By Mark Esposito, Weekend Contributor
Watching the waves roll in here in Duck, NC, I have to admit things seem pretty peaceful and serene. It got me wondering why the folks in Ferguson, Mo. are demonstrating on a daily basis about their policing. Wonderment stopped last evening when I came across this video by 35-year veteran of the St. Louis County Police Department, Sgt. Major Dan Page. Former Green Beret and supervising cop, Dan’s vaguely known to most CNN viewers as the enlightened peace officer who shoved reporter Don Lemon from a Ferguson street corner as he tried reporting on the mass protest of 17-year-old Michael Brown’s police-facilitated killing. Lemon was shoved and then was herded to some “Free Speech Zone” in a remote parking lot. Now street-savvy Page is back … and with a right-wing philosophy and blood thirsty vengeance that you’d have to go to 1970s Cambodia to match — “We can kill you anyway we want!”
Speaking before a group called the Oath Keepers who bill themselves as “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,” (they sure look like a group of Doomsday Preppers to me), Page waxes eloquent and profane about all manner of right-wing blood boilers from his utter revulsion at the “Sodomites” on the United States Supreme Court ( four of ’em, you know) to those “weak” women in the military who are taking elite combat positions away from more qualified men to the race-based mess in Ferguson. By his own admission, Page “don’t trust nobody and I hate everybody. I hate y’all too I hate everybody. I’m into diversity. I kill everybody.”
What’ s even more remarkable is that his audience just loves him. This self-proclaimed group of “military, police and first responders” seems mesmerized by the rant which covers topics from the NDAA of 2012 explaining it’s just like the movie, Escape Plan, with Sly Stallone (That boat’s real. I know”) to domestic violence situations (“just shoot each other and get it over with”.)
Sarg also tells us the word “gay” means happy and that’s it. A pox on those sodomites. He doesn’t like lawyers. Not crazy about women. He reminds us that the President has no control as Commander in-Chief over the Marines or the Air Force since the U.S. Constitution doesn’t say so. (See, gotcha). He calls the Marines the world’s finest fighting force but decries it’s “feminization” (as in allowing women to serve in combat roles) at the hands of Obama and it’s “log-head” commandant. Page even mixes in a little fire and brimstone jurisprudence reminding us that you can’t have the Constitution without the Bible and he stands at the podium thumping the Good Book. Page can’t resist that favorite of all right-wing circus acts that Obama is really an illegal alien from Kenya. All in all it’s quite an audition tape for a pundit job on Fox News.
The video did serve to answer my question about all the fuss in Ferguson, but curiously left unanswered why the whole audience of people Missourians hire to protect all of them didn’t walk out en masse. Maybe they agree is one chilling answer. After all, Page did get a snazzy Oath Keepers patch for his trouble to the vigorous applause of the audience.
My advice to the folks in Ferguson is that if this guy is a core sampling of the prevailing attitude of the public servants in St. Louis County … well, since we’re talking movies here, remember that classic horror flick, When a Stranger Calls?:
Jill, Jill. We traced the call! It’s coming from inside the house! Do you hear me? It’s coming from inside the house! You need to get out! Jill?
If you’ve got the stomach, here’s the video and a play-by-play from Crooks and Liars:
1:07: Talks about all men being created equal then went on to say “That does not mean affirmative action”.
1:26: Rants about hate crime laws
3:22: Black (little?) Perverts [ed. note: I think he said “black robed perverts” but the other way ’round wouldn’t surprise me]
5:25: Talks about doing a fair share of killing
15:40: Calls supreme court justice a homosexual sodomite.
18:30 “If I die I go to heaven… I died a long time ago”
20:30: Talks about St. Louis County schools
26:40: Calls President Obama an illegal alien
27:00: We can kill you anyway we want
31:38: Goes on anti-muslim rant
37:00: Talks about being a Saint Louis County Cop
43:00: Talk about killing people again
46:41: Goes on rant over being briefed about the 9/11 attacks on Aug 1st 1999 then says 9/11 happened 30 days later also talks about no weapons of mass destruction being found in Afghanistan.
49:22: Continues rant about having secret clearance at Fort (Leavenworth?) and training with Russian spetsnaz
52:40: Says people involved in domestic violence should “just shoot each other and get it over with”.
53:15: Somebody like me is going to come in and kill you
56:20: I don’t trust nobody and I hate everybody. I hate y’all too I hate everybody. I’m into diversity. I kill everybody.
58:02: Audience member: So what happens when good men like you are retiring from the military. What kind of military do we have left then?
58:15: Sodomites and females. End of statement.
1:01:00: Rants about female green beret
1:03:00 He’s handed an oathkeeper patch
Epilogue:
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, who immediately defended the shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, issued the following statement about Page via Twitter:
Some of you may have already seen the video of the St. Louis County Police Officer speaking off-duty at an Oath Keepers event. If you haven’t we are sure you will in the coming days as news circulates the release of the video.
Chief Jon Belmar was notified of this video’s existence today and upon a abbreviated viewing of the video was disturbed by the conversation being had. Chief Belmar does not expect this kind of rhetoric from his officers, just like they don’t expect it from him.
Chief Belmar, on behalf of the St. Louis County Police Department, would like to apologize to the community, anyone that video has or will effect, and to the other hard working officers on the detail with the officer in question because they deserve better than that. While the officer has never been involved in an officer involved shooting, the statements made about killing are unacceptable and not what we are about as a Department.
We hold our officers to a high standard of honor both on and off duty. While we as a department do not have an issue with officers expressing themselves, this was disturbing and unacceptable. The officer is a 35 year veteran of this department and has been deployed numerous times in military service. He had passed the evaluations upon returning from deployment and there was no indication of this attitude.
Chief Belmar would again like to apologize to anyone this video has offended and ask any videos of this nature be reported so we can take proper action against any officer not meeting our standards.
Being from Missouri, Belmar should have no problem with my skepticism: Show Me.
~Mark Esposito, Weekend Contributor
By the way and for better or worse, the views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not necessarily those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays of art are solely the author’s decision and responsibility. No infringement of intellectual property rights is intended and will be remedied upon notice from the owner. Fair use is however asserted for such inclusions of quotes, excerpts, photos, art, and the like.
John Oliver, At a press conference the Ferguson Chief said that Officer Wilson was not aware of the robbery. Many people are holding on to that. I, on the other hand, believe that Wilson would have heard the description of the suspect(s) go out over the radio the same as everyone else. I think the Chief just panicked and gave an answer.
What’s Huff Post?
Yeah bettykath, makes perfect sense. Perfectly innocent young man is slow to get out of the middle of the road so a cop thinks, “hey, you deserve six bullets because I can do whatever I want and get away with it.” Yeah, if you’re a moron!
Maybe the cop did or did not know Brown just committed a crime at a convenience store but Brown did.
New folks, bettykath huffed and puffed after the Zimmerman trial verdict and vowed to NEVER return. If Wilson isn’t convicted maybe she’ll do the same drama again.
Damn. Wilson didn’t know anything about the convenience store. He executed Brown for jaywalking and refusing to immediately get on the sidewalk.
bettykath – I am going with Wilson shot Brown for assaulting a police officer and trying to escape.
Huff Post headline at 7:55 CST is a killer. Six gifs that will turn your stomach. Headline reads: American Tradition.
“Darren Wilson Supporters Rally To Bash Media, Ferguson Protesters”
Posted: 08/23/2014 5:39 pm EDT
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/23/darren-wilson-supporters_n_5703055.html
“”He had cause for shooting this boy,” said Sharon. “Seems like they overlooked the fact that he robbed a convenience store.” Ferguson police have identified Brown as the main suspect in a convenience store robbery, but he was shot at least six times before he could be arrested.”
Jack, weighs in again with too much information: “My friend regularly patrols that part of town. He is not working what is called “a secondary” (which is when officers provide private security for places like malls or other events). I came to know where he was working because his wife told me. Why did it come up? The heat index in St. Louis was reported to be 107 degrees. She was talking about it being a bad day for an ice cream social.”
TMI, rather than simply answering the question about his law enforcement contacts.
Jack again, “It’s pretty clear anon2121 was looking for some sort of gotcha. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. When people tell the truth, it’s very hard to catch them in a gotcha, but god love ‘em…they’ll try.”
Anyone who takes the time to go through both threads will see and understand Jack’s “approach” to the truth. Some of us have no interest in playing “gotcha”, but do like it when people tell the truth. In Jack’s case, god love ‘im, it’s apparently so much easier to dance around it.
Stay cool, Jack. Wicked heat in your neck of the woods.
Jack,
He seems to let the food fight go as long as no one gets an eye put out.
Even in this thread; what is being argued?
Does anyone really believe excessive force by police isn’t a problem?
Does anyone believe militarizing police forces around the country hasn’t grown exponentially?
Does anyone believe they have all the facts in the Ferguson case?
Does anyone believe citizens don’t have the right to protest?
Does anyone believe a police officer can’t shoot a person without first considering their relationship to some special interest group?
Does anyone not support voter participation representative of the community?
I’m sure there’s more to ask but really, what in the world do people in this thread NOT agree on?
Max, “According to the autopsy, the bullet entered White’s chest, then perforated his left lung and heart before exiting his armpit area and lacerating his upper arm.
The report rules White’s death a suicide.”
WTF?? He’s handcuffed with his hands behind his back, he’s shot in the chest, and it’s suicide? They need a new ME or coroner who whoever signs the autopsy. The one who did this is dumber than a rock.
Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter
@JohnOliver
Sometimes I suspect this is going on
= = =
Like this?
http://www.commondreams.org/hambaconeggs
Mark, Thanks for the post. I doubt that Page is the only one on the Ferguson or St. Louis County PDs with this mindset and none of them should be in a position of power, especially where they have license to kill. Consider the over-the-top reaction to the peaceful protests. That kind of reaction doesn’t come from cops (at the top) who have respect for the community.
Why was Wilson allowed to leave the scene in his own PD SUV? Why was it not a part of the crime scene, especially if he claims that he was assaulted while in his vehicle? (He hasn’t made that claim, a friend of friend did. He hasn’t said anything.) Maybe he wasn’t assaulted and if the car were impounded and fully processed, it would be shown that no assault happened, e.g. he hit his own face on the car door.
Why did he not fill out an incident report? Could he be invoking his 5th amendment right to remain silent? Since he wasn’t arrested, he didn’t hear the Miranda warning. Was he up to snuff on the Supreme Court ruling that he needed to declare his Miranda right to remain silent? Or can his silence be used as an element of his guilt?
Brown didn’t weight 300#. He was close to it, but if you claim that I weigh 20# more than I do, I’ll be offended.
Of course, there’s also the case where a man possibly holding a knife was killed with 12 shots, 9 from each of 2 cops. He was not threatening or lunging. It does take time to talk someone down. Guess they were in a hurry to get back to the real action. When white guys with guns threaten cops by aiming their weapons at them, the cops leave and don’t come back. Black guy holds a knife and he is executed.
Of course it’s not about race. It’s about keeping those (pick your favorite epithet, derogatory name) in their place. Uppity folks, expecting to be served, not killed. [this paragraph: sarcasm for those who don’t recognize it]
bettykath – if you watched the two videos from Max-1 from two alleged eyewitnesses (neither saw the beginning) there was either a fight or a struggle with Brown either punching or tussling with the officer while Wilson was in the front seat. Regardless, Brown’s hands and arms were inside Wilson’s car, thru the window (according to both witnesses).
Dredd,
I hope you can sift the data, to separate the armament delivered to a county, which may include military bases, from the armament delivered to actual law enforcement offices.
Some very nasty allegations were made using the county-only data. The poor Brevard County, FL Sheriff’s office was accused of buying eight Apache helicopter gunships. The rumor was parroted by many sanity-challenged blog sites. Brevard County Sheriff’s office doesn’t have the money to buy even one.
Those Apaches were dispensed to Patrick Air Force Base, in Brevard County.
Jes’ sayin’.
I don’t mean to interrupt this group-therapy session. Please pardon the interruption.
Proceed.
John Oliver,
I think your observations are spot on.
I was kind of disappointed when Professor didn’t weigh in on the Missouri Statute that permits a officer to use lethal force to prevent a felon from escaping. While I believe that statute to be overbroad and likely unconstitutional. I was interested in what impact it could have on the possible indictment of Officer Wilson. It’s possible that the Professor did not even see my comment.
@JohnOliver
Sometimes I suspect this is going on:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-22/secret-playbook-internet-trolls
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Dredd
I hope this link works for you.
http://launch.newsinc.com/share.html?trackingGroup=91568&siteSection=washingtontimes_pp_non_non_sty_autoplace&videoId=26426123
About Tennessee transfer program.
Squeeky,
I began following this blog precisely because JT doesn’t appear to use his knowledge of the law as a weapon to further an ideological agenda. He seems to respect the process as it was originally intended and is unabashed about calling out those that threaten our system of government and rule of law; just not in his blog.
I was ignorantly optimistic the quality of debate would be reasoned and mature given the profession of many of the contributors. What I discovered instead was that while this is a legal blog, it is not one that someone would easily recognize as dedicated to a vigorous defense of the constitution. JT will get it started on the right path and then the ideological tug-of-war begins. Before it’s over, the comment thread has nearly everyone covered in mud, the topic has disintegrated and everyone’s off to another rumble.
There are lessons to be learned here though, just not so much related to the rule of law. If one wants to know what intellectuals believe the law should be doing for their cause; well this is the right place.
Dredd,
I’ve been watching this for a while.
Get that info out ASAP.
Get it out often!
We should be questioning our Congress why they voted down Grayson’s bill last April and forcing Congress to NOT vote down Rep. Hank Johnson’s bill.
#handsup don’t shoot
Max-1
….
Police violence is systemic… It’s not just Ferguson.
=================================
I have the pentagon data of all military equipment given to police around the country.
I am cleaning it up at the moment.
It has almost 500,000 records describing the state, county, id number,
description, quantity, $value, date, etc. about what was given to whom.
Will update when I finish writing the software to clean up the .csv file then put it in a spreadsheet and/or SQL database.