SC Cop Indicted, The Goods on ISIS

Nation: The former South Carolina police officer who shot and killed a fleeing traffic suspect has been indicted for murder. Michael Slager was fired from the North Charleston police department after the April incident and has been held without bail since. Video taken by a passerby shows that Slager immediately started to cover up after shooting 50-year-old Walter Scott in the back.

In Cleveland, community leaders say they will invoke a rarely used law to directly ask a judge for the indictment of two white officers who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in a park last November. Rice was shot dead while playing with a toy gun. The investigation so far has neither cleared the officers nor charged them with a crime, frustrating a community desire for action.

Data Mining: The US is tracking down Islamic State leaders with information derived from an electronic trove of information taken in a May 16 Delta Force raid inside Syria. The information has already been used to hit ISIS operatives. The information has also revealed how Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi runs the ISIS network. One interesting tidbit: The men use their wives to pass along messages to other wives to avoid electronic transmissions.

Higher Ed: Denouncing what he described as “the ethics of payday lending in higher education,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said his department would forgive the loans taken out by students who attended the now-bankrupt Corinthian for-profit colleges. The schools operated as an education loan mill, churning out students with worthless degrees and piles of debt.

The Sports Page: Tampa Bay now leads the Stanley Cup finals 2-1 over the Chicago Blackhawks. Tampa Bay, which has been described as “inexperienced” at this level of play, won last night’s game 3-2 in Chicago.

The Obit Page: Vincent Bugliosi, the Los Angeles deputy prosecutor who put Charles Manson and his followers away for life in the infamous 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six other people, has died at age 80. After the trial Bugliosi co-wrote the best seller “Helter Skelter” about the murders committed by Manson and his cult of followers.

>Roger Vergé, a French chef who was one of the developers of nouvelle cuisine, has died of complications of diabetes at age 85. Along with Paul Bocuse, the Troisgros brothers and Michel Guérard, and others, Vergé created a lighter style of French cooking artistically arranged on the plate. It was interesting, but basically not enough to eat.

War and Peace: The News Tribune of Tacoma has illustrated the tragic impact of war with a story about the man who committed the worst atrocity of America’s recent conflicts. “My mind was consumed by war,” wrote former Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales in a letter last year asking for clemency on his life sentence. He killed 16 Afghan civilians on a rampage one night in 2012.

Documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act by the newspaper say that Bales’ enlisted comrades thought he had become “paranoid” and “crazy,” while the officers continued to believe he was a sound leader.

Bales wrote in his clemency letter, “I planted war and hate for the better part of 10 years and harvested violence. After being in prison two years, I understand that what I thought was normal was the farthest thing from being normal.”

He wrote about longing to be with his wife and two young children. And he said he had no explanation for what he did. “Over my past two years of incarceration, I have come to understand there isn’t a why; there is only pain.”

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It's Been Said

"Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."

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