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Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has just declared a State of Emergency in the state, specifically citing unrest in Ferguson. The order begins: "WHEREAS, the City of Ferguson and the St. Louis region have experienced periods of unrest over the past three months; and WHEREAS, the United States Department of Justice and St. Louis County authorities are conducting separate criminal investigations into the facts surrounding the death of Michael Brown; and WHEREAS, the United States Department of Justice and St. Louis County authorities could soon announce the findings of their independent criminal investigations" The governor then specifically states that the people...

Seven years ago I was talking to a longtime Democratic operative on Capitol Hill about a politician who was in trouble. The pol was likely finished, he said. I was surprised. Can’t he change things and dig himself out? No. “People do what they know how to do.” Politicians don’t have a vast repertoire. When they get in a jam they just do what they’ve always done, even if it’s not working anymore. This came to mind when contemplating President Obama. After a devastating election, he is presenting himself as if he won. The people were not saying no to...

As the world is about to read the Democrats’ obituary for the 2014 Election, an autopsy has already begun to find the why’s and wherefore’s. Of course, there are several reasons for the leading party’s defeat despite its demographic advantage. In a nutshell, here’s the crux: passivity. Passion (on the right) vs. passivity (on the left): which do you think will win? The right expresses passion – however unfounded and artificial it may be – while the left shows passivity. When and why did Democrats become passive about so many issues? The year was 1968 when the party reacted to...

I was staggered by something that had long been lurking in my old brain and now becomes crystal clear. But, here comes the best part: he was a spook (Bradlee), a full-scale CIA operative for much of his life. He worked for the CIA in Europe and throughout the world. Now, they say he did PR work for the Agency, and why not? But in Washington, we have a saying: Once CIA, always CIA. A brilliant man named Fred Thompson wrote about how Watergate was a giant CIA-organized frame-up of Richard Nixon by CIA people who hated him. But what...

The family of slain Missouri teenager Michael Brown is renewing calls for Gov. Jay Nixon to appoint a special prosecutor to the case, citing potential bias on the part of St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch.In a letter sent to Nixon on Monday, attorney Benjamin Crump said a recent move by the county prosecutor’s office to place on hold all cases involving Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed Brown in August, “clearly raises an issue of concern.” The letter states that Wilson, “as the arresting officer and primary witness for many of the prosecution’s current cases, has developed...

Over the summer, the 40th anniversary of the resignation of President Richard Nixon and President Gerald FordÂ’s pardon of him passed, not, unfortunately, without the usual clangorous outburst of self-righteous claptrap and exercises in pseudo-historical mind-reading and amateur psychoanalysis. Many years ago, I happened to have dinner with the former president a few days after the New York Times had run another speculation about his psychological make-up and, when I volunteered that he probably didnÂ’t enjoy these pieces, though he must by then have been used to them, he replied that the first such published insight into his psyche was...

Newly declassified documents reveal how the Nixon White House looked the other way while Israel built the middle east's first nukes...

It was President Ford’s biggest and most courageous decision.  It probably hurt the GOP in the 1974 midterm elections. In fact, I was a college volunteer on some campaigns in that election. The party people that I was listening to agreed with the pardon but screamed the same question: "Why didn't he do it after the election"? Many in the GOP correctly felt that the new Ford presidency would spare them the Watergate backlash and 6th year losses.   And it probably cost him the very close presidential election of 1976. The pardon was used by the Carter campaign to promote their campaign of...

Governor Jay Nixon appointed a new state public safety director Wednesday, giving his administration its only black Cabinet member nearly three weeks after the shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer led to violent protests in a St. Louis suburb. The governor said former St. Louis police chief Daniel Isom II will take over as director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety on Sept. 1. He will replace Jerry Lee, who resigned after almost three years as director. The appointment comes after Nixon faced criticism both for the lack of racial diversity among his department leaders...

Like most people who are getting into their 40s, I suffer occasional bouts of nostalgia. But lately, in a cruel irony, the world only seems interested in re-enacting the parts of my youth that I’d rather not relive. A Russian dictatorship that invades its neighbors. A stagnant economy with rising food and gas prices. A giant new welfare boondoggle. An overmatched president who seems too small for his office. And now race riots. The whole feel of it is captured by David “Iowahawk” Burge, who jokes about a man who wakes up from a coma after 45 years and asks...

“He that spares his rod hates his son: but he that loves him chastens him early.” – Proverbs 13 As I watch the racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, I can’t help but compare the behavior of blacks in that city to that of spoiled rotten children. Blacks have been rioting and fighting with police after the shooting death of a thug, Michael Brown. And white political and law enforcement leaders have given in to their tantrum like weak parents. How did we get to the point of having Al “the Riot King” Sharpton as the White House point person...

On the boiling streets of Ferguson, Missouri, one recent image must have stung the state’s Democratic governor, Jay Nixon, more than others. Scrawled across a cardboard cutout featuring an image of Nixon’s face were the words, “M.I.A. AGAIN!” Mike Fritz @mikewfritz Protests brought both blacks and whites out in hot and muggy Ferguson Wednesday. 4:19 PM - 20 Aug 2014 34 Retweets 12 favorites Criticism of Nixon swelled after the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager, by a white police officer. Some faulted Nixon for failing to take the lead in addressing the situation, which resulted...

The following statement was released by Keith Kelleher, president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, Indiana, Missouri & Kansas, in response to the shooting of Ferguson, MO, resident Michael Brown and the unrest that is occurring there:The aftermath of the tragic shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, reveals the urgent need for justice to prevail in order to bring a level of calm back to the community. The initial lack of information coming from the Ferguson Police Department and its militarized response to protesters has clearly erased any faith in local authorities to uncover the truth. To that end, the members...

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon drew criticism from his own Lt. Governor Tuesday when he said "a vigorous prosecution must now be pursued" in the shooting death of black 18-year-old Michael Brown by white police Officer Darren Wilson in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. ****** "We have a responsibility," Nixon said, "to come together, and do everything we can to achieve justice for [Brown's] family." Nixon added that McCulloch and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder had an obligation "to achieve justice in the shooting death of Michael Brown must be carried out thoroughly, promptly, and correctly."

Not content with a regular prosecution or a vigorous investigation, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said he hopes that Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson will receive a “vigorous prosecution” in the shooting death of Michael Brown on Aug. 9. “A vigorous prosecution must now be pursued,” Nixon said in a five minute video address posted to his website Tuesday. “The democratically elected St. Louis county prosecutor and the attorney general of the United States each have a job to do,” said Nixon, a Democrat. “Their obligation to achieve justice in the shooting death of Michael Brown must be carried out...

In a message this evening, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon called for a "vigorous prosecution" in the shooting death of Michael Brown. "Once we have achieved peace in Ferguson and justice for the family of Michael Brown, we must remain committed to rebuilding the trust that has been lost, mending what has been broken, and healing the wounds we have endured," he said. Watch the message:(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Read the full transcript below: Ten days ago, a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, in broad daylight. Since then, the world has watched a community become engulfed in grief, anger, fear and at times...

It seems Jay Nixon, the Democratic Governor of Missouri, doesn’t think too much of that whole “innocent until proven guilty” thing and has decided instead to call for a “vigourous prosecution” of Darren Wilson, the officer who shot 18-year-old Michael Brown. Not a vigorous investigation, mind you, but a vigorous prosecution. In other words, to hell with the evidence and the mitigating circumstances. Naturally, it doesn’t matter that over a dozen witnesses have corroborated Wilson’s side of the story. VIDEO

FERGUSON, MO (RNN) - Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon made his boldest statement in the shooting death of an unarmed black man on Tuesday, saying a "vigorous prosecution must now be pursued." MORE Man killed in officer-involved shooting near Ferguson In the statement, Nixon said,"The democratically elected St. Louis County prosecutor and the Attorney General of the United States, each have a job to do. Their obligation to achieve justice in the shooting death of Michael Brown must be carried out thoroughly, promptly, and correctly; and I call upon them to meet those expectations." Nixon said the calming of tensions in...

......................"A visibly angry [Missouri State Police Capt. Ron ] Johnson said that officers had come under heavy gunfire from protesters and at least two people had been shot. Johnson said he did not know the condition of the shooting victims. Four officers had been injured when they were struck by rocks or bottles, though Johnson claimed that police had not fired a single shot. Citing what he called a "dangerous dynamic in the night," Johnson requested that protests take place during the daylight hours, so that officers could effectively isolate any troublemakers. However, Johnson said that his forces could not...

Monday on MSNBC's "The Ed Show," host Ed Schultz said Gov. Jay Nixon (D-MO) deployment of the Missouri National Guard to protect the St Louis suburb of Ferguson is "asking for another Kent State."