I thought maybe there was going to be a turnaround. I hoped the community would finally see the McGee family for the negative force that it is in Milwaukee.
Michael McGee Jr. being out of the picture, at least temporarily, was a positive sign that the rule of law could take root in the 6th Aldermanic district.
Yesterday, the elder McGee dashed those hopes.
From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:Mike McGee, father of the jailed alderman, called his son's incarceration unjust during a speech Monday morning, adding "we aren't going to take this."
The senior McGee, formerly an alderman, promised to run again if his son is removed from office. He also vowed that he and his followers would be "naughty" in response to his son's case, but didn't elaborate.
McGee made his first public statement on the case against his son in a late morning news conference in front of the federal courthouse, calling the charges against his son "gossip," and saying the alderman's due process rights were being violated. Milwaukee police and federal agents stood watching as Mike McGee spoke.
"I am telling you all, we aren't going to take this," the senior McGee said through a bullhorn to a crowd of about 50 people. "We are just going to act as naughty as (prosecutors) are."
The elder McGee is a nut.
He tells his followers that "we aren't going to take this."
TAKE WHAT?
I don't think "Gatekeeper" McGee should be shaking down his constituents.
The community shouldn't take that.
That is precisely why McGee is sitting in jail.
What does the elder McGee mean by threatening to be "naughty"?
What does he have in mind? Is the Juneteenth Day violence the sort of naughtiness that McGee is talking about?
Is that what his threat means? Is he promising a reign of terror in Milwaukee? Is he pro-victimization?Ald. Michael McGee is charged in state court with making a threat, election violations and breaking a court secrecy order. In federal court, he is charged with extortion and bribery.
...Ald. McGee, who is being held by the U.S. Marshals Service, has been moved to the Dodge County Jail from Milwaukee.
Lenny Boyer, an official with the marshals, said McGee was moved for security reasons, but declined to elaborate.
The senior McGee blasted that move as unfair. He said the case shows that "white Milwaukee" continues to target black people, specifically any member of the McGee family. He said no other charged alderman has been imprisoned and brought into court in a jail jumpsuit.
The elder McGee is a shameless race-baiter.
To rally support, he's being racially divisive. He must know that sort of thing plays well among his base. Very sad.
McGee really needs to start paying attention. It's weird to hear him speak of "white Milwaukee." It continues to dwindle every day. He needs to look around. It's a majority "minority" city now.
More importantly than the specific demographics, African-Americans hold high positions in city and county government and law enforcement. This "white Milwaukee" that McGee babbles about is getting to be an antiquated term.
There's a reason that the McGee family is being targeted: Criminal behavior.
When they behave illegally, they make themselves targets. The same goes for any other city resident. That's as it should be in an ordered society.
Furthermore, McGee seems to have conveniently forgotten that no other charged alderman threatened to do physical harm to others. The elder McGee would have a case if other aldermen had threatened to kill someone and weren't made to don jailhouse orange attire.Also Monday, Ald. McGee's defense attorney backed up a pending request to dismiss the state criminal charges for "selective, vindictive and retaliatory prosecution" by filing a brief to allege racially motivated prosecution against McGee.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try the race card again.
Hopefully, that advice won't pay off in this case. I want to give residents of the 6th District more credit than that.
Junior McGee damned himself. He's on tape, shaking down people of his district. He's an extortionist (allegedly).
Prosecuting such behavior is the duty of city officials. Ignoring it would actually be an offense to the community.
It's a very weak case to suggest that McGee's treatment is racially motivated. His lawyer looks desperate by making those accusations. Given the evidence against the younger McGee, he should be desperate.
The people of the 6th District can do so much better than what the McGee family has to offer.
If McGee the younger is convicted and he loses his seat and McGee the elder attempts to hold on to it, the people of that district would be failing themselves if they elected him.
They'd be failing the community.
Simple truth: There would be no McGee factor in Milwaukee if some citizens weren't willingly granting the McGee family political power.
Today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial on President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence is laughable.
"The real miscarriage" In the six years that George W. Bush was governor of Texas, 150 men and two women were executed by the state. In each case, Bush got a so-called clemency memo. He allowed all but one of the executions to proceed.
In commuting the 30-month sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for lying to authorities, President Bush said Monday that the sentence was "excessive."
The irony here would be laughable if the message the president sends with this action was not so damaging. And that would be that there are indeed two standards of justice - one for the powerful and well-connected and another for the rest of the country. And Libby, as former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, couldn't have been sitting closer to the seats of power or have been better connected.
This is truly insane.
The Editorial Board has gone completely off the deep end.
The crimes of people on death row in Texas aren't even remotely in the same league as Libby.
It's a complete joke to try to make a connection between the executions that took place while President Bush was the governor of Texas and Scooter Libby's crime.
Is the Editorial Board really suggesting that Bush should have pardoned killers and rapists of innocents?
There's no comparison between Libby's less than perfect memory and such horrific acts.
Texas, fairly or unfairly, is infamous for its quality of justice. In recent years, eight people have been freed from death row in that state because they were innocent, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
What does that have to do with Scooter Libby?
And what does the Board mean by "recent years"?
Bush has been president for the last six "recent years."
True, the president might have pardoned Libby outright for his obstruction in the investigation of who leaked the name of a covert CIA operative. The $250,000 fine and probation remain in place. The president points to a recommendation by the probation office for a lesser sentence. OK, but harsh sentences are a common occurrence in American jurisprudence. And most ordinary people don't have powerful friends who can step in to help.
But mostly this commutation fails on the most basic premise. There was no miscarriage of justice in Libby's conviction or his sentence. The trial amply demonstrated that he stonewalled.
The investigation and the trial amply demonstrated that Libby did not leak Valerie Plame's name.
It wasn't Libby. It wasn't Libby. It wasn't Libby.
It was Richard Armitage. Armitage. ARMITAGE.
Read more about this "Sham of an Investigation." Like President Clinton's 11th-hour pardons of an ill-deserving few, this commutation is a travesty.
The overzealous Patrick Fitzgerald wanted so much more. He had nothing, so he went after Libby. That was a travesty of justice.
Furthermore, Bush didn't pardon Libby.
Clinton's litany of pardons can't be compared with what Bush did on Monday. It's not even close.
Bush got it right.
The Journal Sentinel Editorial Board, once again, gets it wrong.
President Bush didn't pardon Scooter Libby, but he said no prison time.
Statement by the President
There's no question that the President did the right thing.
The Leftists, of course, are having fits, sort of.The President has an absolute right to do this. But by commuting the sentence of his former Presidential advisor and the former Number 2 to Dick Cheney — the President has put protecting Dick Cheney and his actions above respect for America’s system of justice.
This is a shameful, self-dealing action which will have long-term political ramifications for the Bush Administration. And it should.
The entire case — from betrayal of Valerie Plame Wilson by members of her own government to the inception of the investigation into that betrayal from a referral from the CIA…all the way through to the conviction of I. Lewis Libby of multiple felony counts by a federal jury and the stiff sentence for a convicted felon meted out by a conservative federal judge — all of it has served to highlight the lies on which the invasion of Iraq rested. And how far the members of the Bush Administration were willing to go to keep those lies buried and away from the public’s knowledge.
That George Bush commuted Libby’s sentence just as he returned from a trip to his father’s family compound in Maine, ran into the White House away from the press and refused to answer any questions about his own involvement in the case, his own interview with Patrick Fitzgerald and federal investigators, and any remaining questions that still hang out there about the cloud over Dick Cheney underscores the craven and disrespectful conduct of the Bush Administration from start to finish. There is nothing that these people will not do to protect their own, whatever the cost may be for the long term to the public confidence in the rule of law. This is a slap in the face to the members of the jury and all of the federal judges who have ruled on the substantial amount of evidence of Libby’s guilt and the weakness of his attempts to appeal.
Blah, blah, blah.
All the libs are rushing to give their statements and write their drivel.
I think they're feigning outrage. The passion isn't there.
We know. We know. They hate the President and his administration.
The commutation of Libby's sentence gives them some ammo, a purpose to shoot off their mouths; but I don't think they really care about Plame and Wilson and Libby anymore. It's a sideshow.
True, by not giving a full pardon, Bush stayed on the fence somewhat. No doubt, conservative critics will get on his case for that.
What matters most is that Bush spared Libby that disgracefully excessive prison sentence. It was ridiculous that the federal court of appeals wanted Libby behind bars even as he would be appealing the conviction.
Chuck Shumer responded to the President's action as a typical lib would:"As Independence Day nears, we are reminded that one of the principles our forefathers fought for was equal justice under the law. This commutation completely tramples on that principle."
What a load! Independence Day. Forefathers.
What an absolute load!
Bottom line: Bush did the right thing.
Summer in Milwaukee -- It's the best of times and the worst of times.
There were more deaths and spilled blood in Milwaukee over the weekend then in London as a result of the terror scares and attack in Glasgow.
In spite of the massive media coverage and the world attention devoted to the terrorism plots in Britain, it was far more dangerous to be in Milwaukee.
From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:Two men who were shot in the upper body and are in critical but stable condition today were among five people wounded in three separate overnight shootings, Milwaukee police said this morning.
Five shootings overnight.
FIVE!
These five shootings capped off three murders in the city over the weekend.
Three men were killed in two shootings in less than 24 hours late Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
In each case, what started as a fight ended with gunfire, police and witnesses said.
Sunday's killing occurred outside Dots Fashion, E. Capitol Drive and N. Richards St. Police and paramedics were called at 3:19 p.m.
According to two witnesses, the victim, identified by family as Willie McCollum, arrived at Dots Fashion after a phone call from his girlfriend, who worked at the store.
The witnesses, who said they were afraid to give their names, said the girlfriend got into a fight with a female customer, who was angry about having to wait in line. The customer also made a phone call, to a man who came to the store.
After they arrived, the man and the victim began swinging at each other inside the store. When they moved the fight outside, the witnesses said, the man pulled out a gun and shot McCollum, who went by the nickname Cash, in the neck. The man and the female customer then got into a car and drove away.
...Sunday's killing followed a double murder late Saturday in the 2400 block of N. 50th St.
Police said two men, ages 22 and 19, were shot Saturday night while fighting with two other men. Police refused to identify the victims and had made no arrests.
Police said the two men were fighting in the street with another man when a fourth man arrived with a handgun.
The fourth man shot the 19-year-old and 22-year-old multiple times as they tried to run away about 10:45 p.m.
The weekend's killings ratcheted the number of homicides in Milwaukee this year to 49. That's even with the same point in 2006, despite efforts that police say have decreased the overall number of shootings and led to the seizure of more illegal guns.
Chalk up another lovely summer weekend in Milwaukee with police chalk marks and blood on the streets. It bugs me when homicide figures from last year are cited. The homicide rate isn't a clear measure of the violence in the city.
One must look at the number of shootings.
Shootings that result in murders are just part of Milwaukee's violence problem.
As the Journal Sentinel reported, "Experts say that the total number of shootings - not just the fatal ones - is a better measurement of gun violence."
There's a reason that city officials like to drag out the homicide rate.
It gives the impression that violence in the city isn't spiraling out of control.
No reason to be alarmed. Nothing to see here. Move along. ...Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Sunday that he was angered by the "senseless violence" of the weekend killings.
"Personal responsibility cannot be ignored in this," Barrett said. " . . .when you have this incredibly easy access to illegal guns, and, for some people, the lack of a moral compass, that can be a dangerous combination."
Barrett said the city would continue lobbying for stricter state and federal gun control laws. "There are still far too many illegal guns on the streets of the city of Milwaukee," he said.
Here's a shocker: Mayor Barrett was available to comment on the violence.
Here's not a shocker: Barrett is still whining about tougher state and federal gun laws as a solution to violence.
That's so lame.
You could give me a gun. You could give me an illegal gun. In either case, I would never shoot someone. That's not how I would ever react if I became angry or wanted to settle a dispute.
NEVER.
A gun is never responsible for a shooting.
NEVER.
Whenever Barrett tries to pass the buck, falling back on the tired gun legislation excuse, he fails to point out that it's already illegal to carry a gun and shoot someone at a strip mall.
Doesn't the fact the Barrett cites illegal guns as the problem point to the reality that it's already against the law to have the guns being used in some of these shootings and murders? Is he forgetting that it's already illegal to shoot someone?
When the Milwaukee Police Department gives its weekly update on the Neighborhood Crime Initiative, I wonder if the exact number of shootings compared to this time last year will once again be conveniently omitted from the stats released.
I guess every cloud has a silver lining and Barrett has found it in the stable homicide rate.
Clinging to that, of course, is a disservice to the people of the city.
There were extra police in place and security was heightened for the Ludacris concert at Summerfest last night.
Apparently, that paid off.
There was no repeat of the mob violence and wilding that followed Juneteenth Day in Milwaukee.
That's interesting. Marcus Chisolm, attacker of Pat Kasthurirangaian, blamed the police presence at Juneteenth Day as the factor that motivated the thugs to turn violent.
If that's how thugs react when they see police, why didn't they respond in the same fashion at Summerfest with the increased security?
Why didn't they flip out there?
It's possible that there were fewer thugs at the concert.
It's also possible that the thugs in attendance paid good money to attend the concert and they wanted to enjoy it. Perhaps they welcomed the police to keep order. Getting arrested does tend to put a damper on the evening and spoil the Summerfest experience.
The numbers on arrests before, during, and after the concert haven't been released yet, but all signs point to a relatively peaceful event.
That's good for Summerfest and good for the community.
Too bad Ludacris wasn't available to perform at Juneteenth Day.
Marcus Chisolm changed Pat Kasthurirangaian's life forever.MILWAUKEE -- A towering Marcus Chisolm, 19, walked into a Milwaukee courtroom Sunday morning without handcuffs. He's at least 6'6". Police arrested the suspect at his apartment (3056 N. Palmer Street) on Friday for his role in the beating captured on video exclusively by TODAY'S TMJ4.
In their report, police said Chisolm admits he's the man who kicked Pat Kasthurirangaian, a 43-year-old businessman, at 1st & Burleigh.
"He was caught on film in the act and he confessed to it as well," said the assistant district attorney during Sunday's initial appearance.
Chisolm told investigators he saw others attacking Kasthurirangaian, then his mind "went blank." The criminal complaint said Chisolm smashed the windshield of the Kasthurirangaian's Ford Focus and then kicked Kasthurirangaian once in the face. The attack may have permanently damaged the victim's right eye.
When Chisolm was assaulting Kasthurirangaian, he claims that he "went blank."
Is that what happens when one is part of a violent mob?
One just goes "blank"?
Is Chisolm setting himself up as a victim?
His instincts kicked in as he kicked in Kasthurirangaian's face. The poor baby Chisolm is a casualty of his violent environment, poverty, hopelessness, blah, blah, blah.......Chisolm faces up to 15 years in prison and a $50,000 fine if he's convicted of aggravated battery. The court commissioner set Chisolm's bail at $50,000 dollars.
Well, well, well. Chisolm's bail is the same as Ald. Michael McGee.
Is that an injustice?
I wonder if the Rev. George King will scrape up another $50,000 to post bail for the victimized Chisolm...."If you're out there to beat people up and destroy property for fun, that's the definition of a riot," said Kasthurirangaian. The father of two wants to address his attacker in court. "I want to look at this guy in his face and tell him what he did to me and my family."
Injuries have prevented Kasthurirangaian from working and driving. He's scheduled to undergo surgery to have a plate implanted near his damaged retina. While he awaits surgery, he also waits to find out if police will arrest anymore of the people involved in the assault that changed his life.
There will be a benefit concert for Kasthurirangaian. It's being held Friday, July 6, at G-Daddy's BBC on North Avenue in Milwaukee.
We know Chisolm went blank as he smashed Kasthurirangaian's windshield and his face.
But what prompted him to join the Juneteenth Day violent mob?
*WARNING* Explicit language *WARNING*
According to the criminal complaint, it happened this way:There was a lot of hostility in the area. Everyone was upset because the police were "f---in" with people. People began walking down Burleigh Street, hitting cars, and smashing out windows, to give the police something to "f--- with them for."
The complaint also states that after the incident, Chisolm went home and "had discussions with his family members and had informed them of what he did. However, he did not name or identify any other people that were involved in the incident."
Although Chisolm finally confessed, for over a week Chisolm and his family members stayed silent about his role in the beating of Kasthurirangaian.
Moreover, Chisolm didn't cooperate with the police as far as naming others participating in the violence.
I guess in Milwaukee's thug culture that makes Chisolm a real upstanding guy, a lot of integrity, a real role model, a hero.
Yesterday, Brian Ross of ABC News reported:A secret U.S. law enforcement report, prepared for the Department of Homeland Security, warns that al Qaeda is planning a terror "spectacular" this summer, according to a senior official with access to the document.
"This is reminiscent of the warnings and intelligence we were getting in the summer of 2001," the official told ABCNews.com.
It appears that this unnamed official can't keep a secret.U.S. officials have kept the information secret, and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said today on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that the United States did not have "have any specific credible evidence that there's an attack focused on the United States at this point."
What is Ross doing?
And what is his source doing?
If it's true that al Qaeda claims to have plans for a "spectacular" attack this summer, and officials are following up on the intelligence, it's obvious that officials made the determination to not inform our enemies that we're picking up on their plans.
Nonetheless, the leaker official, Brian Ross, and ABC News selfishly prefer to expose their scoop over saving lives and nabbing our enemies. As ABCNews.com reported, U.S. law enforcement officials received intelligence reports two weeks ago warning of terror attacks in Glasgow and Prague, the Czech Republic, against "airport infrastructure and aircraft."
Of course, BUSH KNEW!!!The warnings apparently never reached officials in Scotland, who said this weekend they had received "no advance intelligence" that Glasgow might be a target.
Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff declined to comment specifically on on the report today, but said "everything that we get is shared virtually instantaneously with our counterparts in Britain and vice versa."
Rather than focusing on the terrorist threat, ABC News acts as if the main point of the story is the U.S. government's failure to warn the American public about potential terror just as it supposedly failed to share intelligence with Glasgow.
Ross the opportunity to bash the U.S. when he should be giving his attention to the enemies plotting against us.
This has really been an awful stretch here. It's great that the terrorists have failed to the damage they desired. That's looking on the bright side.
But I can't get away from the dark and ugly side -- Terrorists are determined to kill innocents, not only in Britain but in the U.S. as well.
Is news of this supposedly "spectacular" plan supposed to haunt us?
Is that what we have to look forward to? Is fear supposed to bring our lives to a halt?
It bothers me that officials are leaking information meant for the Department of Homeland Security.
It bothers me that members of the press go public with security information that was not intended for public consumption.
I also object to the accusation that the U.S. government had advance warning of the Scotland attack but failed to share it, as though there's something sinister afoot.
If Ross and ABC News want to point fingers and assign blame, they should condemn the terrorists first and foremost.
President Bush was right when he said the War on Terror would be long and difficult.
It's sad that there are sickos out there spending their lives thinking up ways to target and kill innocent people.
The terrorists are really miserable, joyless creatures. "Spectacular" isn't an attack that slaughters hundreds or thousands of people.
"Spectacular" is watching the sunset on the bay side of Wisconsin's Door County peninsula; then driving to the Lake Michigan side to watch the moon rise. Within 40 minutes on Saturday evening, I experienced two absolutely spectacular sights of God's creation.
I guess a "spectacular" terrorist attack could be considered God's creation, too. In the deranged minds of the terrorists, killing in the name of Allah is breathtakingly beautiful, offering heavenly rewards.Sick.
