Mediaite:

The Minnesota State Airport Police released Jarrett’s incident report, as well as video of Jarrett brawling with police officers at the airport, to Gawker after they filed a FOIA request.

. . . .

After they brought him to a holding cell to be evaluated by health officials, officer Mark Dorsey reported that Jarrett grew belligerent, telling him “This is all your fault,” and calling him a “fucking stupid ass.” He then apparently grabbed at Dorsey and the firefighter multiple times, and was immediately thrown into a hold by Dorsey, who then yells at him for resisting.

Go ahead and watch the video and tell me whether you see Jarrett “brawling” with cops:

Here’s what happens in the video. Jarrett is cooperating with the firefighters until the cop shows up in the doorway. (It looks at first like Jarrett is becoming upset with the firefighters, but if you listen to the voices, you can tell he’s talking to the cop.) Jarrett calls the cop a “fucking stupid ass” and the cop then marches in, clearly pissed off. Jarrett stands up as the cop threatens to put cuffs on him.

At this point, maybe — maybe! — Jarrett touches the cop with his right hand. You can’t see it because the cop’s body blocks the view of what Jarrett is doing with his hand. (There’s a clue to what’s going on at this point in the video. Let’s see who among you observes it.) I assume Jarrett did at least touch the cop, because when the cop declares that Jarrett had put his hand on him, Jarrett replies: “Yeah.” As to whether Jarrett is “grabbing” the cop . . . the clue I mentioned suggests the cop is not being honest about that.

After Jarrett does whatever he does, the cop appears (to me) to totally overreact: first twisting Jarrett’s arm behind him, and then slamming him down onto the bench. Then the cop yells “Quit resisting!” while Jarrett . . . appears not to be resisting, at all. It’s like the cop is trying to be a real-life version of a cop-haters’ caricature of a cop. Then the cop puts handcuffs on Jarrett — who admittedly appears to either not understand the cop’s order to give him his right hand, or plays dumb about it — and the cop tells Jarrett he is going to jail.

For what? For touching the cop?

This is “brawling,” Mediaite???!

Of course, Mediaite probably fell prey to the power of suggestion of Gawker, which broke the story under the misleading headline Drunk Fox News Anchor Brawls With Airport Cops In Jailhouse Video. Give Gawker credit for this, though: they do present the cop’s account, which is . . . not the truth. Here is a passage from the cop’s report:

While [medical personnel] began to evaluate Jarrett, he looked at me in the doorway and stated, “This is all of your fault.” I asked what was, and Jarrett responded, “This is your fault.” I told Jarrett that this was his fault he was where he was. Jarrett then became visibly agitated (angry, upset), his body became rigid and he leaned forward like he was going to jump up on his feet or launch himself off of the bench, and yelled “Fuck You” and stated “Fuck You” again. Jarrett stayed at an agitated level and in the posture like he was going to jump up at any moment.

Gawker then states:

The officer goes on to allege that Jarrett “grabbed my left arm and I broke his grip” before he slammed the anchor into the wall and threw him onto the floor.

That account is false, and substantially inconsistent with the video. Jarrett is in a relaxed position and leaning back — until the cop marches towards him, obviously upset that Jarrett called him a name. The claim that Jarrett repeatedly said “fuck you” is false.

As for the detail that Jarrett “grabbed” the cop to the point where Jarrett had to break Jarrett’s grip? Remember I said there was a clue in the video? Watch it again, and tell me why the cop seems not to be telling the entire truth about that.

Go ahead. I’ll wait right here.

Did you see it?

Jarrett was holding his glasses in his right hand throughout the whole confrontation with the overbearing cop.

How is Jarrett, holding glasses in his hand, going to grab the cop’s arm so firmly that the cop has to break free? How is Jarrett going to muster a grip tight enough to justify charges of resisting arrest? A grip tight enough to justify the cop’s actions in twisting Jarrett’s arm behind him? A grip tight enough to justify the cop roughly slamming Jarrett down onto a bench?

The answer is: that did not happen.

I think the cop should be disciplined (at a minimum) for overreacting, and for writing a false police report. I think the Mediaite writer, Tina Nguyen, and the unknown Gawker headline writer should both be disciplined for claiming Jarrett was “brawling” with the cop, which is clearly false. And Jarrett, if he isn’t already, might want to seek help for whatever substance abuse problems he might have.

As Ken White of Popehat sometimes says, this is one of those stories where I hate everyone.

But if I’m going to feel sorry for anyone, it’s not the overbearing cop who used too much force and wrote an inaccurate report because he wanted to justify sending someone to jail for contempt of cop. I’m going to feel sorry — just a little — for Gregg Jarrett, for undergoing a B.S. arrest for resisting, and for being lied about all over the Internet.

[guest post by Dana]

In what CNN dubs the “nation’s ugliest primary”, six-term Mississippi senator Thad Cochran is desperately trying to hold off Tea Party favorite Chris McDaniel in the primary runoff.

The uniqueness of the race has been evidenced in Cochran’s attempts to win support from black voters and unions, as well as reports of insensitive comments on matters of gender and race made by McDaniel. There is a “voter integrity” effort being led by conservative groups that is making news, as well as the NAACP sending out their own poll watchers:

The hard feelings generated by the race were also in evidence, with both conservative groups and the N.A.A.C.P. sending out poll watchers to look for what they considered to be fraud or intimidation. The United States Justice Department also said that it was “aware of concerns about voter intimidation and is monitoring the situation.”

Polls won’t close until 8 pm ET, so no results in yet.

–Dana

You can check results in all of today’s primaries as they come in courtesy of AoSHQ Decision Desk. Thanks to redc1c4 for the tip.

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: Thanks to Dana for opening the thread. In one corner, a Tea Party guy. In the other corner, a clueless old establishment dude who did weird things with animals and doesn’t quite seem to know who Eric Cantor was. AoSHQ called it for the Tea Partier last time. What will happen tonight?

UPDATE BY PATTERICO x2: Uh-oh. AoSHQDD just called it for Cochran, a minute ago.

[guest post by Dana]

(Spencer Collins in front of his Little Free Library)

Along with many of you, I am a voracious reader. I thank my parents for literally putting a lock on the television and making sure we always had a wide selection of books available to us, along with weekly trips to the library. What a wonderful lifelong habit to develop in children.

In light of that, it has been great to see the advent of the Little Free Library movement. The purpose is simple: It’s a “take a book, return a book” gathering place where neighbors share their favorite literature and stories. In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by and pick up a book (or two) and bring back another book to share.What better than neighborhoods providing free books to anyone passing by?

And, as Mrs. Obama recently exhorted at the Summer Learning Day Event hosted by the Department of Education, summer is the time to read:

And no matter what you do, every single one of you should read, read, read. That’s what the President tells our daughters. (Applause.) Libraries all across the country are hosting outstanding summer reading programs every single year. So you all have got to go in and pick up some of those new books, maybe on some subjects you don’t know much about. Because reading might be the most important thing you can do for your future. And you can never do enough of it. I know your parents tell you this, and we struggle in our own household to get our kids to turn off the screens and pick up books. But truly, reading is going to do so much for you. So pick up those books and really get into it.

So, how unfortunate it is that a Kansas City family who joined in the efforts by installing their own Little Free Library was given little option but to remove it.

The Collins family was told that their “Little Free Library” violates an ordinance that bans detached structures. Rather than pay the $25 per-day fine, they opted to put the library in the garage.

Spencer Collins, 9, doesn’t agree with Leawood’s policy and is planning to address the city council in July.

“I would tell them why it’s good for the community and why they should drop the law,” he told KMBC. “I just want to talk to them about how good it is.”

City officials expressed sympathy:

“We empathize with them, but we still have to follow the rules,” said Richard Coleman of the City of Leawood. “We need to treat everybody the same. So we can’t say if somebody files a complaint but we like the little libraries — we think they’re cute — so we ignore it. We can’t do that.”

Here’s hoping young Spencer Collins invites Mrs. Obama to join him at the city council meeting to tell city officials why their Little Free Library is good for the community.

–Dana

UPDATE: From the Leawood Development Ordinance, PROHIBITED USES, Article 4 Supplemental Provision, 16-4-2:

The detached structure including garages, barns, sheds, greenhouses, above ground pools,nor outbuildings, shall be permitted, unless expressly allowed by this Ordinance.

[guest post by Dana]

I realize ducking questions, shaping the narrative and spinning the truth are all part of the job, but really, would White House press secretary Josh Earnest have admonished a male reporter like this?

Not to go all Anita Dunn here, but I think not.

–Dana

Last night I showed you tape of Trey Gowdy ripping IRS Commissioner Koskinen apart. It’s good enough that I’ll include it again:

Here’s another good one. Jason Chaffetz asks: if there was a backup tape, why didn’t you just access the backup tape?

Koskinen’s answer: the backup tape is very complicated to access and it was not the policy at the time to recover emails from the tape . . . that was there for the purposes of backup.

Huh?

It wasn’t the policy at the time to use the backup tape as a backup? [String of curses]

Chaffetz asks another good question: did the Inspector General know that Lerner’s computer had crashed and that email relevant to the investigation had been lost? Koskinen says he doesn’t think so. Did the Inspector General ask for her emails? Koskinen claims not to know.

Of course the Inspector General asked for Lois Lerner’s emails. If he didn’t, he would have to be the most incompetent Inspector General in history. So, it sounds like there was a cover-up with him, no? Clearly there are more questions to be asked there.

I did not watch all the testimony and don’t know if specific questions were asked about Sonasoft. Let me know if you saw any testimony about that.

UPDATE: Koskinen acts just like a guy who has donated big to Democrats over the years. Oddly enough, he has.

Thanks to askeptic.

UPDATE x2: EXCLUSIVE: Koskinen recovers from the beating he took last night:

Thanks to SteveG.