St Louis police murder scandal (PLUS: riots, idiotic press conferences, etc.)

[All Along The Watchtower]

[dead0man]

The looting is just a lot of insurance company paperwork.

I don't have the words...

[Lief 🗽]

Isn't like the first rule of gun safety to not point a gun at someone unless you intend to shoot them? I obviously don't use guns, but I thought that was gun safety 101.

[Suburbia]

Conservative reporter Jim Hoft of the Gateway Pundit website says that the officer, Darren Wilson suffered hits to the eye by Brown, it's up to the reader if it's believable.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/08/breaking-report-po-darren-wilson-suffered-orbital-blowout-fracture-to-eye-socket-during-encounter-with-mike-brown/

[Lief 🗽]

Even infamous fascist Ray Kelly thinks the Ferguson police are out of control!

[King]

The looting is just a lot of insurance company paperwork.

I don't have the words...

Well, obviously it's not good, but the first priority should be to prevent violence than make sure the Walgreen's inventory isn't too badly damaged.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

It's quite obvious there was a robbery at the store, otherwise why would he be shoving the owner like that? Just for fun? That is even worse. And it's not as if he was underage and couldn't buy those legally. Maybe he didn't have his ID on him and still wanted the cigars, in which case that is even more idiotic.

I read that the store owner only walked out from behind the counter because he was upset that Michael Brown had reached over the counter for his cigars. Perhaps Brown was irritated that he had been called out on this, and was shoved.

In fact, there's a video of Michael Brown actually paying for the cigars, with the cashier visibly handling the money he was given.

[Paul Kemp]

It's quite obvious there was a robbery at the store, otherwise why would he be shoving the owner like that? Just for fun? That is even worse. And it's not as if he was underage and couldn't buy those legally. Maybe he didn't have his ID on him and still wanted the cigars, in which case that is even more idiotic.

I read that the store owner only walked out from behind the counter because he was upset that Michael Brown had reached over the counter for his cigars. Perhaps Brown was irritated that he had been called out on this, and was shoved.

In fact, there's a video of Michael Brown actually paying for the cigars, with the cashier visibly handling the money he was given.

Where?

[Lief 🗽]

No words.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Paul Kemp]

No words.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

"I didn't want to hit my wife but she just kept on provoking me!"

[ingemann]

No words.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The problem are that the comment are correct, it's cops job to use violence against you if they think it's necessary, in fact they may even kill you if they find it necessary. So you should never give them a excuse for doing those things to you. If you want the police to change, you should do so by electing politicians who will represent you, not yell at some armed guy, who have a good chance at getting away with killing you

[Eraserhead]

Tonight should be pretty bad.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

It's quite obvious there was a robbery at the store, otherwise why would he be shoving the owner like that? Just for fun? That is even worse. And it's not as if he was underage and couldn't buy those legally. Maybe he didn't have his ID on him and still wanted the cigars, in which case that is even more idiotic.

I read that the store owner only walked out from behind the counter because he was upset that Michael Brown had reached over the counter for his cigars. Perhaps Brown was irritated that he had been called out on this, and was shoved.

In fact, there's a video of Michael Brown actually paying for the cigars, with the cashier visibly handling the money he was given.

Where?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maA1FUJqhew

And a quote:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/08/18/ferguson-pd-busted/

[Foucaulf]

Situations like these are bad times to throw around imprecise statements like "they're rioting". With the national guard called in, there will be attempts to compare what's going on to LA 1992; obviously the two are not on the same scale. Rioters exist, but the dynamics between them and the rest of Ferguson's protesters are different.

It may not be a good idea to call rioters "stupid" either; they have reasons to do what they do. If I had to make a wild guess, they justify their action as resistance against the police. I'm using this to explain why the threat of police action would incite more incidents.

Another thing about the Brown shooting events themselves: the narrative between the two parties seems to have converged up to the officer calling Brown out, Brown trying to leave and then being chased by the cop. Brown's family says Brown held his hands up; the officer says Brown charged toward him. And that op-ed suggests cops do see aggressive movement toward them as justification to shoot.

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

http://www.vox.com/2014/8/18/6031197/obama-ferguson-race-speech

Why Obama sadly can't give a big speech on all of this.

[Lief 🗽]

the world is terrible.

[Blue3]

Wait... police are using flamethrowers? What the heck?

[jimrtex]

When are the next elections in this city?

Half of Council in April 2015, the other half in April 2016, the Mayor in April 2017. 3 year terms.

lol April elections. Fck the South, no wonder the entire government down there is white people.

Well, there is the issue than, no matter when is the election, there is a lack of candidates anyways. Of the 7 current members, 3 had no oppostion (the mayor, 1 of 3 in 2013, 1 of 2 in 2012). The black councillor was the one of contested councillors of 2013 and he won 73-26, so issue is probably more lack of candidates than timing.

Dwayne James was unopposed when he was elected the first two times.  23 of the last 48 city council races have been unopposed, plus one where a write-in candidate was elected with 23 votes when nobody filed.

Ward 3 has fewer registered voters, and much worse turnout.  That means it has the highest concentration of renters, particularly multi-family, and extremely black.  10 of its last 11 elections have been uncontested.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Hey, it finally got its own Wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Ferguson_unrest

[jimrtex]

Let's note than the opponent to the black candidate was a left-wing environmentalist and pro-bicycle advocate. The black councillor, for some reason, seems very implicated with LGBT issues. So, it's not like if black people/left-wingers can't get elected.

He was elected from the high turnout ward, and is a civil engineer, so almost assuredly a home owner.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The write-in candidate was elected because he received the most votes (23).  Though he did register as a write-in candidate, that was not necessary for election.  He actually campaigned to some extent.   At the time of his election, the Post-Dispatch ran an article about who the mystery councilman was.  The mayor said he had seen in the filings (with St.Louis County) that someone had filed, and that he was looking forward to meeting and working with the write-in candidate (with a name of Kynan Crecelius they must not have required correct spelling).   Crecelius at the time was a 31-year old software developer who had heard that the councilman for the ward had not filed for re-election.

The city has a city manager, so the city council doesn't really have a lot of power.  It also has term limits, and it doesn't appear that there is an entrenched council.   One councilman has been elected over a long period of time, but not consecutive elections.  It might be that no one was running so he decided to take another turn.  If you have a real job, you are going to eventually be distracted by a promotion, or an out-of-town contract, and decide that small town city council is not all that rewarding.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Btw, both the City of Ferguson's as well as the St. Louis County's official websites have been offline for a couple of days now due to a suspected Anonymous hacks.

http://www.fergusoncity.com/

http://www.stlouisco.com/

The State of Missouri, the Missouri National Guard, and the City of St. Louis are still there though.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I'm guessing that the powers that be in the white-run, black-majority town of Ferguson probably don't react too well to black folk who seek office.

[jimrtex]

I'm guessing that the powers that be in the white-run, black-majority town of Ferguson probably don't react too well to black folk who seek office.

You are.

[MalaspinaGold]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28855811

Egypt urges Ferguson police to show restraint...lol

[J. J.]

Wait... police are using flamethrowers? What the heck?

Ah, he is either firing a CS gas or smoke grenade.  That is a grenade launcher and those are grenades.

While it looks like a big gun, it is non lethal.  So far, the police are not using particularly damaging methods of arrests (i.e. nightsticks).