Feidin Santana’s attorney Todd Rutherford says:

“The search for justice is served by turning the video over to law enforcement.  The news media, appeared to be in the ‘search for revenue'”…

Which makes you wonder why Todd Rutherford sent the video to the media, no?

Todd Rutherford (back row left) – Feidin Santana (front row 3rd from left)

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — The video of a North Charleston police officer shooting an unarmed man in the back will now cost news outlets that want to run it $10,000, according to a publicist representing the man who shot it.

Cease-and-desist letters went out this week to news outlets around the world from Markson Sparks, a publicity and celebrity management company based in Sydney, Australia. (more…)

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In the very first media reports of the shooting by South Carolina officer Michael Slager of Walter Scott the North Charleston police were quoted as follows (Saturday April 4th):

FIRST MEDIA 4/4/15 […] Police in a matter of hours declared the occurrence at the corner of Remount and Craig roads a traffic stop gone wrong, alleging the dead man fought with an officer over his Taser before deadly force was employed.

[…] A statement released by North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor said a man ran on foot from the traffic stop and an officer deployed his department-issued Taser in an attempt to stop him.

That did not work, police said, and an altercation ensued as the men struggled over the device. Police allege that during the struggle the man gained control of the Taser and attempted to use it against the officer. The officer then resorted to his service weapon and shot him, police alleged. (link)

A video containing part of the confrontation surfaced when eye-witness Feidin Santana contacted the family of Walter Scott the following day (Sunday); and then gave the video to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) on Monday.

Officer Slager was arrested later Monday afternoon and charged with Murder before witness Santana was even interviewed.

The actual public display of the video began on Tuesday April 7th. With the immediate media storyline stating the original police statements were “false” and/or “factually inaccurate”.

The story became about “lying police”, and that specific narrative framed the media discussion for the next week. Even normally level-headed media punditry jumped into the PC fray for their pound of flesh shouting that Officer Slager falsified his statement(s).

However, with time, further careful research, and much closer looks at the video itself, it appears that nothing initially stated by South Carolina LEO, or more specifically Officer Michael Slager is false or incorrect.  [zoomed taser video by Bob]

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The first advocacy for “The Safari Principle” surfaced prior to the George Zimmerman trial, in the summer of 2012, when the professionally aggrieved first began the meme: “He shouldn’t have gotten out of his car”.

Historically we used to blame the victim by saying he/she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, politically it became too difficult to define where the wrong places were, and simultaneously legislators continued to struggle defining the right vs. wrong times people were allowed to be in these places.

In order to protect the criminal class a more specific rule was needed.

After various opinions were considered eventually the advocates settled upon The Safari Principle – A selected narrative used throughout 2012/2013 as a point of advocacy driving home the belief that George Zimmerman had no right to follow, then exit his vehicle, when he saw a suspicious Trayvon Martin peering through windows and casing houses.

The “Safari Principle” evolved to further claim ‘if you do get out of your car, you deserve what you get’ with the implication by the left-wingers’  that young black males cannot control their behavior. (more…)

Here comes the sketchy political problem. The Guardian has published Dash Cam audio conversation(s) between South Carolina Police Officer Michael Slager immediately after the shooting of Walter Scott.

According to The Guardian:  “Patrolman Michael Slager appeared to laugh nervously in the discussion with a senior officer after fatally shooting Scott in North Charleston on 5 April. A recording of their conversation was obtained by the Guardian“.

There is only one way for the Guardian to gain such a recording.  Directly from the investigative unit of South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), the state entity doing the investigative oversight.

SLED is not a police agency – they are a political entity:

The primary mission of the State Law Enforcement Division is to provide quality manpower and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies and to conduct investigations on behalf of the state as directed by the Governor and Attorney General.  (link)

The South Carolina Walter Scott shooting -by Police Officer Michael Slager- is absolutely filled with intentionally missing elements in an effort by ALL INTERESTED PARTIES to sell a narrative useful for their purposes. (more…)

When we begin to research the facts of controversial issues we eventually find the deconstruction of a false media narrative, and exposing how the media manipulates public opinion of events, ultimately becomes the purpose of our research more than anything else.

In case we have not said it clearly enough, allow me to repeat. We hold no opinion as to the Walter Scott shooting itself. These threads are to get to the FACTS of who, what, when and where; leading toward discussion of the possibilities inherent in the “why”.

You know, what the Fourth Estate used to do…

It is not a consequence of whether Michael Slager was right or wrong. Nor a matter of whether anyone “deserved” anything, or if anything was “justified”.

Just a simple search for the truth. The truth that has no agenda nor disposition toward anyone’s opinion of it.

All of that said, you’d have to be blind to the events of the past 5 years regarding controversial violent encounters (Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Tony Robinson, etc) and the inherent manipulation of the details therein, not to notice that some evidence is released and some similar evidence brutally missing, for an very intentional purpose.

The South Carolina Walter Scott shooting -by Police Officer Michael Slager- is absolutely filled with intentionally missing elements in an effort by ALL INTERESTED PARTIES to sell a narrative useful for their purposes.

What does that mean? It means this is not just a legal issue; it means the shooting is being manipulated for a political benefit; it means the substance in the media reports are there to sell a purposeful narrative from one singular perspective. (more…)

Apparently some folks in the DOJ are a little fuzzy on the whole good bad concept as it relates to the use of , um, “hookers”?

[scribd id=261496471 key=key-yKEKZFDWojBesZoD2ltR mode=scroll]

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Otis Byrd was the guy found in Mississippi hanging from a tree. The media machine was initially thrilled at the thought of a black victim hanged in Mississippi…. Oh the stories they were ready to sell. Alas, the initial DOJ investigation showed he committed suicide – rats!

(Via Clarion Ledger) The Byrd family’s attorney has enlisted Dr. Michael Baden, who conducted an autopsy on Michael Brown, to do an independent investigation into Otis Byrd’s hanging death.

The family of a man found hanging from a tree in March does not believe he committed suicide, they announced through their legal counsel Wednesday afternoon.

Otis Byrd, 54, was found March 19 hanging by a bed sheet from a tree not far from his residence in Claiborne County after having been missing for over two weeks. Local authorities called in the FBI after finding his body.

Authorities have said evidence doesn’t suggest foul play, but the results of an autopsy have not been made public. The FBI says it has discussed the autopsy results with the family but the family’s attorneys, Sweet and Associates, disagrees. (more…)

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey and Police Chief Eddie Driggers gave a press conference today in the shooting of Walter Scott. The local audience was very angry, and protesters interrupted the questioning frequently.

• The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has now taken over the investigation. • Police Chief Driggers stated that no other police officer other than the shooting officer Michael Slager witnessed the immediate event. • Officer Slager has been fired and arrested on a murder charge.  • Officer Slager’s wife is 8 months pregnant.

• Mayor Keith Summey stated that immediately body cameras would be ordered and initiated for use on all police officers.   • Both Summey and Driggers, together with a Chaplain met with the family of the victim Walter Scott this morning. • Mayor Summey states there is more video than has been made public.  • Coroner reports Walter Scott received multiple gunshot wounds to his back – cause of death ‘homicide’.

All of the usual media suspects -those who advocate for a specific narrative- are working the story diligently as they begin the process of fueling anger in the local community and push a larger victim narrative into the national coverage.  The arrival of outside agitators should be anticipated within the next 12 to 24 hours.  (more…)

Two judicial rulings yesterday, one in Obama’s favor and one against. However, the ruling released late last night shows a crafty piece of judicial chess.

The first ruling yesterday was a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Mississippi VS DHS (more here). The 5th circuit ruled against the State of Mississippi, and in favor of the Obama DOJ, by essentially ruling the State failed to prove a burden of harm.

The second aspect inherent within the same 5th CCA ruling disregarded concerns of ICE/DHS retaliation -against border patrol enforcement- by asserting DHS rules forbid the retaliation; ergo the concerns were unfounded.

In the second issue, the ICE agents’ argument that they would receive retribution if they detained an illegal immigrant eligible for DACA, the court sided with ICE and DHS referencing handbooks and rules which forbid the administration from retribution.  (link)

However, in the second case, the ruling late last night, Texas vs DHS, under the authority of Judge Andrew Hanen, the expanded Obama Executive Action was blocked from implementation in February.

Judge Hanen issued an emergency injunction stopping the expanded deferment authorization as  outlined in President Obama’s November 2014 executive action.

Since the initial ruling the DOJ was now arguing for a lifting of that injunction, and Judge Hanen was having none of it.

A significant statement from Judge Hanen toward the DOJ attorneys was his admonishment for their prior misrepresentations to the court regarding implementation taking place.  The DOJ had previously stated in court that DHS was not implementing the new “expanded executive action” yet, and any injunction would stop any adverse action.

It was later discovered –by an admission to the court– that DHS had, in actuality, already begun to implement the November “executive action”. Judge Hanen was understandably angered by the misrepresentation. (more…)