Free Republic

Among the familiar hucksters who sought to capitalize on the troubles in Ferguson, Missouri, came a new face: Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights and self-styled heir to the non-existent royal houses of Iraq and Syria. “I am deeply concerned,” Prince Zeid said in a press release, about “institutionalized discrimination” in America, and “I urge the U.S. authorities” to conduct “in-depth examinations” of racial justice. Notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence that Michael Brown’s death resulted from the criminal acts he engaged in before and during his encounter with officer Darren Wilson, Zeid’s Human Rights Council...

Every now and then, news breaks in the Obama administration that is so stereotypical, it is actually depressing. You might want to sit down for this. Attorney General Eric Holder, made infamous by Operation Fast and Furious, is currently arguing before the Supreme Court that United Nations treaties trump the United States Constitution. That’s right. The sitting Attorney General, charged with upholding and defending the Constitution, is arguing before the highest court that international law is in fact the law of the land. The case in question, Bond v. United States, is actually pretty ridiculous. The defendant is charged with...

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder hits Chicago on Friday to discuss law enforcement issues in the wake of violence that erupted after a Missouri grand jury declined to indict a white police officer who shot an unarmed African American teen in Ferguson, Mo. The Justice Department is conducting two probes — civil and criminal — of the incident. Chicago will be the latest of a series of meetings Holder is holding on "Building Community Trust." The Chicago session will include U.S. Attorney Zach Fardon and Mayor Rahm Emanuel will also attend. "The roundtable will serve as an opportunity to...

Senior FDIC officials must be held accountable for banking regulators’ “unethical” and “illegal” actions against legitimate businesses that are out of favor with the Obama administration, a congressman with a background in banking said today. In a letter to Martin Gruenberg, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., says he wants a full review of all FDIC employees involved in Operation Choke Point. Luetkemeyer, a rising member of the House Financial Services Committee, names five officials as “implicated in this unsavory affair,” and adds that “to allow these individuals to go without penalty would be unjust.”...

In the aftermath of the violent riots that broke out following a grand jury’s decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown, storeowners in the small St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo., say they’re almost as angry at their state government as they are with the looters who vandalized, robbed, and destroyed their stores. […] “We haven’t received one call from the state or the governor’s office at all—not one,” said Kurt Barks, owner of Complete Auto Body and Repair in Ferguson, one of dozens of businesses that were trashed...

Attorney General Eric Holder will announce the Justice Department's release of its long-awaited revised racial profiling guidance for federal law enforcement on Monday. In 2003, the Justice Department issued its first racial profiling guidance under former Attorney General John Ashcroft. That guidance banned profiling based on race and ethnicity, but granted exceptions for national security and border protection. Civil rights groups considered the exceptions a kind of permission to discriminate especially against Muslims in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The newly revised guidance will expand the characteristics it protects -- beyond race and ethnicity -- to include bans...

Federal investigations of the Garner and Brown cases are just a pretext. Civil-rights investigations in Ferguson and Staten Island? No, what denizens of St. Louis and New York City ought to be worried about right now is . . . the crime wave overtaking Seattle. If you don’t understand why, then you probably thought Obamacare was about covering the uninsured. Like its health-care “reform” campaign, the Obama Left’s civil-rights crusade is about control — central control of state law enforcement by Washington. The deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York are each tragic in their...

Sleazy race-agitators like Eric Holder and Barack Obama want you to think that America has a malignant, systemic problem of mostly white police departments unfairly targeting blacks, while somehow also keeping many blacks from becoming cops themselves. From that same timeworn narrative they’d have us all believe that any and all troubles faced by any black person today are, and always will be, attributable to some feature of the existence of white people on this planet throughout history. This carefully orchestrated mass-hallucination has many names, among them the modern sophists’ favorites: ‘disparate impact doctrine’ and ‘critical race theory.’ Despite even...

Wow, there’s a whole lot of B-slapping going on here: In his interview with Megyn Kelly, Sheriff Clarke takes the back of his hand to Ricky Holder (AG, USA), Congressman Al Green (D, Texas), Big Guy (D, WORLD), and Al Sharpton (A-H at large). Compare this clip with the Standup for Hillary video (alternate title: “Burn this B***h Down”) and tell me: who would you vote for?Butt let’s focus on Eric Holder, our Attorney General who’s been “B-Slapping” Americans of no-color around since he arrived on the scene six years ago. Now, it’s finally your turn; I hope you enjoy my...

President Obama is pledging a robust effort to ensure the criminal justice system treats all people equally regardless of color following a New York City grand jury’s decision to not indict a police officer in the death of Eric Garner. Obama has already announced funding for local police training and body cameras, and he convened a meeting of civil rights leaders and law enforcement officials at the White House on Monday to address the issue. A new White House task force is looking into how local police are gaining heavy weapons and equipment for the military. During a Thursday speech,...

In recent years, Cleveland police officers have punched a 13-year-old boy who was in handcuffs for shoplifting and shot at an unarmed kidnapping victim who was wearing only his underwear, according to disturbing allegations released Thursday by the Justice Department. The agency's investigation found that officers in Cleveland routinely use unjustifiable force against not only criminals and suspects, but also innocent victims of crimes. The so-called “pattern or practice” report from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division was released Thursday afternoon as DOJ and the city announced plans to develop a court-enforceable agreement that would impose an independent monitor on...

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON D.C.-- Sheriff Clarke talks about Ferguson Missouri and how politicians and irresponsible group. "Irresponsible Groups Descended on Ferguson MO Like Vultures on a Roadside Carcass."

A New York City Grand Jury has refused to indict police officer Danial Pantaleo for the choking death of Eric Garner. Garner was taken down by four police officers conducting a raid against illegal cigarette sellers, of which Garner was one. Garner had a history of selling illegal cigarettes, having been arrested for it a number of times in the past. Unlike the death of Michael Brown, this death was caught on video. The video clearly shows several things. It absolutely shows Garner saying he can’t breathe. It also shows a very large man who starts out the confrontation making...

The communist and racist New Black Panther Party plotted to bomb St. Louis’ Gateway Arch and assassinate local law enforcement officials, but the Justice Department so far has limited its prosecution of the group to an indictment of two members on minor gun charges. The soft treatment for activities that normally would have brought federal terrorism charges appears to be part of efforts by Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department to “go soft” on the racist group, according to former Justice official J. Christian Adams. “I have always been perplexed why these guys get special treatment,” said Adams,...

On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder kicked off the first of a series of community forums on Ferguson at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Monday night. Holder suggested to the activists that US police are an “occupying force.” “The problems we must confront are not only in Ferguson. The issues raised in Missouri are not unique in that state or to that small city. We are dealing with concerns that are truly national is scope and have threatened the entire nation. Broadly speaking without mutual understanding between citizens whose rights must be respected and law enforcement officers who make...

n the wake of the Ferguson grand jury’s determination that there was no probable cause to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, incensed rioters took to the streets of that Missouri city and neighboring towns where they burned and looted a number of local businesses. Those riots were preceded by an anguished speech delivered by Brown’s mother who tearfully lamented the grand jury’s decision before a crowd of supporters. She was joined by her husband and Michael Brown’s stepfather, Louis Head, who expressed his grief in a somewhat less constructive way. “Burn this s*** down!”...

Exaggerations have poisoned discussions about relations between blacks and the police. “Black men between the ages of 15 and 19 are 21 times as likely as whites to be killed by a police officer,” said Chuck Todd on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.” Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree echoed Todd. “The data is clear, that black boys are being killed by white police officers around the country.” The claim was repeated frequently on other shows. But those numbers aren’t entirely accurate, and they are far from the whole truth. . . . Todd and Ogletree relied on an analysis of FBI...

Missouri law allows a person to use deadly force defending himself when he has a “reasonable belief” he needs to use deadly force. The law goes on to define a reasonable belief as one based on “grounds that could lead a reasonable person in the same situation to the same belief.” Unsurprisingly, Officer Darren Wilson testified to the grand jury that he reasonably believed he needed to use deadly force to defend himself against Michael Brown. But the clinching argument on this point is that other reasonable people — i.e., some credible eyewitnesses — agreed with Wilson. In previous posts,...

Outgoing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder stated after the grand jury decision announcement that regardless of their findings, his independent investigation of Officer Darren Wilson was not over and would continue. ... I was a little disturbed to see in certain place people question why I was here. And my answer to that would be, ‘Why would I be any place other than right here, right now?’ But when it comes to police shooting unarmed civilians, is it really that uncommon? A New York Times piece in 2011 posed the question...

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is suggesting that President Barack Obama encouraged rioting in Ferguson, Mo., in the wake of a grand jury’s decision Monday not to file criminal charges in the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown. […] “When I heard the president call for calm after the rioting started, I questioned his sincerity because some of his political strategy of divide and conquer fuels this sort of racial animosity between people,” Clarke said. “And so, I think when he called for calm after the rioting started, I believe it was done with a wink and a...