[Sandwich]

What're y'all's thoughts?

[Phantom Hoover]

the palestinians are behind this, mark my words

[An4ximandros]

Not cool man, everyone knows its an ILLUMINERTY plot to distract the world from OBABO modifying the ****stitution to become President-Emperor for lyfe.

Its also a very sad thing to see happen. (Serious)

[Scotty]

the palestinians are behind this, mark my words

Stop doing this.  You've been warned before.  Next time gets you a few days off.

[NeonShivan]

Pointless.

Plain and simple.

[Mr. Vega]

The prosecutor displayed obvious biases from day one but refused to recuse himself and bring in an independent prosecutor. He completely discarded the usual procedure of a Grand Jury in a way that forced the jury members to behave more like jurors at an actual trial - instead of a quick vote to indict or not indict based upon the arguments that the prosecutor was obliged to supply to the jury, he made them sift through the entire body of evidence with no direction or recommendation. The prosecutor's job IS to try to convince the Grand Jury that probably cause for indictment has been met. Precedence suggests an indictment would have been a near certainty had the normal procedure not been altered. He sabotaged the case, period. There is evidence of a police coverup and Wilson's testimony is literally unbelievable. Does that deserve a response, a very loud, angry response? Damn right it does.

And yes, property destruction is pointless, but property is also just that, property. It's nothing compared to life of a kid.

[Beskargam]

Looking through some of the documents and with NPR's analysis shows me possible flaws on both sides. Racial bias on the part of Wilson, and then possibly false testimony on the part of Dorian Johnson (He states that Brown was killed from behind while running away, autopsy shows that he was not). On the whole, seems like a big mess, probably fault on both sides, and just another day really. As for the riots, I only got the vibe that serious rioting happened in Ferguson itself which was rather expected.

[Mr. Vega]

I have no doubt that a number of witnesses lied so as to paint Wilson as cold blooded murderer. But there was no account more absurd than the one Wilson gave to the Grand Jury. Regardless, the prosecution didn't even try to hide that they threw the case.

[deathfun]

Riots?
Oh, I thought it was a lead up to Black Friday

(I've honestly been out of the loop in regards to news around the globe or of our closest neighbour)

[Scourge of Ages]

The jury heard a lot more evidence than anybody who was not in that courtroom, and the justice system says that what they decided is right.
The actual truth, whether it matches the decision or not, is not what the jury is there to decide.
And it's certainly not for people who were neither present at the incident or at the trial to judge.

The riots are just stupid.
When there are people in other parts of the world protesting and rioting over real, actual problems, these idiots are destroying things for no reason.

[The E]

The riots are just stupid.
When there are people in other parts of the world protesting and rioting over real, actual problems, these idiots are destroying things for no reason.

I'd say that blatant displays of institutional racism is plenty reason for a good old riot.

Certainly a better reason than, say, winning a football match. Or celebrating Pumpkins or something. Or having a party.

And yeah, the Ferguson riots are about "real, actual problems".

[karajorma]

The jury heard a lot more evidence than anybody who was not in that courtroom

That's precisely the problem. They shouldn't have heard that much evidence, this was not meant to be a trial.

[Scourge of Ages]

I'd say that blatant displays of institutional racism is plenty reason for a good old riot.

Good reason for protests, maybe. Full blown riots where innocent people need to fear for their lives and property? No.

Certainly a better reason than, say, winning a football match. Or celebrating Pumpkins or something. Or having a party.

Never implied that those are any less stupid.

And yeah, the Ferguson riots are about "real, actual problems".

Some of the rioters may have been rioting for a reason they feel is right and cause they see is good, but probably the vast majority of them now just got caught up in the mob mentality, and probably close to 100% of the idiots who are breaking and stealing don't care why the riots exist, and were just looking for an excuse to break laws and get away with it.

EDIT: Trial or not, right or not, legit or not, we don't know. It happened. Whether the riots are justified or not, also doesn't matter.
What does matter, is that many rioters are causing a lot of damage and making a lot of people feel very unsafe. That is wrong, no matter what else happened or didn't.

[666maslo666]

Across the US? Are there any riots outside Ferguson?

I dont know enough about the shooting itself to have an informed opinion about the verdict, however one thing is certain - looting and burning buildings is not going to help their case, only damage it (along with their neighbourhoods). Especially the trashing of the very store Mike Brown robbed before the shooting - that was a disgusting thing to do. Where were the police or national guard? That store is an obvious prime target that should have been protected from the start...

[karajorma]

If the police in Ferguson were competent, we wouldn't be in this mess.

[The E]

I dont know enough about the shooting itself to have an informed opinion about the verdict, however one thing is certain - looting and burning buildings is not going to help their case, only damage it (along with their neighbourhoods).

Problem is that peaceful protests do not work.

Especially the trashing of the very store Mike Brown robbed before the shooting - that was a disgusting thing to do.

Except that Brown did not actually rob that store. There's even video of him paying for whatever it is he got there.

[Luis Dias]

Institutional racism and increasing militarization of the police. Those are the two issues at trial here. It shouldn't be about either Brown or Wilson. I don't care if Brown was a "thug" or an "amazing human being", I don't care if Wilson was a "racist douchebag" or an "incredible cop". I won't be able to know one thing or the other with all the information and misinformation regarding that subject.

What everyone should be concerned about is whether if this institutionalized racism is a real thing or not, how it is happening, and how best can we address it. I've read contradictory statistics surrounding this. What everyone should be concerned about is how the policemen in America is looking more terrifying than any american soldier in Afghanistan or Iraq, how they have tanks and so on, how they are so trigger happy that they kill 12 year old kids on the spot for having toy guns on their hands.

To waste time discussing Wilson is a waste.

[karajorma]

how they are so trigger happy that they kill 12 year old kids on the spot for having toy guns on their hands.

To waste time discussing Wilson is a waste.

I agree that the focus should be on institutional racism and the militarisation of the police.  So bringing up a similarly divisive case is not the best way to keep the focus on the subject you want. Especially given that like in the Brown case there are differing points of view and video evidence of him pointing the replica gun at the police officers who shot him!

[666maslo666]

Especially the trashing of the very store Mike Brown robbed before the shooting - that was a disgusting thing to do.

Except that Brown did not actually rob that store. There's even video of him paying for whatever it is he got there.

This is the first time I have heard such claim. Even his friend confirmed the robbery.

I dont see him paying for the stuff in that video. It does not have enough resolution and the angle is bad, so even if he did pay, it wont be visible. But we can clearly see him grabbing a lot of stuff and the clerk going after him when he tries to leave. And thats not the whole video, its conventiently cut off before the physical alceration. Here is the whole video with the aftermath:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2z5-H8NSGA

Problem is that peaceful protests do not work.

I dont think violent ones will work. If anything, they will cause even more harm.
The only solution to police brutality is through legislation - perhaps mandatory body cameras streaming everything to the cloud so it cannot be deleted by the cops themselves.

[Luis Dias]

Especially the trashing of the very store Mike Brown robbed before the shooting - that was a disgusting thing to do.

Except that Brown did not actually rob that store. There's even video of him paying for whatever it is he got there.

This is the first time I have heard such claim. Even his friend confirmed the robbery.

I dont see him paying for the stuff in that video. It does not have enough resolution and the angle is bad, so even if he did pay, it wont be visible. But we can clearly see him grabbing a lot of stuff and the clerk going after him when he tries to leave. And thats not the whole video, its conventiently cut off before the physical alceration. Here is the whole video with the aftermath:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2z5-H8NSGA

That is gruesome, especially given how The_E's link is all enraged on how the "Ferguson Police conveniently forgot to publicly release this part of the footage". Jesus ****ing Christ, call about Kettles and so on. I guess when there's a cause to fight, who cares about the truth? The extreme left is shooting itself in the foot for all I have seen here, by pretending this guy was just an angel that got obviously shot because white supremacy and so on. Why the constant stretching of the truth? The plain truth is bad enough, now the left is just giving people arguments to dismiss the bigger issues with a straight face.