Friday, August 15, 2014

not rocket science: the thing that I am first, is a man....,


reuters |  Missouri's governor Jay Nixon hours earlier put Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson in charge of security in the town of Ferguson after almost a week of clashes between protesters and police firing tear gas and stun grenades. Dozens of people have been arrested amid looting, shooting and vandalism.

In a tactical U-turn, Johnson and a handful of black officers without body armor walked among thousands of protesters filling the streets of the mostly black St. Louis suburb, demanding justice for the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

"We just want to be able to come and demonstrate together without the fear of being shot. It's that simple," said 53-year-old protester Cat Daniels, an Iraq veteran. "What you see tonight is people coming together. When that kid was killed the hurt and the pain was real."

Mark Hall, a 21-year-old student, said: "I'm so happy they left us alone so we could prove that all we wanted was the opportunity to exercise our rights peacefully ... a chance to be heard."

5 comments:

ken said...

Unless the police officer has some solid evidence or other witnesses this woman's account looks pretty credible.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/08/15/tiffany_mitchell_eyewitness_to_michael_brown_shooting_speaks.html

Vic78 said...

The fake outrage is wearisome. There were people saying this was a problem for a long time now. Who would've thought that Officer Duncan Dickhead that doesn't even have the heart to get out of his car when it rains would cause problems with military grade weapons? Fuck congress. I really don't want to hear shit from them right now. If nothing's passed to fix it, they shouldn't have anything to talk about. It's always the same with them. Someone alerts them about a problem. That person is ignored. After the problem takes place we get some "Oh he/she was right all along." They're incompetent.

CNu said...

This situation can be endlessly mined for public policy dividends. (@JK - that vice piece is absolutely priceless)

Ed Dunn said...

I noticed this also and quietly realize these guys can be taken out easily if they want to go to wah on these streets. This idiot has a heavy tripod mount and a nice silhouette outline to put at least two in his body and one in his head from at least 600m away and he would had no time to react.

ken said...

What I was wondering is why would the camouflage be useful for this type of mission. Mark Steyn articulated it best for me.

"Indeed. To camouflage oneself in the jungles of suburban America, one should be clothed in Dunkin' Donuts and Taco Bell packaging. A soldier wears green camo in Vietnam to blend in. A policeman wears green camo in Ferguson to stand out - to let you guys know: We're here, we're severe, get used to it.

This is not a small thing. The point about "the thin blue line" is that it's blue for a reason. As I wrote a couple of months ago:

"The police" is a phenomenon of the modern world. It would be wholly alien, for example, to America's Founders. In the sense we use the term today, it dates back no further than Sir Robert Peel's founding of the Metropolitan Police in 1829. Because Londoners associated the concept with French-style political policing and state control, they were very resistant to the idea of a domestic soldiery keeping them in line. So Peel dressed his policemen in blue instead of infantry red, and instead of guns they had wooden truncheons."

So, when the police are dressed like combat troops, it's not a fashion faux pas, it's a fundamental misunderstanding of who they are.

http://www.steynonline.com/6524/cigars-but-not-close

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