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Ferguson police presence (courtesy firstlook.org)

The following by Justin King originally appeared at TheAntiMedia.org and is reprinted here with permission.

Some see Mike Brown as a thug that got what he had coming; others see Darren Wilson as another racist killer cop. The truth of what happened was buried before Brown was laid to rest. Now, months later, not only is the truth dead and buried, it is completely irrelevant. Events have spiraled out of control, and now the only people who care about the truth are the families and close friends of those immediately involved with the shooting . . .

I know of people from more than 13 states who are sitting in Ferguson awaiting the Grand Jury’s decision. They are all convinced Wilson will not be indicted, and they are prepared to face the tear gas, rubber bullets, and nightsticks of the cops that will inevitably attempt to suppress them. Most had never been to Missouri before; some had trouble even finding the state on a map. For whatever reason Ferguson, Missouri has become the front line in the fight against the US police state.

The situation is very similar to another incident that occurred in Boston back in the 70s. During a demonstration, law enforcement opened fire and killed five protesters. The incident became a rallying cry for activists, who dubbed it “The Boston Massacre.” It was in the 1770s, and it triggered the American Revolution. In grade school, the narrative above is what most of us were taught. There is one glaring omission in the storyline above: the shooting was justified. One of America’s founding fathers, John Adams, defended the British soldiers in court and proved that the crowd had attacked the soldiers.

Just like the situation in Ferguson, the facts ceased to matter when it became a matter of national importance. Regardless of the Grand Jury’s decision, the only person who will ever know what happened is Darren Wilson. History will record the incident as a Ferguson cop killing an unarmed black man, and that the shooting crystallized outrage over a string of murders by police that revealed a total lack of accountability.

Wilson may indeed be completely innocent, but it doesn’t matter now. Ferguson is no longer about a single shooting. It is no longer about black and white racial issues. It is about John Crawford, Kelly Thomas, Eric Garner, and every other unarmed kid killed by cops that weren’t held accountable. It is about civil forfeiture, it is about falsified evidence, it is about mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent crimes, it is about MRAPs at schools, it is about the government waging war against its own citizens. The only rage directed at a color is being directed at the thin blue line.

While the Grand Jury may indict, it is unlikely. More rioting and violence is almost certaint and that violence will continue to cause increased hatred of law enforcement. Riots are the language of those without a voice, but rioting is not the solution. The rioting will certainly help garner national attention, but it won’t change the police state. It may actually provide law enforcement with a ready excuse to continue purchasing armored vehicles, tear gas, and automatic weapons. The misuse of this equipment by ill-trained cops will cause another situation that brings about another riot, and the cycle will continue until the boot of a SWAT team is on the neck of every American.

The riots must be followed by a concerted effort to curtail the police state. Without a powerful political movement attempting to oust every supporter of militarized law enforcement and proponent of police brutality, the riot is nothing more than a temper tantrum. Violence should always be the last resort, but if violence occurs, the greater tragedy is to allow the destruction and injuries to have happened in vain. It is important for those who have the anger to take to the streets, to preserve a little bit of that fury. In the aftermath of the rioting it must be channeled into a constructive resolution if there is to be any hope for a change in national policy.

The cynics out there are immediately saying that the politicians won’t listen, and typically those cynics would be correct. However, rioting in an area tends to scare off businesses. Those businesses are the source of campaign contributions. The politicians won’t listen because they care about unarmed kids getting killed, they’ll listen because the riot’s effect on the economy might choke off their supply of campaign contributions and impact their chances of reelection.

The failure to indict, the protests to follow, the police overreaction to the protest, and the rioting have been predicted by every authority. It almost seems carved in stone. The only thing that seems left for the people to decide is what happens after the glass is swept up from the streets and the smoke clears. Do the people simply allow the riot to be the end of the story, or do they continue the fight?

[h/t JME]

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134 COMMENTS

  1. fortunately i never tire of hearing/reading my own voice, so once again….

    FACTS DO NOT MATTER, EVER when dealing with social issues. emotion is everything, every time. we are in the third generation of children raising children to be children. adults are incomprehensible aliens, to be removed at the earliest possible opportunity.

    • Still…..
      With all the injustices out there, why do they pick these terrible cases to protest. They really need to pick better martyrs than Brown & Martin. They also need to pick better (or worse as the case may be) villains than Wilson or Zimmerman.
      If Wilson is indicted, police departments around the country should strike in protest. (Assuming of course that the facts are as I have read.)

  2. I keep hearing the word unarmed. 700 people a year in the US (according to the FBI) are killed by hands, fists and feet. All those criminals were “unarmed” as well, and they ended someones life. Michael Brown had two arms, he used them to rob a store, assault a hard working business owner and apparently assault a police office and inflict damage to his face, before the officer defended himself. Michael Brown was armed with a 300 pound body and two arms that was capable of committing serious bodily harm and death to virtually anyone he wanted to.

      • And so anyone with a gun should be shot? No, what you are missing is that your body may be used as a weapon to inflict grevious harm or death and that people have the right to defend them selves. This was by all accounts a legit shoot. What his post ignors though is the evidence of corruption and abuse not related to this shooting. In a way it’s un fortunate this incident was the one to finally spark revolt, the facts relating to this one case make the people look unreasonable. If they had waited for the likely inevitable wrongful killing along with the attempts to cover for the perpetrators they would certainly be getting a more favorable response from the OFWGs on this blog.

      • Ummm–only when they are using those arms and legs to beat/kick/stomp someone to pieces. How did you manage to miss that element of it?

  3. Urban riots based on all sorts of perceived wrongs are not new. I refer you to the urban riots of the 1960’s. Now, a half century later, Newark, LA, and the South Bronx still carry the scars of the few nights of flames and anger. The world will still spin on its axis. The sun will continue to rise and set. And in the Spring the grass and trees will green up. People are enormously stupid. So go ahead. Burn the place down. Provide targets for the po po snipers. In the end, nothing will have been accomplished. Sending your kids to college, working hard, and starting small businesses could have all avoided it.

  4. I’ve come to the conclusion that two criminal thugs had a fatal meeting that day.

    Is the world a better place without Michael Brown in it? It sure looks that way.

    Is Darren Wilson criminally culpable in Brown’s death? Probably not, but he might be. I don’t see any chance of anybody coming up with evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that he is, so the grand jury should ‘no true bill’ him.

    Do people like Darren Wilson belong out on the street wearing badges and guns?
    Not if this PINAC article is true:
    http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2014/11/ferguson-darren-wilson/

    • I just watched the video and have a hard time believing this was an actual encounter with a officer and not a staged video. I have been threw training and know how an officer stands walks and talks. No officer would ever walk over to take a guy in custody with his hands in his pockets or even approach any one that way unless you knew them well.

    • Yeah, that video doesn’t change anything in my opinion. Lots of editing there. Also, lots of good reading in the comments on Youtube.

  5. I am as against the police state situation as anyone but these riots were going to happen whether cops wear tac gear and drive MRAPS or they drive clown cars and wear red noses. This is about the opportunists flaming the racial divide and, if the facts I’ve seen are true, this is the exact wrong case for it because the cop appears justified. The lack of police accountability knows no race, it happens to people of all colors but only gets air time if it’s a white cop on a black citizen. You’re right, we need to reign cops back in, make them accountable, and break the culture of cover-ups amongst cops, but this ain’t the case. This will go down as what it is, racial discord where there likely should be none.

    • This article is stupid. When you see armored vehicles driving around handling traffic crashes, talk to me about a Police State. When police officers use armored vehicles to protect themselves from rioters shooting at them, and theowing dangerous objects at them, that is common sense, not a Police State.

      Show me an armored vehicle with a machine gun, rocket launcher, or flame thrower on it and then Ill agree that its military equipment and the police are militarized.. Good grief..

        • That’s a guy with a rifle. I know some folks don’t know the difference between a rifle and a rocket launcher but I’d hoped it wouldn’t be people on this site.

        • Show me an armored vehicle with a machine gun, rocket launcher, or flame thrower on it

          Or instead of and; look at those commas… AFAIK, it could be correctly rewritten as Show me an armored vehicle with a machine gun or rocket launcher or flame thrower on it.

          Some folks don’t know the difference between an “or” and an “and” but I’d hoped it wouldn’t be people on this site.

        • Yes, it’s an or. Still I don’t get the point of your post.

          There is no machine gun, rocket launcher, OR flame thrower on that armored vehicle. There is a guy with a rifle.. but considering the tiny magazine on it and the scope, I highly doubt it’s even automatic and it’s certainly not a machine gun, rocket launcher, OR flame thrower.

    • Agree. This rioting and mayhem is part of the left agenda to divide the country racially for political gain. Do we need better training and accountability for law enforcement? Absolutely! But painting a wide brush of broad “militarization” of every police encounter is absurd and in many cases ignorant of reality. I am not one to blindly trust authority and the judgment of law makers, but at the end of the day, ROL and the enforcement of such is necessary for a civil society. Something these protesters have no respect for.

  6. Comparing this to an event in the 1770s is absolute garbage. This is not about the police killing an unarmed man, this is about people not respecting the law and having zero fear of going to jail. If the police tell you to get out of the street, you get out of the street.. you know the street is for vehicles, not pedestrians.. If the cop tells you to stop, you stop. if you are dumb enough to assault a cop, you deserve what you get.. They do not know your intent, they are allowed to defend themselves, and a man that is 6′-3″, 300+ lbs can beat a cop to death.. People from 13 different states, just waiting to cause trouble in a community, and then leave..

    • I don’t believe the author’s intent was to say that the Boston Massacre and Wilson-Brown shooting have strong similarities.

      I believe his point was that the facts of the situation have little influence on how History views the Boston Massacre, and that the facts of this shooting will similarly have little influence on how History views it.

    • People not obeying the law? Sounds like a lot of cops and prosecutors, and their immunity (qualified and absolute) is a turd in the face of the so-called “rule of law”. I don’t buy for a minute that most cops are good cops; if they were that good, they’d point out the bad cops and get rid of them. Instead, they cover up for each other, and prosecutors cover up for all of them.

      When authority exceeds accountability, there is corruption.

      When accountability exceeds authority, there are scape goats and coverups and blame shifting.

      That’s what this is all about, and what RF said. If you think this is about Ferguson, one particular cop, or one particular thug, you are not paying attention.

    • This account reads like a riot to me. If this occurred today, wouldn’t we likely see something like the Boston Massacre again? 😉

      As the evening progressed, the crowd around Private White grew larger and more boisterous. Church bells were rung, which usually signified a fire, bringing more people out. Over fifty Bostonians pressed around White, led by a mixed-race runaway slave named Crispus Attucks, throwing objects at the sentry and challenging him to fire his weapon. White, who had taken up a somewhat safer position on the steps of the Custom House, sought assistance. Runners alerted the nearby barracks and Captain Thomas Preston, the officer of the watch. According to his report, Preston dispatched a non-commissioned officer and six privates of the 29th Regiment of Foot, with fixed bayonets, to relieve White. The soldiers Preston sent were Corporal William Wemms, Hugh Montgomery, John Carroll, William McCauley, William Warren, and Matthew Kilroy. Accompanied by Preston, they pushed their way through the crowd. En route, Henry Knox, again trying to reduce tensions, warned Preston, “For God’s sake, take care of your men. If they fire, you must die.” Captain Preston responded “I am aware of it.” When they reached Private White on the custom house stairs, the soldiers loaded their muskets, and arrayed themselves in a semicircular formation. Preston shouted at the crowd, estimated to number between three and four hundred, to disperse.

      The crowd continued to press around the soldiers, taunting them by yelling, “Fire!”, by spitting at and throwing snowballs and other small objects at them. Richard Palmes, a local innkeeper who was carrying a cudgel (i.e., club), came up to Preston and asked if the soldiers’ weapons were loaded. Preston assured him they were, but that they would not fire unless he ordered it, and (according to his own deposition) that he was unlikely to do so, since he was standing in front of them. A thrown object then struck Private Montgomery, knocking him down and causing him to drop his musket. He recovered his weapon, and was thought to angrily shout “Damn you, fire!”, then discharged it into the crowd although no command was given. Palmes swung his cudgel first at Montgomery, hitting his arm, and then at Preston. He narrowly missed Preston’s head, striking him on the arm instead.

      There was a pause of uncertain length (eyewitness estimates ranged from several seconds to two minutes), after which the soldiers fired into the crowd.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre

    • Police don’t tell me what to do. Police enforce the laws.

      Big difference.

      They work for us, not the other way around.
      I have no legal requirement to obey a police officer except for very specific circumstances, and under those circumstances, I will happily comply. But not a moment before.

      If a cop tells me to stop, he better have a good reason, or a good lawyer.

  7. Since when are “the facts” relevant to *anything* that happens in our society? It’s all race-baiting, victim-Olympics, horse-sh!t, generated by progressive a$$holes (sorry for repeating myself).

  8. What nonsense. This is about a gangbanger who got shot by the police after committing a crime. Everyone in Ferguson knows this. This all about gang control of the community. Most of Ferguson is not on the side of the gangbangers

  9. All I see are out-of-town activists with an agenda to promote dancing in thr blood of victims.
    The people of Ferguson are left to pick up the pieces when they move on to the next made_up event.

  10. once again, we see irrational people behaving irrationally and you can not have a rational outcome from irrational people. If these people think that reverting to animalistic behavior is going to get them what they want, then we need to treat them how they are acting. The only thing animals understand is FORCE.

  11. Wut. This is neither the time nor the place to give into liberal race-baiting. How many white protesters are out there with the black mobs, breaking windows and burning cars? The Bundy Ranch thing was about staring down the government. This will be nothing but a race-riot engineered by the MSM and the liberals, and will increase police militarization no matter if a handful of flag-waving conservatives show up to get stampeded over by their “fellow anti-government protesters.”

  12. Read up on that area, it’s a bunch of little towns, which get 10-13% of their income from fines. Hundreds of dollars per resident. Think about what that means to people who live in the area. It means you get pulled over, and getting a bullshit ticket, at least once a year, if not multiple times. It means that the cops are going to bust you for something, for example, they have residency permits, everyone has to have a permit listing each person who is spending the night in the house. No permit, that’s a fine. And if your are poor, the police find a way to get into your business, that’s just life.

    As has been noted, facts don’t matter at this point, the system in that area is out of control, and needs to be fixed. If they don’t riot, they will sooner or later, because their lives are intolerable.

    • I’ve been wanting to make a slightly offhanded analogous comparison to the Bolsheviks 100 years ago, but it just doesn’t work as well as I want.

      These people(actual rioting/protesting townies, not tourists) are tired of not being heard. The system is broke on both ends, but these folk aren’t doing things to positively empower their selves or their cause.

      Kanye West’s emotions in his song “New Slaves” comes to mind.

      I have little empathy for people who don’t attempt to take a proper course of action before turning to the streets.

      (Typos? Cell phone.)

    • Read up on that area, it’s a bunch of little towns, which get 10-13% of their income from fines. Hundreds of dollars per resident. Think about what that means to people who live in the area. It means you get pulled over, and getting a bullshit ticket, at least once a year, if not multiple times.

      What does any of that have to do with Mike Brown getting hallucination-level high on pot, committing a strong-arm robbery of a convenience store, and then assaulting a police officer, trying to take his gun, and then rushing him when the officer tried to place him under arrest?

      • Basically, people are saying, “There’s a chance for a cop to go to trial, so I’ll take all my frustration at cops in general out on him, regardless of whether he, specifically, committed any crime.”

        Because this is America, where you’re guilty until/unless the media says you’re innocent.

        • “Because this is America, where you’re guilty until liberal progressive masters say you’re innocent.”

          Fixed it for you.

      • Wrong question, as the article correctly supposed this whole thing has nothing at all to do with Brown or the shooting besides it being the spark igniting a powder keg built on years worth of real grievances.

    • Well stated. The initial incident was very much imperfect but many people are fed up. They are pissed and if their ire is strong enough, this might touch off something larger. The situation in Ferguson has affected our protests in Ohio. There have even been representatives from Ferguson attend some of our John Crawford events. Likewise, some Ohioans I know are in Ferguson right now.

  13. And if Brown had gotten Wilson’s gun and murdered him with it, the media wouldn’t be covering it at all. They have a narrative, and it only goes one way.

    I am convinced that the lynch mob mentality regarding Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown is outrage that people dared to stand up to black criminals. After all, Martin and Brown were long oppressed by society, and are rightfully venting their frustration by lashing out. How dare somebody shoot them instead of permitting themselves to be beat to death?

  14. Unfortunately, the riots will not be seen as a reason to reduce the police state but as justification to increase it. The MRAPs will be justified, .30 cals on the top and all. It’s all about power.

    • All the more reason to fight with everything we have to wrestle that power back from government. That is, unless you are stating that we’ve slipped too far into tyranny to effect real change anymore?

      • I was not saying that in my post. I think that if a tipping point is reached there could be a bloody revolution. If that happens we might return to liberty or we might end up with just another, even worse set of thugs ala the Russian and French revolutions.

        Very few people today are able to even imagine the country I desire, a country of minimum government (especially Federal) and a maximum of liberty. That also means people relying on themselves and their freely agreed to compacts with others.

        • I agree. Where I’m at is that it’s better that there be some upsetting of the apple cart, even things that I don’t necessarily agree with. (For example, I think that the Michael Brown shooting was probably a good shoot.) If things hum along smoothly and people believe that we are going to simply vote ourselves out of the present state of tyranny then we’re screwed. Government has grabbed enough power now that it won’t relinquish it without some sort of force applied. In the long term, this government will grow more powerful if left unchecked. Future generations will know even less of individual Liberty than those breathing today. Let government ramp up the MRAPS, no knocks, unjustified use of force, etc. Let government crank up the heat until the frog knows he is boiling.

        • I’m sure the owner of the now-burned-down QuickTrip, as well as the owners of the several other small businesses in Ferguson, share your laissez faire for the minor upsetting of the apple cart.

          I’m sure the kid who was assaulted by a mob for no reason other than he was trying to drive home, and they felt entitled to block the road, shares your laissez faire for the minor upsetting of the apple cart.

          I’m sure the hundreds of Ferguson and other north county residents who are so afraid for their livelihoods that they have surged firearms sales in the area over the past several weeks, share your laissez faire for the minor upsetting of the apple cart.

          I’m sure the St. Louis Rams fans who were spit on for doing nothing more than exiting the stadium, share your laissez faire for the minor upsetting of the apple cart.

          (The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra patrons probably do share your laissez faire for the minor upsetting of the apple cart. But the Cards fans collectively said ain’t nobody got time for that.)

          You see: what is merely “upsetting the apple cart” to you represents the violation, in some form or another, of the civil rights of peaceful, law-abiding citizens who have absolutely nothing to do with either the shooting of Mike Brown or the perceived municipal injustices in the various north- and mid-county communities.

          If the goal is Due Process, Equal Protection, and the Rule of Law, that end is not obtained by violating the rights of law-abiding people who are not the cause of real or perceived problems.

          Welcome to St. Louis. Here are the people you’re aligning/sympathizing with:

        • Keep misrepresenting the words and thoughts of another. It speaks volumes.

          I fully support the individual right of anyone to defend themselves; be it against looters, rioters, agents of government, etc.

  15. Justin King demonstrates he is a moron. And if he “knows” bros from 13 states now handing out in the Ferguson “hood” he is part of the problem and needs to find a new class of acquaintance/friend.

  16. The facts were never relevant, all that matters is the Democrat Party’s agenda, and killing black people is at the top of it.

  17. A few corrections:

    Two of the British shooters at the Boston Massacre were convicted of manslaughter and branded. Yeah, like cattle.

    One of the five dead Bostonians was Crispus Attucks, a young man who was part black and part Native American and may have been a runaway slave. There are now streets named after him.

    And none of the people arrested in the immediate aftermath of the Ferguson shooting were actually from Ferguson.

  18. They riot in Detroit whenever the (insert pro sports team here) wins OR loses.

    Seems the 300% increase in lawful gun sales in the surrounding burbs over the last few weeks, may keep the professional agitators at bay, for reasonable non violent protests.
    We’ll see.

    The term “looters will be shot” is still common law. After tornadoes, hurricanes, riots, etc. how many Koreans were charged AND convicted for defending their property during the L.A. Riots?
    I’ll take ZERO for $1000 Alex

  19. What a load of crap.

    FTA:

    They are all convinced Wilson will not be indicted, and they are prepared to face the tear gas, rubber bullets, and nightsticks of the cops that will inevitably attempt to suppress them.

    PROTIP: don’t start committing criminal acts, and you won’t have to worry about the police trying to “suppress” you.

    Most had never been to Missouri before; some had trouble even finding the state on a map.

    I would hazard a guess that the facts of the case don’t matter because, if someone is so stupid that they can’t find Missouri on a map, they are too stupid to analyze and evaluate the facts objectively. They let others think for them, and they are told that Darren Wilson is racist, and that The Man is oppressing/suppressing them.

    Sorry, I didn’t get any farther than that. I really didn’t see any reason to.

  20. So…wait…is the author saying that riots are a good thing? Destroying and looting property all over town in protest to something is somehow okay if a bunch of people do it together?

    • That’s the takeaway I got. The author thinks we live in a police state and that the Ferguson rioting is just the first step to dismantling it. I completely disagree. I’m on the side of law enforcement, not the side of the thugs taunting, pillaging and burning. Police brutality occasionally happens, but the Michael Brown incident had nothing to do with police brutality, and the “protestors” don’t care.

      Most of these protestors are out-of-state opportunistic troublemakers: dope-addled self-hating white students, professional race-hustlers, wannabe anarchists, idealistic old hippies who think they’re the second coming of the Freedom Riders. All of them are egged on by the most outrageously biased mainstream press in the history of the USA.

  21. From Detroit. Lived the riots in 67 and 68. My father was a fireman and my uncle’s were cops. One was a cruiser (4 man car). This riot is planned, by both sides. We even have the KKK in the mix. We live in a Police State. This may well be the beginning of the 2nd American Revolution. The facts don’t make a difference at this point. It is going to break in a big way! I would expect other cities to go up also.

    • If the momentum continues, I would wager that you are correct. Diverse swaths of individuals from all over are communicating and agreeing that government has grown tyrannical. They disagree on a lot of details but they do agree on a common enemy.

  22. To me all this breaks down to is a run in between an officer of the law and a deviant thug. If this man assaulted this officer and tried to gain control of his gun, Justice was served. Those waiting the out come to escalate this rioting and assaults should be dealt with as is the seriousness of there crimes. This is no longer about an unarmed man being killed. Those taking this to the streets lets pray its peaceful if not and persons and property are put in jeopardy then the Justice you recieve for your actions is well deserved! This is not the case to use to back injustices no different than the Bundy uprising your money’s on the wrong horse if your backing the lawless!! If this turns into a bloodbath its on the hands of those outside the law. Your cause maybe Just but Your choice of situations is errant, it will be there downfall. This whole thing has been a baited calling and its bringing in a mass number of different venues of people and causes that are just ripe to see the blood run red in the streets. I don’t see anything good happening here and we well may just see what a militarized state can and will look like. Be very careful what you wish for as You may just get it!!

    • That’s not what it is about at all. As stated this case is entirely incidental. If it is about anything legitimate it is about a history of corruption and abuse.

  23. “…Missouri has become the front line in the fight against the US police state.”

    Got put that police state spin on anything you touch, huh? Let me set you straight– No. It is not. It’s the front lines of percieved racism and anarchy. I mean seriously, what are you smoking? What fight are you refering to? Because last i checked, the police sat pretty idle while businesses were burned and people beaten. Furgeson wasn’t Kent State. The police state didn’t crack down. Do you even know what one it? because it sure as hell wasn’t Furgeson. Do you even know what a police state is? There were no gestapo style beatings in the street. In fact, you kinda got your hearts desire: The police did nothing.

    Well, nothing aside from show up in their super duper evil military surplus.

    Any fight against the US police state- and I love the way you load that up, by the way -is going to be a fight picked, not because the police came to your door and shot your dog and confiscated your weapons without due process or warrant. You’ve even been forced to grudgingly admitted the dubious circumstances around this particular incident, but you still want to turn it into an ‘everybody else’ versus ‘the police state’ issue. Stop. Just shut up already.

    You, sir, are the worst example of an ignorant, armchair commando and I will have nothing more to do with you. I can only hope TTAGs advertisers likewise recognize the fact. You’re a needless pot stirrer; a closet infowars acolyte who regularly gets his hard facts so wrong that it’s embarassing you’re even allowed to print. Police brutality certainly deserves its patriots and whistle blowers. You, however are a detriment to that cause through and through.

        • That’s patently false. There were indeed peaceful protesters. Also, what about how law enforcement treated some of the journalists? Were the journalists a part of this grand looter conspiracy too?

        • Tdiinva is closer to the truth than you believe. Considering that the locals were shooting at the cops *at the crime scene*, the violence was present with the protests from the very beginning. For about the first week, the violence remained intertwined with the protests. In all cases, the violence begat the police response.

          And the only journalists who had problems were primarily the ones arrested for trespassing, violating curfew, etc.

          And yes, during those times, when lawless thugs were looting, torching businesses, throwing Molotov cocktails, rocks, etc. and shooting at police, the police response was overall appropriate to restore order.

        • Explain to us how you are profiting from looting and riots? Layout your, apparently, successful business model. We all want to know how you are profiting from this anti-American sh*t. Please explain.

  24. This article is a load of crap. I expect to see people like Sharpton try and find some cause in this mess on the HuffPo but I didn’t expect it here.

    It’s funny how the truth matters when the narrative is about a white cop “executing” an unarmed black teenager but when things point the other way suddenly the facts don’t matter. We can’t know for sure what happened so why bother caring?

    Relativist BS.

  25. Yeah this author hasn’t really been following this situation… At all…. To compare these rioters to the Patriots of the Revolution is a disgrace. If your waiting for the “moment” when proverbial straw breaks the camels back to take to the streets and fight for some perceived ideology, this is not the cause to rally behind. However, in a few years when Hitlery is queen and the round up of gun owners, land owners, business persons, religious figures, Jews, and anyone in any political opposition to her reign of terror occurs, you will know what real cause to rally behind.

    • This journalist has been following this and other happenings quite closely. If you look at raw footage, video and still photography, of happenings in Ferguson and elsewhere; you will see Justin King embedded in the crowds of protesters. He’s no keyboard commando, relying on drippings from other media outlets. He is on the ground, experiencing these moments in person and interviewing people on the scenes.

    • And you don’t seem to know much about the boston massacre nor the type of men (not neccisarily patriots) involved. You also have apparent difficulty with comprehension as there was no parallel made between them and ferguson other than the ignorance surrounding the two incidents. Ignorance you demonstrate well.

  26. This is 99 percent a race/anarchy issue and MAYBE 1 percent about police militarization. It is a secondary issue at the very best.

    There is a time and a place to push back against MRAPs and the like, but this is most definitely not it.

    • Seriously? Way to buy into the “they are not us” mentality. I wonder if any of us will be there when it is time to decide if you are one of us.

        • Rioters/looters are not protestors. Period. Full stop. Treating them as such bestows legitimacy on them that they do not deserve. Same with the Occutards and with muslims screeching for Shari’a in America. All make themselves enemy combatants by their own actions.

  27. I would say that the Michael Brown incident has spun into something that has little basis on the merits of the initial encounter with Darren Wilson. Many parties will see this in very different lights. Things will probably be nasty and I am quite sure the protestors will bait the cops to over react.

  28. Many comments above are correct – this incident being more about ‘race/anarchy’ than police militarization/abuse.

    That said, one issue not addressed is the horrifically long time it often takes the authorities to conclude their investigation when police shoot. This fuels speculation that the cops are stonewalling / covering up.
    Combine that with the standard moron-grade media reporting (lethal firearms force is legally used quite often against assailants armed only with fists) and you get unrest and possible rioting (which, quite frankly, may be the goal of many of the same media dopes).

    • When an investigation is completed quicker there are calls that the police didn’t actually investigate and just wrapped things up for their brother in blue.

      Can’t win.

  29. No, it’s about racist blacks who complain that their failure in life is caused by whites, not their own moral and intellectual limitations, such as an average 85 IQ for black Americans. It is about a racially motivated revenge and an inability of blacks to participate in civic society other than demanding more welfare and the ritual sacrifice of an innocent white man based on rioting and threats. When a white person is killed by the police, justified or not, whites don’t riot, but when a black or brown person is, blacks and browns riot. Blacks are angry about their failure in life and the failure of Obama to bring them more benefits paid for by the white and Asian taxpayer. Michael Brown thought he could rob and assault an innocent Asian shop-keeper, then attack a white police officer and try and kill him. For that reason he is dead. The opinions of blacks in Ferguson or elsewhere doesn’t matter because blacks refuse to see the facts because of their racist blinders.

    It is not a matter of he said, she said, there are facts and none of the facts support the thug Michael Brown. Just consider the fact that Brown’s mother assaulted and robbed Brown’s paternal grandmother over the sale of Michael Brown swag. Pretty much proves that no one cares about the facts, and you are encouraging that attitude. There are facts and ignoring them to prattle on about cops in MRAPS is insane.

    Here’s a great summary of the facts of the case:

    http://www.truthrevolt.org/videos/ben-shapiro-myth-or-true-story-michael-brown-gentle-giant

    And remember, it is black people threatening to riot and kill whites. Blacks want a race war and a few sacrificial whites. If you give them Darren Wilson, you will be next.

    • I liked your little speech better in the original German. I was waiting for you to start advocating eugenics when you rolled out the bogus IQ stat (Is IQ really a reliable measure of intelligence? There are a lot of skeptics.). Lots of great fear-mongering and white man-as-victim stuff too. Please, stay way out in a mountain compound away from those of us who still believe in co-existence and the virtues of a diverse society.

      • You can take many iq tests and get many scores so no, they are not reliable. Then there are the many idiots who claim to have ” one if the highest iq scores evar!!!” Probably like the idiot above.

  30. I have met this particular journalist, Justin King, on more than one occasion. He’s a good, intelligent sort and he has been on the scene, embedded with us protesters, reporting on several events that I’ve been a part of. His article has hit home as far as my thoughts on Ferguson. Although I’m privy to no more information than just about everyone else, I don’t believe that Michael Brown was innocent and think that the shooting was probably justified. However, I cannot condone government’s handling of things after the initial incident. The ways that law enforcement treated peaceful protesters and media have been appalling. Agents of government have not carried themselves as agents of a government of the People. They have behaved as agents of a tyrannical government. I choose to strongly support the protesters in Ferguson, local and otherwise. This is no longer about the shooting of Michael Brown for many of us. This is about tyranny.

    • So what you are telling me is that Justin King is a fringe “journalist” and a radical propagandist living in the same fantasy world that you do. This isn’t about tyranny. It is about the contest between the forces of civilization and gangs for the control of Ferguson, Missouri. This is a local event with no national implications. As some people already said these “dedicated soldiers of the revolution” will find it too cold to loot and those who do are more likely to be shot and killed by their law abiding neighbors than the police. The reality is much closer to Anbar Province in 2006-07 than Boston in 1776,

      Just a point of clarification. Are you headed to Ferguson to join the revolution or are just sitting by your computer watching. For a guy who talks a lot I would expect you to be in the first rank of looters.

      • Wallowing in your own ignorance provided by the very same media that tells you guns are evil. I have zero respect for your cowardice.

        • blah blah blah Another [white?] gansta wannabe who will be sitting by his keyboard pretending to be a tough guy. If you “aint there you be a coward.”

        • Are you in St Louis now or are you sitting in your basement? If you are still in Ohio you can be there in time to get shot by a local storekeeper as you go for you big screen TV.

          What I see is a punk who is standing by a gangbanger who pushed around a little Asian guy to steal some cheap cigars so he could get high. You go to Ferguson and join the gang but I think you are all talk.

        • I am indeed in Ohio right now. You are behaving like a keyboard commando; talking pretty big on the internet. Read the horseshit you are writing in response.

          It’s simple… if I can afford to be in Ferguson, I will. If some of my friends there in Ferguson want me to accompany them, I will. If some of the local Ohio media I associate with wants me to report from Ferguson, I will. Until then, there are protests here in Ohio. We face our share of butt hurt cops, albeit not of Ferguson strength of butt-hurtness, right here in Ohio. Each individual must deal with their own resources and abilities. My resources limit me to remaining in Ohio right now. I don’t always remain in state. A while back I was in DC where, among other things, we tore down barricades that were blocking memorials and piled them outside of the Whitehouse fence.

          If you would like to fund my Ferguson trip…

        • Let me translate this into English for you. I went to DC becuase it was safe. I won’t go Ferguson because the people will shoot at me and I am afraid I will get hurt. Sounds to me like you are “summer soldier.” Time to man up and stand up for you believe in. At today’s gas prices it just takes $40 for you to get to Ferguson. I will be waiting to hear your first hand reports from the scene. At that point I will show you respect. I will even attend your funeral if some storekeeper puts one between your eyes.

        • I don’t even own an automobile anymore. If you are willing to fund my trip then I’ll live stream it for you. After all, you state that such a trip isn’t all that expensive, right? I don’t fly so factor that in the budget. Give me an expense account limit and I’ll pack my gear, boss.

          (BTW: I was one of the first three individuals of the detachment that went to secure the Whitehouse so those barricades could be stacked there. We had to face off with DC police who wanted us to move. We had to secure our post. I ended up being assaulted by DC police more than once on that day.)

      • When it comes to chaos or order, barbarity or civilization, anarchy or archy, Left or right, John in Ohio has made his choice and you and I have made ours.

        The beauty of picking chaos is that you get to pretend not to be responsible for anybody’s opinions or actions but your own. You get to pretend not to be in favor of the looting while you provide the cover the looters need. You get to pretend that you’re not aiding and abetting the communists while they march over your back.

        The burden of choosing order is the burden of building a society out of imperfect people. It’s the burden of sonship and fatherhood. It’s the burden of recognizing that power must be exercised in order for community to exist, and someone must wield that power and that he will wield it imperfectly. But through it all, order is precious and worth preserving.

        (Signed)
        A former anarchist

        • Our government has become tyrannical. We must approach it now as an encroaching stranger lest we must approach it later as a rabid dog.

          “Societies exist under three forms sufficiently distinguishable. 1. Without government, as among our Indians. 2. Under governments wherein the will of every one has a just influence, as is the case in England in a slight degree, and in our states in a great one. 3. Under governments of force: as is the case in all other monarchies and in most of the other republics. To have an idea of the curse of existence under these last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep. It is a problem, not clear in my mind, that the 1st. condition is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population. The second state has a great deal of good in it. The mass of mankind under that enjoys a precious degree of liberty and happiness. It has it’s evils too: the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem. Even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs. I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” – Jefferson to James Madison, January 30, 1787

          http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/i-prefer-dangerous-freedom-over-peaceful-slavery-quotation

        • @John in Ohio: I assure you that your fossilized 18th century Progressivism will be run over and left for dead by its far more malignant 21st century version. Once you endorse rule in the name of The People, you endorse all manner of tyrannies. And nobody listens to Jefferson anymore because he was opposing the property, family and tradition of 1776, not that of 2014.

          Don’t be a useful idiot.

        • Our government has become tyrannical. We must approach it now as an encroaching stranger lest we must approach it later as a rabid dog. – John in Ohio, 2014.

        • @John in Ohio: The Progressives will first rule in the name of The People. Then they will rule everything in the name of The People, for how dare you think you can have a [family | business | gun | patrimony | church | farm] outside the control of The People?

          Don’t think your happy, pro-liberty 1776 Progressivism is going to please anyone out there. They’re just going to smile, nod, and run you over with their social justice trans-positive redistributionist Palestinian vegan 21st century Progressivism.

        • “They’re just going to smile, nod, and run you over with their social justice trans-positive redistributionist Palestinian vegan 21st century Progressivism.”

          Nicely said!

        • How dare I? Take your shaming language on the road with you, Mom. You dismiss the writings of Jefferson. You dismiss the Constitution in the name of fighting “modern progressives”. You’ll destroy Liberty in the name of your chosen war. You proclaim to be a former anarchist. That means that you were once one of these modern progressives. Throughout my adult life, I’ve never been foolish enough to be considered as a modern progressive and I never will be. My fight is against statism; be it progressive or conservative. It’s nice that you have that crystal ball but remember that it was wrong for you in the past. You make statements of assumption about what I believe in and what I anticipate outcomes might be and then try to pass those statements off as fact. Here’s a fact for you, our government is no longer constrained by the Constitution. That fact alone makes its claim to power illegitimate. I will choose to fight that because I find it the right thing to do. Wring your hands. Stomp your feet. Cry out, “How dare you!” all that you want. Although it might be impressive internet theater for some, it won’t change the facts about individual freedom and our government today.

        • @John in Ohio: My “how dare you” statement was actually written from the perspective of the Progressive: the one who believes that the only legitimate government is one that rules in the name of The People. Governments govern, and governments that rule in the name of the people will eventually govern everything in the name of The People. See, for example, every single, solitary universal suffrage democracy.

          And for the record, I was always a right-anarchist, a propertarian, and I never considered myself a modern Progressive. I was just a useful idiot for them.

      • I am not yet in Ferguson. If the opportunity to be there presents itself, I will be. We had our own particular protests here in Ohio (there was overlap of groups) for incidents such as when John Crawford was murdered and other things. Some from my groups have been in Ferguson and some from my groups are there again. Gun rights, Cop Block, Anonymous, etc… there is cross association.

        • The fact that you tell me the “others in your group” have been there but not you says a lot about. In other words you are sitting in your basement.

        • Are you really so naive to think that what you’re protesting in Ohio has anything to do with the protests here? By aligning yourself with the protests here, you’re aligning yourself with ISIS, Hamas supporters, anarchists, communists, and the like.

          As for John Crawford: is anyone over there calling for the arrest of the person responsible, the 911 caller who outright lied?

        • It’s simple. I don’t have the money. I don’t loot. I don’t steal. I don’t rob. I also don’t jack up a credit card to go to another state when there are reasons to protest in my own state. THAT should tell you a lot about me.

        • @Chip Bennett: We have called for criminal charges. AFAIK, there are plans to protest the 911 caller’s residence. Ferguson is diverting some of the individuals from here to there right now. People only have so much time and resource. Just last night I was on the road for 5+ hours dealing with an officer who twisted the wrists of a disabled woman and took her camera for the sole reason of her having the nerve to record the police. Normally, we could’ve packed the venue. Right now we’re running a skeleton crew.

          Also, if you read some of my comments, you will find out that there have been representatives from Ferguson here at John Crawford events. Some of the faces seen in Beavercreek have been seen in Ferguson.

  31. Regardless of who did what or where they did it the fact is that this doesn’t give people the right to loot or burn a place of business. We have in this country a system of law use it. We have in this country the right to vote use that. If things are not right make them right under the Constitution. Did this kid deserve to die depends on the action. Did this cop need to shoot only he can answerer that question. But when people riot they loose their right for protection under the law. Many innocent people will get caught up in this and the blood will flow. I would protect my business and I would think other will too.

    • Well if that ain’t the perfect excuse to get rid of our firearms…. Obviously we don’t need them .Gov provides all lol. And if your community is victimized continuously because you lack tie numbers to counter the rest of the populations vote? If you watch the legal system favor it’s own over you and yours consistently? If you are fined into oblivion to support the ill conceived fundraising schemes of your betters? If your community has been systematically disarmed for decades to place you in a weak position? Oh what am I saying! Such nonsense never happens!

      • You do realize that the majority of St. Louis County voted to NOT pass MO SB656 or the changes to Amendment 5… and the rest of the state canceled out that vote…

        In other words, the St. Louis country VOTED to “disarm” themselves and the rest of the populous’ votes caused them to KEEP their rights. St Louis County residents aren’t being “systematically disarmed” by the rest of the populous, they are the ones ASKING to be disarmed.

  32. As a resident of the St. Louis area, and someone who drives past East St. Louis and Furgeson twice every day on his way to work and way home, and who has had plenty of encounters with the St. Louis area police, I can agree that police brutality in St. Louis is completely out of control. But so are the actions of many of the “poor” who live in East St. Louis and north county (Ferguson is in north STL county for those that don’t know).

    I’ve had police exit their vehicles, guns-drawn, because me and some friends were parked on the side of the road outside our cars talking in known-to-them street racing area. We were trying to figure out where the restaurant we were going to was downtown.

    I’ve also witnessed “thugs” flash guns at a pedestrians in a car because they walked in the middle of the road and someone honked at them.

    Do I think officer Wilson was wrong to shoot Mike brown based on the facts? No. Do I think he was probably a complete ass harassing the guys walking in a neighborhood street based on my experience with the STL are PD? Yeah. Justified shooting, yes. But I think it could have been avoided if the area police didn’t approach everyone with a attitude and go looking for confrontation. Either way, it’s not getting better around here, and both sides are to blame. The police need to be more professional and stop escalating situations. And the low-income families need to stop blaming “the white man” and police for all their problems.

  33. Rioting won’t help. Rioting justifies the use of government force, and if government force is not utilized then private force will be to protect lives and livelihoods. I’m not sure that the cops going home and letting homeowners and business owners do for themselves with shotguns and ARs against crowds of rioters is exactly an upgrade. That’s not the recipe for revolution, that’s the recipe for civil war.

    Yes, the police state needs to be curtailed. Drastically. Along with the size of the government. That is not accomplished by looting, riot, rape and murder. At that point your Average Person is saying “Somebody has to do something!” and that’s when the state steps in and says “Pardon me ma’am. I happen to have this MRAP, do you mind if me and the fellas go down the street and disperse those bad guys?” Average Person agrees quickly, and the idea that The State exists to control (the bad) behavior (of others) gets a little firmer in Average Person’s mind. That The State gets to determine what (the bad) is and who comprises (of others) is not discussed, it is simply assumed. We have had years of The State doing this, there is no justification to support or welcome events that continue it.

    I sincerely hope that the non-Jon-Gruber party in the next Presidential election will choose a candidate who makes a vocal and heartfelt commitment to dismantling the malignant edifice of state that seems to have reached its zenith in the last couple of years. How refreshing it would be to see a President tell the American people that they can make their own decisions, backed by a Congress that spent an entire session doing nothing but undoing unintended consequences of prior poor policy decisions.

    Meanwhile, situations like the upcoming Ferguson riots are why crates of 7N6 were invented.

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