SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

BALTIMORE – There is rejoicing on the streets of Baltimore tonight at the news that six police officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray are being charged with serious crimes.  We don't have all the facts of the case, but the highly politicized announcement of the state's attorney, and the subsequent celebrations, gave us a very good picture of what mob rule is like.  The state's attorney said she heard the cries for justice in the streets.  Bad statement.  She's only supposed to hear the evidence.

DERSH'S VIEW – Alan Dershowitz is one of the finest appeals lawyers in the United States, and he has never hesitated to criticize bad policing.  But his comments on today's charges in Baltimore were blunt.  From Breitbart:  "'This is a very sad day for justice in the United States, in Baltimore and in Maryland,' Dershowitz said. 'Today had nothing to do with justice. Today was crowd control. Everything was motivated by a threat of riot and a desire to prevent riots. There is no plausible, hypothetical, conceivable case for murder under the facts as we now know them. You might say conceivably, there is a case for manslaughter,' he continued  He added, 'My prediction—they have overplayed their hand. It is unlikely they’ll get any convictions in this case as a result of this and if they do there is a good possibility they will get reversed on appeal.'" 

KRAUTHAMMER'S VIEW – Charles Krauthammer has weighed in on the Baltimore charges.  From National Review:  "The problem in evaluating, says Charles Krauthammer, is that we know nothing. 'We don’t know if she has the evidence because the report has been given to her confidentially,' Krauthammer said on Friday’s Special Report. 'So we don’t know what happened inside the van. We don’t know what she was told happened inside the van. . . . We will know when the evidence is out, we will know at trial, we will know looking back, if this is warranted.  But I must say,' Krauthammer continued, “'hat the way that she spoke at the very end, in which she essentially said to the mob, "I will speak on your behalf, I will bring you justice, and now you will bring peace," — she doesn’t speak for the mob, and her job is not to bring peace. Her job is to adjudicate these issues without consideration for what’s going to happen outside.  It looks like appeasement of the mob,' said Krauthammer."

REAL CLASS – In the midst of all the depressing news, we are reminded that we still have examples of real class.  From The Hill:  "Former President George W. Bush kicked off an annual 100-kilometer (about 62-mile) bike ride at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Thursday to highlight support for wounded veterans.  Bush and around 20 service members are taking part in the fifth annual bike ride, which lasts three days on his 1,583-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch and part of the Bush Institute's Military Service Initiative. 'I’ll be riding across the deserts of Texas with wounded warriors to show the unbelievable character of our men and women in uniform,' Bush said in a statement, describing the ride as a way 'to herald people who were dealt a severe blow and said, "I’m not going to let it tear me down.""  We look forward to Barack Obama's next vacation.

May 1, 2015