Gibson writes: "After months of deliberation and consistent protest from community members, a grand jury in Clayton, Missouri, has decided that Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, 28, will not stand trial for shooting and killing 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was unarmed."
(photo: ABC News)
Ferguson Grand Jury Refuses to Indict Police Officer Who Killed Michael Brown
24 November 14
�
fter months of deliberation and consistent protest from community members, a grand jury in Clayton, Missouri, has decided that Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, 28, will not stand trial for shooting and killing 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was unarmed.
On the day of the incident, Wilson stopped Brown for jaywalking, unaware that Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson were alleged suspects for petty theft at a nearby convenience store. Wilson claims he and Brown struggled momentarily before he pulled the trigger. Brown was shot multiple times in the head, and multiple witnesses say Brown was on his knees with his hands in the air, telling Wilson not to shoot before he was killed. Brown�s body lay in the street on Canfield Drive, over 100 feet away from Wilson�s car, and remained there for 4.5 hours before Brown�s body was removed by a police SUV.
Last week, Missouri governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency for the St. Louis area, deploying the Missouri National Guard and authorizing the Missouri Highway Patrol, the St. Louis County Police Department, and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police to act as a �unified command� to respond to protests. At a press conference on November 24, St. Louis mayor Francis G. Slay said the safety of those who disagreed with Ferguson protesters was a �paramount� concern.
Michael Brown�s parents, Leslie McSpadden and Michael Brown, Sr., urged protesters nationwide to participate in a moment of silence for Brown for 4 minutes and thirty seconds, to symbolize the 4 hours and thirty minutes Brown�s body was left in the street after he was shot to death on August 9th. Hundreds of protesters are have surrounded the Ferguson Police Department, and solidarity protests are underway in Columbia, Missouri; New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Oakland, Chicago, Albuqerque, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Fayetteville, Arkansas; Austin, Texas; and Sanford, Florida, where Trayvon Martin was killed. Dozens more cities have pledged to hold protests in the days following the announcement. For a full list of protest locations, visit fergusonresponse.tumblr.com.
Carl Gibson, 26, is co-founder of US Uncut, a nationwide creative direct-action movement that mobilized tens of thousands of activists against corporate tax avoidance and budget cuts in the months leading up to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Carl and other US Uncut activists are featured in the documentary "We're Not Broke," which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin. You can contact him at carl@rsnorg.org, and follow him on twitter at @uncutCG.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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POTUS requires work and a sense of duty, both foreign to Don the Con. Yet the Master manipulator saw a cash cow he and his children could milk from the People (such as Ivanka funneling millions from his Inauguration Committee into Trump Co.). Had his criminal enterprise not taken a detour through Pennsylvania Ave, he could've avoided a top cop on the trail of his ratty ass now eating government cheese- "be careful what you wish for."
But as corrupt, arrogant, narcissistic, petulant and ignorant as he is, he's being used by more nefarious people, who were helped by the original real estate developers: the Framers. Those rich, white landowners put a rat in the People's House, albeit unbeknownst to them.
While "all men are created equal" the electoral college is as democratic as lifetime appointments; by design, slaves and peasants weren't voting priorities. While they couldn't envision California vs. Wyoming in 2018, they inadvertently allowed for a disproportionat e advantage to the fewest people over the will of the majority. Today, those w/malfeasant intentions have gerrymandered their way into political dominance- witness the blatant theft of "inalienable rights" by what's happening in Wyoming now.
The 45th is a distraction by design. The real wizards behind the curtain need a divided, fearful, angry nation with a common enemy. This is autocracy 101.
Thanks, to both of you -- and to RSN for publishing them!
backing him in a corner could be very dangerous. Think War to unite the country, think nuclear war with Iran or N.Korea. Meanwhile NO progress on environmental disaster. Do you really want Pence???? The RAPTURE.
Time to WAKE UP America.
- what this all boils down to -
as robbee always says, "20 repuke senators will only vote to remove dickhead from prez if they feel pence has a better chance of election in 2020!" - nuff said!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjUvfZj-Fm0
Instead of working like hell to make the Demo party responsive to the huge needs Americans have, Reich is wasting time predicting the end of Trump.
Whoever thought that the narcissistic types would prevail over the compassionate souls. Our profound national tragedy! That's for sure.
I don't know if this is real, but it is very pleasant to read. It would be nice if there were in fact 19 republicans willing and able to vote to convict. But given the reaction so far (Yertle, Collins, a host of others), there aren't that many vertebral columns in the republican party. Maybe they can share McCain's since he doesn't need it anymore.
What does it say about a party that someone like John McCain is so far above them in courage and conviction?
And the country will be put through a wringer.
But who will put the country through the wringer?
Will the real ringer please stand up?
Quote above is from the estimable Peter Van Buren from his trenchant article found at:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/
Even if trump is a peace-nik, a concept which I have great difficulty digesting, there do remain many negative consequences of trump's presidency that are more than sufficient to offset any envisioned (but likely false) pacifistic tendencies.
The thing about the presidency is that the electorate gets the "whole package." Almost any presidency, no matter how venal, might have one, perhaps more, positive policy positions. But a beneficial initiative, likely miniscule in reach, is no reason to go all ga-ga in praise of trump as dbrize repeatedly does, above and in other posts. The uniformity of dbrize's trump praise is more like sloganeering than a thoughtful critique of presidential conduct.
Actually, trump probably still thinks that if he gives Syria to Putin, then trump will get his tower in Moscow. And the supposed "peaceful" reach of the Syrian handout to Putin is illusory, as the US departure will open the killing fields to unrestrained atrocities, including against a US ally (the Kurds) and others. So the US departure is likely to lead to increased hostilities, not less.
If you oppose the removal of troops from Syria and Afghanistan, oppose the idea that the 17 year GWOT has been counterproducti ve and caused more not less, misery, death and destruction in the region, by all means present your case.
If you do not support a change of foreign policy from the neoliberal/ neoconservative PNAC inspired policies of the past, by all means present your argument.
These might be more interesting, and worthy of discussion than your all too typical TDS inspired ad hominem lecturing.