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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Daily Kos
Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 07:51 AM PDT.
Missouri Governor announces St. Louis County Police to be relieved of their duties in Ferguson
by
Barbara MorrillFollow .
173 Comments / 173 New
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. @GovJayNixon just confirmed that the State Police & Federal Authorities are going to relieve St. Louis County PD of their duties here.
— @ShaunKing
It's about time.
Details as they develop.
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Originally posted to Barbara Morrill on Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 07:51 AM PDT.
Also republished by Daily Kos. |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:49 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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The Wire
53 Min Ago / Michael Brown Shooting
Congressman Says Missouri's Governor Is Pulling the St. Louis PD Off Ferguson
Arit John
2,026 views
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is expected to announce that the St. Louis County Police Department will be "taken out of the situation," Rep. Lacy Clay said, according to Bloomberg's Jonathan Allen. The governor didn't specify whether the FBI, state police, or another group would take over control of the situation.
According to Clay, the governor is on his way to the city now:
Meanwhile, according to Joel Currier at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, this is news to the police department as well:
The St. Louis Police Department, which has been running events on the ground with the Ferguson Police Department, has received severe criticism for its handling of the situation, for both its overly militaristic response to protesters and its arrests and attacks against the press. Police also fired tear gas at an Al Jazeera America film crew last night, then dismantled their equipment.
The governor has also been criticized for his slow response to the situation following the shooting death of an unarmed black teen at the hands of a police officer. Late last night he announced he was canceling all of his appearances, including a trip to the state fair, to go to Ferguson.
This is a developing story, and we'll add updates as more information becomes available. |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:54 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Report: St. Louis County Police To Be Withdrawn From Duty After Ferguson Protests
The Huffington Post | By Igor Bobic
Posted: 08/14/2014 11:13 am EDT Updated: 6 minutes ago
The St. Louis County Police Department will no longer be involved in the policing Ferguson, Missouri, the suburban community rocked by protests after the death of an unarmed black teenager who was shot by a police officer last week.
Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), who represents Ferguson, told Bloomberg on Thursday that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) is expected to announce the decision later today.
"The gov. just called me and he's on his way to St. Louis now to announce he's taking St. Louis County police out of the situation," he said.
The situation, already tenuous after extensive police presence that included rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear gas since Michael Brown's death last week, exploded Wednesday evening after SWAT officers roughed up and arrested two reporters inside a local McDonald's. The journalists were unharmed, but the incident highlighted the town's ramped up police presence, which has been criticized as overly militarized.
It was unclear which authorities, either state police or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, would be taking over in place of St. Louis County Police Department.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the county police was "not aware of reports that they are being relieved of duty."
The Ferguson Police Department has continued to withhold the identity of the officer who shot Brown out of concerns about his personal safety.
The governor released a statement on the situation on Wednesday evening, urging law enforcement to "keep the peace and respect the rights of residents and the press during this difficult time."
“I have been closely monitoring the situation and will continue to be in communication with local leaders, and I will be in north St. Louis County tomorrow," Nixon said. "As Governor, I am committed to ensuring the pain of last weekend’s tragedy does not continue to be compounded by this ongoing crisis."
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said Wednesday evening that she was in contact with local officials and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in order to "de escalate the tense and unacceptable situation" in Ferguson. She is also expected to meet with Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday. |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:59 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 05:39 AM PDT.
Overnight, all hell broke loose in Ferguson, Missouri
by
Barbara MorrillFollow .
Riot police clear a street of demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri August 13, 2014. Police in Ferguson fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters late on Wednesday, on the fourth night of demonstrations over the fatal shooting last weekend of
attribution: REUTERS
Four days after police gunned down an unarmed 18-year old in Ferguson, Missouri, all hell broke loose on Wednesday night, as police yet again escalated their response to demonstrators protesting the killing of Michael Brown. And now in addition to launching rubber bullets, tear gas, stun grenades and smoke bombs into the crowds, police, apparently no longer satisfied with just blocking access and enacting no-fly zones, are arresting journalists:
The Huffington Post's Ryan J. Reilly and the Washington Post's Wesley Lowery were arrested Wednesday evening ... SWAT officers roughed up the reporters inside a McDonald's, where both journalists were working. Reilly snapped a photo, prompting cops to request his identification. [...]
"They essentially acted as a military force. It was incredible," Reilly said.
And what happened after their arrest should raise questions on the legitimacy of every arrest that's been made during the course of these protests:
Once at the station, we were processed, our pockets emptied. No mug shots. They removed our restraints and put us in a holding cell ... Then the processing officer came in ... And the officer said we were both free to go. We asked to speak to a commanding officer. We asked to see an arrest report. No report, the officer told us, and no, they wouldn’t provide any names.
And it wasn't just journalists:
Antonio French, a St. Louis elected official who had been providing frequent updates about the protests and police action in Ferguson, Mo., was arrested late Wednesday for unlawful assembly.
Apparently anyone with a voice is fair game. According to French's wife, he was "ordered out of his car and arrested because he 'didn't listen.'" Which in Ferguson, as we learned last Saturday, can get you killed.
In other developments, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said that:
... a St. Louis County coroner's report has not been released due, in part, to concerns that releasing certain details--such as the exact number of gunshot wounds on Brown's body--could taint possible witness testimony.
Yes, an official autopsy report, detailing the number of bullets that slammed into Michael Brown's body and from what distance might "taint" witness testimony on how many times Brown was shot and from where. Either that or it will taint the spin Ferguson police have been peddling since Michael Brown was killed. Oh, and speaking of reports, Police Chief Jackson is now claiming that the officer who shot Michael Brown was injured and taken to the hospital that day because his "face was swollen." How about releasing that report?
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Originally posted to Barbara Morrill on Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 05:39 AM PDT.
Also republished by Daily Kos. |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:07 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| former military are tweeting to daily Kos that the Ferguson Police had more personal body armor than they did in battle. |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:11 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Moyers & Company
Perspectives
Not Just Ferguson: 11 Eye-Opening Facts About America’s Militarized Police Forces
August 13, 2014
by Alex Kane
This post originally appeared at AlterNet.
Police wearing riot gear try to disperse a crowd Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo. Authorities in Ferguson used tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse a large crowd Monday night. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Police wearing riot gear try to disperse a crowd Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. Authorities in Ferguson used tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse a large crowd Monday night. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
The “war on terror” has come home — and it’s wreaking havoc on innocent American lives. The culprit is the militarization of the police.
The weapons that destroyed Afghanistan and Iraq have made their way to local law enforcement. While police forces across the country began a process of militarization — complete with SWAT teams and flash-bang grenades — when President Reagan intensified the “war on drugs,” the post-9/11 “war on terror” has added fuel to the fire.
Through laws and regulations like a provision in defense budgets that authorizes the Pentagon to transfer surplus military gear to police forces, local law enforcement agencies are using weapons found on the battlefields of South Asia and the Middle East.
A recent New York Times article by Matt Apuzzo reported that in the Obama era, “police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.” The result is that police agencies around the nation possess military-grade equipment, turning officers who are supposed to fight crime and protect communities into what looks like an invading army. And military-style police raids have increased in recent years, with one count putting the number at 80,000 such raids last year.
In June, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) brought more attention to police militarization when it issued a comprehensive, nearly 100-page report titled, War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing. Based on public records requests to more than 260 law enforcement agencies in 26 states, the ACLU concluded that this police militarization “unfairly impacts people of color and undermines individual liberties, and it has been allowed to happen in the absence of any meaningful public discussion.”
The information contained in the ACLU report — and in other investigations into the phenomenon — is sobering. From the killing of innocent people to the almost complete lack of debate on these policies, police militarization has turned into a key issue for Americans. It is harming civil liberties, ramping up the “war on drugs,” impacting the most marginalized members of society and transforming neighborhoods into war zones. Here are 11 important — and horrifying — things you should know about the militarization of police.
1. It harms, and sometimes kills, innocent people. When you have heavily armed police officers using flash-bang grenades and armored personnel carriers, innocent people are bound to be hurt. The likelihood of people being killed is raised by the practice of SWAT teams busting down doors with no warning, which leads some people to think it may be a burglary and try to defend themselves. The ACLU documented seven cases of civilians dying in these kinds of raids, and 46 people being injured. That’s only in the cases the civil liberties group looked at, so the true number is actually higher.
Take the case of Tarika Wilson, which the ACLU summarizes. The 26-year-old biracial mother lived in Lima, Ohio. Her boyfriend, Anthony Terry, was wanted by the police on suspicion of drug dealing. So on January 4, 2008, a SWAT team busted down Wilson’s door and opened fire. A SWAT officer killed Wilson and injured her one-year-old baby, Sincere Wilson. The killing sparked rage in Lima and accusations of a racist police department, but the officer who shot Wilson, Sgt. Joe Chavalia, was found not guilty on all charges.
2. Children are impacted. As the case of Wilson shows, the police busting down doors care little about whether there’s a child in the home. Another case profiled by the ACLU shows how children can be caught in the crossfire — with devastating consequences.
In May, after their Wisconsin home had burned down, the Phonesavanh family was staying with relatives in Georgia. One night, a SWAT team with assault rifles invaded the home and threw a flash-bang grenade — despite the presence of kids’ toys in the front yard. The police were looking for the father’s nephew on drug charges. He wasn’t there. But a 19-month-old named Bou Bou was — and the grenade landed in his crib.
Bou Bou was wounded in the chest and had third-degree burns. He was put in a medically induced coma.
Another high-profile instance of a child being killed by paramilitary police tactics occurred in 2010, when seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones died in Detroit. The city’s Special Response Team (Detroit’s SWAT) was looking for Chauncey Owens, a suspect in the killing of a teenager who lived on the second floor of the apartment Jones lived in.
Officers raided the home, threw a flash-bang grenade, and fired one shot that struck Jones in the head. The police agent who fired the fatal shot, Joseph Weekley, has so far gotten off easy: a jury trial ended in deadlock last year, though he will face charges of involuntary manslaughter in September. As The Nation’s Mychal Denzel Smith wrote last year after Weekley was acquitted: “What happened to Aiyana is the result of the militarization of police in this country…Part of what it means to be black in America now is watching your neighborhood become the training ground for our increasingly militarized police units.”
Bou Bou and Jones aren’t the only cases of children being impacted.
According to the ACLU, “of the 818 deployments studied, 14 percent involved the presence of children and 13 percent did not.” It was impossible to determine whether children were present in the rest of the cases studied.
3. The use of SWAT teams is often unnecessary. In many cases, using militarized teams of police is not needed. The ACLU report notes that the vast majority of cases where SWAT teams are deployed are in situations where a search warrant is being executed to look for drugs. In other words, it’s not even 100 percent clear whether there are drugs at the place the police are going to. These situations are not why SWAT was created.
Furthermore, even when SWAT teams think there are weapons, they are often wrong. The ACLU report shows that in the cases where police thought weapons would be there, they were right only a third of the time.
4. The “war on terror” is fueling militarization. A growing number of agencies have taken advantage of the Department of Defense’s “1033” program, which is passed every year as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. The number of police agencies obtaining military equipment like mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles (MRAPs) has increased since 2009, according to USA Today, which notes that this “surplus military equipment” is “left over from U.S. military campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.” This equipment is largely cost-free for the police agencies that receive them.
In addition to the Pentagon budget provision, another agency created in the aftermath of 9/11 is helping militarize the police. The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) grants funnel military-style equipment to local police departments nationwide. According to a 2011 Center for Investigative Reporting story published by The Daily Beast, at least $34 billion in DHS grants have gone to police agencies to buy military-style equipment. This money has gone to purchase drones, tactical vests, bomb-disarming robots, tanks and more.
5. It’s a boon to contractor profits. The trend towards police militarization has given military contractors another lucrative market where they can shop their products. Companies like Lockheed Martin and Blackhawk Industries are making big bucks by selling their equipment to agencies flush with Department of Homeland Security grants.
In addition to selling equipment, contractors also sponsor training events for SWAT teams, like Urban Shield, a major arms expo that has attracted increasing attention from activists in recent years. SWAT teams, police agencies and military contractors converge on Urban Shield, which was held in California last year, to train SWAT teams and promote the equipment.
6. Border militarization and police militarization go hand in hand. The “war on terror” and “war on drugs” aren’t the only wars helping police militarization. There’s also the war on undocumented immigrants.
The notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio, infamous for brutal crackdowns on undocumented immigrants, is the paradigmatic example of this trend. According to the ACLU, Arpaio’s Maricopa County department has acquired a machine gun so powerful it could tear through buildings on multiple city blocks. In addition, he has 120 assault rifles, five armored vehicles and ten helicopters. Other law enforcement agencies in Arizona have obtained equipment like bomb suits and night-vision goggles.
Then there’s a non-local law enforcement agency on the border: the Border Patrol, which has obtained drones and attack helicopters. And Border Patrol agents are acting like they’re at war. A recent Los Angeles Times investigation revealed that the Border Patrol killed 19 people from January 2010-October 2012 — including some incidents in which the agents were under no lethal, direct threat.
7. Police are cracking down on dissent. In 1999, massive protests rocked Seattle during the World Trade Organization meeting. The police cracked down hard on the demonstrators using paramilitary tactics. Police fired tear gas at protesters, causing all hell to break loose.
Norm Stamper, the Seattle police chief at the time, criticized the militarized policing he presided over in a Nation article in 2011. “Rocks, bottles and newspaper racks went flying. Windows were smashed, stores were looted, fires lighted; and more gas filled the streets, with some cops clearly overreacting, escalating and prolonging the conflict,” wrote Stamper.
More than a decade after the Seattle protests, militarized policing to crack down on dissent returned with a vengeance during the wave of Occupy protests in 2011. Tear gas and rubber bullets were used to break up protests in Oakland. Scott Olsen, an Occupy Oakland protester and war veteran, was struck in the head by a police projectile, causing a fractured skull, broken vertebrae and brain swelling.
8. Asset forfeitures are funding police militarization. In June, AlterNet’s Aaron Cantú outlined how civil asset forfeiture laws work.
“It’s a legal fiction spun up hundreds of years ago to give the state the power to convict a person’s property of a crime, or at least, implicate its involvement in the committing of a crime. When that happened, the property was to be legally seized by the state,” wrote Cantú. He went on to explain that law enforcement justifies the seizure of property and cash as a way to break up narcotics rings’ infrastructure. But it can also be used in cases where a person is not convicted, or even charged with a crime.
Asset forfeitures bring in millions of dollars for police agencies, who then spend the money for their own uses. And for some police departments, it goes to militarizing their personnel.
New Yorker reporter Sarah Stillman, who penned a deeply reported piece on asset forfeitures, wrote in August 2013 that “thousands of police departments nationwide have recently acquired stun grenades, armored tanks, counterattack vehicles, and other paramilitary equipment, much of it purchased with asset-forfeiture funds.” So SWAT teams have an incentive to conduct raids where they seize property and cash that then goes into their budgets for more weapons.
9. Dubious informants are used for raids. As The New Yorker’s Stillman wrote in another piece, informants are “the foot soldiers in the government’s war on drugs. By some estimates, up to eighty percent of all drug cases in America involve them.” Given SWAT teams’ focus on finding drugs, it’s no surprise that informants are used to gather information that lead to military-style police raids.
A 2006 policy paper by investigative journalist Radley Balko, who has done the most reporting on militarized policing, highlighted the negative impact of using informants for these raids have. Most often, informants are “people who regularly seek out drug users and dealers and tip off the police in exchange for cash rewards,” and other drug dealers who inform to gain leniency or cash from the police. But these informants are quite unreliable — and the wrong information can lead to tragic consequences.
10. There’s been little debate or oversight. Despite the galloping march towards militarization, the ACLU report notes that “there does not appear to be much, if any, local oversight of law enforcement agency receipt of equipment transfers.” One of the group’s recommendations is for states and local municipalities to enact laws encouraging transparency and oversight of SWAT teams.
11. Communities of color bear the brunt. Across the country, communities of color are the people most targeted by police practices. In recent years, the abuse of “stop and frisk” tactics has attracted widespread attention because of the racially discriminatory way it has been applied.
Militarized policing has also targeted communities of color. According to the ACLU report, “of all the incidents studied where the number and race of the people impacted were known, 39 percent were Black, 11 percent were Latino, 20 were white.” The majority of raids that targeted blacks and Latinos were related to drugs — another metric exposing how the “war on drugs” is racist to the core.
The views expressed in this post are the author’s alone, and presented here to offer a variety of perspectives to our readers.
Alex Kane is AlterNet’s New York-based World editor, and an assistant editor for Mondoweiss. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane. |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:14 am |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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Catherine Nardi to Thomas Ryan
They are feral and violent. They murder each other. They murder their unborn babies. They murder white people. They hate police officers and muder some of them even black ones. They destroy neighbors and entire cities with garbage and drugs. They live their entire lives off the hard earned taxes of other Americans. Yet somehow they are the victims. What insanity I that?
What's not accurate about the above statement?? |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 12:27 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Joan McCarterFollowRSS
Daily Kos staff
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 09:12 AM PDT.
Tear gas banned in warfare. Outside our borders, anyway.
by
Joan McCarterFollow .
Riot police clear demonstrators from a street in Ferguson, Missouri, August 13, 2014. Police in Ferguson fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters late on Wednesday, on the fourth night of demonstrations over the fatal shooting last weekend
attribution: REUTERS
Ferguson, Missouri. USA.
Pretty very astounding. The tear gas used against protestors in Ferguson (and in protests going back decades) has been banned in warfare by international treaty. A treaty the U.S. has signed.
Despite its ubiquity across the globe and in United States, tear gas is a chemical agent banned in warfare per the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993, which set forth agreements signed by nearly every nation in the world—including the United States. The catch, however, is that while it’s illegal in war, it’s legal in domestic riot control. That means Turkey got to use it on its protesters last year. That meant Bahrain got to the do the same. And now, in Ferguson, cops are likewise blasting residents protesting the police for the killing of an unarmed teen named Michael Brown.
“I was just trying to get to my sister’s house,” one 23-year-old sobbed on his lawn, according to this harrowing report by The Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery, who was arrested by police Wednesday. The man said police had pelted him with rubber bullets and sprayed his face with tear gas.
What happens to people when it's used as indiscriminately as it appears to be in Ferguson, like at people standing in their own backyards? That's not clear. "[W]e don't know much about the long-term effects, especially in civilian exposure with kids or elderly or people in the street who might have some kind of lung disease already. There's very few follow-up studies. These are very active chemicals that can cause quite significant injury."
If the U.S. says it's illegal to use this gas in war, why the hell are the cops free to use it against U.S. citizens?
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 1:14 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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quote:
twotap schreef:
Catherine Nardi to Thomas Ryan
They are feral and violent. They murder each other. They murder their unborn babies. They murder white people. They hate police officers and muder some of them even black ones. They destroy neighbors and entire cities with garbage and drugs. They live their entire lives off the hard earned taxes of other Americans. Yet somehow they are the victims. What insanity I that?
What's not accurate about the above statement??
WHAT YOU ARE SPEAKS SO LOUDLY, I CAN'T HEAR WHAT YOU ARE SAYING! |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 1:16 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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A WORTHWHILE SITE TO REVIEW!
Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly and Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery were arrested Wednesday in Ferguson, Missouri, where they were reporting on the protests that have erupted following the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager who was shot by a police officer last week.
More information on the arrest: http://huff.to/1kCAUVr
HuffPost D.C. Bureau Chief Ryan Grim released a statement: http://huff.to/1oL5szx
(Photo credit: Robert Cohen / St. Louis Post-Dispatch) |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 1:27 pm |
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twotap
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Which means of course you cant counter the truthful facts of the statement. Take a look around you. When I was a youngster I attended Cook elementary and walked one of the nicest Flint neighborhoods that was Welch Boulevard. So don't sit up there on your high horse and your thousands of self answered Flint Talk posts and try to hide from the fact of what happened to Flint and so many other hundreds of neighborhoods all across America. If your too blind or dumb to admit it you fit right in with the rest of the bleeding heart libs who cant face facts.  By the way no one is impressed with a caps key on lock.  |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 7:51 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Many things contributed to the decline of Flint. It was African-Americans like Sokita Nolden of the Brougham Club and Rev. Robbs that prevented riots in Flint as Detroit and other cities in the country burned. On the radio show by Robert Leonard, on WFDF 910 am, individuals from that event discussed how the police wanted to kill Leonard from stopping violence. Former police officer Joe Wilson confirmed some Flint Police wanted to kill Leonard because they were hoping for a chance to kill blacks.
I was researching an item from the 60's and it took far longer than I expected. That was because I kept finding stories on the microfiche describing corruption allegations regarding former councilmen and city managers. There were stories involving a racist police department and police harassment o minorities.
Andrew Highsmith in his dissertation, Demolition means Progress, detailed the actions of political leaders, including Charles Mott, to create a divided society that had a goal of oppressing minorities. Highsmith interviewed minorities that remembered a time when Blacks could not walk down Welch Boulevard unless they were walking to and from employment as servants in that area. Restricted deed covenants and segregated schools were the order of the times.
Flint's problems are the product of corrupt politicians and inept policies that have siphoned off resources. A failure to heed financial analysts that predicted our present problems and warned us not to depend on GM compounded the problems. |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 9:28 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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TeamSarah4ChoiceFollowRSS
Daily Kos member
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 05:53 AM PDT.
Ferguson Police Tear Gas Reporters then Disassemble Their TV Equipment
by
TeamSarah4ChoiceFollow .
It appears as though the Ferguson police department has a real problem with reporters covering the actions police are taking against the civilians living in Ferguson, MO. The other day they prevent media coverage via helicopter by getting a "No Fly Zone" over Ferguson and now they have resorted to targeting journalists with tear gas so they can disassemble their television equipment.
Sounds 3rd world, huh?
It gets even more 3rd world when you include the fact that Ferguson, MO police are also arresting St. Louis City Alderman, Antonio French, who was sitting in his car, because he didn't listen" to them.
... and arresting journalists for not getting out of McDonalds quickly enough ... I'd hate to see how they treat journalists not getting out of a donut shop quick enough.
It seems Ferguson police are afraid to have journalists videotape the actions they (police) are taking against their civilian population -- but why? Are they trying to intimidate journalists so they stop their coverage? Do they have something up their sleeves they want to do to their civilians that they don't want journalists to document?
What are they trying to hide? WTF is going on here?
Are Ferguson police intentionally trying to give the illusion that the civilians in their city deserve to be treated as violent criminals?
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Before being arrested, journalist Ryan Reilly tweeted his disgust with Ferguson's SWAT team training their military weapons on unarmed protesters.
A few hours later, police arrest Ryan Reilly.
The group Anonymous posted a picture on twitter that alleges the Ferguson Police Chief has a Confederate flag in his living room -- is there something to that?
Meanwhile, back at the Bundy Ranch, law enforcement has still not arrested Cliven Bundy for violating Federal laws in April 2014:
- Violating 18 U.S. Code § 1509 - Obstruction of court orders
- Violating 18 U.S. Code § 2383 - [inciting] Rebellion or insurrection
- Violating 18 USCS § 2101 "incite a riot"
- Violating 18 USCS § 115 - Impeding, or retaliating against a Federal Official
- Violating a Federal Court Order
- Contempt of Court
- Trespassing on public land
~List of violations that Cliven Bundy still has not been arrested for
Also, none of Bundy's armed thugs were arrested for placing "a bead on" Federal agents
Can you imagine what the Ferguson police would do if their citizens drove around armed in the back of a pick up truck as Bundy's thugs did?
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by TeamSarah4Choice on Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 05:53:04 AM PDT
] When the Spring 1970 Protests Started at Ohio
State, coincidentally several days before the news of Cambodia stimulated the rest of the country to erupt, city police seemed to be really hungry to play soldier, busted a lot of heads as kids scattered, and then gassed dorms turning thousands of relaxing party-schoolers into unintentional riot participants.
The behavior of city and state cops over the days and weeks often had a nasty edge compared to the National Guard.
In the 80's and 90's as the US began militarizing or police forces, I kept reflecting on what the generally unknown Ohio State events encompassing some 10,000 people or more, might've become infamous for at the hands of today's battle equipped police soldiers.
We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy.... --ML King "Beyond Vietnam"
by TeamSarah4Choice on Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 06:09:36 AM PDT
Wait til the cops get to militarize drones
I note the FAA has made Ferguson a "no fly zone". Now unless the protestors have some serious AA or perhaps a few vintage Stingers left over from Iran/Contra, what is the danger to an airliner flying over?
One would almost think it was to keep the media from taking aerial shots of the confrontation. Nahhhhhh.........
by entlord on Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 07:06:42 AM PDT
How does getting a no-fly zone work?
What I really want to ask is, What the hell is the federal government doing aiding and abetting the criminal cops of Ferguson?
by entlord on Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 08:10:42 AM PDT
"A spokesperson for the St. Louis County Police Department told NBC News that “police helicopter came under fire on 3 or 4 occasions, so we requested that the FAA put up a no-fly zone for the safety of pilots who would be in the area.” He said that no aircraft had been hit but that officers had seen shots fired into the air."
by entlord on Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 08:12:09 AM PDT
I'm probably not alone in doubting the veracity of the police's claim of seeing shots fired at helicopters.
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:12 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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daily Kos staff
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 at 03:05 PM PDT.
Executive director of Fraternal Order of Police takes a poke at Obama over Ferguson comments
by
Meteor BladesFollow .
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James O. Pasco Jr., the executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, didn't much care for what President Obama had to say Thursday about racist police behavior in Ferguson, Missouri. Not that the president said it was racist. Here's Mario Trujillo reporting:
"I would contend that discussing police tactics from Martha's Vineyard is not helpful to ultimately calming the situation," director Jim Pasco said in an interview with The Hill.
"I think what he has to do as president and as a constitutional lawyer is remember that there is a process in the United States and the process is being followed, for good or for ill, by the police and by the county and by the city and by the prosecutors’ office," Pasco added. [...]
"I'm not there, and neither is the president," Pasco said. "That is why we have due process in the United States. And this will all be sorted out over time. But right now, I haven't seen anything from afar — and maybe the president has — that would lead me to believe the police are doing anything except to restore order."
I'm half-blind but I have no problem seeing what the cops are doing in Ferguson even though I am not there. Perhaps, Jimbo, you should turn on your friggin' television. Or take a look at the photos and videos posted here and elsewhere across the internet.
Please read about Pasco's many roles below the fold.
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The president called for "peace and calm on the streets":
There is never an excuse for violence against police, or for those who would use this tragedy as a cover for vandalism or looting. There’s also no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protests, or to throw protestors in jail for lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights. And here, in the United States of America, police should not be bullying or arresting journalists who are just trying to do their jobs and report to the American people on what they see on the ground. Put simply, we all need to hold ourselves to a high standard, particularly those of us in positions of authority.
Pasco has an interesting past, to say the least. Here's James V. Grimaldi and Sari Horwitz reporting in 2010. Pasco ...
worked against the nation's big-city mayors and police chiefs in 2007 when those groups launched a major campaign to reverse a decision by Congress that kept federal records about guns used in crimes from being made public.
The FOP's backing was crucial in deflecting the chiefs' criticism that the secrecy undermined crime fighting. "It was very effective," said Arkadi Gerney, special assistant to New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I), who has crusaded for tougher gun laws.
Pasco is a product of the capital's revolving-door culture. Before joining the FOP in 1995, he was the chief legislative representative for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the agency that regulates the gun industry and enforces federal gun laws. People who know him describe him as a charming operator whose motives can be opaque. [...]
Pasco is more than a lobbyist for the FOP. At the same time that he has worked for the police union, he has kept a lucrative side business representing beer, cigarette and entertainment companies out of the FOP's Capitol Hill offices. His firm, Jim Pasco & Associates, has represented Philip Morris, MillerCoors Brewing Co. and Sony BMG Entertainment, according to his disclosure reports filed with Congress. The filings show that Pasco used the FOP's address and phone number and his FOP e-mail address while working for corporate interests.
Among other things, Pasco was the lobbyist for FOP in 1998 when the organization took the side of the tobacco industry over a bill putting the Food and Drug Administration in charge of regulating tobacco and raising federal cigarette taxes by $1.10 a pack. FOP's claim was that the bill would create a black market in cigarettes. What Pasco didn't say to those he lobbied was that he was simultaneously working for tobacco giant Philip Morris. As of 2010, the company had paid him $600,000 over the years for his lobbying.
In 2007, with Pasco leading the charge, FOP was a key element in ensuring that an amendment sponsored by Republican Rep. W. Todd Tiahrt of Kansas was not repealed. Tiarht was a founding member of the tea party who left the House to seek a Senate seat in 2010, but he lost in the primary. His amendment had been passed in 2003 to keep information about guns recovered in crimes from being publicly linked to the dealers who originally sold them. Many big-city mayors had favored the repeal.
Pasco is a real piece of work. One of the reasons "corruption" is such a commonly used term when discussing D.C. politics.
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:17 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Witness to Michael Brown shooting comes forward
www.usatoday.com/.../ferguson-missouri-teen-shooting-witness/13992387
Aug 14, 2014 · Witness to Michael Brown shooting comes forward. FERGUSON, Mo. — Minutes before teen Michael Brown was fatally shot by a local police officer, a friend ...
Witness to Michael Brown shooting comes forward
Dorian Johnson was walking with Michael Brown when the 18-year-old was shot and killed by a police officer in St. Louis County, Missouri. Johnson says Brown had his hands in the air, and was unarmed, when the cop shot him. VPC
FERGUSON, Mo. — Minutes before teen Michael Brown was fatally shot by a local police officer, a friend he was walking with said the pair was a short distance from home.
Dorian Johnson said he was standing inches from Brown when the shooting occurred around 1:40 p.m. Saturday. He gave his account of the shooting to KSDK-TV.
"The officer is approaching us and as he pulled up on the side of us, he didn't say freeze, halt or anything like we were committing a crime. He said, 'Get the F on the sidewalk.'
After Johnson said the officer thrust open the door of his patrol car, hitting the pair, Johnson said the officer grabbed Brown around the neck and tried to pull him through the window. He said Brown never tried to reach for the officer's weapon.
"The second time he says, 'I'll shoot,' a second later the gun went off and he let go," Johnson said. "That's how we were able to run at the same time. The first car I see, I ducked behind for because I fear for my life. I'm scared. I don't know what's going on. I don't understand why this officer is shooting his weapon at us."
According to Johnson, the officer pursued Brown and fired another shot. which struck Brown in the back. He said Brown turned and faced the officer with his hands raised.
"My friend started to tell the officer that he was unarmed and that he could stop shooting (him)," Johnson said. "Before he could get his second sentence out, the officer fired several more shots into his head and chest area. He fell dramatically into the fatal position. I did not hear once he yell freeze, stop or halt. it was just horrible to watch."
Johnson said he could tell Brown was in pain after the shooting.
"It hurt him a lot," he said. "I could see it in his eyes. It was definitely like being shot like an animal.
"I definitely think (the officer) is guilty of murder."
Johnson, who is expected to be interviewed by the FBI Wednesday, said he moved from his apartment with his girlfriend and young daughter because he feared retaliation from police.
"I left because I feared that if I stayed, something would happen to me. I felt like if they would have gotten me, they would have done anything possible to make sure I couldn't come forth and give my side of what happened."
On Tuesday, about a mile away from where the shooting took place, protests erupted for the third night in a row in Ferguson, but were largely peaceful, with several young pulling their shirts up to cover their faces.
A confrontation with police ended with police once again firing tear gas into the crowd. Police said they were responding to protesters who had thrown bottles at officers, according to CNN.
Tensions increased in the community on Tuesday when authorities, backing down on an earlier promise to to release the name of the white police officer who killed the unarmed Brown. |
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Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:23 pm |
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