Ferguson, Missouri

OG_slinger wrote:

And that there are terribly severe penalties for police when their cameras mysterious malfunction or somehow get covered up.

I'd go so far as to say that missing video evidence would invalidate the officer's testimony.

I found this DailyKos piece interesting in light of discussions of voter registration.

As much flack as AlSharpton gets, things do seem to calm a bit when he's around tense situations. When is he going to Ferguson?

MaxShrek wrote:

As much flack as AlSharpton gets, things do seem to calm a bit when he's around tense situations. When is he going to Ferguson?

Hasn't he been there for a week?

DSGamer wrote:
MaxShrek wrote:

As much flack as AlSharpton gets, things do seem to calm a bit when he's around tense situations. When is he going to Ferguson?

Hasn't he been there for a week?

I'm sensing sarcasm from the Shrek.

garion333 wrote:
DSGamer wrote:
MaxShrek wrote:

As much flack as AlSharpton gets, things do seem to calm a bit when he's around tense situations. When is he going to Ferguson?

Hasn't he been there for a week?

I'm sensing sarcasm from the Shrek.

Oh. Well done, then.

Jayhawker wrote:

Taking pot shots at black activists is good sport, but it doesn't really help.

That's what I told the police, but did they listen?

I think DSGamer was being sarcastic.

And I'm done putting words in other people's mouths.

000___000[/url]]george zimmerman wanted to be a real cop, but it turns out the real cops just want to be george zimmerman.

I joke only because the alternative for me at this point is to weep.

Hey man, has anyone noticed that Fire Fighters are always around burning buildings? What a bunch of assholes.

Yonder wrote:

Hey man, has anyone noticed that Fire Fighters are always around burning buildings? What a bunch of assholes.

It's not their fault, they accidentally brought back an evil fire from the core of the sun.

Jayhawker wrote:

Not really. He's been a welcome voice of reason in town. I don't think there is a good reason to shark at him over at this.

Taking pot shots at black activists is good sport, but it doesn't really help.

Sorry, I did think it was funny, but I'm doing gallows humor big time right now. That was a crappy thing to joke about. I *do* know deep down that he's definitely working behind the scenes. The lack of grabbing the camera tells me this is probably true.

I shouldn't laugh at that, though.

Hypatian wrote:

The police appear to have used a cell jammer at least for a couple of minutes while pushing the crowd back for some reason. Argus went offline and moved back to Target, then got signal back. VICE came back after not too long, but their signal seemed a bit degraded when they did.

I hate that these are remotely legal.

I have always really liked Al Sharpton. A divisive figure to be sure, but I consider him a voice for progress.

Not really. He's been a welcome voice of reason in town. I don't think there is a good reason to snark at him over at this.

Taking pot shots at black activists is good sport, but it doesn't really help.

SallyNasty wrote:

I have always really liked Al Sharpton. A divisive figure to be sure, but I consider him a voice for progress.

Most voices of progress are divisive, IMO.

Police now raiding St. Mark's church in Ferguson, looting milk and mylanta supplies that were used for relief of tear gassing.

Tanglebones wrote:

Police now raiding St. Mark's church in Ferguson, recovering police resistance supplies and other weapons.

Fixed that for you (and half of my social media world).

Last night, a group of friends and I watched this. It's about how bullhorn guy makes Christians look bad. Jesse Jackson might have had a different message from the typical bullhorn guy, but what he did with it is just as damaging.

Maybe it's just time for the Reapers to come back and reboot our civilization.

WipEout wrote:

Have movies lied to me my whole life?

No, but the police probably have.

Tanglebones wrote:

Police now raiding St. Mark's church in Ferguson, looting milk and mylanta supplies that were used for relief of tear gassing.

It was formerly St. Sebastian's (sorry for the confusion, getting my info from Twitter), and apparently PD were responding to reports that people were sleeping there. Which I find odd-- churches aren't allowed to provide shelter & a place to rest for people? Have movies lied to me my whole life?

Though people there are adamant that their supplies were raided.

ETA: Police did raid, reports say they didn't take anything, though. I trust this woman, she's been a major leader/organizer for the protests/movement from the start.

SixteenBlue wrote:
WipEout wrote:

Have movies lied to me my whole life?

No, but the police probably have.

To be fair, I don't think that the US legal code has anything about taking Sanctuary within a church a la The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Depending on the church they may not be zoned for residential use (probably likely if it's not a combination Church/dormitory/school) which may be the legal justification you could use to break in and clear it out. You know, if you were a huge asshole.

(Which isn't to say I think that Churches should get a free pass to offer room and board without being zoned for Residential use, but this is obviously a short term situation.)

Yonder wrote:

Depending on the church they may not be zoned for residential use (probably likely if it's not a combination Church/dormitory/school) which may be the legal justification you could use to break in and clear it out. You know, if you were a huge asshole.

Funny you should say that...

SallyNasty wrote:

I have always really liked Al Sharpton. A divisive figure to be sure, but I consider him a voice for progress.

Same here. White folks love to hang their hat on the Tawana Brawley case and turn a blind eye to the national attention he has brought on some very controversial cases which otherwise would have gone ignored, most recently of which was Trayvon Martin.

The bottom line is, if white folks were speaking out about injustices against black folks, there would be no need for Al Sharpton. Want him to go away? Step up and speak out for injustices perpetrated against your fellow Americans, especially if their skin is much darker than yours.

I spoke with a friend who lives in St. Louis, about 20 minutes from Ferguson, and she said the mood in the area is very hostile and has fostered an environment for racism to come exploding to the surface. She said St. Louis was already a very segregated city and Ferguson has magnified everything.

FSeven wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

I have always really liked Al Sharpton. A divisive figure to be sure, but I consider him a voice for progress.

Same here. White folks love to hang their hat on the Tawana Brawley case and turn a blind eye to the national attention he has brought on some very controversial cases which otherwise would have gone ignored, most recently of which was Trayvon Martin.

The bottom line is, if white folks were speaking out about injustices against black folks, there would be no need for Al Sharpton. Want him to go away? Step up and speak out for injustices perpetrated against your fellow Americans, especially if their skin is much darker than yours.

I spoke with a friend who lives in St. Louis, about 20 minutes from Ferguson, and she said the mood in the area is very hostile and has fostered an environment for racism to come exploding to the surface. She said St. Louis was already a very segregated city and Ferguson has magnified everything.

This is crazy true. It has made a lot of conversations with people really uncomfortable, because no one knows where people really stand all of the time, but this has created a line in the sand for many folks. The racism that has bubbled up in couched in support for the police. It the city, there are a lot more progressive whites, so it becomes a land mine scenario, where you suddenly hear a lot of really ugly stuff from people you would not have expected it from.

When i started working for a Walgreens in Fenton, which is pretty far south and west in St. Louis County, I was shocked by just how common it was for employees to drop the N-word. There are so few blacks, that the racism is much more open. I became the guy at work that no one could use the word around, as though just not using the word made them any better. I had one 17-year-old girl explain to me that they were not talking about the blacks out here, just the ones in the city. I asked her, "You mean the ones my daughter goes to school with?"

It's sad, and it is why I knew the moment I read the story about Michael Brown that it was all going too play out like this. It wasn't that the was shot, because that happens. It was the total lack of information that was being released that made it clear that the police on the scene at least suspected this was unjustified, and they began to close ranks.

If anyone is curious, KMOX, which is a great news radio station, broadcast online. Listen from 8am to 11am, and the hosts take calls They are not getting calls from extremists, because it's not that kind of radio. What you here is a string of calls with people so comfortable in their racism that they have forgotten how too hide it. It's mesmerizing. And it's the best example of the quote A.A. George used in his piece about racism and gaming in relation to Gencon.

“The problem is that white people see racism as conscious hate, when racism is bigger than that...

Racism is an insidious cultural disease. It is so insidious that it doesn’t care if you are a white person who likes black people; it’s still going to find a way to infect how you deal with people who don’t look like you. Yes, racism looks like hate, but hate is just one manifestation. Privilege is another. Access is another. Ignorance is another. Apathy is another. And so on.”

–Scott Woods, author and poet.

It's why Matt Wills would find it disgusting that people would use this event to rally people to register to vote, as though finding a more peaceful means to solve problems is a bad thing.

If I had artistic ability I'd make a political cartoon.

A handful of white people: "We have three controls, in this order: Ballot Box, Jury Box, and Ammo Box."
Black man: "What about me?"
White people "Get in the box!" (Pointing off panel).
Last panel is the black man in solitary confinement.

If you wanted even more punch the last panel could be a casket.

A glimmer of hope?

Police officer suspended for pointing rifle at protesters, threatening them

A video documenting the encounter (warning: graphic language) that made the rounds Wednesday showed the officer — who was pointing his rifle in the direction of the camera — telling protesters, “I will [expletive] kill you.” When asked for his name, the officer responded with, “Go [expletive] yourself.”

This guy did this to so many people he got his own hashtag: #OfficerGof*ckYourself

Do you actually have to shoot one to get fired?