The Insurrection of 1807 stood unchallenged all these many years until "Brownie" screwed up the response to Katrina.

The Insurrection Act does not allow Trump to unilaterally deploy troops into the interior of the USA.

Does Esper still have the option to go back to his old boss, Raytheon? He should consider it.

To begin, there is no insurrection, there are people with masks marching in the streets of the USA EXPECTING the government to pay attention to overbearing police actions throughout the country. Is Trump sure there isn't a police insurrection?

The Insurrection Act needs the request of governors to deploy the USA military. 

There is an amendment that was passed because Michael D. Brown, the "W" director of FEMA screwed up the response and the circumstances in New Orleans became critical and people were dying.

Katrina was the first major Climate Crisis storm and arrived in Louisiana with a 20-foot storm surge that traveled right up the Mississippi and deposited ships at the shoulder of the river. Lake Ponchartrain of Louisiana swelled and between the storm surge and the lake, water volume caused the destruction of the levees. When the levees broke, and "The Big One" finally arrived the residents of the Ninth District were underwater and many died. I don't recall the exact number at this time, shame on me, but it was over 1100 people dead in the USA due to a hurricane and the most in decades.

General Honore (click here) was sent to the interior of the country to rescue New Orleans from being stranded, hungry, and without medical access. I remember his arrival. It was after some military soldiers arrived and were actually preparing their weapons, his helicopter touched down, he lept out and stated, "Put your guns down!"

Obviously, General Honore was not interested in terrifying Americans more than they already were after they had very little warning to leave New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. They were terrified and many lost family members. They didn't need Ameican troops pointing their weapons in their face. Honore was magnificent and never once overstepped the unusual authority. He reassured the people and directed the troops to help and bring about an understanding of order within a city and area with it being absolutely destroyed by a major hurricane that Louisiana rarely if ever experienced.

There was an amendment to the Insurrection Act after that event in Louisiana.

The amendment (click here)

That was the only change to the Insurrection Act for well over 100 years. The President of the USA is NOT a king and the founders of this country took every opportunity to reiterate the fact this was a free country and the president would never be a king. 

The amendment to the Insurrection Act is NOT permission for the USA military to turn their guns on the American people. The governors have to consent, or better said, ASK for the assistance of the USA military within their borders.

Trump's fantasy of being a tyrant in the USA is getting old. He has yet to address the death of George Floyd and it sure as heck didn't happen in front of a church across from the White House.

Enacted by: the 9th United States Congress
March 3, 1807 10 USC Ch. 13: INSURRECTION (click here)

From Title 10—ARMED FORCESSubtitle A—General Military LawPART I—ORGANIZATION AND GENERAL MILITARY POWERS

Let me know when Trump actually addresses the death of George Floyd.

The Minneapolis government has proved to be untrustworthy. First, they blamed looting and fires on an outside entity. Now, they lied about the autopsy. Why does this go on? This seems worse than Ferguson to me.

June 1, 2020
By Paul Walsh and Liz Navratil

Attorneys representing George Floyd's family (click here) released findings of their own autopsy that said the man was asphyxiated while now-fired officer Derek Chauvin had his kneeing pinning Floyd's neck. The results directly challenged preliminary results from the examination by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office that he was not strangled, but died from other factors, including being restrained.

"George died because he needed a breath, a breath of air," family attorney Ben Crump said during a news conference Monday afternoon. "For George Floyd, the ambulance was his hearse."

Crump added that Floyd "was living, breathing, talking until we see those officers restrain him while he's face down in handcuffs with Officer Chauvin having his knee lodged into his neck for over 8 minutes, almost 9 minutes, and the other officer having both his knees lodged into his back. And the doctors will explain the significance of that, as to the cause and manner of death."...

The guilt of lies and misinformation has to be purged from the cities of the USA. I believe Trayvon Martin required an independent autopsy as well.

This is all corruption and don't expect the greater American population to like it and simply dismiss this brutality that leads to deaths.

It is easy to be rough when a corrupt coroner has your back.

This happened in Seattle and it is very unhelpful. When is the USA's police going to demilitarize? Never? This is ridiculous.

There are two reports about the incident (click here).

June 1, 2020

Images of violence continue to come out of the US (click here) as protests over the death of George Floyd escalate.

Footage shared on Twitter earlier today shows a police officer kneeling on a protester's neck - the same type of tactic that the police officer charged with Floyd's murder did for nearly nine minutes, according to the official complaint.

The incident, captured on video, allegedly took place in Seattle and shows a Seattle Police Department officer putting his knee on a protester's neck during an arrest outside a T-Mobile store that was being looted.

The people surrounding the scene begin to protest the police officer's actions and a fellow officer physically removes the cop's knee from the protester's neck.

"Antifa" is an idea, not an organiztion.

It is no different than the idea of "globalists." It is an idea and not an organization. The government would find it easy to attack an organization as a domestic terrorist group, but, alas the only thing concrete about Antifa are the people showing up for a cause, not a meeting.

I guess everyone unable to come to terms with real pain for real reasons will need the idea of a scapegoat.

June 1, 2020
By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Sandra E. Garcia

Seeking to assign blame for the protests (click here) that have convulsed cities across the country this week, President Trump said on Sunday that the United States would designate antifa, the loosely affiliated group of far-left anti-fascism activists, a terrorist organization.

The president’s critics noted, however, that the United States does not have a domestic terrorism law and that antifa, a contraction of the phrase “anti-fascist,” is not an organization with a leader, a defined structure or membership roles.

Rather, antifa is more of a movement of activists whose followers share a philosophy and tactics. They have made their presence known at protests around the country in recent years, including the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017....

I find it fascinating the word violent is used about protests when they loot and light fires. No one is dead because of it. The injuries came from the cops and their rubber bullets that were even fired at people standing in the doorway of their home watching the police march through their residential streets as viewed by film loops on "Tic Toc."

Buildings can be rebuilt. Lives can't be brought back once dead.

The people feel a great deal of inequality for many reasons, but, the ability to realize wealth is a big problem.

I am very confident Mayor Lightfoot will seek ways to return small businesses to the Chicago landscape. I think she cares about the people. She, as other government officials, need to articulate the grievances of the people. Only when those grievances are part of the dialogue will people believe they will be addressed.

I think the observations about "The Loop" that was addressed by Mayor Lightfoot is a good beginning. Government leaders have to listen and hear as well as see and wish for peace.

June 1, 2020
By Gregory Pratt

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (click here) denied that the city prioritized protecting the Loop over neighborhoods on the South and West sides over the weekend and promised to help rebuild.

“There is no way, no way we would ever let any neighborhood receive more resources and protection than any others. Ever,” Lightfoot said. “That certainly didn’t happen over the course of the weekend.”

Lightfoot said such criticism is offensive to her as a black woman and added: “We did not stand by and let the South and West sides burn as some are propagating.”

Lightfoot made her comments after protests over the death of George Floyd, who died at the hands of Minneapolis police, led to nationwide civil unrest, including widespread looting and some arson. The city shut down most access to Chicago’s downtown on Sunday after people burned and looted businesses in the Loop, and looting migrated to neighborhoods on the South and West sides....

The Supreme Court found the best resolve to the issue of SARS-CoV-2.

Americans are allowed to have their bodies intact and free of disease. The decision by the Supreme Court reflects the idea that global pandemics are dangerous. The well being of the human body came first as it should.

The opposite of this decision places Americans in direct conflict with their churches, not their faith. The decision to open churches is made by people that do not have the best interest of their parishioners. Sorry, they simply don't. Such a church can imperil the entire community and not just parishioners, as if that is okay, too.

People of faith don't have a problem transitioning to an "at home" expression. They don't have to display it to a congregation and neither do their faith leaders. If a person has sincere faith it is simply a matter of turning on an online source and participate in any religious ceremony carried out by the leadership of the church.

To believe divine intervention is better than warnings by health professionals and the government is not even faithful. That is arrogance. Humility is much needed by faith leaders that think they can outwit a very deadly virus through prayers in a building.

Religious leaders have become very inventive to keep their parishioners at the center of their prayers online and otherwise. It is easy to tithe without being inside the church building. 

May 30, 2020
By Ian Milihiser

The Rev. Nicolas Sanchez (click here) Toledano poses among pews adorned with portraits of his parishioners at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

Late Friday night, (click here) the Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 decision establishing that states still have some power to regulate how many people are allowed to gather in churches during a deadly pandemic

The case, South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, began on May 11, when a California church sought a lower court order allowing it to hold in-person services, despite a state order requiring places of worship to hold services online to avoid spreading the coronavirus. While the case was pending before the Supreme Court, however, California relaxed its order to allow such in-person services, so long as the number of attendees did not exceed 25 percent of the building capacity or 100 worshipers.

That relaxation did not put an end to the case, however. The church still sought a broad order exempting it from much of the state’s power to regulate public health....

This is my country in pain.

This is like Charlottesville, Virginia only worse. What is it with men attempting to subdue protesters with motor vehicles? There was an NYPD that also drove a police vehicle into a crowd. Somehow a police vehicle is supposed to protect life and not attack it.

The death of George Floyd was more of the tragedy coming out of cities that experience racism in their police force. This has gone on too long and there is no justice for the minority people when it comes to being assaulted by police.

The country is scared of the police. I don't believe it is exclusive to African Americans. There isn't anything I could present tonight that is going to make it better. It is not up to me to make it better. Or even try to introduce ideas that might make it better. The cities minorities need to heal. Some are doing so by cleaning up the streets after protests. Some are even being joined by their local police in those protest marches.

Police officers (click here) in one of New Jersey's largest and most violent cities were praised on social media for marching alongside protesters in rallies held this weekend over George Floyd's death. (May 31).

Governor Cuomo stated today that local authorities involved in assessing incidents of deaths whereby a police officer(s) is/are involved has proven to be ineffective and an independent investigator has to be mandated by law. It should be done because the truth is there is no justice for these deaths. There is such a thing as a bad cop.

Racism in the USA exists. I want my country to heal.

Good night.

May 31, 2020
By David Orrick

A tanker truck drove  through (click here) — or nearly through — a crowd of demonstrators marching on Interstate 35W in Minneapolis Sunday, but apparently hit none of them, according to authorities.

“It doesn’t appear any protesters were hit by the truck,” the Department of Public Safety said. The driver was arrested and taken to a hospital with non life-threatening injuries....

 

I find it necessary to warn journalists to be careful about providing directions of where protesters and/or police are gathered. I understand why someone might mention the intersection where George Floyd was murdered as a place of a memorial, however, I caution everyone about providing landmarks when reporting on actual live protests.

Three journalists are in prison after trials at the Hague because they did the same thing. Their discussions of locations resulted in human rights violations. Simply mentioning streets, intersections and/or landmarks where protests are taking place or where police are deployed can be a method whereby people like the KKK can find victims.

I think reporting can occur better without bringing the location(s) of people to the broadcast. I would rather hear from the protesters, why they are there and any difficulties they are encountering in their attempts to get their message out. I don't need to hear from the police. They might implicate themselves if they aren't necessarily focused on their job so much as their own feelings affecting their own behaviors on the job.

This is what has worried me about COVID-19 since I heard there was heart involvement noted by the EMTs in New York.

The heart while very vascular, it also has a lot of nerve tissue among it's unique muscle. When the EMTs began reporting an increase in heartaches immediately I thought, "Damn, this virus has potential for incredible INJURY and not just death."

This is why viruses need to be stopped before they spread in the USA. Viruses have incredible abilities to damage the human body. They are RNA. Some do cause damage, some don't. The common cold doesn't cause disability, but, when new viruses manifest with deadly components, the virus CANNOT be allowed into the borders of all 50 states of the USA.

There can be no attempts to save tax dollars in regard to these viruses. There have to be American scientists in China and within the virus production areas of Africa. I think Zeka was out of South America. At the very least it came to the USA from South America. There is a strong reason to belong to the WHO and bring about a better world that actually prevents poverty and opportunity for such viruses to manifest.

I might add American scientists were already pulled out of China when the WHO trusted China too far. If the USA was there the intelligence would already be in the USA and easily have had actions to prevent entry to the USA no matter what the rest of the world did.

May 30, 2020
By Brian Vastag

In the fall of 2009, (click here) one of us, Beth, was hit by an illness she suspects was H1N1 flu, which was circulating then. In 2012, the other, Brian, developed a sudden fever, which his doctors said was also likely of viral origin.

Neither of us recovered, and we’re both disabled to this day.

The long-term illnesses that can follow viral infections can be devastating — and are devastatingly common. In 2015, the nation’s top medical advisory body, the Institute of Medicine, estimated that between 800,000 and 2.5 million U.S. residents live with the illness or illnesses awkwardly named myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). An estimated three-quarters of these cases were triggered by viral or bacterial infections.

Now, as a new pandemic virus is burning through the world and causing many deaths, researchers are raising alarms that the novel coronavirus and the covid-19 disease it causes will also leave in its wake a potentially large population with post-viral problems that could be lifelong and, in some cases, disabling....

The survivors and those that test positive but are asymptomatic have the potential for long term damage to their bodies and ultimately handicaps.

PLEASE WEAR THE MASKS ANYTIME WHEN OUTSIDE THE HOME. PLEASE. A STRATEGY FOR SCHOOLS NEEDS TO BE FORMULATED AND HELD TO THROUGH THE FOLLOWING YEARS. 

ULTIMATELY, N95 MASKS MUST BE FOR SALE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. I don't care if they are fashionable so much as them being N95 masks. That means there is an opportunity for domestic manufacturing to produce quantities of masks for the public.

We must stop the virus otherwise the USA is going to have increased and increasing handicapped people. This is something that is ongoing and Congress must have universities carry a continuing study by staff anthropologists working with grad students to MONITOR the fallout from this virus. The people who study this must be careful when in among the communities they study. This study is paramount to understanding the degree in which SARS-CoV-2 has invaded this country causing long term handicap outcomes.

THE VACCINATION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER to end this virus. It must be ended. 

AI didn't take this picture. The human experience will be lost along with journalists.

30 May 2020

A demonstrator (click here) in Minneapolis injured by rubber bullets during protests Thursday over the death of George Floyd.
Credit...

Microsoft (click here) is to replace dozens of contract journalists on its MSN website and use automated systems to select news stories, US and UK media report.

The curating of stories from news organisations and selection of headlines and pictures for the MSN site is currently done by journalists.

Artificial intelligence will perform these news production tasks, sources told the Seattle Times.

Microsoft said it was part of an evaluation of its business.

The US tech giant said in a statement: "Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time to time, redeployment in others. These decisions are not the result of the current pandemic."

Microsoft, like some other tech companies, pays news organisations to use their content on its website.

But it employs journalists to decide which stories to display and how they are presented.

Around 50 contract news producers will lose their jobs at the end of June, the Seattle Times reports, but a team of full-time journalists will remain.....

The driver is unarmed.

This is outrageous. The driver drove home to avoid being killed. Police are out of control. The driver allegedly ran a stop sign in Midland, Texas. The police reaction is insane. The officer involved is suspicious of everyone, including neighbors, in the area. This is a traffic violation. The driver is so fearful of police he solicited a witness in his grandmother in order that he wasn't killed. The five minutes the driver sat in the car were probably calling his grandmother and waiting for her to come to the front door. Police are ineffective if the trust by the people is so low that every interaction with an African American turns into a confrontation.

This entire interaction is wrong. A ticket for a traffic violation could have been mailed to the driver with the license plate number on the car. This is not the way to resolve a traffic violation. Something is very wrong in this country between African Americans and the police.

May 30, 2020

Bodycam footage (click here) shows a woman, dressed in a nightgown, seem to fall onto her grandson during the incident.

Well done, all.

The entirety of a protest is civil disobedience not criminality.

For those unaware of modern day protesting, it has gone high tech with lasers and low tech with umbrellas. The lasers confuse any vision that could identify the protesters. It is unfortunate protesters are not proud of their arrests, which should be resisted (Never make it easy for a protester to be arrested. Fight and live for another day.), as a badge of honor to their allegiance to equality, justice and life. It used to be judges would treat protesting as a traffic violation and issue $50.00 fines of which the person would be released. Lasers can be dangerous resulting in harm and a far different arrest with prison as a result, not just a $50 fine. Back in the day protesters could have patrons that would pay their $50.00 fine if they could not pay it themselves.

The umbrella became a useful tool, but, not to break windows. In Asia the favorite anti-protest methods are fire hoses and water cannons. No guns. Hence, the umbrella. Protesters would act together and open their umbrellas in unison to thwart the sprayed water. It was resistance and diminished the water pressure enough to allow them to stand their ground.

The looting is unfortunate and if caught on camera in or out of the store could result in legal problems. I don’t remember ever hearing an interview with a person that looted a store. I imagine there are many reasons like poverty, having food while protesting and as simple as just being a part of the protest to make shop owners, police and politicians feel the pain.

There is one time I remember someone talking about looting a liquor store. I think it was LA. Minority communities entrenched in poverty are food desserts and lack cohesive social contact except for church so men drank to become drunk. Pain kills to make it through the day. Wives, children or roommates hated the drinking, but, had no real tools to stop it. So with the opportunity to destroy the local liquor store where outside single cigarettes were sold regularly the destruction was carried out. At least the store wouldn’t open soon and community members had a chance to dry out.

Life goes on in poverty. It just doesn’t go on the way it does in other Middle Class and wealthy neighborhoods. The pain of poverty manifests behaviors and values alien to our country’s values. The word segregation comes to mind. I believe the ideal American neighborhood is diverse of race, color, creed and economic income with children that grow up in school caring about each other. The poor are always segregated with no hope for themselves or their children.

We can do better than this.

History is being made today and EVERY American should be proud of it.

Yes, I mean it. Every American participated in bringing the Space Program to this point. Every American has the right to be proud of their country today.

May 30, 2020

SpaceX (click here for live video) will take another crack at its first crewed mission today (May 30), weather permitting, and you can watch the historic liftoff live.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch the Crew Dragon capsule today at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT) from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, kicking off the crucial Demo-2 test flight to the International Space Station (ISS). You can watch the launch and lots of pregame festivities live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV; coverage begins at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT)....

Minnesota Governor has the absolutely wrong approach. If there is violence by the "establishment" it will propagate a war that will cause more destruction than demonstrators that can do. I don't care who the demonstrators are and whether or not they were migrated into the area. The enemies of this country CANNOT find a foothold to begin a civil war!

Trump is president and he wants such unrest for his own purpose.

Americans killing Americans is not the path forward!

The statement that the demonstrators are wearing masks as camouflage is a hideous statement and nothing but propaganda. The Minnesota Governor is using words that will promote anger and will be used among those opposing the Minneapolis police as reason for more protests.

The Pentagon is wrong in sending police into the mix. The USA military is never to be used within the borders of the USA and yet here it is. Stop!

Intelligence agencies need to be involved and not soldiers.

Curfews are about safety and not identification.

May 30, 2020
By Andrew Ba Tran, Leslie Shapiro and Emma Brown

The number of people (click here) reported to have died of the novel coronavirus in the United States surpassed 100,000 this week, a grim marker of lives lost directly to the disease, but an analysis of overall deaths during the pandemic shows that the nation probably reached a similar terrible milestone three weeks ago.

Between March 1 and May 9, the nation recorded an estimated 101,600 excess deaths, or deaths beyond the number that would normally be expected for that time of year, according to an analysis conducted for The Washington Post by a research team led by the Yale School of Public Health. That figure reflects about 26,000 more fatalities than were attributed to covid-19 on death certificates during that period, according to federal data....

Mayhem is spreading the virus. People who were safe before are now exposed to sincere danger in their lives. Those at the gatherings when exposed will carry the virus back to their homes and other social activity, such as work or church.

There is an additional danger to anyone on the streets by unpredictable behavior by those that gather in Minnesota and St. Paul. 

People need to obey the curfews, but, do it for the right reasons. This is not an oppressive initiative. It is a legitimate reason to take shelter and protect one's own life and the lives of the family and friends.

The minority communities and the police community MUST come together in a common understanding of peace and benevolence.

There is a report that the Pentagon is issuing orders to their police to report to Minnesota. I caution all parties involved to prevent violence.

The demonstrations that have continued is in the process of making these demonstrations permanent until there is more benevolence in minority communities. The best example of that is France and a long sustained protest. The USA is not France.

I thank any and all police that openly speaks out against the death of George Floyd. The unwarranted deaths of African Americans at the hand of law enforcement is painful, teaches the wrong lesson to our young people and provides a platform for hate to grow on both sides.

George Floyd's death serves as a time for these two communities in the USA to come together to end these wrongful acts. Police need to speak out to their communities regularly. Grievances being heard are necessary to bring about a country that is benevolent to the people. Poverty must be addressed in a real way to bring minorities out of danger both in heavy-handed policing and disease.

May 29, 2020
By Stefanie Dazio

Los Angeles – Murder. Brutality. (click here) Reprehensible. Indefensible. Police nationwide, in unequivocal and unprecedented language, have condemned the actions of Minneapolis police in the custody death of a handcuffed black man who cried for help as an officer knelt on his neck, pinning him to the pavement for at least eight minutes.

But some civil rights advocates say their denunciations are empty words without meaningful reform behind them.

Authorities say George Floyd was detained Monday because he matched the description of someone who tried to pay with a counterfeit bill at a convenience store, and the 46-year-old resisted arrest. A bystander’s disturbing video shows Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on Floyd’s neck, even as Floyd begs for air and slowly stops talking and moving....

It is not over.

The latest installation of the Flint Water Poisoning is encouraging. To begin with, there is still an ongoing investigation by the State of Michigan. That should be a relief to all involved.

This is a bit of a confusing issue because it involves understanding why the state's solicitor general is being secretive about important records required by the civil suits filed and moving forward. The current Solicitor General Fadwa Hammond is not responsible for any records that have been received by other litigants under the former Attorney General Bill Schuette. The current Solicitor General has ethical standards that protect the integrity of the state investigation. Finding the truth for criminal charges is going to take precedent over civil matters as far as she is concerned.

I would like to see the presiding judges in all these cases find a way to allow a thorough investigation by the state, protecting the integrity of the evidence while protecting the rights of those with civil suits. Unfortunately, the previous AG office did not pursue the correct path for criminal investigations and not the current office has to retrace and reassess the evidence and carry out a thorough investigation to obtain ALL THE FACTS.

The real problem is the civil suits have been ongoing for some time now and are ready to complete their fact-finding and bring the cases to court. When realizing how far the civil suits have come is to realize the stunted movement of the criminal charges because the criminal investigations had to literally start all over again. The biggest problem for both the criminal investigation and civil lawsuits is TIME. Time has passed and people may have moved on and evidence could be compromised by missing witnesses and incomplete facts. 

The civil suits are in need of the information in the investigation to complete their discovery and subpoenas to witnesses. It is unfair to put the civil suits on hold, but, it is also wrong to compromise the State's case of the crimes committed. So, here we are cleaning up the corruption of evidence and incomplete facts by the Snyder Administration while the civil suits want to move forward. I am not sure that demanding information from the state AG and/or Solicitor Generals office is a good idea. Don't the civil suits want complete facts and evidence to proceed? I would think to allow the criminal investigations to complete in a TIMELY fashion will also benefit the civil suits. 

It is a complicated issue and I hope the judge(s) making these decisions will do so well within in any constitutional law, either state or federal, to provide the best footing for all parties involved in pursuing justice.

May 29, 2020
By Ron Fonger

Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud speaks to Molly Kettler, a special assistant attorney general, during a hearing on Friday, May 3, 2019 at Genesee County Circuit Court in downtown Flint, over a request for Genesee Circuit Court Judge Joseph J. Farah to delay issuing his opinion in the criminal case against Nick Lyon, the former director of Michigan's Department of Health and Human Services.

Flint water prosecutors (click here) are asking a federal judge to keep documents and transcripts in their possession secret despite a request from attorneys representing Flint residents in civil lawsuits in U.S. District Court.

Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammound filed the brief, opposing a motion to compel her to release documents and testimony that have been compiled over the years by criminal investigators representing the Department of Attorney General.

“Enforcing the plaintiffs’ sweeping demands would comprise an unprecedented breach of the barrier traditionally erected between an active law-enforcement investigation and a civil action for money damages ...,” Hammoud wrote in a May 13 court filing. “At the heart of (our) opposition to the plaintiffs’ subpoena is the public’s interest in a thorough investigation into the criminality that led to the Flint water crisis, as well as the criminality that occurred in its aftermath. It goes without saying that secrecy during the pendency of the investigation furthers that public interest.”

Hammoud has been tight-lipped about the status of her criminal investigation into the water crisis since she was appointed by Attorney General Dana Nessel to lead it in January 2019....

...Stern’s legal team says some of the documents they are seeking have “trickled into the hands of other litigants -- and created an uneven playing field in the process—in a number of ways.”

Among them -- the defendants who worked for the former Michigan Department of Environmental Quality “have received production of such materials (or at least a subset of them) in criminal discovery that corresponded with the filing of (now dismissed or resolved) criminal charges against them.”...

...Hammoud announced in June 2019 that all charges against eight remaining Flint water defendants who had not accepted plea deals would be dismissed. She has criticized prosecutors who worked for Schuette for having failed to properly review millions of documents that she has said could have led to additional or reduced charges....

...“Ordering disclosure at this point will undermine the prosecution’s credibility with those to whom it has already made such assurances, chilling them from future participation in the prosecution,” the filing says. “It also will signal to those who have not yet been interviewed that their testimony is subject to dissemination.”

As painful as it is that George Floyd is dead, it was not first-degree murder. This murder is a very painful murder. People who do not know Mr. Floyd feels pain over this murder.

It is sometimes difficult to realize justice is far different than the pain the living feels.

In most states, (click here) first-degree murder is defined as an unlawful killing that is both willful and premeditated, meaning that it was committed after planning or "lying in wait" for the victim. For example, Dan comes home to find his wife in bed with Victor. Three days later, Dan waits behind a tree near Victor's front door. When Victor comes out of his house, Dan shoots and kills him....

I am so sorry George Floyd is dead. He seems to have been a really nice and gentle soul.

My sincerest sympathies to the Floyd family and the community that enjoyed his presence from day to day. So sorry he is gone. It isn't fair.

Third Degree Murder sounds correct in the murder of George Floyd. There is something that bothers me, though. Derek Chauvin and George Floyd knew each other and worked together as bouncers in the same nightclub.

I don't know how two men that worked with each other could have a depraved heart and/or an indifference toward the death of one or the other. That doesn't make sense to me. What gives me pause about this murder is the fact there was a personal dynamic at work between George Floyd and Derek Chauvin.

Looking at the murder at a distance, as a stranger, without knowing Chavin knew George Floyd it is rightfully Third Degree murder with a police officer on the job. However, was Chavin so disconnected from his actions as a police officer that realizing the extent George Floyd was in trouble and struggling with staying alive that it allowed Mr. Floyd to succumb to strangulation? Basically, that is what it is, strangulation. Choking.

It bothers me that these men knew each other and such violence toward George Floyd was administered to hold him to the ground. George Floyd never really gave them an argument. He was walking to the police car when he fell. Did he fall or was he forced off balance? There appeared to be a time during George Floyd's pleading for his life when Chauvin seems to adjust his knee to bring greater pressure as if to finish the job of killing George Floyd. That is a matter of perception, but, the prosecutors and investigators are going to have to sort all this out. 

Third degree murder (click here) can be defined as homicide committed with the intention of causing bodily harm, but not necessarily death. It can be a killing that results from indifference or negligence or recklessness. Statutes defining third degree murder vary considerably from state to state....

Minn. Stat. § 609.195 MURDER IN THE THIRD DEGREE

(a) Whoever, without intent to effect the death of any person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years.

(b) Whoever, without intent to cause death, proximately causes the death of a human being by, directly or indirectly, unlawfully selling, giving away, bartering, delivering, exchanging, distributing, or administering a controlled substance classified in schedule I or II, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years or to payment of a fine of not more than $40,000, or both.

It is definitely manslaughter, however, the charge of Third Degree Murder is probably more correct in this case. Manslaughter would be difficult to dismiss by any jury. It also carries a lesser sentence than Third Degree Murder.

Manslaughter is an unlawful killing that doesn’t involve malice aforethought—intent to seriously harm or kill, or extreme, reckless disregard for life. The absence of malice aforethought means that manslaughter involves less moral blame than either first or second degree murder. (But plenty argue that some instances of felony murder, a form of first degree murder, involve less blameworthiness than some instances of manslaughter.) Thus, while manslaughter is a serious crime, the punishment for it is generally less than that for murder.

In the state of Minnesota, there are 2 classifications of manslaughter: First-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter.