The fiasco in Ferguson shows why you don't give military equipment to cops

[Karee 4,191]

So what weapons do the public have today that hey did not have 30 years ago, when police were not outfitted like the military.

30 years ago the public probably didn't have the mass numbers of semi-automatic weapons that they have today. Not that they couldn't buy them back then. Maybe they weren't as popular as they are now. I really don't know TBH.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

30 years ago the public probably didn't have the mass numbers of semi-automatic weapons that they have today. Not that they couldn't buy them back then. Maybe they weren't as popular as they are now. I really don't know TBH.

Naw Semi-Automatic weapons have been the rage for years . Now if you mean the ones, that the anti gun people call "assault weapons" you are probably correct. However an assualt weapon is just a semi atuomatic weapon with fancy looking stocks etc.

Interesting program last night on the Bloods and Crips. The founder believed in fighting it out. Was not happy when members started carrying guns, thought it was un manly.

Edited August 14, 2014 by The Nature Boy

[GBCW 397]

[Craig's father catches him with a handgun]

Mr. Jones: What's that for?

Craig: Protection.

Mr. Jones: Protection from who?

Craig: Me and Smoke...I've got to walk Smokey down to his house.

Mr. Jones: Aw, man. Your mother and I never would've moved to this neighborhood if we'd known you need a gun to walk down the damn street.

Craig: You know how it is 'round here.

Mr. Jones: Oh, no, son. That's not the way it is. You kids have been nothin' but punks. Sissified. So quick to pick up a gun. Too scared to take an ###-whipping. [raises his fists] This is what makes you a man. When I was growing up, this was all the protection we needed. You win some, you lose some. But you live. You live to fight another day. Now you think you're a man with that gun in your hand, don't you?

Craig: I'm a man without it.

Mr. Jones: Put the gun down.

[Craig complies]

Mr. Jones: C'mon, put up your dukes.

[Craig raises his fists]

Mr. Jones: Now you're a man. Your uncle picked up a gun, too. He found out the hard way. 22 years old. You've got a choice. This is all you need, alright?

Edited August 14, 2014 by intheshadows

[Janelle2002 3,865]

The cops are staging a cop coup

[GBCW 397]

The cops are staging a cop coup

no worries. governor Nixon is relieving them of their duties.

[Janelle2002 3,865]

Here’s the deal: As a U.S. citizen, you have the right to record the police in the course of their public duties. The police don’t have a right to stop you as long as you’re not interfering with their work. They also don’t have a right to confiscate your phone or camera, or delete its contents, just because you were recording them.

Despite some state laws that make it illegal to record others without their consent, federal courts have held consistently that citizens have a First Amendment right to record the police as they perform their official duties in public. The Supreme Court also recently affirmed that the Fourth Amendment, protecting citizens from arbitrary searches and seizures, means that police need to “get a warrant” if they want to take your cellphone. (The ACLU has a concise guide to your rights, here.) And the U.S. Department of Justice under President Obama has affirmed the court’s stances by reminding police departments that they’re not allowed to harass citizens for recording them.

Sadly, these rights are not always respected by the police. Even journalists are being harassed in Ferguson in the course of their reporting. Earlier in the evening, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery and Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly were arrested in a McDonald’s and later released with no explanation. Washington Postexecutive editor Martin D. Baron said Lowery was “illegally instructed to stop taking video of officers” and “slammed against a soda machine and then handcuffed.”

It’s obviously bad when reporters are being arrested for no reason, but it’s important to remember that all citizens — anybody who’s old enough to operate a smartphone — has a right to record the official activities of police in public.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Here’s the deal: As a U.S. citizen, you have the right to record the police in the course of their public duties. The police don’t have a right to stop you as long as you’re not interfering with their work. They also don’t have a right to confiscate your phone or camera, or delete its contents, just because you were recording them.

Despite some state laws that make it illegal to record others without their consent, federal courts have held consistently that citizens have a First Amendment right to record the police as they perform their official duties in public. The Supreme Court also recently affirmed that the Fourth Amendment, protecting citizens from arbitrary searches and seizures, means that police need to “get a warrant” if they want to take your cellphone. (The ACLU has a concise guide to your rights, here.) And the U.S. Department of Justice under President Obama has affirmed the court’s stances by reminding police departments that they’re not allowed to harass citizens for recording them.

Sadly, these rights are not always respected by the police. Even journalists are being harassed in Ferguson in the course of their reporting. Earlier in the evening, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery and Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly were arrested in a McDonald’s and later released with no explanation. Washington Postexecutive editor Martin D. Baron said Lowery was “illegally instructed to stop taking video of officers” and “slammed against a soda machine and then handcuffed.”

It’s obviously bad when reporters are being arrested for no reason, but it’s important to remember that all citizens — anybody who’s old enough to operate a smartphone — has a right to record the official activities of police in public.

Police state. What police state.. Media being ordred to turn cameras off TSK TSK... All of us need to be worried. Black/White/Conversation/Liberal even us middle of the road guys .

[Janelle2002 3,865]

Police state. What police state.. Media being ordred to turn cameras off TSK TSK... All of us need to be worried. Black/White/Conversation/Liberal even us middle of the road guys .

Another agreement point for me and you buddy!

When the police can tell the media they cannot report news, we have a problem. They also tear gased the reporters.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Another agreement point for me and you buddy!

When the police can tell the media they cannot report news, we have a problem. They also tear gased the reporters.

Freaking so out of control Fascist pigs

[Janelle2002 3,865]

[Operator 1,927]

That's a funny lookin vigil candle.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Operator

[SMOKE 1,426]

That's a funny lookin vigil candle.

hush. 'the system failed them'

[Janelle2002 3,865]

That's a funny lookin vigil candle.

I the white woman standing there while they are doing this. The system failed them all, not just the black people doing it. lol

[Sousuke 1,214]

I guess when the population is armed to the teeth, the cops have to be as well. Another insane result of the "right to bear arms"

Yeah because the rioters are clearly armed, have suicide vests etc. Get real.

Its a major overreaction. Maybe you skim read over the part where they called the crowd 'animals' or where they shot tear gas at a man on his own property.

[waka1 28]

But the great irony of this story is that the military itself would never behave so crudely. And that is precisely why it is beyond reckless to let a bunch of local cops get their hands on a high-grade military arsenal.

On President Clinton watch: 1997 War on drugs, to War on Citizens, 2014

Meet Clinton's '1033 Program'

One of the ways police departments have armed themselves in recent years is through the Defense Department's excess property program, known as the 1033 Program. It "permits the Secretary of Defense to transfer, without charge, excess U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) personal property (supplies and equipment) to state and local law enforcement agencies (LEAs)," according to the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center.

The 1033 program has transferred more than $4.3 billion in equipment since its inception in 1997. In 2013 alone it gave nearly half a billion dollars worth of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, according to the program's website.