Missouri Governor activates National Guard in anticipation of the Michael Brown grand jury decision. Yahoo/Reuters.

Protesters in Clayton Missouri. Yahoo/Reuters

The Governor of Missouri has declared a state of emergency and has activated the National Guard in anticipation of violence after the Michael Brown grand jury decision. -Yahoo/Reuters. The order also places the county police in charge of any riot response instead of the city of Ferguson police. Intermittent protests have continued ever since the violence that occurred this summer. According to ABC news, the FBI has sent a memo telling police forces across the United States to prepare for violence if Darren Wilson is not indicted. Protesters are especially upset that Wilson will get his job back if he is not indicted. 

My Comment:

Looks like this is serious if they are calling out the national guard before the decision has even been read. I said before that this may be a self fulfilling prophecy. The media is hyping the possibility of riots and so is the government. The more people that think that a huge riot is coming then the more people will participate in those riots. And to be fair to the protesters, part of their argument is that they are treated like criminals even if they have done nothing wrong. The most recent protests have been largely peaceful so it might be understandable if people get mad at all these preparations. Of course if they riot because of that then they are proving the various stereotypes about protesters right...

And I must say again that I have very little respect for the supporters of Michael Brown. They don't seem to understand what justice is. Justice doesn't mean that everyone you don't like gets arrested and convicted without due process. Michael Brown is getting justice. Darren Wilson was subject to an investigation and had the case go to grand jury, just like he is owed. If the grand jury declines to charge Wilson then he will go free. That is justice. It's not perfect at all but it is much better then mob rule. Our entire system of government is set up to prevent people from being arrested and convicted without due process. If we ignore it then everything falls apart. Threatening to riot if you don't get what you want is terrorism, especially if what you want is revenge.