A grand jury indicted Perry on Friday for abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant.

Texas Governor Rick Perry on Aug. 9.

Brian Frank / Reuters

The two charges stem from Perry's attempts to force Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg out of office. Lehmberg was arrested in April 2013 for drunk driving. She later took a plea bargain that included serving 45 days in jail as well as paying $4,000.

Perry responded to the case by calling on Lehmberg, an elected official, to resign. She refused, and when Perry's efforts to oust her also failed he threatened to veto more than $7 million in funding for a program she was running. The program, called the Public Integrity Unit, investigates allegations of political corruption. Perry ultimately followed through with his threat in June.

Lehmberg supporters believed Perry's veto was a form of political retribution, and a grand jury consequently began investigating, the Austin Statesman reported.

The first statement came from Mary Anne Wiley:

The veto in question was made in accordance with the veto authority afforded to every governor under the Texas Constitution. We will continue to aggressively defend the governor's lawful and constitutional action, and believe we will ultimately prevail.

David Botsford, another lawyer for Perry, later issued a second statement saying he was "outraged and appalled" by the indictment. He called it "political abuse of the court system," insisted Perry's veto was legal, and described it as an "effort to weaken" the governor's authority.

Perry is the first Texas governor to be indicted in almost a century, the Associated Press reported.

Perry rose to national prominence when he challenged Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Though he lost, Perry had been working to return to national prominence — possibly for another run at the White House.

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“We don’t settle political differences with indictments in this country,” Perry says, the day after a Texas grand jury indicted him on two charges.

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry defended his veto of state funding for a program run by a district attorney Perry wanted to resign after she was arrested for and convicted of drunk driving.

A Texas grand jury indicted Perry on two counts — abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant — in relation to the veto.

Perry called Friday's indictment a "farce" and said he would "fight against those who would erode our state's constitution and laws purely for political purposes" and that he intends "to win."

LINK: Texas Gov. Rick Perry Indicted By Grand Jury On Two Charges

The vacationing rich in East Hampton embrace Clinton, their regular summer guest. Martha Stewart, Peter Orszag, Howard Dean also stop by.

BuzzFeed

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. — At the independent bookstore on the main drag of this vacation spot for the rich, employees closed down shop hours early, wearing t-shirts custom-printed for the occasion: "Honored to Welcome Hillary Rodham Clinton."

Down the street, the owner of a monogram shop said she'd ordered napkins to sell during the Clintons' Hamptons vacation this month. One set read, "Hillary Clinton 2016?" The other bore the names of every likely Republican presidential candidate.

And at Herrick Park, a plot of green just beyond the bookstore, organizers at a charity softball game left two "CLINTON" uniforms waiting on a table, just in case the former first family decided to show up at the annual East Hampton event.

No one at the Artists & Writers game on Saturday afternoon knew whether the Clintons would make an appearance — Bill has attended three times in the past, and they hoped Hillary would stop by before her book signing down the street. Carl Bernstein, the journalist and a player on the "Writers" team, approached the uniform table and joked, "I'm gonna take Hillary's shirt."

Programs at the softball game proclaimed, "If you invite him, he will come." He didn't (he was said to be golfing), and neither did Hillary, but regulars here waited for the possible guests of honor with familiarity. The reception was just as warm back at the BookHampton shop on Saturday night, where the former secretary of state signed just under 1,000 copies of her memoir, Hard Choices.

In the cramped independent bookstore, Clinton greeted more friends and familiar faces than at her signing two months ago in Chappaqua, the Westchester hamlet where the Clintons have owned a home since 2001.

Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont and a past presidential candidate, came to the signing with his mother and several other family members, who Clinton met in a private enclave in the back of the store before the signing started. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, also spent time with Clinton in the back room, along with Martha Stewart, who had been shopping nearby and stumbled on the signing.

Later, after Clinton took her seat at a table in the front of the room, her former colleague, Peter Orszag, the one-time director of the Office of Management and Budget, waited in line with his wife, Yahoo anchor Bianna Golodryga. When the couple approached, Clinton looked up in surprise. "It's a celebrity drop-by!"

"We're in vacation mode," Orszag replied.

"It's fun," Golodryga told Clinton. "You should try it sometime."

A BookHampton staffer said the Clintons have been customers of the shop for years, visiting at least once or twice every summer; the owner of the store, Charlene Spector, contributed to Clinton's presidential campaign in 2008. As fans cycled through the line, Clinton seemed more at ease than at previous book signings, where interaction with attendees was often limited. Here, she took time to speak with most in line and occasionally signed photos and other personal items.

"We'll see you in town," one man said as he passed the table.

Another asked Clinton how she was enjoying Amagansett, where she is staying with her husband in a seven-bedroom home overlooking Gardiners Bay, worth a reported $18 million. "We always love it out here," Clinton said. "It's just the best."

As Clinton signed another fan's book, he asked her to name a favorite restaurant in the Hamptons. "There are so many," she said. "What's yours?" The man said his was Almond — a restaurant in Bridgehampton, owned by the brother of Anthony Weiner, who is married to one of Clinton's closest aides, Huma Abedin.

Outside the signing, a woman wearing black clothes, an eyepatch, and a Prada fanny pack held up a white poster bearing the words, "The Worst Sec of State," written in sloppy lettering. She stayed outside BookHampton, her arms raised, for more than three hours.

But inside, the event had the feeling of a family affair, signaling the extent to which the Clintons have made the tony Hamptons community their summer home in recent years. The Clintons' Amagansett house this summer is on what people here joke is "the wrong side of the tracks," north of Route 27 and the railroad line that runs through the Hamptons, and farther from the ocean-front beaches. Their rental is just next door to Harvey Weinstein, the film mogul and Democratic donor.

The signing capped off a difficult week for Clinton. After criticizing a line President Obama's staff uses to describe his foreign policy doctrine — "Don't do stupid stuff" — she called her former boss to insist she hadn't meant to attack him. The episode culminated in a statement released by Clinton's office that said she looked forward to "hugging it out" with Obama at a party on Martha's Vineyard later in the week.

Clinton did not take questions at the East Hampton event. Following her vacation this month, Clinton is likely to continue promoting her memoir, an aide said.

“It was very difficult to see anything once the curfew went into effect last night,” an Amnesty staffer says.

Protesters after the midnight curfew in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 17, 2014.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Amnesty International has taken "unprecedented" action to deal with the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, by sending resources the human rights group has never before deployed inside the United States.

The organization has been on the ground in Ferguson since Thursday. It sent a 13-person human rights delegation to the city in the wake of the Aug. 9 police shooting death of Michael Brown.

Jasmine Heiss, a senior campaigner with Amnesty and part of the team in Ferguson, said the use of the "cross-functional team" — which she said included community trainers, researchers, and human rights observers — was "unprecedented" within the U.S. for the group.

On Saturday, after Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency and put a curfew in place in Ferguson, Amnesty International USA's executive director, Steven W. Hawkins, issued a scathing statement.

"We criticize dictators for quelling dissent and silencing protestors with tactics like curfews, we'll certainly speak out when it's happening in our own backyard," he said. "The people of Ferguson have the right to protest peacefully the lack of accountability for Michael Brown's shooting."

In an interview Sunday afternoon, Heiss said because of limits police placed on Amnesty's access, "It was very difficult to see anything once the curfew went into effect last night."

It was "impossible," she said, for Amnesty to make any sort of judgment about whether actions taken by the police after the midnight curfew went into effect were proportional or necessary. She called it emblematic of "the overall lack of transparency in this investigation."

Heiss noted the group's long focus on criminal justice, including the use of excessive force, in the U.S. The group's Rights for All effort in 1998, which included follow-up proposals for change in 1999, preceded specific investigations into the Los Angeles and Chicago police operations.

In terms of specific cases, she noted that the group called for similar action by officials after the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida. The group there, she said, had called for a "thorough, impartial, swift investigation — with transparency," emphasizing that a key tenet of that is "the family is kept informed" about the investigation.

On Sunday, after the team examined the situation in Ferguson, Amnesty International USA released three recommendations going forward:

• A prompt, thorough, independent, and impartial investigation into the shooting of Brown must take place. Brown's family must be kept informed throughout the investigation. Under international law, police officers suspected of having committed unlawful acts must be held to account through effective investigation, and where warranted, prosecuted.

• All police departments involved in policing the ongoing protests in Ferguson in response to Brown's death must act in accordance with international human rights standards. Any human rights abuses in connection with the policing of protests must be independently and impartially investigated, and those responsible held accountable.

• A thorough review of all trainings, policies, and procedures with regards to the use of force and the policing of protests should be undertaken.

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“We … call on the governor to rescind his order declaring a state of emergency,” the ACLU, NAACP, and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights write.

Demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, Aug. 16, 2014.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Three of the nation's most prominent civil rights and civil liberties legal groups on Sunday called for the end of the curfew in Ferguson, Mo.

The statement from the ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law was released after one night of the curfew imposed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon. The groups also criticize the Ferguson Police Department for "hiding the incident report of the shooting of Michael Brown."

The curfew in Ferguson followed several days of protests after the Aug. 9 police shooting death of Brown.

The curfew, the groups state, "suspends the constitutional right to assemble by punishing the misdeeds of the few through the theft of constitutionally protected rights of the many."

"Any order restricting constitutional rights must clearly communicate to the public when and where it will apply, articulate valid justifications for the restrictions, and provide ample alternative locations where people may gather to express their views on the important issues being discussed in Ferguson," they write. The groups argue that the current order "falls short of those requirements."

As such, they state, "We, therefore, call on the governor to rescind his order declaring a state of emergency and restore to Ferguson the full protections secured by the constitution and other laws."

While the Ferguson Police Department is permitted to continue to openly defy the Sunshine Law by hiding the incident report of the shooting of Michael Brown, the First Amendment rights of civilians are being curtailed by the curfew order. Allowing the City of Ferguson to break the law is contrary to law enforcement's insistence that citizens obey all laws and to Ferguson's own shameful decision to selectively release public records in a transparent effort to smear its victim. A transparent investigation is necessary to build trust and bring peace, and efforts to restrict freedoms and hide records are contrary to those goals and serve to escalate a situation fraught with tension.

Governor Nixon correctly observed yesterday that we cannot allow the ill will of a few to undermine the goodwill of the many. Unfortunately, that is precisely what this curfew order does. It suspends the constitutional right to assemble by punishing the misdeeds of the few through the theft of constitutionally protected rights of the many. From the founding of our Nation, the people have taken to the streets and sidewalks, in good times and bad, in times of peace and times of war, to express their opinions to the public and to the government. Restricting this most fundamental of all American values is not a solution to the problems in Ferguson. We need more protest, expression, discussion, and debate—not less.

But the suspension of constitutional rights in Ferguson does much more than suppress speech. It subjects an entire community to imprisonment in their homes—a lockdown on the residents of Ferguson who have done no wrong and seek nothing more than justice. This unprecedented action cannot be divorced from the history of law enforcement officials treating communities of color as the problem rather than an indispensable part of the solution. It continues this community's experience of law enforcement as there to control and dictate, rather than to serve and protect.

Even more troubling is the unclear nature of the Governor's order suspending constitutional rights in Ferguson. People have a right to know when and where their conduct is lawful under all circumstances, but especially when the government is restricting activities that are protected by the First Amendment. The people of goodwill, whom the Governor rightfully praises, want to know where they can stand and raise their voices without fearing arrest or military-style assault. Community leaders want to provide protestors alternative locations to continue their demonstrations. But government officials are unable to clearly describe where the suspension of constitutional rights will be enforced. Last night's enforcement appears to have extended well beyond the boundaries of Ferguson. The lack of clarity has forced peaceful protestors to surrender their constitutional and civil rights to avoid arrest and attack. This will not promote the peace or dialogue that the Governor desires. We, to, would like to ensure the safety and welfare of all Ferguson citizens and businesses. However, we do not believe that this protection must come at the expense of constitutional freedoms and trust that Ferguson can balance these interests with the rights of lawful protesters.

Finally, it is inexcusable that the media were kept away from the Saturday night's interactions between shooting that occurred, despite a mass of media two blocks away that could have created an objective record. The actions of law enforcement are viewed with great skepticism nationally and internationally. It is, therefore, imperative that the media have access to the events on the ground.

Any order restricting constitutional rights must clearly communicate to the public when and where it will apply, articulate valid justifications for the restrictions, and provide ample alternative locations where people may gather to express their views on the important issues being discussed in Ferguson. The current executive order falls short of these requirements. We, therefore, call on the Governor to rescind his order declaring a state of emergency and restore to Ferguson the full protections secured by the constitution and other laws.

Coming soon to Washington and London.

RT

RT

WASHINGTON — The Kremlin-funded news channel Russia Today (RT) has launched an advertising campaign in the United States that implies that the station could have prevented the Iraq War.

The ads have begun appearing in New York and will soon appear elsewhere, an RT spokesperson said.

"The campaign will be comprised of several different posters, and we kicked it off with wild postings in the New York City," RT spokesperson Anna Belkina said in an email. "Soon it will be extended to Washington, DC, and London."

Belkina declined to name which ad agency worked with RT on the ads.

"We are working with a number of partners on this international ad campaign, but, as it is still in the roll-out stages, we are not disclosing the details of our advertising partnerships at this time," she said.

The ads feature a picture of Colin Powell with the tagline: "This is what happens when there is no second opinion. Iraq War: No WMDs, 141,802 civilian deaths. Go to RT.com for the second opinion."

Another poster says, "In case they shut us down on TV, go to RT.com for the second opinion."

Asked whether RT believes it is in danger of being shut down on American television, Belkina provided a statement from RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan: "Alternative voices, however rare, are often met with fear, hostility and bureaucratic obstructionism in the attempt to stifle them — because they are inconvenient to the establishment. We want the viewers to know that no matter what, RT will remain THE place to go to for that second opinion."

RT, which has operated a Washington-based affiliate since 2009, has become an object of fascination over the course of the conflict in Ukraine as its singular take on the news has been thrust into the spotlight. Opinion host Abby Martin from its American network spoke out against Russia's invasion of Crimea earlier this year, and news anchor Liz Wahl resigned in protest on air shortly thereafter. RT, which generally hews closely to the Kremlin's line on the news, suffered another high-profile resignation after the network blamed the Ukrainian government for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines plane that went down over eastern Ukraine in July, despite evidence pointing to Russian-backed separatists having done it.

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No “heads-up” from Missouri’s governor.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon called the National Guard to Ferguson late Sunday without letting the White House know first.

"Folks didn't know," an administration official told BuzzFeed Monday. "The White House did not know they were sending it in."

Nixon gave "no heads-up," the official said.

President Barack Obama is back at the White House today on a prescheduled break from his August vacation in Martha's Vineyard. He's scheduled to be briefed by Attorney General Eric Holder on the situation in Ferguson early this afternoon. Holder and the administration have been critical of the militarized response to protests in Ferguson.

LINK: Live Updates: Unrest in Ferguson

Rep. Ted Yoho also reveals he raised impeachment with House leadership, who said no.

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Republican Rep. Ted Yoho of Florida doesn't want to need to impeach the president, but says if an impeachment does happen, President Obama will have brought it upon himself. Yoho added he raised the possibility of impeaching the president with House leadership last year.

"The last thing is impeachment of a president," Yoho said in a recent radio interview with the Tea Party Express, also citing a lawsuit, censure, and withholding funding as ways to hold President Obama accountable. "We, and myself, and the American people for the most part they don't want to impeach the president. They don't want to have to sue him and waste the time and effort. All we're asking is faithfully execute the laws of this land that you are elected to do."

Yoho said if impeachment proceedings do come up, it will be because Obama didn't "enforce the laws" on the books.

"So if an impeachment comes up, it's not because Congress wants to do that," Yoho said. "It's because the president has chosen to bring that upon himself by not enforcing the laws on the books. If he doesn't like a law he needs to get that changed, not wave his pen and use his phone and he has arrogantly stated over and over again."

Yoho also stated early in the interview he was one of a group of lawmakers who raised impeaching the president and Attorney General Eric Holder for not enforcing laws related to immigration, also raising suing the president as option.

"Just recently we challenged leadership about either suing the president or the impeachment of the president and Eric Holder for not faithfully executing the laws on the books," he said. "And we did this about 11 to 12 months ago. They didn't want to go to the lawsuit or even talk about impeachment."

Politicians, media, and Facebook are spreading fake quotes from Hard Choices .

Jerry Holt/Minneapolis Star Tribune / MCT

Egyptian and Lebanese media and politicians are spreading the false claim that in her new book Hillary Clinton admits to creating "the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria", aka ISIS.

The claim, also spreading on Facebook, is based on quotes from her book Hard Choices that are entirely fabricated.

Hard Choices, which hit U.S. bookstores with much fanfare in mid-June, chronicles Clinton's four years as secretary of state in President Barack Obama's first administration. Clinton has criticized the Obama administration's hesitancy to arm Syrian rebels and argued that the lack of action enabled ISIS' regional rise, but never writes that the U.S. had a hand in creating ISIS to create regional chaos, as stated in the falsified quotes.

The accusations prompted the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon to take to Facebook and Twitter and formally deny the claim on Aug. 6.

"Any suggestion that the United States ever considered recognizing ISIS as anything other than a terrorist organization, or had any role in its creation, is patently false. Allegations circulating in Lebanon to the contrary are fabricated."

But in the Middle East — where conspiracy theories run rampant after decades of authoritarian regimes that have thrived on misinformation — the idea that Clinton, and the U.S. more generally, had a role behind ISIS' rise still resonated with many.

Facebook: USEmbassyBeirut

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“Nothing will be resolved until there is systemic change throughout this nation in the implicit and explicit bias against people of color …” representatives from 13 organizations write.

Al Sharpton speaks at the Greater St Mark Family Church about the need for long-term change as he discusses reactions to the shooting of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 17.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

WASHINGTON — A coalition of more than a dozen national organizations focused on "the protection of the rights of African-Americans and all Americans" issued a joint statement calling for a "comprehensive federal review" of excessive use of force and racial profiling by police across the country.

"As we all mourn the loss of Michael Brown and remain steadfast in our unyielding support for his mother and father who have suffered a loss no parent should endure, we also continue to call upon the community at large to make sure that this tragedy results in future systemic change to prevent similar tragic shootings and the use of excessive force."

The 13 organizations — which include the ACLU, NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Action Network, and Rainbow Push Coalition — sent the letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, an ACLU spokeswoman told BuzzFeed.

The first of the groups' 14 recommendations is "an independent and comprehensive federal investigation by the Department of Justice of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown."

But, the statement looks more broadly, noting, "Nothing will be resolved until there is systemic change throughout this nation in the implicit and explicit bias against people of color and particularly African-American youth who are routinely targeted by law enforcement even within their own communities."

Among the other recommendations are "the universal use of dash cameras in police vehicles," along with "a final update and release of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) June 2003 Guidance Regarding the Use of Race by Federal Law Enforcement Agencies" — a step long-sought by advocates — to include five "substantive reforms":

1) make the Guidance enforceable;

2) apply the Guidance to state and local law enforcement who work in partnership with the federal government or receive federal funding;

3) close the loopholes for the border and national security;

4) cover surveillance activities;

5) prohibit profiling based on religion, national origin, and sexual orientation.

Read the full statement:

LINK: National Latino Organizations Express Solidarity With Ferguson After The Death Of Michael Brown

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“We will continue to pursue a long-term strategy to turn the tide against ISIL.”

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President Obama said Monday the administration is continuing to pursue a "long-term" strategy against ISIS in Iraq.

Obama emphasized how critical the formation of the new government in Iraq is to the security of the country. But the president noted at several points that the issue of ISIS in Iraq would not be quickly resolve.

"The Iraqi people need to reject them and united to begin to push them out of the lands that they've occupied as we're seeing at Mosul Dam," Obama said. "This is going to take time; there are going to be many challenges ahead."

"But meanwhile there should be no doubt that the United States military will continue to carry out the limited missions that I've authorized," he continued, "protecting our personnel and facilities in both Irbil and Baghdad, and providing humanitarian support as we did on Mt. Sinjar."

“Anyone who’s going to get tear-gassed deserves to say a few ‘F’ bombs here and there.”

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A Democratic Missouri state senator representing parts of Ferguson who tweeted multiple times "Fuck you," at Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon defended her choice of words on Fox News on Monday, saying she did so because she was tear-gassed for three days.

"The reason why I used profane language is because he has allowed us to get tear-gassed for three days," Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal said. "I am one of his senators in his party and he was at the state fair enjoying a country concert while we were getting tear-gassed and shot at. And yes, anyone who's going to get tear-gassed deserves to say a few 'F' bombs here and there."

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From the death of Michael Brown to the police handling of the protests and beyond, the legal fallout is just starting, experts say.

Police in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 13.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

WASHINGTON — It's been nine days since Michael Brown was shot, unarmed, in the middle of a street in Ferguson, Mo., but civil rights and civil liberties legal advocates say the legal fallout from the shooting and its tumultuous aftermath are just beginning.

"There will be lawsuits up the kazoo," said Barbara Arnwine, the longtime president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, in an interview Sunday evening. "I think you're going to see ripple after ripple of legal matters here in response to this outrageous situation."

The first matter will be the potential criminal and civil actions related to Brown's death. But legal experts also predict possible litigation stemming from the actions taken by police in Ferguson, lawsuits brought by store owners against the police related to looting, and even the imposition of a curfew.

Arnwine said the issues aren't going to be resolved anytime soon, either. "I think that we will see these issues playing out over time," she said. "I just don't expect there to be a situation where everybody packs up their suitcases and goes home, and the residents say all is forgiven and all is done. No way."

For Tony Rothert, the legal director for the ACLU of Missouri, each day raises more questions, he said.

"It seems like new problems and new situations are arising every day, and we don't know what they're all going to be, yet, I don't think," he said on Sunday afternoon. Less than 12 hours later, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon called up the National Guard — adding another element to the picture of what's happening to the town in St. Louis County. On Monday afternoon, President Obama said he had spoken with Nixon earlier in the day and announced that Attorney General Eric Holder would be going to Ferguson on Wednesday.

With concurrent local and federal investigations into the death of Brown, there could be state and/or federal criminal charges filed in the case against Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer identified by the police as the shooter. The federal civil rights investigation could lead to charges against others, as well.

In additional to criminal matters, Brown's family has retained the services of civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, the Florida lawyer who has represented Trayvon Martin's family.

"When you're hearing the family has hired an independent coroner to conduct an autopsy, you know you're looking at a wrongful death lawsuit," Arnwine said. "They clearly are thinking about the intentional infliction of emotional distress. You had a body in the street for four hours — where in the world is that accepted police practice? Find me one manual, one training book that says that that's allowed," she noted, adding that police statements about Brown could be a part of any lawsuits by the family."

A step removed from the shooting itself is the access to records relating to the shooting. "We've already filed some lawsuits about access to public records," Rothert said, noting litigation the ACLU has brought on behalf of journalists in the state. "There are a number of issues regarding transparency that are out there that could lead to litigation." Specifically, Arnwine pointed to the failure of the Ferguson Police Department thus far to release relevant public records — especially the incident report.

Capt. Ron Johnson and Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Aug. 15.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

The next level of legal issues arising in Ferguson, Arnwine said, would be over the protests after the shooting and the government response to those protests.

The violent actions taken by police in the days after the shooting could form the basis of litigation, both lawyers said.

"The way the protests have been handled, as far as injuring people … and just false, false arrest — like the journalists who got arrested for no apparent reason, and there are non-journalists who have been arrested for no apparent reason," Rothert said, "there are 4th Amendment or 1st Amendment issues concerning that."

A particular hotspot: the curfew imposed by Nixon. On Sunday, the Lawyers' Committee, ACLU, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund condemned the curfew and called on Nixon to rescind the order authorizing it. Although he has not done that, Nixon said Monday there will be no curfew on Monday night, because of National Guard's presence in Ferguson.

Litigation, nonetheless, could still result from the curfew that was in place on the past two nights, from its continued use in the future, or even from the continued existence of the order authorizing the curfew.

"This curfew — the state of emergency and curfew order — is overbroad and vague. It violates most constitutional standards," Arnwine argued on Sunday evening, after one night of the curfew's imposition. "Just think about it, there's no indication in the order as to when the curfew ends."

And then there is the matter of the businesses that were damaged or looted. If culprits can be determined, either criminal or civil actions could be taken. But Rothert also noted that store owners could conceivably take action against the police.

"It's so obvious that the release of extra information on Friday was an intentional smear and escalated things that even the governor is saying so," he said. "Possibly, those business owners who've had financial losses could try to tie that to the police department."

Rothert also pointed to longtime concerns about racial justice in Missouri, and specifically the St. Louis area, noting that earlier this summer the ACLU of Missouri already was working on a project looking into racial disparities in traffic stops and searches in the state and area.

"That's been the longest time developing," he said of the racial disparities, "and that will take the longest time to fix."

Arwine also suggested that the impact could be seen outside of Ferguson, greater St. Louis, or even Missouri — a point further illustrated in a joint statement released by Arwine's organization and 12 other groups on Monday.

"People, as they learn about Ferguson, and as they become educated about their rights, they're saying, 'Wait a minute! We've got racial profiling in my city. We have police who have been abusive and using excessive force in our city,'" she said. "So, I think we probably will see other actions generated by people who become more educated — and not only educated, but emboldened — to say, 'Well, if that's my right, then I'm going to assert it.'"

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The governor is spending a lot of time in the early primary state these days.

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed

When he arrived on Sunday afternoon at the small, shaded park in Somersworth, N.H., Martin O'Malley cut across the lawn, looking for an old friend. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, his boss three decades ago on the Gary Hart campaign, was about to leave the Democratic county picnic when O'Malley wrapped her in a hug.

About an hour later, after a short speech and dozens of handshakes, O'Malley was greeted by a new familiar face, when Louise Korn, a 70-year-old Democrat from the nearby city of Rochester, approached his picnic table. "I met you in 2012, and we're still working for you," she said. "I'll see you when you're president."

"Hey, thank you," O'Malley replied. "I accept your nomination!"

The stop in Somersworth, an annual picnic for the Strafford County Democratic Committee, marked the Maryland governor's third trip in nine months to New Hampshire, home to the first presidential primary. Many attendees had met O'Malley before, underscoring his political and personal ties to the state.

Some relationships stretch back three decades, to the 1984 campaign, when a Hart staffer arranged for O'Malley to stay on a friend's floor in Manchester. Others are still fresh. Democrats in the state remember the governor's speech late last year at the party's Jefferson-Jackson dinner, about fighting crime as mayor of Baltimore. Or they recall seeing him afterward, at the Puritan Backroom bar in Manchester, playing with Marty Quirk, the Irish musician about town.

After years of campaigning for Democrats in the state — and more recently, as he's considered pursuing his own White House bid — O'Malley has become a somewhat familiar figure on the New Hampshire political scene.

"Now I'm starting to see people that remind me that we met," O'Malley said in an interview at the picnic, before he left to headline a fundraiser for New Hampshire state senate candidates. "What I hadn't fully appreciated until that Jefferson-Jackson dinner about a year ago was the number of people I had met in coming here almost every four years for somebody," he said, ticking off names like John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Maggie Hassan, the current governor.

"I've made other new friends in the course of things," O'Malley said. "People have been very kind to me here in the early going."

Kathleen Kelley Arnold, an active Democrat whose father hosted O'Malley in 1984, has watched the governor develop those relationships over the last 30 years. "He has some strong ties in New Hampshire," said Kelley Arnold, whose husband is running for Manchester mayor. "I probably didn't recognize it at the beginning, but he certainly has kept those strong connections going."

O'Malley has also gotten the attention of a new generation of activists in the state. After the Jefferson-Jackson dinner last fall, he was joined at the Puritan Backroom by a bevy of young aides and volunteers from Shaheen's ongoing Senate campaign — many of whom had never met or seen O'Malley until that night.

"They loved him," said Will Kanteres, a Manchester real estate executive who worked with O'Malley on the Hart campaign. "They could relate to him on a generational level."

The governor has barely registered on the early 2016 polls — some surveys show him at under 1% — and would face a very deep fundraising challenge to compete against Clinton. Hart, the U.S. senator from Colorado who went up Vice President Walter Mondale, was polling just as poorly before his upset in the primary. Friends from that campaign talk about the Hart experience often. Some say the memory drives O'Malley forward. Others cast Clinton as a Mondale.

"We say we don't believe in miracles," said Dan Calegari, a senior Hart aide who helped get the win in New Hampshire. "Martin and I and the others participated in one. After seeing it once, why can't it happen again?"

In Somersworth, O'Malley didn't dismiss the comparison. "Perhaps these things are cyclical, but I do sense a tremendous yearning out there that was also present in 1984 for a new generation of leadership and to hear a new perspective from a new generation of leaders that will help us solve our problems," he said. "That's very resonant now. Maybe that's part of what people are hearing or saying."

"Everywhere we go, Democratic activists will say phrases like, 'I'm glad we have new leaders,' 'It's good to hear from new leaders,'" O'Malley went on. "I hear that a lot. I heard that here. I heard it in Iowa. I heard it in Mississippi the other night."

"Maybe that's what they see."

Dan O'Neil, an alderman in Manchester and a friend of O'Malley's, said Democrats in the state are still waiting to see what Hillary Clinton does, but recognize that "she has not been here," he said. (Clinton has not returned to New Hampshire since the 2008 primary, but she is scheduled to appear in Iowa next month, at the state's premier Democratic Party event, the Iowa Steak Fry.)

"When they meet with O'Malley one-on-one, he's very personal. That's important," said O'Neil. "They expect politicians to reach out and touch you here."

A staffer for Ready for Hillary, the super PAC gathering an extensive list of Clinton supporters, also attended the picnic, a "Ready" button pinned to her lapel. The group maintains a Northeast headquarters, located in Manchester.

Lou D'Allesandro, a longtime state senator, referred to "the Hillary situation." Other candidates enjoy "pockets of support" in New Hampshire, he said, but Clinton's fanbase would be "hard to crack at this point in time" for anyone.

David Lang, the president of the Professional Firefighters of New Hampshire, a powerful group in the state, said he's also heard from Joe Biden, another possible candidate. The vice president invited Lang to "come over and say hello" at the airport as he was traveling during a recent visit to the state, Lang said.

But still, O'Malley maintains a notable distinction in the state: He is the only Democrat openly acting like a presidential candidate. He is raising money for his PAC, visiting early voting states, and campaigning aggressively for Democratic candidates.

O'Malley's efforts have become more aggressive in recent months. After tens of thousands of immigrant minors flooded the U.S.-Mexico border — and as President Obama seemed open to expedite deportations — O'Malley called the children "refugees" and argued they be given due process. The White House called O'Malley to complain and then leaked the call to the press. ("I just focused on what we could do together," the governor said Sunday. "And I'm far more concerned about what happens to these kids than I am about whether somebody in the White House press office got their feelings hurt.")

In April, O'Malley convened more than 60 people at the Baltimore Hilton for lunch and a discussion about his record in Maryland, the 2014 midterm races, and his path forward. The group included friends, former advisers, and political supporters he's known for years from Maryland and other states.

After lunch, a group discussion veered into questions about O'Malley's decision-making process ahead of the 2016 race. One attendee described the meeting as a "brainstorming" session with the people he's close to. "The feeling was overwhelming, 'Martin, run. Go ahead and do it," the person said.

The scene was the same at a "young professionals" event late last month in Washington that helped raise money for O'Malley's PAC.

"There was palpable energy there," said one former aide who attended and still sounded surprised weeks later by the crowd. The two-floor venue, at a bar called Local 16, was filled with people. At one point, the person recalled, he turned to another former O'Malley staffer and said, "Oh my god, this is real."

“Right on Crime” arrives. “What are all those things that look like tanks doing?”

AP Photo/Molly Riley

WASHINGTON — The crisis in Ferguson, Missouri has become the unlikely coming of age moment for the growing portion of the conservative movement that sees heavy-handed police forces, and their expensive military-style equipment, as the latest target in their half-century campaign against big government.

Libertarian Kentucky Senator Rand Paul stunned many on the ground in Missouri when he denounced the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown in the pages of Time last week, writing that "if I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn't have expected to be shot."

His words built on a decade's intellectual foundation laid by conservatives like the anti-tax campaigner Grover Norquist, one of the leaders in a campaign to break with decades of tough-on-crime posturing, and the race-baiting that has at times accompanied it, and to instead make common cause with liberals and black leaders to slash budgets for arming police and jailing young men for non-violent offenses.

The movement, led by the Texas-based Right on Crime, has helped pass bipartisan prison sentencing and recidivism legislation — mostly in red states — that has drawn praise and support from progressives. But Ferguson has given its leaders the opportunity to draw a surprising line in the sand, and in interviews with BuzzFeed Monday, its leading figures sided clearly with the largely peaceful protesters even as much of the conservative media focuses on images of violence and looting in the St. Louis suburb.

"What's happened recently and recent events — tragic as they are — you're beginning to see a national discussion and reevaluation of what makes sense, what works," said Chuck DeVore, a former California Republican legislator, tea party Senate candidate, and current top official at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which houses Right On Crime.

"I think if you were to go to Ferguson, it would be interesting to find out how many of these young men have been in prison, or have family family members who have been to prison, or friends who have been in prison," DeVore said, citing large-scale imprisonment as a factor in the frustration at the justice system exploding in Ferguson.

Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform and a central strategist in the long conservative campaign to cut government spending, said the campaign against steroidal policing is a natural fit for the movement.

"On the right on this one, they're saying, 'I don't know that's happening here...and by the way what are all those things that look like tanks doing?'" Norquist said of Ferguson.

He also said Republicans like Paul have a political opportunity that Democrats lack — to ignore the tough-on-crime constituency of police and prosecutors.

"On the crime stuff, a Republican can stand up and challenge the aggressiveness of the cops," said Grover Norquist, top dog at Americans For Tax Reform and a supporter of criminal justice changes. "Democrats are surrounded by the images of people who defend Mumia or whoever that guy is who killed those cops."

Criminal justice issues also offer a rare slice of possible common ground for America's divided, paralyzed legislature, though the impact of the past week in Ferguson on Washington's legislative calendar remains hard to predict. Members of Congress coming back to Washington from their August recess will face a number of legislative efforts to demilitarize police forces on both the federal and state level stemming from Ferguson.

But for Washington's Republican debate over criminal justice, Ferguson is already altering the landscape, say conservative supporters of shorter prison sentences, an end to the drug war, and an end to militarized police forces. Since the Republicans took control of the House in 2010, the libertarian-leaning conservative wing of the party that's successfully pushed criminal justice system changes on the states has been shut out of the Washington debate for the most part by powerful veterans with 1980s "tough-on-crime" pasts. Now, the Right on Crime lobby sees a shot at a defining moment.

"If our policies were in place," DeVore said, Ferguson might not have some of the divides he sees as at the root of the turmoil this week.

"Perhaps there would be lower unemployment," he said. "Perhaps there would be more two-parent households."

It remains unclear whether the banner was at all connected to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS].

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A man with a white banner reading "ISIS here" appeared live on CNN in Ferguson, Missouri, behind anchor Jake Tapper late Monday night.

The Blaze initially reported the banner. Some U.S. commentators have tried to discredit the Ferguson protestors as violent looters, though the large majority of demonstrators have been unarmed and peaceful.

BuzzFeed reached out to CNN for comment. "No, I don't have any comment about a homemade banner a person holds up in a live shot behind our anchor while we are doing an interview during a protest," Bridget Leininger of CNN wrote in an email.

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My friends, my friends. Beep boop, beep boop.

Republican Sen. John McCain can dance. At a Hamptons benefit which featured actor Jamie Foxx, McCain performed the robot and did it quite well as video from the New York Post's Emily Smith shows.

The Apollo in the Hamptons party at Ron Perelman's East Hampton estate, which took place Saturday, was a benefit for the Apollo Theater.

Here's the video of McCain's dance:

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LINK: Read More At The New York Post

“I find his views and the way he expressed them to be abhorrent and will take appropriate action at CSIS to address the matter internally.”

WASHINGTON — An intern accidentally sent an attention-grabbing tweet telling human rights organization Amnesty International to "suck it" from the account of a respected Washington think tank, a spokesman for the think tank said on Tuesday.

Andrew Schwartz, senior vice president for external relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said in an email to BuzzFeed that he was "embarrassed about this unfortunate situation and the tweet doesn't reflect anyone's views at CSIS or the institution as a whole. My colleagues are equally distressed about this."

Schwartz said he has reached out on email to Amnesty and is following up with an phone call to apologize for the tweet, which came from CSIS' main Twitter account early on Monday morning. Amnesty, which has sent observers to monitor the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, had tweeted: "US can't tell other countries to improve their records on policing and peaceful assembly if it won't clean up its own human rights record." CSIS' Twitter account responded: "Your work has saved far fewer lives than American interventions. So suck it."

CSIS apologized for the tweet on Twitter shortly afterward, saying it was sent "in error."

"Here's what happened," Schwartz said. "Early this morning, an unconscionable tweet was directed to Amnesty from CSIS's Twitter account. The tweet in no way reflects CSIS's views. It was sent by a CSIS intern who had access to our account for monitoring purposes. Apparently he meant to send something reflecting his personal views from his personal Twitter account. I find his views and the way he expressed them to be abhorrent and will take appropriate action at CSIS to address the matter internally."

Asked whether the intern would be fired, Schwartz said that CSIS was handling the matter internally.

The tweet has been deleted, although multiple users took screenshots.

Boom.

The two charges come in response to the Texas governor's attempt to force Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign after she was arrested for drunk driving in April 2013.

Lehmberg later took a plea bargain where she served 45 days in jail and paid a $4,000 fine. Perry called on Lehmberg to resign, which she refused to do.

Perry then threatened to veto more than $7 million in state funding for a program she runs, with the acknowledgment that Travis County could continue to fund it if the state stopped funding it. The program, called the Public Integrity Unit, investigates allegations of political corruption. Perry later vetoed the funding.

On Saturday, Perry delivered a statement calling the indictment "a farce" and said he would “fight against those who would erode our state’s constitution and laws purely for political purposes."

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Here's Perry's new ad, from RickPAC, Perry's political action committee, which recaps Lehmberg's arrest and Perry's response to his indictment Saturday:

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Watch the leader of the free world go gray.