Obama takes to Facebook (because there’s apparently no other outlet for him to opine)
Like many Americans, I was deeply disturbed by the footage of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. This Thanksgiving, I ask everybody to keep those who’ve suffered tragic loss in our thoughts and prayers, and to be thankful for the overwhelming majority of men and women in uniform who protect our communities with honor. And I’m personally grateful to the people of my hometown for keeping protests peaceful.
And well he should be. I’ve read the reports, watched the video, and have come to the conclusion that Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke very much murdered Laquan McDonald. This was not a situation like Michael Brown, this was a guy who was threatening, but contained. He wasn’t charging the officer, the Chicago PD could have taken them time to get a taser. McDonald, regardless of any possible gang affiliations, regardless of his drug use, regardless of anything else, was shot 16 times, quite a few while down on the ground.
And there very much was a conspiracy to cover this up. And every officer and city official involved should be charged. Conservatives stand for law and order, and equal treatment under the law. We do not blindly stand behind anyone when they have done wrong. This was wrongdoing on a massive scale.
A very interesting part is how Obama, elected Democrats, and their supporters are avoiding the mention of something important: Chicago is a Democratic Party run city, and has been for a long time. Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel is a buddy of Obama’s. But, this is Rahm’s city. The buck stops with him. This falls in his lap. Yet, neither Obama nor other Democrats are calling for Rahm to resign, nor asking for an investigation into what he knew and when he knew it. Nor are they calling for an investigation into the local police union along the same lines. Very few articles even mention the word “Democrat”. There seems to be one lone voice in the wilderness calling for Rahm to be held accountable, John Kass at the Chicago Tribune.
As for peaceful, that depends on your definition. There hasn’t been the violence, looting, breaking and entering, and arson we’ve seen at other protests. There has been some destruction of property, and, apparently, Christmas lights are evil.
Protests escalate, demonstrators rip lights off city Christmas tree https://t.co/HSHAZ5hHlI Video: @WGNErik pic.twitter.com/Y4423LWgDb
— WGN TV News (@WGNNews) November 26, 2015
There are reports that the BLM protesters will disrupt Black Friday. Will they keep it mostly peaceful? Time will tell. In this case, though, they have a right to be upset and protest. Violence? Destruction of property? No.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
This is one of those cases that make you shake your head for so many reasons.
The cop who did the shooting has to go away forever. This shooting cannot be justified in any stretch of the imagination.
Any cops who lied to cover the crime up have to go as well. They should lose their pensions, be arrested for false statements, etc. The unions will fight such actions, but it has to happen.
And Teach is right. This happened on Rahm Emmanual’s watch. There has to be accountability in his office as well. (Plus the prosecutor’s office who appears to have sat on this for a year.)
Racism exists everywhere in the USA and that includes among Democrats.
The victims of racism in the USA choose to vote Democratic. Teach as their great white father who knows best says that the GOP will do better for them.
Without the full details of the crime its amazing that people can condemn someone as a murderer so quickly. It really doesn’t matter that this thug had a long rap sheet and failed to obey repeated orders to drop the knife he was carrying. It doesn’t matter that he was taking PCP and a taser wouldn’t have impacted him in the least.
It doesn’t matter that the police were called because this choirboy was slashing cars with said knife. Nor does it matter after two shots the said choirboy had probably joined the heavenly choir AND ALL ADDITIONAL SHOTS SERVED TO PUNCTURE a useless drug riddled body. So unless you can prove this was premediated, that the use of force was wildly inappropriate, and as we all know you have had access to all the facts and are not leaping to conclusions, this cop is clearly a beast who lusts to use his gun on choirboys.
Heard it with Trayvon and Mr. Brown. I will wait for all the facts before I start convicting anyone.
I swear I’ve seen jurors like you before.
It doesn’t matter that the guy had a long rap sheet unless you think that the cop should serve as judge, jury and in this case, executioner.
It doesn’t matter that the guy had used PCP because the autopsy showed there was no PCP in his system. The fact that the guy did not have PCP in his system throws out the idea that a taser was not used because he was on PCP.
You are correct that it doesn’t matter why the cops were called. Cops may use deadly force if there is a threat to their lives or the lives of other citizens. That is not the case here. The guy was continuing to walk down the street and not veering toward the police at all and there was no one in danger on the other side of the street. By law, the cop did not have to nor could they use deadly force. It is also interesting that no other cop fired a shot. Furthermore, some of the cops, including the shooter said that suspect lunged at them. There is no lunging on the video. The cops lied. The cops who lied should be prosecuted for making false statements just like any citizen would.be.
Murder does not have to be premeditated to be murder. Also, cops are allowed to shoot until the threat ends. So while you say that the first 2 shots may have killed him, are you really supporting the idea that the additional 14 times the cop shot is justified? If you want to argue that the additional shots didn’t matter, that would be a great point ….. for the prosecution.
Finally, the use of force is dependent upon several things, none of which are in play here. There is no threat to anyone. The guy was not going to escape as the police were further along the road as well.
I have no idea what you heard in the Martin case or the Brown case. In those cases there was no video and the physical evidence was against the idea that Brown or Martin were not culpable in the attacks.
In this case, the evidence and the video paint a much different picture.
The cop has to go away.