For two nights in a row, Ferguson MO has been lit up by burning buildings.
Streets in major metro areas are blocked by mobs.
Why?
Because some rabble rousers did not agree with a Grand Jury's decision to return a No Bill (no indictment) against a cop who shot a criminal.
This despite the fact that the parents of the dead youth appealed for calm.
Did those rioters hear what the Grand Jury heard? Did they see what the Grand Jury heard?
In a word, No.
BUT, the rioters decided that, even sans evidence, the cop was guilty of murder and the cities must be punished . . . cities such as New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Oakland (CA).
Burn own neighborhood
In Ferguson rioters are looting and burning stores, stores on which they depend or, perhaps, "depended" upon in the past.
How many store owners will elect to collect their insurance payment and walk away, leaving an empty, burned out store. A store that perhaps employed people in the community, that served people of the community, that was part of their community.
Dumb.
There is no positive aspect to looting and burning stores in your neighborhood.
When the fire department arrives, some fool started shooting, Firemen are paid to risk their lives fighting fires, not dodging bullets. They packed up their hoses and went back to the station.
So far, the cops and Guard has shown considerable restraint in face of attacks on them, even when guns were fired. So far, no rioters have been killed or seriously injured, and no one has been sufficiently frustrated to run over protesters lying down in the street to block traffic - largely because the police, who are being maligned by these people, protect them.
This "taking to the streets" isn't new, but violent demonstrations are relatively new; from the Viet Nam era, although I am certain historians can find a few earlier occurrences.
Would people be looting and burning if a black cop had shot a white youth in the same circumstances? If a black cop shot a black youth? If a white cop shot a white youth? Seriously. Would the professional rabble rousers, the Al Sharptons, Jessie Jacksons, et al, show up for anything other than a white cop/black criminal confrontation.
The Ferguson youth was a criminal; there is a store video that proves this.
Was deadly force necessary to subdue the youth? The Grand Jury apparently, after hearing both prosecution AND defense evident - the latter unheard of in a Grand Jury, determined that deadly force was appropriate, albeit unfortunate.
Could the shooting have been avoided? Certainly; all the youth had to do was surrender to the cop. Instead he fought with the cop (no one argues that point) and in the process the cop shot the youth.
Unfortunately, the "facts are not important" idiots who are looting and burning Ferguson, who are lying in the streets of Washington, Philadelphia, and elsewhere are having a holiday for which - for most of them, anyway - there are no consequences.
Except that maybe, in Ferguson, some stores on which the rioters depended will be gone for good.
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