Is this America?

I'm really not sure what's happening down in Ferguson right now.  Last night, my twitter feed exploded, which is really weird because it was all coming from people I follow for technology info, not politics.

I expected that the lead story in today's Washington Post would be about one of their reporters getting threatened, and nearly arrested, for the crime of being in a McDonald's last night.  Weirdly, a story that that reporter contributed to (wrote?  Dunno, there were two others in the by-line) did get on the front page, but below the fold, and without a picture.

The pictures (and video) I was seeing were pretty horrific.  It was de facto martial law, with militarized police firing on unarmed citizens.

It's probably inevitable that this sort of thing would happen, given how much military equipment is being given (well, free plus the cost of shipping, I believe) from the military to the police.  Once you've got a tank in your inventory, you need to justify its existence by using it.

Regardless of that, it's a terrible sight, and I hope most of the St Louis County police down there are fired with extreme prejudice.  A lot of people were recording what was happening, and it did not look good for the police.  It looked like the police were trying to escalate a peaceful demonstration into an armed conflict with live rounds (only "rubber bullets" were fired).

A lot of people standing around and chanting, many with their (empty) hands in the air, being fired on and gassed.  Many were apparently at the end of a cul-de-sac, with the police blocking the open end and demanding that people leave.  Somehow.

And the police are demanding that reporters leave, or at least stop reporting.  What the hell are we coming to?

The President said, a couple years ago, to the Egyptian leadership, that the US would be there to prevent this sort of thing from happening in other countries.  Well, what are we doing at home?

I know the President can't just move troops in, and I don't think he should.  But I'd really like to see him go down there and talk to the protesters.  Maybe force the police, 1-on-1, to explain what the hell they're doing.  That would get some shit done.