St. Louis Vs. The Police: Part III Apocalypse Nigh

St. Louis-area resident Carolyn Colburn opened her front door two nights ago and had a bulletin from the City of Berkeley fall at her feet.

“The grand jury decision regarding the Ferguson police officer shooting of Michael Brown is expected this month — rumored as the middle of November, possibly this week,” warned the “News Alert” from town officials.

“It is important that we all plan ahead in the event that conditions warrant each of us to stay at or very close to our homes for several days,” stated the flier, which Berkeley distributed to 3,000 homes this week.

Berkeley, a bedroom community with 9,000 residents, borders Ferguson, where the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager on Aug. 9 triggered protests and riots and sparked a nationwide debate on race, policing and justice.

With few businesses in Berkeley, residents like Colburn do their shopping in neighboring Ferguson.

“It is very sad that we have to live in this fear,” Colburn told Yahoo News by email.

No date has been set for the grand jury’s ruling, but St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch has said he expects an announcement in mid- to late November.

Three months ago, 18-year-old Michael Brown’s death led to protests in which demonstrators burned down a gas station, looted liquor stores and clashed violently with police officers.

For the past month, law enforcement leaks to reporters have suggested that a grand jury will not indict Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson for killing Brown.

If that turns out to be the case, Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins told Yahoo News, “it’s possible” the second round of protests will be worse than the first.

“There has been a three-month anger setting up,” said Hoskins, 76. “We get the feeling that there might be something destructive occur. I don't want my residents waking up one morning not knowing what to do.”

So earlier this week, the city of Berkeley began putting tip sheets with safety advice on the doors of every home.

Please make sure your home and family are prepared for a period of disruption, just as you would in the event of a storm,” the city advises.

In addition to suggesting that residents stock up on food, water, gas, medications and other supplies, the advisory says to have contingency plans for picking up children from school and taking care of the elderly.

“Travel to them may not be possible for a few days,” the alert states. “You may want to consider temporarily moving them in with you or others who can assure that their needs are met.”

Hoskins said feedback on the town’s decision has been mostly positive.

“You’ll always have two or three saying you’re creating an alarm that may be unnecessary, and we understand that,” he said.

Berkeley City Hall is four miles from the street where the deadly altercation between the officer and teen took place.

“I never thought that the incident that occurred in August would ever happen in our community,” Hoskins, a Berkeley resident for nearly 50 years, said of the shooting and aftermath. “I was under the impression that everybody had proper training for those types of situations.”

The bulletin suggests that residents load up on nonperishable supplies, especially since it's unknown whether Ferguson’s stores will remain open.

“That's the closest community that we go to, so we are just taking it safe,” Hoskins said.

Colburn was in Ferguson on Wednesday evening and said many businesses have already begun boarding up windows.

“Aggression and unrest are definitely rising,” she said. “I am worried about my son not being able to come home for Thanksgiving break.”

McCulloch, the prosecutor, has said claims of an announcement date or time should be ignored. But Hoskins said he is too close to the situation, with too much at stake, to remain idle.

“It seems to be narrowed down to between now and Monday,” the mayor said. “If anything spills over into our community, then I'll declare an emergency and we will do certain other things to protect our residents.”

I'm hoping for a full scale riot, major property damage, massive police retaliation and excessive use of tear gas.

/makes popcorn

I'm hoping for a full scale riot, major property damage, massive police retaliation and excessive use of tear gas.

/makes popcorn

In a former union hall in downtown St. Louis, about 100 activists formed a rough circle and, at the instruction of organizer Michael McPhearson, crossed the room wading through a crowd of people going the opposite way.

"How hard was that? How much harder will it be after the grand jury comes back?" McPhearson, executive director of activist group Veterans for Peace, asked the group, which ranged from young black college students to bearded white retirees.

Police around the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, are preparing for large protests when a grand jury decides whether to indict the white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teen in August, and so are activists.

Several groups from across the United States, and even from abroad, are preparing to take to the streets in actions of nonviolent civil disobedience, particularly if the grand jury finds no criminal trial is warranted.

The memory of the violent clashes that followed the Aug. 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown burns brightly in the minds of both protesters and law enforcement, especially after heavy criticism directed at the Ferguson police department for its handling of the situation. A gas station was burned, stores were looted and police fired tear gas and pointed automatic weapons at demonstrators.

In instructional sessions over the past week, activists including McPhearson, of St. Louis, have shown potential demonstrators how to link arms and remain calm when police clad in riot gear pound batons on the ground and to fashion gas masks from empty soda bottles.

"We are in a rebellion at the moment," said Reverend Osagyego Sekou, an activist from Boston. "That means breaking police lines, non-compliance with police orders. It is confrontational but not violent."

He urged the group of potential protesters to try to focus their minds on "deep, abiding love" to remain calm during demonstrations.

Activists are advised how to carry liquid antacid mixed with water to counteract the effects of pepper spray and even how to dress for unseasonably cold weather, with overnight temperatures expected to fall to well below freezing in the coming days.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri has rolled out an application for mobile phones allowing users to videotape interactions with police and share them with the ACLU as they are recorded, providing evidence that could be used in lawsuits.

Streaming the video directly to the group ensures it will not be deleted or lost if the phone is confiscated, said ACLU spokeswoman Diane Balogh. The ACLU and the National Lawyers Guild have also recruited and trained about 100 legal observers to document any violations of civil liberties by police.

On Tuesday, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon warned that violence will not be tolerated and said more than 1,000 police officers had undergone more than 5,000 hours of specialized training in preparation for the grand jury decision.

The training involved four hours per officer of mostly classroom instruction, said Sgt. Brian Schellman, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Police.

He said a group from the county force’s Tactical Operations division trained about 500 police from the county, the state highway patrol and various city forces, during October in the St. Louis County Police Academy.

Classes focused on protesters' constitutional rights, laws regarding unlawful assembly and failure to disburse, as well as a review of civil disobedience and riot training.

Officers will carry at all times a laminated card setting out the 1st, 4th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which deal with free speech, unlawful search and due process, Schellman said.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency Monday and activated the National Guard ahead of a grand jury decision about whether a white police officer will be charged in the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.

Nixon said the National Guard would assist state and local police in case the grand jury's decision leads to a resurgence of the civil unrest that occurred in the days immediately after the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson.

"All people in the St. Louis region deserve to feel safe in their communities and to make their voices heard without fear of violence or intimidation," Nixon said in a written statement.

There is no specific date for a grand jury decision to be revealed, and Nixon gave no indication that an announcement is imminent. But St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch has said that he expects the grand jury to reach a decision in mid-to-late November.

The U.S. Justice Department, which is conducting a separate investigation, has not said when its work will be completed.

Should see the fliers the KKK have been distributing.

A corrections officer with the embattled city of Ferguson, Missouri, faces felony charges of having sex with an inmate and allowing her escape, and a civil lawsuit that alleges rape, court records show..

The officer's attorney, Scott Rosenblum, could not be immediately reached for comment. USA Today cited Rosenblum as saying Jaris Hayden planned to plead not guilty at his arraignment.

National Guard to deploy Tuesday in Ferguson, Missouriby
Scott Malone

The news comes as residents of Ferguson, which has seen weeks of sometimes violent protests following the Aug. 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson, are braced for the possibility of more unrest, particularly if a grand jury decides not to charge Wilson.

Corrections officer Hayden was charged with four felonies, including two counts of sexual contact with a prisoner, permitting escape, and acceding to corruption by a public servant over the October 2013 incident and is set to be arraigned Dec. 3, Missouri court records show.

Demonstrators protest across the street from the police station Nov. 16 in Ferguson, Missouri.

Michael Brown Sr., flanked by attorney Daryl Parks, attends a press briefing on November 12, 2014 in Geneva after a session of the United Nations Committee against Torture.

Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., the parents of slain teenager Michael Brown, attend a hearing of the Committee against Torture at the United Nations in Geneva.

Slain teenager Michael Brown's parents, Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., address the media with their lawyer Darryl Parks after a news conference in Geneva on November 12, 2014.

The suit said the woman, who was arrested for driving with expired license plates and giving an officer a false name, told Hayden she wanted to go home, and that he led her to a boiler room and ordered her to perform a sexual act on him.

The complaint said the woman's boyfriend had already posted her bail and that she was visibly pregnant at the time.

The civil suit seeks damages against both Hayden and the city of Ferguson, as well as attorney's fees and court costs.

On Monday, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency and authorized the state's National Guard to support police in case of violence after the grand jury makes its decision.

On Monday, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon

Oh man. That takes balls entering politics these days with that last name.

Activists from across the country are gearing up for the highly anticipated announcement of a grand jury's decision over whether a white police officer should face criminal charges in the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Wednesday.

After months of heated protests over the death of Michael Brown, Sharpton called the situation in the St. Louis suburb "very tense."

Sharpton's National Action Network has plans in place for vigils and protests in at least two dozen cities no matter what decision is announced, he said. Demonstrators will gather outside U.S. government buildings to demand federal prosecutors take over the case.

"It is important that we have a fair and impartial proceeding," Sharpton said at a news conference at National Action Network headquarters in Harlem. "And it is clear that neither the family nor the community has confidence in the local prosecutor."

He added: "We are prepared to continue to mobilize. We are calling for everyone to act in a strategic, disciplined, non-violent way, but do not allow either decision to feel like the case is over."

There is no specific date for an announcement on whether Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson should face charges. The St. Louis County prosecutor has said he expects the grand jury to reach a decision in mid-to-late November.

The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a separate investigation, and it has not said when its work will be completed. It's looking into potential civil rights violations in Wilson's actions and the police department's overall practices, including whether officers used excessive force and engaged in discriminatory practices.

Sharpton said his group is on "high alert" over both the Brown case and the grand jury probe of the death of Eric Garner during an arrest in July on Staten Island. Evidence includes an amateur video a New York Police Department patrolmen wrapping his arm around the unarmed man's neck and medical examiner's finding that a chokehold contributed to the death.

Sharpton spent the bulk of the news conference responding to a report in The New York Times on Wednesday that there are more than $4.5 million in state and federal tax liens against him and his non-profit businesses. He called the front-page article misleading because it failed to emphasize that much of that figure stems from penalties and back taxes that are steadily being paid down as part of settlement with the Internal Revenue Services that was reported years ago.

"National Action Network and I owe no current taxes," he said. "We're talking about old taxes. We're not talking about anything new."

Its always time to riot.

We don't need no fricking grand jury to riot. A football game is reason enough.

Apparently they might make a decision today. There have been reports of people being arrested already. This headline takes the cake though.

US police plan to ‘slaughter’ black protesters in Ferguson

About time my rioting gear is getting dusty !

Apparently they might make a decision today. There have been reports of people being arrested already. This headline takes the cake though.

US police plan to ‘slaughter’ black protesters in Ferguson

Mmm, hyperbole.

Also, first comment on that page is about Zionist Jews. Lol, God bless the Internet.