Ferguson is what happens when white suburban cops get weapons of war

[Von Halen]

My "ghetto" is nothing like what you are accustomed to in the States, lol.

Canada's "ghetto" is nicer than America's "ghetto"?

[ELVIS]

More whales...

[binnie]

So, it's a white problem ??

I figured that this article would fit into your world-view: 'the government is coming to get us: look how well armed they are, it's a police state'.

[FORD]

Canada's "ghetto" is nicer than America's "ghetto"?

Less guns, more health care.

[Angel]

Canada's "ghetto" is nicer than America's "ghetto"?

The hood I live in would be classified a working class neighbourhood in the States.

Vancouver's east side would be more like what you're accustomed to.

[Seshmeister]

So are whites gonna go looting and tearing shit up and carrying on and on about blacks taunting and threatening whites....
...if its found that the "po' in'cent lil black bouy" was indeed threatening and charging the police officer...

If you lived in a town where most of the people were white yet 94% of the police, 83% of the council and the mayor were all black and they had all the money and they kept searching and hassling white people every day until they got you on a misdemeanor making you unemployable, I think that's possible.

[DONNIEP]

So, it's a white problem ??

Hello - everything is a white problem. Honkies are the root of all evil. Just think how wonderful this country would be if we got rid of all the Honkies...

[Kristy]

You would think that a police force sworn to protect us would make us more safe with tanks and assault rifles in waiting, but an ACLU report released this summer – examining just 800 incidents of the estimated 45,000 annual Swat team deployments in America – found the opposite: seven people were killed and dozens were injured, including a baby – and 61% of people impacted by drug-case Swat raids were minorities.

Yes, one would think that.

Kara Dansky, the chief author of the ACLU report, told me this week that “the unnecessary use of paramilitary policing tactics tends to escalate the risk of violence to both civilians and officers.” She said there is no central tracking system of the military equipment going out to local police departments – just as there is no oversight on how the equipment is used, or any reporting requirements other than hitting drug-enforcement numbers that bring in more cash to the local PD. One Georgia Congressman wants to introduce real federal oversight , but it’s currently very difficult to know exactly which police department has what, how much they paid for it or what they use it for.

Dansky is therefore a clueless idiot. The genesis in the reason(s) why police have become so militaristic lies right in the hands of the feds who give money to thugs to keep America's "War On Drugs" funded and to keep the private prison-for-profit industry booming. This has zero to do with terrorism as much has it does big business. Take away the fed money, you take away the police from ever possessing such dangerous toys. You don't need such combative firepower to do a SWAT raid or take out a local meth dealer.

Of course, the ones to truly blame for this shit is ourselves. Stop glorifying the military in movies, TV shows (especially cops shows) and at sporting events. The military is all about death and annihilation, that is their job not the twisted paraphernalia worship of death and annihilation. Quit indoctrinating children that this shit is "cool" or wave (Chinese made) American flags at parades where military property is being put on display. End this shitty and ridiculous "War On Drugs" with education and no guns and give the fucking people their right to peacefully protest without being in the crosshairs of a high-powered rifle.

Lastly, you can all go and fuck yourselves.

[Kristy]

Hello - everything is a white problem. Honkies are the root of all evil. Just think how wonderful this country would be if we got rid of all the Honkies...

You know, however much I love knocking the shit out of submissive men who ask to be beaten, I'd simply kick your ass for the fun of it.

[DONNIEP]

You know, however much I love knocking the shit out of submissive men who ask to be beaten, I'd simply kick your ass for the fun of it.

No you wouldn't. You like me too much.

[Kristy]

No, I like hurting people much more.







(I really do)

[Sensible Shoes]

Kristy is a dominatrix? It would explain so much.

[fraroc]

I think this reporter and many others are putting the cart a little before the horse:

Ferguson didn't "start" because a local police department went parading their military gear up and down the streets of the 'hood. It "started" when people used a shooting that is still under investigation as the impetus to destroy other people's property and toss molatov cocktails at police officers. Granted, it looks like the local cops might not be the most tolerant folks, but the equipment used to respond to riot situations didn't start anything.

That provocative photo in the story of sniper on top of truck? Standard ops for force protection in any riot situation. Does the gear look a little scarier nowadays? Yeah, maybe. But both my father and a good friend were on SWAT teams back in the day (god... I sound like Nitro), and they found themselves in that stance on more than one occasion. Just back then it was on top of a van that carried the response team to a situation.

The reporter also neglects to mention that many of the "militarized" vehicles have armor and other aspects removed before they end up in local department hands. I know this because (here I go as Nitro again), a friend is Capt. of a local dept. that just received that very same vehicle. The choice was to receive a well made, heavy duty vehicle designed to transport officers in the event of an emergency at basically no cost, or try and come up with the money to buy something. Nobody wants taxes raised = no new vehicle.

Right down to the camo uni's, I think a lot of this is local budget driven, not "organized militarization". Local depts. get quality built stuff on the cheap because it's surplus or not needed. (Weird thing though... through most the grants that handle the vehicles, if a local dept. decides they don't actually need it they can't give the damn things back or sell them!

Even if Mike Brown wasn't innocent, there is no denying that Ferguson happened because Racism is still alive and well in America.

[Kristy]

Kristy is a dominatrix? It would explain so much.

How else would I be paying for grad school? With my charm?

[Seshmeister]

I thought maybe you gave private classes in anger management.