Police are good except... (cartoons)

Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; PasadenaWeekly.com; LA Times; JimmyDoreComedy.com; Stephanie McMillan; SCPR

"Don't worry, folks!" Police can do whatever they are allowed to get away with (McMillan)

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CHP outlines possible charges against officer in senseless freeway beating of helpless, elderly woman

Obey me, obey me, obey me...or else!

(Frank Stoltze/SCPR) The case, which has attracted national attention, sparked angry outrage from civil rights activists who called it a clear case of excessive use of force

Ex-L.A. sheriff's deputy arrested for child pornography
Robert J. Lopez (latimes.com, Aug. 21, 2014)
Former deputy Lorne Reed [who allegedly committed sexual crimes against children while working as an L.A. sheriff's deputy] was arrested. He is accused of using the Internet to distribute child pornography.
 

Maybe he was just shopping at Amer App?

A former sheriff's deputy was arrested on suspicion of circulating child pornography, authorities said Wednesday night.

Lorne Reed, 32, was taken into custody after authorities with a multiagency task force served a search warrant Wednesday at his Santa Fe Springs home, according to the LAPD. Reed's two children were home at the time [Daddy, why are your co-workers taking you away in handcuffs?] and were turned over to the county's Department of Children and Family Services. [Daddy, why are the bad men taking us away, too?!]

Hi, Officer Friendly! - Hey, kids, wanna be in movies?

LAPD officials said an investigation was launched in April after Reed was suspected of using the Internet to share child pornography. The task force includes local police and federal agents who investigate allegations against people who use the Internet to contact children or share child porn.
 
Officer Reed [was likely asked and agreed to resign] from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in February 2013, an agency spokeswoman said. But she had no additional details [or at least none that she wanted to disclose] regarding the resignation. Reed was being held in lieu of $20,000 at the LAPD's Metro Jail Division. More

Riots in Ferguson as distrust of police grows
André Coleman (Breaking Points, Pasadena Weekly, 8/21/14); edited by Wisdom Quarterly

As "rioting" continued for a second week in Ferguson, Missouri, and a recent ACLU report released two weeks ago is making the militarization of police a national concern, the mother of an unarmed black teenager who was murdered by Pasadena police criticized the arms buildup. And she is calling for an end to the targeting of blacks and Latinos by law enforcement agencies.

In Ferguson, located about 12 miles northwest of St. Louis, demonstrations broke out on Aug. 10 after six-year veteran police Officer Darren Wilson shot unarmed Michael Brown, 18. According to a witness, Brown had his hands in the air when he was [executed] by Wilson.

Strange Fruit in Ferguson, Missouri (thenation.com)

(telesurtv.net/english) - For many politicians, Ferguson isn't happening (thenation.com)

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According to famed forensic pathologist Michael Baden, who was working for Brown family to try to get an objective autopsy [untainted by a police cover up, which he was kept from completing because he was DENIED clothing to analyze and tissue samples for independent forensic tests], the teenager was shot six times -- twice in the head and four times in the arm [possibly in a surrendering or self-defensive posture], with one of those shots entering the top his skull. The Justice Department is planning to conduct a third autopsy on the youth. More
 

South Pasadena shooting plot: Students "wanted to kill as many people as possible"

[But because they're white and affluent, we'll try to let them off on significantly lesser charges; the poor scamps have been through enough already!]

(SCPR/AP) Police said Tuesday that two teenage students, one 17 and one 16, “confirmed very cold-heartedly in the investigation” that they were planning a shooting at the school.

• Mike Brown: Clashes in Ferguson as Nat'l Guard arrives
• L.A. to pay $5M to family of man killed by police downtown
• U.S. police [claim to] come under gunfire, arrest 31 in Missouri racial unrest
• Reporter’s death galvanizes anger, little action

• Wildfire near Yosemite threatens 500 structures
• VIDEO: Man shot to death by police in St. Louis
• 8 homes destroyed, 1,500 threatened by wildfire

Soren "Wildfire Weenies." Only someone else can prevent forest fires (JenSorensen.com)

• PHOTOS: [Due to the mass killing of sharks -- 100 million a year -- for shark fin soup and other shortsighted endeavors] Blue jellyfish are washing up on beaches by the billions

A Voice From Within

Carl Kozlowski (Arts, Pasadena Weekly, 8/21/14)

(jimmydorecomedy.com)

Comedian, Pacifica Radio host, [our friend], and Pasadena-based author Jimmy Dore uses humor to inspire people to activism. (He came to tell jokes at Occupy L.A. and for U.S. soldiers abroad).

 

There are lots of things about this country that annoy comedian Jimmy Dore.

One is how fat cats always get richer and pay fewer taxes while leaving regular folks holding the bag. Another is how the government pleads poverty when the time comes to repair America’s infrastructure, yet can bail out Wall Street bankers to the tune of $2 billion a week.

But most of Dore’s contempt is for the media. While he is best known as a nationally headlining club comedian with two acclaimed Comedy Central specials, Dore has earned the right to criticize the media because he is now part of it.

As the host of “The Jimmy Dore Show” each week on KPFK 90.7 FM and Pacifica radio stations nationwide, and as a member of the highly popular Web-based political commentary series “The Young Turks,” Dore has shown that he has a freewheeling political instinct that owes loyalty to nothing but the truth.

He’s now collected his views into a bitingly funny book called Your Country Is Just Not That Into You, which the Pasadena resident will discuss and sign at 7:00 pm next Thursday at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena. 

“The media used to be the watchdogs, but they’ve been bought by the people they’re supposed to be investigating,” says Dore.

“NBC didn’t give you the facts about Iraq because they’re owned by defense contractors. You’ll never get the truth, just false equivalency, saying there are two sides to every story like global warming [or Israel's oppression of the remaining civilian ghettos of "Palestine" painted as a fight between two roughly equal professional militaries]. I say there are not two sides to the truth. Don’t give us talking points. Give us the truth.” More

Police state abuses, live in Fergistan (video)

Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Ryan Devereaux (FirstLook.org/TheIntercept); Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez (DemocracyNow.org, 8-20-14)

Do Americans know they're being spied on in Ferguson and all throughout USA?

Rubber Bullets, Tear Gas and Jail: Ferguson Police Crack Down on Journalists Covering Protests

Obama watches (firstlook.org/theintercept)

FERGUSON, Missouri - Protests over the fatal police shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown have continued for a 10th night in "Fergistan, USA." Protesters are calling for the arrest of a killer cop, Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who shot the unarmed teenager six [to eight] times, including twice in the head.

Guns in police hands (ThisModernWorld)

According to The New York Times, Attorney General Eric Holder and top Justice Department officials are weighing whether to open a broader civil rights investigation to look at Ferguson’s police practices in general.

Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the Ferguson Police Department to stop harassing and detaining journalists. At least 11 journalists have been detained while covering the protests sparked by the shooting of Brown. We speak to Ryan Devereaux of The Intercept. On Monday night covering the demonstrations, he was terrorized, shot by a rubberized bullet, arrested, and jailed overnight in spite of -- or possibly because of -- identifying himself as a member of the media.

 

"Not Acceptable in a Civilized Society": Pastor on Ferguson Police Targeting Traumatized Youth

 

"They Are All Michael Brown": State Senator Defends Protesters Seeking Justice in Police Shooting

 

Stop the Violence from Ferguson to Gaza: 90-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Arrested in St. Louis

HEADLINES 

• Police: 47 Arrested on 10th Night of Protests in Ferguson
• St. Louis police murder black man miles from protests
• Top U.N. human rights official: "Apartheid is flourishing" in parts of U.S.
• NFL players hold up hands in solidarity with Ferguson
• Pentagon defends its program That Supplied Military Gear to Ferguson Police
• Grand Jury to consider NYPD chokehold killing of Eric Garner by group of officers on pretext of selling loose cigarettes
• Israel resumes its criminal assault on civilian Gaza Strip; 11 Palestinians murdered
• Israeli-Palestinian truce talks break down in Cairo
• Oakland: Protesters continue bid to block unloading of Israeli ship [protest and blockade of ship will continue farther north]
• Islamic State says U.S. journalist James Foley was publicly beheaded in revenge for Iraq airstrikes
• Iraqi forces seek to reclaim Tikrit from Islamic State
• Ebola deaths top 1,200; Liberia imposes curfew, isolates slum
• 31 arrested in Ferguson protests overnight; 2 shot during unrest
• Brown Family attorney: Autopsy backs up witness accounts of fatal shooting
• Obama raises concerns about police militarization in post-shooting paramilitary crackdown
• Israel, Hamas extend truce for 24 hours; key differences remain
• U.N. agency: Gaza can’t return to blockade conditions
• Israel blocks Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch from Gaza
• Obama hails "major step" as Kurdish, Iraqi forces claim to retake Mosul dam
• Islamic State video threatens attacks on Americans
• Ukraine, rebels trade allegations of civilian killings
• Unidentified warplanes strike militias in Libya
• Tens of thousands rally in Pakistan anti-gov’t protests
• Nazi resister returns Holocaust medal to Israel after Israel kills relatives in Gaza
• Autopsy: Michael Brown shot 6 times, twice in head
• [Distant, possibly racist] Missouri governor orders National Guard into Ferguson as protests flare [on latest revelations of police cover up]
• Syrian gov’t renews airstrikes on ISIL

VIDEO: "We are all Michael Brown" — NYC parents whose kids were murdered by police rally for justice 

• "A Human Rights Crisis": In unprecedented move, Amnesty International sends monitors to Ferguson [Egypt calls for US military restraint]
• Armed w/ military-grade weapons, Missouri police crack down on right to protest over Michael Brown murder
• The killing of Michael Brown: Missouri Police shooting of unarmed black teen sparks days of protests 
• Noam Chomsky: Israel’s actions in Palestine are "much worse than Apartheid" in South Africa

A Night in Ferguson: Rubber bullets, tear gas, and a jail cell

Ryan Devereaux (firstlook.org/TheIntercept, August 19, 2014)

Late Monday evening, after many of the major media outlets covering the protests in Ferguson, had left the streets to broadcast from their set-ups near the police command center, heavily armed officers raced through suburban streets in armored [military] vehicles, chasing demonstrators, launching tear gas [and potentially lethal projectiles] on otherwise quiet residential lanes, and shooting at journalists. Their efforts More

Intercept reporter shot with rubber bullets and arrested while covering Ferguson protests

John Cook (The Intercept, Aug. 19 2014)

Intercept reporter Ryan Devereaux was arrested this morning while on the ground covering the protests in Ferguson, Mo. According to St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer David Carson, who witnessed the apprehension, Devereaux [was needlessly shot with a projectile] and a German reporter he was with were both taken into custody by members of a police tactical team. They were handcuffed and placed... More

Overpoliced and Underprotected (video)

Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman (Democracy Now)

"Overpoliced & Underprotected": In Michael Brown killing, neglect and contempt of black communities is laid bare

Continuing to discuss developments since the murder of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer, Democracy Now! turns to John A. Powell, professor of law, African American studies, and ethnic studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society. "The black community tends be overpoliced and underprotected," Powell says. "That’s a very serious problem."

Activist: For a new generation, Ferguson marks historic nonviolent-resistance to militant police repression

 

Pastor: In Ferguson's police crackdown, I need a gas mask more than my clerical collar

St. Louis Activist: Decades after 1968 urban uprisings, key economic & race issues remain unresolved

(Democracy Now) FULL EPISODE, April 19, 2014

Breaking Rank: Exposing U.S. Police (video)

Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; Norm Stamper; Alan Pelc

American police state USA, Indiana law shooting by police (lrjtv)

(Alan Pelc) What does the officer/murderer do exactly at Minute 2:02? Give himself a manly gorilla-style "Yeah!" like a footballer who just made a touchdown?
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Cop's Expose of Dark Side of American Policing

Opening with a powerful letter to former Tacoma police chief, David Brame, who executed his estranged wife before turning the gun on himself, author and former chief of the Seattle police force Norm Stamper introduces us to the violent, secret world of domestic abuse that cops perpetrate and navigate.

Former chief of the Seattle police force, Stamper goes on to expose much more: a troubling culture of racism, sexism, and homophobia that is still pervasive within the 21st century force. He then explores how such prejudices can be addressed.

 

He reveals the dangers and temptations that civilian cops face, describing in gripping detail the split-second life-and-death decisions. Former police chief Stamper draws on lessons learned to make powerful arguments for drug decriminalization, abolition of the death penalty, and radically revised approaches to prostitution and gun control.

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(Alan Pelc) When police kill, it's "Die, motherfather, die die!" that is, "No Warning Shot"
 

I'm going home tonight, but you're not.

He offers penetrating insights into the "blue wall of silence," police undercover work, and what it means to kill a man. 

Stamper gives his personal account of the World Trade Organization (WTO) debacle of 1999, when protests he was in charge of controlling turned violent on the streets of Seattle.

Breaking Rank reveals Norm Stamper as a brave man, a pioneering public servant whose extraordinary life has been dedicated to the service of a community [he abused as a police officer and attempts to now make right by revealing the truth about American policing]. More
 
Los Angeles protesters rally in front of LAPD headquarters

Southern California Public Radio (SCPR.org/KPCC FM with contributions by Frank Stoltze); Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

LOS ANGELES, California - Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Los Angeles yesterday [Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014] to vent their anger at police shooting to of death unarmed black man Ezell Ford, who was killed by police in South LA on Monday night. 

 

Carrying signs and chanting "We are all Ezell," the crowd stopped at the LA Police Department's headquarters, where several protesters spoke. Marchers then continued to Union Station and La Placita, through Little Tokyo into Chinatown, then back to City Hall [in the vicinity of the Occupy Movement's violently evicted encampment].
 
"I think there continues to be a dehumanization of black and brown people in this country," said Susanna Parras, 31, a public school social worker from South LA.
 
Many people carried signs with the names of both Ezell Ford and Michael Brown, the 18-year-old African American teen shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri. "I'm here to support the right of black and brown folks to live with peace and dignity," said Alex Villapando, 31, of South LA.
 

Protests? We (NYPD) can take of that the way we did in Iraq and Afghanistan (theblaze.com)

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Ford, 25, was shot by members of LAPD's Gang Enforcement Detail Monday evening after he reportedly tackled officers and reached for one of their guns. Family members say Ezell was known to have mental problems and question why he was stopped in the first place.
 

Syria leader would side with LAPD

But many people were suspicious of the department's version of events. [Eyewitnesses saw no struggle, just an execution. The reason police execute victims is so there were ill be no story to counter their version of events: "No person, no problem." In this way they are able to "justify" their acts by collectively inventing stories that would legally justify their actions. This crime by officers is a separate felony called "conspiracy" and suggests premeditation, which means police are "murdering" victims not inadvertently shooting them during arrest.]

• [Reports are that police took a mentally ill black man playing basketball alone in the park into their custody, dragged him into the public restroom, and proceeded to beat him severely for no reason better than the joy of beating someone who could do nothing about it. This may be the Ford case or another recently reported in LA County. Protesters are upset about all such recent and long-running abuses.] 

Police are stuck in the mire of murdering us.

Too many black men have been shot and killed by police, said Andrew Nance, 38, of Mid-Wilshire. "I'm out here because I have an 8-year-old daughter," he said. "I think she has the right to know her father throughout her life, without fear that he may be get mowed down in the streets by the people who are sworn to protect."

Police gave the crowd a good deal of room to move, allowing them to march in the middle of the street in some areas. An LAPD spokesperson said this was done deliberately to keep things calm and because the streets were less crowded on a Sunday.
 

There are murderers with badges in LAPD

"I think the LAPD has learned, maybe, how to relate to the public. They're not trying instigate something like Ferguson," Alex Villapando explained.​
 
Sunday night's rally in LA echoed protests taking place around the U.S. following the murder by police of Michael Brown, who was killed by police last week in Ferguson Missouri -- where officials are actively attempting to cover up and disseminate information to mar victim Brown's character and muddy the water even as a private autopsy has just revealed that the teen was shot at least six times, twice in the head -- prompting rallies that have turned violent in recent days.
 
On Saturday, Missouri's governor declared a state of emergency and placed a midnight curfew on the St. Louis suburb. More

• VIDEO: New LAPD Chief (New Boss Same as the Old Boss) wants peace in the Middle East -- but how? A police state?

The Burning Continues across USA

CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; SCPR.org; TheGuardian.com

Ukraine tired of police abuse then lost Crimea

A wildfire burning in a steep, remote area of the Angeles National Forest is 90 percent contained and no flames were showing.

 

Forest spokesperson Justin Tyler says crews made good progress Friday against the fire that has charred 190 acres of dry brush and chaparral. He says crews are busy dousing hotspots.

 

The blaze was reported shortly before 1:00 pm Thursday above the foothill city of Glendora, northeast of Los Angeles. No buildings are threatened.

 
Two firefighters received heat-related injuries and a third was cut while battling the flames in hot, dry weather. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Saying NO to Israel

The Guardian via Transudationism

(We Blocked the Boat!)  Blockade succeeds as word spreads that ship is off the coast of California, closer to Santa Cruz, and will not be docking that day

An Israeli ship that was scheduled to dock at the port of Oakland in California on Saturday [Aug. 16, 2014] remained at sea as between 2,000 and 3,000 pro-Palestinian Northern California activists streamed towards the port entrance, chanting and waving flags. The protesters intended to form a picket line to prevent work crews from unloading the ship. Activists had originally planned to meet at 5:00 am for a blockade of the Zim Integrated Shipping Services vessel, but word that its arrival had been delayed prompted organizers to push the protest back until later in the afternoon. More

When Pigs Surf

Jesus Christ lizard running across stream

(GoPro) Kama can hang ten in Hawaii because pigs, like other four-legged animals, can swim simply by walking in (not on) water. Except for the Jesus Lizard the Basilisk, who can walk on water (like naga-dragons or snakes who fly in Southeast Asia). How is it this gentle man can go from loving a piglet, one of the smartest and most sensitive creatures in the animal realm, yet eat it with an apple in its mouth or as bacon or as thoracic area "ribs" with BBQ sauce? Guess most people only think they "love" animals until their conditioning kicks in. Our minds being colonized to think flesh eating is "normal," we simply follow this training which goes against our nature, which is basically good.

LA Police Dept. kills, Ferguson burns (cartoon)

Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S., Wisdom Quarterly; Tom Tomorrow (This Modern World); Branden Caldwell (dayandadream); Earl Ofari Hutchinson

"Officer Friendly, why are you dressed like Darth Vader?" (thismodernworld.com)*

Our tax money funds all U.S. imperial wars. It's about time the military-industrial complex bring the equipment/tactics back and use them on US from Ferguson to L.A. (occupy.com)

Words from Malcolm X in 1964 still resonate in 2014 for Michael Brown, Renisha McBride, Trayvon Martin, Ezell Ford, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima, Steve Biko, Eleanor Bumpurs, Michael Strewart, Rodney King, and for all the names we don’t know. #WeAreTargets #HandsUp #DontShoot (cashmerethoughtsss/tumblr.com)

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C'mon, Brown (occupy.com)

It's easy when the U.S.-backed Israeli government is committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other assorted atrocities to blame "Jews."

If we were Trayvon Martin then, we're Michael Brown now!

But there are a few who are not to blame -- brave individuals who stand up, speak truth to power, shout "Not in my name!" and work for peace and equity -- and so it is better not to cast the net so wide as to seem to be blaming someone for something just because of their religious/cultural baggage. (Take CODEPINK/codepink.org, for example, or IJAN/ijsn.net).

Ferguson father on police brutality (DAAD)

The same is true of P.D.-backed police agents committing civilian crimes, crimes against humanity, and other small-scale atrocities.

 

To blame "cops" casts the blame a little too widely, as if all of them were to blame.

Granted, they are mostly all corrupted -- at least a little bit:

Riot to full mili (socialesteemmedia.com)

They are insofar as they are engaged in criminal conspiracies, protecting other criminal-cops behind a "code of silence," roughing up "undesirables" who can't do anything about it, and generally shirking their oaths to obey and enforce all laws rather than picking and choosing which ones to break and which to enforce, singling out certain races or groups for enhanced enforcement, and breaking laws left and right knowing that no one is going to hold them to account unless they fall afoul of the BIB (Boys in Blue) gang or the Police Protective League, with sub-gangs being their racist cliques, fellow union members, the Brass, you know, the guys down at the station...

Killing Ezell Ford: Police commission leader says LAPD, MO slayings not comparable

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Hands up, don't shoot (TMW)

It is amazing to find even one good cop. Of course, the majority of police seem good, very nice, respectful, honest, conscientious -- well, not behind the scenes when they don't think anyone is looking, but up front when they feel someone is paying attention. Most police we've ever met seemed like fine people, hardly the monsters that show up on TV, in court, on the streets swinging batons with glee and impunity. Now we see that they have triggers, thresholds, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde buttons that can be pushed then, stand back, sociopath in the room!

As L.A gathers to march on LAPD HQ on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014, maybe you should call Brother Sergeant De Lacy Davis to intervene, educate, and retrain abusive cops (973) 926-5717.

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Black Cops Against Police Brutality (b-cap.org)

But back to the few, the proud, the honorable. Look at this organization, "Black Cops Against Police Brutality" (b-cap.org). It's amazing. The founder not only admits what police are really like, he knows it from first hand experience, and still talks about it. (He must be off the force because the Men in Blue would kill him otherwise; no one breaks the code of silence, the wall of conspiracy where crimes are planned, carried out, and covered up with a wink and a nod. It's gotten so bad that the Internal Affairs officers leak the names of tattletales to officers being exposed so that they can close out the investigations themselves in a way that Stalin would approve of, "No person no problem" or as our Stalins in America like to say, "Dead men tell no tales [or at least give no credible court testimony]."

*THE CARTOON: (TMW) The first draft of this "Officer Friendly" cartoon was actually written a month ago, inspired by this ACLU report and this New York Times article. [Tom Tomorrow] was saving it as a backup for some upcoming travel, but timing is everything, and as the events in Ferguson began to unfold, this went from evergreen to needing to be posted as soon as possible.

Aren't President Obama's words beautiful? He dissembles so elegantly. He addressed the "situation" in Ferguson: No one should disobey police and, of course, police probably should not, you know, kill unarmed teens or arrest reporters doing their job bringing us the news... It reminds one of the time he admitted to and authorized more U.S. torture. No one noticed.

• VIDEO: Michael Brown: MO Gov. finally addresses "situation" in Ferguson (AP/KPCC) Earlier in the week, the president issued a statement saying that Brown's death is stirring "strong passions," and he appealed for reflection.
• VIDEO: Police State: Ferguson, Missouri riots
• LAPD kills Ezell Ford, protests start up (SCPR)
  
• Another African American man killed by police, LAPD...
• Justice for LAPD murder victim Ezelle Ford (tumblr) 
• Better cover-ups? L.A. police panel revises officer shooting reviews
• California's Deadliest Cops (Facebook)

Officer Friendly get militarized (TMW)

Add the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. to the recent [and yet long running] string of unnecessary [murders] at the hands of the police.
 
The Missouri teen was gunned down by an officer early Saturday afternoon. His grandmother discovered his body sprawled along the pavement minutes before he was set to return home from the store. Reports vary...

[Why would] police [want] to open fire on the boy? [It's] believed that police were called to the area looking for someone who had shoplifted from a store in the area. [But as the police chief has clarified that the murderer, Officer Daren Wilson, did not know of any such crime at the time he shot the victim in the back. Officer Wilson was merely harassing unarmed teen Michael Brown for walking off the sidewalk.]

Might there be racism on the force or in the courts? (Ezelle Ford/tumblr)

 

Brown, whose body laid in the street for several minutes before it was even covered by authorities, was unarmed. [He had his hands up, he was moving away, he apparently said, "Don't shoot" implying that he posed no threat whatsoever.]
 
Louis Head, Brown's stepfather, immediately wrote on a sign, "FERGUSON POLICE JUST EXECUTED MY UNARMED SON." There were chants from a crowd of onlookers who protested the boy's death and the [unjustified] actions of the police. The move, along with unconfirmed reports [useful as a pretext] of shots in the crowd, led to authorities from surrounding areas to assist. By the time a crowd had gathered to march down to the police station in Ferguson, police had mobilized in tanks and held dogs to try and combat any potential unrest in the area.

We're gonna bring this war home (Kemi Filani)

[NOTE: The reason they were likely so quick to deploy their arsenal is that the government program that armed them can rescind the weapons on loan if they are not used, which encourages use, abuse, and any excuse to bring out the big guns. It leads to the militarization of civilian policing, not accidentally but apparently by design. Why else would the federal government purchase so much ammunition, millions of rounds, to arm each of its agencies, most of which have no enforcement arm?] More
 

Protests return to Ferguson over cover up

A Disturbing Pattern
Why it’s nearly impossible to nail cops for using deadly force 
Earl Ofari Hutchinson (PasadenaWeekly.com, Aug. 14, 2014)

Unarmed victim Michael Brown, 18

Mike Brown is the latest name on the growing list of victims of brazen overuse of deadly force by cops. The 18-year-old Brown had his hands raised when he was gunned down by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer after a stop. Brown fit the usual pattern of those killed. In almost all cases the victims are unarmed and not accused of committing a crime. Their killings also occur in broad daylight and with witnesses present.

S. Africa's tragic anniversary

Another part of this familiar and deeply disturbing pattern is that they are young African Americans or Latinos. The officers who commit these deadly acts are placed on paid administrative leave, and police officials, when confronted with demands from civil rights and community leaders for an investigation, make solemn promises to do just that. They assure us their investigations will be thorough and impartial. That’s the start of the problem. More