Ferguson

Quote: terapined

Huh?
This is reality.
My life doesn't change one single iota no matter who is President.
Lets get real, Bozo the clown could be President and my life remains the same.
I get up, ride my bike to work. I take my RV to music festivals. Vacation a few times a year in Vegas.
No matter who is President, my life goes on as it has for the last 55 years.
Say Rommney was President instead of Obama, how will it affect my life? Not one Iota.

Local politics affects my life a little bit, National politics, I simply follow for entertainment purposes.
Boy I wish Bozo was President, I would be so entertained.

Actually, the response was to your statement about voting against Romney. This little rant is irrelevant and isn't even consistent with your own stated views.

I've not heard much about the circumstances and if I had heard more I'm sure it would have been inaccurate loud rantings. So whats the use? Screaming protesters are annoying. Police Press Releases are pablum. Somewhere in between a real opportunity used to exist. I don't know if it does anymore.

Quote: boymimbo

I really don't care what he did 10 minutes before -- most people who get involved in an unarmed robbery end up getting arrested peacefully. What's clear is that all eyewitness accounts describe some sort of initial confrontation that provoked the police officer into losing his cool and taking what probably will end up as inappropriate action. That was a mistake. People sometimes die because they misjudge a lethal situation and a cop (or anyone) with a gun is a lethal situation.

It goes to what his state of mind and pattern was. He was clearly out for a night of party and rampage, first strong-arm some cigars. Then walk in traffic merely to disrupt said traffic.

I have seen this type of behavior before. Walk in traffic or in any way to disrupt. It is trying to act street tough. No reason for it.

Hopefully they find it to be the justifiable use of force that it more and more appears to be. Moral of the story is don't punch a cop when he tells you to quit being an idiot and blocking traffic.

I suspect the issue will be less the death of someone caused by a police revolver, and more the response of the police to the death.

Same thing happened in London after a guy was shot in Tottenham by a armed response unit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_England_riots . Early reporting and police communications were poor. A protest was held by the victims family and friends. Tinder box lit. This led to several days of rioting in London. An initial protest went up in flames, and then the socially disaffected (to use a nice liberal term for yah... ;)) took that as an excuse/reason to loot all around the city. The facts of the initial incident are less important than the immediate perception by the community.

Then again, up in Vancouver. people rioted because their team lost the Stanley Cup finals. Canadians, eh?

Quote: Beethoven

Hey Face, what exactly does a member need to do to get warned/suspended around here?

Oh, you know. Typical stuff. Pretty much like WoV, except maybe slightly more relaxed. Issues between members have so far failed to diffuse among the other members here; they pretty much step over and carry on. I guess that makes me more lax.

This one I've just been watching. It started with the "Weird Guy" thread, right? It looked to me like you wanted to dance, and it appeared that 1nickel was up for it. So you dance. And we watch.

What would you each like from me?

Quote: chickenman

Actually, the response was to your statement about voting against Romney. This little rant is irrelevant and isn't even consistent with your own stated views.

It started with Beethoven making an absurd statement directed at me.
"I thought your boy Obama was going to fix everything in the country?"
So I responed with an equally absurd statement that I did not think woud be taken seriously.
"No I voted against Rommney who was going to break everything in the country :-) "

Cmon chicken, I thought the smily at the end of my statement would give you a clue I was joking.
Obviously watching FOX all day has hurt your funny bone and you took my statement as serious.
Of course Obama cant fix everything and of course Rom wont break everything.

Since you take everything so seriously, I decided to go in an even more absurd direction, Bozo as President.

Cmon Chicken, we may be on different sides, but we can still both laugh :-)

Everything is getting back to normal in Ferguson.
It has to, 75% of the people 'protesting' weren't
from Ferguson and half of them were from a
different state. Their Aug looting vacay is over,
they have to get home. Blacks don't care when
other blacks get shot, even if it's a white cop.
It's a way of life is these cities, blacks shooting
blacks. It was just an excuse to gets some free
stuff.

There be safer ways to get free stuff than dealin' wit da freakin National Guard.

Indeed if you recall Kent State ... blacks knew better than to be nearby at the time.

This is from an elderly attorney north of Ferguson.
I wanted to put to rest some misconceptions about ferguson, some of which were in the post today.

A professor from Creighton wrote today in the PD that fergusons court revenues were about 25% of the cities revenues.
He also wrote that 24% of black males have felony vote.
Well first of all for fiscal 2013 Fergusons total revenues were about 19,236,000 and "fines and forfeitures were 2,571,000. This is somewhere between 13-14%. I have no idea where the 25% figure came.

Secondly in Missouri having a felony conviction does not disqualify you from voting except if it is for voting fraud.
If you are incarcerated at the time of an election you cannot vote or if you are on probation or parole for a felony you cannot vote. Once you are off probation or parole, your right to vote is restored.
The author may be a professor from Creighton but his knowledge of things in the st Louis metro and the state of mo is obvious.

Also as many of you know I am a practicing attorney. I have been to every muni ct in the area.
As a convenience to the citizens, ferguson has both morning and evening dockets.
I usually try to have my cases on the morning docket.
The court officially starts at 10am but the doors are opened and people are let in early.
The police officers functioning as bailiffs are courteous and considerate to all.
The people are not made to stand outside in bad weather.
The judge gets there early knowing that people have to get to work, school, doctors appts et al.
I have never seen a disturbance there and the judge bends over backwards in allowing defendents time to get their license status squared away.
The court also has payment plans knowing its very difficult or impossible for people to pay all up front.
If people don't want to vote, you cant blame it on "white oppression".

Furthermore the calls for the resignation of the mayor are absurd. ferguson is a City manager form of government and the city manager does the hiring and the firing and the supervision of the city departments.

The mayor is essentially a cheerleader for the city and signs or vetoes legislation.

Quote: Face

Quote: Beethoven

Hey Face, what exactly does a member need to do to get warned/suspended around here?

Oh, you know. Typical stuff. Pretty much like WoV, except maybe slightly more relaxed. Issues between members have so far failed to diffuse among the other members here; they pretty much step over and carry on. I guess that makes me more lax.

This one I've just been watching. It started with the "Weird Guy" thread, right? It looked to me like you wanted to dance, and it appeared that 1nickel was up for it. So you dance. And we watch.

What would you each like from me?

Nothing. I am not what he paints and it's usually quite absurd and crazy for anyone to believe him anyways with his weak arguments and logical fallacies he just can't resist. Notice carefully he never acknowledges any reference to trolling ever and complains like he accuses others. It's very similar to the Twilight Zone episode where the man complains of all the evil people then plans for them all to be two feet tall at 4o'clock and finds out he is one.