StL County Cops Shoot Teen

[0.42]

Can somebody do a tl;dr on this thing?  I know a cop shot a kid, protest, burned down a QT  , but now, WTF is going on?  Are cops there under the guise of "protect property", etc?

this is as of today
-two Washington Post reporters get arrested for the crime of illegally assembling in mcdonalds and further breaking the law by ordering mccafes
-ferguson people (mostly black) protest (mostly) peacefully
-STLPD responds with a complete media blackout and orders people to turn off cameras as they kettle protesters in a residential area
-STLPD uses ear-splitting crowd control devices in a neighborhood, fires rubber bullets, tear gas, smoke grenades onto people's lawns
-most updates are now coming through social media and police scanner activity
-multiple councilmembers/aldermen reportedly arrested
-d scott just ordered a roast beef sandwich, tweet imminent

[0.42]

If it was a bunch of 'necks in Carolina protesting some hillbilly getting shot

Cops would send out maybe 2-3 "community outreach" officers and wish the protesters a nice day

[nicname]

Why the eff do they have military grade equipment?

It's disgusting. Also sickening is that we continuously see pics like this, but not ...

[Phil Titola]

Can somebody do a tl;dr on this thing?  I know a cop shot a kid, protest, burned down a QT  , but now, WTF is going on?  Are cops there under the guise of "protect property", etc?

this is as of today
-two Washington Post reporters get arrested for the crime of illegally assembling in mcdonalds and further breaking the law by ordering mccafes
-ferguson people (mostly black) protest (mostly) peacefully
-STLPD responds with a complete media blackout and orders people to turn off cameras as they kettle protesters in a residential area
-STLPD uses ear-splitting crowd control devices in a neighborhood, fires rubber bullets, tear gas, smoke grenades onto people's lawns
-most updates are now coming through social media and police scanner activity
-multiple councilmembers/aldermen reportedly arrested
-d scott just ordered a roast beef sandwich, tweet imminent

Thanks....so there has been no reason given for the PD show of force?  One night of rioting causing them to show up like this?  I've been trying to pick it up via tweets but seems pretty one sided....got to be another side to it that I'm not picking up...right??????

[Phil Titola]

Why the eff do they have military grade equipment?

Their answer would be "the criminals do"....the LA bank heist a while back was one of the big ones where the cops were outgunned.....not that it applies here, but that would be their answer I bet.

[0.42]

Thanks....so there has been no reason given for the PD show of force?

Well when the police chief was contacted about the two WaPo reporters getting arrested he said "Oh God " so that should probably tell you how well things are being managed right now.

[michigancat]

Aren't we all Pro Guns as long as the government only has them here in the Pit??

I've been itching to say something about this, but I've held off. It's a good and valid point. One that coincides with (sorry to get political, which I've tried to avoid in this thread) the theory that gun control has historically been used to subdue a public.

I think pretty much everyone is in agreement that these cops shouldn't be so heavily armed. Are you and pike making the argument if all the protesters had better weapons the cops wouldn't be trying to suppress them? Because gun control has historically been used to suppress the public?

And this is a very political thread. So what.

[chum1]

There is some quality Nate Silver douchey tweet backlash going on.

[MakeItRain]

Aren't we all Pro Guns as long as the government only has them here in the Pit??

I've been itching to say something about this, but I've held off. It's a good and valid point. One that coincides with (sorry to get political, which I've tried to avoid in this thread) the theory that gun control has historically been used to subdue a public.

This is so simple, and it's a dumb point. Do you guys think this situation would be any better if these protesters had guns? Did you not see the video of protesters who were holding photos of Michael Brown that had a rough ridin' tank pointed at them? What do you think the reaction would be if the 50 year old women holding photos were replaced with Black Panthers legally packing heat? We would have a whole lot of dead black panthers.

[nicname]

Aren't we all Pro Guns as long as the government only has them here in the Pit??

I've been itching to say something about this, but I've held off. It's a good and valid point. One that coincides with (sorry to get political, which I've tried to avoid in this thread) the theory that gun control has historically been used to subdue a public.

I think pretty much everyone is in agreement that these cops shouldn't be so heavily armed. Are you and pike making the argument if all the protesters had better weapons the cops wouldn't be trying to suppress them? Because gun control has historically been used to suppress the public?

And this is a very political thread. So what.

If other want to make it political that's fine. I've just tried to avoid it.

As far as gun control, it's just pointing out what a government force can do to a public with no real means of defense against them. That's a tangent though. I think a more important question is why were the vigils, assemblies, etc. met with riot gear? At least from what I've heard that is how it went down. I wasn't there. Maybe the people were riotous from the beginning. 

[michigancat]

Can we all agree that these rough ridin' cops are completely rough ridin' up and really scary?

[p1k3]

Not my point...sorry if I was being unclear. I intended to be a tongue and cheek with that obsevation.

Buy yeah I'm definitely team #fuckthepolice

[0.42]

Can we all agree that these rough ridin' cops are completely rough ridin' up and really scary?

i'm pretty sure #life and FSD are on team be afraid of the scary black people but otherwise we have consensus

[p1k3]

Can we all agree that these rough ridin' cops are completely rough ridin' up and really scary?

Terrifying. It looks like they're ready to invade Afghanistan but they're in the suburbs of St Louis rough ridin' Missouri

[kim carnes]

people that complain about cops are dumb.  being a cop would suck, we should be thanking them.

[0.42]

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that kim carnes is a Chingon-built scraper that analyzes gE consensus and then immediately plays devil's advocate. Oh, that crafty Chingon! That's why you're our friend.

[kim carnes]

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that kim carnes is a Chingon-built scraper that analyzes gE consensus and then immediately plays devil's advocate. Oh, that crafty Chingon! That's why you're our friend.

i can see why you would think that but chingon and i are sworn enemies

[nicname]

Aren't we all Pro Guns as long as the government only has them here in the Pit??

I've been itching to say something about this, but I've held off. It's a good and valid point. One that coincides with (sorry to get political, which I've tried to avoid in this thread) the theory that gun control has historically been used to subdue a public.

This is so simple, and it's a dumb point. Do you guys think this situation would be any better if these protesters had guns? Did you not see the video of protesters who were holding photos of Michael Brown that had a rough ridin' tank pointed at them? What do you think the reaction would be if the 50 year old women holding photos were replaced with Black Panthers legally packing heat? We would have a whole lot of dead black panthers.

In this isolated incident, it would probably be bad news, especially with the adversarial relationship between the police and the public. But if the Panthers were in the neighborhoods the whole time, legally armed, on their citizens' patrols perhaps the police would have a harder time oppressing the citizens of the neighborhoods.

It's pretty relevant that Ron Reagan used the Panthers as a main argument in getting gun control laws implemented in California. It's a helluva lot easier to subdue a public when they have no recourse for defense.

The biggest problem, and this is assumption, because I don't know the facts, is that police weren't protecting the citizens, but were actively engaged with them in antagonistic behavior.

[0.42]

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that kim carnes is a Chingon-built scraper that analyzes gE consensus and then immediately plays devil's advocate. Oh, that crafty Chingon! That's why you're our friend.

i can see why you would think that but chingon and i are sworn enemies

[nicname]

Can we all agree that these rough ridin' cops are completely rough ridin' up and really scary?

Of course.

[MakeItRain]

Can we all agree that these rough ridin' cops are completely rough ridin' up and really scary?

i'm pretty sure #life and FSD are on team be afraid of the scary black people but otherwise we have consensus

There is apparently a black panther in Ferguson and Megyn Kelly wants to "deal with this black panther issue." I've never watched this show with Megyn Kelly before but it is amazing. Two nights in a row she's had a black man calling these looters thugs and low lifes but completely not addressing the other issues at play here.

[kim carnes]

how about you guys become cops and cleanup the force?  complaining here isn't going to do any good imo.  it's clear that you guys care.

[Paul Moscow]

Couple reporters and an appropriately dressed camera guy running from tear gas that the police lobbed in their direction

https://twitter.com/Walldo/status/499774175964192770/photo/1

[Trim]

Felix Rex moves to Ferguson.

[michigancat]

One thing that's amazing to me is that PBS News Hour spent all of 30 seconds on this story tonight. I think they spent a good 7 minutes on a Lauren Bacall tribute.