Looting in Missouri after cops shoot 18 year old (3 Viewers)

[TobiasFunke]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

 

[whiskey7]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

Its early and its a holiday (or pretty close). Give it time.

I think you're giving them too much credit.

 

[TobiasFunke]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

Its early and its a holiday (or pretty close). Give it time.

I think you're giving them too much credit.

And I don't think you're giving them enough.

I'm sure some people will protest, but if the police continue to manage the situation well and the evidence of a weapon being pulled stands up I don't think you'll see this get even 5% of the sustained attention of the other three killings I listed. I suppose time will tell.

 

[whiskey7]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

Its early and its a holiday (or pretty close). Give it time.

I think you're giving them too much credit.

And I don't think you're giving them enough.

I'm sure some people will protest, but if the police continue to manage the situation well and the evidence of a weapon being pulled stands up I don't think you'll see this get even 5% of the sustained attention of the other three killings I listed. I suppose time will tell.

I sincerely hope you are right and I am wrong.

 

[Gary Coal Man]

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

The outrage at the scene of this shooting was greater than the outrage at the scene of any other shooting.

... a crowd quickly gathered late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Berkeley. The demonstration involving up to 300 people turned violent.

More than 50 police officers, some in riot gear, responded. Video showed some wrestling with protesters. Belmar said officers used pepper spray but not tear gas. Four people were arrested on charges of assaulting officers.

Belmar said three explosive devices, possibly fireworks, were tossed near gas pumps. Some protesters threw rocks and bricks. One officer was hit by a brick and treated for facial cuts. Another was treated for a leg injury sustained as he tried to get away from one of the explosives.

The protest spilled to a neighboring convenience store where a man in a hoodie set a fire inside the store. The fire was quickly put out, but the glass door was shattered.

AP

 

[TheWalkmen]

I wonder if anyone in the black community will stand up and talk about problems within the black community that lead to their young men being out late at night armed, instead of calling this a police issue.

 

[FlapJacks]

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

The outrage at the scene of this shooting was greater than the outrage at the scene of any other shooting.

... a crowd quickly gathered late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Berkeley. The demonstration involving up to 300 people turned violent.

More than 50 police officers, some in riot gear, responded. Video showed some wrestling with protesters. Belmar said officers used pepper spray but not tear gas. Four people were arrested on charges of assaulting officers.

Belmar said three explosive devices, possibly fireworks, were tossed near gas pumps. Some protesters threw rocks and bricks. One officer was hit by a brick and treated for facial cuts. Another was treated for a leg injury sustained as he tried to get away from one of the explosives.

The protest spilled to a neighboring convenience store where a man in a hoodie set a fire inside the store. The fire was quickly put out, but the glass door was shattered.

AP

if the cops started shooting these attackers the'd be more justified than in some of these other cases like Garner.

Interesting that in this one instance they discovered restraint

 

[TobiasFunke]

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

The outrage at the scene of this shooting was greater than the outrage at the scene of any other shooting.

... a crowd quickly gathered late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Berkeley. The demonstration involving up to 300 people turned violent.

More than 50 police officers, some in riot gear, responded. Video showed some wrestling with protesters. Belmar said officers used pepper spray but not tear gas. Four people were arrested on charges of assaulting officers.

Belmar said three explosive devices, possibly fireworks, were tossed near gas pumps. Some protesters threw rocks and bricks. One officer was hit by a brick and treated for facial cuts. Another was treated for a leg injury sustained as he tried to get away from one of the explosives.

The protest spilled to a neighboring convenience store where a man in a hoodie set a fire inside the store. The fire was quickly put out, but the glass door was shattered.

AP

There were already protestors in the vicinity and tensions were high, which obviously wasn't the case before. A bit of an apples to oranges comparison, wouldn't you say? That scene isn't remotely close to what we were seeing in Ferguson once people became aware of the incident and started to congregate.

 

[Two Deep]

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

The outrage at the scene of this shooting was greater than the outrage at the scene of any other shooting.

... a crowd quickly gathered late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Berkeley. The demonstration involving up to 300 people turned violent.

More than 50 police officers, some in riot gear, responded. Video showed some wrestling with protesters. Belmar said officers used pepper spray but not tear gas. Four people were arrested on charges of assaulting officers.

Belmar said three explosive devices, possibly fireworks, were tossed near gas pumps. Some protesters threw rocks and bricks. One officer was hit by a brick and treated for facial cuts. Another was treated for a leg injury sustained as he tried to get away from one of the explosives.

The protest spilled to a neighboring convenience store where a man in a hoodie set a fire inside the store. The fire was quickly put out, but the glass door was shattered.

AP

and that is just day 1. I'm confident they have more in them.

 

[Courtjester]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

Its early and its a holiday (or pretty close). Give it time.

I think you're giving them too much credit.

And I don't think you're giving them enough.

I'm sure some people will protest, but if the police continue to manage the situation well and the evidence of a weapon being pulled stands up I don't think you'll see this get even 5% of the sustained attention of the other three killings I listed. I suppose time will tell.

But see therein lies the problem. This should get attention and a lot of it. Where is Sharpton and the President on this one? It is a joke they both come out of the woodwork when it looks like the police may have done something wrong, but here we have a black teenager pointing a gun at a police officer and I predict their silence will be deafening when the police officer was just doing his job.

 

[Gary Coal Man]

Regarding the online outrage, the headline of the article I'm seeing most circulated on Facebook likely won't help matters.

As you can see on the #AntonioMartin trending topic page on Facebook, the most commonly circulated article is from ADDICTINGINFO.ORG entitled, Breaking: Another Unarmed Black Teen Shot By Police Outside Ferguson.

When you click on the link, however, the new title to the article is: UPDATED: Black Teen Shot Dead By Police Outside Ferguson (Video)

As we know, many people on Facebook don't read the the articles. They read headlines and forment an opinion based on both the headline and the groupthink in the comments which were also likely formed from reading the headline.

Hopefully that initial reaction will subside if it is found that Martin did point a gun at the officer, but often times the initial gut reaction sticks with people. Especially people for whom that initial gut reaction confirms their bias.

 

[TobiasFunke]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

Its early and its a holiday (or pretty close). Give it time.

I think you're giving them too much credit.

And I don't think you're giving them enough.

I'm sure some people will protest, but if the police continue to manage the situation well and the evidence of a weapon being pulled stands up I don't think you'll see this get even 5% of the sustained attention of the other three killings I listed. I suppose time will tell.

But see therein lies the problem. This should get attention and a lot of it. Where is Sharpton and the President on this one? It is a joke they both come out of the woodwork when it looks like the police may have done something wrong, but here we have a black teenager pointing a gun at a police officer and I predict their silence will be deafening when the police officer was just doing his job.

Huh?

Setting aside Sharpton, whose relevance is vastly overstated by right wingers who love to hate him- why should the president, or any leader in the black community, feel the need to speak on a run of the mill justified police shooting of an armed man? They happen all the time, unfortunately. What's different about Brown/Garner/Rice is that they were unarmed and killed by law enforcement. Regardless of the circumstances, that's a MUCH bigger deal. If you don't understand why, then you've completely missed the entire point of the outrage and the protests.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

If you're upset about excessive use of force by police and you're protesting this latest incident, where there is video evidence of the suspect pulling a gun on the cop, you are not helping the cause...

Has anyone seen video showing Martin with a gun in his hand?

I'm not saying he wasn't armed- I assume he was- I'm just wondering if this assumption is based on something other than what the police are saying. I've poked around on twitter a good amount and seen the released surveillance video and I haven't seen a thing.

I've seen the video. You can see that Martin raises his arm as though he's pointing something at the officer, but it's dark outside and the video is far from far away so you can't tell what, if anything, Martin had in his hand.

+1

Could have been some godiva chocolate.

Pierogi

 

[Two Deep]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

Its early and its a holiday (or pretty close). Give it time.

I think you're giving them too much credit.

And I don't think you're giving them enough.

I'm sure some people will protest, but if the police continue to manage the situation well and the evidence of a weapon being pulled stands up I don't think you'll see this get even 5% of the sustained attention of the other three killings I listed. I suppose time will tell.

But see therein lies the problem. This should get attention and a lot of it. Where is Sharpton and the President on this one? It is a joke they both come out of the woodwork when it looks like the police may have done something wrong, but here we have a black teenager pointing a gun at a police officer and I predict their silence will be deafening when the police officer was just doing his job.

Huh?

Setting aside Sharpton, whose relevance is vastly overstated by right wingers who love to hate him- why should the president, or any leader in the black community, feel the need to speak on a run of the mill justified police shooting of an armed man? They happen all the time, unfortunately. What's different about Brown/Garner/Rice is that they were unarmed and killed by law enforcement. Regardless of the circumstances, that's a MUCH bigger deal. If you don't understand why, then you've completely missed the entire point of the outrage and the protests.

Can we all agree Garner died because he was fat, out of shape, and had underlying health problems. Lets not act like he was shot or beaten senseless. He was taken down by a simple wrestling hold. If it was such a deadly hold we would have absolutely no MMA fighters. They would all be dead.

 

[jamny]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

Its early and its a holiday (or pretty close). Give it time.

I think you're giving them too much credit.

And I don't think you're giving them enough.

I'm sure some people will protest, but if the police continue to manage the situation well and the evidence of a weapon being pulled stands up I don't think you'll see this get even 5% of the sustained attention of the other three killings I listed. I suppose time will tell.

But see therein lies the problem. This should get attention and a lot of it. Where is Sharpton and the President on this one? It is a joke they both come out of the woodwork when it looks like the police may have done something wrong, but here we have a black teenager pointing a gun at a police officer and I predict their silence will be deafening when the police officer was just doing his job.

Huh?

Setting aside Sharpton, whose relevance is vastly overstated by right wingers who love to hate him- why should the president, or any leader in the black community, feel the need to speak on a run of the mill justified police shooting of an armed man? They happen all the time, unfortunately. What's different about Brown/Garner/Rice is that they were unarmed and killed by law enforcement. Regardless of the circumstances, that's a MUCH bigger deal. If you don't understand why, then you've completely missed the entire point of the outrage and the protests.

Do you think Obama should have given more than a written comment after the assassination of two police officers?

 

[TobiasFunke]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

Its early and its a holiday (or pretty close). Give it time.

I think you're giving them too much credit.

And I don't think you're giving them enough.

I'm sure some people will protest, but if the police continue to manage the situation well and the evidence of a weapon being pulled stands up I don't think you'll see this get even 5% of the sustained attention of the other three killings I listed. I suppose time will tell.

But see therein lies the problem. This should get attention and a lot of it. Where is Sharpton and the President on this one? It is a joke they both come out of the woodwork when it looks like the police may have done something wrong, but here we have a black teenager pointing a gun at a police officer and I predict their silence will be deafening when the police officer was just doing his job.

Huh?

Setting aside Sharpton, whose relevance is vastly overstated by right wingers who love to hate him- why should the president, or any leader in the black community, feel the need to speak on a run of the mill justified police shooting of an armed man? They happen all the time, unfortunately. What's different about Brown/Garner/Rice is that they were unarmed and killed by law enforcement. Regardless of the circumstances, that's a MUCH bigger deal. If you don't understand why, then you've completely missed the entire point of the outrage and the protests.

Do you think Obama should have given more than a written comment after the assassination of two police officers?

I don't really care if his comments are written or verbal, as long as I agree with the sentiment. But I would like to see him go to the memorial services himself instead of sending Joe Biden, I think that could be helpful.

 

[whiskey7]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

Its early and its a holiday (or pretty close). Give it time.

I think you're giving them too much credit.

And I don't think you're giving them enough.

I'm sure some people will protest, but if the police continue to manage the situation well and the evidence of a weapon being pulled stands up I don't think you'll see this get even 5% of the sustained attention of the other three killings I listed. I suppose time will tell.

But see therein lies the problem. This should get attention and a lot of it. Where is Sharpton and the President on this one? It is a joke they both come out of the woodwork when it looks like the police may have done something wrong, but here we have a black teenager pointing a gun at a police officer and I predict their silence will be deafening when the police officer was just doing his job.

Huh?

Setting aside Sharpton, whose relevance is vastly overstated by right wingers who love to hate him- why should the president, or any leader in the black community, feel the need to speak on a run of the mill justified police shooting of an armed man? They happen all the time, unfortunately. What's different about Brown/Garner/Rice is that they were unarmed and killed by law enforcement. Regardless of the circumstances, that's a MUCH bigger deal. If you don't understand why, then you've completely missed the entire point of the outrage and the protests.

Because many in the black community will see this as just another case of the cops killing one of them. They wont dig any deeper into the details than that. So they need to hear from people in the black community that this is just a run of the mill justified police shooting of an armed man that happens all the time and there is no racial motivation to it. There was zero evidence to suggest the Brown/Garner/Rice incidents were racially motivated. Yet Al and the Pres and various others felt the need to speak out on those cases. Since they did so then, they need to do so here, IMO.

 

[Courtjester]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

Its early and its a holiday (or pretty close). Give it time.

I think you're giving them too much credit.

And I don't think you're giving them enough.

I'm sure some people will protest, but if the police continue to manage the situation well and the evidence of a weapon being pulled stands up I don't think you'll see this get even 5% of the sustained attention of the other three killings I listed. I suppose time will tell.

But see therein lies the problem. This should get attention and a lot of it. Where is Sharpton and the President on this one? It is a joke they both come out of the woodwork when it looks like the police may have done something wrong, but here we have a black teenager pointing a gun at a police officer and I predict their silence will be deafening when the police officer was just doing his job.

Huh?

Setting aside Sharpton, whose relevance is vastly overstated by right wingers who love to hate him- why should the president, or any leader in the black community, feel the need to speak on a run of the mill justified police shooting of an armed man? They happen all the time, unfortunately. What's different about Brown/Garner/Rice is that they were unarmed and killed by law enforcement. Regardless of the circumstances, that's a MUCH bigger deal. If you don't understand why, then you've completely missed the entire point of the outrage and the protests.

I am not overlooking the point. You have people focusing on 3 incidents and totally putting blinders on when it comes to the hundreds of other shootings in black communities and demonizing all police officers while they are at it. The protesters are like a person complaining that their car stereo doesn't work, when in fact their car doesn't have an engine.

That is why I am saying this is a teachable moment. This is a chance for Sharpton to actually show some credibility here and come forward and discuss black violence and the proliferation of guns in predominately black communities. This is a chance to maybe show some compassion to the police and call for unity, but why point fingers within, when it is so easy to blame others I guess,

 

[Gary Coal Man]

Regarding early misinformation helping to stoke outrage...

Furious Twitter users have rallied against a prankster who pretended he was best friends with latest police shooting victim Antonio Martin and watched him die at a gas station near Ferguson last night.

Jesus Christo claimed he was there when the 18-year-old was killed and fabricated an account of how a police officer opened fire on Martin when he refused to lie on the ground.

Under the Twitter handle, @DesJuanTheThug, Christo wrote 'I can't believe my best friend just died in front of me' - and the comment was retweeted more than 3,000 times.

He then posted a series of tweets telling people to listen to his mixtape and add him on SoundCloud - an audio platform that allows people to promote their own music.

He had earlier told The Huffington Post how he and Martin were stopped by an officer at a Mobil gas station on North Hanley Road because they matched the description of robbery suspects.

He claimed the officer then searched Martin and was quoted as saying: 'The officer then stepped back and pulled his weapon and pointed at Antonio and told us to lay on the ground.

'I laid down but Antonio refused. The officer then stepped back at us with his gun still aimed at us. He told Antonio to lay down again and when Antonio didn't lay down the officer opened fire.

'And when I tried to help my friend he screamed at me to stay down with his weapon still drawn.

The Huffington Post has since released a statement confirming the account was false which read: 'A previous version of this story included an interview with a man claiming to have been at the scene of the shooting and friends with the deceased.

'As police have released statements saying the second person involved in the incident has fled the scene, the source is now suggesting he was never there.'

Link

Christo can get under some people's skin.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

But see therein lies the problem. This should get attention and a lot of it. Where is Sharpton and the President on this one? It is a joke they both come out of the woodwork when it looks like the police may have done something wrong, but here we have a black teenager pointing a gun at a police officer and I predict their silence will be deafening when the police officer was just doing his job.

Man bites dog vs. dog bites man.

 

[StrikeS2k]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

Credit to the Chief of Police for striking the proper tone after the tragedy- spoke to the press within hours the incident, characterized it as a terrible tragedy for all involved, did not try to demonize the dead kid or take a defensive tone. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Ferguson, that seemed like a good start to me.

lets hope that this tone is taken on all sides.

So far so good. I don't sense the same online outrage that followed the Brown shooting or some of the others. The few tweets questioning the police story haven't really gotten much traction. I get the feeling that the powers that be in the protest movement are smart enough to know that if there's pretty solid evidence a weapon was pulled they'll do themselves a disservice if they lump this in with the Brown/Garner/Rice killings.

Its early and its a holiday (or pretty close). Give it time.

I think you're giving them too much credit.

And I don't think you're giving them enough.

I'm sure some people will protest, but if the police continue to manage the situation well and the evidence of a weapon being pulled stands up I don't think you'll see this get even 5% of the sustained attention of the other three killings I listed. I suppose time will tell.

But see therein lies the problem. This should get attention and a lot of it. Where is Sharpton and the President on this one? It is a joke they both come out of the woodwork when it looks like the police may have done something wrong, but here we have a black teenager pointing a gun at a police officer and I predict their silence will be deafening when the police officer was just doing his job.

Huh?

Setting aside Sharpton, whose relevance is vastly overstated by right wingers who love to hate him- why should the president, or any leader in the black community, feel the need to speak on a run of the mill justified police shooting of an armed man? They happen all the time, unfortunately. What's different about Brown/Garner/Rice is that they were unarmed and killed by law enforcement. Regardless of the circumstances, that's a MUCH bigger deal. If you don't understand why, then you've completely missed the entire point of the outrage and the protests.

Because this kid could have been Obama's son!!!! And wouldn't Obama talk about this if it were his kid?

 

[Two Deep]

Regarding early misinformation helping to stoke outrage...

Furious Twitter users have rallied against a prankster who pretended he was best friends with latest police shooting victim Antonio Martin and watched him die at a gas station near Ferguson last night.

Jesus Christo claimed he was there when the 18-year-old was killed and fabricated an account of how a police officer opened fire on Martin when he refused to lie on the ground.

Under the Twitter handle, @DesJuanTheThug, Christo wrote 'I can't believe my best friend just died in front of me' - and the comment was retweeted more than 3,000 times.

He then posted a series of tweets telling people to listen to his mixtape and add him on SoundCloud - an audio platform that allows people to promote their own music.

He had earlier told The Huffington Post how he and Martin were stopped by an officer at a Mobil gas station on North Hanley Road because they matched the description of robbery suspects.

He claimed the officer then searched Martin and was quoted as saying: 'The officer then stepped back and pulled his weapon and pointed at Antonio and told us to lay on the ground.

'I laid down but Antonio refused. The officer then stepped back at us with his gun still aimed at us. He told Antonio to lay down again and when Antonio didn't lay down the officer opened fire.

'And when I tried to help my friend he screamed at me to stay down with his weapon still drawn.

The Huffington Post has since released a statement confirming the account was false which read: 'A previous version of this story included an interview with a man claiming to have been at the scene of the shooting and friends with the deceased.

'As police have released statements saying the second person involved in the incident has fled the scene, the source is now suggesting he was never there.'

Link

Christo can get under some people's skin.

Furious Twitter Users,,, I wonder if they started a pillow fight.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Huh?

Setting aside Sharpton, whose relevance is vastly overstated by right wingers who love to hate him- why should the president, or any leader in the black community, feel the need to speak on a run of the mill justified police shooting of an armed man? They happen all the time, unfortunately. What's different about Brown/Garner/Rice is that they were unarmed and killed by law enforcement. Regardless of the circumstances, that's a MUCH bigger deal. If you don't understand why, then you've completely missed the entire point of the outrage and the protests.

Because many in the black community will see this as just another case of the cops killing one of them. They wont dig any deeper into the details than that. So they need to hear from people in the black community that this is just a run of the mill justified police shooting of an armed man that happens all the time and there is no racial motivation to it. There was zero evidence to suggest the Brown/Garner/Rice incidents were racially motivated. Yet Al and the Pres and various others felt the need to speak out on those cases. Since they did so then, they need to do so here, IMO.

This is some seriously strained logic right here.

Although it's not necessarily reflected in this thread, there are tens of millions of people in this country outraged by the deaths of Brown, Garner, Rice, John Crawford, and others, just as there are hundreds of millions outraged by the deaths of Officers Liu and Ramos. Speaking on matters of significance to tens or hundreds of millions of people does not oblige the president or anyone else to speak on every matter you consider somewhat related. That's absurd. If this becomes a major story that doesn't go away and there are once again tens of millions of American citizens who are shaken by it, then sure, the president should speak to it. Until then, maybe keep the "thanks a lot, Obama" routine in your back pocket.

 

[lod01]

Ok, this #### really needs to stop.

Current yahoo headline: 'White cops shoots ARMED, black, 18 year old'

http://news.yahoo.com/police-officer-missouri-shot-killed-man-pulled-gun-084531706.html

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the officer was questioning the 18-year-old and another man about a theft late Tuesday at a convenience store in Berkeley when the young man pulled a 9mm handgun on him. The officer stumbled backward but fired three shots, one of which struck the victim, Belmar said.

It's like they are trying to incite riots.

This headline should be 'Cop saves the day, kills armed, punk ###, loser, ##### who pulled gun on him.' Fortunately we have video of it.

 

[whiskey7]

Regarding early misinformation helping to stoke outrage...

Furious Twitter users have rallied against a prankster who pretended he was best friends with latest police shooting victim Antonio Martin and watched him die at a gas station near Ferguson last night.

Jesus Christo claimed he was there when the 18-year-old was killed and fabricated an account of how a police officer opened fire on Martin when he refused to lie on the ground.

Under the Twitter handle, @DesJuanTheThug, Christo wrote 'I can't believe my best friend just died in front of me' - and the comment was retweeted more than 3,000 times.

He then posted a series of tweets telling people to listen to his mixtape and add him on SoundCloud - an audio platform that allows people to promote their own music.

He had earlier told The Huffington Post how he and Martin were stopped by an officer at a Mobil gas station on North Hanley Road because they matched the description of robbery suspects.

He claimed the officer then searched Martin and was quoted as saying: 'The officer then stepped back and pulled his weapon and pointed at Antonio and told us to lay on the ground.

'I laid down but Antonio refused. The officer then stepped back at us with his gun still aimed at us. He told Antonio to lay down again and when Antonio didn't lay down the officer opened fire.

'And when I tried to help my friend he screamed at me to stay down with his weapon still drawn.

The Huffington Post has since released a statement confirming the account was false which read: 'A previous version of this story included an interview with a man claiming to have been at the scene of the shooting and friends with the deceased.

'As police have released statements saying the second person involved in the incident has fled the scene, the source is now suggesting he was never there.'

Link

Christo can get under some people's skin.

Furious Twitter Users,,, I wonder if they started a pillow fight.

All joking aside, we shouldnt underestimate the extent to which social media is helping fuel the fires (particularly when there is misinformation).

Reports are hundreds of people went to the convenience store after the shooting. That's late at night on a Tuesday. I would be curious to see the text of the messages that lead to that. And why go there? What were those people hoping to accomplish?

 

[lod01]

Ok, this #### really needs to stop.

Current yahoo headline: 'White cops shoots ARMED, black, 18 year old'

http://news.yahoo.com/police-officer-missouri-shot-killed-man-pulled-gun-084531706.html

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the officer was questioning the 18-year-old and another man about a theft late Tuesday at a convenience store in Berkeley when the young man pulled a 9mm handgun on him. The officer stumbled backward but fired three shots, one of which struck the victim, Belmar said.

It's like they are trying to incite riots.

This headline should be 'Cop saves the day, kills armed, punk ###, loser, ##### who pulled gun on him.' Fortunately we have video of it.

Seems the St. Loius PD is doing fantastic work, taking out the trash. From that link:

It was the third fatal shooting of a black suspect by a white police officer in the St. Louis area since Brown was killed. Kajaime Powell, 25, was killed Aug. 9 after approaching St. Louis officers with a knife. Vonderrit Myers Jr., 18, was fatally shot Oct. 8 after allegedly shooting at a St. Louis officer.

 

[The General]

I wonder if anyone in the black community will stand up and talk about problems within the black community that lead to their young men being out late at night armed, instead of calling this a police issue.

Obama, Charles Barkley, Pre-Rape Bill Cosby, all did this at some point I'm sure there are a lot more.

 

[lod01]

I'm ready to round up all these loser protesters and create a country for them. We'll give them Iowa.

 

[Parrothead]

obviously not important enough for a beer summit

 

[TobiasFunke]

I am not overlooking the point. You have people focusing on 3 incidents and totally putting blinders on when it comes to the hundreds of other shootings in black communities and demonizing all police officers while they are at it. The protesters are like a person complaining that their car stereo doesn't work, when in fact their car doesn't have an engine.

That is why I am saying this is a teachable moment. This is a chance for Sharpton to actually show some credibility here and come forward and discuss black violence and the proliferation of guns in predominately black communities. This is a chance to maybe show some compassion to the police and call for unity, but why point fingers within, when it is so easy to blame others I guess,

1. Nobody has blinders on when it comes to shootings in black communities. Most every leader in the black community speaks on it frequently and scholars who study African-American history/issues discuss it all the time. That you think otherwise tells me that you really haven't paid a lot of attention to either.

2. Comparing civilian killings to killings at the hands of law enforcement totally misses the point of the protests.

3. Do you call out the white community for "not having an engine" every time one of us does something awful? Have you ever criticized the GOP and the NRA for not just failing to fight the "proliferation of guns in the white community, but in fact encouraging it? If not, why not?

 

[whiskey7]

I'm ready to round up all these loser protesters and create a country for them. We'll give them Iowa.

Hell no. That's way too close to me.

 

[jamny]

2. Comparing civilian killings to killings at the hands of law enforcement totally misses the point of the protests.

So why is Trayvon Martin being brought up in the protests?

 

[lod01]

I'm ready to round up all these loser protesters and create a country for them. We'll give them Iowa.

Hell no. That's way to close to me.

The US gov't will pay to relocate you. How about Hawaii.....for your troubles.

 

[Two Deep]

Raise your hand if you want to banish the rabble-rouser TobiasFunke to his own thread, Timscochet style.

 

[whiskey7]

Ok, this #### really needs to stop.

Current yahoo headline: 'White cops shoots ARMED, black, 18 year old'

http://news.yahoo.com/police-officer-missouri-shot-killed-man-pulled-gun-084531706.html

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the officer was questioning the 18-year-old and another man about a theft late Tuesday at a convenience store in Berkeley when the young man pulled a 9mm handgun on him. The officer stumbled backward but fired three shots, one of which struck the victim, Belmar said.

It's like they are trying to incite riots.

This headline should be 'Cop saves the day, kills armed, punk ###, loser, ##### who pulled gun on him.' Fortunately we have video of it.

Yep. That is exactly what I was talking about earlier. Media hacks dumping gas all over the hot spots so they can show the flare-ups.

 

[TobiasFunke]

2. Comparing civilian killings to killings at the hands of law enforcement totally misses the point of the protests.

So why is Trayvon Martin being brought up in the protests?

I haven't seen very many people bringing it up, but to the extent it is it would be because the verdict is seen as another failure of the justice system to hold accountable someone who kills an unarmed black teenager, and by extension to value the lives of young black men.

And before anyone throws a hissy fit my way, I agreed with the verdict and said so in the thread on that case. I'm just trying to explain why some might consider the Martin killing/verdict a symptom of the underlying disease that's being protested.

 

[StrikeS2k]

2. Comparing civilian killings to killings at the hands of law enforcement totally misses the point of the protests.

So why is Trayvon Martin being brought up in the protests?

I haven't seen very many people bringing it up, but to the extent it is it would be because the verdict is seen as another failure of the justice system to hold accountable someone who kills an unarmed black teenager, and by extension to value the lives of young black men.

And before anyone throws a hissy fit my way, I agreed with the verdict and said so in the thread on that case. I'm just trying to explain why some might consider the Martin killing/verdict a symptom of the underlying disease that's being protested.

Or you could come out and admit that some people just look for things to protest about, and are wrong to do so.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Raise your hand if you want to banish the rabble-rouser TobiasFunke to his own thread, Timscochet style.

Oh, please. If I wasn't in this thread this morning it would be a boring conversation among a bunch of like-minded posters patting each other on the back for their unassailable insights.

Not to mention the fact that all of my posts are replies to other posts. And I've tried to keep a pretty respectful tone, too.

 

[Courtjester]

I am not overlooking the point. You have people focusing on 3 incidents and totally putting blinders on when it comes to the hundreds of other shootings in black communities and demonizing all police officers while they are at it. The protesters are like a person complaining that their car stereo doesn't work, when in fact their car doesn't have an engine.

That is why I am saying this is a teachable moment. This is a chance for Sharpton to actually show some credibility here and come forward and discuss black violence and the proliferation of guns in predominately black communities. This is a chance to maybe show some compassion to the police and call for unity, but why point fingers within, when it is so easy to blame others I guess,

1. Nobody has blinders on when it comes to shootings in black communities. Most every leader in the black community speaks on it frequently and scholars who study African-American history/issues discuss it all the time. That you think otherwise tells me that you really haven't paid a lot of attention to either.

2. Comparing civilian killings to killings at the hands of law enforcement totally misses the point of the protests.

3. Do you call out the white community for "not having an engine" every time one of us does something awful? Have you ever criticized the GOP and the NRA for not just failing to fight the "proliferation of guns in the white community, but in fact encouraging it? If not, why not?

1. I specifically said Sharpton and the President--two of the more outspoken individuals on the events in St, Louis. I am sure there have been many books written by many intelligent African American scholars on the issue of racial profiling and the biased behavior by law enforcement--but that is completely unresponsive to the point I made that these two should use THIS MOMENT to facilitate healing with the same effort they have made to making other events be so divisive.

2. There is no point to the protests. Sitting down in a mall and stopping shoppers from temporarily getting to Bed Bath and Beyond--yeah, that really equates to MLK's March on Washington. Nothing is going to come of them because there is quantitative measuring stick that will say, "Ah ha, police aren't being biased anymore."

3... Requires a much longer response than I have time for at this exact moment as my wife is tapping her foot and giving me that look as she wants to get out the door and pick up our pies for the parties tomorrow.

Thanks for the thoughts on the subject-- I do enjoy reading your responses. Have a good holiday!!

 

[TobiasFunke]

I am not overlooking the point. You have people focusing on 3 incidents and totally putting blinders on when it comes to the hundreds of other shootings in black communities and demonizing all police officers while they are at it. The protesters are like a person complaining that their car stereo doesn't work, when in fact their car doesn't have an engine.

That is why I am saying this is a teachable moment. This is a chance for Sharpton to actually show some credibility here and come forward and discuss black violence and the proliferation of guns in predominately black communities. This is a chance to maybe show some compassion to the police and call for unity, but why point fingers within, when it is so easy to blame others I guess,

1. Nobody has blinders on when it comes to shootings in black communities. Most every leader in the black community speaks on it frequently and scholars who study African-American history/issues discuss it all the time. That you think otherwise tells me that you really haven't paid a lot of attention to either.

2. Comparing civilian killings to killings at the hands of law enforcement totally misses the point of the protests.

3. Do you call out the white community for "not having an engine" every time one of us does something awful? Have you ever criticized the GOP and the NRA for not just failing to fight the "proliferation of guns in the white community, but in fact encouraging it? If not, why not?

1. I specifically said Sharpton and the President--two of the most outspoken individuals on the events in St, Louis. I am sure there have been many books written by many intelligent African American scholars on the issue of racial profiling and the biased behavior by law enforcement--but that is completely unresponsive to the point I made that these two should use THIS MOMENT to facilitate healing with the same effort they have made to making other events be so divisive.

2. There is no point to the protests. Sitting down in a mall and stopping shoppers from temporarily getting to Bed Bath and Beyond--yeah, that really equates to MLK's March on Washington. Nothing is going to come of them because there is quantitative measuring stick that will say, "Ah ha, police aren't being biased anymore."

3... Requires a much longer response than I have time for at this exact moment as my wife is tapping her foot and giving me that look as she wants to get out the door and pick up our pies for the parties tomorrow.

Thanks for the thoughts on the subject--I am sure we can pick it up at a later date. Have a good holiday!!

Thanks to you as well. Happy holidays and good luck with the pies.

 

[whiskey7]

2. Comparing civilian killings to killings at the hands of law enforcement totally misses the point of the protests.

So why is Trayvon Martin being brought up in the protests?

I haven't seen very many people bringing it up, but to the extent it is it would be because the verdict is seen as another failure of the justice system to hold accountable someone who kills an unarmed black teenager, and by extension to value the lives of young black men.

And before anyone throws a hissy fit my way, I agreed with the verdict and said so in the thread on that case. I'm just trying to explain why some might consider the Martin killing/verdict a symptom of the underlying disease that's being protested.

Or you could come out and admit that some people just look for things to protest about, and are wrong to do so.

Not only wrong but completely fraudulent. If we are to believe these protesters are outraged over the "killing" of Brown and Garner and "All lives matter" they should be equally outraged by the deaths of all the other black people who are killed by other black people. Where are the protests for those people? How much energy are the black leaders devoting toward prevention of black on black violence vs the few cases where cops kill black people? Where is the unified effort amongst the majority of the black community to get rid of the individuals who are the troublemakers? If the black community put the same passion and energy into eliminating the criminal element amongst them that they do toward hating/blaming cops, I think they would find much better results.

 

[TobiasFunke]

2. Comparing civilian killings to killings at the hands of law enforcement totally misses the point of the protests.

So why is Trayvon Martin being brought up in the protests?

I haven't seen very many people bringing it up, but to the extent it is it would be because the verdict is seen as another failure of the justice system to hold accountable someone who kills an unarmed black teenager, and by extension to value the lives of young black men.

And before anyone throws a hissy fit my way, I agreed with the verdict and said so in the thread on that case. I'm just trying to explain why some might consider the Martin killing/verdict a symptom of the underlying disease that's being protested.

Or you could come out and admit that some people just look for things to protest about, and are wrong to do so.

Not only wrong but completely fraudulent. If we are to believe these protesters are outraged over the "killing" of Brown and Garner and "All lives matter" they should be equally outraged by the deaths of all the other black people who are killed by other black people. Where are the protests for those people? How much energy are the black leaders devoting toward prevention of black on black violence vs the few cases where cops kill black people? Where is the unified effort amongst the majority of the black community to get rid of the individuals who are the troublemakers? If the black community put the same passion and energy into eliminating the criminal element amongst them that they do toward hating/blaming cops, I think they would find much better results.

1. The protests are about perceived injustice, the notion that black lives aren't considered as meaningful as white lives by the justice system, and that the behavior exhibited by some in the law enforcement community suggesting that civilians (black and white) are their adversaries rather than the people they are sworn to serve and protect. It's not just dead bodies. Comparing them to civilian killings misses the point.

2. There are literally dozens of responses all over the internet to this false comparison of the protests to the reaction/response to black on black crime. Since it's Xmas eve and nobody wants to read a long boring thinkpiece , I'll link to Larry Wilmore's response on The Daily Show instead.

 

[jamny]

Raise your hand if you want to banish the rabble-rouser TobiasFunke to his own thread, Timscochet style.

 

[fantasycurse42]

This new shooting from last night shouldn't be national news.

 

[lod01]

This new shooting from last night shouldn't be national news.

Exactly.

Maybe one of the news organizations can set up a twitter feed. They could call it 'sub-humans who got shot & killed' Then the rioters could subscribe and they would know if one of their own was killed in their area and they can go grab a free TV.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Raise your hand if you want to banish the rabble-rouser TobiasFunke to his own thread, Timscochet style.

Thanks, man

 

[kentric]

looks like another shooting just happened.

http://rt.com/news/217243-black-man-ferguson-police/

"A police officer was conducting a routine check at the Mobil gas station in the suburb of Berkeley, St. Louis at about 11:15 pm local time, St. Louis County Police said. The officer saw two male suspects and approached them. One man pulled a handgun and pointed it at the police officer."

That will do it to you.

Other's are reporting the teen was unarmed. In the end it will not matter armed or not the teen is dead.

Of course it matters. If he was armed and pointing it at the cop, it can be viewed as justified. If not, it just exacerbates the issue. Yes, the teen is still dead, but we're talking issues beyond his death.

 

[Henry Ford]

It is too bad that the deceased did not smile and say "Merry Christmas Officers!", and then receive the same back.

Now knowing how volatile this subject is right now I can imagine some taking the above in the disjunctive and angrily asking how I Know the deceased did not do so. For them I say I mean my statement in the conjunctive. I mean it is too bad that both did not occur. It sucks that we have an incident rather than a pleasant holiday interaction.

Goodwill towards men.

I agree. We should definitely be focusing our animosity toward women this time of year.

You sir are the Prophet our times desperately needs.

God has told me that I cannot complete his mission on earth unless each person on this board sends me $200. And he said something about a jet ski, but we'll get into that later.

 

[TheAristocrat]

I'm ready to round up all these loser protesters and create a country for them. We'll give them Iowa.

Iowa has some limited value. I say Missouri, which has no discernible value.

 

[whiskey7]

2. Comparing civilian killings to killings at the hands of law enforcement totally misses the point of the protests.

So why is Trayvon Martin being brought up in the protests?

I haven't seen very many people bringing it up, but to the extent it is it would be because the verdict is seen as another failure of the justice system to hold accountable someone who kills an unarmed black teenager, and by extension to value the lives of young black men.

And before anyone throws a hissy fit my way, I agreed with the verdict and said so in the thread on that case. I'm just trying to explain why some might consider the Martin killing/verdict a symptom of the underlying disease that's being protested.

Or you could come out and admit that some people just look for things to protest about, and are wrong to do so.

Not only wrong but completely fraudulent. If we are to believe these protesters are outraged over the "killing" of Brown and Garner and "All lives matter" they should be equally outraged by the deaths of all the other black people who are killed by other black people. Where are the protests for those people? How much energy are the black leaders devoting toward prevention of black on black violence vs the few cases where cops kill black people? Where is the unified effort amongst the majority of the black community to get rid of the individuals who are the troublemakers? If the black community put the same passion and energy into eliminating the criminal element amongst them that they do toward hating/blaming cops, I think they would find much better results.

1. The protests are about perceived injustice, the notion that black lives aren't considered as meaningful as white lives by the justice system, and that the behavior exhibited by some in the law enforcement community suggesting that civilians (black and white) are their adversaries rather than the people they are sworn to serve and protect. It's not just dead bodies. Comparing them to civilian killings misses the point.

2. There are literally dozens of responses all over the internet to this false comparison of the protests to the reaction/response to black on black crime. Since it's Xmas eve and nobody wants to read a long boring thinkpiece , I'll link to Larry Wilmore's response on The Daily Show instead.

1. I get that. But when the black community goes all-out to protest perceived injustice done to them but does very little to counteract the obvious injustice blacks are inflicting on other blacks, it looks really fraudulent.

2. From Wilmore: ""Can we quit calling it black-on-black crime? It's just crime," Wilmore said. "Black-on-black just makes it sound like a category on Redtube."

Absolutely! Lets do that. I am in 100%. I hope this also means the headlines will reflectively read "Man killed by police" instead of "Black man killed by white police" going forward. Seems more accurate and less inflammatory, doesn't it?