White Cop, Black Victim:

Update: Now it's Friday……I give up.

Update: It is now 5:00 Thursday, Dec. 4 and as of yet there is NO mention of Eric Garner on the online website front page.

Ignorance and indifference is alive and well here in knoxville….

at least in the the KNOXVILLE NEWS, on-line version anyway, our source of all news they feel you need to know. Not one word about the Eric Garner grand jury "no bill" decision and the resulting peaceful demonstrations in New York City and across the country. Just a few disparaging stories on the Michael Brown decision…mostly from the perspective of "those black thugs asked for it." (Of course I'm sure folks around here are pissed off that a sympathetic demonstration was going on  at the University of Tennessee…those disruptions were brought to the fore.) I don't remember reading but a paragraph about Tamar Rice, at the twelve year old shot by a cop, either. 

Folks around here get all their news from FOX. What more do you need? Well, maybe they at least heard this in passing: Judge Andrew Napolitano, a FOX staple as a legal analyst, stated that the death was negligent homicide.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/03/andrew-napolitano-eric-garner_n_6265026.html

The officer who caused the death of Eric Garner is not new to such behavior.

".. Pantaleo falsely claimed that he saw crack and heroin in the backseat of the car—everyone in the vehicle was arrested, but the charges were subsequently dismissed."

http://gothamist.com/2014/07/21/cop_who_put_eric_garner_in_chokehol.php

The policeman that killed Tamar Rice was already fired once, and unfit for duty.

" According to the personnel file, supervisors questioned Loehmann's maturity and were already in the process of removing him from the police department when he left."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cop-who-shot-tamir-rice-was-distracted-and-weepy-say-ex-bosses/ 

Not to mention the baldly farcical grand jury hearing held by Prosecutor McCulloch, who led the jury in the direction he wanted by "dumping" all evidence on them with no instruction, discarding witnesses who did not conform to his version of what happened, and giving false instructions to the jury of nine white and three black persons. I didn't even mention that Darren Wilson was allowed to tell his rehearsed "testimony", unquestioned' for four hours……highly unusual.

"Also, the assistant to the prosecutor gave the jurors an outdated…now illegal…law on which to judge all the "evidence' they were to present. Then after everything was presented she said, in essence "oh, never mind…we goofed….my bad."

http://jabberwockwords.blogspot.com/2014/11/loosen-blindfold-on-lady-justice.html

Nobody is saying that Michael Brown was totally innocent. Nobody is denying that Eric Garner had not been in trouble before. Yes, Tamar Rice had a fake gun…as did John Crawford in Beavercreek, Ohio (my Alma Mater, by the way). But what the heck is wrong in a country that now has a militarized police force that feels the "shoot first, ask questions later" route is the way to go? Are these "big strong guys" now afraid of ALL black people? Is human life…somebody else's anyway…that unimportant to them? Has the "us versus them" mentality that the Right loves to push on media such as FOX and RW radio really taken hold? 

Pretty much sums it up for me:
http://ezkool.com/2014/12/jon-stewart-goes-off-on-non-indictment-in-eric-garners-case-video/ 

I am totally disgusted….and the people here in Knoxville are more concerned with which new restaurant to go to, the Vols finally going to a Bowl game once more, or when the First Baptist Church is having it's Christmas program…..

Loosen the blindfold on Lady Justice…...

Now that answer to the question "will Darren Wilson be indicted for killing an unarmed black kid" has been given, here are a few things to consider…and you WON"T find them on Fox or any Right Wing radio station:

 McCulloch, the prosecutor in the case, is charging a black officer for hitting a suspect's hand during an altercation which happened before Michael Brown's shooting...http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/11/28/prosecutor-who-let-darren-wilson-slide-is-charging-a-black-cop-for-hitting-a-suspects-hand/

Even Nancy Grace, the no-holds-barred lawyer of TV fame..and no liberal herself…thinks there's something really wrong with McCulloch's grand jury tactics: http://www.inquisitr.com/1640399/darren-wilson-nancy-grace/

A law professor at Washington State University in St. Louise thinks the whole grand jury presentation is at fault:

“The case should be presented to a new grand jury that is properly instructed on the law and provided with evidence without any appearance of bias or leaning,” said Mae Quinn, JD, director of the law school’s Juvenile Law and Justice Clinic. https://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/27740.aspx#.VHfqPqk59bF.mailto

Also, the assistant to the prosecutor gave the jurors an outdated…now illegal…law on which to judge all the "evidence' they were to present. Then after everything was presented she said, in essence "oh, never mind…we goofed….my bad." http://www.examiner.com/article/ferguson-da-s-office-gave-grand-jurors-outdated-unconstitutional-law-to-rely-on

You know it's bad when Justice Scalia spoke on this years ago: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/justice-scalia-explains-why-the-ferguson-grand-jury-was-completely-wrong/

Add all this to the facts we already know: the prosecutor's father was a policeman killed in the line of duty, by a black man. Nine out of the twelve jurors were white. The defendant, Darren Wilson was allowed to give testimony for 4 hours but the prosecutor that was supposed to be bringing charges, not defending him.

All the people want is to actually bring this man to trial, present ALL the evidence not just cherry-picked sections, and let that be the end of it. They and the family were denied that right…and Michael Brown's family has been forced to endure a "let's blame the victim" scenario on top of shooting death. 

No, the looting, and rioting were not called for, and self-destructive. Not ALL protestors there participated…but the nation was only presented the race-bating narrative. The police and the governor spent weeks psychologically "baiting" the people of Ferguson with threats and shows of force. (Tell teenagers NOT to do something, and of course it is the first thing they will do…..)

I don't know where we go from here…I'm not personally involved. I probably should not even give it a second thought. But if we don't start seeing, feeling, and thinking of others besides ourselves……we have no one to blame when those in higher positions…procured through moneyed interests using religion and race as weapons….we are ALL in for a world of hurt.