Morning Roar: Cop Killing Isn't The Answer, Indian Tribes Can Grow Pot, Navy Vet Sues "Citizenfour"
Yesterday was my last official in-office day of work for 2014, but knowing many of you still have to put in a solid 8 hours of time wasting until the merciful holiday break, I've crafted a sweet and spicy Morning Roar just for you.Retaliatory Cop-Killing is Anti Productive and Immoral We know about the tragic death of Eric Garner, who was unequivocally murdered by a member of the New York Police Department. We know about the death of Michael Brown, which caused mass protests, looting and rioting, but offered little in the way of clarity as to what actually happened leading up to his death. We also know about the shameful killing of 12 year old Tamir Rice in Ohio, shot within 2 seconds of a police officer seeing him, dead for the crime of playing with an airsoft gun. These events taken separately are sad, and collectively are an almost deafening indictment of a policing system that is broken, taking the lives of men, boys and women before their time. What these events are not is an excuse or a license to indiscriminately kill police officers. Yet that is exactly what happened this past Saturday.
Two NYPD cops were executed Saturday after a career criminal drove from Baltimore to Brooklyn to kill police officers in a twisted bid to avenge the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.“They were, quite simply, assassinated,” a shaken NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said Saturday night.The shooter — identified as Ismaaiyl Brinsley — boasted about wanting to murder cops in the hours before he ambushed the officers outside the Tompkins Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant about 2:45 p.m.“I’m putting wings on pigs today. They take 1 of ours ... let’s take 2 of theirs,” Brinsley, 28, wrote on Instagram, alongside a photo of a silver handgun.He also included three hashtags: ShootThePolice, RIPErivGarner (sic) and RIPMikeBrown.
There are bad cops in every city, but that doesn't mean that every cop is a bad cop, nor does it mean that these people should be targeted for violence. Nothing ties the two officers killed to Eric Garner or to Michael Brown. A psychopath (who, by the way, also killed his girlfriend in his apartment earlier) decided he would murder two men who likely had families who also have nothing to do with either case mentioned, to supposedly "send a message."I presume he felt this violence was a statement that the black community would no longer accept racial targeting and infringements of personal liberty (though I doubt the latter actually crossed his mind, considering his actions.) But violence is and always should be a last-resort, and this is not a situation that is in any way in need of last-resort tactics. Better training, better community relations, better accountability, and ultimately a public that that understands and demands the defense of individual rights from the police departments are the solutions to this problem.The murder of innocent men will only make a tense situation worse and put more police on high alert with lower tolerance in situations that can turn deadly quickly. We ask the police to defuse situations with words rather than actions, then some idiot drives to NYC and murders two officers who as far as we know did nothing wrong. How does that help anything?Some (on social media) are applauding this man's actions - a segment of the population that remains terrifyingly ignorant as to the steps that need to be taken for change. Instead they howl for blood to be spilled in retribution, despite it being a completely hollow, self-defeating, and immoral act.Feds Give OK for Indian Tribes to Grow Pot on LandsIn another win for marijuana and another small victory in the war against the War on Drugs, Indians have been granted permission to grow and sell marijuana on their lands, under the same rules that govern states pursuing the same industry.
American Indian tribes can grow and sell marijuana on their lands as long as they follow the same federal conditions laid out for states that have legalized the drug, the US Justice Department has said.Oregon US attorney Amanda Marshall said on Thursday the announcement addresses questions raised by tribes about how legalization of pot in states like Oregon, Washington and Colorado would apply to Indian lands.
There are of course organizations opposing this and concerns over social issues due to substance abuse issues in the Indian community, but as always, I don't see how that is the purview of government.Former Government Man Sues Producers & Distributor of "Citizenfour" Snowden Doc The Obama administration is still uptight about Edward Snowden, the man, but seems to have conceded that the documentary film about him, Citizenfour, can go forward unimpeded. One would think that this would make sense as a journalistic endeavor using information that is now public knowledge, and that they can't stop the filmmakers from directly communicating with Snowden. However, one "patriot" (who doesn't seem to understand that patriotism to one's country means patriotism to the people that inhabit it and not the government alone) has taken it upon himself to file a lawsuit against the director and distributors.
Horace Edwards, who identifies himself as a retired naval officer and the former secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation, has filed a lawsuit in Kansas federal court that seeks a constructive trust over monies derived from the distribution of Citizenfour. Edwards, who says he has "Q" security clearance and was the chief executive of the ARCO Pipeline Company, seeks to hold Snowden, director Laura Poitras, The Weinstein Co. (distributors), Participant Media (distributors) and others responsible for "obligations owed to the American people" and "misuse purloined information disclosed to foreign enemies."It's an unusual lawsuit, one that the plaintiff likens to "a derivative action on behalf of the American Public," and is primarily based upon Snowden's agreement with the United States to keep confidentiality.
How this man can take "action on behalf of the American public", I don't precisely know. He must be a massive supporter of President Obama if for no other reason than that the President also seems to enjoy taking action based upon the support of a portion of the populace that may or may not (and typically isn't) the majority.The Weinsteins aren't the type of people to back away from a fight...unlike Sony Pictures and "The Interview." While this doesn't quite fall under the same category that terrorist bomb threats would, it's still the same type of tactic that is aimed at quieting a point of view that some people may not share. This lawsuit is pure garbage, seeing as every bit of information that was classified was already leaked.Going after the people behind this film is just sour grapes, and hurts what this country is supposed to stand for: freedom. Retired Naval officer Horace Edwards is making an unintentional mockery of his former service - the man once protected America from threats and now seeks to stifle a film that documented and expanded on the unveiling of the new great enemy of the people - it's own coercive government.I don't want to sound "agist" here, but Horace is 89 years old. He ran for Senate in Topeka, KS ten years ago. He filed this suit with the time-framed mindset of a man who doesn't understand the modern world of technology nor the threats that it brings to everyday people, their privacy and their liberties. When Horace served, probably between 1938-41, leaking information may in fact have led to the demise of the U.S., seeing as we were just about to enter WWII or already in it. But the government didn't have the technological power to spy on its own populace that it does now, and it also had far greater things to worry about. The man can be forgiven for this lawsuit, but it doesn't make it right.Read The Morning Roar every weekday Monday-Friday!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
