Obama and Senate Democrats Choose Politics Over Police Officers

It should come as no surprise that President Obama’s judicial nominees and executive appointments have been, at a minimum, left-of-center. It should be equally unsurprising that Senate Democrats would vote in lock step to support Mr. Obama’s nominees given the hyper-polarized atmosphere surrounding Washington over the past five years.

But Mr. Obama’s nomination of Debo Adegbile to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division did surprise me. And Senate Democrats, voting on Thursday to push Mr. Adegbile’s nomination through the Senate Judiciary Committee, equally surprised and disappointed me.

Mr. Adegbile has rightly been criticized over his association to, and representation of, convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. The unrepentant Abu-Jamal, long a cause célèbre to the far-left, was convicted of murdering Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.

Faulkner’s story is one that is sadly repeated dozens of times per year throughout the United States. A five year veteran working patrol in Philadelphia, Faulkner conducted a vehicle stop in the early morning hours of December 9, 1981 at Locust and 12th Street. Multiple eye witnesses reported that when Faulkner attempted to place the driver of the vehicle under arrest, Abu-Jamal ran from across the street and shot Faulkner in the back.

Faulkner returned fire, wounding Abu-Jamal, but fell to the ground severely injured. Abu-Jamal then stood over Faulkner and shot him four additional times, including once in the face. When responding officers arrived on scene they discovered Abu-Jamal laying only a few feet away from Faulkner’s body, still in possession of the gun used to kill Officer Faulkner.

Officers struggled to take Abu-Jamal into custody as he violently resisted arrest. From the scene, he was taken to Thomas Jefferson Hospital where security guard Priscilla Durham testified to hearing Abu-Jamal shout, “I shot the mother-(expletive) and I hope the mother-(expletive) dies” upon entering the hospital.

Abu-Jamal was tried and convicted in the murder of Officer Faulkner. His case was given the full benefit of the appellate process.

But yet for many the tragic story of Daniel Faulkner is far less compelling than the supposed “injustices” faced by Abu-Jamal. These include allegations of an unfair trial, police corruption, and the almost farcical claim that corrupt Philadelphia police officers and the mafia, not Abu-Jamal, were responsible for Officer Faulkner’s murder.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected Abu-Jamal’s petition for a new trial in both 1989 and 1998. The United States Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal. Multiple judges have listened to, and utterly rejected, Abu-Jamal’s various defense claims.

But such overwhelming evidence has not stopped various left-wing organizations, including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), of which Mr. Adegbile previously served as Director of Litigation and acting President, from supporting the cause of Abu-Jamal.

The Daily Caller reported that the LDF attempted to appeal Abu-Jamal’s capital murder conviction but was also rejected, again, by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2012. Although unsuccessful, the LDF continued to support Abu-Jamal during Mr. Adegbile’s tenure as acting president.

Nobody disputes that every American deserves a robust defense when confronted with allegations of criminal wrongdoing and, equally, full access to the appellate process in light of conviction. However, it is the type of blind activism that has motivated so much support for Abu-Jamal, driven more by ideology than fact, that renders Mr. Adegbile’s nomination so disturbing.

If affirmed by the Senate, a prospect of much higher likelihood given that Democrats stripped Republicans of their ability to filibuster most nominees, Mr. Adegbile will lead the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, a body tasked with, among myriad other responsibilities, investigating allegations of police misconduct.

Having spent the past fifteen years working as a police officer I find it unsettling to consider that the individual Mr. Obama has nominated to oversee investigations against police officers is the same individual that previously offered support for, and indirectly gave credence to, the wild allegations of a convicted and unrepentant cop-killer.

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division is afforded a tremendous amount of responsibility. Investigating allegations of civil right’s abuses affects all Americans and such allegations ought to be afforded great deference. But when such allegations are brought to light they should be investigated with an eye toward impartiality, not activism.

You might find this of interest.

The defenders of Mumia Abu-Jamar have couched their arguments on the framework of justice. But justice is the last thing on their minds. What they really want to do is to manipulate the justice system to their own political ends. They use the principles of justice, the justice system and our laws to achieve their political ends.

Now we find these people appointed and elected to positions of power in a corrupt Administration. Do you think that they seek justice? I’m sure that you don’t. But, they are really doing nothing very much different than other so called champions of justice have done to advance their political aims. We just didn’t care when it didn’t affect us.

The saying, with regards to the Islamic terrorists and the Western World…

We have all the watches, but they have all the time.

The liberals, etc, have been using the same methodology for decades. Slowly, but surely creep into every aspect of American life, and then use it/manipulate for your goals, stated or otherwise, to create the society that they want.

Problem is, the ones pulling the puppet strings and making the calls, aren’t the ones that are effected by it as they are insulated from everything they try to impose on the rest of us.

Since the 60s (if you are old enough to remember...though you may not be) the left has purposely set out to marginalize the military, the police and the courts. The fact that the hippies in charge (you can read that commies if you so desire) are getting rid of those who are constitution loving folks in uniform should concern every one.

Fact is every time we set out to blame the police and blame the courts and blame those who serve us in lousy jobs (fighting foreign wars, being political puppets, policing the mean streets, fighting fires) we contribute to yet another round of becoming more and more subservient.

Obama and his crew hate the police and say so openly. They hate the military and say so openly.

I do not blindly let any off the hook for their behavior. Neither do i knee jerk a reaction that it MUST be the fault of the police.

You have jumped on a band wagon that will not end well

When I returned from Vietnam, the Army was a mess. Leadership, discipline, training, and performance were at a 20th Century low. The Army of the 70s was worse than an empty shell.

What happened? The Army reformed itself, pulled itself up by the bootstraps, got rid of incompetent and inadequate soldiers and leaders and got busy. The Army that went to war in 2003 was the best that this country has ever seen. They’ve now been at war for 10 years and will have to do the rebuilding yet again. I believe that they will, but that remains to be seen.

I see no recognition within the justice system (cops, prosecutors, judges, politicians) that there is even a recognition of a need for reform much less any movement in that direction. In large measure, I believe that this is because the justice system, unlike the military, is already infiltrated and influenced by those that want to destroy the system and turn it to their own ends. We know that the Democrats will never do this, but I see little evidence that the Republicans would do very much different. Of course, they will never get a chance in most of America’s large urban areas unless and until a conservative President empowers his DOJ to put a stop to it. I can’t imagine that happening.

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