Why Do Local Cops Need Camoflauge?

Post by **brian** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:59 pm

I'm not talking about Pruitt here, so don't think I'm making fun, but I'm loving how people on both the left and right somehow seem to think that Obama is some kind of magical genie, able to resolve all the world's problems with a wave of the hand. He gets ripped for damn near literally everything bad that happens from beheaded American journalists to riots in middle America. At some point, don't we have to acknowledge that one man, no matter how powerful, can only control so much? Americans continually complain about the sorry state of affairs in this country and then elect the same kleptocrats to Congress for decades at time with no chance of ever being voted out of office. GFY, America.

(This doesn't absolve Obama his failings, which are several, but at some point let's look in the fucking mirror if we're looking to cast the first stone as whose to blame for this country being fucked up.)

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:14 pm

brian wrote:…but at some point let's look in the fucking mirror if we're looking to cast the first stone as whose to blame for this country being fucked up.)

wordy word.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:58 pm

Pruitt wrote:Why on earth is Obama not in Missouri right now?

Is there anyone else who could calm this situation down?

Two hour flight there, three hours or so on the ground, two hour flight home.

Seriously, this is becoming his Katrina.

He is afraid. Do you see what cops do to Black people in Ferguson?

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 9:00 pm

Bush wasn't going to drain New Orleans either but we still expected a far better response, right?

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 6:35 am

He's been crushed for all previous instances of even minor blacktivism, nigga probably jaded yo.

I'd send Biden.

testuser2 · Post by **testuser2** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:54 am

brian wrote: Americans continually complain about the sorry state of affairs in this country and then elect the same kleptocrats to Congress for decades at time with no chance of ever being voted out of office. GFY, America.

You need a megaphone. You can't expect change if you put the same people in the room. The same goes for Ferguson's politicians. See:http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/1 ... to-fix-it#

If you compared the racial makeup of Ferguson, Missouri’s population as a whole to that of its government, it would be easy to mistake the city for an enclave of Jim Crow. Although nearly 70 percent of Ferguson is black, 50 of its 53 police officers are white. So are five of Ferguson’s six city council members. The mayor, James Knowles, is a white Republican.

So how did it get that way?

turnout in Ferguson in the last municipal elections was a putrid 11.7 percent of registered voters

Ouch...

You also can't point a gun at someone and expect them to relax.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:12 am

What people fail to realize (or point out) is that when "the system" has repeatedly ignored or screwed you, you tend to say fuck it.

It is an obvious point to many of you here, but it is apparently too nuanced to be mentioned in the stories I've seen covering Ferguson.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:21 am

Nonlinear FC wrote:What people fail to realize (or point out) is that when "the system" has repeatedly ignored or screwed you, you tend to say fuck it.

It is an obvious point to many of you here, but it is apparently too nuanced to be mentioned in the stories I've seen covering Ferguson.

There was an article in a Toronto paper that mentioned the 12% voter turnout that followed it with quotes from residents who basically had thrown their hands in the air regarding the entire local government. With distance comes perspective I guess.

Interesting piece in The Atlantic concerning the police in Fargo.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/arc ... on/378883/

Here are the Fargo police on manoeuvres. Good thing their wearing camouflage gear...

From the article:

the last big public disturbance in the Fargo area was 13 years ago, during the Testicle Festival. (I'll let you look it up.) Oddities like the Testicle Festival are part of the picture we'd like to have of Americana. Combat-dressed cops are not, or shouldn't be. Usefully, the Forum article ends with a sane observation from the police chief of Moorhead, Minnesota, which is Fargo's sister city across the Red River:

[F]ear is a factor police have to be mindful of when dealing with disorderly crowds, said Moorhead Police Chief David Ebinger. When officers don intimidating riot gear, their appearance alone can stir trouble.

“If you show up with that gear and you don’t have a riot, you’re inviting one,” he said. “The best weapon we have is our ability to communicate.”

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 1:56 pm

So this is a step in the right direction, huh? Did I count 11 gunshots?

testuser2 · Post by **testuser2** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 4:11 pm

This is built from a NYT FOIA request. You can search by county. Maricopa county AZ is my favorite. I'm not sure what tiny blair county PA(Altoona) needs with these or the 50 pairs of night vision goggles.

PA BLAIR RANGE FINDER-TARGET DESIGNATOR,LASER 2 Each $112,734.00
PA BLAIR BIPOD,MACHINE GUN 4 Each $101.00

http://bridge.caspio.net/dp.asp?AppKey= ... ca4b13a8a4

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:59 pm

Fascinating stuff. My county just bought a large number of rifles. My hometown Broome County, NY (Binghamton) has a $400,000 "combat assault/tactical vehicle. That seems useful. Going to have my old man investigate to see what town has that badboy and what it is. I guess you need it for when the terrorists occupy the empty former IBM and GE campuses. New York County (Manhattan) owns a "mortar carrier", pictured below. In case you need to launch Korean War era mortar shells into the Upper West Side. Bronx, Staten Island and Brooklyn aren't listed, but Queens County went nuts and purchased a "special toolkit, Organizational." Tioga County also went nuts with 10 "cold weather shirts," but I'm not sure what the 5 "combat packs" entail.

The Mortar City Madman

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:07 pm

The Sybian wrote: The Mortar City Madman

Very nice.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:08 pm

howard wrote:
Very nice.

Knew you'd appreciate it.

Post by **Shirley** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 11:58 pm

So apparently the broken eye socket story that FoxNews "broke" the other day was fabricated. No such break and the officer certainly wasn't beaten nearly unconscious, as I read.

It's funny how any news I hear from a conservative source about this (either through Facebook or Twitter) is trying desperately to make Michael Brown look as bad as possible or the protesters.

I find that really odd. Yes, the simple answer is to just say they're all racists, but it has to be more complicated than that, right? Why are these people who are supposedly so anti-government, so ready to call Obama a fascist, and who were so much on the side of that rancher in Arizona, trying SO HARD to make this - any of this - the fault of the police?

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 12:43 am

Shirley wrote:So apparently the broken eye socket story that FoxNews "broke" the other day was fabricated. No such break and the officer certainly wasn't beaten nearly unconscious, as I read.

And it looks like the "stolen cigars" story is bullshit as well...

The surveillance tapes allegedly showing Michael Brown robbing a Ferguson market. Friday, for the first time, the owners are speaking out through an attorney about the surveillance video.

The owner of the store dispute the claim that they or an employee called 911, saying a customer inside the store made the call. They also say St. Louis County issues the warrants for the hard drive of surveillance video Friday.

When asked how Ferguson police ended up with the video that the Ferguson police chief issued Friday morning. The attorney said during the course of Ferguson’s investigation they came to the store and asked to review the tape. But it wasn’t until Friday that St. Louis County investigators issued a warrant for the video many of you have already seen.

The attorney for the owners of the store says the owners do not wish to be wrapped up in the middle of this. They are simply complying with police orders and again the attorney wanted to emphasize the 911 call did not come from the owners or an employee.

find that really odd. Yes, the simple answer is to just say they're all racists, but it has to be more complicated than that, right?

No...its really that simple.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 7:27 am

Shirley wrote:So apparently the broken eye socket story that FoxNews "broke" the other day was fabricated. No such break and the officer certainly wasn't beaten nearly unconscious, as I read.

It's funny how any news I hear from a conservative source about this (either through Facebook or Twitter) is trying desperately to make Michael Brown look as bad as possible or the protesters.

First rule of propaganda--whoever says it first, wins.

i.e. the 'shot in the back' piece of the narrative. Note for yourselves how that has persisted, despite factual contradiction of the autopsy. And you will see the persistence of the 'cop was beaten by Brown' and 'he robbed the store of cigars' over time.

My dear boys; we live in a time of universal deceit.

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 8:38 am

So apparently dipshit blonde news anchors aren't exclusive to the US. Watch her black colleague's reaction to the words "water cannon."

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 8:57 am

"I ... I meant ... dogs. I meant dogs. Like German Shepards?"

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 9:03 am

I think this is a situation where you need to give people a little rope, guys.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 9:06 am

Shirley wrote:So apparently the broken eye socket story that FoxNews "broke" the other day was fabricated. No such break and the officer certainly wasn't beaten nearly unconscious, as I read.

It's funny how any news I hear from a conservative source about this (either through Facebook or Twitter) is trying desperately to make Michael Brown look as bad as possible or the protesters.

I find that really odd. Yes, the simple answer is to just say they're all racists, but it has to be more complicated than that, right? Why are these people who are supposedly so anti-government, so ready to call Obama a fascist, and who were so much on the side of that rancher in Arizona, trying SO HARD to make this - any of this - the fault of the police?

I think Fox is trying to report the opposite of the MSM, and the actual witnesses, livestreamers, etc... to let their viewers know FoxNews and other Conservative websites and pundits are the only ones reporting the truth without bias. See, the Liberal Media is slanting their story to push their agenda by slandering the good men in blue.

Post by **Shirley** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 9:36 am

BTW, when I wrote that post, I checked FoxNews.com, just to see. Their top two Ferguson stories (the only two on the main page) were about the cop having a broken face (which had been shown to be untrue) and another one saying that one of the witnesses (I guess the friend who was with Michael Brown) had an outstanding warrant from 2011. Yeah, so those are really the two key parts to this whole story - a made-up (or at least, exaggerated) story about the cop and an completely irrelevant smear on a witness.

Oh, and from what I could tell on Twitter last night, Sean Hannity brought in Mark Fucking Fuhrman to discuss what's going on in Ferguson. Mark Fuhrman.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 9:40 am

Shirley wrote:BTW, when I wrote that post, I checked FoxNews.com, just to see. Their top two Ferguson stories (the only two on the main page) were about the cop having a broken face (which had been shown to be untrue) and another one saying that one of the witnesses (I guess the friend who was with Michael Brown) had an outstanding warrant from 2011. Yeah, so those are really the two key parts to this whole story - a made-up (or at least, exaggerated) story about the cop and an completely irrelevant smear on a witness.

Oh, and from what I could tell on Twitter last night, Sean Hannity brought in Mark Fucking Fuhrman to discuss what's going on in Ferguson. Mark Fuhrman.

Mark Fuhrman. Can you think of a better person to bring in to lie about the facts in order to make the police look good? What percentage of FoxNews viewers, those who actually believe what Fox says, see the problem with trusting Fuhrman? Not many, I'm sure.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 9:50 am

My facebook friends who are of the right wing persuasion are still posting the broken orbital socket story, even today. Sigh.

phxgators · Post by **phxgators** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 10:52 am

testuser2 wrote:This is built from a NYT FOIA request. You can search by county. Maricopa county AZ is my favorite. I'm not sure what tiny blair county PA(Altoona) needs with these or the 50 pairs of night vision goggles.

PA BLAIR RANGE FINDER-TARGET DESIGNATOR,LASER 2 Each $112,734.00
PA BLAIR BIPOD,MACHINE GUN 4 Each $101.00

http://bridge.caspio.net/dp.asp?AppKey= ... ca4b13a8a4

You got a problem with Maricopa County?

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 11:37 am

sancarlos wrote:My facebook friends who are of the right wing persuasion are still posting the broken orbital socket story, even today. Sigh.

If the cop had really been badly beaten, wouldn't the PD have released pictures as proof?

I don't think straight-up racism explains why the Fox News crowd wants so badly for this to be everyone's fault but the white cops. I think it's a little more complicated - white conservatives are really sensitive about being called racist, but they still side with cops over looters and protestors (of any color). So if all this ends up being the protestors' fault, then their opposition to the protestors wouldn't be racist in their minds.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 11:44 am

I'm sure there are some where maintaining the status quo trumps outright racism, but the latter rolls into the former.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 11:58 am

I'd really love to see just how peaceful the protests would be if a SWAT team had rolled up with guns pointed at tea party members or, say, at Clive Bundy.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 12:14 pm

You mean would the same people have a vastly different argument if Bundy shot back versus if Ferguson residents did? No way. Of course not.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 1:11 pm

Basically. We hear all of this "we need to defend ourselves from the government" stuff and then it kind of actually happens and they are thugs.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 1:30 pm

Shirley wrote:
Oh, and from what I could tell on Twitter last night, Sean Hannity brought in Mark Fucking Fuhrman to discuss what's going on in Ferguson. Mark Fuhrman.

The great Canadian writer Mordecai Richler once said that it was getting harder and harder to write satire as the truth was just so unbelievably stupid. (Paraphrasing...)

He was right. This would have been rejected at an Onion writers' meeting as being too stupid to print.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 3:33 pm

Gunpowder wrote:I'd really love to see just how peaceful the protests would be if a SWAT team had rolled up with guns pointed at tea party members or, say, at Clive Bundy.

The only way I can see any logical consistency in wingnut logic here is that Cliven Bundy was standing up to Obama's Federal thug patrol, while the uppity negroes are standing up to local authorities. The Right has a love of States Rights, typically allowing the states to DENY rights to people they don't like or show preference to them. Bundy was a genuine law breaker with something like 50 court orders he refused to obey. For some reason Bundy leaching off the government for his own profit is patriotic, but collecting food stamps makes you drain on society. It is a crazy position as the Ferguson situation really is an example of police suppressing 1st Amendment rights and using an extreme show of force against an overwhelmingly peaceful and controlled protest.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 3:47 pm

The Sybian wrote:
Gunpowder wrote:I'd really love to see just how peaceful the protests would be if a SWAT team had rolled up with guns pointed at tea party members or, say, at Clive Bundy.
The only way I can see any logical consistency in wingnut logic here is that Cliven Bundy was standing up to Obama's Federal thug patrol, while the uppity negroes are standing up to local authorities. The Right has a love of States Rights, typically allowing the states to DENY rights to people they don't like or show preference to them. Bundy was a genuine law breaker with something like 50 court orders he refused to obey. For some reason Bundy leaching off the government for his own profit is patriotic, but collecting food stamps makes you drain on society. It is a crazy position as the Ferguson situation really is an example of police suppressing 1st Amendment rights and using an extreme show of force against an overwhelmingly peaceful and controlled protest.

If it involves wearing boots and a hat, then leaching off the government is patriotic. Otherwise it's being a taker.

Post by **Shirley** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 4:04 pm

It really just comes down to the political leanings of the leachers. Conservative guy willing to talk politics on TV? Great American hero. Folks who vote for Democrats? Threat to our society.

Granted, I'm not sure how they would have handled the Bundy thing if W were still president.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 8:11 pm

How the hell did I miss this one? Maricopa County "Officer" Steven Seagal kills puppy with tank in order to save 150 chickens. Link to puppy article

Sheriff Joe Arpaio allowed Seagal to lead the raid, along with the camera crew filming Seagal's reality show about a bloated has been playing overzealous cop in combat gear. They were going to arrest some dude for cockfighting, so they needed a goddamned tank? Holy fuck, how does this asshole keep getting elected?

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 8:58 pm

The Sybian wrote:How the hell did I miss this one? Maricopa County "Officer" Steven Seagal kills puppy with tank in order to save 150 chickens. Link to puppy article

Sheriff Joe Arpaio allowed Seagal to lead the raid, along with the camera crew filming Seagal's reality show about a bloated has been playing overzealous cop in combat gear. They were going to arrest some dude for cockfighting, so they needed a goddamned tank? Holy fuck, how does this asshole keep getting elected?

His show makes for great impaired viewing (but only once or twice):

At 1:28 you see a feature of the show - Seagal has the power to zoom in and see what a criminal is doing.

Surreal.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Thu Aug 28, 2014 12:02 am

If you haven't seen it, Jon Stewart's reaction to the situation in Ferguson in general, and the bloviating on FoxNews, is outstanding.

Post by **Shirley** » Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:26 am

Here's a pretty good autopsy of how one or two little (tempting) lies led to Fox News trumpeting that false fractured eye socket story.

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/26/anatomy ... _internet/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 11:50 am

Shirley wrote:Here's a pretty good autopsy of how one or two little (tempting) lies led to Fox News trumpeting that false fractured eye socket story.

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/26/anatomy ... _internet/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oops. I'm sure Jim Hoft and the rest of the pundits acknowledged and apologized for reporting the completely false information, right? I missed this post before, but I was coming back, as I saw an article about the picture labelled as Officer Wilson with his horrible injuries. Turns out the pictures are really of some motocross dude, taken in 2006, and posted online in 2006. But, this debunking is all a Liberal Media conspiracy.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 1:05 pm

Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere, but this is the massively untold/under-reported backstory to the Ferguson mess:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the- ... m-poverty/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's a long read, but well worth it... Especially if you're not up-to-speed on how many small towns and rural (for the most part) counties are allowing their police/judicial system to essentially create an entire cast of non-violent, non-criminals into a perpetual cash cow.

It's disgusting, and barely anyone is aware this is going on across the country.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Sat Sep 06, 2014 10:56 pm

The Sybian wrote:
Shirley wrote:Here's a pretty good autopsy of how one or two little (tempting) lies led to Fox News trumpeting that false fractured eye socket story.

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/26/anatomy ... _internet/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oops. I'm sure Jim Hoft and the rest of the pundits acknowledged and apologized for reporting the completely false information, right? I missed this post before, but I was coming back, as I saw an article about the picture labelled as Officer Wilson with his horrible injuries. Turns out the pictures are really of some motocross dude, taken in 2006, and posted online in 2006. But, this debunking is all a Liberal Media conspiracy.

Jim Hoft....aka "The Stupidest Man On The Internet"...

Oh, and now it's come out that video tape...the one that the Chief of Police said was "requested by the media". Yeah...not so much....

Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson lied when he said he had received "many" specific requests for the videotape that allegedly shows Michael Brown robbing a convenience store, according to a new report.

"All I did -- what I did was -- was release the videotape to you, because I had to," Jackson told reporters on Aug. 15 when asked why he released the robbery footage. "I’d been sitting on it, but I -- too many people put in a [Freedom of Information Act] request for that thing, and I had to release that tape to you."

Writing for The Blot, Matthew Keys reports that the police department did not receive any specific requests for the videotape.

"A review of open records requests sent to the Ferguson Police Department found that no news organization, reporter or individual specifically sought the release of the surveillance tape before police distributed it on Aug. 15," Keys writes.