Refusal to Accept the Truth

(UPDATE: 3/21/15 - My apologies to those I have tricked!!! The statistic used in the opening paragraph stating that 90% of Americans are gun owners is not true. It was only featured to prove how statistics can be manipulated to uphold obviously false ideas, but make them seem believable by backing the fallacy with misrepresenting data. The statistic of 34% that is included in the second paragraph is a more accurate figure. I proved the point just a little too much!!!)

America loves guns. Over 90% of Americans are gun owners. A link to a worldwide study is included so you can compare our high volume of gun ownership to the rates of the rest of the world.

But even if that number is 100% accurate, anyone with a sense of critical thinking would say that this is an example of a statistical fallacy. I have another survey that contradicts the 90% claim. The Pew Research Center found that only 34% of Americans have a gun in their household.

The first example of 90 guns per 100 Americans does not take into account that a significant number of Americans own more than one gun. It’s a matter of compiling statistics that are relevant to the conclusion.

Welcome to the world of the US Department of Justice! The Obama Department of Race Baiting.

If the First Fallacy Fails, Try Another

FORMER police officer Darren Wilson has been completely exonerated of any wrong doing by a grand jury and an intensive investigation conducted by the Department of Justice.

The summary of the DOJ report states, “Wilson did not willfully violate Brown’s Constitutional right to be free from unreasonable force”. Furthermore it concludes that, “Wilson’s conduct in shooting Brown as he advanced on Wilson, and until he fell to the ground, was not objectively unreasonable and thus not in violation of 18 US U.S.C. 242”.

However, the violence in Ferguson continues. Why? There has not been one single grain of evidence proving that Wilson racially profiled Mike Brown.

Since President Obama and Attorney General Holder could not find any wrongdoing by police officer Wilson they decided to publish a second report that is rife with statistical fallacies used to accuse the city of Ferguson of discriminating against the rights of African Americans.

Thanks to this second report tensions in Ferguson have escalated. The attempted assassination of two police officers marks a new chapter in the violent protests in Ferguson.

This unprecedented audit of the city of Ferguson was a witch hunt that subjected the tiny city of 21,000 to intensive scrutiny. A similar audit of any city in the whole country would produce similar results.

The report states that the city is 67% black, but blacks comprised 85% of the traffic stops and 93% of the arrests. These statistics are no more evidence of racism than the fact that the NBA is racist because 76% of its athletes are black, but blacks only comprise 12.6% of the total population.

The DOJ report doesn’t take into account that the black population is younger than the white population. This is significant because 80% of prisoners in state and federal correctional facilities are between ages 20 to 49 years old. That accounts for a small slice of the discrepancy.

Then you must take into account the rates in which blacks commit crimes compared to other races. From 2011 to 2013 the FBI records that 38.5% of people arrested for murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault were African American. So even though the black population comprises only 12.6% of the population, they are over represented in these statistics by 25.9%. That can generously explain the rest of the difference in the DOJ’s misleading report.

Where Are the Indictments?

Bullshit is a term used to describe exaggerated or foolish talk. It is especially descriptive of deceitful or pretentious talk. There is no other possible characterization of this report.

In the summary it states “This investigation has revealed a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct within the Ferguson Police Department that violates the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution, and federal statutory law”.

If this was true then why have there been no indictments? Until there are arrests we can be sure of one the following:

1) The US Department of Justice is negligent in its duties because it has uncovered “a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct within the Ferguson Police Department”, but allows lawbreakers to go unpunished.

- or -

2) The US Department of Justice is lying. There are no serious violations of the law. The DOJ is abusing statistics and has fraudulently used its considerable resources to misrepresent the failings of this small town police department.

Guilty Despite Innocence

One thing is painfully certain. The DOJ has failed to support police officer Wilson who stood unjustly accused. This is a calculated dereliction of duty.

When Attorney General Holder went to Ferguson he talked about how he felt that he was racially profiled because he was pulled over for speeding in Washington DC. He sent a team of over 50 FBI agents and forensic specialists to the scene of Mike Brown’s shooting. Judging from his own words they were clearly there to build a discrimination case against Officer Wilson.

This was impossible because the evidence positively vindicated the persecuted officer. Yet Holder prejudged Wilson as guilty and because he was thwarted by the evidence he found another way to incriminate the innocent police officer.

President Obama, Attorney General Holder and the US Department of Justice have let down the people of our country. It has been a great injustice that has cost tremendous damage to the city of Ferguson