Random Politics & Religion #00

I'm summoning Al Sharpton he will be here shortly.

President Barack Obama called the police shooting death of an unarmed black teenager a tragedy on Tuesday and urged a thoughtful response after two nights of violent protests, looting and arrests in a St. Louis suburb.

But early on Wednesday, a police officer shot and critically wounded a man who drew a handgun near the site of the protests, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper reported, citing a police spokesman.

St. Louis County Police Department officers responded about an hour after midnight to reports of four or five men with shotguns and wearing ski masks. They encountered "multiple subjects running," police spokesman Brian Schellman said.

One of them pulled a gun on an officer, who fired at him, police said. The man was taken to an area hospital.

Shortly after midnight, police fired tear gas into protesters who had confronted a line of officers after a far larger crowd dispersed, Schellman said. A photograph in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch showed a protester wearing a shirt with an American flag printed on it throwing a tear gas container back at the police.

President Obama promised a full investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into the teenager's death, which has provoked outrage in the largely African-American town of Ferguson.

"I know the events of the past few days have prompted strong passions, but ... I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding," Obama said in a statement.

Too late the president is already on it.

Obama says Missouri shooting death tragic, reflection needed

Isn't he going to say "If I had a son, it would be Michael Brown"?

Violence again erupted in the St. Louis area near the site of the police shooting death of an unarmed black teenager, according to local police, despite calls by U.S. President Barack Obama and activists for a measured response.

Early on Wednesday, a police officer shot and critically wounded a man who drew a handgun near the site of protests over the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, a St. Louis County Police Department officer said.

Police responded about an hour after midnight to reports of four or five men with shotguns and wearing ski masks. They encountered multiple suspects running, one of whom pulled a gun on an officer, who fired at him, the county officer said. The man was taken to an area hospital.

Shortly after midnight, police fired tear gas into protesters who had confronted a line of officers after a far larger crowd dispersed, St. Louis County Police Department spokesman Brian Schellman said.

A photograph in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch showed a protester wearing a shirt with an American flag printed on it throwing a tear gas container back at the police. There were other media reports of bottles thrown at police.

The incidents followed two nights of violent protests, looting and arrests in Ferguson, the largely black St. Louis suburb where the shooting of Brown took place.

Because violent protest is surely the answer.

That will make things better.

It always makes things better!.

/disgust

There’s no worse assignment for a Secret Service agent than protecting Hillary Clinton, if claims in a controversial new book are to be believed.

Ronald Kessler’s book, “First Family Detail,” is filled with salacious revelations about the secret personal lives of the nation’s most high-profile political leaders. But the authenticity of those revelations has been called into question over factual inaccuracies in the book, as well as its reliance on anonymous Secret Service agents.

“She is so nasty to agents that being assigned to her detail is considered a form of punishment,” Kessler told “Top Line” of Clinton, who continues to receive Secret Service protection as a former first lady.

“It shines a light on her character,” Kessler said. “She claims to be a champion of the little people, and she's going to help the middle class. And, in fact, she treats these people around her, [who] would lay down their lives for her like sub-humans; and I think voters need to consider that.”

As developments continue to unfold in the case of Michael Brown in St. Louis, details are emerging about the police shooting death of an unarmed, 24-year-old black man in South Los Angeles.

A vigil in response to the incident was scheduled for Tuesday evening in Los Angeles, said Officer Jane Kim, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

A woman who said she was the mother of the deceased told KTLA that the victim's name was Ezell Ford. The woman, who said her name is Tritobia Ford, told KTLA that her son was lying on the ground and complying with police commands when police shot him three times. She said police would give her no information about the shooting.

A man who identified himself as a cousin of Ezell Ford told KTLA that every police officer in the area knows that Ford had "mental problems" and "complications." The man told KTLA that police shot Ezell Ford in the back, and that when Ford's mother approached police asking for information, they pulled out billy clubs.

OK Gov. Mary Fallin previously vetoed a bill legalizing medical use of non-intoxicating CBD oil. She will soon be up for reelection and there is a petition going for legalization of medical marijuana (yes, I signed it), now Fallin is supporting it. The desperate pleas, begging, letters concerning epilleptic toddlers weren't enough of a reason to give the bill a chance but votes! Votes are worth it!

That isn't obvious at all.

If she's willing to pass it and it's a good bill (legalizing pot isn't really a big deal, but the bill itself could be bad), you'd have to decide if the bill is worth re-electing her. I personally hate the idea of voting for someone over a single issue. I've seen far too many politicians run on a single promise and either fail to achieve it or knock it out in the first month and do a terrible job the rest of the term.

Short answer: What's more important, the bill or what a better person could get done in a single term?

She's against more than she's for, I have no plans to vote for her.

It's kinda scary how many people are getting elected based on these hot-button issues instead of their overall credentials and policies.

She's shot down a bill to raise minimum wage and one to provide additional funding to the national guard and has taken anti-women and anti-LGBT stances. She previously cheated on her husband with her bodyguard and won't legalize SSM in OK because it violate the sanctity of marriage. I find her to be a hypocrite and not someone I'd want in office.

I'm voting for her because her cackle is kinda of a turn on for me lol

I personally hate the idea of voting for someone over a single issue.

I'm voting for her because her cackle is kinda of a turn on for me lol

The Ferguson and St. Louis County police departments, which led the initial response to civil unrest in Ferguson, are both equipped with military equipment donated by the Defense Dept. Ferguson has received two vehicles, a trailer and a generator and St. Louis County has received nine utility trucks and two cargo trailers since 2012.

The equipment was received under the 1033 program which was enacted by Congress in 1992, and expanded in 1997. The program allows police forces to request and receive refurbished military equipment free of charge from the Pentagon. Police departments need only pay for shipping.

President Barack Obama on Thursday said that police should respect protesters after four nights of racially charged demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri, over the recent police killing of an unarmed black teenager.

"There is never an excuse for violence against police or for those who would use this tragedy as a cover for vandalism or looting," Obama said a televised remarks.

"There's also no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protesters or to throw protesters in jail for lawfully exercising their first amendment rights," he said, speaking to the press from Edgartown, Massachusetts near where he is vacationing with his family.

After the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb on Saturday, dozens of protesters have been arrested and the police have used riot gear, tear gas and rubber bullets to break up protests.

There have been peaceful vigils and demonstrations as well as episodes of looting and violence.

Governor Jay Nixon on Thursday also told community members at a church in the St. Louis area that "over the next few hours we are going to be making some shifts so that people will be ... safe." He did not specify what his steps would be made.

Don't know why you bothered posting that first link, it's common for military scraps to be donated to local law enforcement. So they got a truck and a generator, big deal.

Don't know why you bothered posting that first link, it's common for military scraps to be donated to local law enforcement. So they got a truck and a generator, big deal.

The idea was that if the U.S. wanted its police to act like drug warriors, it should equip them like warriors, which it has—to the tune of around $4.3 billion in equipment, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union. The St. Louis County Police Department’s annual budget is around $160 million. By providing law enforcement agencies with surplus military equipment free of charge, the NDAA encourages police to employ military weapons and military tactics.

1033 procurements are not matters of public record. And the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which coordinates distribution of military surplus, refuses to reveal the names of agencies requesting “tactical” items, like assault rifles and MRAPs — for security reasons, a spokesperson for DLA told Newsweek via email. One can only trace “tactical” items as far the county of the requesting agency. In the case of Ferguson, that means St. Louis County.

St. Louis County law enforcement agencies have, through the 1033 Program, acquired the following “tactical” equipment, according to Mike O’Connell, Communications Director for the Missouri Department of Public Safety:

Despite the fact that police in Ferguson have been photographed with a matte black vehicle which appears to be a “Bearcat” MRAP, O’Connell told Newsweek that no St. Louis County law enforcement agencies have acquired any MRAPs through the 1033 program.

If the vehicle in the above Reuters photo is indeed an MRAP and not one of the nine “utility trucks” acquired by St. Louis County law enforcement, O’Connell said he does not know where it came from.

It's a Putin windfall, and we'd better start acknowledging it as such and not fret about poor chicken farmers.

We are now in the midst of a wholesale retreat in prices for virtually every commodity I follow, save cheese. Grains, hogs, cattle, poultry -- they are all getting hammered. The building blocks of the American diet are tumbling in price. Which brings me back to a bigger point: the impact of chicken on Fed policy and the ideologues who bash the Fed out of anger or profit.

An active on-site shooter has been reported at Fort Lee Army base in Virgina, forcing it into lockdown and leading the base to enact active shooter protocols.

“Active shooter incident reported at CASCOM HQ, Bldg. 5020. All personnel enact active shooter protocols immediately. Post on lockdown,” the Army base tweeted.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

Here's your Kremlin biased news of the day:

Active shooter at Virginia's Fort Lee, military base on lock down