Island Dweller writes in to clarify an earlier point he made:

I was referring to the great Detroit riot of 1967, in which 43 people were shot dead, a few by the DPD; the rest of the shooters were fellow rioters/looters, or businessmen protecting their establishments. Only one was shot dead by the MI ARNG.

Mayor Jerry Cavanaugh never did ask for martial law to be declared in the city, and Gov Romney (a good man, Mitt’s old man) refused to do so as declaring martial law would have voided certain provisions of insurance coverage for businesses affected by the riot. In spite of this the Democrat Johnson regime in DC sent in the 82nd Airborne to calm things down, which it did. So much for posse comitatus, by the way.

It is interesting to note Dearborn, MI, borders on Detroit. Dearborn was then and still is HQ for the Ford Motor Company. Dearborn’s Mayor Orville Hubbard made no secret of the fact he ordered the Dearborn PD to shoot to kill any rioters or looters caught invading his city. They never did. The presence of FOMOCO and many of its top facilities in Dearborn undoubtedly had something to do with this approach. The fact that firearm-owning citizens were asked to secure their own neighborhoods, under the supervision of the Dearborn PD, undoubtedly also had something to do with it.

Good points all. Note, however, that the President’s ordering of the 82nd AIrborne to quell rioting was not a violation of posse comitatus under the Insurrection Act of 1807.

Island Dweller brings up another thought:

Your immenseness:

I knew once the Zimmerman verdict was rendered other aspects of the trial would be explored, and I was not surprised by the following:

FoxNews—

The special prosecutor appointed to the George Zimmerman case has sacked a whistle-blowing colleague who testified at the trial that the state attorney’s office failed to comply with the rules of discovery.

Ben Kruidbos, the state attorney’s office IT director, was reportedly fired in the wake of rendering testimony during a June 6 hearing that was potentially damaging to the prosecution regarding cell phone photos and text messages discovered on Trayvon Martin’s phone that were not furnished to defense attorneys.

The Orlando Sentinel reports Kruidbos received a scathing letter from State Attorney Angela Corey’s office Friday morning, calling him untrustworthy and adding he “can never again be trusted to step foot in this office.”

However, the Associated Press reports that Kruidbos received the pink slip Thursday, which accused him of misconduct and “violating numerous state attorney’s office policies and procedures.” Specifically, the letter reportedly accused him of disclosing confidential information, sabotage of property or equipment, and misuse of equipment.

The cell phone photos reportedly depict, among other things, a clump of jewelry on a bed, underage nude females, marijuana plants, as well as a hand menacingly holding a semiautomatic pistol.

Zimmerman’s attorneys were reportedly seeking sanctions against the state for not properly turning over the evidence from Martin’s phone. Judge Debra Nelson said she would revisit the matter at the trial’s end.

Translation of SAG’s terminology:

• “Disclosing confidential information” – releasing discovery-related material, maybe?
• “Sabotage of property or equipment” – actually handling the devices in order to release the material – although presumably nothing was broken or even damaged.
• “Misuse of equipment” – again, accessing the equipment to release discovery material.

Another example of why in a broader sense folks don’t believe security classifications any more – they are frequently used to cover up wrongdoing, or questionable decisions, than protect classified sources, material, methods, or information.

Discovery is critical. It’s one way of making sure law enforcement stays in line and plays by the rules. If the case is sound nothing discovered will harm it.

My heart goes out to Mr. K, in that I have faced similar circumstances. I blew the whistle too, it’s a lonely place to be. You know you’ve done right, but those who disliked you will now actively hate you, and your friends will mostly distance themselves from you lest they somehow be tainted by their association with you. He like I was taught something about “justice for all” and “innocent until proven guilty,” and he also knew the rules of discovery as well as the attorneys on either side. Supervision – not “leadership” – told him to do something illegal (lie on the stand) and he refused to comply. For this he forfeits his job and is stigmatized. If he doesn’t sue to at least protect his name he’s crazy. If done right it will lead to a probe of all prosecutions by Corey as long as she’s been in office. As far as I’m concerned those cases and sentences are now all under suspicion. How do you know the rules of discovery have been scrupulously followed in any of them? If the rules are bent for this one, they may have been bent in the others as well. Hope someone calls for a probe into Corey’s behavior. If you’re doing the job right the probe will bring up nothing. If it finds something, maybe you shouldn’t be in that office.

Suggest the former Sanford (FL) Chief of Police hire the same attorney.

ID

The Czar too was disturbed to hear this story via Twitter. Basically, this makes the state’s attorney’s office look really bad: either Mr. Kruidbos is telling the truth—in which case, Mr. Zimmerman has a pile of evidence for his expected wrongful arrest suit—or Mr. Kruidbos is not, in which case he should not have been in contact with any evidence in his IT capacity since he is not a trained evidence technician—in which case, again, Mr. Zimmerman has a pile of evidence again. In the Czar’s own opinion, Mr. Kruidbos should never have been given potential criminal evidence since he was not a duly deputized individual charged with doing so.*

The Czar has remarked half in jest that the entire prosecution was so bungling in its attempts to find Mr. Zimmerman guilty that one suspects they knew he was innocent and put on a show trial so bad that it ensured embarrassment for the President.

The Czar believes the Constitution presupposes one is innocent unless proven guilty, whereas the Obama administration has decided it means one is innocent until eventually found guilty. As others have commented elsewhere, the Zimmerman trial has all the hallmarks of a revolutionary tribunal: the Commandante declares one guilty, and the prosecution continues to add new charges until an appointed agency agrees the accused is guilty of something.

Further, the more the Department of Justice tilts at the Zimmerman windmill, the worse this will surely reflect on President Obama’s historical legacy. He should never have commented on this case; the should have let Florida do its job and attended to running the whole country, and not focused on just his socio-political quick picks. One is hard-pressed to conceive presidential historians regarding this case positively.

*The Czar is aware, of course, that most municipality IT directors are underpaid (Kruidbos allegedly had an $80,000/year salary, which is a lot less than he would have made in the private world), and not only act as a CIO, but are break/fix support, telephone repair, telecom installations, act as unlicensed attorneys to handle municipal technology contract reviews, labor relations, and—yes—handle all criminal investigations for the police department when technology is involved. One county official remarked to the Czar years ago that defense attorneys in his county would have a field day if they discovered how much an unbonded, non-deputized IT worker is involved in police and judicial matters simply because counties and municipalities have no one else who can do the job. Kruidbos was in a sucky job to begin with, and now his lawsuit against his former employer will prove it either way.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.