There's one thing about Atlanta everyone knows, especially those who fly into Harstfield International Airport and peer down at the seemingly endless number of highways, roads, houses and commercial developments greeting the visitor to the world's busiest airport: traffic is a chaotic nightmare for those commuting to and from or merely passing through the city.
It's bad.
Imagine spending two hours each day commuting to and from work (or 10 hours a week), and you have a picture of your average metro Atlanta resident's daily drive.
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If you've ever watched an episode of AMC's "The Walking Dead," you've seen the iconic shot of all of the cars trying to leave the city of Atlanta and some fool on horseback heading toward the city. Well, Atlanta traffic is usually bumper to bumper both ways, save for last week when something unprecedented happened.
It seems the Ferguson, Missouri, protests migrated down I-85 South Wednesday, and the Justice for Michael Brown movement found a new home making metro Atlanta commuters' life that much worse by stopping traffic.
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The pictures of these protesters immediately will remind any fan of "The Walking Dead" of the poster for the show, with Atlanta's skyline in the distance and a line of cars halted by those holding signs reading "Ferguson, Missouri: Michael Brown murdered by the Police."
Standing in the middle of the I-75/I-85 northbound connector, these protesters stopped traffic for miles.
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Miles.
Obviously, these protesters aren't interested in the facts of the case surrounding the encounter between Michael Brown and Darren Wilson in August of this year.
If you go back and look at the original stories published surrounding the incident, you'll see the facts presented in a way that were ultimately confirmed by more than a half-dozen black witnesses who testified before the Grand Jury.
It should be noted these seven or eight black witnesses are too afraid to come forward and be identified because they believe the sign "Snitches Get Stitches" on the burned-out QuikTrip in Ferguson wasn't written by people joking.
Here's what the Fox affiliate out of St. Louis reported on Aug. 10, the day after the shooting:
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In a news conference Sunday morning, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar provided more information on the investigation so far. He stated that around noon, a Ferguson officer encountered two teenagers on the street. As he was exiting his police car, one of the two teens allegedly shoved the officer back into the cruiser and assaulted him. Chief Belmar says there was struggle over the officer's weapon and at least one shot was fired inside the car, hitting no one. After the initial alleged assault, they exited the car. Belmar says the officer then fired at the teen or teens as they ran away. One teen was shot multiple times and died at the scene.
More than 70-plus days later, the Washington Post let slip this fact derived from those black witnesses who saw the encounter between Wilson and Brown, pretty much confirming what St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said back on Aug. 10:
Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown fought for control of the officer's gun, and Wilson fatally shot the unarmed teenager after he moved toward the officer as they faced off in the street, according to interviews, news accounts and the full report of the St. Louis County autopsy of Brown's body.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch late Tuesday night published Brown's official county autopsy report, an analysis of which also suggests that the 18-year-old may not have had his hands raised when he was fatally shot, as has been the contention of protesters who have demanded Wilson's arrest.
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So, multiple businesses have been looted in the name of Michael Brown; the president of the United States and attorney general both spoke out on the incident in Ferguson, with President Obama even sending three administration officials to the Brown's funeral and Eric Holder making a personal trip to the city and bragging in a letter to the people of Ferguson:
The full resources of the Department of Justice have been committed to the investigation into Michael Brown's death. This inquiry will take time to complete, but we have already taken significant steps. Approximately 40 FBI agents and some of the Civil Rights Division's most experienced prosecutors have been deployed to lead this process, with the assistance of the United States Attorney in St. Louis. Hundreds of people have already been interviewed in connection with this matter. On Monday, at my direction, a team of federal medical examiners conducted an independent autopsy.
Yet the facts have been clearly known since the event happened, and they couldn't have been any clearer: Michael Brown assaulted Darren Wilson, and they struggled over the police officer's gun.
Why is no one pointing out that both President Obama and Attorney General Holder were not only privy to this information immediately after the Aug. 9 encounter, but that both men were able to see confidential reports on the matter that still aren't available to the public, let alone having access to the findings of the "40 FBI agents, some of the Civil Rights Division's most experienced prosecutors" and the full resources of the DOJ to understand what those unnamed seven black people told the Grand Jury?
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Namely, that Michael Brown assaulted Darren Wilson and a struggle ensued over the officer's gun, and that Michael Brown never had his hands up (the enduring myth of the entire affair).
President Obama and Eric Holder owe an apology to the police force in Ferguson, the business owners of Ferguson (who might never recover from the unrest in the city) and those who own private property in the city.
The truth of Ferguson has been obvious from the beginning, with Obama and Holder jumping on board to fan the flames of hate, lies and deceit that helped burn down the QuickTrip and spread as far away as the northbound connector of I-75/85 in Atlanta.
The true tragedy of the entire situation in Ferguson is that no conservative or Republican will point out this fact and clearly state that the ordeal could have been put to rest if Obama and Holder hadn't fanned the flames of racial agitation, sending up a smoke signal to those people still upset that George Zimmerman is a free man.
Media wishing to interview John Rocker, please contact [email protected].
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