I agree 99%.
'The thug life' mentality is a huge part of this. Agreed.
I think the ready access to firearms for the thugs/gangs etc. is a huge part of the issue.

I ask it every time this comes up. where are the percentages? Are they stolen, straw, foreign? I just don't know, but it warrants discussion. There certainly are gun laws on the books, let a lot of criminals have guns. How do we mitigate this?

And if the kids charged him with the intent to harm, I'd say it was a justified shooting. He was shot 6-8 times, including double tapped in the head. White/Black, this warrants investigation.

the kids getting shot in Chicago are not 'far less important' but it is not apples to apples to a cop of any race shooting an unarmed kid of any race.

Gun violations are usually plea bargained . Ma has a mandatory one year if caught without a license . No one gets the 1 year.
It really is as simple as throwing the book at anybody that commits a crime with a firearm .
The thugs know there is little risk carrying one or using it.
I'm not sure why anti-gun people are against hard time if you do the crime. Perhaps they are stupid.
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He was a big kid. Hyped up on adrenaline and perhaps drugs. You don't stop shooting unti the person stops advancing . From what I hear the police officer was injured during the scuffle.
Are we feeling more comfortable now that attorney Holder is on the case?
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That stops them after they have the gun.

Where did they get the gun if most gun owners are responsible. Is every gun on the streets stolen? Illegal import?
It remains a valid question, I think.

Agreed. If thats how the facts play out, it was justified. From what I have read, a lot of information has not been released yet, and a lot of questions remain.

None of this justifies the rioting etc, although a lot has been clearly instigated by people outside the community looking to stir #^&#^&#^&#^& up

I know nothing of this Mel Robbins woman, but it summarizes some of the holes in the story, and the two wildly conflicting accounts. Again, it might all play out exactly as the police office stated, but issues remain that need to be clarified.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/18/opinio...ing/index.html

X2
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Don't take this the wrong way Brian but the article you linked is a complete piece of crap . It is full of misinformation . She is outraged that the state is investigating this and haven't made all the facts public ???? It's an investigation and one needs to be very careful . There won't be an indictment because my guess is the only guilty party is dead , however lawyers being lawyers , there will be a civil suit . ( extortion / payoff )
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"White/Black, this warrants investigation. "

Agreed. What it doesn't warrant, not until we know the facts, are statements by Omama and Eric Holder that seem to be assuming the shoting was un-justified. What it doesn't warrant, is that pig Al Sharpton inciting violence by claiming that there is a race war.

The reaction, in the immediate aftermath of the event, is identical (IMHO) to the immediate reaction in the aftermath of the Duke Lacrosse case. When the facts came in, the alarmists had egg on their faces. Amazingly, they haven't learned their lesson. And I don't get why anyone listens to these people.

No one would say that a cop killing a kid is identical to a kid killing a kid. But the scenario that gets all the attention, is the one that's FAR less frequent, and far less of a problem to society.

The only possible explanation is that sensationalism is more important that problem-solving. Or am I wrong on that?

I've also seen multiple reports that the police have been fired upon (gunfire). The fact that there haven't been dozens more dead kids, tells me that the cops are showing amazing restraint.

This guy may be a bad cop, who knows. I just hate the same old tiresome, predictable response every single time this happens.

Since when is it ok to get into a scuffle with a cop trying to get his gun ???
Guarantee had he got the gun and shot/killed the cop Sharpton, Jackson, the Black Panthers and the rest of the race baiters would be no where to be found.
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And have you seen anyone, other than people driven by ratings on MSNBC claiming Al Sharpton is in the right here? I'm all for letting justice play out, but a lot of red flags on this case, and this department. Hell, did you see the mayor of Ferguson?


You are not wrong, but I don't know the answer. I ask questions about how the criminals get guns and I get spouted back the same BS. tougher laws AFTER they get caught w/ a firearm and we have enough gun laws already.

It's not crap, it's facts . Here's another one for you . Drugs have been banned yet they are the leading cause for most black on black murders . Still think banning guns is a workable solution ? I'm for enforcing existing laws and tougher sentences . To quote Jim " Am I wrong "
What Liberal Democrats don't want to agree on is that the liberal policies are the cause of much of what is going on in Missouri. People feeling they are always a victim. People feeling they're entitled. People feeling that somebody else is to blame for the a problem. People feeling that life has not been fair to them. All feelings that have been driven into them by the liberals and the liberal media. People need to have personal responsibility. Liberal policies do nothing to create that.
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You don't think centuries of medical experiments on blacks w/o their knowledge or having police dogs attacking you or having fire hoses shooting water on you all for peacefully protesting have nothing do with it? How about being told you can't sit at a counter b/c of the color of your skin? How about being spit upon b/c you want to go to a certain school? How about in NY where every case a white detective got a murder conviction against a black defendent they found he made up evidence. Yup, those damn liberals!

At least I got my laugh for the day.

My laugh yesterday was people comparing a shooting by the police to a shooting by criminals in Chicago and wondering why there weren't protests over that as if they are the same thing.

Would the reaction had been the same if a black cop shot a white kid - absouletly not. And this is b/c there are very few instances of black cops shooting white kids. From the black perspective, this is far too common. Was the shooting justified? I tend to give the police the benefit of the doubt so I think it prob. was. But I don't have to deal with a history of being discriminated against to color my opinion and anyone who ignores that history is naive.

If the cop car had a camera this prob. wouldn't be an issue.

That's a pretty large list of excuses.
I will guarantee you that not one of the thugs or looters have experienced any of it. What I will guarantee you they have experienced is handouts, excuse making, opportunities created especially because they are a minority and constantly being told there is a reason they cannot succeed.
There are plenty of other minority groups in this country that have succeeded. You think it was easy but my great-grandparents to come to this country being Irish?? They were not given any handouts . They relied on family, and pride.
The black community needs to find a sense of self-worth and pride. There are plenty of examples of blacks that have succeeded to the top. The list is long, mostly conservative but for the most part vilified by the liberals. I cannot for the life of me understand why liberals claim to be on the side of the black man but do everything they can to keep him down
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So you just want to ignore everything and just call them "excuses". No wonder the Repubs. get such a small amount of the black vote (and then wonder why).

The looters are criminals, pure and simple.

At this point , that's what they are being used as. I'm pretty sure the Republicans know why they get a small percentage of the black vote and Democrats should be ashamed of themselves
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:rotf2:

"And have you seen anyone, other than people driven by ratings on MSNBC claiming Al Sharpton is in the right here?"

What I don't hear (except on one TV station), i steh media saying that Sharpton is a proven liar with zero credibility and whi is a dangerous liar and therefore shuold be ignored. It's not enough for the media to be silent on this topic. Responsible journalism demands that Sharpton be called out for what he is, so that his influenced is diminished. If you see what has happened there, you'd conclude that a non-trivial number of people are reacting to the message of people like Sharpton.

Also, the governor has called for "prosecution". Not calling for an "investigation", but for a "prosectution", implying that there's enough evidence to establish a likelihood of guilt. Obama and Holder have expressed sympathy with residents because of "distrust of police", when we have no evidence to support the notion that the cop who shot this kid is not to be trusted.

Here's what gets me. If the cop was black, no one would have heard of this event. Therefore, it's about race, and nothing else.

Maybe this cop is a bit skittish, and is the type who shoots too soon when put in a dangerous, though non-lethal, situation. There are a lot of people like that, and it doesn't make them racist. Meaning, even if the cop was not justified in shooting this kid (which is a big 'if' at this point), that doesn't even come close to making the cop a racial assassin. Being un-suited for law enforcement, is not the same as racism.

"I ask questions about how the criminals get guns"

And that's a good question, but it's not the most important question. It's not just about the guns, because there are places with high rates of gun ownership that have low crime. You and I could have a collection of guns, and we'd never hurt anybody. To solve a problem, you need to get to the actual cause, and in my opinion, the cause of this problem isn't guns (though guns play a very large role). The fundamental problem is that as a society, collectively, we have a lot less empathy for each other than we did a generation ago, and less than the generation before that. The problem is a lack of empathy, a lack of values.

This president was in a unique position to possibly change what's going on in the black community, where 70% of kids are born out of wedlock, and that's a lot more fundemental to this issue than guns. And he has done almost nothing in that regard, an abject failure.

BINGO.

In big cities, where large numbers of blacks live, Democrats almost always are in charge, and have been for a generation. Are these cities better off than they were 30 years ago, or worse?

That alone should be enough to reject much of liberalism with great confidence. Yet the people in these cities wake up in the morning, open their doors, look around, and vote for more of the same. So do people like Spence. If I lived in Bridgeport, I'd assume that anything would be better than what's currently running the show, which is liberalism.

I want to be a life coach for these people. Here's what I would tell every single one of them..."if you want to know what the problem is, look in the mirror. If you want to know what the solution is, look in the bible". (there are other solutions, of course, such as responsibility and hard work and empathy for your neighbors, but IMHO the bible establishes those things very well)

Liberals take the exact opposite approach. Blacks, having been anointed with "victim" status by liberals, are therefore told that nothing they do is ever their fault. The problem always lies with someone else, preferably a white man in a Brooks Brothers suit. And the solution is more gubmint. Because that has worked SO WELL in cities like Hartford and Bridgeport (in CT), where pure liberalism has run un-checked for 30 years. And by every conceivable measure, it has been a miserable failure. But you won't see Spence admit that. Liberals will tell you that cities are worse off, because they haven't gone far enough down the liberal path...because as we all know, the best way to get out of a hole is to keep diggng, right?

I don't get why people don't respond to actual, real-life, empirical evidence.

BINGO AGAIN.

The ironic thing, is that it's the principles of conservatism (the right of the individual to thrive, small governmemt, free market, compassion for the needy, personal responsibility, and the right of all of us to climg th eeconomic ladder) that is PRECISELY what poor peopl eneed to climb out of this.

Democrats have crippled these people by making them adddicted to welfare - just enough to stay alive, not nearly the tools to get ahead. Then every November, the liberals say "vote for me if you want to continue getting freebies, because my opponent will take the freebies away from you".

As you said, the democrats should be ashamed. The results speak for themselves. And there is no ambiguity in the results.

I wasn't sure what the definition of racism is so I decided to look at wikipedia:

1st paragraph

"Racism consists of both prejudice and discrimination based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples. It often takes the form of social actions, practices or beliefs, or political systems that consider different races to be ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities. It may also hold that members of different races should be treated differently"

There is no doubt there is racism all over this case . Created racism. But it appears that racism was not a factor in this case. I for one am sick of Caucasians being perceived as racist when it simply isn't the case.
By the way speaking the truth isn't racism
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What's your point, exactly? That there is a thing called 'racism'? We agree on that.

Jeez,I wonder

Do you suppose it is because they have an inclination to vote for the candidate who promises the most benefits from the public treasury.? It certainly is not for protection from murdering their own kind at a rate which angers themselves,but not enough to change.

I'd like to see a camera mounted on police guns. The moment the gun gets pulled out of the holster, the camera starts recording Video and audio. If the gun is fired, it won't stop recording until the chip is full. That will put an end to all of the speculation of questionable killings.
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Well I took a page from yoru book, and looked up the word "gullable".

According to dictionary.com, it's an adjective that means "easily deceived". And by jimminy, that seems to describe all the bleeting sheep that immediately assume racism ("baaaah...raaaaacism!") every time the cop is white and the corpse is black.

Always protect the narrative...

If you took a page from my book, you wouldn't insult people as much;).

Lmao
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