Wiretap: Same faith, separate worries in Ferguson

 
Two churches in St. Louis County — one near the site where Michael Brown was shot and killed, one near the home of the police officer who shot and killed him — look at the post-shooting world in very different ways. It is a Sunday. One church is predominantly white, one predominantly black, and both filled with worshipers. Via the Washington Post.

Michael Brown’s family had to fly in the former chief New York City medical examiner to learn how many times Brown had been shot. Dr. Michael Baden told the New York Times there were a minimum of six shots, which may be a difficult number for Ferguson police officer Darrell Wilson to explain, given that Brown was unarmed.

In case you missed it, watch Capt. Ron Johnson’s powerful speech Sunday as he talks about the death of Michael Brown. It will move you. Via Vox.

Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in the Atlantic about the notion that black people are somehow not distressed by black-on-black crime.

Worried about the militarization of our nation’s police forces? So are liberal Democrats and libertarian Republicans. Just don’t expect Congress to do anything about it. Via the National Journal.

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni goes looking for a bellwether and — surprise — finds Colorado.

George Packer writes in the New Yorker that ISIS was easier to ignore than it will be to defeat. According to Packer, ISIS controls 35,000 square miles of land, an area the size of Jordan. According to Janine Davidson, a former Pentagon official, “ISIS now controls a volume of resources and territory unmatched in the history of extremist organizations.”

Captured Yazidi women are afraid that ISIS fighters will force them to marry. Via the Washington Post.

The indictment of Rick Perry: Should the Texas grand jury be saying “oops”? Via New York magazine.

[ Photo by Alex Wroblewski of woman being treated for tear gas exposure. ]

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