Ferguson, Missouri, 2014. The militarized police of America are conducting another live-fire training exercise. It’s Watertown-II in the making.
Instead of being keepers of the peace, they have become “Squashers of the Rights”.
Today, Rand Paul wrote an opinion piece about Ferguson, published in Time Magazine (of all places).
I wanted to post a poignant quote that he included in it, from Walter Olson at the CATO Institute:
“Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such as bans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual war zone?”
Couldn’t say it any better.
Photo credits: Business Insider
