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| "Enemy combatants" getting uppity in USA? |
We can argue about the looting and brick-throwing. We can argue about what constitutes a race “riot” these days -- and why in the world we are seeing teargas being shot every other evening in the suburbs, or why Jim Crow-reminiscent police dogs are being released in the year 2014.
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| Charlie-Bravo-Haji, we see them coming. Arm up the MRAP before they lawyer up. |
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There are a lot of things worth arguing about now that the world’s eyes are focused on Ferguson, Missouri, a town where two-thirds of the population is black yet 50 of the 53 police offers there are white and where one of those officers infamously gunned down an unarmed black kid in broad daylight.
But here is something that makes no sense: Ferguson (population 21,135) has about 40 robberies per year, a couple of homicides, almost no arson cases, and a crime rate only a bit higher than the national average. Indeed, the town’s crime rate was going down as of two years ago, when the last major data set is available. Ditto in neighboring St. Louis.
Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAP) save military lives while killing lots of bystanders and civilians. Oh well. Survivors share stories. Since it was established in October 2006, the Joint MRAP Vehicle Program has delivered more than 26, 000 MRAP vehicles to Iraq and Afghanistan. This is the largest acquisition program for the Department of Defense since World War II. Video courtesy of Marines TV (player.theplatform.com). Still want to glorify war? Then visit jieddo.dod.mil or why not follow the militants on Twitter (twitter.com/JIEDDO) while being spied by Facebook (facebook.com/TheJIEDDO)?
Now St. Louis isn’t exactly the ideal of safety, but two years ago the St. Louis Police Department acquired a Lenco BearCat armored military vehicle, a “tactical support vehicle,” and a helicopter that’s popular with the Korean Air Force. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security donated a 22-ton Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle -- the thing the US military used on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan -- to the police department in nearby St. Charles, Missouri (population 66,463).
More - Latest - Most Read - Did you miss it... The Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV) is a tracked armored engineer vehicle specifically designed for conducting in-stride breaching of minefields and complex obstacles (armyrecognition.com). The ABV is built on the same chassis as the General Dynamics-built M1A1 Abrams main battle tank. The Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV) is a single platform that will provide deliberate and in-stride breaching capability to the assault force of the Marine Air Ground Task Force. Army Recognition online Defence & Security magazine (eurosatory.com). 
America now has a domestic police force that looks, thinks and acts more like an invading and occupying military than a community-based force to protect the public.
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This new documentary highlights worker-owned enterprises in North America and the remarkable Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque region of northern Spain.
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Like other water-related crises this year in West Virginia and Detroit, the poisoning of Toledo's water is tied to corruption at the highest levels of state government by corporate special interests.
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"I’m an engineer, not a politician. I don’t want the stage. I’m terrified of giving these talking heads some distraction, some excuse to jeopardize, smear, and delegitimize a very important movement.”
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