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Featured Ferguson, MO

Discussion in 'News & Current Events' started by Sapper Woody, Aug 14, 2014.

  1. Sapper Woody

    Sapper Woody Well-Known Member

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    Although I've not seen too much about it on the BB, I am sure we are all aware of what is going on in Ferguson, MO. Admittedly, the purpose of this thread is more of a rant than anything, but there are a lot of things going on there that I can't stand.

    Before I begin, let me state that I don't know what happened that day. I don't claim to have inside knowledge. It is possible that the officer was totally in the wrong and killed in cold blood, fueled by racial hatred. It's also possible that that the "victim" was reaching for the officer's weapon and the officer acted in self defense. We just don't know yet. I just wanted to be clear on that point.

    One thing that angers me is the way the news is reporting this. It's not "an officer shot a civilian", or even "an officer shot an unarmed civilian". The news outlets are reporting "A white officer shot and killed an unarmed black man". This instantly brings race into it. We don't know if the officer was even in the wrong, yet now he is viewed as racist. Even if the officer was in the wrong, we don't know that race was the determining factor. But we instantly have to bring race into it.

    A second thing that frustrates me is that the news keep reporting that 2/3 of the population is black, but only 3 of the police officers are black. That is not the station's fault. It's not as if they only hire white guys. If the community wants more black representation on the force, then more black men (or women) need to get up and go to the academy. It really is that simple.

    Now, one thing that upsets me that I saw video footage of is the police force gassing a media crew, then going over in gas masks and pointing their cameras to the ground when the crew fled the gas. This is not right. In the video, you can clearly see that the crew is not in the way, or part of some mob. They are on the side of the street, and get gassed. You can see this footage at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/13/ferguson-police-race-brown-killing/14030889/. This was not right.

    The reaction of the city has me baffled. It makes it hard to keep faith in the human race. "We're mad, so let's loot stores whose owners had absolutely nothing to do with the situation. That'll show the police!"

    On a side note, I do believe that this shows why the police force getting the equipment that some on here are against them getting (armored vehicles, body armor, etc) is actually a good thing. This is four nights in a row that they've had to deal with riots. There have been shootings. There have been death threats towards the police. If I were them, I would want to be as protected as possible.
     
  2. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    ....But now it appears that the violence occurring and being encouraged to continue, has erupted prematurely and without a legitimate cause. The Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson has now just released astonishing new information on the Michael Brown shooting.

    Chief Jackson has confirmed that this was anything but murder.
    Jackson stated that the officer was severely beaten, and the side of his face was quite swollen.

    Jackson said Brown was with a friend at an apartment complex when the officer attempted to get out of his cruiser. The teen reportedly initiated an altercation, pushing the officer back into the vehicle and struggling to retrieve his weapon. The fatal shot was then fired from within the car. The obvious injuries to the officer prove that there was indeed a severe altercation. Chief Jackson is not releasing the Ferguson Police Officers identity at this time for obvious reasons.

    In the meantime, the Ferguson riots have been, and continue to be quite violent. Protestors are chanting “KILL THE POLICE,” and this evening police have utilized tear gas in attempts to control the violent crowds.


    http://buzzpo.com/breaking-ferguson...shing-new-information-michael-brown-shooting/
     
  3. matt wade

    matt wade Well-Known Member

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    You understand that the black community and liberals at large will simply chalk this up to a cover up job?
     
  4. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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  5. preachinjesus

    preachinjesus Well-Known Member
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    The situation in Ferguson is a tragedy in the making. There are many variables at play here and the unrest being seen is being both induced and inflamed by the police department.

    It is hard to know all the facts, since the police department of Ferguson refuses to provide legal access and is now arresting journalists and city council members...often for no reasons at all.

    We do know a few things:
    1. There has been a history, a long history, of a predominately white police force acting improperly and aggressively towards the African American population in Ferguson.
    2. A young, African American teenager, possessing no gun, no stolen items, and offering no resistance was shot up to ten times by a police officer while the teen was sitting on his knees with his hands raised.
    3. The police did not call an ambulance nor a coroner vehicle, but loaded the dead teen's body into the back of a SUV for transport.
    4. When confronted by an group of African Americans who knew the teen and, some of whom saw the shooting, the police force acted aggressively, dining riot gear and deploying para-military equipment.
    5. Some folks, for what reason we'll never know, then decided to riot. Which was entirely stupid.
    5. Others have been shot, many have been gassed, some arrested, and the police have not responded to repeated requests from media and journalistic sources for information on the original shooting that sparked this.
    6. The police of Ferguson continue to act aggressively and antagonistically against the citizenry of this township, and for no apparently reason.

    The whole scene is a mess. The police are more responsible for this than the idiotic rioters who went on looting and such. At this point state or federal intervention is going to have to occur. If I lived in St Louis, I'd be in Ferguson protesting alongside African Americans who are doing it peacefully.
     
  6. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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  7. Rippon

    Rippon Well-Known Member
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    The National Guard might have to be called in. The accused officer might have to be taken into protective custody of the FBI.

    It's an ugly, ugly mess that proves that people are pervasively corrupt.
     
  8. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    This is false.
     
  9. Magnetic Poles

    Magnetic Poles New Member

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    A very rational and well-reasoned summary. :thumbs:

    It is probably time for the Feds to come in and reign in what appears to be a rogue police force.
     
  10. Bro. Curtis

    Bro. Curtis <img src =/curtis.gif>
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    We've gotta stop giving city police forced used military gear.
     
  11. preachinjesus

    preachinjesus Well-Known Member
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    Absolutely agree! :thumbs:
     
  12. pinoybaptist

    pinoybaptist Active Member
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    all due respects, I disagree.

    remember the Hollywood (?) robbery ? or was it somewhere in Los Angeles ? two psychos using military grade rifles complete with body armor and vests and cops hunkering down because their weapons were no match to the suspects', so they had to wait for SWAT and all that stuff ?
    I think patrol officers should have both a shotgun and a high-powered rifle in the car with armor piercing bullets, and then trained to assess which is appropriate to use for a given situation.
    We gotta admit, the gangs have a better arsenal of weapons.

    then there's Florida case where the FBI tracked down, followed, and engaged two suspects with high powered firearms, and these suspects nearly mowed down the entire team.

    What we need to do is to upgrade the psychoanalysis of police applicants, subjecting them to realistic street ridicules and testing how far their tolerance level can go, IF, this Ferguson thing was about police temper and misjudgment.

    What we can't have in our police forces are closet psychos, they gotta be brought out into the open.
     
  13. Bro. Curtis

    Bro. Curtis <img src =/curtis.gif>
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    Cops are already trained to assess situations. This is a complete failure, as was the first response in that incident in L.A..
    It is a miracle more people did not die that day.

    America has a serious problem with the militarization of the police forces.
     
  14. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    FERGUSON POLICE AWOL FOR LOOTING, OUT IN FORCE TO CRUSH FIRST AMENDMENT, ARREST JOURNALISTS

    While police in Ferguson, Missouri were largely AWOL during looting that struck the town on Sunday, they were out in force once again last night to strangle the First Amendment by pointing sniper rifles at protesters and arresting journalists.

    With authorities attempting to enforce an arbitrary night time ban on protests, peaceful demonstrators gathered once again yesterday but were met with rubber bullets, tear gas and intimidation tactics that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Tahir Square.

    The unrest was sparked as a result of the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown on Saturday night, who eyewitnesses said was unarmed and offered no resistance.

    While criminal opportunists who came in from out of town to loot local stores on Sunday were left alone, police made sure that journalists attempting to document the crackdown were targeted.

    The Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery was arrested, leading the newspaper to slam an “illegal assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news.”

    The Huffington Post’s Ryan J Reilly was also handcuffed as he was charging his phone in a local McDonalds. According to Reilly, cops arrested him because he photographed them and didn’t pack his bag quickly enough. The Huffington Post said the arrest was an example of “militant aggression.”

    Even the Ferguson Police Chief was baffled by the arrests. When Chief Thomas Jackson found out about the incident, his stunned responsewas, “Oh God.”

    Read More At: http://www.infowars.com/ferguson-police-awol-for-looting-out-in-force-to-crush-first-amendment-arrest-journalists/
     
  15. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    Civil Rights Bill is 50 years old today. Here's a picture, then and now. Great progress, huh?

    [​IMG]


    [from Twitter]
     
  16. Use of Time

    Use of Time Well-Known Member
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    That is an eerie reminder that we still have a ways to go. Good find.
     
  17. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    Let’s be honest – Ferguson, Missouri is under military occupation right now, and the entire world is watching in horror as militarized police fire tear gas and rubber bullets at unarmed protesters. Yes, the rioting and looting in Ferguson needed to be stopped. If order had not been restored, more stores and businesses would have been destroyed. However, there is no excuse for the brutal tactics now being employed. At one point, police snipers were even using laser scopes to target protesters that were obviously unarmed. Sadly, this is just a preview of what is coming to America in the years ahead. As the economy falls apart and people become even more angry and even more frustrated, there will be a lot more incidents of civil unrest like we have just witnessed in Ferguson. And in response, the federal government and our overly militarized police will seek to crush those uprisings with overwhelming force. How is it possible that our once very peaceful nation has fallen apart so dramatically?

    What we just watched happen in Ferguson was truly bizarre. If you didn’t know any better, you might have thought that you were looking at images from a really bad post-apocalyptic disaster movie.

    The following is how the New Yorker described the scene…

    http://www.infowars.com/the-military-occupation-of-ferguson-missouri-is-just-a-preview-of-what-is-coming-to-america/
     
  18. Sapper Woody

    Sapper Woody Well-Known Member

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    Poncho, your quote says "peaceful demonstrators gathered once again yesterday but were met with rubber bullets, tear gas and intimidation tactics". Two different news sources I've seen have said that these "peaceful demonstrators" are throwing molotov cocktails at the police, and one news source said an officer has to be treated when a brick hit his ankle.

    I can't say exactly what is going on over there (there are some things that make it look like corruption in the force there), but it's obvious that your particular news source is slanted in this piece. Every night so far, there have been violent acts (from both sides), and so these protests are anything but "peaceful".
     
  19. Use of Time

    Use of Time Well-Known Member
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    Let me guess. You just listened to the latest Alex Jones podcast didn't you.
     
  20. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    What's obvious is every news source is slanted one way or the other. The corporate media is almost always slanted in favor of the government. My "particular source" tries to tell the other side of the story.

    Of course that's the same as committing a crime to hear the corporate media tell it.

    Let's have a look at your two different (corporate?) news sources.

    If what your sources are saying is true at least it's a fair fight right? Molotov cocktails and bricks against MRAPS, LRADS, flash bangs. tear gas, rubber bullets, snipers and combat ready "police" arresting journalists trying to cover it.

    Kinda like the pictures we've all seen of Palestinians throwing rocks at tanks.

    Welcome to the USA and don't forget Sapper soon as you return you'll be considered enemy number one.
     
    #20 poncho, Aug 14, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 14, 2014
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