Ferguson, MO Shooting

[jdshock]

nm

[_kai_]

I wonder how many of the mob are even from within 100 miles of Ferguson?

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Police said an extremely high number of those arrested were from the St. Louis and bordering Illinois metro area. Ill see if I can find a link, but the "We have to own this as we know those arrested are local."

[_kai_]

Wasn't it the opposite with the original protests?

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Gross misconduct by the Ferguson Police.

The "riots" IMO are completley at the hand and incited by the police department. While I fully believe there are people there who are up to no good I also firmly believe that 99% of the people there do not want anyone to get hurt or any sort of trouble. The news of looting is mis-reported to an extent. Twitter has been the best source of Media for any of this.

I know I am in the minority here on this board. But what is happening right now in St Louis is scary as ****.

I see @pinstripers has already fell for the bait of Mike Brown being a bad guy. Im not saying he's a saint by any means. I dont know the guy. I only know what I seen on the video. And thats still not enough to call him a thug/punk or a gang member. The Ferguson police department waited an entire week to formulate a story and now the cop that murdered that kid is god knows where while the citizens of Ferguson Missouri are being held on nightly house arrest.

Can this post be nominated for worst post of the year?

[pogo]

Let me get this straight....people get mad because they don't agree with a grand jury so now they go out and burn stores in their own neighborhood that will never be rebuilt and the people that were employed there no longer have jobs. Thats the way to improve a community. One step at a time is my motto.

[WuDrWu]

Do you really think there would have been zero rioting last night if they had announced he was guilty? I'm not so sure I do.

They couldn't have announced he was guilty. Grand juries issue indictments, not verdicts. I'm not picking on you, just one of the many falsehoods that have been bantered about in the media.

[Shock Top]

I thought it was ironic to see that "Seasons Greetings" light display, hanging on the street where all the protesting and rioting is occurring.

"Merry Christmas everyo...." oh, I forgot you can't say that anymore.

[WuDrWu]

They couldn't have announced he was guilty. Grand juries issue indictments, not verdicts. I'm not picking on you, just one of the many falsehoods that have been bantered about in the media.

Also, the law in the state of Missouri is specifically written to protect the police. Now, you can disagree and you have that right, but it's only your opinion. The law is 100% behind the police here. If you want to change the law, change the law, but Officer Wilson did not commit a crime as a crime is described in Missouri and the facts of the case as supplied by numerous eye witnesses support the facts. Again, if you want to argue that it's bad law that the police are so protected, you can have that argument, but you can't go back and accuse this man of anything. If you think he's guilty of any crime, you're wrong, and it's not opinion, it's fact.

Now, civil court is another issue all together. But he did nothing that was criminal.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Sorry to those who will disagree, but the cops showed the world that everything that comes out of the mouths of these "activists" is bullshit.

"The riots are the fault of the police instigating the situation!"

"The riots are the fault of the police not doing anything!"

People, and unfortunately businesses, found out what happens when police do nothing but let people vent!

For those who only watched on twitter, there is plenty of footage of the looting of at least 8 businesses, 11 buildings set on fire, there were injuries, only thank god not serious enough to have to go to hospital.

Then they stepped in with tear gas to break it up. "They used Military State equipment to impose a police state."

Its all North Korea style propaganda. Even the true witnesses at the scene, black members of a community who were upset over the situation, said the man attacked Officer Wilson again. You think Officer Wilson set out that day to "bag him a black man" as one of the St. Louis clergy said, then you are part of the problem.

"Hands up, Don't shoot" shows that the people of Ferguson don't know the facts, and the douchebag DA who, knowing the outrage, didn't send it to a Grand Jury to begin with, did a piss poor job of explaining the results from the Grand Jury in a proper manner. I don't care that he didn't feel he could get a conviction, the undeniable truths needed to be shared.

No man should ever have to second guess himself when he feels his life is in danger. If this young man had put his hands up, he doesn't get shot.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

So the million dollar question becomes...

How do you deal with a subset of people who are so stupid, ignorant, misinformed, violent, hate filled, and completely irrational that they loot, burn, and destroy innocent people's property as a reaction to this whole thing?

You can't magically waive a wand and fix them. You can't just round them up and ship them off to an isolated island somewhere. You can't lock them all up in prison forever.

What can you do? I wish there was a simple answer. I fear there is not.

(Disclaimer: I'm not talking about race whatsoever. There are both idiots and saints within all skin colors. I applaud the blacks that attempted to be peacemakers. I abhor the whites that joined in the looting.)

[WuShock16]

I would be fairly confident in guaranteeing that anyone who "expresses deep disappointment and outrage" over the decision to not indict Officer Wilson has not actually read each and every one of the thousands and thousand and thousands of pages of evidence. I took one look at that link provided in this thread and basically realized that I know nothing compared to what the grand jury knew. I didn't spend the hours and hours of time, pouring over all that information, so I am not going to sit here as an armchair quarterback and say that the wrong decision was made.

It is like complaining about an official's call in a basketball game without taking one look at an instant replay. The decision that should be made should be the factually-correct one, not necessarily the one YOU want. I am not willing to take the time to look at every piece of evidence and testimony, so I will trust the judgment of those who did.

That all said, the whole situation is awful. My prayers are sent to the Brown family and to the Wilson family. Prayers of thanksgiving are sent towards all who are serving and volunteering to make a positive difference in response to the last night's aftermath.

[shock]

[jdshock]

I don't want to start a debate about any of this. I'd just like to make one additional point clear.

We can spend a lot of time saying that now we have the objective facts. One concerning aspect of this case is that the prosecution is necessarily the same group of people that will have to defend Wilson in a civil or federal case. Aside from what seems factually clear at this point, it is worth pointing out the concerning mismatch of incentives that the prosecution would have in this case. That's on top of the strangeness of the grand jury in general. Grand juries /never/, and I mean NEVER, get the amount of evidence that this one got. Some argue that means this is the objective right answer. Some argue it allowed the prosecutor to confuse the grand jury. It is clear to most people, though, in the future the prosecution of similar cases needs to be a more independent group.

Edit: and anyone who thinks that the actions the police officers were taking last night were not a little scary was not in St Louis.

[_kai_]

I don't want to start a debate about any of this. I'd just like to make one additional point clear.

We can spend a lot of time saying that now we have the objective facts. One concerning aspect of this case is that the prosecution is necessarily the same group of people that will have to defend Wilson in a civil or federal case. Aside from what seems factually clear at this point, it is worth pointing out the concerning mismatch of incentives that the prosecution would have in this case. That's on top of the strangeness of the grand jury in general. Grand juries /never/, and I mean NEVER, get the amount of evidence that this one got. Some argue that means this is the objective right answer. Some argue it allowed the prosecutor to confuse the grand jury. It is clear to most people, though, in the future the prosecution of similar cases needs to be a more independent group.

Edit: and anyone who thinks that the actions the police officers were taking last night were not a little scary was not in St Louis.

Didn't the DOJ provide a lot of assistance in the gathering of the evidence and taking extra steps in oversight to make sure correct procedure was followed?