Confirming almost all expectations, a St. Louis County grand jury has “no true billed” Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson in the August shooting death of Michael Brown. While everyone from Brown’s parents to President Obama has dutifully appealed for calm, the governor, taking no chances, has declared a state of emergency and called up the Guard. St. Louis City, County and local police are tooled up to deal with the inevitable pre-planned shows of rage. The race hustling and organized grievance industries have positioned personnel and provisions, planning demonstrations no matter the grand jury’s decision. Everyone from the KKK to Al Sharpton and his National Action Network will be using the days ahead to further their respective agendas. In short, what could possibly go wrong? As always, watch this space.
Why are all the cars parked on my street on fire?
GM had an ignition recall a few months back, other than that, IDK
Everybody been hoping the rioters would be discouraged by the cold weather. I guess the rioters found a way around that.
Ban jackets, scarves, and hats?
Water cannons and tear gas. Put snipers on the roof. Punish with impunity
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igQDvYOt_iA&w=560&h=315%5D
Michael Brown and all the dickheads protesting his death should watch this 1000 times
Nah, obeying the law is too radical.
Yeah. Pretty much.
http://youtu.be/lbOtyWTRZ_g
What kind of country do we live in that a black man can’t walk down the middle of the street after robbing a store without getting hassled by the cops? And he can’t even assault a cop without worrying about being shot!
(/sarc)
This is exactly what the protestors want, and believe they’re entitled to. Especially since despite all the evidence that you committed the crimes, ‘he was a good boy’…
/no sarc whatsoever
Michael Brown can’t watch anything.
Objects are starting to be thrown at the police officers. What will be next for the upset citizens?
That’s a passively constructed sentence. Also, I think they agreed ahead of time that they protesters are to be allowed to throw stuff at the cops, and the cops aren’t allowed to wear helmets either. They can’t even flinch.
Thank you sir, may I have another?!
“Community leaders argued that the activists never get to win one, and that being allowed to taste victory could raise their self-esteem, possibly breaking the cycle of self destructive behavior.”
Doors locked, guns locked (and loaded). Hopefully it’ll be just as anti climactic as with Treyvon Martin, but better safe then sorry.
Stay safe out there!
Local NPR affiliate broke off from the press conference as the DA began explaining exactly what went down…you would think they would find that more interesting than their station identification…you know, being journalists.
Did you listen to the entire explanation? Good for you. Most people tuned out the DA after the verdict was announced. The problem was that by the time the verdict was announced,. no one really was interested in explanations. The verdict was decided this afternoon, but the DA wanted to wait until 9:00 Eastern to announce it. Then he was at least 10 minutes late. Then he droned on for another 10 minutes before getting to the verdict. After that, it didn’t matter. All of the tv stations were showing split screens of the protesters along with the DA.
The problem was that most people had already made up their minds and the verdict was merely the signal to start to protest. Whether the people would cheer or jeer, they were there for the duration. Plus, I think very few people actually thought that they would throw the book at the cop. I told my wife that worst case would be a minor indictment. No way Wilson was going down for murder one or murder two.
Was Ferguson yet another example of police run wild? Quite possibly. Was it another example of of a community failing to understand that when 70% of your citizenry is black but less than 2% of the cops are, there are going to be enforcement issues? Hell yes. Unfortunately, Brown was not the poster child of an innocent man gunned down by racist cops. By many accounts, he appeared to be a punk. Did he deserve to die for being a punk? No. Absolutely not. But, in a case where you put a punk against a cop, the benefit of the doubt is going to come heavily down on the cop.
What our society needs to find is an example of a truly innocent or generally good person (black, white, brown, whatever) being victimized by overzealous police. That will then be the poster child for police excess and something we can all rally around.
Disgustingly enough, they actually broke away to re-read the headline and identify (over the inaudible drones of the DA laying out the exact sequence of events as judged by the Grand Jury…), then proceeded to kill the feed entirely for interviews with random…”heads” –about the Holder-led Civil Rights inquisition being waged over there. So it seems like, if there’s no looting to report on, the press will go all ‘sour grapes’ and act like they weren’t interested in this verdict, and instead focus on the trumped up Civil Rights charges (even if there are legit problems, the investigation is undeniably politically motivated and likely fiendishly biased at this point, probably to the point of undermining what actual abuses could be punished/corrected)
I wonder if there’s a stepping stone test with pictures of Brown and Wilson involved?
Yes we should definitely try and find a better role model before we burn down buildings and loot stores. You know, for great justice.
Or maybe the problem might not be with ‘enforcement.’ Maybe the problem might lie in a culture that thinks the appropriate response to a perceived wrong is to burn down the pizza place and loot the Walgreens. Maybe that same culture that preaches “snitches get stitches” is why there aren’t as many black cops there. I can see the recruitment drives now: “Be a cop in Ferguson, so the people you join to protect can throw bottles at you and put out a bounty on your family!”
Perhaps if the community wondered why a young man thought it was a good idea to rob a store and then assault a cop instead of immediately assuming the officer executed him they’d be able to figure out how to stop the cycle of violence. But instead when that information came out they blamed everyone for releasing it. Because the truth is only good if it agrees with your victim narrative. Maybe the problem isn’t just the system, but that they don’t want to follow the rules of society (like not stealing the people’s crap) and think they are justified in doing whatever they want because racism. Just a rant because I’m tired of the double-standard.
Get your holiday looting done early!
Black Friday came early
“What could go wrong?”
Depends on your agenda. If you want everybody to make it home safely, then pretty much everything is going wrong. If you want to fan the flames of racial hatred, then everything is going right. Isn’t that right, reverend Sharpton, reverend Jackson, and President Obama?
P.S. Expect an Executive Order.
Does anyone want to place bets on whether there are more injuries tonight or on Friday morning?
Im thinking more injuries on Friday morning.
I already laid out 500 rounds of .22 LR that there’d be no fatalities in the first 24 hours. Last check no one accepted the bet.
I might accept even though Im not normally a betting man, if I actually had more than 500 rnds total of .22lr. Its like betting with gold sir, I just cant do it. 9mm target ammo and were on 🙂
I just said .22 LR to show I’m serious.
Unfortunately, CBS news reports that there has been at least one death:
“KTVI-TV reports that the man, in his 20s, was shot to death and set on fire. KMOX has sent a reporter to the scene.”
This was “near Canfield Green Apartments in Ferguson”, according to the report.
I like the Prosecutor. He has done a great job explaning things and is very down-to-earth.
He has the reputation locally for being a straight shooter. So to speak. He’s a no nonsense guy who, until now, has been largely uncontroversial.
Black folk been voting democrat for ever. Reap what you sow. Time to embrace what is RIGHT!!
There are some contentions that the DA has close ties to the cops (not really a surprise – he is the DA after all) but the feeling in some quarters was that this DA was more pro-police than normal. I don’t know if its true or not, but that is a strongly held belief in some quarters. Some have suggested that an independent prosecutor should have run the case.
That said, his decision to present the Grand Jury with all of the evidence was a good one. No one can really fault his procedure. By all appearances, he seemed to have done the best job he could have under the circumstances. I’m sure that he would have been much happier had this happened someplace else.
As if it’ll help him.
He knew there wasn’t probable cause. He empaneled a grand jury anyway because he knew there would be an outcry if he refused to charge, and wanted some cover. It won’t matter. These protesters don’t want justice in this case- like the OJ trial they want to make up for perceived wrongs using the legal system to stick it to the man. Tribalism at its finest. I feel sorry for the residents who just want to live their lives in the area.
About time…..and it is a shame that this officers career is ruined…..now the Dept of Justice should pack up their ass and skip the $#@# along.
Jesus Christ! Some of those goons questioning the prosecutor should be horse whipped!
How the hell do such biased morons get press credentials? What happened to the press being an impartial observer? They’re trying to insight a riot in the court room!
You are absolutely correct, the press were a bunch of amatueristic morons. I’d love to know what the requirements are to get a press pass for that announcement. I suspect it involved guessing how many jelly beans are in a mason jar.
And there were only three beans in the jar.
Absolutely agree. Many of the members of the press want riots. It makes good TV and lets them stand in front of burning objects and wax philosophical about all the things the police did wrong. Media always has an agenda. The era of impartially reporting the news is long gone.
When exactly was that era?
Albuquerque was listed as one of the protest cities; But it is pretty cold out here, we will see. I always carry a Kimber 1911 converted to a Rowland .460. with two ten round mags, All the goodness of an equivalent .44 magnum pistol with a total of twenty nine rounds of one shot stopedness.
If I go out, I’ll also bring my Mossberg 930 semi-auto and my Glock 30 with extra 13 round mags in my truck, just in case.
I’ll keep y’all updated on our situation out here.
Its already starting in Ferguson…
Wonder how widespread its actually going to be. I guess Oakland is prepping to be a hotspot also
In Detroit. Waiting for riots here. Locked and loaded with my Glock and spare mags.
Stay safe. One of these holidays ill be at home when your in the D.
I watched the entire presentation and I give the prosecutor high marks for thoroughly explaining the events of that tragic day and the process since that time.
10:06 EST. Reports of shots fired and smell of mary jane in the air. Get your vests and gas masks on.
“Loud pops,” people running for their lives, broken windows. Already. If you bet money on this, congratulations (and shame on you)
This is the expected outcome but for a while this evening I thought they might indict for political reasons.
That’s not how justice works.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Florida_v._George_Zimmerman
1 Ferguson police car already destroyed and abandoned.
Its going to be a rough night
OK, here’s my perspective, and I’ve been very quiet on this issue on TTAG since it happened back in August.
I don’t like cops. I’ve got issues with how police operate, how they have killed innocent people on bogus warrants on no-knock raids, etc. I’ve got serious issues with how many urban police chiefs have a gun control agenda against law abiding citizens. I’ve got bona fide cred on TTAG that I’m not a holster sniffer. Asset forfeiture by cops is simple theft by administrative fiat, IMO.
In this case, I have to make an observation on how I like to interact with cops. First, I don’t take stuff that isn’t mine or for which I haven’t paid. Right there, I’ve reduced the chance that I’m going to have a “meaningful dialog” with a cop at his discretion.
Should I come into contact with a cop, I’ve made it my policy to not hit cops in the face, on an assumption that after I start punching a cop in the face, things are going to progress rapidly in a direction not in my favor.
This policy has worked for me to avoid being shot over the last several decades.
I like holster sniffer, I might use that now and then. I usually use the term blue noser.
I won a $20 bet on whether there would be an indictment. I am gonna make the loser light my cigar w the $$
I’m very pro-black, suspicious of cops, and can’t find anything to criticize in the GJ’s decision.
But POTUS disagrees.
POTUS is a jackwagon.
Yes. Yes he is.
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”
Stay safe.
I noticed that Pittsburgh had listings for proposed riots on the list from a few days ago. I hope that they all remember that there is no school next Monday for the first day of hunting season. Our rifles are already sighted in!
Brown lawyer simply inciting more hate. What happened to his clients wishes?
I am watching Foxnews. Ummm….protesters beware.
Lowlifes gotta be lowlifes. The cops are remarkably restrained. All this s##t for a low level thug.Be careful out there folks.
I watched Douglas McCullough’s entire presentation and Obama’s follow-up “Comments”. I thought McCullough did a very good job of explaining the process that led the Grand Jury to the No True Bill of Indictment against Darren Wilson. McCullough also did a good job of fielding the questions from the Press people present, some of which were inane. Obama’s comments were not IMO as well taken, as it seemed to me that he should have been more forceful in telling people to accept the Grand Jury’s decision and emphasizing that the Justice System had worked as it should. Appeared to me Obama was trying to “please all the People”, which we know from Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote you cannot do.
The demonstrations in Ferguson, MO and several other Major U.S. Cities are now exploding into violence and destruction, with gunshots reported, rocks, bottles and fake blood being thrown, fires set and businesses looted, while the Brown Family wails that the “killer” of their child “will not face the consequences”. This is an outbreak of insanity over the justified killing of a teenaged criminal who assaulted a Police Officer. I see this as a tragedy for Michael Brown and Darren Wilson, their Families and the People of Ferguson, MO (as well as those across the Nation now dragged into this conflagration).
But more than that, this is a tragedy for the Nation as it becomes clear that People in this Country now think they can “decide” what the “Truth” is and act upon that decision despite what hard evidence and eye-witness testimony proves to be the Truth. Is this the real legacy of Barak Obama’s lawless, lying Presidency? Are people following the example he and his anti-America, agenda-driven, prevaricating sycophants have set, and now adopting this behavior as “normal” and “acceptable”? Has Progressive Liberalism so eroded the moral compass of America that Mob Rule is now our future? At this moment the answer to all these questions seems to be, “Yes!”
Abraham Lincoln once gave a speech in which he suggested that if the American Constitutional Republic is ever to fall it will be from within and by our own doing. Tonight it seems Lincoln’s words are prophetic.
See: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/lyceum.htm for the text of Lincoln’s Lyceum Speech.
We have to find Leaders that understand and value the unique and peculiar mix of races, ethnicites, national origins, Religious beliefs and other factors that comprise the American People. They must have the vision and creativity to fashion the solutions required to mend and strengthen all this diversity into a universal National identity for every American that supercedes, while respecting, all the contributing factors. I think it can be done, but the current POTUS and his minions are certainly the antithesis of such Leadership.
From seeing a couple of pictures I really can’t comprehend how the cops can be so terribly under-equipped. It seems that most have only a helmet and a plastic shield. That is set for disaster. How is it possible that the cops all around US are getting MRAPs from warzones but don’t get proper crowd control gear? Here in the Czech Republic you can beat riot cop with a baseball bat and it will hardly scratch the gear. In Fergusson it seems that all the cops can do (apart from actively engaging attacker) is trying to put the head with helmet in way of whatever is coming at him, and hoping it won’t hit any other body part. I feel really sorry for those cops on the front line.
At least one article said the the Ferguson cops didn’t even all have helmets when this started; it’s not the best-supplied police force in the country (all the military gear people saw in the first weeks were from outside Ferguson).
The protesters sent in a list of demands, including that the cops not even have helmets, which I’m glad was ignored, but many of their requests were agreed to. The cops on the front lines have been handicapped by the politicians.
Just another incident showing that Public Officials do not keep their oaths of office.
How may accused get to testify in front of a Grand Jury? NONE!
We live in a Nation where oaths of office mean nothing. Point and fact; In the Ferguson shooting of Brown, the equal protection clause of the Constitution was completely ignored.
We do not live in a free Nation. We are an oppressed people living under Tyranny. One set of rules for those in or working for the Dynasty, and a completely other set for the ordinary citizens.
I for one have seen this all too much and am completely fed up.