Peter Tinsley Blames His Racism On being A Republican

With all that’s been happening in Ferguson, Missouri these last few weeks, you wonder what people are thinking about, in terms of race, and police authority and politics.

Will people learn from this … grow from this … move on from this?

Hard to say if they are anything like Poplar Bluff, Missouri Councilman Peter Tinsley who was called out during a city council meeting earlier this week for the racist photos of President Obama he posted on his Facebook page.

One was a photoshopped image of Obama on an Obamacare poster dressed as an African witch doctor; oh, the hilarity of it all! Another picture that Tinsley posted was of a car with a message in the back window:  

The L.A. Zoo has an African lion and the White House has a Lyin' African.

Oh, it’s too funny, because, you know, racism is fun, as long as it isn’t directed at your own race, right?

Now, these were not recently posted photos — they’d been up for a while — but after the events in Ferguson, many in the community felt that now was the time to speak up about Tinsley’s images and his sentiments.

The Reverend Tommy Robison brought up the subject:

“To come from the city council, a city government official, this is highly unthought of, even in Poplar Bluff Missouri. I'm highly upset over this, along with the residents of our ward." 

And, to be fair, Councilman Tinsley immediately apologized for the photos "from the bottom of my heart" and then said this, as if it makes everything all better:

"At one time, I was a very active Republican, very opposed to Obama."

Sweetheart, you can be a Republican and be opposed to Obama and speak out against Obamacare without resorting to racism. Or, didn’t they teach you that in GOP school?

It’s no surprise that Tinsley’s ridiculous apology, and even more ridiculous excuse pissed people off even more. Butler County Republican Chairman, Eddy Justice:

“It even got more intense when he proceeded to blame the Republican Party for him thinking like that. Republicans believe everyone should be judged on their qualifications, on their ability."

So, naturally, after a few days of people telling Councilman Tinsley what an idiot he is, and how stupid it is to blame his racism on his membership in a particular political party, he set about on Apology 2.0:

“I want people to know that I am very remorseful for it. It was inappropriate. I believe I got caught up in an emotional moment of sharing jokes. It seemed funny at the time but today it's very serious and it's not funny at all. Anything that I have said, that I referred to the activity because I was a Republican, that is not true. It's not an excuse."

And some folks accepted this apology because it sounded sincere. And maybe it is, but when are we, the constituents and those who represent us, going to realize that we can disagree with a particular party or particular politicians without resorting to racism?

I mean, until we realize that these jokes are not funny — if they ever were considered funny — how can we ever expect things like what happened in Ferguson to stop?

source

Mike Weston: Another Police Officer Not Helping In Ferguson

Mike Weston is a sergeant on the Velda City police force, and like Dan Page — see post from earlier today — he, too, was sent to Ferguson, Missouri to keep the peace and maintain order after Darren Wilson murdered Michael Brown.

He, too, is blight on the police force. And he, too, took to social media to voice his own personal brand of racism, bigotry and stupidity — which is his right, I guess. He complained that the “libs” were lying about what happened in Ferguson; he insulted Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson's approach to community policing; and, for a grand finale, he threatened to physically assault visiting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

After a group of people in Ferguson were gassed in their own backyards, Weston took to Twitter to explain that it was because gunshots had been fired from that location. The only problem with his fable, was that a news reporter was in the yard where the people were gassed and the entire incident — with no gunshots being fired anywhere, at all — was caught on tape.

So, Mike Weston lied. And then he tried to walk it back, admitting that he wasn’t even in the area at the time:

"I wasn't spreading misinformation. There were shots being fired some yards, maybe not this particular one."

I guess it’s okay to gas one yard, if you hear gunshots coming from another yard?

Weston also made a point of slamming Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, calling Johnson’s interactions with protestors — walking with them to keep the peace — a kind of "Hug a Thug" celebration. He then Tweeted this picture of Johnson, accusing him of reverse racism:

He  also took it upon himself to Tweet photos of Mike Brown, the teenager shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson, participating in a strong arm robbery:

Mike Weston's "opinion" of the Michael brown's autopsy:

But he outdid himself with his tweet about Attorney General's visit to Ferguson when he said he wanted to meet Holder to, well, here it is:

Weston has since deleted his Twitter account because he’s a lying, racist asshat … IMO.

Here’s the deal: Michael Brown may have been involved in a robbery, and he may not have been involved; we’ll never know because he was gunned down, unarmed, in the street.

But, what we do know is that several police officers involved in Ferguson, both before and after the shooting — Darren Wilson, Dan Page, and Mike Weston — seem to have issues with the black community.

This is not who should be policing us. If your job is to protect and serve, then protect and serve. Keep your own personal politics and racist viewpoints out of it, and if you cannot do that, then people like these three men should have never been allowed to become law enforcement officers; and, if they somehow slipped through the cracks, as soon as they’ve shown their true selves, they should be removed from duty; permanently.

This is not what police officers should be doing.

via NCRM

Weston Tweets via RFT

Dan Page? That's Who Was Sent In To Help In Ferguson?

After Darren Wilson murdered Michael Brown in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, and after the public began to march and to protest and to, yes, push back against a police force seemingly out of control, Dan Page of the St. Louis Police Department was sent in to help maintain order; to protect and serve.

And, as I’ve said before, I believe most police officers are out there doing the right thing, but sadly Dan Page is not one of them, which was revealed after a video surfaced of Page pushing CNN reporter Don Lemon, and others, who were marching in Ferguson.

So, Page garnered a little bit of fame or notoriety, and with that came the inevitable Google searches, and other stories about Dan Page and the kind of police officer, and human being, he truly seems to be. And that video has led to Page’s being removed from his post and will likely start yet another investigation into another police department.

That video, posted to YouTube, shows Dan Page speaking to a group called the Oath Keepers, a "non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, police, and first responders who pledge to fulfill the oath all military and police take to 'defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.'"

Well, that sounds good, right? Except it isn’t the Constitution of the United Sates Dan Page and Oath Keepers eek to defend, it’s some kind of warped, lying Teabagging version of the Constitution.

But here’s what Page said in his speech:

• He talked about what he describes as a draft replacement for the U.S. Constitution.
• He talked about the "four sodomites on the Supreme Court."
• He talked about a visit to Kenya "to our undocumented President's home."
• He refers to Barack Obama as "that illegal alien who claims to be our President."
• He says of Muslims: “They will kill you.”
• He says of domestic disputes: "You don't like each other that much, just kill each other and get it over with. Problem solved. Get it done."
• He says of Muslims: "They will kill you."
• He says of urban violence: “[W]hen the inner cities start to ignite, people are going to start killing people they don't like."
• And he finishes up with this: "I personally believe the Lord Jesus Christ is my savior, but I'm also a killer. I've killed a lot and, if I need to, I will kill a whole bunch more. … If you don't want to get killed, don't show up in front of me."

That’s just one of the men sent in to quell the violence, to keep the peace, to protect and serve, in Ferguson; a man who brags about killing; a man who believe the solution to domestic violence is for both parties to kill themselves; a man who paints all Muslims with the terrorist brush.

Luckily Page has been removed from duty after this video appeared, but it makes me wonder just who is his replacement and how does he feel on these same topics? If the new guy is even a shade of the old guy, there is no 'protect and serve.' There is just a kill or be killed mentality, and that’s what started this whole mess in the first place.

You can’t fight murder with murder, hate with hate, and intolerance with more intolerance. We need to investigate those men and women who are permitted to carry arms in our cities; those men and women whose job it is to protect us. We need to know that they are protecting America, and Americans, all Americans, equally and fairly, and not working towards their own bent agenda.

When will we learn? 

source

Black People Are Registering To Vote In Ferguson and The GOP Calls It 'Disgusting'

Is it any wonder why Michael Brown was murdered in Ferguson?

I mean, the population is mostly black, but the mayor is white, as are five of the six city council members; and apparently only three of the 53 Ferguson police officers are black.

It’s quite clear the black community in Ferguson is underrepresented in both city government and on the police force. And there is an effort, in the wake of Brown’s murder, to change that; Ferguson has a 12% voter participation rate.

There is a massive drive to register black voters in Ferguson and not everyone is happy about that because, as Matt Wills, the Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party seems to suggest, blacks vote for Democrats and whites vote for Republicans.

In an interview with Breitbart News, Wills seems really poised off about the voter registration booths popping up in Ferguson:

“If that’s not fanning the political flames, I don’t know what is. I think it’s not only disgusting but completely inappropriate.”

No, Wills, it’s actually trying to make sure that the black community is not only represented in government, but that the black community has a voice and is heard, especially in a place where they are the majority being governed and policed by the minority. But then Will calls the murder of Michael Brown a tragedy for everyone:

“This is not just a tragedy for the African American community this is a tragedy for the Missouri community as well as the community of what we call America. Injecting race into this conversation and into this tragedy, not only is not helpful, but it doesn’t help a continued conversation of justice and peace.”

It’s a tragedy for the Brown family; it’s a disgrace for this country, because, once again, we have a young black, unarmed man being gunned down in the street for no apparent reason except for being on the street and being black.

And trying to get the black community involved in politics, represented in government, represented on the police force, giving them a voice in their own community is the best thing the people of Ferguson can do in the memory of Michael Brown.

And it’s telling how afraid this makes the GOP.

via NCRM

Ferguson: My Two Cents

I normally have a great deal of respect for the police; those men and women who risk their lives each and every day to “protect and serve.” But I also know that, like in almost every area of society, there are the good cops and the bad cops. There are cops who are over-zealous; cops who profile; cops who target.

And I know that, in some cases, and probably far too many that I’d care to think about, the police act and react differently to a situation based on the area, the community, and the color of the skin involved.

I am quite certain that, were a police officer to point his gun at me and I were to raise my hands — in that universal symbol of surrender and proof that I do not have a weapon — I’d live another day.

Not so Michael Brown of Ferguson, Missouri.

Sure, a lot’s been said, and then unsaid, about this situation. There are stories, he said and she said and they said, and who said, from all sides, but the fact remains that another young Black men is dead in what seems almost like an epidemic in this country.

Are Black men not allowed to wear hoodies? Are they always suspect? And when they surrender are they always shot?

It appears so. Sadly, and that’s the real issue.

The police in Ferguson were out of control that night, that's clear, and they continued running unchecked for the first few nights that followed; they did things they would possibly never do to a white man in a white suburb; that’s clear. You may not believe it, but you’d be wrong, because, try as I might, I don’t recall a lot of stories where white kids are shot and killed for carrying Skittles and wearing hoodies, and I don’t see a lot of newspaper reports of young white men surrendering and being shot and killed.

I just don’t see it.

And while people can say the police in Ferguson were just doing their job — serving and protecting — it seems quite clear, by any number of witnesses, that Michael Brown, an eighteen-year-old Black man, was murdered on the street.

Sure, there was some kind of kerfuffle between Brown and Darren Wilson, the cop who shot him, but it appears the facts — given by any number of witnesses — state that, while Brown was running away from police they continued shooting at him, and when he turned around, raised his arms in surrender, and to prove he had no weapon, he was murdered in the street.

And then left there. No call to 911; no call to report the shooting. A young man dead in the street and nothing happens ... no calls ... no reports.

Afterwards, the Black community — which accounts for the majority of the citizens of Ferguson — began rioting, and, yes, maybe some were looting. I have never understood how breaking into a store and stealing a TV shows my anger at police, or anyone other than the store owner, but that’s just me. What happened next, however, was surreal...

The local police, of St. Louis, reacted as though this were some terrorist attack and began firing rubber bullets and tear gas even into crowds that had peacefully gathered together to protest Brown’s death. Again I can’t see this happened in a white community; I cannot see police, in riot gear, firing recklessly into a crowd of white citizens who are marching in protest; I cannot see police in riot gear, assault weapons, and assault vehicles, rolling through a white community to “keep the peace.”

Finally, after several days of unrest, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon stepped in and took the local police out of the equation — possibly thinking they were too close to the situation since it was one of their own that shot and killed Michael Brown — and placed the state highway patrol in charge of the situation.

The next night it was quiet in Ferguson.

But people are still thinking about why this happened, and how this happened, and why it happens again and again around this country. If Michael Brown was doing something stupid, even something illegal, even something to provoke a cop into shooting him, you cannot argue that what happened to Michael Brown had nothing to do with his skin color.

I know for a fact that had it been me, or any other white man on the street that night, in any town in America, and I had turned toward police officers, my hands in the air, I would still be alive today.

Not so for Michael Brown, and that’s the issue we need to discuss.

Sunday Not Funny ... Ferguson