A photo of one person from Chicago in Ferguson:

@AntonioFrench:
The white guy on the left is the one who was trying to incite a riot last night. He came here from Chicago. #Ferguson


Antonio French is the alderman who has been out every night trying to control the violence.
A group of locals stopped a group of white anarchists from causing even more trouble.

One photo:Egypt, Palestine, Ferguson, USA:

@davidc7: This image is one of the most significant and profound I’ve seen for a while


Yes indeed! Arms for all. Going around and coming around.

Dear you craven toads curled in your houses cheering the police

and other forces intimidating those in the town of Ferguson.

The police and others, MiliCops I'll call the lot of them, have 3 things:
1-Your fear
2-Weapons
3-Power

They will not hesitate to turn their sights on you when you need their help. At some point, you will count on them, but what they will see in the end may be impediments to their control. If you are perceived as someone in their way, your ass is grass.

You better uncurl and use your voices for justice for all now before there is justice for none.

Ferguson is police anarchy.

There are untold units from all over the area and there is no telling who is there in some uniform. It could be somebody's cousin John. Police are wearing camouflage, police riot gear, and everything in between. Many have their badges covered. There appears to be no one entity or person in charge. They are reacting with all weapons at hand.

They are untrained and overarmed. The tactics are piecemeal if they are even there. The police began firing tear gas at everyone at 8:30pm well before curfew. They say there were molotov cocktails thrown and shots fired. Who and where is in dispute. A lot of kids were at the protest because it was well before the curfew.

Anybody is a target with journalists in for a special round of abuse. Chris Hayes was threatened with mace while another who was livestreaming was threatened to be shot by a cop.

There are people intent on violence who appear to be seperate from the locals. Since there is no coordination or anybody with experience in protests and those who use them for their own purposes, it is a free for all response.

They are using an ad hoc response by calling in gawd and everybody when the shit hits the fan. They have no idea what they are doing and that suits a lot of purposes.

The police have used CS gas, LRAD, and everything they have indiscriminately. If they had SAMS, they would probably use those. The use of LRAD is particularly troubling given that its use is debatable especially in close quarters.

While the violent people have to be dealt with, IMO the onus is on the police to use the most effective tactics and control their use of force. A general blast at everybody is counter-productive and dangerous.

Gawd help them all.

Sally Quinn wins for the stupidest tweet about Lauren Bacall's death:

@sallyquinndc:
So so sad about the death of Betty Bacall. I almost lost Ben to her, the only acceptable person. As he would say,she was a spectacular dame

OFFS!
smh....

This picture tweeted by The Academy (Oscars) about Robin Williams is beyond poignant:

When I taught in the '80s, I entered a psych ward for depression in the middle of one year.

I signed myself in because I knew I needed help. I spent 6 weeks there getting a handle on my life again.

When I was released, I went back to my job. I told my students where I had been and why. I also told them if they ever felt depressed or knew somebody who did, get help. It wasn't an easy path but you can be happy again.

I had gotten copies of "Darkness Visible" by William Styron. It was one of the few books out that could even begin to convey the depths of despair one could reach. I loaned them out to anybody who wanted to read it.

A good friend of mine was a vice-principle at my school and she asked me if I really wanted to do that. I told her that it was important to me to tell the truth because it wasn't something to be ashamed of and the kids should know that.

She was concerned that there might be some blowback from parents. I shrugged and told her I would burn that bridge when I got to it. I never heard a word. If she did, she never told me.

Several of my students quietly thanked me. If I helped one, it was worth it.

The US started bombing ISIS

because they were steadily gaining ground against the Peshmerga. The Kurds fighting force is disciplined and fierce but they are outgunned. Iraq just sent a cargo planeload of arms to the Kurds which is unheard of conidering their history.

The US hopes to stabilize the situation in Northern Iraq where the Kurds are. They will cede just about everything else to ISIS. I think everybody was caught off guard by the ease with which ISIS pushed the Peshmerga back.

It is an unholy hot mess and there is no 'right' solution. President Obama will be criticized no matter what he does.

I still fully believe that the US should be really pressuring Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to name 2 countries, that have been arming ISIS. They want a Sunni state as a hedge aginst a Shite region of Iraq and Iran.

They will rue the day they started supplying ISIS because they thmselves are part of the Caliphate that Isis wants to establish. ISIS will get to them at some point.

I also believe the secret squirrels and others are up to something to regain control of the damn. Gawd help them all if it's breached.

FUBAR!
SNAFU!

BREAKING:US General killed in attack on base in Afghanistan(center of training academy for Afghanis)

Per ABC NEWS
Killed by 'friendly' Afghani military person

This is very fluid. I'm sure the info will change.

Training Afghani officers at that base.
The General was visiting the base.

Rick Perry knew Todd Willingham was innocent before he was executed and he did nothing about it.

Here is a post of mine from 2009 with info about the case. Arson experts had cast enough doubt on the original findings to at least grant a new trial if not a pardon.
In addition, from this post you can see what kind of representation he had.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x389376

Here is another post from 2011 that contains a lot of info gathered by the Innocence Project.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1724094

Every time I think about this case my blood pressure soars.
IMO Perry is guilty of murder himself. This case should be hung around his neck like an anchor.