Hole. Man, almost cool. One day.

There's a whole in me where dread lives, and it never felt so complete

His speech was basically "how dare you people have opinions about this incident, I am the person who gets to decide what is right and wrong in this community, the internet is to blame for everything in this case" which is really bizarre since, as the DA, he's kinda, you know, supposed to actually WANT to prosecute the case as best as possible, not act as the defense lawyer for the person his office charged with a crime.

On a side note, fuck these people. Fuck these selfish, sociopathic shitheads who are looting and vandalizing and all this shit and ensuring that the actual social justice side of this WON'T be heard and their community will be treated like a joke in the media and pay PRECISELY into the hands of the insanely racist power structure that put them in this position in the first place. It's the LA Riots all over again and the only thing anyone will ever remember is dumbshit assholes doing dumbshit asshole things.

You're right about the protesters. I mean, as pissed as I am, if I go and break a window at a Walgreens in Portland it's not going to make a difference any more than if I broke one in Ferguson. And at the rate things are going this will be remembered like the 1992 Los Angeles riots or the 1990 Detroit riots. The events that sparked the riots were the antitheses of each other, but we probably remember the riots more than we do the events.

correction: "rioters" and not "protesters." There's a big difference and I totally slipped just there.

Hold on- everyone always equates mass protests with looting, but doesn't it just make sense if you're the kind of person that likes to steal, that it would be super easy to just bust into a place and steal from it when you know that every cop in town is in one place?

Yeah. Having a police scanner does the same thing: drive your car as fast as you want as long as you know the cops are elsewhere. The protests thus far however have been peaceful.

As far as the original thing goes, it's just like that old selective attention test with the basketball passes and the gorilla mascot. "How many times was the ball passed" means nothing to me with the man in the gorilla suit walks into the room, but that wasn't the original question or what I was paying attention to. And that's like psych 101 shit, and I never even took psych 101.

I do not remember the 1990 Detroit riots. I was a child in the middle of the 84 riots though.

Strangely, it had to do with basketball. Detroit won over Portland and the city went nuts.

Antitheses, how?

I can! I used to work down the street from a Walgreens that was set on fire during a riot. That Walgreens didn't have a pharmacy though

What?

After you.

2 xtreme

Yeah, the kind of cop who would shoot an unarmed suspect definitely gives a shit when they burn down a Walgreen's. That'll learn 'em!

Actually, now that I think about it, police violence did completely disappear in LA after the Rodney King riots. From what I understand, every time a cop thinks of using excessive force, they think of the poor Korean families that owned the shops that were burned down. And of course they realize that they're in the wrong because they'd hate to see anyone go through that again.

Yeah, fuck you Binro.

Unless Darren Wilson personally owned the Auto Zone, Little Caeser's, drug store, etc, then those people didn't deserve to have their family's businesses burned down.

Also, fuck you twice.

FYI: The Koreans didn't think the cops would help them, so they took to their rooftops with rifles.

Oh, Binro. You're only a good person because you think you are.

Actually you probably should burn down a Little Caesar's regardless

Hey now, hot n ready special got me through two weeks when I was a broke college student. :)

You should burn a Little Caesar's down simply for mispronouncing Caesar in their name.

waaaaaaaaaaaaaah

I don't like the world.

So that justifies my ego. I can do whatever I want. waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh

I want to take my problems out on the world. And I get to. Because something happened to someone else and I am full of resentment.

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

The people who look at the looting & destruction and think to themselves "Boy, those black people are really bad." already thought that shit. If there were no looting or destruction, they wouldn't think, "Boy, those black people aren't really so bad after all." They would think, "Our brave boys in blue did a great job controlling those bad black people!"

So looting & destruction or lack thereof really won't make that big a difference in peoples' attitudes towards blacks in general.

And I know the cops won't give a shit if a Walgreen's burns to the ground, but I'll bet the people who can pressure the cops to behave themselves give a shit if it does. Cops only treat people like shit when they know they can get away with it. That's why they fuck with the poor and powerless so much and in this country, blacks are more likely to be poor and powerless.

As I said, a lot of people will never, ever have any respect for blacks. Never. No matter what. But they can be taught to at least consider the repercussions of turning a blind eye to abuse when the abused lash back out at them.

Also, those stores never would have been looted or burned if the fucking cops had been out doing their jobs and patrolling the streets instead of gathering in force with the hope of firing tear gas at peaceful protestors.

And I've never claimed to be a good person, just an average one.

"That's why they fuck with the poor and powerless so much and in this country, blacks are more likely to be poor and powerless."

I'd also find it hi-larious to see which people are being racist assholes about the rioting (and the protests for that matter) and post things about armed insurrection against the federal government.

Jesus, I don't think Binro really wants us to engage in random destruction, he's venting out of frustration over yet another predictable injustice.

It's not much of a moral triumph to declare that you wouldn't do a thing that the other person wasn't planning to do in the first place.

Open question: would people's opinions of this incident change if the footage was from Russia, Palestine, or North Korea? Why or why not?

Also, how do people feel about Harpers Ferry, the Black Panthers, or dreams deferred in general? Are these things relevant towards current events; again, why or why not?

@EvilHomer

That's what I'm screamin. Why isn't China or the UN Security Council stepping in to help? The people are being oppressed and we can't even get a damn no-fly zone? SHAME.

Also Binro that burning smell you're picking up on? I think you're having a stroke.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/serbia-deploys-peacekeeping-force s-to-us,1435/

One of the perks of having the world's best military and a permanent place on the UN Security Council is that this prospect will never be anything more than a joke.

Written and published just before the decision was handed dwon: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/11/ferguson-context-eve-grand- jury-decsion.html

And nobody feels more powerless than the people who live in a city that just won the World Series.

Who cares about hockey?

robot roll call!

I did Turkey Day '91.

their*

I think we (you) need to be careful about conflating "protestors" with "rioters."

Yes I apologize, they are rioters. But it doesn't change the point that they are not rioting or protesting against anything that can change or result in change.

I get you. Rioting isn't about changing things. It's about...well, whatever it is. Could be related pressure-release, could just be some asshats that enjoy an opportunity to vandalize I guess. But you're not thinking of accomplishing social change when you're burning cars.

A citywide riot is relaxing compared to dinner with my family.

I can relate to that, TeenerTot.

Guess who's spending Thanksgiving at a friend's house this year? THIS GUY

Yeah. I told my parents that I plan to take a trip next year at this time to get away from everybody. My mom said "We'll go with you." :/

obscure, excellent

St. Louis

Milwaukee, please let it be Milwaukee!

It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me.