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What It Looks Like in Today's America When a Small Town is Turned Into a Warzone
A small town was transformed overnight after violent rioting...
ijreview.com

What It Looks Like in Today’s America When a Small Town is Turned Into a Warzone

1,668 Shares By Kyle Becker 8 hours ago



Machine guns. Bearcats. MRAPs. Grenade launchers.

Weapons of war that should never be used for domestic policing or necessary tools for the modern peace officer to effectively engage in suburban combat?



Business Insider: “Police officers try to disperse a crowd Monday in Ferguson, Missouri.” AP Photo/ Jeff Robertson

Take Ferguson, Missouri. A town of 21,000 on the northwestern outskirts of St. Louis rose up in violent and destructive rioting last weekend after an unnamed police officer shot and killed an unarmed African-American teen named Michael Brown. Why and how it happened is disputed.

The rioting included shots fired, a gasoline station torched, and a dozen businesses looted and/or vandalized.



A QuikTrip is left in rubble after being torched during the rioting.

The community was turned into a warzone as police with uniforms resembling the Marine’s MARPAT camo, some of them carrying short-barrel 5.56 caliber rifles based on the military’s M4 carbine, descended upon the scene.
Business Insider’s Paul Szoldra reported that a man claiming to be former U.S. Army Ranger commented, “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone.”



Police move onto the crime scene from an armored vehicle.

One consequence of an entire community being put into martial law-type lockdown is that innocent civilians are necessarily caught up in the crossfire and their individual rights could be compromised.
Racial tensions can run high and civil/police relations strained to the breaking point. The temptation for police to respond with an impressive display of force capability may be overwhelming. Such situations are dangerous not only for police officers, but for innocent civilians who may be targeted for reasons such as their race.



Police confront demonstrators over the Mike Brown shooting.

The police mentality in many communities may grow militaristic and only serve to antagonize the situation. The viewpoint may shift from one of serving civilians by keeping the peace to one of wanting to impress authority on the populace by spreading fear, instead of fostering mutual respect.
What happened in Ferguson, Missouri is a stark example of a growing trend in the United States: The militarization of local police forces. According to an article by Peter B. Kraska called “Militarization and Policing: Its Relevance to 21st Century Police,” there is an increasing”blurring” of the lines between the military and the police in the United States as part of a long-term trend:

• “The significant erosion of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act by the United States, which previous to the early 1980s prohibited the military involvement in internal security or police matters, except under the most extreme circumstances”;
• ” The advent of an unprecedented cooperative relationship between the US military and US civilian police at both the highest and lowest level of organization”;
• “A growing tendency by the police and other segments of the criminal justice system to rely on the military/war model for formulating crime/drug/ terrorism control rationale and operations”;

St. Louis County police respond to widespread rioting and demonstrations in reaction to the Mike Brown shooting.

According to a report by Salon “11 chilling facts about America’s militarized police force,” the longer term trend has escalated from the post-9/11 ‘war on terror’ through the Obama administration:

A recent New York Times article by Matt Apuzzo reported that in the Obama era, “police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.”

The result is that police agencies around the nation possess military-grade equipment, turning officers who are supposed to fight crime and protect communities into what look like invading forces from an army. And military-style police raids have increased in recent years, with one count putting the number at 80,000 such raids last year.

An ACLU report put the cost of military equipment being placed in the hands of local police departments in the “billions” per year. In Radley Balko’s WSJ article “The Rise of the Warrior Cop,” he extends the trend back to the tumultuous 1960s.



“The Intersection of 12th Street and Clairmount, Saturday, July 23, 1967.” BlackPast.org via the Detroit Free Press

Earlier this year, a Georgia toddler was critically injured by a flashbang that was used in a SWAT no-knock raid of a suspected drug dealer. The suspect in question didn’t even live at that residence.
When an ongoing “war on drugs” turns America into open season, in violation of such constitutionally guaranteed rights as the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure, it only aggravates the public’s perception that the state has turned against the population, and has ceased serving its will.
The broader “war on terror” has created a dilemma for police who want to serve the public interest by providing security, but may be obstructed in some situations by citizen’s constitutional rights.
The destructiveness and volatility of the Ferguson rioting is illustrative of the kind of community uprising that can explode when potential instances of injustice are held up to be reflective of entire societies or cultures. Various media, politicians, and community organizations prey upon and agitate these situations for political benefit or even monetary gain.



Police officers use tear gas and point weapons at passersby. AP Photo/ Jeff Robertson via Business Insider

This perpetuates injustice and misunderstanding among Americans. When entire communities react with outrage to cases of injustice, it puts police departments in an extremely difficult situation and fuels the trend towards militarization.
De-escalating the police/civilian hostility in American communities will require an informed public that seeks mutual understanding of the dilemmas police face protecting themselves and the public, as well acknowledging citizens’ demands that their rights be respected.
Ultimately, the police exist for the benefit of the American people and serve their desire for peace and security.

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/08/1673...odays-america/

FED MOVES IN: Dems Asking Federal Government to Begin Taking Over Ferguson Police Department

By Eric Odom
10:53 am August 13, 2014


The DOJ is one of the least credible departments that currently exist in the Republic. Just look at Fast & Furious, the IRS scandal, the black panther voter intimidation case, etc, and you’ll find a seemingly endless line of examples of failure of justice at the hands of the DOJ.
But never mind the incompetency and corruption of the DOJ. Several members of Congress actually want the Fed, via the DOJ, to come in and take over duties that should be fulfilled by local police in the St Louis area.
Via the St Louis American.

In the wake of last Saturday’s tragic police shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year old unarmed African American teen in Ferguson, Missouri, who was shot multiple times and killed by a Ferguson police officer, Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri, joined by House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Congressman John Conyers (D) Michigan, and Congresswoman Marsha Fudge (D) Ohio have asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to expand the scope of the FBI investigation into the shooting, including a rigorous review of patterns of alleged police misconduct.
In their letter to Attorney General Holder. Mr. Clay and his colleagues wrote:

“In light of the foregoing developments, we ask the Department of Justice to investigate the shooting of Michael Brown, looking at both the facts of the specific incident as well as the potential for any pattern or practice of police misconduct by the Ferguson Police Department.
We understand that the St. Louis County Police Department is investigating the matter in order to have some level of independent investigation take place, but this arrangement is insufficient for at least two reasons.
First, the St. Louis County Police Department may not be the most objective or credible body to investigate civil rights matters involving law enforcement given evidence of racial profiling by that department in the recent past, which Congressman Clay had asked the Department of Justice to investigate.
Second, only the federal government has the resources, the experience, and the full independence to give this case the close scrutiny that the citizens of Ferguson and the greater St. Louis area deserve. Moreover, to the extent that a pattern or practice of police misconduct may exist, such misconduct would be a clear violation of federal law, including 42 U.S.C. § 14141, which makes it unlawful for State or local law enforcement officers to engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives persons of rights protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. Such conduct would include the use of excessive force by police.”

Some are suggesting this could start a process of the fed completely taking over the SLPD. What say you?

http://www.libertynews.com/2014/08/f...ce-department/

Ferguson Riot Police Wound Reporter In Attack on Protestors

Police use MRAPs, helicopters to hunt down journalists in Ferguson, Mo.



by Kit Daniels | Infowars.com | August 13, 2014

In Ferguson, Missouri, Infowars reporter Joe Biggs was shot in the kidneys Wednesday night by St. Louis Co. Police using flash bangs and rubber bullets during protests over the police shooting of an unarmed teenager four days ago.

Additionally, the police were reportedly hunting down journalists amongst the demonstrators after arresting two prior to the assault.
The militarized police, equipped with combat armor and Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, unloaded on the media and demonstrators near the burnt down QuikTrip gas station on West Florissant Ave. around 9pm Central after someone threw a Motolov cocktail on top of a nearby car wash, lighting it completely on fire.
“I got shot in the kidneys with one of those rubber rounds and had two gas canisters come right at me,” Biggs reported. “When I got up, I couldn’t see so I went in one direction and lost [Infowars reporter] Jakari Jackson and [Infowars cameraman] Josh Owens.”
Owens made it inside of a car with a reporter from Vice News but police pinned down their vehicle and shot flash bangs and tear gas at them.
Prior to the attack, police used an MRAP to get within firing range of the protestors.
“You must leave the area immediately,” the police barked over a megaphone. “Failure to do so will subject you to arrest.”
Not long after, the demonstrators on West Florissant Ave. were assaulted.
“We all got split up when a SWAT Team approached us and started throwing flash bangs and shooting tear gas and all kinds of [so-called] non-lethal rounds at us,” Biggs said, who was dropped to his knees by the round that hit him. “That took my breath away but when I was finally able to take a breath, I took in a nice helping of tear gas.”
The police also used helicopters as forward observers for the MRAPs crawling through clouds of tear gas like tanks during World War I.
“They are shutting down the entire road and there’s word that they are looking specifically for journalists to arrest them,” Biggs revealed. “Why? Because they don’t want the truth about what’s going on to come out.”

It's government re-education time again, and in an effort to support the ongoing Infowar aimed at injecting liberty and truth into the mainstream education system, the Infowars Store is having a limited time 10% discount on all items by using promo code "10". Click here for more information.

http://www.infowars.com/ferguson-rio...on-protestors/

The Independent Institute

Can you tell the difference?



Ferguson or Iraq? Photos Unmask the Militarization of America's Police

By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai and Dustin Drankoski
10 hours ago

The racial tensions, looting, vandalism and police tactics that have followed Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, have raised the question: Is this really what America looks like in 2014?
Brown, a black 18-year-old who was unarmed, was reportedly shot and killed by a police officer on Saturday in Ferguson, a predominantly black suburb of St. Louis. Residents protesting his death have flooded the streets this week, and photographs of police trying to contain them bear an eerie resemblance to a military operation.
See also: #IfTheyGunnedMeDown Confronts How Minority Deaths Are Portrayed in Media

As America scaled back its presence in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2012, military gear — amphibious tanks, weapons, uniforms and drones — spilled into local police arsenals. In June, an ACLU report warned of the "excessive militarization" of local law enforcement. "This has the effect of terrifying people, destroying communities and actually undermining public safety," Kara Dansky, ACLU senior counsel, told Mashable in June.
The photos below show the heavily armed Ferguson police officers, dressed in camouflaged uniforms. They are set side-by-side with images of U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Left: Ferguson. Right: Iraq.
  
  (L) Police in Ferguson wearing riot gear walk toward a man with his hands raised on Monday. (R) U.S. soldiers in Mosul, Iraq, search house-by-house for illegal weapons on January 20, 2005.
  
  Image: Jeff Roberson/AP, Mauricio Lima/AFP/Getty Images
• Left: Ferguson. Right: Iraq.
  
  (L) St. Louis County Tactical Police fire tear gas along West Florissant Road in Ferguson. (R) A grenade explodes close to a U.S. Army humvee during clashes in Mosul, Iraq, on June 13, 2003.
  
  Image: Robert Cohen/St. Louis Dispatch, Ramzi Haidar/AFP/Getty Images
• Left: Ferguson. Right: Afghanistan.
  
  (L) Police take up position to control demonstrators who were protesting the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson on Tuesday. (R) U.S. Army soldiers patrol a village in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on February 27, 2014.
  
  Image: Scott Olson/Getty Images, Scott Olson Getty Images
• Left: Ferguson. Right: Iraq.
  
  (L) A police officer looks through the scope of his rifle as he gets into position to control demonstrators in Ferguson on Tuesday. (R) A U.S. Marine sniper prepares to fire at insurgents in the town of Kusaiybah on the Syrian-Iraqi border on October 27, 2005.
  
  Image: Scott Olson/Getty Images, Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images
• Left: Ferguson. Right: Afghanistan.
  
  (L) A Missouri State Highway Patrol tactical vehicle travels down South Florissant Road in Ferguson on Monday. (R) A U.S. Army Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle is parked at the entrance of a U.S. outpost in Khost, Afghanistan, on June 28, 2011.
  
  Image: Michael B Thomas/Getty Images, Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images
• Left: Ferguson. Right: Iraq.
  
  (L) Police prepare to encounter demonstrators in Ferguson on Tuesday. (R) U.S. soldiers point out to a sniper's position after coming under fire during an offensive operation in Najaf, Iraq, on August 15, 2004.
  
  Image: Scott Olson/Getty Images, Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Show As Gallery
Topics: ferguson, Mashable Must Reads, military, police, St. Louis, U.S. Military, U.S., US & World


http://mashable.com/2014/08/13/fergu...tests-vs-iraq/

T E N S E










WASHPOST: Racial questions about police force in MO...

QuikTrip site still focal point of community unrest...

Protesters Lash Out at Obama, Sharpton 'You Haven't Changed Nothin. F*ck Y'all'...

Reporters arrested...

PAPER: Pentagon fueled confrontation...

Militarized cops on display...


http://drudgereport.com/

How The Ferguson PD Will Whitewash The Killing Of Michael E. Brown

August 14, 2014 by William N. Grigg



Edward Garner was unarmed when he was shot in the back of the head by Memphis police officer Elton Hymon. At the time, the short, slightly built teenager was scaling a fence, attempting to flee. Hymon knew that the suspect was unarmed and that the only threat he posed was one of escape. When Garner’s lifeless body was searched later, all that was found was $10 he had stolen from a nearby house.
At the time, Tennessee state law dictated that a police officer confronting a resisting or fleeing suspect “may use all the necessary means to effect the arrest” even when the suspect didn’t pose a threat to others. Garner’s father filed a federal civil rights suit against the Memphis Police Department that took 11 years to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that even where there is “probable cause to seize a suspect, an officer may not always do so by killing him. The use of deadly force to prevent the escape of all felony suspects, whatever the circumstances, is constitutionally unreasonable.”
While the Tennessee v. Garner ruling effectively repealed what was called the “Any-Felony Rule” regarding deadly force, and apparently contributed to a reduction in police homicides, it didn’t create an objective or uniform standard for police conduct. As one scholarly examination of the ruling and its impact summarized, “[T]he creation or modification of laws has never effectively modified police behavior.” Officers still enjoy broad discretion regarding the use of deadly force, as long as they can contrive some way to describe their decisions as the course of action a “reasonable officer” would follow in the circumstances as he perceived them.
What this means is that any use of deadly force is “reasonable” if the subjective perceptions of the officer lead him to believe he is threatened, and courts have traditionally been disinclined to “second-guess” those actions. This arrangement, in which the latitude enjoyed by police in using deadly force is defined by the timidity and dishonesty of the officer, is called the “objective reasonableness” standard.
The shooting of Garner happened almost exactly 40 years before last Saturday’s execution-style killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. Like Garner, Brown was a teenager fleeing from a police officer. In the more recent case, however, there was no evidence that the fugitive had actually committed a criminal offense and no reason to believe that he had done anything to merit the attention of the officer who killed him.
Officer Hymon was responding to a report that a prowler was in the neighborhood long after sunset, and on the available evidence it’s clear that Garner had committed a burglary. By way of contrast, the still-unidentified officer who shot Brown accosted the victim and his friend, Dorian Johnson, on an uncluttered street in a quiet neighborhood on a previously uneventful Saturday afternoon.
Neither of the young men was doing anything suspicious to justify a police “contact,” so the officer synthesized one out of the ether. According to Johnson, as the cop drove by he bellowed at the pedestrians to “get the f**k on the sidewalk.”
Johnson, displaying immeasurably more civility than the armed functionary supposedly there to protect and serve him, politely explained that he was only a few hundred feet from his home. He recalls that the officer took offense, slammed on his brakes, threw his vehicle into reverse — nearly hitting the pedestrians — and growled, “What’d you say?”
According to Johnson’s account, the cop began to exit his vehicle, but his door slammed into Brown. At roughly the same time, the uniformed assailant grabbed the terrified 18-year-old by his neck. As Brown tried to escape, Johnson testifies, the officer repeatedly sneered, “I’m gonna shoot you.”
A moment later, the first of several gunshots was heard. Brown, who may have been grazed by the round, turned to flee; and Johnson quickly joined him. The officer fired a second shot at the fleeing victims, hitting Brown, who fell to the ground with his hands in the air, pleading: “I don’t have a gun — stop shooting!” The assailant fired several more shots, killing the unarmed teenager outside an apartment complex. His body was left about 35 feet from the vehicle, surrounded by empty casings from the officer’s gun. Brown was unarmed.
The narrative peddled by St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, interestingly, confirms critical elements of Johnson’s testimony, while gliding over critical and uncontested details. Bermar described the event as an “encounter” between the officer and “two individuals in the street.”

In fact, one of those individuals … allegedly pushed the police officer back into the car where he physically assaulted the police officer. It is our understanding at this point in the investigation that within the police car there was a struggle over the officer’s weapon. There was at least one shot fired within the car. After that the officer went back, came back out of the car, he exited his vehicle, and there was a shooting that occurred where the officer in fact shot the subject, and … they were fatal injuries.

The chief did not explain how an “encounter” escalated to a situation in which Brown supposedly “pushed the police officer back into the car.” This omission is intended to convey the impression that an 18-year-old black male simply attacked an unassuming police officer out of irrepressible malice.
Johnson’s version, on the other hand, depicts a police officer trolling for trouble. That characterization is facially credible, owing to what is known about the institutional character of law enforcement. Additionally, that testimony — unlike the shooter’s account — was offered firsthand, in public, by a witness who is not afraid to be known by both his name and his face.
Furthermore, Johnson’s claim that the officer was forced back into his seat after slamming the driver’s side door into Brown would explain how he was “pushed … back into the car” without being shoved into the vehicle by the victim. Johnson’s claim that the officer threatened to shoot Brown would both explain why a “struggle” over the gun would have occurred and justify any action the victim took to defend himself. There is no dispute that Brown was unarmed and attempting to surrender when he was fatally shot.
Immediately after the killing, the officer who shot Brown was placed on paid vacation and sheltered within a security cocoon. More importantly, he sought refuge in his supposed rights as defined by the “Garrity rule,” under which he cannot face criminal or civil prosecution on the basis of anything he discloses to police investigators.
Assuming that standard protocols are being followed, the officer is being advised by both his union representative and defense counsel, and his narrative is being tailored to fit the standard adumbrated in the Garner ruling. In fact, the story told by Bermar — which could be little more than a carefully cropped version of Johnson’s testimony — is, most likely, very close to the final draft of what will become the official version.
It must be understood that “reasonableness” in this context isn’t defined by the discoverable facts of a police shooting, but by the subjective perceptions of a privileged functionary who has been indoctrinated to see the public as an undifferentiated threat, whose primary concern is his personal safety and who is insulated by “qualified immunity” from the moral and legal consequences of his criminal aggression.
For this reason it is not only possible, but likely, that the Ferguson Police Department will essentially concede the accuracy of Johnson’s recollection, while insisting that the conduct described by that witness (and others on the scene) is appropriate under the “reasonable officer” standard.
It wouldn’t matter how the “encounter” began or whether the officer was acting on “reasonable suspicion” when he snarled a profane directive at the two inoffensive young men. Once the officer had decided to favor them with his attention, they were subject to his will and could be detained, abused or killed at his discretion. And his judgment is not subject to review by sublunary beings not clad in the vestments of the state’s punitive caste.
If (more likely, “when”) this version of events is officially ratified, the department will praise itself for its “professionalism,” the victim’s family will file a lawsuit that will eventually be settled by the city’s insurance carrier and the long-suffering black residents of Ferguson will resume their lives under what amounts to a low-grade military occupation.

http://personalliberty.com/ferguson-...chael-e-brown/

http://www.alipac.us/f19/officials-%...ilians-309379/

Michael Brown's Friend Describes Shooting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XATTgfiY9Io

Originally Posted by HAPPY2BME

The United States is 3rd in Murders throughout the World.

But if you take out Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC and New Orleans, the
United States is 4th from the bottom for Murders.

These 4 Cities also have the toughest Gun Control Laws in the United States.

The violence tells that the poorest Americans in those cities no longer believe that they have much of a future.

IMO if mainstream media were not intent on shielding 'Bama from criticism, we'd hear more about illegals undercutting the poorest Americans for entry level jobs and more about black on white violence.
************************
Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

Police Abuse, Riots, And AR-15 Rifles

We don’t have to make it easy for these two-legged beasts: we can and should be an armed and ready populace capable and determined to protect our families, friends, neighborhoods, and communities: anything less is un-American, unmanly, and, un-Christian. Yes, you heard it right: It is un-Christian.......

POLICE ABUSE, RIOTS, AND AR-15 RIFLES

By Chuck Baldwin
August 14, 2014
NewsWithViews.com

The recent killing of an unarmed teenager by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer incited riots in and around the northern St. Louis area. As usual, the police version and the version of several eye witnesses lie in stark contrast. The police version is, the young man was struggling with the officer and trying to take his weapon from him--and the officer fired his weapon in self-defense. Several eyewitnesses say the young man had his hands in the air and was surrendering when the officer shot him. The latter version is the more popular view of local residents, which prompted hundreds of people to riot. Yes, the victim was a young black man.

It is very unfortunate and counter-productive when race becomes the focus of any story such as this. But it almost always does. Our propaganda media, which loves to use the race card, almost always makes any such tragedy some kind of racial discrimination story. Sometimes it is; but more often than not, race had nothing to do with it.

It is also very unfortunate that among the vast majority of God-fearing, law-and-order Americans, policemen are automatically assumed to be guiltless in the face of accusations of police abuse.

It’s almost like when a man puts on a badge and a gun, he becomes incapable of human misconduct.

Am I suggesting that a majority of police-killings are unjustified? I am not. I still believe that the vast majority of our men and women in blue (and brown for sheriff’s deputies) are good-hearted, sincere, law-abiding people who do a tough job outstandingly well. The vast majority--but not all.

Sadly, incidences of police abuse seem to be skyrocketing.

Examples of police arrogance and overreach are ubiquitous. More and more law enforcement personnel have an “us versus them” mentality. And the “them” are the citizens they (the “us”) took an oath to protect and serve. More and more policemen have a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later mindset. And more and more of them look upon their fellow citizens as “the enemy.”

True story: A Christian policeman was recently asked to speak at a church gathering. The officer works in the traffic division of a small town. Mostly, he gives out parking and speeding tickets. As he opened his address to his fellow churchmen, he said, “I am a cop; I work among the dregs of society.” Really?

People who get parking tickets and drive 10 or 15 miles an hour over the speed limit are the “dregs” of society? That statement should have disqualified everything the officer had to say after that. But, sadly, the vast majority of Christians in the audience thundered their approval with choruses of “Amen!”

This illustrates the depth of the problem we are now facing.

Putting on a badge and a gun no more makes a man righteous than putting on a tool belt or a fire suit or a waitress apron or a clergyman’s frock or a welder’s helmet or a lab coat, etc. If anything, putting on a badge and a gun makes a man more accountable for his actions than an ordinary profession.

While the incident in Missouri is still being investigated, there are plenty of examples of police conduct that is either questionable at least or downright Gestapo-like at worst. Last month, an unarmed man was choked to death by a police officer in Staten Island, New York. Five years ago, an Oakland, California police officer shot and killed a young man while he was lying face down on a subway platform. Two years ago, an unarmed National Guardsman was shot and killed by a New York policeman during a traffic stop.

Unfortunately, these incidents seem to be escalating. Yes, the Oakland officer was prosecuted and convicted, but this is the exception not the rule. Seldom is an offending police officer ever charged with a crime--or even removed from his post.

Add to the list of police killings the tens of thousands of people who are severely beaten or abused, often without provocation, by out-of-control rogue officers, and the picture becomes even more ominous. Again, I readily recognize that these rogue officers are the exception and not the rule, but the sad reality is that these bad cops are mostly allowed to continue their brutality with impunity. For a policeman to be removed from his job, much less face prosecution, is a rarity indeed.

And here is the kicker: after the New York and Missouri incidents mentioned above, the U.S. Justice Department has announced that it is widening its involvement in local policing in an attempt to curb the growing abuse of power.

Are you kidding me?

The reason that so many of our local and State police agencies are succumbing to increased examples of police abuse is directly due to the militarization of local and State police agencies by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The DHS is providing the funding, the armaments, the military-style vehicles, military-style tactics and training, etc. for all of these local and State police agencies. The arrogance and heavy-handed tactics of these rogue police officers is largely attributed to the influence of the U.S. government’s Department of Homeland Security.

Now, this same U.S. government is going to “widen” its involvement with local police agencies in order to curb police violence? Get real! You know what’s happening: the U.S. Justice Department is widening its involvement in local police agencies in order to further its parochial political agendas and to further promote political correctness.

What we need are constitutional sheriffs who will courageously serve as the people’s vanguard against both the overreach of the federal government (which spawns so much police abuse, both local and federal) and against rogue officers among the police agencies of his jurisdiction. We also need partisan-free prosecutors in the local court systems. So many prosecutors are primarily motivated by partisan politics than they are “liberty and justice for all.” And we also need jurors who are truly blind to their prejudices and propensities and are willing to acquit or convict on the basis of proven fact alone. When a policeman steps over the line, he or she must be held as accountable as any ordinary citizen.

I personally believe, and would aggressively support, making all sheriff and county prosecutor’s races non-partisan (like judges). Justice should always be politically (and, yes, racially) blind. We have far, far too many political prisoners in our jails and prisons in this country. And if you don’t think that’s true, it’s because most of the local media refuses to report this kind of injustice due to the political connections and partisanship of the paper’s publishers and editors. The same is true with local television news.

Accordingly, I strongly believe that sheriff and county prosecutor’s races should be non-partisan. We should probably throw in the State attorney general’s race, also. Lady Justice is supposed to be blindfolded, but political partisanship has taken away her blindfold and given her tainted glasses.

Obviously, even if the killing of the young man in Missouri was unjustified, the ensuing riots were also unjustified.

My friends, if you live in a big metropolitan area, you are one Rodney King or Hurricane Katrina event away from a potential all-out war against your family and property. As in the riots in South Central Los Angeles in 1992, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, people in northern St. Louis were subjected to the destruction of their property and the potential loss of life in the aftermath of the shooting of the young man in Ferguson.And, just as was the case in South Central Los Angeles, business owners in northern St. Louis protected their lives and properties with--you guessed it: AR-15 semiautomatic rifles. Had President Obama and Senator Feinstein had their way a few months back, those people in North St. Louis would have been defenseless against the violent rioters that were attacking them.

The presence of the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle saved many a life and much property in Los Angeles, California in 1992, in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2005, and in North St. Louis, Missouri in 2014.

In any kind of civil unrest, the best protection any of us have is God, the loyalty and dedication of good friends and family members who are willing to protect our backs, and a .223 or .308 semiautomatic battle rifle with loaded, large-capacity magazines. If you don’t have such a rifle, GO BUY ONE NOW! If you don’t have enough ammo, go buy it now. And if you live in a State or city that won’t let you buy one, MOVE!

Add to the chaos of civil unrest caused by either man-made or natural disasters the fact that the U.S. government is unloosing hundreds of thousands--maybe millions--of violent illegals into our country, and anyone who is not well-armed for his or her own protection is downright foolish. According to Texas State officials, there have been nearly a half-million felonies committed by illegals during the last four years IN THE STATE OF TEXAS ALONE--including over 5,000 rapes and over 2,000 murders. Remember, these are crimes committed by illegals alone in the State of Texas alone.

Border Patrol agents are warning us that violent Mexican gang members, many of whom have already committed murder, are being allowed free access into the heartland of America. Texas State Senator Dan Patrick recently reported that his State now has over 100,000 illegal immigrant gang members. Again, that’s just in Texas.

The crime rate across the United States has been declining for years, and is currently at its lowest level in recent history. But watch out! Violent illegal gang members, including members of one of the most violent and notorious gangs ever, MS-13, are pouring into this country. The crime rates in communities across America are about to explode. There is no way that local police agencies are going to be able to protect you. And, in truth, that is not their job. It is your job to protect yourself, dear friend. And you are not going to protect yourself from marauding rioters or a gang of violent gang members with a six-shot revolver.

Oh, the handgun is fine defense for one or two attackers; but for more than that, you need a large-capacity semiautomatic battle rifle. How many examples of civil unrest do you need to convince you? I guess the one that breaks out next to your neighborhood, huh?

Of course, the federal government is allowing these violent illegals into our country KNOWING the crime and havoc they will unleash on this country. They WANT violence and havoc to be unleashed on this country. They must raise the crime rates in America in order to justify the expansion of the national Police State they are determined to construct. But in the meantime, tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of Americans are going to be beaten, paralyzed, robbed, raped, and murdered.

We don’t have to make it easy for these two-legged beasts: we can and should be an armed and ready populace capable and determined to protect our families, friends, neighborhoods, and communities: anything less is un-American, unmanly, and, un-Christian. Yes, you heard it right: It is un-Christian.

The Bible tells believers that any man who does not provide for his own, especially those of his own house, he has denied the Christian faith and is worse than an infidel. (I Timothy 5:8) And most certainly, “providing” for one’s own entails protection as much as it does food, clothing, and shelter. I, therefore, maintain that any Christian who is not prepared to protect and defend his family by being duly armed and trained in the use of arms has denied his faith and is truly worse than an infidel. Even heathens understand the Natural Law of self-defense. In fact, the entire natural kingdom understands the law of self-defense.

The recent killing of that young man in Missouri should serve to remind us that police, too, must abide by the law (I sincerely hope that the police officer involved did just that), that civil unrest can erupt anywhere in seconds, and that the need of the people to keep and bear, not just any arms, but semiautomatic battle rifles, is the best insurance for the survival of our lives and our liberties.

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© 2014 Chuck Baldwin - All Rights Reserved

Chuck Baldwin is a syndicated columnist, radio broadcaster, author, and pastor dedicated to preserving the historic principles upon which America was founded. He was the 2008 Presidential candidate for the Constitution Party. He and his wife, Connie, have 3 children and 8 grandchildren. Chuck and his family reside in the Flathead Valley of Montana. See Chuck's complete bio here.

E-mail: chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com
Website: ChuckBaldwinLive.com

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