http://www.cnn.com/…

A judge acquitted three New York Police Department detectives of all charges Friday morning in the shooting death of an unarmed man in a 50-bullet barrage, hours before he was to be married. Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora were found not guilty of charges of manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell, 23, and the wounding of two of his friends.

Detective Marc Cooper was acquitted of reckless endangerment.

Justice Arthur Cooperman said he found problems with the prosecution’s case. He said some prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves, and he cited prior convictions and incarcerations of witnesses.

He also cited the demeanor of some witnesses on the stand.

As the judge read his decision, Nicole Paultre Bell — Sean Bell’s fiancee before his death — ran from the courtroom, saying, “I’ve got to get out of here.”

The announcement immediately sparked anger among some in the crowd outside the courthouse, but the protests were generally orderly.

One woman shouted at a black police officer, “How can you be proud to wear that uniform? Stand down! Stop working for the masters!”

Patrick Lynch, president of the New York Police Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said “there’s no winners, there’s no losers” in the case.

“We still have a death that occurred. We still have police officers that have to live with the fact that there was a death involved in their case,” Lynch said.

But, he added, the verdict assured police officers that they will be treated fairly in New York’s courts.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been advising Bell’s fiancee and family, left the courthouse about an hour after the verdict without making a public statement. He had called for calm Wednesday.

Bell, 23, was killed just before dawn on his wedding day, November 25, 2006. He and several friends were winding up an all-night bachelor party at the Kalua Club in Queens, a strip club that was under investigation by a NYPD undercover unit looking into complaints of guns, drugs and prostitution.

Undercover detectives were inside the club, and plainclothes officers were stationed outside.

Witnesses said that about 4 a.m., closing time, as Bell and his friends left the club, an argument broke out. Believing that one of Bell’s friends, Joseph Guzman, was going to get a gun from Bell’s car, one of the undercover detectives followed the men and called for backup.

What happened next was at the heart of the trial, prosecuted by the assistant district attorney in Queens.

Bell, Guzman and Trent Benefield got into the car, with Bell at the wheel. The detectives drew their weapons, said Guzman and Benefield, who testified that they never heard the plainclothes detectives identify themselves as police.

Bell was in a panic to get away from the armed men, his friends testified.

But the detectives thought Bell was trying to run down one of them, according to their lawyers, believed that their lives were in danger and started shooting.

In a frantic 911 call, police can be heard saying, “Shots fired. Undercover units involved.”

A total of 50 bullets were fired by five NYPD officers. Only three were charged with crimes.

Oliver, who reloaded his semiautomatic in the middle of the fray, fired 31 times, Isnora fired 11 times, and Cooper, whose leg was brushed by Bell’s moving car, fired four times, the NYPD said.

No gun was found near Bell or his friends.

Soon after his death, Bell’s fiancee, Nicole Paultre, legally changed her name to Nicole Paultre Bell. She is raising the couple’s two daughters, ages 5 and 1.

“I tell [them] that Daddy’s in heaven now,” she said. “He’s watching over us. He’s our guardian angel. He’s going to be here to protect us and make sure nothing happens to us.”

Detectives Endowment Association President Michael Palladino said forensic and scientific evidence presented during the seven-week trial contradicts the testimony of prosecution witnesses.

But Paultre Bell’s father, Lester Paultre, said, “For those naysayers who say the police was doing their job, they should imagine their child in that car being shot by the police for no reason.”

Paultre Bell, Guzman and Benefield have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court that has been stayed pending the outcome of the criminal trial. Guzman was shot 16 times, and four bullets, too dangerous to remove, remain in his body, according to his lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein.

Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York have been monitoring the trial. In the event of an acquittal, it is likely authorities would conduct a review to determine whether there were any civil rights violations.

Another example of the thin blue line closing in to protect their own.  No one is claiming sovereign immunity but that’s effectively what’s happening here. If any other gun toting individual were to have done something like this they’d likely be found guilty of at least manslaughter. These guys weren’t even found guilty of reckless endangerment. Firing 31 times into a slow moving car seems pretty reckless to me as well as assault.

People are claiming racism. While two of the officers are black that has never stopped minority officers from profiling or joining in on racist behavior. I’ve no evidence that explicit racism was a component of this case but I have little doubt that implicit racism did and unfortunately there is little or nothing we can do about that.

Right now on CNN TV they are reporting about how a protest/rally has broken out outside the courthouse. Our race baiting friend Al Sharpton apparently is there. I can’t stand the man but he’s telling everyone to keep calm and for some reason some people like and listen to him so perhaps he will help keep the likely volatile environment under control. We don’t need more tragedy to result from this.

This shows again that they aren’t there to protect you, they are there to enforce the law. Good or bad. They have little concern for the real victims and the real results of their actions. They are a gang and they look out for their own at the expense of those who they claim to protect. As with any gang they must be fought. We should not give those who seek power a position in which to weld it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/…

I couldn’t stand to watch the whole thing… nor did I take notes this time but I’ve a few things to point out.

• The very first thing mentioned was the whole race/gender arguments going about. That they all wish to stop talking about it. That race nor gender matter and shouldn’t be part of their campaigns. The second thing mentioned is how the three on stage are qualified to be their. Hillary immediately brings up her gender and talks about what she has accomplished as one.
• They continue to make race and gender an issue throughout the first half of the debate and none of the candidates cared to stop the questions. Even after a member of the audience started yelling about how all the questions where referring to race/gender.
• Just like all the Republicans minus Ron Paul… the Democrats don’t understand economics. Their drivel about the economy was pathetic. It’s like a child’s ignorant view of the world. They speak of surface level issues.
• Hillary accuses all the Republicans of being prowar. Wanting to continue the Bush administration’s plans. Anyone who pays any attention knows that’s not the case. If Mr. Kucinich had been on the stage I’d hope he would have pointed that out along with how none of them on stage have a consistent stance on the war.
• None of the candidates attending obviously care much that others still in the race are ignored. NHGOP had the conviction to pull their sponsership when Hunter and Paul were left out of the forum in New Hampshire. Stereotypically the Democrats are supposed to be for equality even recently wanting to reenact the Fairness Doctrine. Yet Gravel and Kucinich are left out without even a mention.
• They spoke of universal healthcare. Unfortunately they lie and really mean compulsory health insurance. While they usually mean the same thing politically, conceptually they are very different. Universal heathcare as people generally think of is not possible and compulsory health insurance gives better rates and service to those who are worse off and hurts those who are healthy. It’s also a blatant infringement on a persons right to spend their money as they see fit. Throw it on top of workers comp, SSI, etc.
• Opposing Yucka Mountain is retarded. As is opposing nuclear power plants. They are the cleanest and most efficient forms of energy production we have available. I don’t care if opening a new nuke plant a week wouldn’t make a huge difference on CO2 emissions. It’d provide us with more and cheaper power so we can more easily remove coal plants. The nations fear of nuclear waste disposal is fairly unfounded by all accounts I’ve come across including my father’s who worked in the field for >15 years.
• They seemed to all support manditory civil service or at least encouraged it. I thought the 13th amendment stopped that kind of thing.
• I can’t recall much else. They all scare me.

One last thing. Bill Clinton the other day said something like: I don’t think race or gender has cost Hillary or Obama any votes… put it probably got them some. Is it really good to admit that your supporters are bigots and supporting you just because of your gender/race? I thought the Democrats were against that kind of thing. If a Republican had said that they were getting votes because they are male and white in contrast to the woman and the darky their would have been outrage.

He’s got a little spunk here. I’m glad to see it. Need more of that. What we need is the Ron Paul from 1988 when he was on the Morton Downey Jr. show. Part 1, 2, 3, 4. That’s quality entertainment.

• 10:00AM Sharon Harris from Advocates for Self-Government gave the opening speech this morning. She talked about how the liberty movement needs to start working toward honing our delivery of the freedom message. Libertarians, especially those who are active in the movement, tend to be more abstract thinkers. More logical progression of ideas whereas the majority of people are more emotional “think with the heart” types. We talk about abstract rights and wrongs and less practical examples but we need practical real world examples for those who aren’t generally like us.
• Chris Lawless informs us the hotel doesn’t want us to open carry.
• We ran into Glen Jacobs very briefly. He is better known as Kane from the WWE. He’s fairly well known as a libertarian and recently publicly supported Ron Paul for President. I believe he is also a member of the FSP. We unfortunately didn’t get an opportunity to get a photo with him but if he’s still around tomorrow or Sunday we surely will.
• 12PMish xyz and I checkin to the hotel and while walking out to the car we see the John McCain’s campaign bus. While walking in we discuss stopping Mr. McCain and telling him that after his argument with Romney over whether or not water boarding is torture we decided to try it out ourselves and agreed with him that it indeed torture. As we walk through the automatic doors into the lobby and are talking about this I nearly run into McCain as my head is turned talking to xyz behind me. I got out of the way in time however and diverted my knocking over of a 72y/o presidential candidate which would have been picked up on the camera which was following him.
• 1:00PM xyz and myself attend Gardner Goldsmith’s presentation on immigration. I listen to his radio show so little was new but it’s very enjoyable to interact with fellow Liberty Forum attendees in asking questions and whatnot. Robert Schulz of We the People Foundation also gave a very good lecture I heard. xyz and I did however get a chance to talk with him while waiting in line for dinner.
• 2:30PM I attended Don Gorman’s lecture on Becoming an Effective Activist but it effectively was a sales pitch for the FSP and how easy it is to participate in politics and protest in NH. xyz attended Peter Bagge’s presentation on his work for Reason Magazine and his art in general.
• 4:00PM Thomas Eddlem gave a lecture on how the current administration has been disobeying the Constitution. Particularly the 4th, 6th, and 8th Amendments. He however blew things out of proportion a bit in describing how it could be used against the average citizen. While it’s certainly an issue to say that it’s just as probable that I would be locked up and the key thrown away without trial is the same as some guy picked up who has the same name as a known terrorist and himself has a criminal record is ridiculous.
• Chatted with another Libertarian Party presidential candidate: Michael P. Jingozian. Reminded him that I believe he was invited to the Manhattan LP’s Annual Convention. He said he forgot to look into whether he could attend and took some contact info. We’ll see.
• Nearly had dinner with Gardner but it turned out the table we picked already was filled besides the two chairs we picked. However, those who had reserved those seats were people we had previously had discussions with during the cocktail hour. Including Ed Hudgins from The Atlas Society. Talked about hard money.
  
• The keynote speaker for the evening was Bernard von NotHaus of the Liberty Dollar. He came out dressed as the ghost of a Revolutionary solder, Capt. Roughseas, who was sent by the Founding fathers informing us to take care of this fiat money system that’s corrupted the US. Complete with sabre. It was a bit odd but generally entertaining. Nothing that probably more than half of them in attendance hadn’t heard before.

Dave Ridley’s Ridley Reports from the first night:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/…

Ron Paul took a bit of heat the other day when he intimated that Mike Huckabee’s maybe-that’s-a-cross-maybe-it-isn’t Christmas ad had a whiff of fascism to it.

In his appearance on Meet the Press yesterday, Tim Russert brought up the incident, and found Paul eager on the subject. “I think this country, a movement in the last 100 years, is moving toward fascism,” the candidate explained. “Fascism today, the softer term, because people have different definition of fascism, is corporatism when the military industrial complex runs the show, when the — in the name of security pay — pass the Patriot Act … There’s one documentary that’s been put out recently that has generated a lot of interest called ‘Freedom to Fascism.’ And we’re moving in that direction. Were not moving toward Hitler-type fascism, but we’re moving toward a softer fascism.”

Bryan Preston at Hot Air remains unconvinced: “He was unprepared for that question, heard about a cross in an ad, and thought immediately of fascism. Not the Christmas season, that being this very time of year. Not church or anything like that. Fascism. That’s the mind of a bigot at work.”

I realize this is, as was the last, a blog post but it’s so very bias and obviously a hit piece. This is more the type of thing I’d expect to see in a rag mag. “[T]he mind of a bigot at work.”? Are they referring to bigotry toward Christianity? That’d be interesting given that Dr. Paul is a Baptist who has two brothers who are Lutheran ministers and who before going into medicine had considered the same profession.

http://themedium.blogs.nytimes.com/

Ron Paul, our Internet president, seems to have Nazi troubles, as in they’re saying he’s one of them.

Stormfront, a “white nationalist” Internet community, has given him money. And he can’t seem to stop meeting with self-described neo-Nazis, according to Bill White, the Commander of the American National Socialist Workers’ Party.

White’s allegation:

Both Congressman Paul and his aides regularly meet with members of the Stormfront set, American Renaissance, the Institute for Historic Review and others at the Tara Thai restaurant in Arlington, Va., usually on Wednesdays. This is part of a dinner that was originally organized by Pat Buchanan, Sam Francis and Joe Sobran, and has since been mostly taken over by the Council of Conservative Citizens.

Thing is it’s already been refuted. Justin Raimondo over at AntiWar.com has an entire article Ron Paul vs. the Dirty Tricksters which addresses this and more.

To begin with, who the heck is Bill White? Here’s what the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith has to say about him: “Along with his media savvy,” they aver, “White is known for spreading propaganda and lies about his perceived enemies.” Go here for his extensive criminal record. White started his career as a dingbat of renown with the founding of the Utopian Anarchist Party when he was just a lad. The UAP’s 15 minutes of fame occurred after the Columbine High School shootings, when White or one of his wacked-out confreres issued a statement praising the shooters.

Secondly, the man who organized the dinner meetings “Commander” White refers to, Peter Gemma, has this to say:

“I ran those dinners – Ron Paul was never there… If Bill White ever came to the meetings, he didn’t use his real name – he doesn’t even get the name of the restaurant correctly.”

Both the NYT blog post and the AntiWar.com post were released today but at what time for Justin’s is unknown. I’m not going to claim that Ms. Heffernan should have known this but the post Justin refers to is from the 21st. It’s sad to see all these attacks. They have been long refuted and with videos like this (which is what Ms. Heffernan links to) as an attack medium… it’s silly.

I’ve noticed the daily number of attack pieces has risen quite a bit since the Tea Party money bomb. I believe they are even more scared now. If Paul really was such a ‘crackpot’ and hadn’t a chance then why waste breath and web space on him? I don’t see this kind of hubbub about Gravel.