I want to be very clear on the point I’m about to make so that I’m not misunderstood. Gov. Nixon of Missouri put out a statement this evening on the situation in Ferguson. Much of it is boilerplate that wouldn’t surprise or inspire you. (I’m reprinting it in its entirety at the end of this post.) The gist is that to move forward peace needs to be restored in Ferguson and there needs to be justice in the case of the precipitating event – the death of Michael Brown. (There is a separate controversy over Nixon’s decision not to appoint a special prosecutor – which I think is a mistake.) But in the key line – the part two of his statement he says that “a vigorous prosecution must now be pursued.”
The CSIS/Amnesty International imbroglio marks a resurgence of the ‘scapetern‘ and need for more study of this emerging phenomena.
Great but sobering look at the mix of law and history that make it unlikely Darren Wilson will be charged let alone convicted of a crime in the killing of Michael Brown.
This is St. Louis Alderman Antonio French, who’s been involved on the ground from the very beginning. Struck that it’s a very different take on what’s going on tonight.
Police used a new tactic tonight. They would move in and extract the 1 or 2 individuals that were causing the problem. Much better than gas.
— Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) August 19, 2014
Half a rhetorical question, half not …
#BREAKING: Police advancing on crowd. Guns drawn. Media ordered to stay in taped off area. #Ferguson #MikeBrown pic.twitter.com/dYm16HNksR
— Eli Rosenberg (@EliKMBC) August 19, 2014
Birds bursting into flames over state of the art solar plant.