St Louis - Shooting - Riots - Anonymous Threats

[Belligerent Savant]

.

Here ya go:

http://gawker.com/why-should-anyone-res ... 1666634274

In the wake of the announcement that Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for shooting and killing Mike Brown, protestors across the country took to the streets in mass acts of civil disobedience, and in some cases, property damage.

And so, yesterday, following a New York grand jury's failure to indict New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo for choking 43-year-old Eric Garner to death in July, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a statement. "[W]hile there will be people who disagree with today's grand jury decision," it read, "it is important that we respect the legal process and rule of law."

He did not explain why.

As we've watched two killer cops, half a country apart, skip even the process by which they might be held to account for the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner, politicians and editorial boards have taken care to make similar pleas. You must respect the process. You must respect the system. You must not break the law in response to the law's failure.

The "legal process" that Governor Cuomo is wheedling his citizens to respect is the one that last Monday declined to indict Wilson for shooting an unarmed 18-year-old as many as eight times, killing him. A legal system that yesterday failed to make Pantaleo answer for putting a man accused of selling cigarettes illegally into a banned and ultimately fatal chokehold, even when the man's last words were caught on videotape. A legal system in which prosecutors are given so much power that grand juries could be persuaded, as judge Sol Wachtler famously put it, to "indict a ham sandwich"—and yet where thousands of cops on duty kill suspects every decade and are almost never charged.

The "rule of law" that Cuomo wants us to hold in high esteem is the very same one that has given the NYPD a wide berth to harass, intimidate, and abuse young men of color, a "rule of law" governed by a rapidly militarizing police force training trigger-happy violent cops. A rule of law at the base of a system of violence and hate so out of control that even the mayor of New York City needs to warn his son of it.

How can you ask people to respect the law when the law does not respect them? How can you remind them of the importance of the process when Missouri and New York are reminding us the process is hopelessly broken?

There is a troubling trend in American thought that holds we should "respect" cops as we might "respect" venomous snakes: by staying away from them, by avoiding eye contact, by not making threatening gestures. "It is important that we respect the legal process and rule of law" because otherwise we will be beaten and sodomized with nightsticks and shot to death on our doorsteps. "It is important that we respect the legal process and rule of law" because the state has a monopoly on violence that it has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to use, especially against poor minorities.

That's not respect. That's terror and fear.

Respect is a reciprocal relationship. It is not the awed veneration of cops that prosecutors and grand juries apparently feel. It is built on trust and understanding and it must be continuously maintained. It is not, as Cuomo would apparently have it, a shield to be wielded by the state against the righteous anger of its citizens. As parents and needlepoint stitchings are fond of saying, it is earned, not given. That the governor of New York should feel the need to remind his citizens of the respect due the law should be as clear a sign as any that the law has failed to earn it.

Huffington Post's Ryan Reilly pulled some anonymous comments yesterday from PoliceOne, a message board limited to "verified law enforcement professionals":



If these are the men sworn to uphold "rule of law," it's no wonder Cuomo is reduced to begging his citizens to "respect" it. Respect cannot exist between one community and another it regards as subhuman. You cannot respect a demon.

And you cannot ask a people brutalized and oppressed, told their lives are worthless and their deaths are their own fault, to respect the institutions and people that uphold those systems of terror and violence. "I taught my son to respect the law, to respect the police, but the law killed him. It is the law that is killing our sons off, taking our sons away," Anya Slaughter, whose son Kendrec McDade was killed, unarmed, by a Pasadena cop in 2012, told the Los Angeles Daily News last week. "Where do you go from there? I don't know what to teach my kids anymore."

[8bitagent]

Utah cops fatally shoot black cosplayer nerd six times in the back, even reloading, and (surprise surprise) get off scot free
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/no-c ... s-in-back/

[8bitagent]

The more details come in, the more wtf the Eric Garner case becomes. Apparently witnesses said he had earlier in the day broken up a fight and tried to keep peace.
He was just tired of cops constantly harassing him and other black people in the neighborhood. If you watch the sickening video, I honestly can't find anything
threatening or remotely tense about his voice or hand gestures.

I've been watching Jon Stewart off and on since about the late 1990's but I feel that new clip of him talking about the Eric Garner case was THE MOST powerful delivery I've seen him do.
He's right, people talk about body cameras like it's some solution...yet some captured every moment up close of this horror show and nothing happened.
(are jurors getting threatened by police association people? is it an all non black jury? what gives???)

[82_28]

Personally, I respect the cops just as much as I hate them. I have personally known good cops throughout the years I've been in existence. Yet the bad outweighs the good in some goofball going about his shift. For instance, I was an acquaintance of this person in HS. Here is a good article about her by our good friend Hunter S. Thompson in Vanity Fair:

The case of Lisl Auman, who first wrote me from prison three years ago, is so rotten and wrong and shameful that I feel dirty just for knowing about it, and so should you. The Colorado Supreme Court is preparing to hand down its fateful decision on an appeal in the case this summer, which should scare the living shit out of your whole family if the judges decide to keep this young woman in a filthy state prison for the rest of her life, when each one of them has to know—in their hearts and their minds—that she is innocent. She was locked and handcuffed in the backseat of a Denver police car long before a cop was shot 10 times and killed in what the thugs in the Denver Police Department call a sudden “adrenaline dump”—which in real life is called another disastrous police panic and a frenzy of hysterical shooting and screaming in a residential neighborhood that left two people dead. At least 100 uniformed law-enforcement officers swarmed onto the scene that day from all over town, and they went crazy. Shit, of course some people got killed, like they always do when 100 armed goons with a license to kill any suspect who comes within 21 feet of the rifle fire of a Denver cop responding to a 911 call show up in a mood to shoot somebody.

One of my sweetest memories of growing up in Louisville is taking long walks on summer nights with Pierre, the kindly old uniformed cop who patrolled our neighborhood streets all night to keep us safe from crime. Or at least that’s what he told us when we asked him about his job and why he was prowling around in our territory with a spotlight and a whistle and a steel-blue .38 police special on his belt. Nobody else could get away with that kind of crap, and we soon came to think of him as the Final Authority, the Man. We made Pierre a secret honorary member of the Hawks Athletic Club, and after that we ruled our turf together. It was wonderful. And that’s how I was raised to believe that that was what police officers were all about. I thought they were decent, honorable people just like us.

But that was a long time ago in a very different country. Now I know different. I know that police are the Enemy, cruel and stupid and greedy and dishonest in a way that would shame the Hell’s Angels. At least the Angels get Respect. Colorado has taken a serious beating in public print recently, with the Columbine High School massacre, the football rapes in Boulder, the Jon-Benét Ramsey case, and the repulsive police corruption that stains Denver’s once proud image. Denver has never pretended to be a civilized place. When you think of Denver, you think of cowshit and gunfights, small brains and big guns, dumb brutes and wild whores with hearts of cheap gold. Yes, sir, that is Denver in a nutshell—a cowboy town with cowboy rules and cowboy justice. When you come to Denver, Bubba, you’d better be ready to fight. Kick ass or die is what the Denver Police Department is all about. It is kill or be killed in this town. The D.P.D. has never been anything but a dangerous gang of vengeful, half-bright cowboys with a vicious reputation for brutality and what the Hell’s Angels used to call “massive retaliation.” Hell’s Angels didn’t just punish the enemy, they massacred all of them. Nobody who fucked with a Hell’s Angel ever lived to tell about it. Indeed, that was the point they wanted to make, and few people dared to forget it.

Read it all here: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/featu ... rer-200406

I was friends with her friends, but not totally with her. Anyway, this all reminds me of Lisl Auman. I have dealt with the DPD and some encounters as a white boy were humane and others were way out of bounds. The race angle needs to take a back seat -- in my view -- to the absolute corruption of the police factions of this country. I had a friend who got his arm broken by the cops in the Denver County Jail because the cops were called on some outburst in which he stood upon a table at an IHOP after observing an owner denying service to some black people (have no idea what was with that) but exclaimed to the entire restaurant "how does it feel that this place is run by a racist!?!?". Well the cops were called and he was arrested. Once they got him into the elevator at the jail (I've been there) the cops cornered him and broke his arm in a "private" beatdown. Of course once out, I told him to go to the ACLU. Dunno what happened with that because I moved to Seattle and lost touch.

I don't want to downplay the "race" side of anything, but would prefer to "up-play" that the cops, everywhere you go are largely lawless and enjoy this feature of their job. But I will say that the most asshole and potentially brutal cop I ever encountered with the DPD was black. I literally feared for my life in the way he spoke to me and bagged and tagged me. Of course I didn't look at it as a race thing, just a police against the rest of us thing. In fact I asked to have my handcuffs loosened and they what they did was just clamp them down tighter.

(This was all over a $15 ticket I had failed to pay BTW, because I had refused to hold the phone for over an hour for two consecutive days)

Well, whatever. Fuck the police -- for the most part.

[justdrew]

Well, you know the only real way to reform the police is to become the police. They do hire, and if, lets just say a more diverse population did the job, that would help a lot.

So be like Dim, Join the Police, and beat the shit out of injustice.

[8bitagent]

disconnect squared...

http://oliviaacole.wordpress.com/2014/1 ... ic-garner/

[seemslikeadream]

About 200 people met the marchers as they reached Rosebud around noon, activists said. A display of fried chicken, a melon and a 40-ounce beer bottle had been placed in the street. A Confederate flag flew. Counter-protestors shouted racial epithets.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/182 ... -marching/

[stickdog99]

Aside from clear institutionalized racism, there is another issue here that overrides the details of any of these specific cases.

Should cops have a license to kill with impunity anyone who doesn't immediately understand and comply with their instructions?

Because it is clear that cops do indeed have this license in practice. And they don't even have to face criminal trials, much less punishment, for killing people, even when their actions are caught on video.

Just 41 officers even charged with manslaughter or murder in the entire US over a recent 7 year period

Check out hard it is for a cop to be punished for killing somebody in Texas.

More on cops' license to kill

[IanEye]

During a CNN discussion on race relations, the racial divide grows before your very eyes.

*









*

[8bitagent]

I had tears streaming down my face both from seeing the cops kill Eric Garner in broad daylight as hes begging for his life but also at seeing...SO. MANY. People of all races shutting down city after city after city.
This is beyond the Bush era protests and Occupy, which never had a solid singular voice. If we want true change on all issues regarding the environment, injustice, inequality, etc I feel it's starting this
this situation. I've never seen such solidarity. I know I've made a lot of criticism about what I see as white privilege hipster college kids, but here they are side by side by the tens of thousands in every city being arrested
and putting their saftey on the line. It's definitely a new era happening.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/05/justice/n ... ?hpt=hp_t2

That video is so inspiring.

On a practical legal matter? How did the jury not idict? Even mass murderer Bush said he was shocked and surprised by the no verdict.

[NaturalMystik]

The chair of Toronto's police Association is in a lot of hot water for posting the above image.

All I have to say is, how many people should the cops be able to kill? This is nuts...

[Nordic]

This is just getting weird.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local ... 45511.html

Police Shoot, Kill Man With Pocket Knife Near Hollywood Walk of Fame

By Christina Cocca

Los Angeles police fatally shot a man at the crowded Hollywood and Highland intersection in Hollywood as shoppers and tourists watched.

A man with a combination pocket knife was shot and killed by police Friday night near the Hollywood Walk of Fame, police said.
Police responded to reports of a man with a deadly weapon at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue just before 7 p.m., police said.

Officers fired after seeing the man approach them while armed with a knife, said Meghan Aguilar of the LAPD. The man died in the hospital before 9:30 p.m.

A combination knife, similar to a Swiss Army Knife, was found at the scene.

Witnesses described hearing what sounded like "firecrackers" before realizing the sound was gunfire and watching crowds ducking and running away.

"I heard a series of four or five pops," witness Matthew Rojas said.

"It was very surreal," Henry Hodge said. "The cars stopped, the people stopped, and immediately people started panicking."

One woman said a man ran into a McDonald's shouting that police shot his friend, who sometimes "liked to wave a knife to scare tourists."

A graphic photo from a witness showed officers standing over a man with guns pointing toward him as he lay in a crosswalk.

This is getting so prevalent that I can't help but wonder of the PTB are behind this, trying to start some kind of furious social unrest that will consume all of our attention so that we won't notice ... What exactly??

Today the US Congress passed a resolution which is very close to a declaration of war against Russia.

[8bitagent]

This is just getting weird.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local ... 45511.html

Police Shoot, Kill Man With Pocket Knife Near Hollywood Walk of Fame

By Christina Cocca

Los Angeles police fatally shot a man at the crowded Hollywood and Highland intersection in Hollywood as shoppers and tourists watched.

A man with a combination pocket knife was shot and killed by police Friday night near the Hollywood Walk of Fame, police said.
Police responded to reports of a man with a deadly weapon at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue just before 7 p.m., police said.

Officers fired after seeing the man approach them while armed with a knife, said Meghan Aguilar of the LAPD. The man died in the hospital before 9:30 p.m.

A combination knife, similar to a Swiss Army Knife, was found at the scene.

Witnesses described hearing what sounded like "firecrackers" before realizing the sound was gunfire and watching crowds ducking and running away.

"I heard a series of four or five pops," witness Matthew Rojas said.

"It was very surreal," Henry Hodge said. "The cars stopped, the people stopped, and immediately people started panicking."

One woman said a man ran into a McDonald's shouting that police shot his friend, who sometimes "liked to wave a knife to scare tourists."

A graphic photo from a witness showed officers standing over a man with guns pointing toward him as he lay in a crosswalk.

This is getting so prevalent that I can't help but wonder of the PTB are behind this, trying to start some kind of furious social unrest that will consume all of our attention so that we won't notice ... What exactly??

Today the US Congress passed a resolution which is very close to a declaration of war against Russia.

I've spoken to much older people who recall in great detail all sorts of Chicago, LA and especially NYPD killings of unarmed black men and there definitely was not even a motion for a grand jury. People think we've come a long ways since the FBI used cops to assassinate Fred Hampton or when the FBI used Klansman to kill Viola Luizzo...but we haven't truly.

From the black dad in walmart gunned down by cops in Dayton Ohio for buying a bb airsoft toy gun to the 12 year old black kid gunned down by cops for goofing around with his friend in his backyard to countless other things...EVEN people who have questions about what really went down with Michael Brown can now see this is just an epidemic.

Even that fucktard murderer George W Bush expressed shock and dismay at the no indictment of Eric Garner. A case captured completely on camera that should convince even the most dyed in the wool racist or police defender that something terrible happened.

Again, I've made no bones from an RI perspective that as much as these unfortunate random events as Trayvon, Brown and Garner have happened(and I DO think the Garner case in particular will be the lightning rod for a new
youth movement) I share concerns that the powers that be will orchestrate something to touch off true chaos. I have some issues with a few of Obama's policies...but just imagine the unimaginable for a second.
America would end up in flames. And then all those rednecks who purchased guns since 2009 would "feel threatened" and form militias. It's been my biggest worry since Obama took office as much as I have disagreed with some of his policies. That the PTB will get some "lone racist nut". Well you know. And reading about all these endless, endless white house breaches and lax secret service. It's troubling.

Does anyone else share that concern? People talk about a nuclear device being exploded but deep down I don't think that'd ever happen. But there are, well scenarios I do worry about that seem just as explosive.

[Sounder]

This is getting so prevalent that I can't help but wonder of the PTB are behind this...

Can't help but wonder? The PTMB are always looking for patsies. The cops will continue to be brutal because it is in the interest of power to have the people to see their battle as being against thug cops rather than against our coercive and split psychical conditioning system.

trying to start some kind of furious social unrest that will consume all of our attention so that we won't notice ... What exactly??

So many things Nordic, so many things. It is seeming like everything is a distraction from everything else.

Today the US Congress passed a resolution which is very close to a declaration of war against Russia.

and, and, and, I don't even want to do the list, it's too discouraging.

[slimmouse]

I like the message of Sounder.

It's kinda like, dont give too much of a fuck about what theyre doing.

Be aware of it for sure, and pass that info on. Work against it in creative ways. After all, its destroyers that are messing with us.

That aside, the general idea would appear to be that you simply need to focus on being the very best that you can be - though not to the point of distraction, if you get my drift.

Everything else will follow - at least if the response to these incidents is anything to go by.

Edited to add - To anyone who might think that this sounds éasy for me to say, or is somehow insensitive to any of what has gone on,, I mean FFS, what am I, or you, or anyone else gonna do?

Think Creatively is the best Ive got just now.