Mark Halperin calls Rick Perry’s indictment ridiculous
Last Friday evening Rick Perry was indicted on charges of coercion and abuse of power after having made good on a threat to veto funding for the public integrity unit in Texas unless the head of that unit, District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, stepped down.
This was not without cause for he had been calling for Rosemary Lehmberg’s resignation since she was convicted of, and spent time in jail for, a drunk driving charge. In my opinion the call for her resignation was justified and if she had any dignity she would have realized her actions violated the same type of ethics complaints her unit is charged with investigating.
The Department of Justice “urged” Ferguson Police not to release Michael Brown robbery video
Last Friday the Ferguson Police Chief, Tom Jackson, held a press conference in which he released the name of the officer who fatally shot Michael Brown, and during this press conference he also stated that Michael Brown was a suspect in a robbery which occurred shortly before he was shot. A surveillance video of the alleged robbery has subsequently been released.
The question is: why did he wait so long to make this known to the public once the riots started? While this information probably would not have helped to quell the riots it was a piece information which we should have had. And by not releasing it in a timely manner the media was allowed to portray this as the killing of an innocent man who had never done anything wrong.
Open thread for Sunday, August 17th: Where the Wild Roses Grow
Here is the open thread for Sunday, August 17th; please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
Don’t forget to use the new WordPress comment liking feature: if you like somebody’s comment do not forget to ‘like’ the comment.
Last week on America’s Watchtower we covered Barack Obama claiming it wasn’t his decision to pull out of Iraq, then vs now when Barack Obama was taking credit for pulling the troops out of Iraq, the Pentagon claiming it warned the President about the threat of ISIS, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama “hugging it out” after the former first lady trashed the President, the House voting on legislation to prevent Barack Obama from using an Executive Order to grant amnesty, Chuck Hagel admitting the world is exploding, the latest Afterburner video from Bill Whittle, Eric Holder’s concern about Ferguson and the militarization of the police force, an Obamacare head ordered emails to be deleted, Carl Levin promising the Senate would review the militarizing of the police force, and Rick Perry’s indictment. Whew, it was a busy week!
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This week’s musical selection in Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue performing ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ from 1996. In typical Nick Cave fashion this is a tragic song about a young, innocent woman who falls in love with a psychopath which ultimately ends in her untimely and tragic demise. Sorry for the downer but this is a terrific song.
Enjoy?
Rick Perry indicted on two felony coercion charges
I have to admit I had no idea Rick Perry was being investigated until I read the headline that he had been indicted for coercion by a grand jury. This all stems from an incident where Rick Perry allegedly threatened to veto a funding bill for a unit which investigates political corruption unless the head of that unit, District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, stepped down.
This is the same unit which investigated Tom DeLay for money laundering, which led to his resignation as House Majority Leader and eventual conviction and overturn.
With that in mind Rick Perry probably took a little bit of pleasure in calling for the resignation Rosemary Lehmberg after she was convicted of drunk driving. He was right to ask for her resignation and in my opinion she should have resigned, however she did not.
The militarizing of the police force is something that has had some people in the blogosphere concerned for some time but it has been largely ignored by most of the American people. While I understand that riot situations require police with riot gear this is still troubling to me because the potential for abuse is great. The situation in Ferguson could be an example of the justifiable use of military armament and equipment but if nothing else it has drawn attention to this issue and the potential for abuse.
In the wake of the Boston marathon bombing Martial Law, for all intents and purposes, was declared on Boston and the surrounding towns. In addition to this the police were conducting house to house searches, in many cases against the will of the homeowners and without concern for their fourth amendment rights, yet this did not get the attention of the American people.
In a way I can understand this: this was an extraordinary event and in the hysteria people were looking for security at the expense of liberty. That does not make it right, but it does make it understandable.
However the situation in Ferguson has done what the aftermath of the Boston marathon bombing failed to do: it has drawn the attention of the people to this issue at long last. And now Carl Levin is promising the Senate will review this policy.
Obamacare head ordered at least one email to be deleted
Back on August 8th America’s Watchtower covered the story of Obamacare head, Marilyn Tavenner, and her disappearing emails in this post. Her defense was simple: she claimed she was receiving so many emails that she had to forward many of them to her assistants, and sometime after this the emails were deleted. It wasn’t her fault, she didn’t do it.
However, according to this article, on at least one occasion she sent an email and in that email she asked the recipients to delete it after it was read:
To this point I have not covered the story about the riots in Ferguson after a police officer shot an unarmed teenager but now I am about to wade into this. Eric Holder today announced that he was “deeply concerned” with the police department employing military vehicles to the scene. Here is what he had to say:
“At a time when we must seek to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the local community, I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and vehicles sends a conflicting message,”
To be honest I am concerned about this as well and I have written about this in the past. But I have two questions for the Attorney General: First; who has been selling these vehicles and armaments to cities and towns all across the nation, and second; what did he think they would be used for?
Afterburner with Bill Whittle: Stung by Suicide
Here is the latest Afterburner video by Bill Whittle entitled ‘Stung by Suicide.’ In this somber, yet wonderful, video he piggybacks on Robin Williams’s suicide, while opening up about his own bouts with depression, to talk about the fact that 20 veterans commit suicide every day.
But it goes beyond that as he makes a plea to the American people to reach out to veterans and he also reaches out to all those suffering from depression by urging them to seek therapy because they are not alone. He states that medication is a band-aide, but therapy is the surgery which can save lives.
Enjoy:
Defense Secretary Hagel: “The world is exploding all over”
Yesterday Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had an interview and he was asked about the unrest in the Middle East and Russian and this is what he had to say:
The world is exploding all over. And so is the United States going to continue to have the resources, the capabilities, the leadership, the bandwidth to continue with the rebalance toward the Asia Pacific? And the answer is yes.
I find that comment to be quite interesting because last month the White House defended its foreign policy by stating the following:
“I think that there have been a number of situations in which you’ve seen this administration intervene in a meaningful way, that has substantially furthered American interests and substantially improved the, uh, you know, the – the tranquility of the global community,”
Perhaps Chuck Hagel did not get the talking points.
The House has passed a border crisis bill which would curtail Barack Obama from using an Executive Order to grant amnesty to certain illegal immigrants. Mitch McConnell has called on Harry Reid to allow the legislation to go to the Senate floor for a vote.
Here is part of what he said:
“The President seems to have forgotten that he does not possess the authority to re-write our immigration laws and that, on the contrary, the Constitution requires that he take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” McConnell said in a statement provided exclusively to Breitbart News. “The House has passed two bills to address the humanitarian crisis on our southern border, and the Senate should vote on them. That’s why I began the process of putting them on the Senate’s legislative calendar shortly before the current recess, and I urge Majority Leader Reid to schedule a vote on these bills as soon as the Senate returns.”
He is right; part of the president’s job is to execute the laws of the land, and not just the laws with which he agrees. Today Jeff Sessions joined Mitch McConnell in calling for Harry Reid to allow a vote on this legislation.
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