You make the call - how big will the Ferguson riots be?

[CaptainObvious]

I think we can now officially name what's happening to people surrounding this issue. I will call it "Michael Brown Syndrome". It is a psychological phenomenon where a person is in complete denial of all reality and fact. So severe is this condition that even when presented with unbiased expert factual accounts and video evidence, the patient will still be in complete denial of what actually happened or is happening.
Research at this time is inconclusive, but it is strongly suspected that this disease originated with what we will call the Susan Rice Benghazi Narrative Syndrome. While limited in it's original form it soon manifested itself into Barack Obama You can Keep Your Doctor Syndrome, which seemed a much stronger strain. Most recently the disease has again spread to the Nancy Pelosi I don't know who Gruber is Syndrome and the Barrack Obama Gruber was just some low level advisor Syndrome.
This disease is spreading rapidly now that is has become the Michael Brown Syndrome. Oddly enough it only seems to impact those that have left leaning political views. Conservatives, Libertarians and most Independents seem to be completely immune. We believe this is because those groups can actually think for themselves. There appears to be no cure once afflicted with Michael Brown Syndrome, and it's spreading.

 

[dbphoenix]

Daniel Handler, a popular children's book author and the host of the 2014 National Book Awards ceremony, has come in for sharp criticism after making several racially charged jokes during the presentation of the honors on Wednesday night.

His comments marred the presentation of the Young People's Literature Award to a celebrated black author, Jacqueline Woodson, for her book Brown Girl Dreaming. The book explores, through evocative free verse, Woodson's childhood in South Carolina and New York in the '60s and '70s. She grapples with Jim Crow, the effects of the Civil Rights movement and how each marked her youth, all in a series of gorgeous poems. After the presentation of the award, and Woodson's heartfelt speech, Handler informed the audience that he'd found out that Woodson was allergic to watermelon.

| By The Associated Press

Author Jacqueline Woodson addressed Daniel Handler's (aka "Lemony Snicket") racist joke, Friday, with an unflinching response in The New York Times.

Handler previously made offhanded comments about Woodson being allergic to watermelon while hosting the National Book Awards. Woodson was accepting an award in the young adult category for her latest book "Brown Girl Dreaming."

Amid waves of criticism and backlash over the comments, Handler has since apologized and donated $110,000 to the grassroots organization We Need Diverse Books while Woodson issued an indirect statement through her publisher.

Woodson's essay in the Times takes Handler's comments head on, though.

Titled "The Pain of the Watermelon Joke," Woodson explores her own background and the evolution of her understanding of the racially charged significance of the watermelon. By the time she was 11-years-old, she explains, the fruit had become repulsive to her.

"By making light of that deep and troubled history, he showed that he believed we were at a point where we could laugh about it all. His historical context, unlike my own, came from a place of ignorance," Woodson writes.

Like her previous statement, Woodson uses the essay to re-frame the situation by focusing on positive change in a time when the lack of diverse voices in literature has become all-too apparent.

Woodson's mission, she explains, is "to write stories that have been historically absent in this country's body of literature, to create mirrors for the people who so rarely see themselves inside contemporary fiction, and windows for those who think we are no more than the stereotypes they're so afraid of.

To give young people — and all people — a sense of this country's brilliant and brutal history, so that no one ever thinks they can walk onto a stage one evening and laugh at another's too often painful past."

 

[WeToddDid2]

 

[dbphoenix]

11 Stupid Reasons That White People Have Rioted
White people riot all the time. Here's a look at some of the dumbest reasons.

There is a long and storied history of behaviors being depicted through the prism of people's skin color. During Hurricane Katrina, as people of all races desperately searched for provisions, the media reported that white people “found” food, while black people “looted.”

A similar phenomenon can be seen in the response to protests sparked by the murder of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown and a grand jury’s recent decision not to indict his killer, Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. In discussing riots that occurred in the aftermath of both events, the media and conservative pundits have displayed far too great a willingness to chalk up the destruction to black pathology without looking at longstanding policies that support and maintain white supremacy in the U.S. What’s more, they also completely overlook the fact that white people riot, too—just for really stupid reasons.

Inspired by a list compiled by political blogger @red3blog in a series of tweets, here’s a more in-depth look at the 11 most ridiculous reasons white people have rioted.

11) Denver 1998: Denver Broncos Win Super Bowl.

In response to their home team, the Denver Broncos, winning the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year in a row, 10,000 fans apparently decided the most appropriate response was to go on a rampage that included fighting in the street, randomly setting bonfires, overturning cars and general acts of vandalism. Andrew Hudson, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, later called the mob destruction “a really ugly scene by a lot of obnoxious people who were drunk.” Video of the swelling crowd behaving badly can be viewed here, with reporters repeatedly referring to the rioters, who caused the city millions of dollars in damages, as “rowdy.”




Click to enlarge.
10) San Francisco 2012. San Francisco Giants Win World Series.

You might guess that with three World Series wins over the last five years, riot-ready San Francisco Giants fans might decide to sit one of those wins out, but so far, that hasn’t happened. While this particular photo dates to the 2012 riots following the Giants’ triumph over the Detroit Tigers, the city has erupted in post-World Series violence twice more in recent history: in 2010, after the Giants beat the Texas Rangers, and again this year, after the team defeated the Kansas City Royals. The 2014 riots ended with two non-fatal shootings and a stabbing among the violence that marred the night. A picture tweeted after this year’s mayhem shows the remnants of a smashed police car, with a note that “officers had bottles thrown at them by out of control fans.”




Click to enlarge.
9) Vancouver 2011. Vancouver Canucks Lose the Stanley Cup.

A few of the most interesting details about the riots that followed the Vancouver Canucks’ loss to the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup in 2011: Rioters chanted “Let’s go riot! Let's go!”; cars and trucks were overturned and set ablaze; theatergoers who’d gone to see the Broadway play "Wicked" found themselves stuck in the theater, which was located in the riot zone, until the whole mess ended. Jim Chu, chief of the Vancouver police department, blamed the chaos on "criminals and anarchists" disguised as hockey fans. In any case, local news cameras caught aerial views of rioters in the act, like this video of the crowd turning over a truck (at the :40 mark) for reasons apparent only to them.





more . . .

 

[gwb-trading]

11 Stupid Reasons That White People Have Rioted
White people riot all the time. Here's a look at some of the dumbest reasons.

There is a long and storied history of behaviors being depicted through the prism of people's skin color. During Hurricane Katrina, as people of all races desperately searched for provisions, the media reported that white people “found” food, while black people “looted.”

A similar phenomenon can be seen in the response to protests sparked by the murder of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown and a grand jury’s recent decision not to indict his killer, Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. In discussing riots that occurred in the aftermath of both events, the media and conservative pundits have displayed far too great a willingness to chalk up the destruction to black pathology without looking at longstanding policies that support and maintain white supremacy in the U.S. What’s more, they also completely overlook the fact that white people riot, too—just for really stupid reasons.

Inspired by a list compiled by political blogger @red3blog in a series of tweets, here’s a more in-depth look at the 11 most ridiculous reasons white people have rioted.

11) Denver 1998: Denver Broncos Win Super Bowl.

In response to their home team, the Denver Broncos, winning the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year in a row, 10,000 fans apparently decided the most appropriate response was to go on a rampage that included fighting in the street, randomly setting bonfires, overturning cars and general acts of vandalism. Andrew Hudson, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, later called the mob destruction “a really ugly scene by a lot of obnoxious people who were drunk.” Video of the swelling crowd behaving badly can be viewed here, with reporters repeatedly referring to the rioters, who caused the city millions of dollars in damages, as “rowdy.”




Click to enlarge.
10) San Francisco 2012. San Francisco Giants Win World Series.

You might guess that with three World Series wins over the last five years, riot-ready San Francisco Giants fans might decide to sit one of those wins out, but so far, that hasn’t happened. While this particular photo dates to the 2012 riots following the Giants’ triumph over the Detroit Tigers, the city has erupted in post-World Series violence twice more in recent history: in 2010, after the Giants beat the Texas Rangers, and again this year, after the team defeated the Kansas City Royals. The 2014 riots ended with two non-fatal shootings and a stabbing among the violence that marred the night. A picture tweeted after this year’s mayhem shows the remnants of a smashed police car, with a note that “officers had bottles thrown at them by out of control fans.”




Click to enlarge.
9) Vancouver 2011. Vancouver Canucks Lose the Stanley Cup.

A few of the most interesting details about the riots that followed the Vancouver Canucks’ loss to the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup in 2011: Rioters chanted “Let’s go riot! Let's go!”; cars and trucks were overturned and set ablaze; theatergoers who’d gone to see the Broadway play "Wicked" found themselves stuck in the theater, which was located in the riot zone, until the whole mess ended. Jim Chu, chief of the Vancouver police department, blamed the chaos on "criminals and anarchists" disguised as hockey fans. In any case, local news cameras caught aerial views of rioters in the act, like this video of the crowd turning over a truck (at the :40 mark) for reasons apparent only to them.





more . . .

Did they loot and burn all the stores and fire hundreds of gunshots at the cops?

No... well good to know.

 

[dbphoenix]

Did they loot and burn all the stores and fire hundreds of gunshots at the cops?

No... well good to know.

Burning and gunfire? Yes (you may want to read the article).

 

[gwb-trading]

Burning and gunfire? Yes (you may want to read the article).

I asked "Did they loot and burn all the stores and fire hundreds of gunshots at the cops?" - The answer is "No".

Trying to compare sports riots with what happened in Ferguson or LA is absurd.

 

[dbphoenix]

I asked "Did they loot and burn all the stores and fire hundreds of gunshots at the cops?" - The answer is "No".

Trying to compare sports riots with what happened in Ferguson or LA is absurd.

50 fires is pretty substantial. And people being wounded by gunfire is also noteworthy.

It's only "absurd" because the rioters were white.

 

[DHOHHI]

Did they loot and burn all the stores and fire hundreds of gunshots at the cops?

No... well good to know.

And the moron author of the article included when the White Sox had their disco demolition night years ago. It was a planned event.

A promotional event admitting those with a disco record for $0.98

And yet in a desperate attempt he suggests this was a riot. And never mind that all the other events where 'riots' occurred were post sporting events (i.e. Super Bowl, NCAA B-ball, World Series). And to suggest all those who rioted were white is laughable. Plenty of blacks were a part of these events.

 

[dbphoenix]

Millions of dollars in damage. That's a real rib-tickler.

But boys will be boys.