Ferguson's Lawless Law Enforcement

The shooting of Michael Brown to many of us was never about race; it is about liberty. The idea that a jaywalking hassle could escalate into a fatal shooting would have been gist for Saturday Night Live a decade ago. I can sympathize with the store owners who lost property and others who may have suffered vandalism but the city fathers of Ferguson deserve everything they get. Their behavior is befitting the Obama police state. Consider:

• Four days after the shooting we still do not know the how many times the victim was shot. Authorities say a "preliminary autopsy" has been performed but it may take 6 weeks to get the toxicology report as if evidence the victim had smoked a joint in the past week is a mitigating factor.
• The officer's name is still bring withheld. Ordinary citizens do not enjoy this consideration. If they fear for the officer's life put him in the federal witness protection program.
• Police routinely level automatic weapons at peaceful demonstrators.
• Police departments do not have the authority to stop peaceful demonstrations. Nor should fire tear gas at peaceful demonstrators. In this video anyone in this residential neighborhood seems to be fair game.

• Reporter are are told to leave the area. The FAA order issued an order essentially making aerial photography impossible. Two journalist, Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post and Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post were arrested  apparently for being reporters. They were released a short time later but were unable to obtain a copy of the police report. The arresting officers refused to give their names. Lowery explained the the local McDonalds had become a favorite work place for the media. It offered Wi-Fi and charging stations.

SWAT just invade McDonald's where I'm working/recharging. Asked for ID when I took photo. pic.twitter.com/FOIsMnBwHy
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 13, 2014

Here is the confrontation that lead to their arrest.

Someone once said you don't pick fights with people who buy ink by the barrel and probably someone in the Ferguson Police Department saw the error.

 

I just called Ferguson police chief to ask about @WesleyLowery and @ryanjreilly, told him what I knew. His response: "Oh, God."
— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) August 14, 2014

Radio Television Digital News Association’s Executive Director Mike Cavender wrote a letter to Ferguson, Missouri’s chief of police on Wednesday urging “Ferguson police to work with journalists.”
"RTDNA has received reports of journalists being subjected to harassment and restrictions of access to areas of the city not being enforced on the general public"
Soon Senator Claire McCaskill took to twitter and announced the she had called the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ. Yes, rioting is wrong but this governmental thuggery is despicable.
  and

Images & reports out of #Ferguson are frightening. Is this a war zone or a US city? Gov't escalates tensions w/military equipment & tactics.
— Justin Amash (@repjustinamash) August 14, 2014