Today I saved links to several news stories that I thought I might want to write about. I didn’t have a lot to say about any of them, so I decided to combine them in a single post. Make of it what you will.
Eric Holder announced today that his heavily politicized Department of Justice is launching a “wide-ranging investigation into the practices of the Ferguson, Mo., police.” This is because of the Michael Brown case, of course, and yet there has been no adjudication that the police did anything wrong in that encounter; nor, in fact, have we even heard the policeman’s side of the story. So why should there be a “wide-ranging” federal investigation?
UPI tries to explain Holder’s rationale:
State statistics find that in St. Louis County, which includes Ferguson, officers are more likely to pull over blacks than whites, and are more likely to arrest black people in those traffic stops.
So why isn’t DOJ investigating all of St. Louis County–which, by the way, is the largest county in Missouri? And who are Holder and UPI trying to kid? Everyone knows that blacks are pulled over more often than whites and Asians, proportionately, because they commit more moving violations. Numerous studies have shown this to be true. Black cops pull over more black drivers, just like white cops do. If that were grounds for a DOJ investigation, the Department should investigate every police department in the country.
But of course, Holder’s political “investigation” has nothing to do with crime, and everything to do with the Democratic Party’s prospects in November’s election.
Elizabeth Warren is the darling of the far Left, but she knows better than to present herself as the heir of George McGovern. So she talked a tough game about ISIS:
We need to be working now, full speed ahead, with other countries, to destroy ISIS. That should be our number one priority.
Tough! But Ann Althouse doubts whether Warren means, or even understands, what she says:
“Full-speed ahead” — what does that mean?
Warren deflected a question on whether Obama has been too cautious in his strategy to combat the Islamic terrorist group and pushed back on potentially broader unilateral action.
“We can’t get pulled into another war in the Middle East,” she said. “We need to be working with others to close ISIS down.”
It’s like she got a memo to talk tough, but there’s nothing behind the talk. Not even a little more talk. Just “Full-speed ahead.”
Elizabeth Warren acting tough. Don’t worry, the motorcycle is standing still.
Ann reminds us where “full speed ahead” comes from, and how little the concept has to do with Elizabeth Warren:
Admiral David Farragut
Who says “Full-speed ahead”? Where does that come from? David Glasgow Farragut, the U.S. Navy Admiral, famously said in the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay: “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” Actually, he said: “Damn the torpedoes. Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed,” but it’s remembered as “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” Farragut has ordered his fleet to enter the heavily mined Mobile Bay:
When the monitor USS Tecumseh struck a mine [that is a “torpedo”] and sank, the others began to pull back. Farragut could see the ships pulling back from his high perch, where he was lashed to the rigging of his flagship, USS Hartford. “What’s the trouble?”, he shouted through a trumpet to USS Brooklyn. “Torpedoes”, was the shouted reply. “Damn the torpedoes,” said Farragut, “Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed.” The bulk of the fleet succeeded in entering the bay.
So, Senator Warren, is this the sort of thing you mean? Would Farragut have said “We can’t get pulled into another war” and “We need to be working with others”?
Did you really mean to adopt his words or was that just a handy expression that felt like the sort of thing one says when talking tough? Farragut wasn’t talking tough. He was witnessing a sinking ship in a mined harbor and ordering many ships to charge into that harbor anyway. Damn the danger!
Elizabeth Warren is a fake in every possible way. We can only hope that the Democrats will be foolish enough to nominate her–the victor in one election, in her lifetime!–for president.
Ringo, some years ago
Ringo Starr today told of his disgust over British jihadis being given nicknames based on The Beatles.
The drummer said he was saddened that the fanatics — led by a man dubbed “Jihadi John”, who is suspected of beheading two American journalists — had been labelled with the names of the Fab Four.
Starr, 74, told the Standard: “It’s bullshit. What they are doing out there is against everything The Beatles stood for.” …
He said: “If we stood for anything we never stood for that. The four of us absolutely stood for peace and love.”
That’s a wrap for tonight. One more news day in a world gone mad.
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