Cop Shooting in Ferguson Could be a Signal of Renewed Unrest

Memorial to Michael Brown Torched by Vandals

Things may be ready to heat up again in Ferguson, Missouri after a police officer was shot and wounded on Saturday night.  While the tensions have substantially died down after the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in August led to mass protests and the dispatching of militarized police to put down the unrest they have been percolating beneath the surface. Earlier this week a memorial to 18 year old Michael Brown was burned down leading to renewed protests. This is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode and the shooting could be the match that ignites the bonfire if the response is overly aggressive.

According to the Associated Press in a story entitled "Police: Ferguson Officer Shot; 2 Suspects Wanted":

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) -- A search for two suspects in a St. Louis suburb that's undergone racial unrest continued Sunday after a Ferguson police officer was shot in the arm following an encounter with two men at a community center who ran from him and then opened fire during a foot chase, authorities said.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said at a media briefing early Sunday that the officer approached the men around 9:10 p.m. Saturday because the community center was closed. As the officer approached, the men ran away. When the officer gave chase, "one of the men turned and shot," Belmar said.

The officer was shot in the arm and is expected to survive, he said. Belmar did not identify the officer or give further details about his condition. He said the officer returned fire but said police have "no indication" that either suspect was shot.

A search was underway for the suspects early Sunday in Ferguson, where some community members remain uneasy in the wake of the August shooting death of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white police officer.

Belmar said he did not think the officer's shooting was related to two separate protests about Michael Brown's shooting that were going on Saturday night around the same time.

Around midnight at the police station, approximately two dozen officers stood near a group of about 100 protesters who mingled on a street corner, occasionally shouting, "No justice; no peace."

Nearby, part of a road was closed in town as police conducted a search for the suspects. Numerous law enforcement agencies were responding, and police helicopters were canvassing the area.

The officer's shooting comes after Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson issued a videotaped apology to Brown's family earlier in the week and attempted to march with protesters, an effort that led to a clash with activists and several arrests on Thursday.

Things are rapidly falling apart in the United States these days. The president is a fool, the outgoing Attorney General is a stone cold fascist, the entire system has been hijacked by scumbags and is rotten to the core with corruption. We are entering yet another endless war in the Middle East and the economy is a house of cards that could collapse at any given moment.  The spirit of fear and loathing rage through the land in a manner unseen since the 1960's and early 1970's and on Friday we had America's first workplace beheading.

It conjures up that famous old Chinese curse: may you live in interesting times.

Surveillance Video Threatens National Debate Over Police Militarization

The surveillance video that was released on Friday by police in Ferguson, Missouri nicely serves to change the subject from the threat of the militarized police into yet another racially charged issue. The video does appear to show the teenager Michael Brown, who was gunned down by a local police officer in the process of committing what may be a crime. However, the series of events leading up to the shooting of Brown and the overwhelming response by fully weaponized police shock troops to the protests (and rioting) are two separate issues and should remain as such.

What is shown on the video, taken in a convenience store flies in the face of the narrative that Brown was a gentle giant instead of an intimidating, brown-skinned version of the incredible Hulk. The Ferguson police also can't get their stories straight about whether or not Brown was being stopped as a suspect in the stealing cigars from the convenience store.  Brown certainly was not an innocent, more likely was a bit of a gangsta and there will inevitably be more reports verifying his true nature. As for the video release, quite frankly the timing of it stinks of a deliberate distraction. There is after all a lot of money to be made in arming the police with battlefield style equipment and nobody with a vested interest wants to risk the killing of the goose that laid the golden egg.

Just when politicians and critics were beginning to acknowledge the danger of the heavily militarized police forces by publishing columns as Senator Rand Paul did in Time and calling for legislation the video was launched into the media spin cycle. After a day of relative calm when the armored St. Louis County goons were replaced by Missouri Highway Patrol, unrest again broke out in Ferguson last night in a reaction to the video release.

According to a story in The Guardian entitled "Ferguson police clash with Michael Brown protesters again overnight":

Police in riot gear clashed overnight with small groups of protesters in Ferguson, Missouri amid signs of renewed tensions over the shooting of an unarmed teenager by a local patrol officer.

 The flareups, breaking a period of relative calm, came after police released surveillance footage that implicated Michael Brown, 18, in the theft of a packet of cigars from a convenience store a few minutes before he was shot. Brown's family condemned the revelation as a "character assassination" designed to smear the teenager and divert attention from the actions of police.

One of the flashpoints in the early hours of Saturday came at the store where the robbery was alleged to have taken place. Police fired a teargas canister at a crowd of around 200 people who had gathered there. Some protesters threw bottles at officers in riot gear and shouted "hands up, don't shoot", the chant that has come to characterise the protests. According to some accounts, Brown had his hands up when he was shot.

A small crowd later looted the convenience store. A meat market was also looted and other businesses had windows smashed. Police did not intervene.

Ironically the store that was looted is the same one that the surveillance video allegedly came from. My personal opinion is that there is never an excuse for looting and those who engage in it are the worst type of criminals and parasites. They should be shot on sight - by the owners of the property exercising their Second Amendment rights.

The fact is that the truth about Brown and the officer who killed him should be kept entirely separate from the response of the militarized police in the aftermath. Authorities and the courts will appropriately deal with sorting it out over time as an investigation is conducted. Still, no matter what Brown did which -  appears to be shoplifting - or as it is now being called by some in the media "strong-armed robbery" it does not merit an extrajudicial execution by police.

The cop, if he believed that he was being threatened by Brown then all that he had to do was to call for backup and once more units arrived an arrest could have been made. Tasers could have been used to subdue Brown being that he was not armed and his fat ass could have been thrown into a jail cell. It's really that simple. The race-baiting should be left to the racists on right-wing radio and FOX News as well as professional charlatans like the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Both of whom have made a very nice career of descending like buzzards wherever they can find a fresh carcass to feast upon and to sow the seeds of racial discontent wherever they land. The only winners in a system where race is only used to divide and conquer are those who are a part of an entrenched and corrupt establishment.

The primary and most dangerous threat to the future of freedom in America are the militarized police forces and the mass surveillance apparatus that serves as the central nervous system of the police state. Let us not waste the opportunity to fight back now that there is real pressure being exerted on the war zone style response of heavily armed Kevlar coated police goons in Ferguson.

It is very important to keep our eye on the ball and to keep these two issues separate as the greatest benefit will be to those who profit from the continued militarization of the police.

Let the courts handle the criminals - whether they be uniformed ones or not.

Unrest Returns to Ferguson After Smear Campaign Launched

Friday's release of video footage alleging that Mike Brown, the young man executed by Ferguson, Missouri cops was fleeing a robbery stinks to high heaven. The first question should be why did the police wait for five days before accusing Brown of something called a "strong-arm robbery" - which sounds like shoplifting run through one of Frank Luntz's focus groups. It is an obvious attempt to denigrate his character or to otherwise "niggerize" him so as to make the cop who murdered him into a victim. We saw a similar tactic used on Trayvon Martin after he was gunned down by the loose cannon, self-anointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman in the Florida shooting. Zimmerman predictably got off after the scary black criminal bogeyman stigma was pinned to the dead teenager Martin who wasn't alive to give his side of the story.

Very timely in that right when there is a national uproar over the ongoing militarizing of the police that such a surveillance video would just happen to fortuitously pop up to diffuse the outrage, smack down politicians who are speaking out and reincarnate the bread and butter race-baiting strategy of Richard M. Nixon himself. Senator Paul, who drew accolades for his Time column "We Must Demilitarize the Police" will now be relentlessly targeted by the neo-confederate racist scum of the GOP party base until he walks back his statement about Mike Brown from  the piece:

Given these developments, it is almost impossible for many Americans not to feel like their government is targeting them. Given the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, it is impossible for African-Americans not to feel like their government is particularly targeting them.
 This is part of the anguish we are seeing in the tragic events outside of St. Louis, Missouri. It is what the citizens of Ferguson feel when there is an unfortunate and heartbreaking shooting like the incident with Michael Brown.
 Anyone who thinks that race does not still, even if inadvertently, skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention. Our prisons are full of black and brown men and women who are serving inappropriately long and harsh sentences for non-violent mistakes in their youth.

The video release and subsequent conflicting statements from the local cops in Ferguson only served to reignite the situation a day after the paramilitary goons were called off in favor of the Missouri Highway Patrol in managing the protests. People should be pissed, this is total bullshit and is such a ham-handed attempt to suppress any attempts to reign in the lucrative miltarization of the police that it is a testament to the thorough systemic corruption of the state-corporate media in bothering to air it at all. The argument now being that as long as it is a young black man or teen suspected of wrongdoing (in America every young black man is a potential target) then it is acceptable to make an extrajudicial murder by the cops a justifiable punishment  for shoplifting. 

The calm was shattered in the aftermath of the video release and conflicting statements, as per a story from The Guardian entitled "Ferguson police clash with Michael Brown protesters againovernight":

Police in riot gear clashed overnight with small groups of protesters in Ferguson, Missouri amid signs of renewed tensions over the shooting of an unarmed teenager by a local patrol officer.
 The flareups, breaking a period of relative calm, came after police released surveillance footage that implicated Michael Brown, 18, in the theft of a packet of cigars from a convenience store a few minutes before he was shot. Brown's family condemned the revelation as a "character assassination" designed to smear the teenager and divert attention from the actions of police.
 One of the flashpoints in the early hours of Saturday came at the store where the robbery was alleged to have taken place. Police fired a teargas canister at a crowd of around 200 people who had gathered there. Some protesters threw bottles at officers in riot gear and shouted "hands up, don't shoot", the chant that has come to characterise the protests. According to some accounts, Brown had his hands up when he was shot.
 A small crowd later looted the convenience store. A meat market was also looted and other businesses had windows smashed. Police did not intervene.

Not that it is ever acceptable to engage in looting - I generally adhere to the concept that looters should be shot - it was ironic that the convenience store from which the surveillance footage was allegedly taken from was one of the targets. Again, I just keep coming back to the question of why did it take five days for the police to release the video, the name of the shooter and their cover story?

Generally when something bears the scent of horseshit that it is generally exactly that. 

Police Escalate in Ferguson: Begin Arresting Reporters

Welcome to Obamastan. The aggressive actions of militarized police shock troops  in Ferguson, Missouri are entering the fourth day of operations and things are escalating. In addition to flooding the area with armed to the teeth, jacked up state police goons with their armored vehicles and automatic rifles news reporters are now being harassed and arrested. What is this, a banana republic? Obama's war on journalism long ago passed the level of former White House paranoid Richard M. Nixon and now with dear leader having set such a fine example the police are taking the war on the press to the streets. The arrests came as the police fired wooden and rubber bullets and unleashed tear gas, a chemical weapon on protesters.

According to a Guardian story  entitled "Ferguson police fire teargas and rubber bullets at Michael Brown protesters":

Heavily armed police in Missouri fired teargas and rubber bullets to force hundreds of protesters out of the centre of Ferguson on Wednesday, as the crackdown on demonstrations over the killing of an unarmed 18-year-old intensified on their fourth night.

Dozens of officers, some carrying assault rifles, advanced with a pair of armoured trucks on the young and predominantly African American crowd, after two glass bottles were thrown at their lines from a largely peaceful protest against the shooting of Michael Brown by a city policeman.

 Demonstrators, who for hours had sniper rifles trained on them while they protested with their hands up as an emblem of peaceful protest, complained that they were subjected to military-style tactics as they fled through gas-filled residential side-streets.

Police clearing the main drag of the St Louis suburb also arrested two reporters, including one from the Washington Post, one of America's most distinguished newspapers. Marty Baron, its editor, condemned the arrest as "an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news". A camera crew from al-Jazeera America said they were shot by rubber bullets.

Police in Ferguson have become increasingly hostile towards the press but the imagery and reports of the militarized crackdown continue to seep out, thanks largely due to the new era of cellphone cameras and social media. One of the reporters arrested was Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post who provides a first hand account of the incident:

An officer with a large weapon came up to me and said, “Stop recording.”

I said, “Officer, do I not have the right to record you?”

He backed off but told me to hurry up. So I gathered my notebook and pens with one hand while recording him with the other hand.

As I exited, I saw Ryan to my left, having a similar argument with two officers. I recorded him, too, and that angered the officer. As I made my way toward the door, the officers gave me conflicting information.

One instructed me to exit to my left. As I turned left, another officer emerged, blocking my path.

Go another way,” he said.

As I turned, my backpack, which was slung over one shoulder, began to slip. I said, “Officers, let me just gather my bag.” As I did, one of them said, “Okay, let’s take him.”

Multiple officers grabbed me. I tried to turn my back to them to assist them in arresting me. I dropped the things from my hands.

“My hands are behind my back,” I said. “I’m not resisting. I’m not resisting.” At which point one officer said: “You’re resisting. Stop resisting.”

That was when I was most afraid — more afraid than of the tear gas and rubber bullets.

 As they took me into custody, the officers slammed me into a soda machine, at one point setting off the Coke dispenser. They put plastic cuffs on me, then they led me out the door.

The reporter's full account is at the Washington Post website: "In Ferguson, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery gives account of his arrest".

The Obama years have made it pretty damned obvious that the Constitution no longer applies in America. Now we have heavily armed police thugs arresting reporters in a clear violation of the first amendment. It is just the latest skirmish in the war on the freedom of the press, an institution that is being rendered obsolete. Lowery's account states, he was not only arrested but also assaulted by the bullies in uniform. Washington Post editor Martin Baron called the arrests "an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news". Maybe this will finally provide the wake up call that is needed to generate public outrage before an "emergency" situation turns the entire country into a miltarized police zone.

Obama was sufficiently troubled over events in Ferguson to temporarily consult with his corrupt and vicious hatchet man Attorney General Eric Holder. But it will quickly be back to the links and schmoozing with the deep-pocketed Democratic party donors at Martha's Vineyard as soon as he covers his ass by pretending to actually care.

Militarized Police Turn Ferguson Missouri Into a War Zone

The militarized police have essentially declared the city of Ferguson, Missouri to be a war zone. Ferguson, which lies suburbs of St. Louis erupted into street protests after the police gunned down 18 year old Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. The militarized police in America have become increasingly violent in the post 9/11 era and Brown's shooting pushed many in Ferguson over the edge. The uprising unfortunately included the standard destruction as well as the idiotic and inevitable looting that criminal elements so often engage in during such outbursts of chaos. Those who dismiss this simply as black people behaving badly are missing the larger point. American police forces have been fully weaponized against those who they were once tasked with serving and protecting and many now view the public as enemies. Welcome to The Homeland.

The Ferguson riots began when citizens marched on police headquarters demanding charges against the cop who blew away the young Brown and things just spiraled out of control from there. As of Tuesday, the paramilitary shock troops were out in force, according to accounts journalists were banned and the FAA even went so far as to actually implement a no-fly zone over Ferguson. According to a tweet from journalist Radley Balko who now has a regular column in the Washington Post:

Summary of scary shit: Heavily militarized police presence in Ferguson. Protests banned. Journalists threatened. News helicopters barred. 

Balko is the author of the book "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces" and has been warning of the dangers of transforming domestic law enforcement into paramilitary shock troops. In his article "A Decade After 9/11, Police Departments are Increasingly Militarized” Balko wrote that:

The September 11 attacks provided a new and seemingly urgent justification for further militarization of America's police departments: the need to protect the country from terrorism.

Within months of the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, the Office of National Drug Control Policy began laying the groundwork with a series of ads (featured most prominently during the 2002 Super Bowl) tying recreational drug use to support for terrorism. Terrorism became the new reason to arm American cops as if they were soldiers, but drug offenders would still be their primary targets.

In 2004, for example, law enforcement officials in the New York counties of Oswego and Cayuga defended their new SWAT teams as a necessary precaution in a post–September 11 world. “We’re in a new era, a new time," here,” one sheriff told the Syracuse Post Standard. “The bad guys are a little different than they used to be, so we’re just trying to keep up with the needs for today and hope we never have to use it.” The same sheriff said later in the same article that he'd use his new SWAT team “for a lot of other purposes, too ... just a multitude of other things." In 2002, the seven police officers who serve the town of Jasper, Florida -- which had all of 2,000 people and hadn’t had a murder in more than a decade -- were each given a military-grade M-16 machine gun from the Pentagon transfer program, leading one Florida paper to run the headline, “Three Stoplights, Seven M-16s.”

The fact is that American law-enforcement has mutated into legions of paramilitary goons. They are supported by the feds who have been throwing money and surplus war zone equipment into cities and municipalities. There is also a growing  "us versus them" mentality instilled in many of the cops. The conditions are ripe now for the rolling out of domestic martial law in at least a limited capacity in the event of an always vaguely defined "emergency".  It could be an outbreak of the Ebola virus that our genius leadership allowed into the country, or there could be war with the nuclear power Russia, a collapse of the rigged financial markets or as strident fear-mongers like Senator Lindsey Graham are trumpeting: a domestic terrorist attack by jihadist group ISIS. The state is just itching for a fight and as we saw the week of the Boston Marathon bombing it doesn't take much to place a large portion of a huge American city under a de-facto state of martial law where armed, black clad forces can go door to door conducting warrantless searches and worse.

Were the possibly of bad public relations not so overwhelming, the government would have brutally put down the mini-rebellion that took place a couple of months ago in southern Nevada led by rancher Cliven Bundy. Bundy, who has become a sort of folk hero to some conservatives along with a horde of protesters gathered to challenge Leviathan over cattle grazing rights. It was tense but eventually the standoff ended with no violence despite having the potential to have become a slaughter. Had the media not drawn so much attention to the situation then Obama and his hatchet man at the Department of Justice Eric Holder would no doubt have had another Waco or Ruby Ridge on their hands which would not have looked good in an election year.

In breaking news The Guardian is now reporting that a second man has been shot by police in Ferguson. This has the potential to get even uglier now. The greatest peril is for some to look at the Ferguson, Missouri situation in racial terms. This not only overlooks the much larger problems but only serves to further condition American citizens to accept an ever more heavily armed and violent generation of police. This is not something that should be allowed to occur in a free country but in reality we surrendered our freedoms to fear after those towers fell nearly thirteen years ago. Now we are reaping the whirlwind.