Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Republicans in disarray!

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tuesday Evening Open Thread

Tuesday Evening Open Thread

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In an ever-changing world, you can always count on the Breitbrats to stay fiercely wedded to their founders’ vision.

Maybe it can be turned into a meme — Register and vote, because it pisses off all the “right” people!

***********
Apart from the ongoing decline of the empire, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

172Comments

  2. 2.

    aimai

    Thank god they are doing this. I have been praying that people would begin to register people to vote and turn this around.

  3. 3.

    jimmiraybob

    Oh my goodly didliness! Arming the populous with democracy. That is disgusting. And just miles from my survival bunker.

  8. 8.

    Tone In DC

    Apparently ISIS just beheaded an American photojournalist and has threatened a freelancer for TIME is next ….

    I know Ferguson MO is important but goddamn is there a reason we can’t cover more than one story at a time in this country?

    Multitasking is a good thing. I figure most of us here can follow more than one storyline at a time.

    As for ISIS, whocouldaknowed that destroying a secular 2003 Iraq, filled with three or more factions that can’t stand each other, might lead to Islamic fundamentalists trying to fill the power vacuum?

  10. 10.

    kindness

    Corrected version:

    Missouri Republican Party executive director says voter registration for blacks is “disgusting.”

  13. 13.

    SpotWeld

    When a conservative wants to annoy a liberal, they outfit their truck with a device that smokes the nearby cars (also turning them into a rolling safety hazard).

    When a liberal wants to annoy a conservative, they register an under representative member of the population?

  15. 15.

    Patrick

    @Tone In DC:

    As for ISIS, whocouldaknowed that destroying a secular 2003 Iraq, filled with three or more factions that can’t stand each other, might lead to Islamic fundamentalists trying to fill the power vacuum?

    Most of the world did, except for 2/3 of the American people and its leaders.

  18. 18.

    scav

    So the messages today so far have basically been: “Shut up and do what the cops say. They’re the authorities.” “Stop rioting about it, It’s an inappropriate response.” “Don’t you dare register to vote. It’s a disgusting politicizing response.”

    as always, outreach.
    The non-politicizing tough on crime election ad visuals will be fascinating.

  19. 19.

    Patrick

    So Mr Wills from the GOP think it is disgusting that people are registering to vote. Does he instead prefer them to be looting?

    Furthermore, what could be more American than registering to vote? Isn’t that the very reason we fought the British (taxation without representation and all that)?

  22. 22.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Furthermore, what could be more American than registering to vote? Isn’t that the very reason we fought the British (taxation without representation and all that)?

    @Patrick: THOSE PEOPLE don’t pay taxes, therefore they don’t deserve representation. Mitt Romney told me so.

  23. 23.

    celcus

    They’re standing up for the Constitution…they are only 3/5 of a real person and really shouldn’t be voting as if they were.

  26. 26.

    kc

    The last thing we need in the wake of tragedy is people exercising their right to vote. SHAMEFUL.

  29. 29.

    lamh36

    what say the lawyers…

    @MarkJZinn
    #Ferguson office Darren Wilson will be given the opportunity to testify in front of the grand jury. (via @ABC)

  30. 30.

    Steeplejack

    @shortstop:

    Saw that earlier and didn’t have the stomach to get through the whole piece. Ugh.

    I’ve been lagging on staying current with the threads, and I wanted to say that I was sorry to hear about the third baseman’s health problems (and the others in the family). My healing thoughts to you and yours.

  32. 32.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Get a load of this douchebag.

    @shortstop: Jesus. Officer TinyDick makes a point, but it’s not the one he thinks he’s making.

    Police State America is here and looking forward to putting a boot on your face. Forever.

  33. 33.

    kc

    @shortstop:

    Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you

    Fuck that shit.

  35. 35.

    srv

    Of the two dozen states that rejected the Medicaid expansion, Florida will lose out on the most federal health care money for the poor, according to two nonprofit policy research groups that support the Affordable Care Act.

    A joint report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute projects that, over the next 10 years, the state will leave $66.1 billion in Medicaid funding on the table by not approving the expansion included in the Affordable Care Act to cover individuals with income up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

    That will mean more than 1 million uninsured state residents will not qualify for healthcare coverage, the report said.

    Over the next decade, Florida’s hospitals will miss out on $22.6 billion in federal reimbursements, the report projected. During that 10-year time span, a combined $423.6 billion in federal monies will not flow to the two dozen states that declined the expansion.

    For individual states, Texas was second to Florida at $65.6 billion.

    So won’t these states become more habitable sooner if all the olds die quicker?

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @shortstop: @kc: I wonder what his superiors at the LAPD, and in the mayor’s office, think of this helpful addition to our national dialogue.

  37. 37.

    Hal

    @shortstop: Wow.

    Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you. Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t stop you, don’t say I’m a racist pig, don’t threaten that you’ll sue me and take away my badge. Don’t scream at me that you pay my salary, and don’t even think of aggressively walking towards me. Most field stops are complete in minutes. How difficult is it to cooperate for that long?

    The LAPD is one of the worst police departments in the country, all sorts of racial profiling and police brutality complaints, but hey; just cooperate and everything will be fine, ok? Dutta says nothing about probable cause, nothing about basic rights. He seems to think the police are over lords and can do whatever they want.

  38. 38.

    Mnemosyne

    @kc:

    Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you.

    And if you’re mentally ill, or in diabetic shock, or have a head injury from a car accident and can’t obey my orders, well, have a nice funeral.

  44. 44.

    JPL

    @lamh36: Will he testify before or after they show the video of the convenience store. I don’t know if that is common or not but I did read the prosecutor didn’t have to show the video.

  45. 45.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Hal: No. If you actually read the piece, he says that if your rights have been violated, you should sue afterward but not challenge the cop during the field stop. That’s a position people can disagree with, but be honest about his position.

  46. 46.

    max

    Register and vote, because it pisses off all the “right” people!

    Good. I think, “Get back at the police & the racists; register to vote and then TURN OUT. They HATE that,” might be better.

    (Because you gotta be specific who you’re gettin’ back at. Also, ‘If you can go out and throw rocks in the street, you can register to vote and really stick it to them.’)

    max
    [‘Who is running the registration drive among the protestors?’]

  47. 47.

    scav

    @Mnemosyne: Come on! Shooting people is just an ordinary part of a cop’s job, right? Objecting to it makes cops afraid to do their jobs.

  48. 48.

    Patrick

    @Bobby Thomson:

    The problem is that there is systematic profiling in Ferguson where they consistently stop blacks, but not white.

    Sue afterwards? How would you or this cop feel if they were blacks living in this type of environment where they completely are on their own and the cops are not on your side. Some cops should not be cops.

  50. 50.

    scav

    @Patrick: Because, the obvious and easy response of the impoverished to the badged guys constantly pulling them over when not shooting them involves a long expensive legal battle.
    What a white man.

  51. 51.

    KG

    @Hal: it gets even better, a couple of paragraphs after saying that, he says this:

    And you don’t have to submit to an illegal stop or search. You can refuse consent to search your car or home if there’s no warrant (though a pat-down is still allowed if there is cause for suspicion). Always ask the officer whether you are under detention or are free to leave. Unless the officer has a legal basis to stop and search you, he or she must let you go. Finally, cops are legally prohibited from using excessive force: The moment a suspect submits and stops resisting, the officers must cease use of force.

    There seems to be a disconnect between “respect mah authoratah” and this part.

    I have a theory about cops and prosecutors, having known more than a few over the years. When you work a job like these where you are often facing bad things and bad people (domestic violence calls, drug dealers, shootings, etc), your view of people is bound to be less than charitable. I get that, it’s human nature. But, we’ve also always been told that respect is a two way street: you have to give it to get it. And one way to make sure you don’t get it is by treating everyone as a suspect and otherwise being an asshole. Sadly, that’s the default for a lot of these guys and it only serves to antagonize people.

  53. 53.

    KG

    @scav: this is something of a failure on the part of groups like the ACLU and the NAACP. And it need not be filing a law suit (although I suspect that would probably help the situation). Part of it has to be advocacy on the policy side at a grassroots level. That’s the heavy lifting that needs to be done.

  54. 54.

    shelley

    Finally going thru and tossing most of my VHS tapes. After seeing that most of my favorites are online and accepting that my last way of viewing tapes is a 15 year old TV with a tape player in the base; and which I lost the remote to a while ago…….it’s time. Too bad I can’t donate them.

  55. 55.

    Betty Cracker

    @srv:

    So won’t these states become more habitable sooner if all the olds die quicker?

    Can’t speak for Texas, but the olds actually improve the political climate in Florida rather than making it worse. If not for colonies of olds (and immigrants too), we’d be Alabama.

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    @Bobby Thomson:

    As I keep saying, my problem with that mindset is what inevitably happens when that cop encounters someone who, for whatever reason, is incapable of behaving the way the cop expects them to (i.e. obeying orders and complying with commands). That writer needs to tell the family of the mentally ill guy who was just killed by LAPD that he should have quietly gone along with what the cops told him to do and then filed a lawsuit later.

    (Edited for pronoun clarity)

    @KG:

    I have a theory (which is not always viable) that Highway Patrol and State Police tend to have fewer problems with abusive behavior than other types of cops because part of their job is to do things like help stranded motorists. They have more frequent “normal” interactions with citizens, so (IMO only) they’re less likely to automatically assume that everyone they encounter is a bad actor.

    (When I had this discussion with my spouse, he pointed out that Highway Patrol/State Police type of cops are more likely to encounter people who are happy to see them because they’ve gotten a flat/gotten into a minor accident/etc. and need assistance. No one is ever happy to see an LAPD officer.)

  58. 58.

    Hal

    @Bobby Thomson:

    No. If you actually read the piece, he says that if your rights have been violated, you should sue afterward but not challenge the cop during the field stop. That’s a position people can disagree with, but be honest about his position.

    You must be white. I did read the article. As others have said, he mentions suing the police, go for it! He talks about how you do not have to submit to a search without probable cause. You can say no. But he makes no mention of illegal searches that happen ever day. He makes no mention of racial profiling. He says people in the community deserve respect, but so do the police. But no talk of people in communities of color constantly mentioning casual brutality and racism they experience. Casually saying someone can just turn down and search and walk away is great in theory, but in practice I find it hard to believe most people, especially minorities, would be allowed to just walk away freely.

  60. 60.

    MattF

    …and the whole thing about ‘injecting race into the conversation.’ Who would ever do that? Certainly no Republican. No, no, no.

  61. 61.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    No. If you actually read the piece, he says that if your rights have been violated, you should sue afterward but not challenge the cop during the field stop. That’s a position people can disagree with, but be honest about his position.

    @Bobby Thomson: Police are de facto, if not in some jurisdictions de jure, immune from lawsuits, so that advice from Office Roidrage is not exactly helpful.

    I agree that you’d best do what a cop says during a stop these days, because they’ve all gone to the same training academy that seems to have as their motto “shoot first and ask no questions”, but that’s a practical response to a horrific overreach of police powers in this nation. The reality of the situation is this: according to the law, I don’t have to do jack shit if a cop tells me to do something and I am not doing something wrong. I can ignore his gibbering ass and walk away. That things have come to this, where a cop feels it perfectly appropriate to write an article for national distribution warning citizens to obey or die, is sickening beyond belief. That it comes from an LAPD cop is the cherry on the cake.

    Darryl Gates never died. He’s alive and well and healthier than ever.

  62. 62.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MattF: Delusional future FoxNews weekend host and O’Reiilly sub when Laura Ingram goes in for fang sharpening Paul Ryan thinks we need to let the police do their job and not insert a “personal political agenda“. Okay. But I wanna know whose agenda he’s talking about. C’mon, Sweet Paulie Blue Eyes. Name names, back it up.

  63. 63.

    Culture of Truth

    Registering to vote is horrible. The only legitimate form of protest is threatening to murder someone.

    If this cop thinks he can avoid an indictment, he may want to testify. If he can’t his lawyer may advise him not to, since he will be under oath and his version of events will be on the record.

    He’ll have more credibility with the GJ than your average crook, but it’s a bit of a risk.

  65. 65.

    scav

    @KG: Well, see earlier above official howling about registering these same to vote, presumably as a slightly different means to a similar end of govt and police accountability to the community as a whole. ACLU and NAACP? Outside agitators! If it was easy, it would already be done. A universal rule of shutting up and doing what the nice copper says is a Hallmark afternoon special suggestion that won’t accomplish much either, especially in the real world application of ooooo homeland security mindset Strikes me somewhat along the line of a garbage man / sanitation engineer instructing everyone to throw everything out early enough so it never attracts flies and the hour long lecture from the doctor complaining about how you only show up at his office when you’re sick. Modicum of truth surrounded by a squishy covering of why aren’t you making my job as easy and as comfortable as I want.

  67. 67.

    FromFlorissant

    @TooManyJens:
    So glad you linked to this. That being my old stomping grounds, I have been following the live feeds (Argus, Mike Pool of Vice News and others) obsessively from the first day. It is way more horrifying viewing from that angle than the MSM is presenting. I am finding it harder and then some to believe those in charge are truly trying to tamp down the unrest.

  69. 69.

    KG

    @Mnemosyne: there’s definitely some truth to that with respect to Highway Patrol.

    also, there tends to be a difference between cops in urban areas vs the suburbs and the exurbs. It’s 35 miles (give or take) from DTLA to Disneyland, but a world of difference when it comes to an ordinary interaction with police.

  70. 70.

    John N

    The surest sign in life that you’re doing the right thing is when a conservative republican calls you disgusting for doing it!

    I wish liberals loved pissing off conservatives even half as much as conservatives love pissing off liberals. We could be sending them into stroke-inducing fits of rage every day, if we wanted to. I want to. When a conservative republican is outraged, I am happy, because I know that whatever they’re mad about is something that made the world a little more just for someone else.

  72. 72.

    Goblue72

    @Hal: Don’t make assumptions about BJ commenters race or the BJ police will come after you for bring a jerk face.

    But seriously – that LAPD cop is telling you what anyone who is paying attention knows – there’s two justice systems in this country – one for whites, and one for blacks. But Lady Justice only wears a blindfold in one of them.

  74. 74.

    KG

    @scav: we’re on the same side on this. and there was an interesting read somewhere yesterday (I forget if I saw it here or maybe at LGF) about how the Missouri felon voting laws have effectively disenfranchised a lot of voters in Ferguson. my point was that getting people active in the political process, particularly at the local level is incredibly important if we want to see the situation improve. because you either fight to make the system better or you fight the system… and I’d rather not see a second American Civil War.

  76. 76.

    KG

    @John N:

    We could be sending them into stroke-inducing fits of rage every day, if we wanted to.

    but just doing what you’re doing (you know, existing) is enough to do that. it’s no fun if you don’t even have to try.

  79. 79.

    Roger Moore

    @srv:

    So won’t these states become more habitable sooner if all the olds die quicker?

    But the olds already have Medicare, so it’s mostly working age people who will be dying from lack of medical care.

  81. 81.

    Goblue72

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: We live in a developing police state. But even in a police state, a lot of citizens – collaborators – think its a-ok, as long as they are on the right team.

  82. 82.

    scav

    @KG: et al. I sometimes just link to a comment to continue the thought, polish a slightly different facet, not to disagree with it. Am I incorrect in this? I thought of it as a way to dribble the conversational ball further down the field.

  85. 85.

    Bubblegum Tate

    @scav:

    as always, outreach.

    Here’s the outreach my favorite wingnut has offered:

    “They are rioting under the flag of “protesting” the alleged bias against black people, while firmly establishing a pretty strong argument for being biased against black people.”

    I particularly enjoy the “It’s all your fault, black people! You’re FORCING me to be racist!” angle.

  86. 86.

    Baud

    @KG:

    We could be sending them into stroke-inducing fits of rage every day, if we wanted to.

    but just doing what you’re doing (you know, existing) is enough to do that. it’s no fun if you don’t even have to try.

    It’s fun for me.

  88. 88.

    SatanicPanic

    @Roger Moore: Absolutely. I was just trying to parody right wingers, I don’t think they’d admit that slavery was something the Holy Founders had any interest in fighting for. They won’t even admit the South did that

  89. 89.

    KG

    @Mayken: I grew up in Orange County, spent a lot of time in Anaheim outside the Disneyland area, the areas you won’t see on post cards. outside of the touristy parts of Anaheim the cops are still a lot better to deal with then LAPD – even in the touristy areas of the LAPD’s jurisdiction.

    @scav: there’s nothing wrong with how you’re linking to comments. agreeing, disagreeing, or just generally commenting all work. some times somebody will see a response as a disagreement rather than just a further comment, it’s just a matter of interpreting the tone of the writing. our intended tone isn’t always caught.

  90. 90.

    maurinsky

    I guess if this is how cops are trained to think, it’s no wonder that there are a higher percentage of domestic abusers on the police force than in other lines of work. Don’t make me hurt you!

  91. 91.

    Keith G

    Not to let a chance for fundraising to pass by, Battleground Texas just send me a donation request with my governor’s mug shot prominently featured. Good for them. Still, I am not sure that I like the continual push to criminalize political disagreements.

  92. 92.

    Original Lee

    Well, isn’t this just dandy. The governor of Iowa has just reclassified the chief administrative law judge as an at-will employee. Over 300 state employees have been reclassified this way over the last few years.

    So much for judicial independence!

  93. 93.

    lamh36

    Time to brace ourselves… Holder will be in Ferguson tomorrow.

    We already know that the Federal autopsy happened yesterday, and they already have results and Holder has been briefed…let that sink in, the DOJ already has autopys done and yet we STILL don’t know what was in STL county autopsy!

    Add to that the report that Wilson will be allowed to testify at Grand Jury tomorrow and tell me this doesn’t stink to high heaven.

    oh and this:

    “@PresReed
    Prosecutor Bob McCulloch says he will recuse himself if ordered by Governor. #MikeBrown #Ferguson.”

    https://twitter.com/PresReed/status/501851082302439425

    I’ve never been so happy to have to go back to work. I’ve been sick for two days.

  94. 94.

    Elizabelle

    @lamh36:

    Perry’s a handsome man. He should have been a soap opera hero, instead of turning his talents, such as they are, to politickin’.

    Our former governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s in the defense portion of his corruption trial this week. Vaguely handsome dude as well. But into transvaginal ultrasounds for his lady constituents. Not good.

    Texas and Virginia. Vying for supremacy in executed inmates and indicted (but photogenic!) guvs. ETA: And none of that libtard expanded Medicaid, or healthcare exchanges.

    [Reaches for cocktail.]

  95. 95.

    Roger Moore

    @KG:

    There seems to be a disconnect between “respect mah authoratah” and this part.

    I think the disconnect is that they’ve lost the distinction between resisting and failing to cooperate. Questioning them, demanding to know if you’re under arrest, refusing a search without a warrant, etc. are all forms of non-cooperation, but they aren’t actual resistance. Resistance would involve violence or flight, not just failure to comply as quickly as the cop wants. A lot of the excessive use of force complaints seem to be about the police treating failure to cooperate as resistance, and the distinction needs to be hammered home in training.

  98. 98.

    srv

    King Obama

    To Democrats in Congress who have worked with Mr. Obama, the indifference conveyed to Mr. Reid, one of the president’s most indispensable supporters, was frustratingly familiar. In one sense, Mr. Obama’s response was a reminder of what made him such an appealing figure in the first place: his almost innate aversion to the partisan squabbles that have left Americans so jaded and disgruntled with their political system. But nearly six years into his term, with his popularity at the lowest of his presidency, Mr. Obama appears remarkably distant from his own party on Capitol Hill, with his long neglect of would-be allies catching up to him.

    In interviews, nearly two dozen Democratic lawmakers and senior congressional aides suggested that Mr. Obama’s approach has left him with few loyalists to effectively manage the issues erupting abroad and at home and could imperil his efforts to leave a legacy in his final stretch in office.
    …
    Asked to characterize his relationship with the president, Mr. Manchin, a centrist Democrat who has often been a bridge builder in the Senate, said: “It’s fairly nonexistent. There’s not much of a relationship.”
    …
    If there was an opportunity amid the Washington paralysis for Mr. Obama to build relationships, it might have been during his frequent golf games. But only twice in more than 180 rounds has the president invited members of Congress to play with him, and only one Democratic official — Senator Mark Udall of Colorado — has joined a presidential foursome.

  101. 101.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker:

    And for that reason, he is governor of one of our largest states. *sigh*

    Rick Perry. Proof positive that Ronald Reagan WAS smarter than you think.

  109. 109.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Goblue72: Actually, there are three.

    One for whites of the 1%

    One for whites of the 99%

    One for people of color, regardless of their wealth, because, well, reasons.

  110. 110.

    Baud

    @srv:

    In interviews, nearly two dozen Democratic lawmakers and senior congressional aides

    In other words, two conservative Democrats and about 11 members of each of their staffs.

  111. 111.

    Roger Moore

    @srv:

    I just don’t understand how you play 178 rounds in DC without hitting a Congressman.

    You have the Secret Service making sure that nobody from outside your foursome gets anywhere close to you.

  115. 115.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Baud: I do believe the three reporters bylined for that article were operating from the GOP playbook, in that they had a conclusion drawn up before they went out to confirm it, and were very careful to target specific lawmakers (like Manchin) for their story.

    If the vast majority of Dems have a different experience, well, we’re ignoring that because we’ve got our narrative.

  116. 116.

    Bill Arnold

    @Original Lee:

    The governor of Iowa has just reclassified the chief administrative law judge as an at-will employee.

    One wonders what the position of the Republicans will be on this when there is a Democratic governor.

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @JPL: Well, I don’t think that a prosecutor is going to go into a grand jury in order to not get an indictment.

  119. 119.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I caught the tail end of a BookTV event with Christopher Buckley, who was asked if he stood by his vote/endorsement of Obama in ’08, he did, made some conservative but not crazy observations, and then got back to this chestnut about “aloofness”. He was shocked, was the Buckley heir, that Obama had recently played a round of gold with Mike Bloomberg and didn’t ask him one question about governance. Not one. I wished I could’ve been there to point out that the fact that he, Buckley, knew this was a sign that Obama had made the right decision, also, too, that Obama is not running a media conglomerate, so why the fuck would he ask Bloomberg for advice?

  120. 120.

    Hal

    @srv: This is why so many people hate Congress. The constant excuses as to why they can’t get anything done. Republicans won’t even do a basic job like confirming Ambassadors to out over seas embassies, or federal judgeship’s. Harry Reid is pissed that Obama didn’t go all in on McConnell during a discussion on Iraq, but he won’t completely do away with the filibuster. The President’s job should not be to baby sit grown ass men and women, many of whom are millionaires and are making at least a 174 grand a year.

  121. 121.

    burnspbesq

    @KG:

    It’s 35 miles (give or take) from DTLA to Disneyland, but a world of difference when it comes to an ordinary interaction with police.

    If you’re looking for cops without attitude, Anaheim is absolutely the wrong place to look. Santa Ana and Garden Grove are no better. Stay on the 5 until at least Tustin, or maybe Irvine.

  122. 122.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Paul Ryan thinks we need to let the police do their job and not insert a “personal political agenda“.

    Lil’ Paulie should shut the fuck up, since the police “doing their job” is what created, and has exacerbated at almost every turn, the god damn problem.

  124. 124.

    Citizen_X

    @Baud:

    In other words, two Joe Manchin, another conservative Democrats and about 11 members of each of their staffs.

    Fixtified.

  127. 127.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @efgoldman: Okay, let’s assume that the the prosecutors want Wilson to walk…. And I have seen no evidence supporting that. Tanking the case at the grand jury is pretty much guaranteed to blow up in their faces. The prosecution has several eyewitnesses whose stories are consistent. The autopsy results released by the family (probably matching the official one) support the story told by the eyewitnesses. It should be a slam dunk for at least a murder 2 indictment. Messing it up would be too obvious.

  128. 128.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    From the be-batted belfries of NewsMax, this

    Ben Carson Challenges Sharpton to Debate

    I think might actually be fun to watch. I think Sharpton’s at his best debating someone, especially a crank who apparently thinks he might be president someday

  129. 129.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh36: term limited and I suspect destined for whatever grassy pastures St Louis and/or Kansas City have to offer. He reportedly dreamed of being the next DLC Dem nominee, not realizing that several pages have turned since 1992

  130. 130.

    Roger Moore

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    Well, I don’t think that a prosecutor is going to go into a grand jury in order to not get an indictment.

    You’re more optimistic than I am. I can imagine a prosecutor tanking a case to the grand jury if they don’t want to prosecute but feel political pressure. Then they can say that they tried to make the case but the grand jury refused to indict. See, it’s not their fault!

  132. 132.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Roger Moore: Tanking the case at the grand jury level would pretty much ensure that the feds will be crawling up everyone’s asses in the county for a long time to come. The prosecutor has to be smart enough to know that.

  135. 135.

    El Caganer

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: What’s the deal with surgeons, anyway? Dr. Carson is one of the top neurosurgeons in the world and spews wingnut horseshit; Dr. Oz is an excellent heart surgeon who peddles New Age woo. Does one have to be insane and/or a serious grifter to be a talented surgeon?

  136. 136.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Exqueeze me, Obama is supposed to be talking shop with Bloomberg while golfing? I mean, I realize golf is often used to close a deal, or set one up, but Obama may just view it as (I know this is very hard for some to accept) recreation.

  137. 137.

    Mnemosyne

    @srv:

    Just out of curiosity, when Democrats were in charge of the House, did Republicans go running to W to beg him to make Nancy Pelosi behave herself?

  138. 138.

    kc

    @JPL:

    Yeah, I guess the prosecutor can introduce whatever he wants. I just don’t know why a prosecutor would introduce that video, certainly not at the grand jury stage, if he’s trying to get an indictment.

    I’m not a criminal lawyer though, of course, so maybe there’d be some reason I’m not aware of.

  144. 144.

    waspuppet

    Hmm. Matt Wills seems to assume that anyone who registers to vote in these circumstances is going to vote Democratic.

    I wonder why he thinks that. It’d be nice if someone asked him.

  146. 146.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @kc: At the state level, it is frequently possible to file a criminal information and then have a preliminary hearing to assess probable cause. I don’t know MO criminal procedure so I don’t know the specifics there. OTOH the prosecutor is going with a grand jury so it really doesn’t matter.

  148. 148.

    Svensker

    @shelley:

    Too bad I can’t donate them.

    Places like Sally Ann and Goodwill are usually eager for VHS tapes. Sell like hotcakes.

  149. 149.

    Chris T.

    @efgoldman: Yes to all that, but also (not necessarily 4th place but I just put it in your sequence), (4), surgeons need not be very smart; the essence of surgical skill is precise hand movement control, the ability to visualize structures in 3 dimensions, and the ability to distinguish between different tissue types during the surgery. (Bodies do not come color-coded or labeled like a Gray’s Anatomy drawing. It’s really hard to tell a nerve fiber from some other less-important bit.)

    In other words, being ignorant and narrow-minded is no bar to being a great surgeon.

  152. 152.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Yeah, that is probably true. From the County Prosecutor’s POV, I would say that pursuing this case vigorously and well deflect some of the attention from his office and onto others. Plus, all it requires is that the attorneys in his office just do their jobs.

  153. 153.

    Mnemosyne

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    Plus, all it requires is that the attorneys in his office just do their jobs.

    As we’ve seen over the past week or so, our definition of what those attorneys’ jobs should be could be wildly different from what they see their job being.

  154. 154.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Mnemosyne

    : As we’ve seen over the past week or so, our definition of what those attorneys’ jobs should be could be wildly different from what they see their job being.

    In what way?

  157. 157.

    Shortstop

    @rikyrah: Black men who market themselves directly to ignorant white racists always think they’re smarter than normal black people. I’d really like to see that debate.

  158. 158.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @shortstop:

    Working the street, I can’t even count how many times I withstood curses, screaming tantrums, aggressive and menacing encroachments on my safety zone, and outright challenges to my AUTHORITEH.

    Aww, poor baby. My heart, it fuckin bleeds.

  159. 159.

    Hal

    Ben Carson is only running for President because people keep asking him, ok? He’s the perfect black conservative, saying what his mostly older white audience loves to hear. Black people are brainwashed and dependent on government, so that’s why they vote Democrat. But wait, wasn’t Carson’s mother on Welfare?

    No doubt, Mother Carson deserves tremendous credit, but — in the words of a political sound bite from the last presidential election — she didn’t do it alone. Carson, in his book, tells how his grades improved tremendously when a government program provided him with free eyeglasses because he could barely see. Not only that, in “Gifted Hands” we read this nugget: “By the time I reached ninth grade, mother had made such strides that she received nothing but food stamps. She couldn’t have provided for us and kept up the house without that subsidy.”

    Yes, but people were different back then. Then there are his terribly homophobic views, like this gem media matters points out from his book:

    http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/05/19/ben-carson-didnt-expect-anyone-to-be-offended-b/199373

    Prior to my decision to withdraw as commencement speaker, I spoke to some prominent members of the gay community at Johns Hopkins. In doing so I found out two important things: First, bestiality is particularly abhorrent in the gay community and the mention of it evokes a very emotional response. Had I known that, I would have avoided the topic, since the last thing I wanted to do was to cause unnecessary offense and distract from the matters at hand. [Page 19]

    A debate between Carson and Sharpton would just cement Carson’s standing with the people he needs to win an election, because Lord knows he’s not winning much of the black vote.

    Also, why is Sharpton’s head so big compared to his body? He must have gad gastric bypass surgery. He looks like a lollipop.

  160. 160.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Mnemosyne: As I have noted, doing that in this situation is a sure fire way to have the feds all over them. Plus, let’s say you are an ambitious prosecutor; this case is a way to make a name for yourself. Nationwide audience and all that. You aren’t going to want to be Marcia Clark.

  161. 161.

    Mnemosyne

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    What if you don’t want a national name? What if you just want to get elected as a law-n-order conservative in Missouri who’s willing to stand by the police when they do what’s necessary to protect their community from a dangerous criminal?

    I’m just saying, given how many ways the authorities in Missouri have already fucked up this situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if the prosecutors manage to come up with a whole new way to fuck things up.

    ETA: Given all of the “nullification” bullshit that conservatives have been spouting, getting the feds all up in their business may be what they want, so they can be martyrs trying to protect the people of their state from the Big Bad Gummint. We’re not talking about rational people here — we’re talking about Republicans.

  162. 162.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Yup, vigorously and well will help. I’d still want a Special Prosecutor presenting and trying, for the optics.

    @Mnemosyne:

    As we’ve seen over the past week or so, our definition of what those attorneys’ jobs should be could be wildly different from what they see their job being.

    I have not seen any evidnce that the prosecutors see “protecting the police” as part of their job. And I’ve been a (line) prosecutor in a jurisdiction where police were charged. In almost all cases, a special prosecutor was assigned, usually a prosecutor from a neighboring county. For the judge who’s being tried now, there are 2 criminal defense lawyers serving as special prosecutors.

  163. 163.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Mnemosyne:

    We’re not talking about rational people here — we’re talking about Republicans.

    FWIW McCulloch is a Democrat.

    As I have mentioned several times, if the prosecution doesn’t do its job properly, the feds will be all over them.

  168. 168.

    Fred

    As that cop (need I say white?) caught on candid camera said: “Bring it, you animals!” Because it’s definitely not about race. Who could ever think such a thing? Judge Roberts said that stuff is all over now.

  170. 170.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Hal: I don’t disagree with any of that. Just wanted people to respond to the argument that was actually made rather than some straw man.

  171. 171.

    Chris

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    I agree that you’d best do what a cop says during a stop these days, because they’ve all gone to the same training academy that seems to have as their motto “shoot first and ask no questions”, but that’s a practical response to a horrific overreach of police powers in this nation.

    This. It’s identical to how black people in the segregated South learned to step aside whenever a white man walked by. It was good advice, but only in a short-term, self-preservation kind of way to deal with an insane abuse of power.

    Plus, as with black people in the South, citizens politely doing everything a cop says isn’t a foolproof way to protect yourself. It decreases the likelihood that the cop/white person will feel like beating the shit out of you, but it doesn’t actually protect you – if the cop/white person decides he’s in the mood to take his personal issues out on you, cooperating isn’t going to get you out of trouble. We just watched a kid get shot in full view of an entire street while screaming that he had his hands up, FFS.

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