Dumbass is Not a Race.

I think it's fair to say that events in Ferguson, Missouri are starting to get on my nerves. However that is not because I'm being overwhelmed by complex, coded discussions the US is having amongst itself and it's allies. Instead I'm being annoyed by the sheer stupidity of the comments on Twitter some of which come from otherwise intelligent people who work for respected news organisations.

On Friday (15/8/14) Ferguson police claimed that the officer who stopped and ended up shooting Micheal Brown had no idea that Brown had just committed a robbery at a near-by convenience store. This is of course nonsense because there would have been a high volume of open police radio traffic calling for officers to respond to the 911 call and giving a description of the suspects. Having come under White House control via Eric Holder at the Justice Department Ferguson police seemed to issue this false statement in an effort to keep the story going in order to keep the Iraq story which has been humiliating for the White House away from the top of the news agenda.

True to form residents of Ferguson reacted to this false statement by looting a number of local shops including the convenience store that Brown had robbed in what struck me as a clear attempt to intimidate the store owner. Despite the fact that these looters only numbered around two dozen the deafening howl of criticism that Ferguson police have been under for the last week meant that they took no action because they didn't want to be accused of infringing on the looters 'civil rights.'

In response local business owners took to protecting themselves by patrolling outside carrying a variety of guns including assault rifles. Although that is their right this creates a very dangerous situation so on Saturday (16/8/14) the Missouri Governor finally declared a State of Emergency which is a legal pre-condition that allowed him to declare a curfew. Possibly because this curfew began stupidly late at night (from mid-night onwards) it was broken by groups who simply wanted to commit crime and square up to the police. At least one of these groups were armed and seemed to randomly open fire on passing vehicles seriously injuring at least one person. The media response to this was of course to criticise the police for using smoke grenades in an effort to evacuate the man who had been shot.

The curfew has been extended into tonight and hopefully the police will be enforcing it properly because it is really time for them to break the back of this and restore order to the streets. One of the main reason order to needs to be restored is that we will only get to the bottom of what exactly happened to Micheal Brown by carefully and dispassionately examining the evidence. That is impossible to do when you have so many people intent on twisting the facts to fit their purposes from the criminals who want to use the protests as a cover to commit crime to people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who simply see an opportunity to boost their profiles and bank balances.

It must be said though that this story of Micheal Brown being an innocent young man who was brutally gunned down by a racist police officer as he was off to visit his poor old grandmother is fast coming apart at the seems. For a start Brown wasn't innocently walking anywhere. Instead he and his friend Dorian Johnson had just committed a robbery and were fleeing the scene in possession of stolen property. Robbery is of course defined as theft involving the threat or use of force.

This detail is hugely important because it totally changes the context of Brown's interaction with the police. After all people who have just committed a crime are rarely happy to see the police turning up. It also proves that the main witness - Dorian Johnson - had lied. This makes it very hard to believe anything else he has to say about the incident. After all if it wasn't for all this backlash against the outrageous incident Johnson has told us about Johnson would most probably be in prison by now.

Another thing that is becoming clear is that when Brown was first challenged by the police officer he did not comply with the officer's perfectly reasonable request that he stopped and stood up against the wall. Instead Brown seems to have lunged towards the officer in an effort to prevent him from getting out of his vehicle. This immediately provides grounds for the officer to fear for his safety. If it turns out that Brown had grabbed for the officer's weapon that would mean he immediately represented a clear threat to life regardless of whether he caused the gun to be fired or not. This threat to life would continue until Brown either surrendered or had succeeded in escaping from the scene.

As for the claim that Brown was standing with his hands up which has spawned a very tedious campaign tactic this does not mean that he had surrendered. Anyone who has had any level of contact with armed police officers or has even just seen a TV show knows that you signal your surrender by following the officer's instructions to place your hands on your head and kneel down. This putting your hands up while continuing to walk towards is a well known trick used to close down the distance to someone so you can attack them. If you have previously tried to snatch their gun this means you are presenting a clear threat to life.

As such I wouldn't be in any way surprised if this case was presented to a Grand Jury only for that Grand Jury to rule that no crime had been committed apart from Johnson's participation in the original robbery.

In meantime though the protesters are not only calling for the police officer to be arrested but making thinly veiled threats against his life while complaining about any fact that challenges their story of a racist murder. As such the image that Ferguson is presenting of itself is of a bunch of criminals who simply want to kill some white folks. At the same time charities are being forced to collect money for children who have gone unfed because the schools have been closed due to the unrest. After all apparently in the Ferguson community it is the job of teachers to feed children not their parents.

18:30 on 17/8/14 (UK date).

Edited at around 13:30 on 18/8/14 (UK date) to add;

Yesterday Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton held a Church 'service' to honour Micheal Brown. The main thrust of this was to raise funds. During that service the Brown family lawyer Benjamin Crump gave an impassioned speech demanding that Brown was given due process. He went on to list a number of examples of what due process was not - for example "Due process is not shooting me because you've had a bad day." Unfortunately Crump failed to mention what due process is.

Due process is stopping when instructed to do so by a police officer or other officer of the Court. Due process is peacefully submitting to arrest. Due process is pleading guilty when you have committed the crime and due process is taking your punishment without complaint. As such I would go so far as to say that neither Micheal Brown nor his supporters have any interest in due process whatsoever.

Following the service the Brown family released the details of the second, private autopsy that had been performed. The protesters have of course been arguing that Brown was running away from the police officer when he was shot in the back. He then turned and raised his hands before being shot again numerous times while a couple of yards away from the officer. The family's autopsy report completely destroys this version of events.

It shows that Brown was not shot in the back but was shot four times in the right arm and chest and twice in the head. All the shots entered from the front proving that Brown was facing the officer at the time. All the shots also came from a range of between 1 to 2 feet indicating that Brown had either advanced on the officer or was advancing on the officer at the time. Although the autopsy can't really be certain if Brown had his hands raised at the time the bullets appear to have entered the front rather then the sides and back of his arm suggesting that his arms were not raised at the time. However the positions of his arms aren't really relevant because if he was advancing he was presenting a threat rather then surrendering meaning that it was a clean shooting.

Brown supporters of course look like they're going to fixate on the fact that the two shots to the head appear to have entered at a downward angle. As Brown was taller then the officer they are going to trying and spin this to mean that he was shot execution style. However it's much more likely that Brown was leaning forwards in a charge position or was simply falling to the ground as the bullets hit him.

Meanwhile there has been another night of rioting in Ferguson prompting the authorities to deploy the National Guard. Although the police could be doing more by starting the curfew earlier and arresting known ringleaders this does rather mean that the argument about the militarisation of the police has now gone full circle.

(Originally Posted on 17/8/14 - UK date).