Does “Burn This Shit Down” Qualify as Inciting a Riot?

Finally after months of waiting, shameless race-baiting and media exploitation the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown shooting case came down Monday night. Police officer Darren Wilson was not charged with any crime in the August killing of the “gentle giant” and anyone who thought that he would be based on the evidence is a damned fool.  This was a cut and dried case ever since that convenience store video of young Brown showing a hulking goon roughing up a clerk was released. It is in my personal opinion pretty certain that even if Brown wasn't taken out by Wilson that he was on a collision course with the law sooner rather than later.

Ferguson is complex and it all pretty much boils down to that we will never know exactly what happened during that fatal encounter back in August. As was previously seen with a pudgy, wanna be neighborhood Dirty Harry named George Zimmerman who gunned down a black kid armed with a bag of Skittles - dead men tell no tales. Officer Darren Wilson should have deescalated the situation but in the post 9/11 U$A the police have increasing impunity to shoot first and ask questions later. This is especially so if the target is a young black man. Wilson acted as judge, jury and executioner and as a result did his part to move along the transformation of cops into members of what can only be recognized as death squads. 

On the other hand, Brown was caught on camera in the act of committing a crime which makes him far from the perfect martyr for the cause. The real tragedy is that the race card was immediately played and only benefited a corrupt system and it's police state in that attention to the militarization of the cops was flushed down the memory hole. Many, especially those on the right fail to understand that while they see the Brown vs. Wilson incident as a small piece of the greater race war in their minds that the big red, white and blue jackboot could just as easily be kicking their heads in as well. 

The words had no sooner left the lips of St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch on Monday night than the mob violence commenced. This had been anticipated given the calling up of the National Guard by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon last week as well as additional civic precautions such as school closures. There is no excuse whatsoever for the actions of the troublemakers who took to the streets in Ferguson to destroy the property of others and they are nothing more than lawless hooligans of the worst type.

What has really not been reported is that Louis Head, the stepfather of the deceased Brown came out and actually called for a violent response in the aftermath of the announcement. This is just not something that is acceptable in a civilized country and borders on inciting a riot. As reported the Pierre Omidyar venture The Intercept, one of the few people who could have helped to contain the unrest only served to soak the streets with gasoline and throw down a match.

As reported by Juan Thompson of The Intercept in a piece entitled “BURN THIS SHIT DOWN”: MAYHEM AND PROTESTS ENGULF FERGUSON” that provided a narrative of last night’s events:

Standing outside the Ferguson Police Department headquarters, the mood of the crowd of a few thousand was initially jubilant and brimming with anticipation, but around 8 pm, when the announcement of the grand jury decision was made, all hell broke loose. Michael Brown’s mother Lesley McSpadden addressed the crowd as McCulloch was speaking, apparently already informed of what the decision was going to be. She broke down sobbing in tears and agony saying, “they took my baby,” and “we’re sick of this.” After that, the stepfather of Michael Brown, Louis Head, shouted through tears, “burn this shit down.” At that, some of the crowd got agitated and very aggressive with police.

AND

After the police formed a line, the crowd began chanting various slogans: “hands up, don’t shoot,” “f*ck the police,” “no justice, no peace,” etc. Some members of the crowd then dispersed south on South Florissant Road. The protesters who remained started throwing rocks at the police. Others damaged a police cruiser. Police then told protesters they were assembled unlawfully and to disperse or face arrest.

When the protesters didn’t disperse, police confronted them, shooting multiple tear gas or smoke canisters into the crowd and pushing the crowd north on South Florissant. The protesters reacted by shrieking, running, and washing their eyes out with milk and water. Some of the protesters were randomly shooting guns into the air, feeding into the chaotic environment. As the crowd moved north, a few protestors looted a small number of stores on South Florissant, including a Second Time Around resale store. But they were the minority by far. Most of the protesters were peacefully assembled, chanting slogans, but there was a minority who decided to loot, to set fires, and to torch two police cars. The protesters were angry, they were hurt, they were disappointed, and some of them used violence as a way to vent their frustration. One of the other protesters, a woman, said to the looters, “don’t do this, this isn’t who we are.”

The crowd was pushed further north. At South Florissant and Airport Road, protesters set a Walgreens on fire. Protesters also looted a T-Mobile store and an Aaron’s furniture outlet. Over on West Florissant Avenue, a different crowd had set multiple fires only a block or two from where Mike Brown was killed. Looters also hit up the McDonald’s that became infamous as a location where reporters camped during the first round of riots immediately after Brown’s killing.

The scene was chaos. In addition to the looting, cars were running into each other, people fighting on the street, and were guns being shot off. As I was leaving, I saw more fires being set.

The comments attributed to Head did nothing but further inflame the already volatile situation. While he and Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden were understandably grief stricken at the moment, there is zero excuse for such a grossly irresponsible statement. Were there deaths last night - fortunately there weren’t - Head would have blood on his hands today.

What remains of the U.S. Constitution after Emperor Barack Obama has wiped his ass with it for nearly six years guarantees Americans the right to protest in a peaceful manner and if they have a grievance let them do so. There is however nothing in the Constitution that protects calls for mob violence nor even dances on the farthest perimeter of condoning anarchy. Some choose to respect these rights as well as the safety and property of people and others like Mr. Head only serve to fire up low-minded thugs like his dead son in law. This is America and we are supposed to be above crap like this that normally would be associated with some third world African shithole. The violence only feeds into the racially charged narrative and keeps the victims of a cruel and oppressive system at each other's throats based on tribal bullshit rather than against their shared enemy that is the gangster state. Never forget that the pigs who run this star spangled sty have all the guns and the most sophisticated high tech surveillance machine in human history and they will use them. Resistance MUST be non-violent and focus on ideas. 

Now I may be mistaken but I sure as hell don’t remember reading anything about Martin Luther King shouting “Burn This Shit Down” in the history books.

(IMAGE: AP)

Desperate Hours Tick By in Ferguson as FBI Allegedly Thwarts Bomb Plot

In the desperate waning hours leading up to the grand jury verdict in the Michael  Brown shooting case there are multiple stories of ominous developments. School closings have been announced locally for the upcoming week and as reported by multiple news outlets gun sales are way up. There are stories that actual members of the Ferguson Police Department are encouraging citizens to arm themselves as well. 

Increasingly restive protesters are being arrested on a nightly basis again and local police are refusing to rule out the use of tear gas and rubber bullets on the day when the shit hits the fan. But the real indication that things are about to get truly ugly and escalate into Thanksgiving Day riots is the federal government’s dispatching of squads of FBI agents to the St. Louis area.

Things are getting very serious now and news has broken that the FBI has busted two members of the so-called “New Black Panther Party” who were allegedly planning to detonate bombs amid the coming unrest. Reuters reports in a story entitled “FBI arrests two would-be Ferguson bomb suspects: law enforcement source”:

Two men suspected of buying explosives they planned to detonate during protests in Ferguson, Missouri, once a grand jury decides the Michael Brown case, were arrested on Friday and charged with federal firearms offenses, a law enforcement official told Reuters.

Word of the arrests, reported by a number of media outlets Friday, came ahead of the grand jury's widely anticipated decision on whether the white police officer who fatally shot Brown, an unarmed black teenager, should be indicted on criminal charges.

The Aug. 9 slaying of 18-year-old Brown under disputed circumstances became a flashpoint for U.S. racial tensions, triggering weeks of sometimes violent protests in the St. Louis suburb by demonstrators calling for officer Darren Wilson's arrest.

He was instead placed on administrative leave, and Ferguson has been bracing for a new wave of protests, especially if the grand jury chooses not to indict Wilson. An announcement was believed to be imminent.

Against this backdrop of heightened tensions, according to a law enforcement source, two men described as reputed members of a militant group called the New Black Panther Party, were arrested in the St. Louis area in an FBI sting operation.

As initially reported by CBS News, the men were suspected of acquiring explosives for pipe bombs that they planned to set off during protests in Ferguson, according to the official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the case.

The foiling of a potential bombing plot really takes this to the next level in that such an act would represent a major escalation and result in a good amount of dead bodies. Then again, given the FBI’s fondness for “sting” operations in which they entrap morons and the mentally ill it could just be more of the same. The feds are rather adept at such setups where they can then swoop in to bust the dupes in order to justify their existence. These type of operations seem to have become common practice, especially in the era of the Global War on Terror (GWOT). So who really knows whether the story is legit or not although there are indeed many outside agitators descending on Ferguson like starved vultures dive bombing a freshly decomposing corpse.

Were actual bombs to be detonated it would give the feds a perfect opportunity to initiate a crackdown on legitimate political dissent nationwide. Such a thing would bode ill for many groups but in particular conservative or more flagrantly right-wing types that are routinely targeted when Democrat presidents are in office. A battered but unbowed Obama would probably like nothing more than to send his various alphabet soup Gestapo forces on a divine mission against domestic “terrorists” and wrap it in the flag. It’s not as though such groups haven't already been singled out by Obama in consideration of the infamous MIAC Report as well as the unleashing of the IRS against tea party affiliated groups. There is also something called the “Ferguson National Response Network” that is planning “events” in over 80 U.S. cities after the grand jury results are announced.

The perfect storm may be about to break in The Homeland.

Dispatch from Ferguson: “They’re going to burn the city down”

The unrest is beginning again in Ferguson, Missouri - not that it ever really ended. Following up the shooting of a police officer on Saturday night there were eight people arrested Monday for allegedly throwing rocks and bottles at cops in a protest outside the police station. Despite what should have been a cooling off period after last month's protests/riots over the shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, the tension remains and could explode into violence at any time. It is being predicted that the entire thing could blow if the grand jury investigating the shooting exonerates Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot Brown. In an interesting development it was reported that Wilson is now the subject of a second grand jury investigation for alleged brutality during a 2013 drug arrest.

According to a story from the website of the Los Angeles Times entitled "A tense Ferguson fears the worst is yet to come" I excerpt the following:

A tense Ferguson fears the worst is yet to come

Beauty Town has an elaborate video surveillance system that displays 16 angles of the store, but the cameras are better at capturing crime than at preventing it.

The beauty shop has been looted multiple times since a white Ferguson police officer shot an unarmed black man Aug. 9. Last week, during another round of unrest on West Florissant Avenue, a group of young men broke the front windows and raided the shelves and cash register.

Owner Shawn Kim thinks 99% of the people who live around his shop are good people.

For the rest, he’s bought a gun. Just in case.

If the grand jury fails to indict the officer who killed Michael Brown, almost everyone here thinks things will get worse.

“They’re not going to be looting next time,” said Kevin Seltzer, 30, who lives at an apartment complex near where Brown, 18, was shot. “They’re going to burn the city down.”

AND

Tensions rose further Saturday night, when officials said a Ferguson police officer on routine patrol was shot in the arm during a foot chase behind the community center. The unidentified officer was treated and released; the shooter escaped.

A few hours later, not far outside Ferguson’s city limits, an off-duty St. Louis police officer was ambushed on the freeway by one or more gunmen, who shot his car multiple times and escaped, officials said. The officer was injured by broken glass. He was not in uniform and was in his own vehicle; it was unclear whether he was targeted or the victim of a random assault.

Ferguson fears the worst is yet to come, especially if the grand jury does not indict Officer Darren Wilson. A decision is expected in November.

It has been speculated that the grand jury is unlikely to charge Wilson and the objectivity of the group has already been called into question by some.  This sets the table for a conflagration of mayhem and violence of which the August turbulence after Brown's shooting was only a preview. Such a blowup will ultimately be futile, serving only to destroy the property of locals and bring about violence and death as well as to feed the enduring racial resentment in America. There is the question of whether a brutal response by the militarized police will be brought to bear after much criticism over their previous heavy-handed crackdown. This would be a lose-lose situation for all involved and in this writer's personal opinion is unlikely. Some names that come to mind are Rick Perry, Al Sharpton and Ted Cruz. 

There will probably be no choice other than to call out the National Guard to restore order but there is the timing of when the grand jury findings will be announced. The first week in November is when the mid-term elections will be held and with the Democrats fighting pitched battle to hold onto the Senate any ugliness in Ferguson will become yet another political football. Obama will do what he usually does which will be nothing and the resulting vacuum of leadership will rapidly be filled by demagogues and race-baiters of the worst type.

Then there is the outside chance that a failure to charge Wilson will spread beyond the St. Louis area into an ugly explosion of pent up anger nationally. We could very soon have a situation similar to the late 1960's and early 1970's where race riots plagued the country. Mix in the growing discontent with a system gone rotten and it could be the perfect storm.

Strange days indeed.

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.