Grand jury reaches decision in Ferguson case (Announcement Monday night)

[King]

I'm avoiding this story for multitude of reasons EXCEPT this common point bugs me:

If you're going to riot and burn things, why would you do it to your own town?

It is NOT their OWN town, their OWN community. They don't actually own it. They don't own homes, they don't own businesses, many of them have to take public transportation. They don't pay property taxes. Ferguson, MO is just a place they happen to be stuck living in, not their own community.

That's why it's not that hard to imagine why people there would be so comfortable in destroying it.

They are destroying rented homes, rented businesses, and rioting on rented streets. No liability to them.

If you want a black community that isn't prone to "destroying their own community in riots" you need to give them opportunity for their own communities first.

[King]

If you're going to riot and burn things, why would you do it to your own town?

It's not their own town. They don't actually own it. They don't own homes, they don't know businesses, many of them have to take public transportation. They don't pay property taxes. Ferguson, MO is just a place they happen to be stuck living in, not their own community.

That's why it's not that hard to imagine why people there would be so comfortable in destroying it.

They are destroying rented homes, rented businesses, and rioting on rented streets. No liability to them.

Its more than that...they still shop at these places, live around those streets, etc.

The same people destroying the walmart tonight are going to be mad that its not open for 2 weeks after this.

It's not really more than that. If anything, they are creating economic prosperity for themselves. Wal-Mart will now have to further increase holiday staffing to clean up the mess. Nobody has any reason to care about the cost of the damage.

Until they are given real stable opportunity to own businesses and homes of their own, nobody will ever care about the cost of the damage.

[King]

Michael Brown sounds like a supervillain. Truly a scary individual. Able to jam a gun with his hand and still violently attacking with multiple bullets in him. Are we sure he did not rise from the grave since the incident and is still at large?

I wonder how he managed to get so physically powerful considering he played no sports and was obese.

[King]

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

THIS happened within 30 miles of where I live last year. Man pulled over for a traffic violation, yanks out an AK-47 and shoots at officers. The officers returned fire until the suspect's body was moribund.

I think you guys are the ones thinking it's like the movies. One shot, saying, "Hey buddy! Put your hands up!" That isn't real life. Real life trains those in these situations to eliminate the threat. If that means making sure the suspect is down, then that's what it is.

It doesn't matter if the suspect had a knife, or a hand grenade or was going for a gun. If just cause is found, the suspect can be killed using deadly force. Whether that's one bullet to the head or seventeen to the chest, it doesn't matter.

http://abc7chicago.com/news/blue-line-service-resumes-after-gunfire-on-loop-platform/343393/

This man in Chicago was using a stolen assault rifle and shooting at a passing subway train... underground... in the dark.

The police officer who responded managed to stop him without killing him or firing a single shot of their own.

[King]

There's a big difference between a firefight with a guy carrying an AK47 and threatening suspect slowly walking at your vehicle.

[King]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lCWUufgRFU

Here's another one. The guy has a knife. The two officers spend five minutes trying to talk to the guy. Then they try the taser. The guy lunges at them.

I'm not saying it's a good thing. It's not. But it is what it is.

That looked more like stumbling to his feet than lunging at them.

Also, the dispatch call was that man was threatening to commit suicide, so shooting him in the head wasn't really a successful outcome.

[King]

I'm going to tell you something, as someone who was trained on weapons in combat during military training. Do you think that those who are the trainers think any differently than me? Do you think a liberal educator from Berkeley is training police officers? No. It's probably some fat gray haired guy with a mustache who was driving around town as a patrolman when Jimmy Carter was President. They aren't training police officers to use restraint, they're training them to eliminate threats.

Yes. I believe a systemic problem is systemic. Thanks for asking.

To avoid lumping me in, I think the officer acted according to procedure and should not be prosecuted in this case. But the procedure is wrong.

[King]

Not shooting someone is not backing down. What you're really asking is that police officers be devoid of strategy.