t a cop.”
USA TODAY editorialized: “The Ferguson police department . . . cannot be trusted to investigate itself or, for that matter, to protect the community. . . By refusing to disclose basic information, including the name of the officer who shot Brown and autopsy results that could shed light on the case, they’ve needlessly raised suspicion.. . . in New York City, no stranger to this kind of controversy, it took only two days for police to make public the name of the officer who allegedly killed a black suspect in July by putting him in an illegal chokehold.”
There are other newspapers echoing these sentiments. I wonder why now they are catching on. Do we need a riot or two to have the media open its eyes to the reforms we have to make in all our police forces, and that includes our Federal Bureau of Investigations.
A long time ago I wrote complaining about what the LA Times is bothered about which is the killing of unarmed citizens by police. It is not something new. The killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson by a cop was only different because a riot broke out.
The NY Times wants more transparency. But when it comes to the FBI it is silent about transparency. Don’t the people of America have the right to know the name of the FBI Agent who killed Ibragim Todashev which is still being officially withheld. And what about the names of any other FBI agent who has killed a person?
The Todashev case was a matter where the FBI investigated itself, something USA Today complains about the Ferguson police doing but never complained that the FBI does it in all its cases. It was almost a year before we learned what the FBI said happened that caused Todashev to be shot multiple times by the FBI agent. Even then, when the Florida prosecutor sought to do his own investigation the FBI refused to allow him to interview the agent.
Which police agency do you think will have the greatest effect on the lives we live as Americans, the Ferguson police or the FBI. It would be nice if the nation’s media paid attention to how the FBI handles the investigation of its agents after a killing and made the same demands of it as it is making of others.
Perhaps the residents of Ferguson who went out into the streets knew more about the system of justice than most others. They knew that without a riot the killing of Michael Brown might have past like a flying bird on a moonless night. It is sort of tragic that is the only way one can make the media notice that something is wrong.
Matt: The questions we ask about the FBI are more important than the answers.
For example with regards to Ibraghim Lee Harvey Todashev.
Why were the 5 greatest terrorist events of the last 35 years created
by FBI informants?
just google these names with the event and the word FBI informant
1993 1st world trade center bombing
Ahmed Salem
google Ahmed Salem Dan rather YouTube
google anticev Floyd Salem fbi
1995 Oklahoma City bombing
Timothy McVeigh
google. McVeigh Potts Trentadue fbi
911
google architects and engineers for 911 truth
Mumbai Attack India
google David Headley FBI informant mumbai
Omargh Bombing Ireland
Whitey Bulger
google whitey Bulger C4 explosives Boston FBI IRA
google Dave Ruppert FBI Omargh bombing
Todashev was just a Russian. So the media could ignore him. Plus they are intimidated by the FBI. Look at the coverage of the Boston Marathon and the cover up by the Feds. It would be refreshing if the national media put it’s efforts into real police wrongdoing in the Winston rape case in Tallahassee. O’Reilly pointed out that the reporters are terrified of being labelled a racist. Being accused of that or an anti semitism can be career ending. Thus the indulgence of the rabble rousers and race hustlers. How many of the looters will go to prison? The governor is calling for the cop’s head even before the investigation is complete. The coverage is just an example of how superficial the media is. Will the conduct of the protesters attract more business to that town? Will more of the middleclass want to stay there? What are it’s prospects for growth and development in the years to come? Will it look like a ghost town in future years? 2. If Wilson is charged will he be convicted? Very few jurors would blame a cop for using force after he was assaulted by a 300 pound robber. Unless he faced an OJ Simpson jury, with an incompetent judge, in a circus trial he would be acquitted. The politicians and the media want a simple answer. A rogue cop. They don’t want to deal with the consequences of LBJ’s Great Society which had produced a failed society. What Moynihan and Murray have written about for years can be viewed in Ferguson. The press isn’t doing the residents any favors by echoing Sharpton and bashing the cops.
NC:
1. You can’t go to prison unless you are arrested. They stopped arresting the looters. Last night a lawyer commenting on the actions of Michael Brown robbing the store of the cigars said: “after Brown left the store he figured that was the end of it.” I was amazed. We are supposed to accept that a thug can go into the store and steal things from it and walk away and think it’s all right. As for the governor, he’s a disgrace. He was Missouri AG for 16 years. He sounds like the guy that prosecuted the Duke lacrosse players; he’s looking for a prosecution before there’s a charge. The question is whether the cop (under the rogue theory) will have to take the hit to please the mob. A Missouri state senator has already promised more violent riots if he’s not indicted for murder.
You are right to point to the town’s prospects. Few will want to live there except those who can’t live elsewhere. Businesses will flee. Unfortunately, the state leadership is wanting; the town people were doing a better job prior to the state’s interference.
2. I’m seeing the matter happening this way: no state indictment but a federal indictment for murder. Once the case gets to federal court Wilson’s chances will be poor. Will the rioters and protesters demand that he face the federal death penalty? I agree fully that the media again is engaging in malpractice.
Ferguson, as you note, is not about a white cop killing a black man; it’s about the failure of a large segment of society. It’s about people too down and out to blame themselves for their failings and to blame others. Derrick Jackson in a column today talks about the black unemployment rate being double that of whites; why doesn’t he talk about the black high school graduation rate be more than half of that or whites or the failure of blacks to go to college. He suggests the white community sees no disparities but that’s a lie. We see many. But seeing them we wonder why they persist despite all the efforts to eliminate them.