On the eve of the decision not to prosecute of Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, state prosecutors are considering charges against Michael Brown’s family. While potentially explosive in light of the rejection of civil rights charges, the case is based on what is reported as criminal acts of assault and theft by Brown’s mother Lesley McSpadden and other family members.
The incident stems from who is entitled to cash in on the name of Michael Brown. A “Justice for Mike Brown” stand was set up outside of a restaurant to sell teeshirts and other items. One of the vendors was Pearlie Gordon, 54, the mother-in-law of Michael Brown Sr. (who is divorced from McSpadden).
The police say that a group of about 20-30 suspects “jumped out of vehicles and rushed” Gordon, Tony Petty, and Matthew Cosey. McSpadden, 34, is quoted as saying “You can’t sell this shit.” What reportedly ensued was an intense debate of who had trademark options on the name of the dead teenager. Gordon reportedly states that “unless McSpadden could produce documentation stating that she had a patent on her son’s name she (Gordon) was going to continue to sell her merchandise.” Police say that Desureia Harris, McSpadden’s mother, then began to rip down t-shirts while other family members began “tearing her booth apart.” Gordon allegedly was knocked to the ground and repeatedly struck in the head. Gordon accused McSpadden of running up and punching her while one of McSpadden’s group encouraged her to “get her ass.”
Also accused is McSpadden’s husband, Louis Head, who was previously the subject of calls for prosecution in his encouraging protesters to “Burn this bitch down” after no charges were brought against Wilson.
Petty was also transported to a local hospital for treatment of “injuries sustained during the assault.” Police also found that more than $1500 in merchandise and $400 in cash “was stolen by unknown subjects” during the assault and that they fled before the arrival of the police.
To make matters worse for the Brown family, there is a witness as well as a videotape showing the assault on the vendors, according to police.
That record would seem highly compelling for criminal charges. They have sworn statements from the alleged victim, third-party witnesses and a possible videotape showing a vendor being pinned on the ground. That does not rule out defenses based on claims that the vendors started the fight. However, self-defense would not excuse the alleged taking of merchandize and cash.
In a normal situation, there would have already been arrests and charges in such a case. However, this case seems anything but conventional and prosecutors may be more timid after prior events triggered arson and looting. The delay may be a reflection of that caution, but (absent new evidence) there may be no avoiding arrests in the case since at least two people were sent to the hospital and violence was involved in the alleged crimes.
Here is the police report: Brown Family police report
My IPad thanks everyone for their concern. She’s having a problem getting disconnected from the server. We are going to the Apple Hospital to see if she can be fixed. This happens in Twitter, my mail, so all of you aren’t singled out.
Ferguson home values have dropped significantly. Everyone still there should take advantage of Obama’s recent Executive Order. Have your home appraised. If it is worth less than you paid for it, the sweet Federal Government (taxpayers) will step in and do something to help you. I didn’t read the details for health purposes.
Two shots hitting police officers were “meant for someone else and missed.” Creative way to say not my fault.
For $50 and a good dinner, protestors will fill the busses to Ferguson as long as Soros and Company pick up the tab.
Michelle is having a State Dinner to celebrate some special Muslim day that “is woven into our Constitution.” I browsed the Constitution and didn’t find the weave with Muslim special days. If anyone is familiar with that, let me know.
The Good Wife is doing its bit to help Obama. Actually discussing current issues. Constantly.
Madam Secretary is carrying the weight by visiting, secretly, Iran to meet with the good guys (who are they?) and stop a coup from the bad guys.
Blue Bloods is trying desperately to bring an education to viewers of law and order. Protecting citizens following the rules. A toughie for Hollywood, but someone can do it.
The movie of Hillary chaining herself to Bill’s server is in progress. Suggested casting: Jane Fonda as Hillary (she played Nancy Reagan, so has the First Lady part well in hand), Bill is a tougher one. Maybe the President from House of Cards since he has the President’s role mastered. Various members of the media will be played by ugly people as Fox reporters. And so many beautiful people as every other type media. The great thing about this movie is you can film as it happens, like A Boy’s Life.
Valerie Jarrett could have a cameo role. So should George Clooney. Of course, all rappers with cop killing in their number #1 songs.
Hillary was inducted to the Irish Hall of Fame today. At first I thought I heard Ireland had abducted Hillary, but no. I’ve never heard of presenting a country’s award in an NYC restaurant. But this is the Clinton’s and we must get used to it, again. Is a Hillary Irish? What did she do to be honored? Or was the bonus offered by The Clinton Foundation, via the Chinese donations?
Help from Obama election gurus, paid with our money, for the opposition to Bibi. Wasn’t that why he wasn’t asked for coffee at the White House? Obama didn’t want to influence the Israeli elections. But $350,000 in campaign support for the opposition was deemed not inflencive. If Bibi loses there won’t be many countries in the Middle East opposing ISIS. Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE?, Abu Dahbi?
Maybe Obama should get another peace prize for bringing the Middle East together? A lot of Jews are leaving Israel. Wouldn’t you? Jews are creative, innovate, prosper wherever they go, which helps everyone in their new area. I think we should bring them here. They could teach Americans how to work yourself up from nothing.
Does anyone know where Bob Beckel is? He isn’t even mentioned anymore. His picture is still with the gang on The Five home page. Someone please tell ?me
If there anything I’ve been mentioned here not responded, please let me know.
Here are the other two links:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2005/11/07/BL2005110700793.html
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/10/six-memorable-quotes-from-former-vp-dick-cheney/
Because WordPress permits only two links per post, I’m providing these two links to document quotations in my last post, the response to Inga.
I think it will be pretty obvious which links go with which quotations:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2005/11/07/BL2005110700793.html
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/10/six-memorable-quotes-from-former-vp-dick-cheney/
I’ll provide the remaining two links in a separate post immediately following this one.
Darren,
Immediately after I hit the “Post” button, I realized I had too many links in my next-to-last post, so I went back and removed all but two and re-posted it.
I thought I’d post the other links, two at a time, in separate posts. Is that the best way to handle the extra links?
Ken
on 1, March 16, 2015 at 12:10 am Ken Rogers
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
@Inga (Annie)
“Nor I Ken. The “we” I refer to is our government. We are the government, no? Didn’t we vote for those who authorized torture? Well technically I guess some of us didn’t vote for Bush, but we are all still Americans so we share the blame, don’t we? Or are we not our brother’s keeper? German people shared the blame for Hitler and still carry that guilt.”
If even someone as close to you as your biological brother was a serial killer, and you knew it, but you had no influence, let alone control over him, even though you’d made known to him how horrible you thought his behavior was, would you share the blame for his actions? Would you feel guilty?
No, we aren’t the government, unless we work for it and participate in its decisions. I have never been consulted by the Congress, the White House, the Pentagon, the CIA or any other federal government agency, nor do I have any effective means of influencing their behavior.
Insofar as voting is concerned, I see that clearly as merely lending an ersatz legitimacy to the behavior of the USG, which is going to do what is in the political and economic interests of its most powerful members, who couldn’t care less what you or I think or feel.
Millions of people on seven continents demonstrated visibly and vocally against the invasion of Iraq, including large-scale demonstrations in the US:
“According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war.[1]”
“In the United States, even though pro-war demonstrators have been quoted as referring to anti-war protests as a ‘vocal minority’,[4] Gallup Polls updated September 14, 2007 state, ‘Since the summer of 2005, opponents of the war have tended to outnumber supporters. A majority of Americans believe the war was a mistake.’ “[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_the_Iraq_War
When, in 2005, he was asked about the polls showing that two thirds of the American people opposed the Iraq War (actually an invasion and occupation, rather than a war), Vice President (effectively the President?), Cheney responded, “So?”
“This morning, on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, ABC’s “Good Morning America” aired an interview with Vice President Cheney on the war. During the segment, Cheney flatly told White House correspondent Martha Raddatz that he doesn’t care about the American public’s views on the war:
CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.
RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.
CHENEY: So?
RADDATZ: So? You don’t care what the American people think?
CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.”
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2008/03/19/20558/cheney-poll-iraq/
There you have it in a nutshell. This is the same front-and-center member of the Military-Industrial Complex (VP of US and CEO of Halliburton) who said:
” ‘We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side, if you will. We’ve got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we’re going to be successful. That’s the world these folks operate in, and so it’s going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective.’
“Arguments against torture — along both moral and pragmatic lines, from both Democrats and Republicans, and even from inside the White House — have not dissuaded the vice president. Indeed, he got some apparent support today from President Bush, who had this exchange with a reporter in Panama. From the transcript :
“Q ‘Mr. President, there has been a bit of an international outcry over reports of secret U.S. prisons in Europe for terrorism suspects. Will you let the Red Cross have access to them? And do you agree with Vice President Cheney that the CIA should be exempt from legislation to ban torture?’
“PRESIDENT BUSH: Our country is at war, and our government has the obligation to protect the American people. The executive branch has the obligation to protect the American people; the legislative branch has the obligation to protect the American people. And we are aggressively doing that. We are finding terrorists and bringing them to justice. We are gathering information about where the terrorists may be hiding. We are trying to disrupt their plots and plans. Anything we do to that effort, to that end, in this effort, any activity we conduct, is within the law. We do not torture.”
“ ‘I was a big supporter of waterboarding,’ Cheney told ABC’s Jonathan Karl in 2010 in response to a question about battles won and lost within the Bush administration’s second term. ‘I was a big supporter of the enhanced interrogation techniques that…’ ‘And you opposed the administration’s actions of doing away with waterboarding?’ Karl asked. ‘Yes,’ Cheney replied.”
So, no, even though I experience myself as part of the body of humanity, I don’t, as an individual, feel guilty about the behavior of people on whom I’ve had no influence whatsoever, let alone control over, namely, the self-enriching geo-political power players of the US Military-Industrial Complex, with their policies of secret and indefinite detention and torture and their invasions and occupations of two countries, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of our fellow human beings, and the maiming and displacing from their homes of hundreds of thousands more.
I’m always on an iPad, there’s no reason Sandi can’t see your link.
Paul, no kidding. I was referring Al Queda in Iraq.
Inga –
al qaeda begins end of 1988 or 1989 in Afghanistan.
Nor I Ken. The “we” I refer to is our government. We are the government, no? Didn’t we vote for those who authorized torture? Well technically I guess some of us didn’t vote for Bush, but we are all still Americans so we share the blame, don’t we? Or are we not our brother’s keeper? German people shared the blame for Hitler and still carry that guilt.
Inga – I didn’t vote for Obama, I share none of the blame. I have sent emails that he does not respond to and I send emails and phone calls to my Congressmen. I do not believe in collective guilt. Did not believe in it for the Germans, do not believe in it now.
@Inga
In my last post, I didn’t explicitly distinguish between the moral culpability and guilt of those who *oppose* “their” government’s aggressive wars and other barbaric policies, and those who *approve* of them.
The supporters of and apologists for the Bush/Cheney/Obama policies of crimes against humanity*, including, but not limited to, the Iraqi and Afghan people, *are* responsible for and guilty of those crimes, to one degree or another, depending on their actions.
The war propaganda of Fox News, The New York Times, and most of the rest of the corporate media* in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq affords a very good example of such culpability, as does the cheerleading for war on the parts of private citizens.
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then malevolent intentions pave with gold the time-saving shortcut.
*”Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, ‘are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of human beings.'[1] They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy) or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority. Murder; massacres; dehumanization; extermination; human experimentation; extrajudicial punishments; military use of children; kidnappings; unjust imprisonment; slavery; cannibalism, torture; rape; political, racial, or religious persecution; and other inhumane acts reach the threshold of crimes against humanity only if they are part of a widespread or systematic practice. Isolated inhumane acts of this nature may instead constitute grave infringements of human rights, or – depending on the circumstances – war crimes, but are not classified as crimes against humanity.[2]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimes_against_humanity
** The McClatchy newspapers were, as I recall, virtually the only honorable exception.
Eric is going to have a field day with you. 😀
@ Herr Schulte
Why do you say that, Herr Sargeant Schulte? Do you think I said something *verboten*?
Ken, for some reason I can’t get connected on your suggested views. I’m on my IPad, which often has that problem.
Ferguson is not the rest of the United States. Lots of us out here get along just fine. All colors. If Ferguson could close the streets at dusk where would the protestors go? I hear (rumor) protestors are paid $50 and get a good meal prior to taking a bus to Ferguson. $250/5-day week, no taxes, five good meals. I wonder if that will be the rate for a bus to vote? Probably better.
Sandi – George Soros spent $33 million supporting Ferguson protesters. I am not sure if that included incendiaries.
@Sandi Hemming
“Ken, for some reason I can’t get connected on your suggested views. I’m on my IPad, which often has that problem.”
I don’t have an IPad, Sandi, so I don’t know if there’s a work-around, or not.
Maybe someone else here with IPad experience can offer a suggestion.
@Sandi Hemming
“Ken Rogers, $80 Million to develop torture techniques? I watched the man who was promised his name would never be released, and I never heard $80 Million. Anyway, come the Democrats and a promise from gov’t is dishonored. What a great bunch of people.”
Yes, the intrepid psycho-logy duo had actually obtained from the CIA a contract for $180,000,000, but those duplicitous Democrats and their goofy Senate Oversight Report on the CIA’s torture program scotched the deal, and the poor outed torture-patriots had to settle for only $80 million. I can understand why you might want to take up a collection for them:
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/27498-the-palaces-that-torture-built
Inga was certainly mistaken if she said that you “don’t care about torture,”
as you obviously care about it a *lot*:
“Wrong, I accept the necessity [of torture].
“These people are animals, vermin.”
What goes around [torture], comes around.
“Which is the point of duress to get information. It’s (sic) use has gotten information that saved innocent lives (sic), and that’s fine by me.”
“I hope other countries have captured ISIS forces and tortured them.”
Your post has certainly reinforced my interest in learning more about the authoritarian mindset, Sandi, and I’ll be posting about it primarily, but not exclusively, based on the 30 years’ of research of social psychologist Dr. Bob Altemeyer, who writes, “In my day, authoritarian fascist and authoritarian communist dictatorships posed the biggest threats to democracies, and eventually lost to them in wars both hot and cold. But authoritarianism itself has not disappeared, and I’m going to present the case in this book that the greatest threat to American democracy today arises from a militant authoritarianism that has become a cancer upon the nation.”
http://members.shaw.ca/jeanaltemeyer/drbob/TheAuthoritarians.pdf
As far as I know we never tortured any ISIS members. They didn’t exist until after Al Queda, Al Queda didn’t exist until we left a vacuum in Iraq. No I don’t think cutting anyone’s head off is nice and yes indeed what goes around comes around, that includes torture. Think of what they would do to our service members of captured after we tortured them, sometimes innocent people who were snatched off the streets of Afghnistan because someone didn’t like them and said they were Al Queda. Torture sets a precedent, a bad, dangerous precedent.
Inga – al-Quida started end of 1988 early 1989 in Afghanistan.
@Inga (Annie)
“As far as I know we never tortured any ISIS members.”
I don’t know who you mean by “we,” but I can assure that I haven’t tortured any ISIS members nor anyone else, nor do I intend to.
The Author of the Universe has admonished us thusly: “And the King shall answer and say unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. As you do unto the least of one of these, you do unto me.” (Matthew 25:40, KJV)
That certainly seems like something to bear clearly in mind should we find ourselves contemplating the “necessity” of torturing a fellow human being, created by Him, and in whom He indwells.
Two items related to Ferguson, the first a press conference after the arrest of a suspect in the shooting of the two police officers, the second a clip from The Daily Show regarding the diminishing problem of racism in America:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/suspect-arrested-in-connection-with-ferguson-cop-shooting/
http://www.mstarz.com/articles/57515/20150312/daily-show-jon-stewart-slams-university-oklahoma-sae-fraternity-nsfw-racist-chant-video-football-linebacker-eric-striker-apology.htm
mespo, you state I am illiterate. I am not.
Inga, you state I don’t care about torture. Wrong, I accept the necessity. Do you think cutting someone’s head off, sawing with a knife, taking seven minutes, is not torture? These people are animals, vermin. Cutting the head off of a four-year-old little girl! while she screams isn’t torture? What goes around, comes around.
According to our military, who have to go through this to be considered for special groups, it isn’t fun. Which is the point of duress to get information. It’s use has gotten information that saved innocent lives, and that’s fine by me. Here’s an option. Don’t go around cutting off heads, lighting people on fire, killing innocents, destroying man’s history and it will not happen. I hope other countries have captured ISIS forces and tortured them.
Ken Rogers, $80 Million to develop torture techniques? I watched the man who was promised his name would never be released, and I never heard $80 Million. Anyway, come the Democrats and a promise from gov’t is dishonored. What a great bunch of people.
Three people waterboarded, almost ten years ago, and you still talk about it! How about billions to “jump start” the economy? Instead they went bankrupt! Or millions developing a website, for a year, that didn’t work? Let’s talk about that.
Are all three of you buying Hillary’s “I didn’t want to handle two devices at a time” answer? People hearing that while using their phones with 8 sites on it burst out laughing! Obama had a Blackberry and everybody was so happy. A techy for President! Well, she isn’t. Most people who vote are.
Back on hiatus.
Poor dead horse.😢
Yeah. Have a little mercy, please.
If the horse is dead what difference does it make.
@Inga
“If the horse is dead what difference does it make.”
See what I mean? It’s like being in a battle of wits with an unarmed man.
Kenny – stole that from Hillary.
@Pauly Schulte
“Kenny – stole that from Hillary.”
It’s not nice to make fun of the handicapped.
Kenny – you or Hillary?
@Inga
“Take out the plank in your eye Paul. And try to stop being such a know it all, because you don’t know it all, far from it.”
May I respectfully suggest that you consider the possibility that you’re both belaboring the obvious and beating a dead horse? 🙂
Would you want Paul telling you when you have hypothermia?
Inga – I do not pretend to have medical expertise.
First look up the definition of medical diagnosing. Secondly, you do claim to have educational expertise, yet you claimed any state resident could get into UW Madison, lol. Take out the plank in your eye Paul. And try to stop being such a know it all, because you don’t know it all, far from it.
Inga – stop diagnosing without a licence. BTW, you need new material.
Inga:
“… BTW per Paul, rectal feeding is therapeutic.”
*****************
Paul’s medical pronouncements are second only to Pogo’s in my mind.
Mespo – both you and Inga have diagnosed without a license on here in the last couple of days. I wouldn’t get too uppity. Besides, in all honesty, would you want Inga prescribing drugs for you?
Mespo and Ken, Sandi doesn’t mind when our proud patriots do it though. A little blood and rectal feeding torture for good of the nation! It will keep us safe. If only you watched Fox News and that very “patriotic” psychologist that developed the torture program for Bush….then you would be on Sandi’s good side and Paul’s. They both loved the idea of torture as a patriotic duty and BTW per Paul, rectal feeding is therapeutic.
@Inga
“If only you watched Fox News and that very ‘patriotic’ psychologist that developed the torture program for Bush…”
As somebody pointed out, the CIA paid Mitchell and Jesser $80,000,000 for sadomasochistic techniques that the CIA could have gotten from any Egyptian cop for 100 bucks. I guess when you pay 80 mil for torture instruction though, it just seems, I don’t know, *classier*.
The point of the torture was, of course, to elicit false confessions, inasmuch as everybody with any claim to sentience knows that people will say anything to stop being tortured. The government’s official conspiracy theory regarding 9/11 needed some serious buttressing with false confessions, because as a stand-alone conspiracy theory, it made a real nice fairy tale for children.
Enter Mitchell and Jesser: “You need some false confessions? Hey, we can help with that___we’re psycho-logists. And it’ll only cost you 80 million bucks!”
Well, as you can imagine, the CIA was all over that offer before M&J could change their minds and raise the price. And the rest, as they say, is history.
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/27498-the-palaces-that-torture-built
@Herr General Schulte
“Ken Rogers – for those of us that read a lot, we know that either marihuana or marijuana is correct.”
You really are a trip, PC. Are you sure that kid in Inga’s video doesn’t know you from somewhere?
You see, I was alluding to the fact that Sandi probably spells it with a “j”, and I was suggesting to mespo that he could solidify his safer standing with Sandi by spelling it her way.
“Normally, I would not be the spelling Nazi, but you have been correcting my stuff so I thought you would appreciate extending your education.”
Really? Really?? Normally you wouldn’t be the spelling Nazi?? You really are good for some laughs, I’ll give you that. I don’t know of *anyone* who’s more perfectly suited for or likely to be more comfortable in that role than you, Herr General, unless because it’s too narrow an application of your Prussian skill set.
Carry on, Herr General, carry on.
Ken:
To stay in Sandi’s good (if illiterate) graces I am formally advocating torturing marihuana users. Whew that was close … Sandi not liking me. A little blood and guts gets her everyyime.
I think it was Sun T’su or his cousin who said, “It good thing to know your adversary”, and I’m glad to see you prudently applying your knowledge.
Now if you’ll just start spelling marijuana with a “j”, you should be OK for the time being.
Ken Rogers – for those of us that read a lot, we know that either marihuana or marijuana is correct.
Normally, I would not be the spelling Nazi, but you have been correcting my stuff so I thought you would appreciate extending your education.
Ken Rogers
I hope you are joking