Thread: The US Has Become A Worse Police State Than Orwell Could Imagine

Ferguson MO Support Video



Published on Aug 14, 2014
Walk softly and carry a gun. Guns in the hands of lawful citizens can restore peace and hold the para-militarized police force accountable when police officers are suspected of slaughtering fellow citizens. I think it's time Americans take a lesson from the Battle of Athens, TN.




Ferguson Protesters React to Michael Brown Robbery Footage




Published on Aug 15, 2014
This morning, Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson revealed security footage showing that Michael Brown, the 18-year-old shot and killed by police officers in Ferguson, MO, may have committed a “strong arm” robbery against a convenience store owner. The chief later acknowledged that the officer who shot Brown was not aware of the robbery at the time of the incident.

Reason TV talked with protesters in front of a burned-out QuikTrip that looters destroyed earlier this week. Most saw little reason that the new information should dampen their outrage towards the police, and some even justified the destruction of private property as necessary and effective in garnering attention for their cause.

Watch the full video above, and check out Reason TV’s coverage of the previous night’s protests here. Approximately 2:30 minutes. Produced by Zach Weissmueller and Paul Detrick. Music by Chris Zabriskie. Subscribe to Reason TV’s YouTUbe channel for more content like this.

Breaking Story! Friend of Missouri Cop who Shot Teen tells Officer's Side of Story

By Onan Coca / 16 August 2014

A woman named “Josie," who says she is a friend of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, called into The Dana Loesch Radio Show today to offer Officer Wilson's side of the story.

Officer Wilson was inadvertently part of a sad series of events that led to the explosion of violence in the suburban St. Louis community of Ferguson, Missouri this past week. He was finally identified by the local police after days of anonymity, and one can only guess that he now fears for his life and the lives of those around him.

Listen to what "Josie" says is his side of the story.



Here's a partial transcript, care of the Gateway Pundit:

“He pulled up ahead of them. And then he got a call-in that there was a strong-arm robbery. And, they gave a description. And, he’s looking at them and they got something in their hands and it looks like it could be what, you know those cigars or whatever. So he goes in reverse back to them. Tries to get out of his car. They slam his door shut violently. I think he said Michael did. And, then he opened the car again. He tried to get out. He stands up.
And then Michael just bum-rushes him and shoves him back into his car. Punches him in the face and them Darren grabs for his gun. Michael grabbed for the gun. At one point he got the gun entirely turned against his hip. And he shoves it away. And the gun goes off.

Well, then Michael takes off and gets to be about 35 feet away. And, Darren’s first protocol is to pursue. So, he stands up and yells, “Freeze!” Michael and his friend turn around. And Michael taunts him… And then all the sudden he just started bumrushing him. He just started coming at him full speed. And, so he just started shooting. And, he just kept coming. And, so he really thinks he was on something.”

And just for reference - so you can see the quality of the man's character - here's a little video of Michael Brown from a few minutes before the deadly altercation.
This video isn't to excuse his death but it should give us pause in our rush to judge the police officer guilty of murder.



Yes that was Michael Brown assaulting an older gentleman as he robbed a convenience store. Doesn't seem like a "nice", "gentle giant" now, does he?

About the author: Onan Coca



Onan is a graduate of Liberty University (2003) and earned his M.Ed. at Western Governors University in 2012. Onan lives in the Atlanta area with his wife, Leah. They have three children and enjoy the hectic pace of life in a young family. Onan and Leah are members of the Journey Church in Hiram, GA.
Website: http://www.eaglerising.com

Read more at http://eaglerising.com/7996/breaking-story-friend-missouri-cop-shot-teen-tells-officers-side-story/#pRh6tCa4o7AQyzkY.99

Ferguson Police Excuses Destroyed As Anonymous Shares Dispatch Recordings (AUDIO)

Author: Nathaniel Downes August 15, 2014 9:46 pm



The Ferguson Police department attempted to take control of the civil unrest surrounding the cold blooded killing of a teenaged boy by a police officer. They attempted to try and cover their hides by claiming that the victim had robbed a convenience store earlier that day. However that excuse collapsed when it was revealed that the officer had no idea about the robbery at the time of the shooting.
And now as promised, Anonymous has shared the St. Louis public dispatch recording (likely found on Broadcastify) which reveals yet another problem in the Ferguson police claims, showing that rather than report the shooting, the officer contacted dispatch when a crowd began to form after the shooting.

Listen for yourself, the first notice of the event begins around the 10 minute mark, when the first call for crowd control came in.

Takes a few min for the audio to load



Published on Aug 13, 2014

READ DESCRIPTION

We are Anonymous.

These files compiled in this video contains audio of St. Louis police dispatch from the date of August 9th 2014, the day Mike Brown was murdered by a Ferguson PD officer. We have released these tapes to the public so as they are able to get a sense of the atmosphere the moments before and the hours after Mike Brown was shot.

These raw audio files have been compiled and long quiet moments have been cut down. Time stamps are available within the video.

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/theanonaudio/f...

Incident begins at around noon..(9:08 time stamp)

ST. LOUIS COUNTY POLICE DISPATCH AUDIO TAPES, AUGUST 9TH 2014 11:05 AM - 6:05 PM, INCIDENT IS REPORTED AS "CROWD CONTROL PROBLEM" AT 12:05PM, NO SHOOTING MENTIONED UNTIL IT IS CALLED IN TO DISPATCH BY WITNESS. FERGUSON PD DENIES IT KNEW ANYTHING AT THAT TIME. NO EMS WAS CALLED.

EXCERPTS:

9:35: "Ferguson is asking for assistance with crowd control . . ."

10:58: "Now they have a large group gathering there, she doesn't know any further. . ."

11:20: "We just got another call stating it was an officer-involved shooting . . ."

11:30: "Be advised, this information came from the news . . ."

11:55: "We're just getting information from the news and we just called Ferguson back again and they don't know anything about it . . ."

20:00: ". . .destruction of property . . ."

21:55: "They are requesting more cars. Do you want me to send more of your cars?"

43:55: "Attention all cars, be advised that in reference to the call 2947 Canfield Drive, we are switching over to the riot channel at this time . . ."
________________________________________*_________ ___

Follow @TheAnonMessage and @OpFerguson on Twitter for immediate updates.
#OpFerguson





Dispatch was not even aware of the shooting for several minutes after it happened. And when they contacted dispatch, it was not over the shooting, it was because they were worried about the people gathering. In reality, it took almost half an hour for the transmission of the shooting’s scope to be transmitted to the county dispatch.

This is called a failure of priorities, and denotes a serious problem within the Ferguson PD.
Anonymous has already paralyzed Ferguson through shutting off the cities networks and phone system. They threatened to release the officer involved in the shooting’s information if the Ferguson PD did not, but the city blinked first.
Anonymous still has one demand left, for Missouri’s senators and Ferguson’s federal representative to introduce “Mike Brown’s Law,” to require all police to be outfitted with video recording equipment. In Rialto, California, the outfitting of cameras on individual officers saw a dramatic improvement for the police department, with public complaints against officers dropping by 88%, and officers use of force being cut by 60%. The reality is, when people know that they are going to be held accountable, they think before they act. Behavior then reinforces itself.
Now there is a petition on the White House We The People website asking for the president to oversee the passage of this law.
You may sign this petition here.
That the Ferguson Police Department have been relieved of duty pending an investigation is a step in the right direction. Missouri replaced them with the state patrol, and the results were night and day, with tear gas and rubber bullets replaced with peaceful demonstrations and mutual respect. We shall see if this can be maintained.
Because there is this reminder of the message from Anonymous:

We Are Anonymous.
We Are Legion.
We do not Forgive.
We do not Forget.
Expect us.

Ferguson, Missouri – You are under the microscope. The eyes of the world, not just Anonymous, are upon you.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/08...ymous-dispatch

Michael Brown was NOT stopped because of a robbery



Posted by Michael Becker on Aug 16, 2014

Like it or not, Michael Brown is not Trayvon Martin and the outrage over Brown’s shooting by a police officer in Ferguson, MO is not the same race baiting crap that went on in Florida when Martin was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer who Martin was in the process of beating to death.

It turns out that Brown apparently, according to a convenience store video, stole some cigars before he was shot down by police. In fact, and this is according to the Ferguson, MO police chief, Brown was stopped by the officer for walking the street and the officer had no knowledge of the robbery.

There are still lots of questions to be answered, but the actions of the police in Ferguson are looking more and more like an out-of-control mob.

We will be following this story closely and will have updates as they occur.

Bottom line, was Brown a saint? No, not likely. Did the Ferguson cop have any business killing him, it’s looking less and less likely every minute. Even if Brown assaulted the cop, which we don’t think has been established, he was apparently walking away when cop opened fire.

Ferguson is a small town, Brown is an easily recognized guy. The cop could have called for backup or he could have filed a report and gotten an arrest warrant. There’s no evidence he was in any kind of immediate danger, and certainly not to the extent that he needed to kill Brown.

The real issue here is just how out-of-control and militarized our local police forces have become. No matter how this shakes out in terms of what Brown may or may not have done, Ferguson cops acted like an occupying force and stoked the flames after the shooting. Even if Brown turns out to be a bad guy, it’s the Ferguson police force that are the poster bad guys here.


Read more at http://joeforamerica.com/2014/08/mic...7723LAeLHj2.99

9 Things To Think About Before You Start Rioting And Looting




Written by Doug Giles on August 17, 2014

Things are getting dicey out there in the United States of Acrimony, eh? People are pissed. They’re sick of the government … sick of control … sick of the inequities and absurdities in our land … sick of the man and the machine … sick of our borders having bigger holes than a fat woman’s pantyhose after high steppin’ a barbed-wire fence; and sick, hallelujah, of that little priss, Justin Bieber.

It appears as if, ladies and gents, that rebellion/revolution is America’s soup de jour.

Yep, it’s cuckoo time and me likey.

This is what it must’ve felt like in 1773 minus the powdered wigs and small pox.

As we’ve seen this past week in Ferguson, MO, folks are fed up and ready to break crap if they have to in order to bring about justice; and I dig that spirit.

However, and this is just my advice: before we starting burning the mother down, we should make certain that the war we wage, the cause we champion and the person we support is noble and legit. Amen? Amen.

With that in mind, herewith are nine things to consider before you burn your neighborhood or city down to the ground:
Check it out: Prior to rioting, looting and pillaging and taking off a week to trash the place in which you live and risk being tear gassed, shot and/or run over by Barney Fife’s new army tank, ask yourself these nine diagnostic questions …

1. Has the man I want to champion just been exposed on CCV stealing Swisher Sweet cigars by the armload from a convenience store?
   
2. Did this self-same man violently grab, shove and intimidate a tiny little store clerk?
3. Did the man I’m supporting flip off the camera a lot via Twitter?
4. Did the man I am ready to go to bat for make gang-signs quite often as he sat for photographic portraits taken by his friends? Oh, and don’t forget, do due diligence to ascertain whether or not he also had rap songs out in which he praises murder, drug use and screwing ho’s.
5. Also, before you go out on a limb in a revolution, try to be certain that the person you’re willing to go to jail for didn’t climb into a cop’s car and then punch him in the face.
6. Similarly, make sure your champion didn’t try to take the police officer’s firearm before you paint him as a damsel in distress.
7. Further, before you hinge your freedom on a deceased person, be careful to make sure that the witness you’re banking on wasn’t a part of a robbery that could implicate him and thus cause him to … uh … embellish his story.
8. In addition, before you destroy your city, bear in mind your taxes will probably spike once the dust settles to rebuild what you just torched and ransacked.
9. And finally, ask yourself: “Self, how will your stealing seven bottles of Mad Dog 20/20 bring about justice?”

Read more at http://clashdaily.com/2014/08/9-thin...yLJcCFLczqo.99

Congress goes after police




By Mike Lillis - 08/16/14 06:00 AM EDT
Lawmakers are targeting police with new and old pieces of legislation in the wake of riots in a St. Louis suburb sparked by the killing by a police officer of an unarmed black teenager.

Much of the focus has been on the heavy military equipment many local police agencies have received from the Pentagon under a 1991 law meant to combat drug dealers.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Friday that program will not get a rubber stamp when it comes up for reauthorization later this year.Other lawmakers have raised concerns about racial profiling and excessive force against African Americans by police.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) called for passage of his End Racial Profiling Act, which would bar federal funding for law enforcement agencies unless the prohibit racial profiling.

The involvement of Cardin and Levin, who represent states far from Ferguson, Mo., the St. Louis suburb where 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed last Saturday, illustrates how the events in Missouri have reverberated throughout the country.

Demonstrations and protests about the police’s actions in Ferguson were held in dozens of cities on Thursday night, highlighting the pressure lawmakers around the country are feeling.

Six New York lawmakers have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the killing of Eric Garner, who died in an altercation with Staten Island police who had placed him in a chokehold.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a prospective Republican candidate for president in 2016, has led bipartisan calls to demilitarize the police.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned Friday that “equipping police officers with the tools of war does nothing to repair a torn community.”

And Levin (D-Mich.) said he would review a Pentagon program that provides weapons and heavy military equipment to police units.
Under the program, which serves 8,000 state and federal agencies, more than $5 billion worth of property was transferred to law enforcement, including nearly $450 million last year alone, according to the Defense Logistic Agency's website.

“Congress established this program out of real concern that local law enforcement agencies were literally outgunned by drug criminals,” Levin said Friday. “We intended this equipment to keep police officers and their communities safe from heavily armed drug gangs and terrorist incidents.

“[But] before the defense authorization bill comes to the Senate floor, we will review this program to determine if equipment provided by the Defense Department is being used as intended,” he said.

Cardin’s bill would mandate that police officers receive training on racial profiling. It would also require the Department of Justice to provide Congress with reports of any ongoing discriminatory profiling practices.

“We need to better educate more of our law enforcement officials in the differences between specific suspect descriptions and sweeping generalizations or profiling that wastes valuable resources,” Cardin said on Friday.

Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the Congress has a responsibility to review federal programs.
"We're not afraid of any review," he said.

But he rejected the idea that racial profiling is “systemic” in law enforcement.

Rich Roberts, a spokesman for the Florida-based International Union of Police Associations, said people are “too caught up in the cosmetics” of what they saw in Ferguson.

Roberts said the focus should instead be on "the training and the decision-making of what to use and when to use” the military-style equipment.
Brown’s killing sparked five days of tense confrontations between the town's largely white police force and the hundreds of mostly black residents who took to the streets to protest the shooting.

On Friday, local police in Ferguson first released photos that showed Brown allegedly robbing a convenience story.

Brown’s parents accused police of attempting character assassination on their son, and police later said the officer who shot Brown did not know he was suspected in a robbery.

It is unclear whether reforms tackling racial profiling or the militarization of the police would have a chance to move through a bitterly divided Congress, though the latter issue has attracted an odd mix of staunchly liberal Democrats and Tea Party Republicans.

Writing in Time magazine, Paul blamed Washington for encouraging “the militarization of local police precincts” with taxpayer-funded programs “to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies.”

“There should be a difference between a police response and a military response,” Paul wrote.

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), has been drafting legislation for months to bar the transfer of certain military-grade weapons and equipment from the Pentagon to local police departments. With the events in Ferguson stealing the week's headlines, Johnson took the chance to reiterate his intent to introduce that proposal later in the year.

Johnson is talking with members of both parties, including Paul, in hopes of building bipartisan support ahead of the bill's release next month, spokesman Andrew Phelan said Friday.

A similar proposal, sponsored by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), was shot down on the House floor by a lopsided 62 to 355 vote in June, as 145 Democrats – including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and the rest of her leadership team – joined 210 Republicans in opposition.
Pelosi's office said Friday that the events in Ferguson “show need for greater oversight and guidance.”

“The Leader supports examining the overall federal effort of giving military-type equipment to local police departments,” an aide said in an email. “Cutting off all funding - like the Grayson amendment - is a blunt instrument, but oversight and appropriate scale of funding for such programs need to be examined.”

Prominent members of the House Judiciary Committee are calling on Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) to hold hearings, not only to examine the Brown shooting, but also to probe the broader issues of racial profiling and the excessive use of force by police nationwide.

“This situation requires immediate congressional scrutiny,” Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) wrote Thursday.

A spokesperson for Judiciary Republicans said Goodlatte supports the investigations that are underway, but suggested he doesn't see an immediate need for Congress to step in.

“The Committee will be monitoring the results of the investigation,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Jesse Byrnes contributed.


Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/2...#ixzz3AfhCBM9C
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

Breaking News! Shocking Footage May Exonerate Cop in Ferguson, MO Shooting

By Onan Coca / 18 August 2014


On Friday night we brought you the testimony of a friend of Ferguson PD officer Darren Wilson. In a phone conversation with Dana Loesch of the Dana Loesch Show, this friend recounted the day’s events from the perspective of Officer Wilson.
You can hear her tell her story here.
“He pulled up ahead of them. And then he got a call-in that there was a strong-arm robbery. And, they gave a description. And, he’s looking at them and they got something in their hands and it looks like it could be what, you know those cigars or whatever. So he goes in reverse back to them. Tries to get out of his car. They slam his door shut violently. I think he said Michael did. And, then he opened the car again. He tried to get out. He stands up.
And then Michael just bum-rushes him and shoves him back into his car. Punches him in the face and them Darren grabs for his gun. Michael grabbed for the gun. At one point he got the gun entirely turned against his hip. And he shoves it away. And the gun goes off.
Well, then Michael takes off and gets to be about 35 feet away. And, Darren’s first protocol is to pursue. So, he stands up and yells, “Freeze!” Michael and his friend turn around. And Michael taunts him… And then all the sudden he just started bum rushing him. He just started coming at him full speed. And, so he just started shooting. And, he just kept coming. And, so he really thinks he was on something.”
That’s very similar to what the police have officially said Officer Wilson reported, though this friend has gone into more detail.
The police say the officer shot Brown after the teen shoved the officer and tried to wrestle the officer’s gun from him. But a number of witnesses, including (Dorian) Johnson, refute those claims. And in the wake of the shooting, the Ferguson Police Department has asked the St. Louis County police to step in and take over the investigation.
On the same day as the radio interview, someone who lives in Ferguson released video they seem to have taken with a cell phone on the scene after the shooting took place. The video is important because it may offer more evidence that the police officer was indeed in danger when he killed Michael Brown.
The video is about ten minutes long and contains raw, emotional and unfiltered footage of the community’s response. It’s emotional and difficult to watch at parts. It’s obvious that some in the local community immediately believe that the shooting happened for racial reasons and they are in pain over the very idea…
Please, keep all of this in mind as you watch. Whether or not you agree, the racism experience by a significant portion of our country has been real and it has been painful, and those who haven’t felt the sting of hatred shouldn’t dismiss the pain it has caused.
Also, as I said, it is raw and unfiltered… and so is some of the language. This isn’t safe for all ears and may not be appropriate for you to watch at work!
I want to direct you to two particular moments in the video where an eyewitness seems to be reporting what he saw happen.



The first bit comes at about the 6:20 mark.

It is at this point where one observer seems to corroborate the above story that there was an altercation at the truck and then that at some point Michael Brown was rushing back at the police officer and that the shots didn’t seem to have any effect on the man. The police officer believes that it was because Brown may have been “on something,” (we have to wait for the toxicology report to come back to know if drugs played a part in this drama), but the witness only says that he thought the officer missed because Brown kept moving towards him.
Partial transcript from the Conservative Treehouse.
#1 How’d he get from there to there?
#2 Because he ran, the police was still in the truck – cause he was like over the truck
{crosstalk}
#2 But him and the police was both in the truck, then he ran – the police got out and ran after him
{crosstalk}
#2 Then the next thing I know he doubled back toward him cus - the police had his gun drawn already on him –
#1. Oh, the police got his gun
#2 The police kept dumpin on him, and I’m thinking the police kept missing – he like – be like – but he kept coming toward him
{crosstalk}
#2 Police fired shots – the next thing I know – the police was missing
#1 The Police?
#2 The Police shot him
#1 Police?
#2 The next thing I know … I’m thinking … the dude started running … (garbled something about “he took it from him”)

The second piece of video that I think you should focus in on comes at the 8:18 mark and runs until 8:45 (or so).
Again a voice in the background is giving testimony to what they “saw” happen. A man’s voice can be heard saying, “I heard one, and then four and then 4 more... and he was still standing, so I thought he missed... then he kept coming at him...and then he broke off running… and his partner ran through here…"
Frist, this statement again seems to corroborate the police officer’s statement, but it also should spark some questions about the witness testimony from Michael Brown’s friend Dorian Johnson.
Here’s what Johnson, who was with Brown at the time of the shooting said to MSNBC.“I saw the barrel of the gun pointed at my friend,” said Dorian Johnson, 22. “Then I saw the fire come out of the barrel.”
“I could see so vividly what was going on because I was so close,” said Johnson, who said he was within arm’s reach of both Brown and the officer when the first of several shots was fired at the teen. Johnson says he feared for his life as he watched the officer squeezing off shot after shot.
How could both his testimony of the events and the report of this witness moments after the shooting vary so wildly?
If Johnson really did run past the witness during the shooting, how could he have watched the “fire” come from the barrel?

They were within "arms reach"? That is incredibly close, but the other witness seems to indicate that they had run from the officer after the first shot, and then that the officer had given some chase before Brown turned around and ran back at the officer.
Johnson also denies that an altercation took place at the police car, but reports indicate that Officer Wilson has the bruised face to prove an altercation happened. Also, the report of the first “accidental” shot in the police vehicle seems to support Officer Wilson’s statement that there was a struggle while also proving Mr. Johnson’s statement to be false.
I can’t be sure what happened that fateful day, but I do know that there is enough ”evidence” to show that Officer Wilson’s story is at the very least plausible, and that the initial reports of a callous and calculated murder may very well be wrong. I still don’t know for sure, but I won’t take part in a mob style execution of a man whose guilt is still very much in doubt.


Read more at http://eaglerising.com/8039/breaking-news-shocking-footage-may-exonerate-cop-ferguson-mo-shooting/#qA2fckutYqcGSP6h.99

It still doesn't take away the fact that police abuse and killings are going on all over the Country from State to State and in the majority of our Cities and Towns.... They always include a "paid vacation" during the investigation...And amazingly the investigation always come's out justisfied...

The Idiocy of Rioting

By David Lawrence / 18 August 2014

A lot of shootings go on in the world. People are killed all the time. Rarely do these shootings cause riots and escalating destruction.

It takes idiots in suburban Fergusson Missouri to burn down stores and wreck a generally peaceful community.
A cop shot Michael Brown. Criminals shoot the Michael Browns of the world every day. You don’t see riots when a criminal shoots someone. And criminals are our worst enemy. You’d think the mob might protest against them instead of the cops who spend most of the day trying to protect children, old ladies and the defenseless.
If I were Michael Brown I wouldn’t want people rioting over my death. I’d be embarrassed by dopes who wanted to turn my death into a cause celebre. I wouldn’t want to be the cause of wanton destruction and injuries.

Instead of a riot I would want a dignified ceremony where my friends and family mourned me and I was respected rather than made a reason to hurt others.
I blame these riots on liberals like Obama, de Blasio and Sharpton. They have used unfortunate circumstances to combust the racial divide so that they could pretend that they are leading the races back to acceptance when they are burning them up like the Middle East.
Obama is an hysteric racist. He is as extreme as Al Gore wiping his eyes with a hanky about global warming.


Read more at http://eaglerising.com/8024/idiocy-r...ro7B0r8TCyu.99

SLATE: Libertarians Have Been Leading The Charge Against The Militarization Of Police For Years

August 18, 2014

In December 2012, when Washington’s press corps was peering over the “fiscal cliff,” Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn released a report that looked and sounded too goofy to be real. The cover of “Safety at Any Price: Assessing the Impact of Homeland Security Spending on U.S. Cities” portrayed a child-size drone flying near the Capitol; over ATV-driving Lego men; and, for some reason, over R2D2. “If in the days after 9/11 lawmakers were able to cast their gaze forward ten years,” wrote Coburn, “I imagine they would be surprised to see how a counter-terrorism initiative aimed at protecting our largest cities has transformed into another parochial grant program.”

His researchers had dug up dozens of examples and told the story of how local police forces started to look like occupying armies, thanks to $35 billion in Department of Homeland Security grants. Seattle had spent $80,000 on a drone, which it insisted was not a drone. Pittsburgh had spent $90,000 on a sonic cannon, and used it to break up G-20 protests, though a SWAT officer assured a reporter that the device was just “a speaker that delivers an intended message to an intended group of people to disperse.”

And then there were the armored vehicles. Police departments in less-than-bustling towns suddenly needed $250,000 armored BearCats. “Because Fontana, California considers itself a ‘top 100 terrorist target,’ ” wrote Coburn’s researchers, “it needed a BearCat.” In New Hampshire, the libertarians of Keene had been fighting, unsuccessfully, a police department that wanted a BearCart to guard an annual harvest celebration. “Do I think al-Qaida is going to target Pumpkin Fest?” Keene’s police chief asked, rhetorically. “No, but are there fringe groups that want to make a statement? Yes.”

There were no attacks, and there was little coverage of Coburn’s report. Gene Healy, a vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute, publicized Coburn’s findings in a column. Radley Balko, a former Huffington Post reporter who’d worked with Healy at Cato (and, full disclosure, with me at Reason), praised the report , which touched on stories he’d covered, like the BearCat fight in Keene. Coburn appeared on Neil Cavuto’s Fox Business show (not to be confused with the more widely watched Fox News shows), where the discussion quickly veered from the report’s highlights (“zombie apocalypse training”) to the more exciting fiscal cliff. Attacking the military buildup of local police, on its own, was just too kooky.

What a difference Ferguson makes. This week, when Sen. Rand Paul published a brief op-ed denouncing “Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars,” he conquered the headlines. The New York Times, which had just published an epic story about libertarians , offered that “conservatives tend to be fairly consistent” on law and order, and Paul was acting as a disrupter. “Rand Paul is right,” argued Al Sharpton , who is more familiar with being labeled an “outside agitator” by conservatives than with complimenting them.
SLATE: Libertarians Have Been Leading The Charge Against The Militarization Of Police For Years [continued]



http://libertycrier.com/slate-libert...-police-years/

Mike Huckabee speaks out against militarization of America's police forces



Mike Huckabee speaks with Sheryl K. Chumley about the growing militarization and escalation of force tactics that are in use by police today.


Read more at http://libertycrier.com/mike-huckabe...zZMMMASy6TQ.99