Ferguson Police Use Tear Gas on Media

[mbender]

I've lived in the St Louis area (and Germany, England, Korea, and other scattered parts of the USA, north and south) and STL is without a doubt the most racist part of the world I've yet to experience.

Having visited there a few times and knowing a little about its (state's) history, I'm not that surprised. Apparently, it's also the 8th most segregated city in the U.S., though after reading this "enlightening" WaPo article, I would have guessed higher.

[AndyH]

[AndyH]

[mbender]

Historical context.
A thought-provoking read, if nothing else.

[AndyH]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/0 ... 64746.html

A Grand Jury Did Indict One Person Involved In Eric Garner's Killing -- The Man Who Filmed It

[AndyH]

Ferguson grand juror lied - time for in independent grant jury?


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/1 ... tail=email

Since releasing an additional batch of documents from the grand jury proceedings, the public has learned that one witness in particular, Sandra McElroy, also popularly known as witness #40, was thoroughly discredited in her interrogation by the FBI a month before she ever appeared on two separate occasions before the grand jury.

In this interrogation, the FBI proved that McElroy, whose testimony would eventually mirror Wilson's better than any other witness, was never actually at the scene of the shooting and had concocted an elaborate and preposterous hoax of a narrative on why she was there, how she drove in, how she mysteriously drove off the scene, how she saw the entire incident from close range, how nobody could confirm her being there, how she had a deep and ugly racist history, and so much more. By the time she finished her interview with the FBI, McElroy had perjured herself not one or two times, but well over 100 times. Her story, insulting, demeaning, and fundamentally outrageous was completely debunked by the FBI over and over again, yet Bob McCulloch, fully aware of this, called her not once, but twice as a witness.

[AndyH]

Fox affiliate edits protest chant to push false story...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/2 ... -Affiliate

Remember the march to protest police brutality in Washington DC?
Remember the outrage on right wing radio and news outlets picked up a chant saying clear as day- " Kill a Cop"? I had my Facebook timeline filled with outrage after the New York shootings linking the double police homicide with the "evil" chants from Washington DC.

Fake....
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-affiliat ... ill-a-cop/

...

Baltimore Fox Affiliate Fox 45 Took the audio of the chanting and made a cut to make it seem like protesters were chanting "Kill a Cop".

C-SPAN



Fox

[Nubo]

Fox affiliate edits protest chant to push false story...

I guess I can add that to my collection of orbital-fracture X-ray pics.

[AndyH]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/0 ... 17370.html

"In Plaintiff's view, the current information available about the grand jurors' views is not entirely accurate -- especially the implication that all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges," the lawsuit stated. "Moreover, the public characterization of the grand jurors' view of witnesses and evidence does not accord with Plaintiff's own."

[AndyH]

The DoJ investigation is complete.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/0 ... 00440.html
http://www.scribd.com/doc/257669288/Fer ... ent-Report

WASHINGTON -- A damning report released by the Justice Department on Wednesday heavily criticized the operations of the police department and municipal court in Ferguson, Missouri, where Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, was shot and killed by a white police officer in August.

DOJ’s civil rights investigation into the Ferguson criminal justice system found that authorities have routinely violated the rights of black citizens and have used tickets to generate revenue for the city.

The Justice Department also disclosed several emails sent by current Ferguson officials over the past several years that reveal racial bias. One email depicted President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee. Another email described a man who wanted to get welfare for his dogs because they were “mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can’t speak English and have no frigging clue who their Daddies are.” A third email included a photo depicting bare-chested dancing women with the caption “Michelle Obama’s High School Reunion,” while another email included jokes about Muslims.

From the DOJ report:

For example, in July 2012, a police officer arrested a business owner on charges of Interfering in Police Business and Misuse of 911 because she objected to the officer’s detention of her employee. The officer had stopped the employee for “walking unsafely in the street” as he returned to work from the bank. According to FPD records, the owner “became verbally involved,” came out of her shop three times after being asked to stay inside, and called 911 to complain to the Police Chief. The officer characterized her protestations as interference and arrested her inside her shop.16 The arrest violated the First Amendment, which “does not allow such speech to be made a crime.” Hill, 482 U.S. at 462. Indeed, the officer’s decision to arrest the woman after she tried to contact the Police Chief suggests that he may have been retaliating against her for reporting his conduct.