Free Republic

As we saw last weekend at the start of the St. Louis Rams-Raiders game, we'll be dealing with the facts and symbolism of Michael Brown's death for a long time. "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" doesn't accurately describe what really happened when Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot Brown to death last summer. But it should be pretty clear to everyone by now that the facts don't matter that much anymore in the Michael Brown case. At least half the country, 99 percent of the liberal media and the Black Caucus in Congress apparently still believe the "Hands Up, Don't Shoot"...

There is some good debate and conversation happening in the wake of the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases. But there is also plenty of nonsense. Consider this gem from the New York Times editorial of this morning about police arrests: "there can never be a justification for any lethal assault on an unarmed man." How absurd. In Ferguson, there is evidence that Michael Brown was attempting to wrest the officer's gun away. Should Darren Wilson have waited until Brown was successful before defending himself? Whatever the facts from Staten Island, if a single officer finds himself in a struggle...

Denver high school students protesting recent civilian deaths involving police chanted "Hit him again!" after a car struck four bicycle officers - injuring one critically - Wednesday night, the city's police union charged. Officer John Adsit underwent six hours of surgery Thursday for injuries sustained in the accident and was in critical, but stable condition. But the reaction of young students, reported by the Denver Post, left residents stunned and members of the Denver Police Protection Association angry. Students were heard chanting and cheering after the officers were hit. Teachers looked on and did not intervene while the students chanted,...

Like most people across the political spectrum, I approach the Eric Garner arrest video with the requisite amount of dread. What a shame. What a tragedy. What an unsettling thing to see a man on the day of his death, a premature end following a few moments of conflict with New York City police officers. Like many conservatives, I have just spent several days standing up for the Ferguson grand jury as it relied on actual evidence to reach a decision in the case of Michael Brown. Those of us who took that stand weathered the attacks of unhinged factions...

National statistics intended to track police killings show that hundreds of homicides committed by law-enforcement officers between 2007 and 2012 are not recorded by the FBI, the Wall Street Journal reports. More than 550 police killings during that span were missing from the national count of not attributed to the law-enforcement agency involved, the paper reports. The lack of data makes it impossible to determine how many people police kill each year. Demands for more transparency on such killings have been shoved into the spotlight after the August shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson....

Eric Garner and Michael Brown had much in common, not the least of which was this: On the last day of their lives, they made bad decisions. Epically bad decisions. Each broke the law — petty offenses, to be sure, but sufficient to attract the attention of the police. And then — tragically, stupidly, fatally, inexplicably — each fought the law. The law won, of course, as it almost always does. This was underscored yet again Wednesday when a Staten Island grand jury chose not to indict any of the arresting officers in the death in police custody of Garner...

A Phoenix police officer shot to death an unarmed black man during a struggle and authorities said the officer believed the individual had a gun, in the latest fatal incident amid national turmoil over the policing of black communities. The Phoenix Police Department said Rumain Brisbon, 34, was sitting in a black Cadillac SUV outside a convenience store on Tuesday evening, and that two witnesses told the officer the occupants of the vehicle were selling drugs. With police forces across the country under increased scrutiny over killings of unarmed black men, Phoenix police said in a statement that its officer...

On the same day one grand jury decided not to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who was killed after being put in a chokehold last July, a different jury did indict 22-year-old Ramsey Orta, the man who captured Garner's death on camera. Orta was charged with weapon possession after being arrested on Aug. 2, less than one month after taping Garner's confrontation with police.

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON D.C.-- Sheriff Clarke talks about Ferguson Missouri and how politicians and irresponsible group. "Irresponsible Groups Descended on Ferguson MO Like Vultures on a Roadside Carcass."

PoliceOne.com is a discussion forum for law enforcement officers, and while anyone can access some of the site content, commenting privileges are available exclusively to verified police. The PoliceOne.com staff "confirm[s] the status of all officers registering for PoliceOne by calling that officer's department directly." That detail is important, because it means that these responses to the Eric Garner verdict were definitely made by actual police officers: ...

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced that the Department of Justice will open a civil rights investigation into the death of Eric Garner, the man who was killed in July during the course of an NYPD arrest. Sean Hannity pointed out tonight on "Hannity" that Holder has no problem investigating a case in which a grand jury has made a clear decision, but when it comes to the violence in Ferguson, he won't look into Michael Brown's stepfather potentially inciting riots. J. Christian Adams said that this Justice Department has "an enormous hostility toward the police," from Holder prejudging the...

... Pantaleo who applied the lethal chokehold on Eric Garner was supervised by an African-American female NYPD sergeant. Having that black sergeant in charge of that crime scene takes race out of the equation. As awful as Pantaleo’s actions appear on that video, at no time does that black sergeant order Pantaleo to stop choking Garner. With a population that is 70% white and 10% African-American, when a Staten Island grand jury is presented with a white cop supervised by a black sergeant applying a lethal chokehold, it eliminates the racial component. The grand jury was then left with the...

Protesters enraged by a grand jury's decision not to indict the officer whose chokehold killed Eric Garner took their cause to the New York City streets Wednesday, bringing traffic to a standstill. Hundreds chanted 'I can't breathe' as they marched through Midtown Manhattan or laid their bodies end to end on the city's West Side Highway. The protests, which carried on through to Thursday morning, remained civil and peaceful. They clogged Lincoln Tunnel, staged 'die-ins' in the middle of Grand Central Station and crossed the Brooklyn Bridge on foot as pockets of demonstrators across America's largest metropolis sought to spread...

Protests gripped New York City for the second straight week in wake of another grand jury decision not to indict a white officer for killing an unarmed black male in Staten Island. At least 78 arrests were made in the city as protests marched through Manhattan throughout the night, the New York Post reports.One car, an officer's personal automobile, was torched in Brooklyn, but it was not known whether it was related to the protests.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) reacted to a grand jury's decision to not indict a New York City Police Officer in the death of Eric Garner by saying he was "horrified" by the video and blasting politicians for passing "bad laws" that "put our police in a difficult situation" in an interview broadcast on Wednesday's "Hardball" on MSNBC.

Several news organizations have reported that a New York grand jury in Staten Island has voted against indicting Daniel Pantaleo, a New York City police officer, in the choking death of Eric Garner. The decision is to be announced officially on Thursday. Clearly, this No True Bill is more difficult to justify than the St. Louis grand jury’s vote against filing homicide charges against Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. Officer Pantaleo, who is white, is being investigated for killing Mr. Garner, a 43-year-old black man who was physically imposing but unarmed, and who...

The Rams may not have the support of the St. Louis Police Officer's Association, but the team does have the support of at least one police group in St. Louis. The Ethical Society of Police -- which represents African American cops in St. Louis -- released a statement this week saying that it commends the Rams for the Ferguson gesture they did before the team's Week 13 game against the Raiders. Jared Cook, Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, Chris Givens and Tavon Austin all did the "Hands-up-don't-shoot" pose as they entered the field before the Rams' 52-0 win over the Raiders.

Just heard on The Rush Limbaugh show that the Grand Jury said NO CHARGES against Staten Island police officer .......

On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder kicked off the first of a series of community forums on Ferguson at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Monday night. Holder suggested to the activists that US police are an “occupying force.” “The problems we must confront are not only in Ferguson. The issues raised in Missouri are not unique in that state or to that small city. We are dealing with concerns that are truly national is scope and have threatened the entire nation. Broadly speaking without mutual understanding between citizens whose rights must be respected and law enforcement officers who make...

<p>Jaleel Tarik Abdul-Jabbaar, from Washington, was arrested in Seattle for making repeated threats on Facebook to kill Darren Wilson and white police officers.</p> <p>Abdul-Jabbar wrote, “I would love to smoke a white motha f*cking cop.”</p> <p>A Kirkland man with a criminal history was arrested in Seattle after making repeated threats on Facebook to kill white police officers in Ferguson, Mo., including former FPD officer Darren Wilson.</p>