Justice

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An unusual request for help at the UN

  “In a summer marked by instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I know the world also took notice of the small American city of Ferguson, Missouri – where a young man was killed, and a community was divided.”

Unbelievably, those were the words of President Obama as he brought to a close his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday intended to seek support for the war against – my words – Islamic extremists.

“So yes, we have our own racial tensions,” he went on to say, “And like every country, we have our racial and ethnic tensions.”

Can you believe it? Comparing the Ferguson shooting to the beheading and mass killings by ISIL, al Qaeda and other Islamist extremist spin-offs?

Courtesy elektroka

(Poster courtesy elektroka)

Nine paragraphs into his speech, he finally gets to the point. “There is much to be done to meet the tests of this moment. But today I’d like to focus on two defining questions at the root of many our challenges – whether the nations here today will be able to renew the purpose of the UN’s founding (he’s dreaming); and whether we will come together to reject the cancer of extremism (not likely).”  He left them with this less than memorable quote, “For America, the choice is clear.  We choose hope over fear.”  “Hope,” where have we heard that before?

We are facing the most barbaric, evil terrorists we could have imagined, and our president is talking “hope?”

I was also taken aback by an earlier statement in his speech. “I have made it clear that America will not base our entire foreign policy on reacting to terrorism. Rather, we have waged a focused campaign against al Qaeda and its associated forces – taking out their leaders, and denying them the safe havens they rely upon.”  Then he said, “At the same time, we have reaffirmed that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam.  Islam teaches peace.  Muslims the world over aspire to live with dignity and a sense of justice.  And when it comes to America and Islam, there is no us and them – there is only us, because millions of Muslim Americans are part of the fabric of our country.”  Really, Mr. President?  How do you think Americans would respond to a poll on that? Continue reading →

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Voter apathy backfires on blacks in Ferguson

McCulloch (stlouscopa.com)

Robert P. McCulloch has been asked to recuse himself should the killing of Michael Brown go to trial. He has won four terms as prosecuting attorney. (stlouscopa.com)

Perhaps you’ve heard that supporters in Michael Brown’s defense in Ferguson want County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch to recuse himself should the grand jury order a trial.

What’s the problem?  Ferguson is 67 per cent black and McCulloch easily won election four times, including a primary victory with 71 percent of the vote over his black opponent on Aug. 5, 2014.  There apparently wasn’t an effort to replace him. The problem is blacks do not register and vote.

While turnout by race is not collected in municipal elections there, just 12.3 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.  And, as a rule a low turnout favors white conservatives.

Leslie Broadnax, who was defeated by McCulloch, believes there is a “huge distrust in the system,” adding that “(voting) is not going to matter anyway, so my one vote doesn’t count.”

Leslie Broadnax (stlamerican.com)

Leslie Broadnax was defeated by Robert McCulloch by a 30-point margin in the Aug. 5, 2014 Democrat primary. (stlamerican.com)

“Well, if you get an entire community to individually feel that way,” she said, “collectively we’ve already lost.”

A caring black community in Ferguson could have easily defeated McCulloch, if they didn’t approve of the job he was doing, and put Broadnax in office.

“Voter apathy is very typical of the communities,” said David Kimball, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, who has studied the pattern of non-voting blacks in the inner-ring suburbs around St. Louis.  I’m surprised Attorney General Eric Holder hasn’t charged Republicans with voter suppression. Continue reading →

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Missouri Gov. Nixon’s rush to judgment

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has called for the “vigorous prosecution” of the white police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, an 18-year old black man. This comes just days after he made shameful comments about the Ferguson police on NBC’s Meet the Press, Aug. 17, 2014, reported in my post, “He didn’t bother nobody.”

The governor’s press representative claimed that the governor was not prejudging the police officer, who may have acted in self-defense.  Yet, in the governor’s scripted message, he called for the need to achieve justice for the family of the slain man, while referring to the shooting as having taken place in broad daylight; the last description newsmen say is normally used for criminal investigations.  So much for the presumption of innocence.

Nixon’s aggressive posture leads one to believe he is currying favor with those seeking the arrest of the police officer.  It comes as a grand jury is about to meet to consider the incident.  Democrats running for office in the Republican-leaning Missouri need the support of black voters to get elected.

Pressure is also on another Democrat, Bob McCulloch, St. Louis County prosecutor.  Those seeking justice for Brown are concerned that McCulloch comes from a police family.  His father was killed 50 years ago in the line of duty by a black suspect.  State and local Democrat Party members want him to step aside. Continue reading →

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“He didn’t bother nobody.”

After a school shooting, how often did we hear, “he was a good boy, never in trouble,” or “he would always wave to me as I passed, really a friendly guy.”

Remember the description of the Boston bomber Tsarnaev brothers as “regular guys?”  A teacher who lived on the same street said, I knew him (Dzhokhar) as nothing but sociable, compassionate, friendly, athletic, just a friendly kid.”

Fast forward to this past week in Ferguson, MO and the killing of 18-year old Michael Brown.  “My son just turned 18 and graduated from high school and he didn’t bother nobody,” his mother, Leslie McSpadden told CNN.

He wasn’t armed, yet he lay dead in the street after an altercation with a police officer, who was armed.  Call me cynic, but when I heard Brown was 6’ 4 “ and 290 pounds and that he allegedly pushed the officer into his vehicle and tried to get the officer’s gun, I wasn’t buying “he didn’t bother nobody.” Continue reading →

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Obama has full confidence in lying CIA director

When the shoe is on their foot, Democrats want you to look the other way and pretend it didn’t happen.

Take the case of CIA spying on the Senate.  “As far as the allegations of CIA hacking into Senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth,” said CIA Director John Brennan, appearing before the Council on Foreign Relations on March 11, 2014.… read more

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Obama’s dream world

“We have come a long way over the past five and a half years.  Our challenges are nowhere near as daunting as they were when I first came into office.” – President Obama, Aug. 1, 2014

I came up out of my chair when I heard the president say that during his pre-vacation press conference on Friday, but there wasn’t a sound out of the dutiful press corps in the audience.

Really Mr. President?

Obama aug 1 2014 press conf (voanews.com)

President Obama told the press that “challenges are nowhere near as daunting” as when he came into office during his Friday press conference. (voanews.com photo)

Let’s look at the economy.  You said, “The good news is the economy clearly is getting stronger.  Things are getting better.”  And you claim “we’ve recovered faster and come farther from the recession than almost any other advanced country on Earth.”  Wrong.  We are mired in the slowest recovery ever!

What about the four per cent drop in real median household income under your watch, Mr. President?  And how about those 11 million workers who quit looking for work … the 11 million who went on food stamps … the increases in prices (food, gasoline and electricity)?  Growth is sluggish.

No, Mr. President, the economy is not looking up.  The national debt continues to climb and seniors have learned that Social Security will go broke in 2030, seven years sooner than when you took office. Continue reading →

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You can’t make this stuff up

Newly found e-mails reveal Lois Lerner’s hostility toward conservatives

“So we don’t need to worry about alien terrorists.  It’s our own crazies (Republicans) that will take us down, “wrote Lois Lerner to a friend on Nov. 9, 2012.

“And I’m talking about the hosts of these shows.  The callers are rabid,” her friend responded.

Lois Lerner

Newly found e-mails reveal Lois Lerner’s hostility toward conservatives.

“Great.  Maybe we are through if there are that many (A) holes,” wrote Lerner.

“Well, you should hear the whacko wing of the GOP.  The US is through; too many foreigners suck the teat; time to hunker down, buy ammo and food for the end.  The right wing radio shows are scary to listen to,”  her friend continued.

Though seemingly trivial in nature, this e-mail exchange released Wednesday by the House Ways and Means Committee clearly reveals Lerner’s feelings toward conservative groups and singling them out for extra scrutiny.

“Lois Lerner’s exposed emails show the world she was and is a political hack driven by her own partisan agenda rather than a neutral public servant,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

“This email shows that Ms Lerner’s mistreatment of conservative groups was driven by her personal hostility toward conservatives,” wrote Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder as additional input for a criminal referral.

And let’s not forget this infamous quote on the IRS scandal:

“Not even a smidgeon of corruption,” President Obama, Feb. 2, 2014 Continue reading →

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Voter ID should be slam dunk

Voter ID.  What makes this common sense requirement so controversial?

I’ve written a number of pieces on this subject over the past few years, but a copy of an article of unknown origin, Ever wonder why Republicans want voter ID?, sent to me by a reader spurred me to again address the subject.

The article cites voting irregularities in Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio that any reasonable person should question.  Is it possible that not one person in Wood County, Ohio’s 21 districts voted for Mitt Romney?  And, how is that 106, 258 votes were cast in that county where there were only 98,213 eligible voters?  There were other examples cited as well.

While the Republicans want to attack the fraud in voting, Democrats call it voter suppression. Continue reading →

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Suing the president has merit

“Their big idea has been to sue me,” mocked President Obama during a recent McLean, VA appearance, “That’s what they’re spending time on – a political stunt that wastes America’s time and taxpayer dollars.”

As expected, most of the media have been pooh poohing House Speaker John Boehner’s lawsuit.  Many of them are the same insiders who ridiculed the case brought against the president over the recess appointments, which to their surprise, was unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court.… read more