Posted on 06/19/2015 6:57:59 AM PDT by don-o
One month ago yesterday, on the early afternoon of May 17, in and outside the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, a bevy of marauding motorcycle gangs who had gathered to create some sort of criminal trouble (the cops had already warned the restaurant to not let them meet there) began a wild melee of shooting at each other and at police. Nine people would eventually lose their lives, and 18 others were wounded.
Waco police (including a SWAT team) and officers from the state Department of Public Safety–who were all already on the scene, aware of the potential for trouble–swung into action, nipped the violent chaos in the bud, and put 177 violent criminals behind bars on charges of "engaging in organized criminal activity." Bail was uniformly, and understandably, set at $1 million.
So went the story as told at the time by the Waco police. But in the ensuing month the behavior of law enforcement that day has come increasingly into question.
snip
Even if, as the lawyers I've spoken to predict, the vast majority of those arrested eventually end up released unindicted, without specific proof of their intent or participation in any crime at the scene, that doesn't make the police's actions harmless. Imagine how your work life, family life, and home life, would be affected by being suddenly without warning locked away for weeks. Jobs, custody, relationships can all be lost. You've been marked in a manner not easily washed away.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
this has smelled funny since day one
9 people lost their lives, they keep saying over and over and 18 injured.
No mention of how many of them were cops (answer NONE)
They had met at this restaurant many times before without incident
Let this be a lesson. If you show up for a meeting of any sort and see the venue is surrounded by police - Leave. Right now.
What is it with Waco and massacres?
Have the 9 killed been released to their families (as far as I know, I only knew the name of ONE person killed from his family)? If not, why not and how normal is this?
Why is it so difficult to get the forensic report released?
With so many questions, has any of these families seek a separate forensic report? Some enterprising citizen journalists could have gathered these independent reports.
Has DoJ threatened/bribed these families into silence?
...... So many questions, you get the idea.
Right and bikers are pretty easy to marginalize.
While I have never identified myself as a “biker”, as a motorcyclist on this year’s Waltz Across Texas ride, I detoured around Waco. Same as I have done to other town and states hostile to freedom.
... that doesn't make the police's actions harmless.Everybody is certainly entitled to their opinion about things like "harmless" and "unconstitutional," but the entity that establishes these qualities is the court, and courts pretty much hold that unless you are convicted of a crime, anything else the government does is harmless. Short of egregious abuses, of course, like broom up the butt. All "marginal" cases are ruled in favor of the government.
I've read some incredible (in the "this is not credible" literal sense, not in "awed" sense) court decisions about what is harmless and constitutional, and sadly, it causes me to doubt the integrity of the law.
“I felt threatened.”
That actually bears an investigation. There are some jack-boots living near there.
Bikers are guilty of being dirty, noisy and not having a President and enormous grievance mongering machine behind them.
In the new America apparently that gets you the death penalty.
Compare and contrast the Waco 9 to the South Carolina 9 —any difference in media treatment..?
Not a single cop was shot, not one.
Why? Because no one was shooting at them.
I’m amazed that motorcycle gangs are violent.
ping ƒø® later.
They are just like European football fans, some are violent, some aren’t.
No mention of how many lost their lives to rifle bullets. The bikers did not have rifles..
I’ve never seen a gang that wasn’t violent. We had Pagans and Outlaws in the area where I grew up. They were pretty rough.
It's apparent that once the first shots were fired a trigger-happy cop let loose a burst or two, with several others joining in.
I believe the police were never fired upon, as they claim.
Many of those bikers had first-rate weapons on them and knew how to use them. But not a single cop was wounded or killed.
They were not fired on.
After 60 years of Hollywood Biker movies, after the Altamont/Rolling Stone/Gimme Shelter documentary, after Sons Of Anarchy, it's going to be a little bit difficult to convince a jury that the Waco Bikers are just members of peaceful social clubs and motorcycle hobbyists.
If I remember correctly...the Federalized Texas Rangers were accused of “hiding” evidence...either through inept evidence control or other reasons...that was useful for the civil trials that came after the Waco I...just a coincidence that Waco is the home of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame.
I know of examples of Texas Ranger excellence in investigation to keep the law in order...local cops gone bad...and now in prison.
History tells the “good, bad, and ugly”.
http://www.jeffhead.com/liberty/waco_mas.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Ranger_Division
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Ranger_Hall_of_Fame_and_Museum
Though the mills of God grind slowly;
Yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting,
With exactness grinds He all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retribution_(poem)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.