And … explain.

Jaibones on October 20, 2007 at 7:15 AM

Not sure what needs explaining; only that it’s good to know corporate affiliations.

BET is owned by Viacom.

baldilocks on October 20, 2007 at 1:43 AM

And … explain.

BET is owned by Viacom.

Just nothing usable or readable including violent crime, racial background, and offenders. Lots of info on victims. Maybe I’m just too cynical about government and political correctness to deal with FBI and DOJ on this.

Other, less reputable sources (Vdare) seem to have no trouble sorting through the mess for interesting info, though.

You’re still being an @ss. I posted about his criminal record when I first learned about it, but if I were you I’d just google it.

Laura on October 19, 2007 at 10:00 PM

Well … ok! As long as it’s in the pursuit of Holiness, here goes:

Battery – 12/25/2005
Criminal damage to property – 7/25/2006
Battery – 9/2006
Criminal damage to property – 9/2006

Gosh, now why would the prosecutor take such an aggressive position on prosecuting a young honor roll student like Mychal Bell, just because he got caught up in a good ole high school brawl, like all them boys will do from time to time … ?

Jaibones on October 19, 2007 at 7:51 PM

Try putting DOJ FBI and .gov in your search string. You can find what you are looking for.

… and if necessary sentenced – in line with how white people are sentenced for similar crimes.

So, give us an example of a similar crime, Laura, where 6 white high school kids jump and beat a black kid — apparently because he’s black — unprovoked, until he is unconscious. Gotta happen all the time, right? What did you call it … a high school brawl?

In any event, it’s clear that it’s useless engaging with you on this topic. Go ahead and have the last word, I won’t respond.

I believe that he is a dirtball based on learned and supported behavior, and the reinforcement of this behavior by a society that calls him a victim and attacks the prosecutor that would attempt to jail him.

you’re being an @ss

Ah…the pursuit of Holiness. I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t wish to identify the charges in fine young Mr. Bell’s previous criminal convictions. C’mon, you’ve read and studied this case right down to the screws — why was he held in violation of parole and sent to jail? Just more racism from whitey?

Why wasn’t Mychal able to celebrate his violence on the Hip Hop stage before his adoring public?

You accuse me of minimizing the crime – not at all, unless Justin Barker’s two friends are minimizing it too. I believe their accounts, which are consistent with each other and with Barker’s injuries.

We used initials because these are minors and if their names are not already in the news, we didn’t want them to come up in a Google search for this.

I’m not defending Bell per se, and you’re being an @ss to keep insisting I am. But then you already know that. Once again, and for the record –

The Jena 6 should be charged (appropriately), tried (fairly, with attorneys who actually defend them, unlike Blane Williams), and if necessary sentenced – in line with how white people are sentenced for similar crimes.

(Why do you use initials? Is that police lingo? It lends an All the President’s Men sort of feel to this.)

As for Bell’s four previous criminal convictions — to say nothing of his previous criminal arrests without conviction — are you seriously going to cite my ignorance of the specific charges as a (further) defense of him? Save us the drama, Laura — what are they for? Are they somehow exculpatory?

How many criminal convictions have you had, Laura? I have had none, despite 48 years of less than perfect conduct on this earth and no particular guile; I just don’t beat people up, or rape women, or rob stores at gunpoint or any of that bling stuff.

C’mon, Laura, do it. Throw Bell under the bus; that’s where he belongs. Do it.

But your repeated efforts to minimize — yes, of course it is that — both the actions of the criminals and the injuries that resulted are disturbing.

You admit you haven’t followed this that closely. You don’t know the details of Bell’s criminal history, you haven’t read the witness statements, and if you did you probably wouldn’t understand the context of them (why ES and JH’s statements are so important), and you haven’t read the medical report that was online so you have no idea what Barker’s injuries actually were or were not.

Yet you feel qualified, based on what knowledge exactly? to accuse me of “minimizing.”

If the Jena 6 are the thugs that they seem to be, the justice system will have another crack at them sooner or later. But Walters can’t overcharge them now in order to prevent a potential crime later; that is NOT how our justice system is intended to work. He was out of line, and conservatives ought to be front and center demanding that he be held accountable for it, and that an investigation be held to make sure there is not a pattern of this in Jena – the same town, incidentally, where the DOJ had to shut down the Jena Juvenile Justice Center because of abuse. Accepting the Jena justice system at face value is irresponsible, regardless of the fact that the Jena 6 are not poster children for a new civil rights movement.

Laura on October 19, 2007 at 5:07 PM

I am not sure where you get the idea that Walters was trying to “overcharge them now in order to prevent a potential crime later”, but I haven’t followed the story that closely. And maybe I am unfairly lumping you in with the black racists that I have seen from the beginning of the media circus right up to the carnival of Hip Hop Degenerates shown above.

But your repeated efforts to minimize — yes, of course it is that — both the actions of the criminals and the injuries that resulted are disturbing.

Today it was reported that Bell had four previous criminal convictions, but I don’t know what for. Were they all for violent behavior? If so, then so much for “the justice system will have another crack at them sooner or later”.

Moreover, their supporters are degenerate, and this whole story is just another crystal clear demonstration of the immorality and irresponsibility of a disturbingly large number of black Americans. The Hip Hop degenerates cheering for these two brings back haunting memories of crowds of blacks cheering the OJ verdict.

I didn’t refresh the page before I responded at 5:07, so I didn’t see your comment. Thank you for clarifying.

Again, I don’t particularly care whether you agree, nor do I accept your characterization that this is a “bizarro-world position of those defending these scumbags for a violent attack.” I have repeatedly condemned them for the attack; please work on your reading comprehension. In addition to that, I believe that the evidence clearly backs me up when I say that this was a 5 (possibly 6) on 2 high school brawl. The witness statements by Justin Barker’s two friends – who are the 2 in the 5 (or 6) on 2 – clearly establish that. And you don’t have to take my word or the media’s on what law enforcement in Jena knew about this case – you can read the same witness statements/court docs that I gave to Joe and are still posted at Evangelical Outpost.

JH – Jena 6 Incident 05
“Justin and KR was walking out of the gym when I saw a black boy heard a black boy say something to Justin I turned my head and I saw somebody hit Justin. He fell in between the gym door and the concrete barrier. I saw Robert Bailey kneel down and punch Justin in the head. ES pushed Robert Bailey and he fell. Then Carwin Jones kicked him in the head. Eric pushed Carwin back. I ran over there and Theo Shaw tried to kick him and I pushed Theo Shaw down. I also saw Mychal Bell standing over him. Then somebody yelled teacher and they all ran away. The last person I saw was RB (Bug) standing over him, but I’m not sure if he kicked him or not. Then I saw Coach Lewis kneel down on the ground beside Justin, but I never saw him during the fight.”

Okay, let’s review that -

1. Sombody – almost certainly Bell – hit Barker
2. Barker goes down
3. Robert Bailey gets down on the ground and begins to punch the unconscious Barker in the head
4. ES, Barker’s friend, immediately joins the fray and knocks Bailey down
5. Carwin Jones joins and kicks Barker in the head
6. ES pushes Jones back
7. Our witness, JH, Barker’s friend, jumps in and stops Theo Shaw from kicking Barker
8. “Bug” may have kicked him or according to ES’ statement, stood on his face
9. Somebody yelled “teacher” and they scattered

That’s a fight – a mean, out of control, unfair fight. It’s something which deserves punishment. ES’s statement is consistent with this, as are Barker’s injuries. But when people say “6 on 1 beating” that gives you the idea that 6 people were grouped around Justin Barker’s prone body, simultaneously hitting and kicking him. When people say 6 on 1 beating, they are specifically leaving out the people who took part in the fight defending Justin Barker. Reed Walters did that deliberately. Just as he deliberately exaggerated Barker’s injuries to justify his original charges.

If Reed Walters had originally charged them with the entirely appropriate battery charges instead of attempted murder, they would have been referred to juvenile court and none of us would have heard of any of this. Instead he gamed the system to get them into adult court and keep them locked up for many more years than this high school fight justifies.

If the Jena 6 are the thugs that they seem to be, the justice system will have another crack at them sooner or later. But Walters can’t overcharge them now in order to prevent a potential crime later; that is NOT how our justice system is intended to work. He was out of line, and conservatives ought to be front and center demanding that he be held accountable for it, and that an investigation be held to make sure there is not a pattern of this in Jena – the same town, incidentally, where the DOJ had to shut down the Jena Juvenile Justice Center because of abuse. Accepting the Jena justice system at face value is irresponsible, regardless of the fact that the Jena 6 are not poster children for a new civil rights movement.

Weird hyperbole unworthy of a detailed response.

Jaibones on October 19, 2007 at 3:37 PM

uh huh….

I patiently await the humble apologies from the HotAir race-baiters who were so filled with angst that these fine young men were oppressed by Whitey and the Racist KKK down in Jena.

Now that’s hyperbole.