Wiretap: Deconstructing the grand jury Ferguson decision

Vox explains why Darren Wilson wasn’t charged for killing Michael Brown. Because the laws make it difficult to indict cops. And because jurors tend to give cops more than the benefit of the doubt.

Darren Wilson testified before the grand jury that the fight at the car justified the use of deadly force. He said Michael Brown had punched him twice and that a third punch “could have knocked me out or worse.” He also called the neighborhood a “hostile environment.” Via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Read Wilson’s testimony and other documents. Via New York Times.

Brian Buetler writes in the New Republic that Barack Obama should go to Ferguson — and go there now.

Chuck Hagel takes a bullet for Obama. Via the Daily Beast.

More on Hagel’s resignation/firing: So much for the old “team of rivals” theory, writes Chris Cillizza in the Washington Post.

Ron Brownstein writes in the National Journal that the 2016 election may be the final battle between Obama and congressional Republicans.

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