I believe that the way the media has been treated in Ferguson has nothing to do with the police trying to hide their activities. There has been a massive outcry across the country about the violation of the 1st Amendment and freedom of the press in Ferguson. One would think that play #1 in the public relations handbook would be to leave the media alone, allow them to report, and be as transparent as possible. But the opposite has happened; they have been increasingly harsh with media. Even more tellingly, they have since allowed themselves to be filmed being openly hostile to reporters (gassing Al Jazeera, "Turn that off or I'll shoot you in the face!") It's a mistake to chalk this up to a bunch of dumb, rogue cops with too many toys. We're over a week into the standoff, and it has the attention of all levels of law enforcement, the Governor, and the international media. There is a plan; there is a strategy. This tells me they don't give a fuck that people are angry. They are sending a message. They aren't trying to hide their activities. They want the people to know that the police are militarized. They want people to know they will use force to stifle dissent, peaceful or not. They want people to know they will be arrested without cause. They are trying to tell you that you do not have the right to question their authority, including but not limited to your Constitutional rights. They have spent 13 years building the legal framework by which they can launch an assault on the people's rights; Ferguson is merely the stage on which they have chosen to finally show their hand.

I'm inclined to agree. There is a much bigger focus to this than what the cops are or are not doing. It's how they are doing it.

And this is going to get bad.

When it spreads, it's going to usher in a new era of policing tactic. There is going to be a general order to stop the people, anyway they feel necessary. More death will result in more protestors. More protestors will result in more death.

When it spreads, it's going to usher in a new era of policing tactic. There is going to be a general order to stop the people, anyway they feel necessary. More death will result in more protestors. More protestors will result in more death.

Eventually it will interfere with "business as usual" because it may prevent people from getting to/from work. Or create many checkpoints you must drive through just to do our jobs. Kinda like nazi Germany. Just like it actually. With too much fear people cannot keep the wheels turning that keep the corporations making profits. The police will eventually be in conflict with their corporate bosses I would think, so they'll have to give some concession at some point.

Exactly. Ferguson is the opening scene of the play we all knew was coming. I don't know what will cause it, going to war, economic collapse, but they are ready for mass protests across the country and are waiting to try and silence it with fear. Something big is coming.

The police had both the protesters and media surrounded, and were getting more and more agitated screaming for them to disperse.... while surrounding them and not letting anyone past.

Ferguson is the opening scene of the play we all knew was coming.

Corporate sponsored super prisons... coming to a neighborhood near you. Free labor, scared shitless inmates, all constitutional rights destroyed... scary frigg'n hell.

Dude, please insert some paragraphs.

Edit: what /u/chucicabra said

... it is one paragraph?

Dude, please insert a comma.

Don't change the subject. Nothing to see here, carry on.

They confirmed this on twitter.

I live near there and have been following live streams for hours each evening. This is the first time when I can't find any video stream from the protest area. The "I Am Mike Brown" streaming guy is currently driving miles from Ferguson, trying to get to the command center miles away where they want the media to go to.

They have snipers using thermals. Use a quadra copter if anything with a gopro. Gives you the tactical advantage. Or even just an rc car, as they can park under vehicles, move through grass, and would be hard to spot if painted in camo colouring.

If you happened to be spotted on a roof near areas with reported gunfire, what do you think would happen? This is being pushed deliberately into civil war by antsy police just wishing to live out a fantasy, and outside groups with no background in Ferguson.

"DO IT NOW!!!"

This whole situation is making me nervous.

How long until we're all considered insurgents in our own homes?

That may have already happened.

VICE just reported that the police are claiming that live ammo was being used by the "bad guys", which one can infer means that the civies are starting to shoot back...

The crowd has been shooting every night for the past week

Live rounds fired at the police? Source?

I find it funny that this town has gone ballistic over an unarmed teen being gunned down, but when as many as 10 cops helped kill Kelly Thomas.

Just seems like people are concerned over the wrong thing here. They seem more upset at this one event instead of trying to fix the system. Focusing on on the issues surrounding this particular situation instead of the real problem.

I'm all for civil disobedience, but this just seems more about revenge than justice.

Live rounds fired at the police? Source?

Just watch the streams, listen to police scanner or read twitter. Multiple people have been shot (by rioters, not cops), one was critically shot over the weekend and I heard died at the hospital (but you won't see a follow up story in the media on that)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/michael-brown-shooting-ferguson-man-in-critical-condition-after-shooting-during-curfew-9674004.html

edit: they are doing a press conference right now, Ron Johnson talked for a minute or so about all the reports of shots fired tonight alone, and how they had to extract a gunshot victim, and how his police were in several situations where they were under heavy fire. It's been like this all week - look at the live thread in /r/stlouis. Reports of shots fired like every 5 minutes when the situations get tense.

Awesome, I don't like twitter, so I tend to stay away from it. Guess I'll have to start looking at it.

Thanks for the source!

Twitter is the only source of real news coming out of ferguson, lots of locals have been using it.

Kelly Thomas was white and the public outcry is never very loud when the victim is a white man.

I think black people in this country are more aware of police brutality because they feel it first-hand every day. Every. Fucking. Day.

We don't have that same experience so when a white man is beaten to death by cops -- we see an isolated instant that is somehow separate from us. Oh sure, there's outrage -- inasmuch as we'll bitch on the internet and maybe donate some money.

But it's not the outrage we'd feel if we knew that the cops were literally gunning for us.

I think black people in this country are more aware of police brutality because they feel it first-hand every day. Every. Fucking. Day.

We don't have that same experience so when a white man is beaten to death by cops -- we see an isolated instant that is somehow separate from us. Oh sure, there's outrage -- inasmuch as we'll bitch on the internet and maybe donate some money.

No, the difference is a lot simpler than that. Blacks riot and loot -- whites don't. There are a handful of exceptions in each incident, but overwhelmingly this is the truth. Why do blacks riot and loot? I don't know. If I had to guess, I'd say it was probably because blacks have less respect for the law than whites, are more emotionally unstable and more impulsive, and are more prone to violent bahavior than whites. We can debate about why blacks riot, but the facts show that they do riot. Just look at news footage of any riot in America that involved looting in the past few decades. How many white faces do you see, and how many black faces. It's not open to debate.

So marginalized populations with nothing to lose, riot. And people who do have plenty to lose, don't riot.

I don't think it's reasonable to assert that black people riot because they're black.

Everybody riots when their bellies are empty.

Well there have been video taped chants of the "protestors" saying things such as "Hands, up. Shoot back!" and "Who do we want: Darren Wilson! How do we want him? Dead!" There is a contingent of protestors in the group that is there to be violent. They are being whipped into a frenzy by the new black panther party and people like Al Sharpton who says shit like "there will be violence until there is an indictment." The National Guard will sort that shit out though.

Perhaps, and don't get me wrong, we should stand with the black Panthers.

Why?

We didn't stand with the wacco people during "the revolt" that happened.

The media told us they were wrong and vile. The same thing is happening with the BPP now.

We all know the media has been gov run since the 90s (or earlier) so of course they would tell us that those who oppose this gov are vile.

What if this is the last of the last stands... I don't know, I may be wrong to want to side with them... but I damn sure am not going to side with this tyrannical gov...

I think Waco was meant to draw attention away from Ruby Ridge -- to make the victim du jour a little less lovable.

I may be biased due to my research on the Waco incident, but I don't feel like we can compare them to this New Black Panther Party.

Inciting violence for the sake of violence doesn't accomplish anything. All this does is push away people that want to help and force those in charge to take more drastic actions.

Let's take this and flip it. Let's say a white teenager had been the victim and a black cop had shot him. Would the black community be as engaged? We all know the police wouldn't be doing anything different, as they have proven time and time again that the citizens they are hired to serve don't mean anything to them.

Would there have been riots?

Would Al Sharpton be giving his thoughts on violence?

Would it have even made the news that night outside of St. Louis?

Probably not. But because it was a white cop shooting a black teenager, suddenly the community feels it's OK to riot and loot and start fires?

In not saying the shooting of a black teenager is any less of a tragedy than the shooting of a white teenager, they are both equally traffic. But given the communities response, the total lack of police presence during the looting but their need to assault reporters and people from the media, and the fact that this isn't spreading makes it feel like this is just a big staged event, put into motion by those that stand to gain from the failure of the police and the destruction of these neighborhoods.

So, the only question left is who stands to gain anything from all of this?

This isn't white v black

This is them (militarized police) v us (the people)

All the people who are saying a white shot a black must be a racial thing should think hard about what their goals are...

No, it is actually black versus white. The reason this is a big media affair is because the media and Obama believed they could turn it into a racial issue that would present blacks as the poor victims, and whites as the evil overlords. It will fail because the shooting was righteous, but that is the attempt that is being made. It is wholly and completely a racial issue.

The reason this is a big media affair is because the media and Obama believed they could turn it into a racial issue that would present blacks as the poor victims, and whites as the evil overlords.

Ppst

No, it is actually black versus white.

You're falling for it then...

It will fail because the shooting was righteous

You know you can shoot to incompasitate, right? Also, one of the shots was in the top of the head. Remember not too long ago the FBI did this and we all cried execution?

Why are you all crying that is not similar?

I total believe this kid was executed.

The hands up stance proven by the autopsy, the fact that no weapon was found, the eye witness accounts of the kid simply walking and running his mouth before the cop gunned him down in cold blood.

The kids only crime at the time he was murdered was being in contempt of cop.

Good post. You have the heady feeling of knowing you are on the right side of this issue, and that 98% or Redditors are on the wrong side, and don't know shit from shreddies.

The only people on the wrong side of this are the cops and those calling the shots.

I don't think I know more than anyone else on this topic, but I can see the facts. I can see what is happening.

It just seems to me like there is more to all of this than what we are being led to believe. Does none of what's happened seemed strange to you?

It's never a good idea to stand for a lie. The way this affair is being presented is a lie. Are the police across America becoming too violent and militarized? Yes, they are. Is this an important issue? Yes, it is. But in the case of Ferguson, the police who shot the black man was in the right. If you stand with the rioters, you are standing for a lie.

The black panther party isn't a group of people opposing the government. They literally have a campaign where they say the only way to put the black man where he needs to be is to kill white babies. I don't think I'm gonna throw my support behind them no matter how big the national crisis is.

[deleted]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDb2byj74oY

So now what?

EDIT: I'll be waiting for a response.

[deleted]

Lol, a dexterous slink away.

but it's ok to call a white conservative a racist for disagreeing with Obama even though he isn't burning a cross on the White House lawn? It's not an even judgement.

there will be violence until there is an indictment

I don't actually see what's wrong with this at this point. Why should the people be held to a higher standard than law enforcement? It should be the other way around. They serve us, we don't serve them.

The reason this is a problem is because when you have a "community leader" as Sharpton is branded giving a "wink and nod" endorsement to perpetuating violence you will get violence. These people aren't helping their cause. They are keeping businesses in their own community from making money/robbing and setting fire to their own community. We don't even have all the facts out to what happened here yet. It's a bad idea to loot your own community so that there will be less jobs in your community in the future. What business man will try to set up shop in an area that has a history of looting? It works against the cause. It only helps the people like Al Sharpton to have a lucrative business of calling out "racism" because in 10 years when people in Ferguson are even worse off than they are now he can say "whitey did this too!"

We don't even have all the facts out to what happened here yet

If we let business go on as usual with these cops, we'll never learn the facts. We've seen time and time again that if left to police (hah) themselves, law enforcement will bend the rules in any way they can in order to protect their own. Some black kid getting shot in the face a couple times isn't shit to them.

I agree with that and I think there are a lot of police officers who are way to overzealous and police brutality exists to a level that will never be exposed by the media. All police officers should wear a camera on their lapel as some states already require. The point I'm trying to make, however, is that burning down your own neighborhood because you are mad about the police will not help anything. This is an attempt to create a race war. This is the same shit that happened after the Trayvon Martin shooting. The Media ran with a story that was wrong but enough people saw that and got fired up about it. People need to wait for the information before they decide what happened. I blame the media more than anyone.

These people aren't helping their cause. They are keeping businesses in their own community from making money/robbing and setting fire to their own community.

True. And how many of those businesses will stay in that community, after this all blows over? If I were a business owner in Ferguson, I'd be making plans to get the hell out right now.

Holder learned from Trayvon. In the Trayvon affair, justice was allowed to go forward, and a just verdict was arrived at. Holder doesn't want that -- he wants the cop crucified, and he doesn't give a flying fuck about justice. After all, he's a criminal himself. He will try very hard to arrange things so that justice cannot be done, and he gets a show trial that finds the cop guilty before any evidence is even presented. Because if the cop gets a fair trial, he will be found innocent.

if the cop gets a fair trial, he will be found innocent.

??????

The national guard is supposedly there to protect the field hq so more police officers can be utilized on the streets.

So far I'm not impressed.

I haven't seen what has gone on in the last few hours but I assume the National Guard is there because the police can't really do much against the protesters because they are the people being protested against. If a Ferguson PD officer gets a punch thrown at him and then he hits back to arrest the guy it'll be "Ferguson PD Continues to Abuse Their Power for No Reason."

Info wars guy said they were going the back way to get to where people are. I am waiting for his stream to come back up.

The stream just came back up, he is in the media lot with the rest of the media, about 1/2 mile from where the action is

People have their phones and cameras out. The cops can't get away with anything too serious as long as people are recording.

Having a switch that turns your phone off remotely doesn't sound so great now.

Watch. In less than 6 months we will see some type of phone that boasts limited control for that functionality.

Someone really needs to develop something secure and market it as the privacy phone.

The problem is that the NSA just backdoors everything currently manufactured. Plus no software is ever truly secure, it's always an arms race. And the funding is definitely on the governments side in that race.

Someone should just offer a Bitcoin bounty for designs for a privacy based phone. Someone will make it.

Then what happens when the internet killswitch gets hit? Or the power grid goes down for an extended period of time? Plus the fact that bitcoin is valued in USD. I just don't see it as a viable, secure alternative going forward.

It's also valued in every other currency around the world, or in gold, or in whatever. USD is just the primary valueset for the world at the moment. If USD vanished then we could value Bitcoin in some other point of view such as Bitcoin to ounces of gold. USD is just one way of looking at it.

There are groups and organizations working on a decentralized darknet, as long as the blockchain exists and we can connect....it's all good.

Your USD will be worthless shortly after the internet killswitch is hit. Most money these days is digital.

The only reason I suggested Bitcoin for this situation is it encourages some anonymity and motivates anyone to do it.

Good answer. I by no means support the Federal Reserve and its fiat usury scam, I hope my comment didn't make it sound like I do. I agree that bitcoin has potential and is in many ways far superior to the current monetary system, I just think that all of its possible pitfalls should be addressed going forward.

It didnt sound great originally because this is exactly the designed purpose of it.

But noooooo, lets not hear what people say when these things are released. No one listens to the truth until it is smacking them in the face.

"The cops can't get away with anything too serious "

What the fuck ? they killed a guy,beat the shit out of peaceful protesters and told media to fuck off,what are you talking about what is serious if that is not ?

And eventually, someone will Probably get in trouble. Even if its a paid suspension for a month. The point is we must record it all.

I would prefer if they the cops HAD TO wear cameras on them while on duty.

Me too. :-)

Some of the best cop experience I've had, I was being filmed.

Well last I seen they were going into random ass houses, id probably want the media to get away too.

And now you do what they told ya, now you're under control

I'm glad I'm not there.

lol buddy you live on this planet, you're here with us.

Lol, I'm just passin' thru...

This way of thinking needs to die. We're all in this shit together.

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."

"First they came" by Martin Niemöller.

I'm glad I'm not there.

I hear you. I thank God every day that I don't live inside a major city, especially a predominantly black city where rioting and looting are so common.

crap... not a good sign...

I haven't seen what has gone on in the last few hours but I assume the National Guard is there because the police can't really do much against the protesters because they are the people being protested against. If a Ferguson PD officer gets a punch thrown at him and then he hits back to arrest the guy it'll be "Ferguson PD Continues to Abuse Their Power for No Reason."

This isn't white v black

This is them (militarized police) v us (the people)

All the people who are saying a white shot a black must be a racial thing should think hard about what their goals are...

Good post. You have the heady feeling of knowing you are on the right side of this issue, and that 98% or Redditors are on the wrong side, and don't know shit from shreddies.