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Aug. 14, 2014 - Rush Limbaugh Program
37:38
August 14, 2014, Thursday, Hour #2
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Meeting and surpassing all audience expectations every day.
Your guiding light here, Rush Limbaugh, behind the Golden EIB microphone.
Great to have you here.
Telephone numbers 800-282-2882 at an email address.
El Rushbow at EIBnet.com.
I had not heard the real reason Obama did the press conference today.
And I was wrong about the real reason he did the press conference.
Well, I was not totally wrong.
I mean, the tweet from last night, the press release, good time had by all.
While the country is burning and while the world is burning, it didn't go over well and it was retweeted all over the place.
And that was a factor.
But I only had a chance to hear what Obama said about St. Louis.
The real reason he did this is what he was saying when we were still in program content time and I was not able to listen.
He came out and he did a victory dance over the trapped Yazidi in Iraq that we don't need to mount a rescue mission.
It's not as bad as we thought.
He was a great commander-in-chief.
That's why he did this.
We dropped a bunch of food and water in there and we helped these people able to escape ISIS on their own for the most part without us having to mount a military escape plan for them operation.
And he came out to beat his chest about what a great commander-in-chief, what a great operation it was.
That was the first thing he said.
And I didn't hear that because we were still on the air in the program here.
And he got to St. Louis second.
And that was when we were commercial breaking what I was able to hear.
And in that, again, he just said that the cops need to be transparent in their investigation and that we're all one American family and that we need to unify and come together and that we can do it.
And it was Sayonara.
I don't think he took any questions.
The Governor of Missouri Jay Nixon, before Obama came out, did his own town hall meeting type of event in Ferguson.
Here's a portion of what he said.
This community, which has been torn apart by this horrific and bad occurrence over the last week.
So we need that safety.
But we also need to allow folks who want to express their energy in an appropriate way to have the absolute right to do that.
Because we will not get the healing that we all need if the only response from the public is, y'all just be quiet.
There is a certain level of emotion that must be expressed in order for us to reach a higher plane.
Now, folks, this goes exactly to the point that I made to our first caller today from Ferguson.
Our first caller, if you didn't hear it in the last hour, said that he was very happy that the cops are doing what they're doing, protecting property, that they are being not tolerant at all of people engaging in further unlawful activity.
If they spot it, they're shutting it down.
They're stopping people.
If need be, they are arresting them.
He said that people who live in neighborhoods nearby where the rioting and looting has taken place are scared and that he's very happy and somewhat comforted with the fact that the cops are taking a hard line against any more of this lawless behavior.
And he wanted us to know that he supported the cops in this regard.
He also made the point that the McDonald's, where these reporters were sitting working, is boarded up because it was vandalized, which was a little bit conflicting with the reporters themselves who said they were in there and buying stuff from McDonald's.
But I want to go back because the governor here just said something.
I want to restate what I said to this caller.
And I know this is true.
I know it's true because I've had emails from people who say it.
But even I didn't, I don't need emails.
I know people so well.
I know the kind, I just do.
What triggered all of this?
What appears to be a really bad mistake?
A police officer in Ferguson shooting an unarmed black teenager.
No excuse.
Bad.
Very bad.
That's horrible.
There are some people who believe that the cops need to admit to people outside of a formal investigation.
They need to show people that they realize that this was a very bad thing that their fellow officer did.
And that one of the ways they can do that is to sometimes look the other way when vandalism is taking place and understand that people are going to have these reactions.
And if you let them do a little looting, if you let them engage in some questionable civil unrest, and if you let them get it out of their system, that you'll end up having peaceful circumstances prevail much sooner than if the cops act like hardline East German Stasi officers.
In light of that, here came the governor of the state of Missouri who said, so we need that safety, but we also need to allow people who want to express their energy in an appropriate way to have the absolute right to do that.
Now, he's not advocating lawbreaking, and I don't want anybody misquoting me on this.
Not my point, but he is in a very predictable way.
He's suggesting or advocating that some kind of behavior here in reaction to an unwarranted, uncalled for, maybe discriminatory act needs to be understood.
You do understand the rage.
I mean, the cops once again shot a black kid.
And if people are going to be fit to be tied over this, they're tired of it.
And if they go loot and if they go do this, well, just let it happen and back off.
You know, give them a couple of days, get it out of their system, and then start clamping down.
And he did, let him blow off some steam.
Now, he didn't say that because he said in an appropriate way, but still the attitude of the mindset is there.
And people have the absolute right to do that because he said we will not get the healing that we all need if the only response is y'all just be quiet and just keep arresting people at breaking the law.
Just keep really strict enforcement of the law because there's a certain level of emotion that must be expressed in order for us to reach a higher plane.
That means we got to let some of these people get out of their system.
Now, again, don't anybody misunderstand.
I'm not suggesting that the governor is telling the cops to look the other way when people break the law.
Not at all, and don't anybody misquote me.
But the mindset here is the same, minus the law breaking.
And it is that the reason I'm pointing this out is because I know when that caller called and he said that he was happy and proud what the cops are doing, he's tired of vandalism, and he feels very secure that the cops are protecting people in the neighborhood.
I know that there are a bunch of people listening to this program, people in the audience, who were shouting at that guy.
Well, yeah, easy for you to say the cop didn't kill your kid.
I'm just telling you that there are a lot of people when the police are supported in the aftermath of one of these circumstances.
There are a lot of people who don't like it.
And they think that the police should know that.
They think the police should be aware that everybody hates them after an event like this.
And it just, you know, kind of don't clamp down so hard on people.
And if you don't do that, if you just let them blow off steam, then we'll get to peace a lot sooner than if you guys continue to just be hard asses about this.
I know that that's a popular thought with a lot of people because I know you fill in a blank.
I know them, folks.
I know how the thought process goes.
I know what conflict resolution 101 is.
I know that they believe that two wrongs sometimes do make a right because the second wrong is the payback.
Hey, if somebody's going to commit a wrong, we better allow the people who are victimized by it to commit their own version of the wrong and then we're even.
A lot of people think that way.
The governor was essentially saying, hey, people got to blow off steam.
And maybe if we let them do that, not so strictly enforcing it.
He didn't say let people break the law.
Don't anybody misquote me.
I know that's going to happen, but I'm saying this over and over so that you listening know that I'm not saying, I'm not putting words in the governor's mouth, but the mindset is two wrongs do make a right sometimes.
At any rate, let's see.
Oh, one more.
Remember, General Honoré from Katrina?
Russell Honoré, he's now retired.
He was on CNN this morning.
Carol Costello spoke with him.
She said, General Honoré, I went to New Orleans when you were there, and one of your guys pointed a gun at the crowd, and you yelled at him.
You said, do not point your weapon.
Put it down.
And I was impressed by that, General.
I was impressed that you would tell your guy not to point his weapon at people.
I was kind of taken aback by it at the same time.
And here's what General Honoré said.
Anytime we have policemen pointing weapons at American citizens, they need to go through retraining.
And I think we're about 24 hours too late that the governor should have stood in here and brought in his state police and pulled that police force off the line.
They are going to have a hard time reestablish credibility to protect and serve on those streets after this type of infraction has occurred.
That is why the governor, I think, should come in with his state police, not National Guard, state police.
So what he's saying is, once the cops screwed up here and shot the black kid, their credibility should get them out of there.
They're never going to be able to keep peace.
They're never going to be able to have any credibility.
They can't get away with telling anybody not to break the law because what'd they just do?
So sweep them out of there and bring in the state police.
State police, in this case, would be unbiased.
They would be unaffected, not involved, therefore untainted.
Bring them in.
Let them police, not the guard, not the military, the state police, the troopers.
And well, General Honoré is saying the cops lost their credibility with this incident.
This infraction.
They lost credibility, and they don't have time to reestablish it.
So bring in the state police and let them handle it until this situation is resolved.
And I guess what do you then put the Ferguson police back on the street?
Well, I'm just playing the soundbite for it.
That's just what General Honoré said.
Don't look at me.
Back to the phone, Sigo, John, and once again in St. Louis.
Welcome, sir.
Great to have you on the program.
Hi.
Hi, Rush.
First time caller, longtime listener.
Great to have you here.
Thank you, sir.
Yeah, I'm a retired physician who lives in North County in St. Louis, about two miles from all the demonstrations that are going on.
And from my perspective, who've been here for over 30 years, I'm glad the police are stepping up and do this.
Well, a lot of us are concerned about the violence institutions.
You've got to remember, the protesters have a right to protest as long as it's peaceful.
But around 4.35 o'clock every night, it turns violent.
And I personally would like to have seen the police step it up even further to crack down on this lawlessness and vandalism that's going on here in St. Louis.
This is pathetic to see what's happening here to allow these people to break the law consistently.
Their so-called collective indignation is not appropriate.
A year ago, last 4th of July, as a retired physician, I'm out here with my family, had a young black man who was a future collegiate basketball player was shot in the head and in the chest for nothing but standing up for his cousin because of derogatory statements that are being seen by a bunch of young thugs on the street.
Now, I didn't see any marching, any indication.
Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait.
I missed a whoosh who shot this?
There was a bunch of Afro-American kids.
It was a gang shooting.
It was a gang, and they shot this innocent young man who was bound for college as a college basketball player.
Anybody know why they shot him?
Yeah, because he stood up for his cousin.
Because they were making derogatory comments about her.
And so he dissed these guys while defending his cousin, and that's tolerable.
And they pulled out a gun and shot him in the head, and I stabilized him until the paramedics got there.
You've got to remember, Rush, that the people that are coming in after the peaceful demonstrations are not even in Ferguson or from Ferguson.
They're from other parts of the area.
They're coming in to cause problems.
And those of us who are taxpayers here, we're fed up with this.
Well, they're consistently gunshots.
I mean, there's twice a week we hear five to six gunshots going off in the community up here.
And I really think I'm behind the police.
Now, I'm not, you know, for shooting an innocent individual.
I don't care white, black, what have you.
And that needs to be evaluated and looked in an appropriate way.
But what's happening here at Ferguson is nothing but thuggery.
These people, especially after the sun goes down around here, they're just causing problems.
They're throwing things, objects, the vulgar language.
And then there's been sh actual recordings of gunshots being shot at the police.
And to allow this to go on, I thought we were a country of laws.
I'm ex-military.
And I don't believe in this.
I think something needs to be done to stop this.
And to allow this to go on like this idiot governor we have, I think this is pathetic, Rush.
Well, I'll tell you, I think that there's a lot of frustration over lawlessness in the country.
It's everywhere.
And I think also police departments are fed.
They're human.
They're citizens too.
And they're human beings.
Look at the immigration laws.
We have the government of this country actively suing states which attempt to enforce existing immigration law.
Immigration law counts for nothing anymore.
We have a president who is bragging about executive orders and executive actions.
And if Congress won't act, he will.
And I submit to you that all of this sends a message, a subtle signal that the law, if it doesn't apply to some people, it doesn't apply to anybody.
If people can get an exemption from it, if the president doesn't have to obey the law, if the immigration laws don't have to be obeyed, you throw in every other societal aspect that results in our culture ending up crumbling and rotting.
You have, it's a very slow process.
It has taken years.
This just, I don't think, happened overnight.
But you have a general frustration on the part of everybody that there doesn't seem to be any glue holding anything together.
The honor system doesn't seem to even work.
And the rule of law, which and the rule of law combined with the honor system, is what has kept, for example, elected officials and law enforcement officials honest.
It all seems to be breaking down.
And I actually think that in many places, I don't know about Ferguson, but I do know that in New Jersey, Lee met a cop the other day who said he trashed Obama and he was fired.
And it was all about, hey, if this guy can break the law, why can't we?
I think this attitude is effervescing out there all over this country.
And when lawlessness happens to be celebrated by the media and laughed at because whoever's breaking the law gets away with it and wins politically in the process, I don't think it can help but send a signal to people.
And in the, go to Chicago.
Has anybody been convicted or even tried for the wanton murders that are committed there every weekend, it seems.
So there's a, I think, I don't know how to describe it.
It's a slowly evolving reality that people think nothing is holding anything together anymore.
And I think cops are every bit as susceptible to this as any other citizen is.
And I think they're as frustrated by it as anybody else is.
They're as frustrated by lawbreakers that get away with it.
They're as frustrated as, and maybe even more so, how hard they work to bring people to justice and then technicalities get people thrown out.
It's been going on for a long, long time.
And at some point, a tipping point is reached.
So I understand you and our previous caller from St. Louis basically saying the same things.
So I appreciate your time.
I'm glad you took the time.
Thank you for waiting to get on.
And we will be back.
Don't go away.
Here's Joseph in Las Vegas as we stick with the phones.
Welcome, sir.
Great to have you on the EIB Network.
Hi.
Hey, Rush.
I've been listening to you since I was just a kid in the mid-90s driving around with my dad in his car.
So good to talk to you for the first time.
Thank you very much.
Appreciate that.
So most of the time, I agree with everything that is on your show, everything that you say.
And, you know, I have plenty of friends that are actually in law enforcement.
I support the police.
I also support them, you know, protecting the citizens against the riots and the looting and stuff, which is just terrible.
But in the instance, when you're talking about these reporters that were arrested at the McDonald's, I was a bit disturbed by it only because, you know, they were in McDonald's.
They pay their customers.
And it just appears that they weren't moving quickly enough for those officers.
And that's why they were arrested, which is a bit disturbing.
And they obviously were released later because there really was no charges that would stick filed against them.
But it just was a bit disturbing that that would happen only because there wasn't, it just seemed like a sense of emergency where they were.
So, you know, I don't know.
I don't really agree with the actions of the police officers in that instance.
Nor do I.
I think that's a tactical mistake to arrest the journalists.
And that's why when they found out they were journalists, they let them go.
They weren't sure at the outset because when they were in their holding room with everybody else they had rounded up and arrested, some cop, according to the journalists themselves, some cop came in, who's media?
These guys raised their hands and the cop basically released him and kicked him out.
I think the cops even know that they shouldn't have arrested him.
Did you hear me say that I supported the arresting of the journalists?
No, I think you were just more, I guess you were more talking about the response that the journalists actually had to the incident.
And obviously the journalists, liberal media, they're going to use that as a podium to do their whole spiel about why they were arrested or whatever else and have their own whole political slant for that, I guess.
No, the only thing I said was that, and you might have misinterpreted this depending on when you tuned in and what you'd heard prior to it.
I simply made the observation, these are very high-wire, high-tension situations.
The cops go into this place apparently that's already been looted with damage done, and they order everybody out.
And what I said was, if the journalists, if a cop tells you to get out right now and it takes you 30 seconds to move, you're in trouble.
When they order you, it's like your drill sergeant wants 30 push-ups, you do them now.
You don't do them this afternoon.
You move.
When the cops, when armed cops come in and tell you to do it, you do it.
You be polite, you do it, you get out of there.
And if you don't act quickly enough, they're not going to waste time.
Because everybody here is at a fever pitch in this circumstance.
But there's nothing to be gained by arresting reporters, and they know that.
That's why they released them.
Well, then I guess we don't disagree.
No, no.
Not about.
No, no, no, no.
No.
I'm glad you called.
I would have hate to have you running around Vegas this afternoon.
You might have been so upset that you disagreed with me, you could have lost some money at the tables.
Exactly.
And I don't want that.
No, no, no.
I just the only thing I said that might give you that impression was I did say that the reason they might have been arrested is they didn't act fast enough.
Yeah, and that's the only thing that I did, you know, is like a little bit to like, you know, yeah, it's kind of subjective.
You're not acting fast enough.
It's really a judgment call, you know, based on whatever the current situation or threat is.
Yeah, I this is there's I don't think any justification.
The journalists weren't posing a threat in a way.
The cops are not threatened here.
But just remember, when they found out they were media, they were practically kicked out of a holding room.
And don't forget one reporter.
Don't forget this, Joseph.
The guy from the Huffing and Puffington Post, Riley, had a little guilt.
He had a little release guilt.
He said that he was double privileged.
A, he's white, and B, he's a journalist.
So he had special privileges.
And he was released before others were.
And he felt a little guilty about that because of his double privilege dose.
So I said, well, then you could have stayed.
You didn't have to leave.
And the cops kick you out.
Because the way he was writing this, it was almost as though he didn't think he was held long enough.
Because it's all about equality and fairness.
So forth.
Anyway, I appreciate the call and the opportunity to restore your faith and let you know that we don't disagree.
I have no idea how this is going to end.
Snirdley is asking me, do you think it's going to fizzle out?
Do you think it's going to end?
I have no idea.
I didn't even have a feel for how this is going to turn out.
I've thought things are spinning out of control in this country long before this happened, but this adds to it.
But now you've got, there's certain things that happen here.
It's pile on the cops time now, so prepare yourself for that.
You've got Claire McCaskill who is saying, we need to demilitarize the cops.
It's outrageous.
The cops don't need to be acting like the military.
Rand Paul is saying, we need to demilitarize the cops.
General Honoré is saying we need to get rid of these cops and we need to bring in the state cops.
Hot Air is reporting that the governor of Missouri has relieved the St. Louis County PD in Fergus, already getting rid of them, has not decided with whom he's going to replace them.
But Missouri Governor Jay Nixon will announce the St. Louis County law enforcement will be relieved of duty in Ferguson, which has been roiled by protests, blah, blah, blah.
The source for this is Lacey Clay, Representative William Lacey Clay.
Governor just called me on his way to St. Louis now to announce he's taken away the St. Louis County police out of the situation.
He added that Nixon may ask for the FBI to step in.
Now, the St. Louis County PD, I don't know if that's not the Ferguson Police Department itself, is it?
I don't know.
But anyway, that's what Lacey Clay, William Lacey Clay, is saying.
The governor told him he's going to relieve the St. Louis County PD.
So he did.
He did.
He didn't go there, but he's – no, no, he didn't go there.
He said from Martha's Vineyard.
He just did.
Here.
I've got the soundbite.
He did tell everybody to stand down.
Where is it?
Let's grab soundbite.
Let's see.
It's Grab number 24.
This is Obama at the end of his remarks today about.
The motions are raw right now in Ferguson, and there are certainly passionate differences about what has happened.
There are going to be different accounts of how this tragedy occurred.
There are going to be differences in terms of what needs to happen going forward.
That's part of our democracy.
But let's remember that we're all part of one American family.
We are united in common values, and that includes belief in equality under the law, a basic respect for public order and the right to peaceful public protest, a reverence for the dignity of every single man, woman, and child among us, and the need for accountability when it comes to our government.
So now's the time for healing.
Now's the time for peace and calm on the streets of Ferguson.
So see, he did, Snerdley, right there.
He said, now is the time for healing.
Now is the time for peace and calm on the streets of Ferguson.
What else do you want him to do?
You want him to go there and say that?
He can't.
He's on vacation.
He's already going to Washington on Sunday, and nobody can figure out why.
He is returning to Washington on Sunday for a couple of days.
And last I heard, nobody knows why.
The only thing they do know is that it's not to sign any kind of executive order on amnesty.
He's not to do that.
But nobody knows why.
Some people think he's going there to meet Biden.
And the reason he's going there is because nobody on Martha's Vineyard wants Biden to come there.
And now they're calculating the cost of how much this is going to be to just go back to Washington for two or three days, something like, I don't know, $2 million to make the trip from Martha's Vineyard to Washington.
The police chief in Ferguson, Missouri, was on TV moments ago and announced the following.
He had met with the representative of the NAALCP, the DOJ's community relations person and local clergy earlier today.
The result of the meeting is that in Ferguson, they are going to open up the sidewalks for demonstrators to peacefully protest, but they are not going to open the streets, just the sidewalks.
Because they are opening the sidewalks for peaceful public protest, they are going to be putting up a bunch of porta-potties along the sidewalks for the peaceful protesters to peacefully pee.
He also said that everybody needs to allow the protesters who are going to protest anyway to protest peacefully and to give them space, i.e., the sidewalks, where they're going to have port-a-potties when they need to pee in peace, or maybe pee for peas.
And also, they're not removing their tactical methods, but they're going to work in a way to make the optics of the police operations appear to be less in your face.
But they will do what they need to do if the crowd gets violent.
Those are the steps that the governor, the police chief says, is going to take Tom Jackson's his name.
And after he met with the local representative, the NAALCP, the community relations person from the Justice Department and local clergy.
So they're going to open the sidewalks for peaceful protest, put up port-a-potties for peaceful protesters to pee in peace, or for peace.
And everybody needs to allow the protesters who are going to protest anyway.
He said, look, it's going to happen.
So we need to let them do it peacefully, give them space, the sidewalks.
But they are not going to remove any of their tactical methods of dealing with unrest, but they are going to search for ways to make the optics of what the police do look to be less in your face.
But even having said that, they will do what they need to do if the crowd gets violent.
That's the police chief.
Yeah, we go back to St. Louis.
Jackie, great to have you.
Thank you for waiting.
You're next on the Rush Lindbaugh program.
Hello.
Hello.
Can you hear me?
Yeah, here you're fine.
You won't be able to hear me, but I hear you.
Okay.
What I wanted to say to the man that called in from Ferguson saying that he's a resident, what I wanted him to know is that this type of thing is happening all over from St. Louis City to St. Louis County and it's widespread.
Now, I know it's probably an inconvenience for them out there, but this is who they pay their taxes to, and their officers are the ones that did the killing.
And I think that this needs to be arrested, actually, and put in jail.
And when they speak of the crowd, it's like mob action.
And it raises the eyebrow because they say the Ku Klux Klan is a social group, and they are bent on murder, killing, harassment, intimidation.
Now, the looting part, hello, hold up, I'm talking.
Hold up.
The looting part, I disagree with that.
I don't think anybody should have been looting.
And I think that those reporters should not have been harassed or touched.
And that some charges ought to be filed against the police department because they're out here to do a job.
And their job is to give coverage on both sides of what's going on.
And then by them acting in a manner as if they had something to hide.
Jackie, when you say this is happening all over the city and the county, what is happening all over the city and county?
Young people, and I'm not going to say just black, of the minority race, because you have some whites that have been killed, but not as many as the minority have been.
So you mean the cops are shooting people all over the city and the county?
Pretty much, yes.
And these people do not even have a career.
You can look at how many people have been released from jail.
Tons of them.
Because of lies or tampered DNA evidence.
And when it's retried again, these people have spent 20, 30 years in jail, and they get out like you can't replace the time that you stolen, nor can you replace the light that you're taking.
Right.
So, but I'm still stuck.
You say this is happening all over the city and the county.
It's more than just this one incident.
More than one incident.
Okay.
But why is this the only one that we're hearing about?
Well, you know what?
This is the first time that there's been a stand made about it.
You know, I myself had lived in Firmington.
First time.
And I also have sons.
And they were harassed and removed out of the county.
You think the police have a duty to cover both sides of it?
Right.
The reporters.
Oh, the reporters have a duty to cover both sides.
And for them to be harassed and arrested, that is crazy.
And they even say that they didn't know there were reporters.
That's even more crazier because they had camera equipment and things they had to put up.
And no, I disagree with them being arrested.
All right.
So you basically, you don't believe the police in circumstances like this.
No, they got some good cops, but they also got some bad ones.
And they need to weed out the bad ones because just those 10, 20, 30 of them make the whole force look terrible.
They need to be held accountable for the wrong that they do.
And you think the Ferguson Police Department is protecting this cop that pulled the trigger?
That's a hard one to say because I'm not sure that they were doing it.
Do you think that they're actively really investigating this to try to find out who did it and whether or not it was justified?
Or do you think they're trying to find a way to cover this up to protect the cop?
I think they might have would have had the one to cover it.
But since they took this particular incident and turned it over to the FBI, it would probably be a better thing of it because me myself, I want to talk to the civil rights leader and I'm going to go talk to him about different incidents in different areas that have not been taken care of.
And that's been a lot of time.
That's some news there, folks, that this is happening all over St. Louis.
Yes, it's all over.
Really?
For some strange reason, all those other incidents are not getting the attention this one's getting.
The only reason this is getting a lot of attention because there was a lot of damage being caused, and the people were out there.
And I guess they just had had it to the last.
Okay, so this one's getting attention because the victims had had enough and finally stood up and said something about.
Okay, Jackie, I appreciate the call.
Thank you.
Thanks very much.
I've got to say a brief time out here, folks, but we'll be back.
Don't go away.
No, no, I think I know what Jackie meant when she said it happens all the time, but we only hear about certain instances of it.
I know exactly what that means.
She's not talking about the cops.
She's just talking about the level of crime in neighborhoods in general.
We'll be back.
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