Posted on 07/25/2009 2:10:55 PM PDT by Dubya
Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. says he is ready to move on from his arrest by a white police officer, hoping to use the encounter to improve fairness in the criminal justice system and saying "in the end, this is not about me at all."
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
Stand on street corners with copies of that monstrous twitter. Hand them out.
He has a legal team on call? That's just damn scary.
Funny, because "in the end" I'll bet it's all about him (and Obama) and his behavior that is exposed on those tapes.
Probably faculty volunteers from Harvard Law....getting their diversity points.
Suspect that is the 'best offer' on the table!
Clearly; by his injection of the adjective 'white'; Gates has not moved on at all. He certainly does not want to garner more scrutiny per a Rev. Wright scenario unfolding; but hope this man gets full spotlight on whatever he is 'in to'.
And 'sure and of course'; he is 'over it'; he just wants to get down to that book on 'racial profiling' he is running in his head; and counting the dollars for his refurbished celebrity.
It seems to me... the cop could request its release to clear his name.....since Gates has already smeared him and denied any wrong-doing in the media.
Below is something that singer Rob Thomas posted on Twitter yesterday. I used to love him.
“The flight I’m on was deplaned. But I did meet henry gates. That’s something. He was cool. He said obama just called him. Touch me.”
The phone call from the Resident was probably legal counsel.
He, however, didn't expect that Zero would jump in right away. Their strategy is always to disassociate Zero from the Black race-baiting crowd to create an illusion that he is not one of them. The professor is smart enough to see that if he prolongs the issue, let alone sue the cops, it would impact negatively on his messiah. Hence, he tries to move on as soon as possible.
Clarice Feldman
Dan Riehl explores a charity headed by Professor "Skip" Gates which takes in a lot of money, pays out very little, mostly to his colleagues and assistants at Harvard, was late filing the necessary papers and lists as its office the house Gates rents from Harvard.
Perhaps as Ann Althouse suggested yesterday on her blog there was something in his home that Gates did not want the police to see.
Crowley says that Gates's "tone" was "peculiar." And I'm wondering why the question "Is there anybody in the home with you?" would have upset him so much. It could have been just that it was an invasion of his privacy, but think about this along with the fact that Gates didn't seem to want to report the damage to his door that made him need to force it open when he got home. Did Gates already somehow know who had broken the door while he was away, so that he wanted to protect that person? Was that person in the house, such that the question "Is there anybody in the home with you?" felt threatening to Gates?
Inkwell, the Gates charity is designed to help blacks trace their genealogy through their DNA. The stated purpose for Gates' trip to China which preceded this incident was to study Yoyo Ma's genealogy. Is Inkwell Gates' honeypot to pay for whatever trips he wants to make?
Does the president have yet another close associate with tax problems?"
I;m with you on that.
The reason for the change in tone is that Gates has talked to his lawyers and very likely has learned that he has potentially very serious legal exposure on his hands.
The legal problem for Gates occurred when he went outside the house and yelled to the gathering crowd words to the effect that Crowley was a racist cop.
If Crowley is NOT in fact a racist cop, then Gates has slandered Crowley.
It would not be a problem for Gates if he said that only in the presence of Crowley, but when he said that to the onlookers, he "published" the statement within the meaning of defamation law.
Gates would not be exposed if Crowley is in fact a racist cop, because truth is a defense to a slander charge.
Gates could always claim that Crowley called him the "n" word in the house, or some such thing.
However, it now appears that there are police audio recordings from Crowley's open mike, which could establish just what was said inside the house. Outside the house, there are witnesses as to what was said.
Liberals often think they can say any nasty lies they like about someone, because of the "actual malice" standard under defamation law - the slandered party has to prove the speaker harbored "actual malice" in his heart to recover.
Gates may not have realized that Sgt Crowley does not come under the "actual malice" standard because Crowley is not a public figure or a public official.
You might say, wait, isn't a police officer a public official? No, say, the courts, a public official generally is meant to include policy-making officials - not a rank and file government employee like a patrol officer.
So if police recordings exist to prove the content of the conversation inside the house, and if Crowley did not say or do anything to evidence that he is a racist, then Gates is in deep sh!t, legally speaking, because he has slandered Crowley.
Furthermore, this is probably defamation per se, which means that Crowley does not have to prove actual damages to be able to maintain a lawsuit against Gates.
However, I think a jury would find substantial damages against Gates given that Crowley appears to have an existing reputation as the opposite of a racist cop, in fact teaching police cadets about the dangers of racial profiling and having attempted to save the life of a prominent black basketball player, Reggie Lewis.
So Gates has some serious making nice to do with Crowley if he wants to avoid a possible large legal judgment against him.
It is indeed about him. Had he not been such a loudmouth jerk he would not have been arrested in his own home. No on is coming out and saying that. You don’t shoot your mouth off to police and get away with it.
Find this amazing; as it clearly indicates how much more 'over the top' Gates response was on what was not a 'first occasion' for confusion at his home.
Or perhaps; Gates was just adding noxious oil to an already blazing flame and/or was writing his next book out loud?
By the way, Crowley needs to be careful about how he meets with Gates and Obama.
If Crowley has a conversation alone with only Obama and Gates, they can claim Crowley said something that betrayed a racist mindset or that he said something that could be interpreted as admitting (such as an expression of regret or apology) that what he did or said to Gates at the time of arrest could be considered racist.
Crowley needs to have an objective witness present at all times during the meeting with Gates and Obama, and Crowley needs to talk to his lawyer before the meeting in order to be absolutely clear on what not to say.
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