I am amazed at technology. Last night instead of going to bed at a decent hour, I was hooked online watching a Citizen Journalist’s live feed of what was going on in Ferguson, MO. At the same time, I was listening to the St Louis PD scanner online also brought by a third-party and transmitted online.
So sometime around midnight local time, police had formed up at the location where Michael Ferguson Brown had died and the crowds seemed a bit miffed about it after receiving assurances from the chief of police that no more violent actions from them would be forthcoming that night. Apparently the presence of the Po-Po was enough excuse that some less than interested-in-the-cause individuals, even when there was no action from the police, decided at around 1:30 am local (yes, an hour and a half later) to go ahead and loot a liquor store, a dollar-type store and a beauty-supply business.
The police response was zero, even when they were a block away from the events and a police helicopter flew several times over the area and trained the spotlight over the businesses being looted.
And when journalists flocked over the locations to cover the event, they were received with threats of bodily harm bu men with their faces covered and in some instances pushed away from the parking lots and into the streets. It took at least another 30 to 40 minutes for other protesters to intervene and secure the stores from the vultures of opportunity, but by then the damage was done both in terms of monetary value and moral high ground for the protests.
I quit watching sometime after 3 am and police had still not moved to secure the businesses. And from I could gather in my Twitter feed, apparently it never happened. Some business owners however did not expect the police to be of help and kept watch over their property which remained unmolested.
Sad times we are living in when your taxpayer-funded “safety” can be manipulated in the name of politics.
UPDATE: A link to a news story showing the looting to the liquor store.
Correction: Michael Brown
Can you link the sites you used to monitor the situation? I’d like to listen in as well.
Follow #ferguson in Twitter as the feeds change. The only one remaining constant has been Alex Jones.
Michaels last name is “Brown” (I know you just had Ferguson on the brain while typing).
I’m still trying to figure out if the local PD or State boys were the ones just standing around.
The guy at Sam’s Meat Market (I believe this man is Pastor Robert White) seems to be one of few voices of reason, and he finally got some air time on the local news.
It’s heart breaking to listen to the folks who work in the stores.
Which citizen journalist are you following? I’d like to check him out, too? I just saw a young guy, Bradley Rayford, on local 5 news, who saw a fire started in Sams Mkt. and ran in and dumped 2liter soda bottles on it to out!
Also, happy to see the above picture. They have been hit twice this week, looks like they’ve had enough. Interviewed man (believe it was the owner) said he called 911. (He lives in hazelwood, sent to ferguson, sent to county, sent to state, sent back to ferguson) what a joke!
Yesterday, the police released photos, video, etc in a ‘packet’ which shows Michael Brown in a strong arm robbery, and releasing the name of the officer who shot MB. So, now they’re mad that the cops are picking on MB, by showing him rob the place. Ridiculous. But. In my mind, the shit hit the fan the minute Capt Ron Johnson from hwy patrol, was shown several times on the news voicing his disagreement with releasing the robbery video. I get that he didnt like it, however, he should have kept his fat yap shut! Capt Johnson is from Ferguson, people on All sides know and like him, the bad guys are duly afraid of him, and everybody was confident in his ability to come in and straighten this out. Instead, IMHO, all his public dissension did was give the low life’s an excuse to start all over again!
Is this or is this not, EXACTLY the point of what conservative and 2A folks have been trying to get across to the citizenry for years?? Yet, when we do, we get called repukes, tin foil hat wearing paranoids. By what I’ve seen, I no longer think I’m paranoid.
Hopefully, judging by the response of quite a few folks in Ferguson who stood up to the looters and even drug many of them physically out of the stores, maybe there is hope yet! Business owners are coming in to see people they don’t even know, who got up early in their place cleaning up already! Out in the rain and picking up the area, amazing!
Donna g
Thanks both Donna and Sunwolf. On my defense, i was still starting my first cup of coffee 😀
Besides Alex Jones which it is not the greatest source, I have not had one steady feed. Keep an eye on Twitter via #Ferguson and somebody will post them.
Unfortunately, its up to people like us to spread the news. the “old media’ needs to change.
The judge who ruled that “assault weapons” are dangerous and unusual and serve no real purpose in society needed to see pictures like these.
When did the molotov-throwing “protesters” have the moral high ground?
I have serious concerns about this situation. A couple thoughts- I think the ‘Police are the Public’ approach that Capt. Johnson is using is absolutely the right place to start. Ferguson PD was never a neutral third party, they were the protestees; it is entirely unsuprising that they failed to keep the peace. Protestations such as this do not spring up from nothing; combining this with the fact that the populace is 70%+ Black and the PD is (by observation) 70%+ White indicates that the local Police are not drawing their officers from the community, which indicates an underlying and possibly justified distrust of the PD. Considering these facts (that the police are distrusted, foreign, and the cause of the protests) it is easy to see how quickly an armed presence will push the crowd to violence. By humanizing and familiarizing the State Police, Johnson is circumventing the source of the issues. A mildly angry crowd containing (lets just say) 15 people, bent on mayem, will back those 15 ne’erdowells if the circumstances (such as the use of teargas, etc) support their assertions; the same crowd, tasked with destroying a location and resisted by simple guards who are viewed as part of the community, will rein in the 15 troublemakers. By their military and adversarial response, I think Ferguson PD unnecessarily escalated the tension. It is of note in these stories that, left to their own devices, the looters were eventually reined in by their fellow citizens, rather than captured or dispersed by force.
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