Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Prime Time for Ferguson

By Robert Wenzel

In an odd bit of scheduling, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch chose to announce that a grand jury did not indict Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, during prime time: 9:00 ET, 6:00 PT.

Perfect timing for the rest of America to sit back and watch rioters first loot then burn stores, under the cover of darkness, in Ferguson .

It's almost as though America was getting an object lesson on why local police need all that militarized equipment that the government has been recently providing them. You see, it's so that this doesn't happen to the rest of America.

Of course, as per usual in these cases, there was little to no protection of the private sector and the only thing that seemed to get the full protection of the police was the police headquarters. This despite the fact that the police had months to prepare for the grand jury decision and that the governor of Missouri had declared a state of emergency days ago, which included his ordering national guard assistance.

Note well: In crisis, government takes care of its own. The rest of you are on your own. Government protection of the private sector is largely a myth. You want evidence? Here's evidence:






And finally  a CNN reporter hit in the head with a rock:




 Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher at EconomicPolicyJournal.com and at Target Liberty. He is also author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Follow him on twitter:@wenzeleconomics


(ht Jay Stephenson)

19 comments:

  1. Why is it that whenever the media wants to whip up racial tensions they choose an ambiguous case? There are plenty of clear cut cases where the cops kill someone innocent, but the media seems to prefer these Rashomon situations.

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    1. I was wondering the SAME thing!

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    2. Very insightful. Rashomon situations fuel grievance on both sides, ideal for raising tensions and provoking conflict. Unambiguous cases of police brutality or private criminality would tend to unite people on one side.

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    3. Actually this one is clear as a bell, to those who have the basic capability to see that Brown was unarmed, and was at a distance when officer coward executed him in cold blood. "Give me an owie in the suv a minute earlier will ya, well I'll show YOU" said officer coward. Brown got what he deserved in confrontation 1.0 at the suv, but after running away, officer coward, instead of arresting him for confrontation 2.0, just anointed himself judge, jury, and executioner.

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    4. Good observation. Timothy hit the nail on the head.

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    5. Oppositional Defiant: Wilson did try to arrest Brown, but Brown turned and charged him rather than giving himself up. It's easy to make the correct decisions from behind your keyboard with months of time to ponder all elements of the situation. Not so easy to do when you have to respond in a split second with a massive human being bearing down on you at full speed. A person who already attempted to take your weapon, presumably to execute you.

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    6. The cop couldn't arrest him because he was overpowered. Brown was big.

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    7. Turned and charged a guy with a gun, sorry correcting myself a cop with a gun. yep just like he suffered a eye socket fracture. didn't take long for the DA and the police union lawyer to come up with that.

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  2. Protecting the police department headquarters unquestionably takes precedence over private businesses. If CVS burns to the ground it's a loss, yes, but if the rioters had done the same to the Ferguson Police Department law and order would be even more difficult to restore. The timing of the Prosecutor's statement was certainly questionable, and perhaps this is a power play to put more uniforms on the streets, but in this case I side with the cops, Robert. Let's face it: these aren't people we're dealing with looting and burning, they're feral animals looking for cheap thrills with no regard for Michael Brown's death.

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    1. "these aren't people we're dealing with"
      Where were you when Hitler was staffing his ovens?

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    2. So why bother having cops you moron if they have no intention of protecting anyone accept themselves?

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    3. Okay, that's fine but then the government shouldn't interfere with or punish people using arms to protect their person and property. But that's not the way it works...

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  3. Just what you'd expect from the animals.

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    1. And the cops did just what all parasites do. They protected their own. PERIOD.

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  4. Are there enough broken windows to satisfy Krugman? They should have handed out job applications to the looters and property destroyers. After all, somebody has to rebuild that which they've destroyed, right?

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  5. I fully agree with your perspective, Bob. Thanks for sharing it. Makes great sense.

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  6. did you all miss the statement...."planned in advance"...now you just have to fill in the blanks of '''WHAT was planned in advance by the AUTHORITIES.......since ONLY non government property was trashed, burned and looted....pre- planning has a a better chance of success than just wing'in it.......so as we look at the results...seems to this onlooker that pre-planning did its job...as in 'well done' , but not to our stuff........imho

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  7. Planning is key! Consider:
    1 -A decision made during daylight was announced at night when camera's are useless.
    2 -Looting was certain to take place based on this decision.
    3 -Every one assumes African Americans were doing the burning and looting.
    4 -Instead of having cops out there to arrest the looters, a few stayed protecting the Police stations.
    5 -I guess the rest were out there wearing masks looting, burning, not afraid of cops who were not going to arrest anyone since cops might get arrested.
    6 -Seems like the goal is to create an excuse to have Ferguson under siege for months as a police state.

    Time will tell....

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  8. Agreed. I'd like to see some alternate footage of the events that took place last night. I stumbled upon the coverage channel surfing and only saw what was aired on CNN. I'm told there were plenty of peaceful protesters being inappropriately subdued. How many people know how to set a car ablaze that quickly and intensely? There has to be some forethought there, and I just don't see your average person planning to do damage to private property, so effectively that he or she would research the method first. Riots are based on passion, generally, not premeditation. This is all disheartening at best. If anyone knows of any alternative media coverage and where to see it, please link in comments.

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