Post: #151

Very interesting and practical data sheet on how to protect yourself from tear gas:

trutherbot
‏@trutherbot
Defending against tear gas data sheet. #Anonymous #OpFerguson

Post: #152

"Yeah, we’re walking right into their homes and shooting them." Damn that operator is cold.

Post: #153

This just never ends and never changes. How do you even begin to reconcile race relations. They both hate each other and fear each other.

The police aren't police anymore, might as well call them military.

No one asks the infamous question "Who watches the watchmen ?"

Where do we even start ? Financial reforms ?

Post: #154

Tempted to purchase a gas mask and kevlar vest after seeing this shit go down.

Post: #155

(08-14-2014 12:52 PM)frenchie Wrote:  Tempted to purchase a gas mask and kevlar vest after seeing this shit go down.

One step ahead of you buddy, built my own 5.56. 80% lower aka no serial or registration.

Police state usa is coming man.

Post: #156

(08-14-2014 01:05 PM)kaotic Wrote:  

(08-14-2014 12:52 PM)frenchie Wrote:  Tempted to purchase a gas mask and kevlar vest after seeing this shit go down.

One step ahead of you buddy, built my own 5.56. 80% lower aka no serial or registration.

Police state usa is coming man.

Nice, yeah it's coming alright. I'm starting to get uncomfortable living in a big city right now.

Post: #157

(08-14-2014 01:21 PM)frenchie Wrote:  

(08-14-2014 01:05 PM)kaotic Wrote:  

(08-14-2014 12:52 PM)frenchie Wrote:  Tempted to purchase a gas mask and kevlar vest after seeing this shit go down.

One step ahead of you buddy, built my own 5.56. 80% lower aka no serial or registration.

Police state usa is coming man.

Nice, yeah it's coming alright. I'm starting to get uncomfortable living in a big city right now.

I live in a southern California suburb, in a unincorporated but busy part of my city. We haven't seen any racist cop allegations, the PD is alright. But LA isn't to far away and plenty of stories are to be had there.

I think my goal is to leave the US for good when I'm older. Or at least move out of CA, even though I'd miss the beach and weather.

Post: #158

It scares me that our police are this heavily armed while we are not.

Post: #159

(08-14-2014 01:26 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  It scares me that our police are this heavily armed while we are not.

The only police that should be armed are border agencies and military.

No LEA's should have a military MRAP's

Post: #160

(08-14-2014 01:26 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  It scares me that our police are this heavily armed while we are not.

Many of the fellas in my car club here in Texas have almost this much gear. Actually I might be one of 3 guys out of 50 or so that does not have at least 1 automatic weapon. One guy has a light machine gun with a huge drum and they take it to the outdoor range once a year to tear up targets with it. I would be like them, but I think I would rather leave the country instead if it gets too bad.

Post: #161

On the issue of journalists getting arrested, I looked at the video from inside that mc donalds, and I thought a police officer is required by law to explain why you are being arrested or why you have to be forcibly removed from a public place? Is that no longer the case? That cop refused to answer that man's question on why he had to go.

Post: #162

(08-14-2014 01:38 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  On the issue of journalists getting arrested, I looked at the video from inside that mc donalds, and I thought a police officer is required by law to explain why you are being arrested or why you have to be forcibly removed from a public place? Is that no longer the case? That cop refused to answer that man's question on why he had to go.

On paper plenty of laws exist about this or that, but de facto cops can do whatever the fuck they feel like and 99% of the time will get away with it.

Post: #163

The scary thing is thinking about how we have pretty low crime rates overall across the country compared to past decades, and how much the militarization of our police force may be responsible for that

Post: #164

(08-14-2014 02:18 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  The scary thing is thinking about how we have pretty low crime rates overall across the country compared to past decades, and how much the militarization of our police force may be responsible for that

But it shouldn't be like that, we shouldn't be AFRAID of our police. We shouldn't be AFRAID that if we call the police they'll make things worse.

Did society become so devolved that this is the reaction we get from police ?

Post: #165

(08-14-2014 02:18 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  The scary thing is thinking about how we have pretty low crime rates overall across the country compared to past decades, and how much the militarization of our police force may be responsible for that

Unrelated. Developed countries have lower crime rates as a factor of time because technology, comfort, and quality of life improves. Conversely this is the same reason why sandy shithole countries with nonexistent economies are where radical Islam thrives. People who can hardly even attain the bottom rung of Maslow's heirarchy of needs are plenty willing to pick up an AK47 and start shooting at other people.

People these days have a lot more things to distract and mindlessly entertain them than people had just a few decades ago. When even a minimum wage worker or lazy jackoff on welfare can afford a livable apartment, junk food, 300 channels of cable television, a computer/console with access to the Internet (Netflix, videogames, porn, social media), what's his motivation to go cause trouble?

Get rid of drugs laws, and in terms of impulsive crimes, the US would become a veritable utopia. The main concern for the future will be disenfranchised men going on planned shooting sprees. (IE: Elliot Rodger)

Statistically there has never been a safer time in history to work as a police officer in the US, and yet, they're bigger power-tripping disrespectful violent psychopath assholes than ever before... Food for thought.

Post: #166

(08-14-2014 02:18 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  The scary thing is thinking about how we have pretty low crime rates overall across the country compared to past decades, and how much the militarization of our police force may be responsible for that

The low crime rates right now have nothing to do with the militarization of the police. The militarization is a direct result of the police getting equipment from the federal government after 9/11.

Post: #167

In this country, Americans have always had the luxury of not witnessing tanks or soldiers ride through our streets. You see this a lot in so many countries around the world where the military is the police (Latin America, the Middle East, Africa) and seeing soldiers on the streets is very common in those places where there is war all the time.

Throughout history in America, we've often pride ourselves and even gone out of our way to make sure the military distance itself from civilian life, and respect civilian life and let local law enforcement to handle the job.

The military is used to fight wars and wars only, not to do the job of local law enforcement. Rolling tanks into Ferguson, really? Never in American history have I seen tanks be used against American citizens. Arresting journalists, really?

This may just be a war from the government against its own people.

I'm still very dumbfounded by all of this.

Post: #168

^ look up the Bonus Army Wiki entry. George S. Patton attacked unarmed WW1 veterans with six tank battalions right in the middle of D.C.

Post: #169

Unsure as to the accuracy of this image, but if it is true, this shows certain interests do not want this thing becoming a rallying banner:

Post: #170

Historical perspective, Detroit, Newark and Watts in 1967









Not to mention the New York Draft Riots

Post: #171

And lets not forget the soap dodgers killed at Kent State.

Post: #172

(08-14-2014 05:36 PM)Eirykr Wrote:  Unsure as to the accuracy of this image, but if it is true, this shows certain interests do not want this thing becoming a rallying banner:

I find it difficult that the CIA would be that sloppy. Photoshopped.

Post: #173

(08-14-2014 12:08 PM)Deluge Wrote:  "Yeah, we’re walking right into their homes and shooting them." Damn that operator is cold.

While it is disturbing to hear what that man said on the call (if you click the link you will see this 2 min video to play), what is also disturbing (but not unexpected) is these people taking the opportunity to attention whore while real people are being injured all around. People never miss a chance to attention whore at a funeral, fellow student suicide, war, missing nigerian schoolgirls, etc. But that is the extent of their "outrage" they never actually do anything about whatever they are spitting in the wind about.

Post: #174

Rand Paul: We Must Demilitarize the Police

Anyone who thinks that race does not skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention. And the root of the problem is big government.

If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn’t have expected to be shot.

The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting. There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.

The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action.

Glenn Reynolds, in Popular Mechanics, recognized the increasing militarization of the police five years ago. In 2009 he wrote:

Soldiers and police are supposed to be different. … Police look inward. They’re supposed to protect their fellow citizens from criminals, and to maintain order with a minimum of force.
It’s the difference between Audie Murphy and Andy Griffith. But nowadays, police are looking, and acting, more like soldiers than cops, with bad consequences. And those who suffer the consequences are usually innocent civilians.

The Cato Institute’s Walter Olson observed this week how the rising militarization of law enforcement is currently playing out in Ferguson:

Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such as bans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”?

Olson added, “the dominant visual aspect of the story, however, has been the sight of overpowering police forces confronting unarmed protesters who are seen waving signs or just their hands.”

How did this happen?

Most police officers are good cops and good people. It is an unquestionably difficult job, especially in the current circumstances.

There is a systemic problem with today’s law enforcement.

Not surprisingly, big government has been at the heart of the problem. Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies—where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement.

This is usually done in the name of fighting the war on drugs or terrorism. The Heritage Foundation’s Evan Bernick wrote in 2013 that, “the Department of Homeland Security has handed out anti-terrorism grants to cities and towns across the country, enabling them to buy armored vehicles, guns, armor, aircraft, and other equipment.”

Bernick continued, “federal agencies of all stripes, as well as local police departments in towns with populations less than 14,000, come equipped with SWAT teams and heavy artillery.”

Bernick noted the cartoonish imbalance between the equipment some police departments possess and the constituents they serve, “today, Bossier Parish, Louisiana, has a .50 caliber gun mounted on an armored vehicle. The Pentagon gives away millions of pieces of military equipment to police departments across the country—tanks included.”

When you couple this militarization of law enforcement with an erosion of civil liberties and due process that allows the police to become judge and jury—national security letters, no-knock searches, broad general warrants, pre-conviction forfeiture—we begin to have a very serious problem on our hands.

Given these developments, it is almost impossible for many Americans not to feel like their government is targeting them. Given the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, it is impossible for African-Americans not to feel like their government is particularly targeting them.

This is part of the anguish we are seeing in the tragic events outside of St. Louis, Missouri. It is what the citizens of Ferguson feel when there is an unfortunate and heartbreaking shooting like the incident with Michael Brown.

Anyone who thinks that race does not still, even if inadvertently, skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention. Our prisons are full of black and brown men and women who are serving inappropriately long and harsh sentences for non-violent mistakes in their youth.

The militarization of our law enforcement is due to an unprecedented expansion of government power in this realm. It is one thing for federal officials to work in conjunction with local authorities to reduce or solve crime. It is quite another for them to subsidize it.

Americans must never sacrifice their liberty for an illusive and dangerous, or false, security. This has been a cause I have championed for years, and one that is at a near-crisis point in our country.

Let us continue to pray for Michael Brown’s family, the people of Ferguson, police, and citizens alike.

http://time.com/3111474/rand-paul-ferguson-police/

Post: #175

(08-14-2014 05:43 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  

(08-14-2014 05:36 PM)Eirykr Wrote:  Unsure as to the accuracy of this image, but if it is true, this shows certain interests do not want this thing becoming a rallying banner:
image

I find it difficult that the CIA would be that sloppy. Photoshopped.

You're right, doing a WhoIs myself revealed that it's owned by some guy named David Heine from a "Consternation Security" in Austin Texas. Search those terms and you come up with some Pastebin documents. It looks like Anonymous is getting trolled by the guy.