St. Louis Riots

[Staggerwing]

Stay safe.

[BanzaiCat]

I heard on the radio this morning of a reporter, with something burning behind them and people (predictably) acting like idiots in front of the camera, when someone yelled "FUCK CNN!" Of course, the reporter apologized to the audience for the potty language. Never mind that the city is burning in the background, that people are behaving worse than animals which is made worse by their cameras...God forbid we have bad language on TV! Gasp!  ::)

The media really needs a massive bitchslap upside their collective heads.

[Greybriar]

These St. Louis Riots are reminiscent of the Watts Riot. Some people will use anything as an excuse to cover up their misbehavior.

[LongBlade]

The people of Ferguson are going to wake up tomorrow poorer and with less services than they did before sundown. 

This.

What a shame.

Swatter, I hope you and your wife are and remain safe.

[BanzaiCat]

I hope you stay safe as well, Swatter. Watch your six.

I think Ferguson as a whole could do with a little Eric Idle this morning:

[airboy]

The evidence heard by the Grand Jury has been publically released.  It can be found at:
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/11/us/ferguson-grand-jury-docs/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

This is highly unusual in the USA.  Grand Jury evidence is usually secret since it does not follow the same rule of evidence as a court proceeding.  For example, the defense does not get to supply its own evidence, cross examine witnesses, etc.....

As a result, you have a much more public disclosure of essential facts than you normally do.

[LongBlade]

The evidence heard by the Grand Jury has been publically released.  It can be found at:
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/11/us/ferguson-grand-jury-docs/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

This is highly unusual in the USA.  Grand Jury evidence is usually secret since it does not follow the same rule of evidence as a court proceeding.  For example, the defense does not get to supply its own evidence, cross examine witnesses, etc.....

As a result, you have a much more public disclosure of essential facts than you normally do.

I wish it mattered, but I don't think it will.

[LongBlade]

The real shame here is that a good officer is now going to resign over this whole mess. He did nothing wrong yet it seems like he's being punished.

A guy dedicates himself to the service of the community and is driven from it for his good works.

It's a shame no one is talking about that.

[airboy]

According to the Grand Jury testimony, this was the only instance in Officer Wilson's career where he shot someone.

[LongBlade]

According to the Grand Jury testimony, this was the only instance in Officer Wilson's career where he shot someone.

Yup. Heard that.

28 years old and his career is over. :(

[OJsDad]

Sounds like the Brown family is now questioning the way the Prosecutor ran the Grand Jury.

[bayonetbrant]

Sounds like the Brown family is now questioning the way the Prosecutor ran the Grand Jury.

They're not the only ones.  I know a lot of people on both sides of the argument that are wondering why he ran it the way he did.

[airboy]

The District Attorney (a Democrat) gave the Grand Jury the entire laundry list of potential crimes to charge Officer Wilson with.  So the Grand Jury had all of the options on the table.

The DA also provided all of the information that they had.  You can see online for yourself everything the Grand Jury considered.

The only thing that the DA did not do was advocate (or push) for an inditement for one of the charges.  But in a politically charged case such as this, pushing a particular charge (or not) would also be second-guessed as bias.

It seems like a chunk of the people just wanted a lynch mob.  Their minds were already made up and no amount of evidence would persuade them otherwise.  I draw this harsh conclusion because the evidence that the Grand Jury saw is publically available, and nobody is making claims that the Grand Jury misread the evidence or made an irrational decision.  I'm sure that individuals and academics will study this information at great length in the coming days, weeks and months - but at least the initial information is that the Grand Jury had all of the evidence, potential charges, etc.... and decided not to indite Wilson.

[BanzaiCat]

The rioting is highly disturbing, but the pictures of those idiots burning American flags is even more so.

[Hot lead and dirty talk!]

It doesn't matter if J.C. himself came down and testified. There are certain segments of society that refuse to accept blame for anything.

Let me me see what we have so far

-The officer was racist (nope)
-The Ferguson Police department has a history of shooting and mistreating blacks (nope)
-The Police Chief is racist for showing a video of Mike Brown showing his true colors.(nope, this is relevant and is a fact)
-Mike Brown was only shop lifting (nope)
-He was shot in the back (nope)
-He was shot while surrendering (nope)
-Wilson was fired from his last police dept. (nope)
-Brown was just about to attend college (not proven, but I doubt it)
-Brown was a good student (5 high schools in 4 years?!)

-He needs to go to a GJ, and when does and they don't like the outcome, it's because

-The prosecutor always works with Ferguson PD (nope)
-The prosecutor is biased only towards this case. The reason, after being a States attorney for over 20 years, he suddenly is unfit to try THIS case, because his dad was murdered 50 years ago
-There weren't enough black jurors (juries are pulled from counties, not cities and this is the correct racial break down)
-There was too much evidence presented (really, really?!!!!)
-It wasn't transparent enough (compared to what?)
-My favorite, our own President says there is something wrong with our laws!!!!!!!