And now a word from Sigmund......

Things are Seldom What They Seem to be on the Surface.

by Robert Janicki 

The investigation into the homicide of Michael Brown at the hands of a
Ferguson, Missouri police officer is still undergoing collection of
evidence as we see and hear in the endless news cycles.  Anyone who
claims to know beyond a reasonable doubt what transpired on that
Saturday afternoon on August 9th, simply doesn't know what they are
talking about at this point in time.

The forensic evidence will be far more telling in the final determination of the propriety or lack thereof, of the behavior of the  police officer.  As each day goes bywe seem to be finding out more evidence of what might have happened on that fateful day. 

The best evidence in this investigation will be gathered by professional investigators, lab technicians and especially from the autopsy of Michael Brown. Forensic evidence isdispassionate.  It takes no sides.  It does not act upon emotion.  It is what it is.

We live in a country based upon the rule of law.  That's the
foundation of a constitutional republic.  The rule of law and its
application is meant to remove the emotion of the moment and to seek
justice in a calm, rational and dispassionate manner, free of the
heightened and raw emotion of the lynch mob.

And yet, we see Ferguson, filled with a lynch mob mentality.  They
want a police officer immediately arrested and convicted of what they
perceive as the crime of murder against a helpless 18 year old
teenager characterized as a "gentle giant" at 6'4" inches tall and 290
lbs.  Guilty until proven innocent is the watch word of the vigilante
mob mentality.   

By all reports to date, and these are preliminary and very sketchy at
best, there is contradictory evidence of whether the officer was aware
or unaware of the convenience store robbery involving Michael Brown.
 
There is much more here than has been reported to date.  It will take
time for the investigation to uncover all the missing data points to
connect the facts and from which to make a determination of whether a
crime has been committed or not or to what extent and circumstances
Micael Brown may have been responsible for contributing to his own
death.

Until all evidence is in we, and the lynch mob, have no idea of what
happened, other than from what Brown's companion, complicit in the
convenience store robbery, tells the media what happened.All eyewitness testimony is subject to scrutiny by considering the source of the testimony and their relationship to the individuals involved in the case.

Until the investigation is completed by the various parallel law
enforcement agencies investigating this homicide, community leaders in
Ferguson need to step up and take control of the narrative being
advanced by the protesters and redirect it to an understanding that
the rule of law must be followed through to its natural conclusion,
what ever that might be.  Any narrative less than this will only
contribute to the destruction of the social fabric that keeps us above
the rule by lynch mob.

A Good Monday Morning

2000th POST!

Sharpton's Alternative Universe

Huffington Poo Journalist Tweets His Stupidity

Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based journalist reporter who writes for the Huffington Poo and usually covers topics related to The Justice Department and the Supreme Court stepped outside his normal area of expertise, taking to the mean streets of Ferguson early Sunday morning to report on the conditions of the city after the first midnight curfew was imposed by Gov. Jay Nixon.

Upon stumbling across what he thought was a “rubber bullet,” he posted a picture on Twitter in order to get clarification from his followers:

I believe these are rubber bullets, can anyone confirm? #Fergurson pic.twitter.com/iCsFi6qoIa
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 17, 2014

Reilly then received immediate outpouring feedback from his fans on Twitter:

I hereby dub thee @RyanJReilly with the nickname "EarPlugs" RT @emmdee22: @SooperMexican He was serious. That's as good as it gets.
— el Sooper (@SooperMexican) August 17, 2014

@Ironghazi @ryanjreilly THE POLICE ARE SHOOTING EARPLUGS?!
— Busted Keystrokes (@bstdkeystrokes) August 17, 2014

@ryanjreilly Ear plugs???? That's great journalism
— Orlando (@oclozano2) August 17, 2014

Reilly made headlines on Wednesday after being one of the journalists reporters arrested by Ferguson police at a McDonald’s after he refused to stop recording as a SWAT team descended upon the restaurant. Now it appears as though he has another story to make him famous.

(h/t Mad World)

The Drunken Rose of Texas

# IStumbleWithRosemaryLehmberg

Texas Democrats Out to Gain Revenge

by Robert Janicki

Governor Rick Perry (R) is the longest serving governor in Texas state history and has been governor of Texas since 2000.  To say Perry is a major thorn in the side of Texas Democrats is an understatement.  Republicans hold all statewide elective offices and Democrats are desperate to gain a foothold to begin to turn the state Democrat.  Apparently any attempt to smear and denigrate a Republican holding statewide office is fair game for the Democrats and it's probably an added bonus to see Perry's presidential ambitions thrashed with a lawsuit against him.

On to the Democrat's current effort to smear Governor Perry.

"A grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday for allegedly abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto funding for state prosecutors investigating public corruption - making the possible 2016 presidential hopeful his state's first indicted governor in nearly a century.

A special prosecutor spent months calling witnesses and presenting evidence that Perry broke the law when he promised publicly to nix $7.5 million over two years for the public integrity unit run by the office of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. Lehmberg, a Democrat, was convicted of drunken driving, but refused Perry's calls to resign." 

It's said that a Grand Jury could indict a ham sandwich, since the legal threshold to do so is lower than a snake's belly.  A DA will often take a case to the Grand Jury when the DA has a very weak case, since the level necessary to indict by a Grand Jury is far less than even the threshold of probable cause required of a DA.

One has to ask why the subject DA's office in Austin, the state capital, chose not to indict under their own legal authority and discretion.  The DA did not use his office to take the case to a Grand Jury.  Instead, the DA appointed a Special Prosecutor from San Antonio to do the dirty work, quite possibly to avoid direct blowback from any adverse results from what some say is a pure political game of "Gotcha".  Pretty clever.

"Though the Republican governor now faces two felony indictments, politics dominates the case. Lehmberg is based in Austin, which is heavily Democratic, in contrast to most of the rest of fiercely conservative Texas. The grand jury was comprised of Austin-area residents." 

This is a political issue masked as a legal issue, since the governor has the legal authority to veto any legislation put before him for his signature and enactment into law.  Courts are very hesitant to become involved in such political issues.  I suspect that Democrats will enjoy their effort to smear Perry.  I'm just not certain that it will lead to any conviction of Perry and could easily backfire on Texas Democrats.

Read the full account of the investigation, indictment and charges against Perry and draw your own conclusions as to the merits of the case HERE