What interests me in the strange case of Mike Nifong – the DA in the Duke Lacrosse Team alleged rape case (very alleged at this point) – is why a reasonably intelligent person, as I assume him to be, would come to make such a long and ultimately self-destructive fool of himself. He is now apparently and at long last trying to beat a retreat through a recusal.
Much of the talk I have read centers on the DA’s election needs – and no doubt this factors in. But his behavior, evidently hiding exculpatory DNA evidence from the defense, seems so neurotic it makes you think there were deeper and more complex forces at work. Nifong also appears to be one of those given to the simplistic view that minority members are always right when confronting the scions of the evil majority. Or, more precisely, perhaps he was relying on that concept as zeitgeist for which he received great support from the Duke faculty that made similar assumptions- a kind of cultural relativist justice in which the same laws should not apply to the disadvantaged. Of course at base this is racist – but not in the way Mr. Nifong thinks. Quite the reverse. This is yet another example of one of the hallmarks of our era – bourgeois liberalism become ultra-reactionary in its actions. Nifong’s big mistake is that he took that zeitgeist a few steps too far. He should have known better.
…bourgeois liberalism become ultra-reactionary in its actions
I think the concept of social justice is at the root of this drift. Once the government seeks to right abstact wrongs it inevitably, IMHO, ends up with discriminatory practices. The idea of hate crimes is another side to this trend. It is best to keep the terms simple and unqualified: murder is murder, rape is rape, race is irrelevant. In the end, I believe it impossible for social justice and liberty to coexist. So let us simply seek justice. That simple word by itself is difficult enough to attain and is the best we can hope for.
“..is why a reasonably intelligent person, as I assume him to be, would come to make such a long and ultimately self-destructive fool of himself.”
Mike Nifong was far behind in the polls. His opponent was up by over ten points and the odds were strongly against him. Prosecuting these alleged spoiled white boys helped him to “earn” the black vote. That’s it in a nut shell.
This case was similar to the infamous Scottsboro Boys miscarriage of justice. Thank god, these young men were fairly affluent. A poor kid would be doomed to spend the next few years in jail.
Mike Nifong is not alone in serious malfeasance in the Duke rape case. You can start with the president of Duke, Richard Brodhead, a cowardly liberal misfit from Yale, and, the former English professor, Houston Baker, a racist Cornell West clone, who ranted and raved about the racist lacrosse team. He has now jumped to Vanderbilt, but not soon enough. Then jump to the presumably impressive “The Committe of 88,” an array of scholars and accusers who demanded and then endorsed Brodhead’s firing of the lacrosse coach and cancelling of the season. Lest the name Committee hide their names from the disgraceful positions demanded by them; let’s identify the well known author Alice Kaplan, a history professor who has written impressively and damningly about France during the Nazi Occupation and the complicity of the right in the Vichy government. One might think that Ms. Kaplan has borrowed a page from their facist gamebook in her support of blinding one’s eye to due process, the law and fairness.
the funny thing is that there have been no leaks, pro or con, out of the D.A.s office. Someone (Assistant D.A.s, investigators, etc.) has to be aware of his motivations. This leads me to believe that the entire office must be corrupt or, minimally, willing to keep silent about what is becoming increasingly obvious re what went on there. Is it possible that anyone who works there will become persona-non-grata should they try to work in another D.A.s office?
Truly disgraceful and truly embarrasing. Suprise suprise, by obsessing about race and seeking a race-based explanation for every “unequal” outcome over the last 30 years, we have created perhaps the most racist society in the history of modern democracy. Blacks and liberal whites are jointly responsible for this–Blacks for their evidently limitless willingness to sell their dignity for a few paltry handouts; liberal whites for attepting to purchase (with other people’s money i.e. taxes, of course) relief from their own sense of guilt and for perputally infantilizing Blacks. Think of the difference between a Fredrick Douglas or a George Washington Carver and a Jesse Jackson or an Al Sharpton. This is what the welfare state has bought us. A once proud people has been reduced to a race of beggars and clowns. How terribly sad.
So did you hear the one about the press conference where Brodhead was asked what he’d do if the men’s basketball team was caught throwing a party with underage drinking and strippers. He replied that he’d do exactly the same as before – cancel the lacrosse season.
Mike Nifong was far behind in the polls. His opponent was up by over ten points and the odds were strongly against him. Prosecuting these alleged spoiled white boys helped him to “earn” the black vote.
There was also very high turnout in black areas. This indicates how racist most black Americans are toward whites. As long as whites persist with this “race is irrelevant” nonsense blacks will continue to act collectively from the voting booth to juries against evil whitey. They’ve re-elected Ray Nagin and Congressman Jefferson – he of the cold hard cash controversy. Interracial violence is overwhelmingly committed by blacks. Since there are no consequences from weakling white America why should blacks change their behaviour?
Some thoughts:
1. The woman is a whore, not merely a stripper. The DNA testing discovered that she had accumulated several distinct semen deposits inside her, in the few days prior to the party.
2. If there were ever justification for a woman to have an abortion, this was it. Yet she bore the child. Where the hell was Planned Parenthood on this one?
3. Nifong has made my boogeyman list. You know, those human specimens that you haul out for comparison’s sake, during self-assessment, that allow you to breathe a sigh of relief and think thank God I’m not like him.
4. Black strippers are going to be finding it extemely difficult to get a gig at any parties which are attended by whites.
5. If this case actually goes to trial, based on such flimsy evidence from a woman who comes from the lowest dregs of society, and who’s paid work demanded that she provide explicit sexual provocation no less, then what signal does that send to males in general? Personally, I feel resentment that a case like this can even happen. Relationships between men and women are complicated enough, and things like this can only aid the extreme elements who are engaged in a gender war, aiding their efforts to escalate and spread their animosity.
Two points to add:
1.) When Colin Finnerty, Durham defendant, was convicted in
DC for assault on a silly punch out in Georgetown, one columnist for the WaPo called him “a wolf in a blue blazer.” Talk about kicking a kid when he is down.
2.) When are the Duke Board of Directors going to sanction the cheese ball president Richard Brodhead and ask him to leave? Duke may be a fine academic university but for the last year its reputation has plummeted and, I hear, its applications for early admission fell 25%. The Board should do to Brodhead what he did to Mike Presser the lacrosse coach.
A fish rots from the head first.
Karla Holloway resigned in protest–she wanted the Duke players crucified, burned alive, and drawn & quartered.
Nifong’s excuse was doing whatever it took to win the election. Those other idiots have no excuse but multicultural PC hatred of anything not from the third world.
Nifong’s other mistakes were that he wasn’t honest, ethical,fair or able to forsee the likely consequences of his acts. Very unlawyerlike. He also forgot that he is an Office of the Court and but a Cog in the Wheel of Justice.
Remember, this is NC. The new lead prosecutor on this case testified under oath that it was the policy of the AG office to withhold from the defense evidence that might impeach a prosecution witness. Thiry years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that this was illegal!
The only mistake Nifong made was not anticipating the fury of the blogs descending on his head.
As a former Duke faculty member, I’ve followed the matter closely and recommend the intelligent, well-researched writings of KC Johnson at http://www.durhamwonderland.blogspot.com. It’s real simple. Nifong is utterly corrupt, morally and professionally, a craven, vicious blot on the legal landscape. The Duke administration and a large part of its faculty are not far behind, much like the Harvard faculty re Larry Summers.
I refuse to engage in speculation about why such folks behave as they do, striking me as a pointless exercise in victimology (“they did this because of X deforming events/persons in their pasts”).
Whenever there’s a case of police misconduct, such as a police officer found to give false testimony, it’s a common practice for defense attorneys to look at other cases where the officer testified. The reasoning is that if the officer was found to have acted improperly in one case then it casts into doubt his actions in other cases. I’ve read of instances where hundreds of convictions were cast in doubt based on the acts of a single law enforement officer.
Don’t be surprised if defense lawyers start reviewing other cases prosecuted by Nifong looking for similar cases of prosecutorial misconduct. After all, if Nifong withheld exculpatory evidence in this case, what’s to say he didn’t do the same thing in previous cases?
Withholding exculpatory evidence is not just unethical, it’s illegal. Nifong should not be held above the law. If he did withhold the evidence, he should be prosecuted. Simple disbarment is not enough.
While some of the comments of the faculty have been despicable, it’s important to remember that the team has admitted to acting illegally (underage drinking and providing alcohol to minors) and boorishly (hiring strippers and treating them badly enough to start a fight that required the police). Not every criticism of them is a false accusation of rape. Moreover, it looks to me like the administration tried to cover things up for a few days before throwing the team to the wolves. So lumping all of the faculty critics together with the ones explicitly accusing the team of rape is an overreaction of its own kind (if a relatively mild one in this case).
“While some of the comments of the faculty have been despicable, it’s important to remember that the team has admitted to acting illegally (underage drinking and providing alcohol to minors) and boorishly (hiring strippers and treating them badly enough to start a fight that required the police).”
Hey Bob, did you ever go to college or university.
No Promoguy. Bob is extermely tough (like Dirty Harry) yet extremely saintly (like Christ I guess) and at the same time extremely intelligent (Einstien) yet extremely above sympathiszing with the normal human foibles of his normal fellow humans (like Einstein was). In other words, Bob is perfect and always right (because he is a liberal) even though he is a trust fund baby advovating taking your money to assuage his guilt–while you, on the other hand, are always evil and always wrong, because you are not liberal and would rather give your own money to show your genorosity than steal it from your “intellectual inferiors”
I am appalled that Mike Nifong lost only his license to practice law plus was sentenced to lose one day of freedom in a jail cell. (He should end up rotting in a prison cell for years to come; moreover, suits against him, President Brodhead, Duke University and certain professors at Duke should result in highly costly punitive judgments against all defendants in the various suits.) Appalled as I am over the sad story of the falsely accused lacrosse players, I am also outraged that many DAs in NC are even yet playing the fool. Nancy Grace, put your finger down your throat and say “ARRRGH!” over that revolting development, why don’t you?