The real Issue at Duke

Townhall.com ^ | January 2, 2007 | Thomas Sowell

[CaptRon]

LOL! Didn't even notice!

[Enchante]

Excellent commentary - LIEfong's actions only seem 'inexplicable' to people who are naive enough (or dishonest enough) to pretend that he was pursuing truth, justice and the American Way..... if in fact he was opportunistically lynching these innocent young men in order to further his own sordid career then his actions are perfectly explicable -- and disgusting and despicable.....

[jazusamo]

I was going to say an e but thought I'd wait. ;-)

[RebelBanker]

Who can these three young men sue to get back not only their reputations, but also years of their lives? For that matter, what about the Duke lacrosse coach and all the other players?

Nifong deserves some SERIOUS jail time!

[jazusamo]

and disgusting and despicable.....

Agree and agree!

[newcthem]

I agree........and I hope they sue the living sh*t out of the Duke and the chickensh*t president, at least the lowlife Nifong was doing it for a reason, however bad. The University just jumped on the wagon in the name of PC.

[2ndClassCitizen]

I can hardly wait for the black college to apologize for all the hate they handed out just after the horrible rape occurred.

I am absolutely certain that they will be tripping all over themselves to apologize for the fact that most white women are raped by black males.

[WL-law]

Nifong's best defense against these charges, and the defense he'll undoubtedly use, is that everything he's done is in conformity with the current (feminist-based) theory and letter of rape law.

He can use as supporting evidence, that the Duke U president also followed the 'dictates' of such feminist law.

He would argue that, under such theory, he's effectively not allowed to use his personal discretion, the "prosecutorial discretion', to weed out false charges.

We have seen, for example, judges get hounded off the bench for using such discretion. Judges and prosecutors learn from such examples.

Wendy Murphy, the legal commentator / talking-head on various TV shows, is a perfect example of the feminist prosecutor thought process.
A. No corroboration is required to support a rape charge, merely an allegation.
B. Defendants are guilty until proven innocent.
C. Rape victims "never lie".
D. Rape victims should be able to win their cases without even having to face their accuser -- after all, that's tantamount to being 'raped again'.
E. The more sordid the rape victim's past and then-current behavior/profession is, the more important it is to make sure that the jury never hears anything about it.

Nifong merely has to say -- "those were the rules I followed".

[jazusamo]

Wendy Murphy, the legal commentator / talking-head on various TV shows

I know exactly what you're saying and for the life of me I can't understand why she's given air time, she really lights my fire.

You're probably right about Nifong using that defense but he's got a steep mountain to climb, IMO. Everyone in the country is aware of his inappropriate actions and even some libs are coming down on him. We'll soon see.

[Montfort]

It's a good thing that Nifong is the only prosecutor who has ever done anything like this.

[Joe Boucher]

How about sueing the preacher who led his flock to the frat house in protest shouting about travisty of justice and how these rich white boys were getting special treatmenT?

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Everything you say makes sense, in its own terms. But then, the Duke Lacrosse team followed the rules, too. And they got punishment. Nifong is white, just like they are - why shouldn't he go to jail for being white?

[Kewlhand`tek]

I am sick of hearing about this. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A LOCAL ISSUE. its just as bad as making a big stink over a cat in tree. that being said I wish there was some way for the people in the district to remove mike nifong and charge him. Maybe the players can get some good lawyer and sue the pants off of mike nifong, but I think he should get jail time.

[WL-law]

Everyone in the country is aware of his inappropriate actions and even some libs are coming down on him. We'll soon see.

Yes, we shall see. Interesting that Libs are instinctively pro-defendant, except when those defendants are privileged whites. Whereas the Feminists are anti-men and will vigorously support any rape accuser.

So one should expect to see a split between the leftist coalition here, which is why you're now seeing CNN and others starting to support the players and attack Nifong.

And he's white and male, so maybe it all works out for them!

[Uncle Hal]

In Nilfong's district, does anybody know the percentage of black people registered to vote compared to whites?

[jazusamo]

I have no idea what the percentage is, I've only read that they're a large part of the population.

[SuziQ]

Now Nifong faced a tough election against a woman he had once fired and who would undoubtedly fire him if she became District Attorney.

In light of Mr. Nifong's perfidy, I believe the voters have every right to ask for a recall, and have a chance to vote for or against him with ALL of the information at hand.

[jazusamo]

It's very doubtful Nifong will be around for another election. :-)

[thile44]

Well it's obvious to me they wre getting special treatment.
Just not of the positive kind.

[okie01]

Yes, it would. I have a feeling she's a real lady and doesn't want to stoop to his level.

I have a feeling Ms. Black was never approached by the media -- who have been notoriously incurious about the background of this case.

Indeed, Sowell is the reporter to acquaint me with several facts in the case: Nifong was originally appointed to the office to fill a vacancy and he was facing his first election...plus, there was animosity between him and the challenger.

Prior to today, the only thing I knew was that a.) an election was impending and b.) once it happened, it turned out to be close (which I thought rather surprising).

To the media, these were facts that were irrelevant to their agenda -- which had to do with demonizing "rich white boys".