Cowardice in Ferguson

Why did the prosecutor not get an indictment of Officer Wilson in Ferguson?  Why the lengthy and protracted Grand Jury proceedings.

Cowardice.

“The panel of nine white and three black members heard 70 hours of testimony from 60 witnesses and three medical examiners” before they finished work.  The transcripts are public record.

If after a day or two of work they had declined to indict they would have been pilloried in the press as they are now.  They are on record, however, and all attacks must of necessity reference the record. 

For example, Ezra Klein at Vox had an analysis that did not say, but seemed to strongly imply the cop was not displaying absolute fidelity to the truth.  Now, one can say about Klein that what Mandy Rice Davies said about Lord Astor, “He would say that, wouldn’t he” as Mr. Klein is reliably à gauche.  It may be unfair to say that he would have gargled razor blades rather than see merit in the policeman’s case, but then again, maybe not.

The truth is, no matter what the outcome, either side would conclude what they wanted, but with a huge amount of recorded testimony, Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch has covered himself.

He will still be attacked as the Michael Brown’s partisans would only be satisfied by a lynching.

Are Klein and others being irresponsible in pushing the oppression narrative.  For a balanced look at the question we offer a post by Scott Alexander at Slate Star Codex.  The man is no right wing fanatic.  Of course to some of the more paranoid scare mongers, you don’t have to be a right wing fanatic to be a right wing fanatic.

The Vergens need to get a life

In a 1981 film, Zorro the Gay Blade, a rather fey caped crusader made the rule, "There is no shame in being poor, only in dressing poorly."

I am never going to make a best dressed list.  It is important to me, to at least try to look somewhat grownup.  Not so Mr. Matt Taylor.  His shirt is ugly and so are the tattoos on his arms.  If I saw him on the street and he panhandled me, I would direct him to the nearest homeless shelter.

Thus there are two shocks, Mr. Taylor was part of the team, ill dressed as he was, that landed that craft on a comet.  The second shocker, a navel gazer by the name of Chris Plante thinks he is a sexist swine and celebrates that Taylor was made to apologize.

Plante writes for uber politically correct tech site The Verge.  His headline went, "I don't care if you landed a spacecraft on a comet, your shirt is sexist and ostracizingThat's one small step for man, three steps back for humankind."

Chris is a senior editor at The Verge.  Supposedly, he has a life, but you would not know.  Being a member of a voluntary gestapo takes a lot of energy.

So we've gotta get Helen Reddy back into the studio, I am woman, I am weak.

Anyway, I know it's not why my daughters didn't go into Stem.  They are too much like the old man, obstreperous and not interested in the hard work.

Doc Taylor, you did two things I could never do, land on an asteroid and apologize for something so trivial.  Then again, I could never wear that shirt.

The Young Turks covered themselves in glory.

Hat tip to Outside In.

What a Journolist meeting would look like if they actually got together

They are workers at a virtual Ministry of Truth.