How many is too many. You are talking a decent size suburb of a major city? 30? 50? 100? 1000? That comment is so general without specifics. If that is too many, it still is not the vast majority of a major metropolitan area.

 

I agree the police must deal with it and that is a really tough and thankless position to be placed in. There is that criminal element in all walks of society, just the sheer #'s in a large city makes it appear it is a majority, nothing could be further from the truth. I don't think most expect, condone or want the looting, even the majority that live there, but you cannot hide the fact that this was handled incorrectly as a whole.

One looter is one too many. One thug tossing a brick at a car driving on a freeway is one too many. One thug hiding behind a mask and tossing a Moltov cocktail at the police is one too many.

 

As for numbers of outside criminals versus Ferguson residents, I don't think that a census has been taken. As I said in a previous post, I have lived in places that had a higher crime rate than Ferguson, so I suspect that much of the looting, vandalism, and violence has been done by people who will not have to deal with the aftermath after things settle back to normal. They will crawl back under the rocks from which they slithered.

One looter is one too many. One thug tossing a brick at a car driving on a freeway is one too many. One thug hiding behind a mask and tossing a Moltov cocktail at the police is one too many.

 

As for numbers of outside criminals versus Ferguson residents, I don't think that a census has been taken. As I said in a previous post, I have lived in places that had a higher crime rate than Ferguson, so I suspect that much of the looting, vandalism, and violence has been done by people who will not have to deal with the aftermath after things settle back to normal. They will crawl back under the rocks from which they slithered.

 

If one is too many and it is, but really not realistic. Then it can happen anywhere and does. What happens in tornadoes in rural areas or suburban areas, looting? Don't blame it on inner city is my point.

If one is too many and it is, but really not realistic. Then it can happen anywhere and does. What happens in tornadoes in rural areas or suburban areas, looting? Don't blame it on inner city is my point.

I don't blame anything on the inner city - I blame our government that perpetuates poverty and a culture of dependency. The population of the inner cities makes it much easier for like-minded criminals to organize themselves into sizable mobs to take advantage of situations such as the one that presented itself to them in Ferguson.

 

Anybody who hurls a brick at a person, whether inside a speeding car, or on foot; or tosses a Moltov cocktail at police officers deserves whatever fate befalls him. It is no different than threatening an innocent person with a gun. As for looters, I have absolutely no sympathy for them. If somebody shoots them trying to protect their property, then that does not make them victims of anything but their own stupidity and criminality.

 

As for suburbs, rural areas, or inner cities, the only reason for my comments about the inner cities is that Ferguson is within easy driving distance of some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods in the country. A friend of my daughter's is from East St. Louis and lives in DC. She says that she feels much safer in Washington than in her hometown. It is just a fact of life that crime rates are much higher in large cities than most other areas of the U.S.

One more post in this thread, and while it is a bit off topic, it helps explain my stance on these situations.

 

Here is my basic experience on why there is a serious lack of trust between the black community and police.

 

I have been pulled over 8 times in my life. 6 of those times I was in the wrong by either speeding, not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign and once where I was under the legal limit and driving a friend home who was bombed. In all of those stops it was the routine "license and registration" followed by "do you know why I stopped you".

 

I have twice been pulled over when in the car with a black friend, and both stops were drastically different. In the first incident we were followed for over a mile, and stopped right before the expressway for failure to signal a lane change when I used my blinker to signal the change. We were clearly being followed and I wasn't about to give him a reason to pull us over. The second time I was a passenger and we were looking for a friends new apartment in a complex that was poorly light and we couldn't see the numbers on the building so we had to double back because we missed it.

 

In both situations the officer approached the car with his hand on his gun and the first words out of each officers mouth were "are there any drugs or guns in the car?" The situation was instantly heightened when there was no sign of any illegal activity involved.

 

Seeing what two childhood friends who have always been upstanding members of society had to deal with was eye opening, and it gives some insight as to why there is such a lack of trust between the police and the African American community. I'd love to think it was just an unfortunate incident, but the only two times I was in the situation it was handled poorly...

I don't blame anything on the inner city - I blame our government that perpetuates poverty and a culture of dependency. The population of the inner cities makes it much easier for like-minded criminals to organize themselves into sizable mobs to take advantage of situations such as the one that presented itself to them in Ferguson.

 

Anybody who hurls a brick at a person, whether inside a speeding car, or on foot; or tosses a Moltov cocktail at police officers deserves whatever fate befalls him. It is no different than threatening an innocent person with a gun. As for looters, I have absolutely no sympathy for them. If somebody shoots them trying to protect their property, then that does not make them victims of anything but their own stupidity and criminality.

 

As for suburbs, rural areas, or inner cities, the only reason for my comments about the inner cities is that Ferguson is within easy driving distance of some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods in the country. A friend of my daughter's is from East St. Louis and lives in DC. She says that she feels much safer in Washington than in her hometown. It is just a fact of life that crime rates are much higher in large cities than most other areas of the U.S.

 

By reading your statement earlier, that is how I interpreted it. The clarification helps. I wish this was a simple solution but it is not. There is no doubt that segregation in our cities continues to exist that was racial in the 60's but has perpetuated to mostly socioeconomics now. Until society, government, whoever or whatever understands that segregation in most instances will cause a lot of haves and have nots. And quite frankly, there is a high percentage of the wealthy population that will gladly pay to keep themselves segregated from the poor. That puts a huge strain on the middle class who do pay their fair share and sometimes more compared to the wealthy of taxes. Never in history has that worked. What has worked and really never been attempted in a real way is to integrate all, although Denver is giving it its best shot. I am not hopeful of that happening. Too many people just don't want to live around people that are not like them in many ways or we wouldn't have the segregation we do.

 

Where we probably differ in mindset is that I can live with the $$ only helping 60-70% of those in need. We need to attack the challenge of handling the 30-40% that abuse the system, if those are the #'s. It may be more or less, but my point is I can live with and support getting $$ to those in need even though we all know there is abuse.

 

It isn't the government only, it is the mindsets of socioeconomic diversity. I also understand there will be those the have and those that do not, that is a fact in a democracy and fine, the socioeconomic gap and opportunities are the problem.

 

Quite frankly, that is the root of the problem in Ferguson.

One more post in this thread' date=' and while it is a bit off topic, it helps explain my stance on these situations. Here is my basic experience on why there is a serious lack of trust between the black community and police. I have been pulled over 8 times in my life. 6 of those times I was in the wrong by either speeding, not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign and once where I was under the legal limit and driving a friend home who was bombed. In all of those stops it was the routine "license and registration" followed by "do you know why I stopped you". I have twice been pulled over when in the car with a black friend, and both stops were drastically different. In the first incident we were followed for over a mile, and stopped right before the expressway for failure to signal a lane change when I used my blinker to signal the change. We were clearly being followed and I wasn't about to give him a reason to pull us over. The second time I was a passenger and we were looking for a friends new apartment in a complex that was poorly light and we couldn't see the numbers on the building so we had to double back because we missed it. In both situations the officer approached the car with his hand on his gun and the first words out of each officers mouth were "are there any drugs or guns in the car?" The situation was instantly heightened when there was no sign of any illegal activity involved. Seeing what two childhood friends who have always been upstanding members of society had to deal with was eye opening, and it gives some insight as to why there is such a lack of trust between the police and the African American community. I'd love to think it was just an unfortunate incident, but the only two times I was in the situation it was handled poorly...[/quote']

 

I've been pulled over multiple times with my best friend because he was driving while black.

By reading your statement earlier, that is how I interpreted it. The clarification helps. I wish this was a simple solution but it is not. There is no doubt that segregation in our cities continues to exist that was racial in the 60's but has perpetuated to mostly socioeconomics now. Until society, government, whoever or whatever understands that segregation in most instances will cause a lot of haves and have nots. And quite frankly, there is a high percentage of the wealthy population that will gladly pay to keep themselves segregated from the poor. That puts a huge strain on the middle class who do pay their fair share and sometimes more compared to the wealthy of taxes. Never in history has that worked. What has worked and really never been attempted in a real way is to integrate all, although Denver is giving it its best shot. I am not hopeful of that happening. Too many people just don't want to live around people that are not like them in many ways or we wouldn't have the segregation we do.

 

Where we probably differ in mindset is that I can live with the $$ only helping 60-70% of those in need. We need to attack the challenge of handling the 30-40% that abuse the system, if those are the #'s. It may be more or less, but my point is I can live with and support getting $$ to those in need even though we all know there is abuse.

 

It isn't the government only, it is the mindsets of socioeconomic diversity. I also understand there will be those the have and those that do not, that is a fact in a democracy and fine, the socioeconomic gap and opportunities are the problem.

 

Quite frankly, that is the root of the problem in Ferguson.

It's not just poverty that wealthy people and everybody else who can afford to do so want to distance themselves from - it is the crime. I lived and worked within the city limits of Jackson, MS, for a year, and most middle class blacks fled to the suburbs the same as most middle class whites did just as soon as they could afford to move.

 

My wife and I had many people, both black and white, tell us that we should move out of Hinds County. Aside from some drunk busting out a window of my car, we did not have any problems while we were there - but we did not stray far from our suite after dark and never ventured into West Jackson after dark. That being said, we loved the Jackson area. I have never lived among friendlier or more polite people in my life.

 

Unless the crime stats that I found are inaccurate, Ferguson is much safer than Jackson is and its unemployment rate is (or was) a little under the national average. That is why I suspect that outsiders are probably more to blame for the violence in Ferguson than the city's own residents.

It's not just poverty that wealthy people and everybody else who can afford to do so want to distance themselves from - it is the crime. I lived and worked within the city limits of Jackson, MS, for a year, and most middle class blacks fled to the suburbs the same as most middle class whites did just as soon as they could afford to move.

 

My wife and I had many people, both black and white, tell us that we should move out of Hinds County. Aside from some drunk busting out a window of my car, we did not have any problems while we were there - but we did not stray far from our suite after dark and never ventured into West Jackson after dark. That being said, we loved the Jackson area. I have never lived among friendlier or more polite people in my life.

 

Unless the crime stats that I found are inaccurate, Ferguson is much safer than Jackson is and its unemployment rate is (or was) a little under the national average. That is why I suspect that outsiders are probably more to blame for the violence in Ferguson than the city's own residents.

 

Hey, I lived in Jackson also for a year, also. I actually loved it, also! I concur they were great. I will tell you I worked in four inner city schools and they were the roughest I have ever been in, but they were trying to make it better.

 

That's why I stated it has perpetuated to mostly socioeconomics, but in many cities they are mostly black and Jackson was no exception.

Hey, I lived in Jackson also for a year, also. I actually loved it, also! I concur they were great. I will tell you I worked in four inner city schools and they were the roughest I have ever been in, but they were trying to make it better.

The Jackson area had the best food for a reasonable price of anywhere I have lived. The Hickory Pit, Mamma Hammel's, Penn's, Julep's, Newk's, and my favorite seafood place - Sal and Phil's. My wife and I lived about 1/2 mile from Ridgeland. Year's ago, I turned down a job offer with the Bureau of Land Management in Jackson. After living there for a year, I kind of regretted not having accepted the offer.

Despite reports, SWAT Team helped Al-Jazeera reporters, did not take their equipment | FOX2now.com

 

That's what Fox News says. Here's what the Al-Jazeera reporters said (they weren't thanking the police):

 

“This is media over here, we’re trying to cover a story, we’re getting shot at with rubber bullets right now,” screams one of the Al-Jazeera journalists in the clip. “Jesus Christ,” she exclaims as police start shooting more rubber bullets.

 

Infowars.com’s Jakari Jackson and Joe Biggs were also fired at with rubber bullets and tear gas rounds, confirming that police were deliberately targeting media.

 

“We were very close to where those [tear gas] canisters were shot from. We yelled, as you heard there [on the video]. We were yelling that we were press. But they continued to fire. We retreated about half a block into the neighborhood, until we could get out of that situation,” Al Jazeera’s Ash-har Quaraishi told Business Insider.

 

His comments were echoed by field producer Marla Cichowski, who stated, “We were clearly set up as press with a full live shot set up. As soon as first bullet hit the car we screamed out loud, “We are press,’ ‘This is media….They shined a huge flood light at us before firing and I can only imagine they could see what they were shooting at.”

 

Both Jackson and Joe Biggs were also fired at with rubber bullets and tear gas rounds, confirming that police were deliberately targeting media. In a separate incident, police also ordered journalists to turn off their cameras shortly before a subsequent tear gas assault.

 

The SWAT team’s claims were also directly contradicted by a statement put out by Al Jazeera Kate O’Brian, who called the incident an “egregious assault on freedom of the press.”

That's what Fox News says. Here's what the Al-Jazeera reporters said (they weren't thanking the police):

 

“This is media over here, we’re trying to cover a story, we’re getting shot at with rubber bullets right now,” screams one of the Al-Jazeera journalists in the clip. “Jesus Christ,” she exclaims as police start shooting more rubber bullets.

 

Infowars.com’s Jakari Jackson and Joe Biggs were also fired at with rubber bullets and tear gas rounds, confirming that police were deliberately targeting media.

 

“We were very close to where those [tear gas] canisters were shot from. We yelled, as you heard there [on the video]. We were yelling that we were press. But they continued to fire. We retreated about half a block into the neighborhood, until we could get out of that situation,” Al Jazeera’s Ash-har Quaraishi told Business Insider.

 

His comments were echoed by field producer Marla Cichowski, who stated, “We were clearly set up as press with a full live shot set up. As soon as first bullet hit the car we screamed out loud, “We are press,’ ‘This is media….They shined a huge flood light at us before firing and I can only imagine they could see what they were shooting at.”

 

Both Jackson and Joe Biggs were also fired at with rubber bullets and tear gas rounds, confirming that police were deliberately targeting media. In a separate incident, police also ordered journalists to turn off their cameras shortly before a subsequent tear gas assault.

 

The SWAT team’s claims were also directly contradicted by a statement put out by Al Jazeera Kate O’Brian, who called the incident an “egregious assault on freedom of the press.”

 

It wasn't FOX NEWS it was a local Fox affiliate (like WDKY)...it was a local channel's report...but I get what your saying.

Interesting Huffington Post article.

 

When The Media Treats White Suspects And Killers Better Than Black Victims

Name of cop has been released as well as still frames from video of Brown roughing up a clerk at the store.

 

Darren Wilson identified as the officer who shot Michael Brown - The Washington Post

Name of cop has been released as well as still frames from video of Brown roughing up a clerk at the store.

 

Darren Wilson identified as the officer who shot Michael Brown - The Washington Post

 

Stole from store and roughed up clerk.

Ferguson Chief Names Darren Wilson as Cop Who Shot Michael Brown - NBC News

BREAKING: Ferguson?s Michael Brown PICTURED Flashing GANG SIGNS | The Gateway Pundit