Uncle Ben …Going Down

Th anticipated implosion of Uncle Ben Carson is accelerating…The rats, they are deserting the sinking ship.

Ben Carson campaign manager, communications director quit

Ben Carson campaign manager Barry Bennett and communications director Doug Watts have resigned.

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, has struggled in the polls since October when he was rivaling Donald Trump for the lead in the Republican presidential race.

“Barry Bennett and I have resigned from the Carson campaign effective immediately,” Watts said in a statement. “We respect the candidate and we have enjoyed helping him go from far back in the field to top tier status.”

Watts added: “We are proud of our efforts for Dr Carson and we wish him and his campaign the best of luck.”

Carson’s campaign has raised more than $23 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, his campaign said Wednesday, although it would not say how much cash it has on hand.

The resignations were first reported by the Des Moines Register.

 

 

Al Sharpton Calls On Rahm to Resign

 

Race and College Sports

The last major bastion of slavery in America – college sports. College Football and College Basketball are major revenue drivers for the schools. Being part of a major conference, even for a school at the bottom of the standings still means $8-10 million revenue in TV Rights and ticket sales. The big money from football has caused major realignments of traditional leagues – resulting in major realignments of the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the Big East as schools have fled to the big(ger) money conferences.

Schools winning the Championship series can garner over $50 million in revenue counting TV Rights, Ticket sales, and the ale of licensed material. This is BIG Business…

Racial prejudice is driving opposition to paying college athletes. Here’s the evidence.

With the money made from college sports increasing every year, the way colleges treat their athletes has become controversial.

That’s because college sports is a tremendously lucrative business for everyone but the athletes. The National College Athletic Association (NCAA) will receive $7.3 billion from ESPN for the right to broadcast the seven games of the College Football Playoffs (CFP) between 2014 and 2026, and $11 billionfrom CBS and Turner Sports to broadcast “March Madness” over the next 14 years.

Individual colleges also make out well: The University of Kentucky’s men’s basketball team’s trip to the Final Four this year, for example, brought more than $8 million in revenue to the universities of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Each of the “Big 5” conferences will make an estimated $50 millionfrom the college football playoffs this year.

And none of this counts the money made from concessions, merchandise and licensing fees.

Meanwhile, most college athletes are “paid” with scholarships that cover only tuition, room, board, books and fees — although in 2015, the NCAA allowed Division I universities the option of increasing this to pay the full cost of attendance. After adding up the time spent on practice, training and games, college athletes often “work” the equivalent of full-time hours for the universities they play for…

 

Most blacks want college athletes to be paid. Most whites don’t

There’s evidence that he’s right. In survey after survey, strong national majorities oppose paying college athletes. In March 2015, for example, anHBO Real Sports/Marist Poll found that 65 percent of Americans do not think college athletes in top men’s football and basketball programs should be paid.

But these attitudes vary significantly by race. In every survey to date, blacks are far more likely to support paying college athletes when compared to whites. For instance, in the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study(CCES), 53 percent of African Americans backed paying college athletes–more than doubling the support expressed by whites (22 percent).

Racial divisions on controversial issues, of course, are not new. Even on ostensibly race-neutral policies like welfare, health care, and law enforcement, strong differences in opinion exist between blacks and whites. Decades of research have found (here, here and here) that some of those gaps in opinion come from racial prejudice against blacks. When whites believe that a policy mainly helps blacks, their opinions on that policy are inevitably colored by their feelings towards blacks as a group.

Could some of that gap grow from racism?

Could racial prejudice also affect attitudes toward paying college athletes? There are good reasons to believe that it could.

According to NCAA data from 2014, blacks constitute the majority of players in college football and basketball, the two sports that most people think of when they think of college athletics. Given this reality, it would be strange if questions about paying college athletes did not conjure up images of young black men in the minds of survey respondents.

To find out whether racial prejudice influences white opinion on paying college athletes, we conducted a survey of opinions on “pay for play” policies using the 2014 CCES.

In a statistical analysis that controlled for a host of other influences, we found this: Negative racial views about blacks were the single most important predictor of white opposition to paying college athletes.

The more negatively a white respondent felt about blacks, the more they opposed paying college athletes.

To check our findings’ validity, we also conducted an experiment. Before we asked white respondents whether college athletes should be paid, we showed one group pictures of young black men with stereotypical African American first and last names. We showed another group no pictures at all.

As you can see in the figure below, whites who were primed by seeing pictures of young black men were significantly more likely to say they opposed paying college athletes. Support dropped most dramatically among whites who expressed the most resent towards blacks as a group.

When we talk about paying college athletes, we’re talking about race 

In other words, the discussion about paying college athletes is implicitly a discussion about race. As the representative of nearly 1,200 schools, conferences and affiliate organizations, the NCAA should consider how much it wants to base its policies on public opinion that may be tainted by racial prejudice.

Kevin Wallsten is an associate professor in the department of political science at California State University atLong Beach. Tatishe M. Nteta is an associate professor in the department of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Lauren A. McCarthy is an assistant professor in the political science department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

 

Yet Another Black Conservative Scumbag – Henry Alford

Alford is a Republican front – and a shill to the highest bidder.

How The National Black Chamber Of Commerce’s Leader Is Harming African Americans

 

Smog is getting its moment in the Congressional spotlight, and the politics are dirty.

In a House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology hearing on Tuesday morning, Republicans called upon longtime utility and fossil fuel advocates — including Harry C. Alford, President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) — to push back on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed tightening of ground-level ozone levels from to between 65 and 70 parts per billion, from the current 75 parts per billion.

Alford is no stranger to Congress. In the past, he has testified that the EPA’s efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions for power plants would cause electricity prices to skyrocket. As far back as 1998 he testified that the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol would be detrimental to minority-owned small businesses. Since 1998, the NBCC has received $800,000 from ExxonMobil. It has also been funded by the tobacco industry.

But Alford’s record of actively opposing environmental policies has struck a nerve with other black leaders in America, who are condemning his relationship with polluting industries.

Dr. Michael Dorsey, the Interim Director for the Energy and Environment Program at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, sees Alford’s tactics as being far more than simply misleading — he sees them as actually being very dangerous to African American communities.

“This testimony harms African Americans,” Dorsey, who has a PhD in environmental policy from the University of Michigan, told ThinkProgress. “Alfred’s false claims about energy are a triple threat — they harm African Americans in their wallets, they harm them in their lungs, and they threaten the environments they live in. He doesn’t even represent black business, it’s criminal.”

Automobiles, power plants, factories, and refineries all produce ozone-forming pollutants, which make up smog. Elevated ozone levels put people are at risk for premature death, aggravated asthma, and difficulty breathing, according to the American Lung Association.

Alford’s remarks Tuesday parroted his past statements. He said that the proposed strengthening of ozone regulations would “shut off huge parts of country to job growth” and would lead to “loss of good health.”

In February, Alford penned an op-ed in the Hill arguing that the EPA’s proposal will shut down coal-fired power plants, which will be harmful to African Americans and African American small business owners in need of “dependable energy and predictable utility bills.”

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is directly at odds with Alford’s statements. In 2012, the NAACP released a report called “Coal Blooded” stating that of the six million Americans living near coal plants, 39 percent are people of color. NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said that “coal pollution is literally killing low-income communities and communities of color.”

Dorsey argues that what Alford is doing condemns these minority communities to “remain underneath” dirty energy and prevents them from getting the many benefits of renewable energy. Because of this, the community Alford purports to represent is actually being dramatically misrepresented by arguments “not based on any science and not based on him being a serious advocate.”

“He’s just mouthing off talking points from Edison Electric,” said Dorsey. “It’s disturbing that he would subject himself to being so manipulated.”

Dorsey’s distress extends to Congress as well.

“Not enough Democrats or Republicans want to get together and have serious conversations about serious issues,” he said. “Throwing snowballs and playing games — when we play games with these issues people lose their lives.”

A highly partisan issue, ground-level ozone regulations have done a lot to improve air quality, and lawmakers like Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), ranking Democratic member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, think they can and should be taken further….Read the Rest Here…

 

Camoflage

This apparently is the Brussels Army version of camouflage uniform. Some of those colors look like a Safety hunting vest…

These are the new versions of the US Army, which make the wearer damn near invisible depending on terrain.

British Army… Hard to see…

American Army…From 100 yards pretty much invisible…

Swiss Army – No hiding that…Anywhere except maybe in fall.

French Army …

Chinese Navy…

Chinese PLA…

India Army…

Just sayin’ it seems weird.

 

Clown Bus Update – Pataki Hits the Wall

George Pataki Drops Out Of 2016 Presidential Race

Former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) announced Tuesday that he is dropping out of the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, bringing the once 17-member GOP field to 12 candidates.

Pataki announced his decision Tuesday evening in a TV spot airing on NBC affiliates in the three early caucus and primary states: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina…

Pataki, 70, who served as governor of New York from 1995 to 2006, had dismal poll numbers, struggled to raise money and failed to gain traction throughout his campaign. He never made it to the main stage during any of the Republican presidential primary debates.

Pataki was a more establishment-minded candidate among the pack of Republican presidential rivals. He supported abortion rights, gay rights and gun control.

He also took a somewhat progressive stance on climate change. “There’s no question that human CO2 emissions are contributing, in some way,” he said during an interview with ABC News in October. “And to the extent it’s consistent with a strong economy and a strong America, we should be taking steps to help the future generation deal with that.”

 

Muslims Troll ISIS on Twitter

They went there…

Follow

Jay Zadeh‏@JayLikesIt

@iyad_elbaghdadi Sorry Amir al-Mushrikeen, I’m busy being a real Muslim, giving to charity etc. Also, your dental plan sucks. #GoatTeethISIS

Follow

ismailsafrin‏@ismailsafrin

@iyad_elbaghdadi my mom is saying no. Could you come and ask her for the permission?

Follow

Hassaan Munir‏@Go_Nawaz_Go

@iyad_elbaghdadi I am a little busy with this Legendary Super Mutant Overlord that keeps nagging me in Fallout 4. No can do.

Follow

Hind Al-Sulaiti‏@hsulaiti

@iyad_elbaghdadi I wanna wait until April and find out what happened to Jon Snow

Follow

Yasser Almaamoun‏@YAlmaamoun

@iyad_elbaghdadi in this special occasion, is there any changes in virgin numbers? 72 is so old school.

Follow

Zaid Azmi‏@ZaidAzmi

@iyad_elbaghdadi You should have told me before. I just renewed my pornhub subscription. Anyways, hope you are enjoying Russian fireworks.

 

Bill Cosby Charged With Rape

It is not like you couldn’t see this coming after the Cosby lawsuit last week against his accusers.

Bill Cosby charged with sexually assaulting Pennsylvania woman in 2004

For the first time, Bill Cosby will face criminal charges in connection with an accusation of sexual assault, Montgomery County prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced on Wednesday.

Prosecutors charged Cosby with aggravated indecent assault, a felony, First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a morning press conference. The single charge stems from an alleged sexual assault in early 2004.

“Today, after examination of all the evidence, we are able to seek justice on behalf of the victim,” Steele said. The charges were filed thanks to new information uncovered in July, Steele said, noting that the incident remains within the 12-year statute of limitations.

The felony charge came at the conclusion of a second investigation into allegations that the comedian drugged and assaulted former Temple University employee Andrea Constand 12 years ago.  Constand first accused Cosby of assaulting her in 2005. At the time, prosecutors declined to press charges.

On the evening in question, Mr. Cosby urged her to take pills that he provided her and to drink wine, the effect of which rendered her unable to move,” Steele said to reporters, later saying the pills rendered the victim “frozen,” and  “paralyzed.” That was when Cosby allegedly committed aggravated indecent assault, the first degree felony for which he was charged on Wednesday…

 

Republican Governor Using Tax Money to Build Mansion – While Closing DMVs to Stop Black Voters

 

Ralph Gilges walks his dog Dixie outside Alabama’s abandoned beachfront governor’s mansion in Gulf Shores, Ala. Work began earlier this month to fix the 7,500-square-foot gubernatorial mansion that wasn’t repaired after Hurricane Danny in 1997. A spokeswoman for Gov. Robert Bentley says BP grant money left over from the 2010 oil spill will cover the $1.8 million in renovations.

Alabama Governor Uses BP Spill Money To Fix Up A Second Mansion For Himself

As storms once again battered the state of Alabama over Christmas, Republican Gov. Robert Bentley moved to divert funding from the 2010 BP oil spill recovery effort to finance the renovationof a second Governor’s mansion on the Gulf Coast.

Yet that beachside mansion, which Alabama governors beginning with famed segregationist George Wallace have enjoyed, was not damaged by the BP oil spill. It was damaged more than two decades earlier by Hurricane Danny, and has sat empty ever since.

While Alabama’s oyster industry and coastal communities continue to suffer from the effects of the massive Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout, the repairs to the governors’ mansion areestimated to cost between $1.5 million and $1.8 million. Though Bentley says he will stay there only “on occasion,” the administration said the property would be “primarily” used to wine and dine corporate executives considering the state for investment.

While the funding comes from a grant, not taxpayer money, the state plans to divert other BP settlement dollars to cover the state’s General Fund shortfalls. Bentley has been widely criticizedfor prioritizing the far-flung beachfront property at a time when the state is struggling to provide basic services to its residents.

In October, citing a budget crunch, the state closed more than 30 DMVs — all in rural areas with a majority-black population. After an outcry from residents, lawmakers, and civil rights groups, the governor agreed to keep the DMVs open one day per month. Arguing that this isn’t sufficient to give residents the ability to get the voter IDs they need to access the ballot box, the NAACP and other groups are currently suing the state.

Yet Bentley argues that the mansion repairs are a priority for economic development, and says the move has no connection to the fact that he recently lost two beachfront properties in a messy divorce.

 

Democrats Black Staff Pay Problem

Hmmmm…Democrats need to answer for this one…

This picture of part of Obama’s Campaign Staff was part of a critique of his campaign by black Conservative Larry Elder. I am afraid to say Elder was right on this one. Of course, Republicans don’t have this problem, as there simply aren’t any minority campaign staff in their party.

Democrats Pay Black Staffers 30% Less

Campaign staffers who are people of color routinely get paid less than their white counterparts, and are often given less glamorous jobs. How an antiquated understanding of race relations results in minority staffers getting the short shrift.

If you’re a person of color hoping to get hired by a political campaign, here’s the ugly truth: You’ll probably get paid less than your white counterparts, if you’re even hired at all.On both sides of the aisle, there is a racial pay gap in campaign politics. Asian, Black and Latino staffers are paid less than their white counterparts, according to an analysis by the New Organizing Institute.

For example, African-American staffers on Democratic campaigns were paid 70 cents for each dollar their white counterparts made. For Hispanic staffers in Democratic campaigns, the figure was 68 cents on the dollar.

And a recent study by PowerPAC+, funded by a major Democratic donor, revealed that less than 2 percent of spending by Democratic campaign committees during the past two election cycles went to firms owned by minorities.

Political operative Michael Gomez Daly worked on two congressional campaigns in 2012 with similar budgets. On one campaign, Daly, who describes himself as “a very light-skinned Hispanic,” was brought in as a field director, primarily for his skills as a Latino operative who could reach out to the Hispanic community. On the second campaign, where they did not know he was Hispanic, “I just came in as ‘Michael Daly,’ instead of ‘that Latino operative,’” he said. “Right off the bat they offered me twice the amount for the same job.”

Most of the operatives interviewed for this article, all of whom have years of experience in campaign politics, said they had to make an early, conscious decision to avoid being pigeonholed as a specialist in minority outreach. For minority campaign staffers, they said, the path to enduring success lies in saying “no” to jobs like that early on in your career.

“It was pretty clear to me early on that you can get put in a box pretty quickly. You get offers for jobs: African-American outreach, Asian-American outreach. Oftentimes when you start doing that work, it’s hard to get out of it,” said Sujata Tejwani, president of Sujata Strategies, a Democratic firm.

Added Rodell Mollineau, a past president of the progressive tracking organization American Bridge, “As a person of color [at the start of your career], you’re always put in situations where a primary part of your job is communicating with or working with other people of color.”

The NOI statistics on the campaign race pay gap compare all staffers of each race, and average out the salaries. One of the explanations for lower minority wages could be that they tend to be represented in lower-paying campaign roles.

 

Tamir Rice Would Be Alive If He Were White

This is one of the most scathing editorials I have ever seen. From the Editorial Board at the New York Times…

No it ain’t real. It has an extra “safety” on the slide which doesn’t exist on the real model, the attachment rail on the bottom is a dead giveaway, and it’s plastic, not blued steel

This is one of hundreds of variations of the real deal. I own several of these in various calibers, including two set up for competition. They are big, heavy, and not designed for “concealed carry” as they were designed for the Military.

 

Cleveland’s Terrible Stain

Tamir Rice of Cleveland would be alive today had he been a white 12-year-old playing with a toy gun in just about any middle-class neighborhood in the country on the afternoon of Nov. 22, 2014.

But Tamir, who was shot to death by a white police officer that day, had the misfortune of being black in a poor area of Cleveland, where the police have historically behaved as an occupying force that shoots first and asks questions later. To grow up black and male in such a place is to live a highly circumscribed life, hemmed in by forces that deny your humanity and conspire to kill you.

Those forces hovered over the proceedings on Monday when a grand jury declined to indict Officer Timothy Loehmann in the killing and Timothy McGinty, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, explained why he had asked the grand jurors to not bring charges. Mr. McGinty described the events leading up to Tamir’s death as tragic series of errors and “miscommunications” that began when a 911 caller said a male who was “probably a juvenile” was waving a “probably fake” gun at people in a park.

The fact that those caveats never reached Officer Loehmann — who shot the child within seconds of arriving on the scene — was more than just an administrative misstep. It reflects an utter disregard for the lives of the city’s black residents. That disregard pervades every aspect of this case and begins with the fact that the department failed to even review Officer Loehmann’s work history before giving him the power of life and death over the citizens of Cleveland. Had the department done so, it would have found that Officer Loehmann had quit a suburban police department where he had showed a “dangerous loss of composure” during firearms training and was found to be emotionally unfit for the stress of the job.

Officer Loehmann joined a police department that itself had acquired a well-documented reputation for wanton violence and for shooting at people who posed no threat to the police or others. In a particularly striking event, documented by the Justice Department last year, officers mistook the sound of a car backfiring for a gunshot. They chased down and fired at the vehicle 137 times, killing two occupants who turned out to be unarmed.

The lengthy Justice Department report shows clearly why the black community viewed the Cleveland police as dangerous and profoundly out of control. In May, the Police Department entered an agreement with the Justice Department, enforceable by the courts, under which it is to adopt sweeping reforms.

The Police Department’s disregard for life was fully evident in the way the officers behaved after shooting Tamir. A surveillance video shows them standing by the child for four minutes without giving medical assistance, which was finally provided by an F.B.I. agent who happened to be in the neighborhood. Officer Frank Garmback, Officer Loehmann’s partner, nonetheless tackled the wounded boy’s 14-year-old sister as she tried to rush to his side. One can only imagine her suffering as she watched in handcuffs from the back seat of the squad car while her brother lay bleeding on the ground.

In addition to portraying the killing as a result of a tragic misunderstanding, prosecutors have also suggested the officer’s decision to kill Tamir was shaped by the fact that the surrounding neighborhood had a history of violence and that the boy appeared to be older than 12 because he was big for his age.

These arguments sidestep the history of violent, discriminatory police actions that led up to this boy’s death. They also have the reprehensible effect of shifting the responsibility for this death onto the shoulders of this very young victim.

 

Police Shootings Bear No Relationship to Crime Levels

One of the arguments which starts to fall apart quickly is that Police lethal violence is related to high crime levels. This chart from the DOJ shows there is no relationship in Police violence to violent crime levels…

 

16 Numbers That Explain Why Police Reform Became An Even Bigger Story In 2015

$248.7 million

The amount paid out last year by the 10 largest U.S. cities for settlements and court judgments involving police misconduct cases in their departments,according to a Wall Street Journal report. These cities paid out more than $1 billion over five years, with the annual total increasing nearly 50 percent from 2010 to 2014.

Taxpayers in these cities are typically on the hook for these payments, meaning that they can end up getting victimized twice — both as the direct casualties of police misconduct and the unwilling enablers who must eventually pay for that misconduct.

 

The Faux News Tom Squad Dances on Tamir’s Grave

The goal here being to point responsibility anywhere except at their Massa’s.

Here is Uncle Charles Payne, and Uncle Rod Wheeler.

The issue here is the protesting police violence isn’t “ridiculing”, as Uncle Charles bleats. The “Ferguson Effect” has been well discredited, and systemically and completely blown up as a false canard. Supporting the Police, and holding them responsible to competently do their jobs are not incongruous. Why exactly do conservatives believe that competence is not necessary for only Police to do their jobs?  Here we have the standard, conservative racist false equivalency arguments spewed by their reliable Lawn Jockeys.

What I believe needs to happen here is a lot less marching and whimpering in the streets and a lot more lawsuits in the courthouse. At least to my admittedly limited understanding, it seems a case can be made that the systematic failure to enforce accountability is a violation of citizen Civil Rights, and a dereliction of legal and Constitutional duty by the Courts and local prosecutors. Can’t win that one in today’s Supreme Court ruled by the Scumbag 5 – but with any luck in the 4-5 years it takes to wind through the lower courts, one or more of the Scumbag 5 will die of natural causes and be replaced by a Democrat President shifting the balance towards a legitimate court ruling by the Law instead of political affiliation.

The way the Old Jim Crow was disassembled was though continuous and well thought out pressure and repeated demands in the Courts. Perhaps I am uninformed – but I am not seeing that yet.

Uncle Tom Lackey Supported of the Week Award.

 

Bernie Call for Federal Investigation of Tamir Rice Murder

After the scathing report by the DOJ on the Cleveland Police Department’s tactics and systemic brutality – I think there needs to be a bit more than just an investigation of the Police Department. I think the District Attorney’s office needs to be looked at really hard, and in particular the prosecutor in the Grand Jury case that decided not to prosecute. Something is wrong here. Something is wrong when a prosecutor acts as a Defense Attorney, instead of a prosecutor.

Bernie Sanders wants federal probe of Tamir Rice case: ‘We need to take a hard look’ at police use of force

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was critical on Monday of an Ohio grand jury’s decision not to indict two police officers in connection with the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.

“I think we need to have a federal investigation to take a look at that. But I will also tell you that we need, nationally, to take a hard look at the use of force,” he told MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry.

Sanders, who is campaigning for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, said that while he feels police have an impossible job, “as a nation, we have got to recognize that lethal force should be the last response, not the first response — and we’re seeing too much, I think, [shootings] in this country.”

The senator also renewed his criticism of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who seemingly reversed course earlier in the day from complaining that wages were “too high” to signalling support for increasing wages.

“What Trump is telling the American people is that low wages are good,” Sanders told Harris-Perry. “That’s good for America. What he is telling the American people is he wants to see hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks for the .2 of 1 percent, and that’s the word we have got to get out to working class people who are inclined to support Trump: it’s old-fashioned trickle-down economics — the rich will get richer under Trump’s ideas, and the middle class will continue to decline.”

 

Van Jones and the Tamir Rice Murder Coverup

Activist Laura Cowan –

 

CNN contributor Van Jones slammed Cuyahoga County, Ohio Prosecutor Timothy McGinty on Monday for what he called his office’s failure to find any reason to charge two police officers in connection with the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice last November.

“That is completely preposterous on its face,” Jones said. “And yet, this prosecutor went above and beyond the call of duty to spend extra money and took extra time to get these cops off. Prosecutors do not act this way under ordinary circumstances. Usually, they throw the book at you and then they tell you, ‘You explain to a judge and jury why you’re innocent. This particular prosecutor did the opposite of most prosecutors in this case.”

McGinty announced on Monday that a grand jury decided not to indict officers Frank Garmback and Timothy Loehmann, who drove close to the boy as he wielded an air pellet gun. Video of the incident shows Loehmann shooting and killing Rice almost instantly after jumping out of his patrol car.

However, Jones said, McGinty brought experts in to testify to the jury on behalf of the officers, a marked departure from the norm.

“To say that nothing happened here, nothing happened that should go to a jury — how about this: no medical aid after the kid is killed? How about criminal medical neglect?” Jones asked. “How about the fact that, under ordinary circumstances, a police officer would never put themselves in peril and then shoot their way out? The fact that the police officer drove into peril and then shot his way out — there’s not a traffic ticket you could issue? There’s not a misdemeanor here?”