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They've lined the streets with police in riot gear, brought in a new black commander with an empathetic manner, imposed a curfew, lifted it and deployed the National Guard — and still the violence erupts nightly in the town of Ferguson, Missouri. After more than a week of unrest following the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, law enforcement and political leaders are left struggling for answers to a frustrating question: What can we do to restore peace to the community?

Since the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown, the nation and the world have witnessed the unrest that has gripped Ferguson, Mo. At the core of these demonstrations is a demand for answers about the circumstances of this young man’s death and a broader concern about the state of our criminal justice system. At a time when so much may seem uncertain, the people of Ferguson can have confidence that the Justice Department intends to learn — in a fair and thorough manner — exactly what happened.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eric Holder talks about the nation's civil rights struggles in a way no previous U.S. attorney general could — by telling his own family story. As he increasingly pushes his Justice Department to protect voting rights and end unfair prison sentences and police brutality, Holder has drawn on personal history to make the case that the nation has much work to do to achieve justice for all. It's a legacy he'll likely draw on when he travels Wednesday to Ferguson, Missouri, to supervise the federal investigation of the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I'll tell you what. Let's listen to some Obama sound bites here. Let's just see. Start here at number two. This is yesterday afternoon in Washington, at the White House. The president came back from vacation. Oh, try this. People have been asking, "Why did he come back? Why did he come back to Washington from the Vineyard just for three days? What's the point? Just to meet Biden? Why couldn't they have had Biden go to the Vineyard?" Nobody in the Vineyard wants Biden there. "Oh. Well, he's gotta meet with people in Iraq and so...

After a preliminary autopsy revealed that teenager Michael Brown was shot at least six times to the front of his body by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer on Aug. 9, a retired Baltimore City police officer who was involved in six individual use-of-force shootings in his 12-year law enforcement career, told The Christian Post Monday that, in general, six shots is not an overly excessive amount of shots for officers to take when trying to take down an assailant and protect themselves. Robert Yamin, who was forced to retire on disability from the Baltimore City Police Department after being shot...

On Monday night, the Washington Redskins ran onto the field of play in their exhibition game with their hands up. The goal, according to safety Brandon Meriweather, was to “show our supporters what’s going on in St. Louis.” More specifically, Meriweather was referencing the supposed circumstances surrounding the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson; early witness reports stated that Brown had raised his hands before beings hot by Wilson. The Redskins were hardly the only people parroting the “hands up” meme – that meme has now gone national, with protesters and rioters in Ferguson utilizing it, hundreds...

It’s hard to have sympathy for anyone in the Ferguson affair — the cops, the demonstrators, the pontificating politicians, the exploitative media or we its pathetically loyal audience that keeps tuning in. The whole event plays out like the umpteenth rerun of the famous quote from Marx about history repeating itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. By that accounting we should all be at Aristophanes, Moliere or Groucho (pick your favorite farceur) times ten by now. Unfortunately, however, it’s farce with virtually no comedy, no humor. The Ferguson affair is a grim business indeed, particularly...

Authorities are responding to a report of an officer involved shooting in north St. Louis. It happened just before 1 p.m. Tuesday at Mclaren and Riverview outside a market. Authorities say a man walked into a store and showed a knife.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who yesterday said he was “thunderstruck” to learn how militarized police in Ferguson had become, signed off as recently as January on statewide participation in a Pentagon program providing local police departments with surplus equipment. In authorizing Ferguson police and other local law enforcement agencies to apply for firearms and other equipment, Nixon also directed his administration to “conduct management and oversight of the program,” documents show.

America is on trial," said Rev. Al Sharpton from the pulpit of Greater St Mark's Family Church in Ferguson, Missouri. At issue, the shooting death of Michael Brown, Saturday a week ago, on the main street of that city of 22,000, a neighbor community to Jennings, where this writer lived in the mid-1960s. Brown, an 18-year-old African-American, was shot multiple times by Darren Wilson, a 28-year-old white police officer with an unblemished record in six years on the force in Jennings and Ferguson. From his patrol car, Wilson ordered Brown out of the street where he was walking and blocking...

A story is coming at the Post-Dispatch, I assume, but for now this is all we have. Police sources tell me more than a dozen witnesses have corroborated cop's version of events in shooting #Ferguson— Christine Byers (@ChristineDByers) August 19, 2014 The only public interview I’ve seen with someone who supports Darren Wilson’s version of the shooting was Dana Loesch’s chat with “Josie,” and Josie wasn’t a witness. She claimed to be relaying Wilson’s own account of what happened. But then, go figure that locals who saw the shooting and think Brown wasn’t as innocent as he’s been portrayed...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Christine Byers is reporting that the Ferguson Police Department has over 12 witnesses whose account of the Michael Brown shooting matches the description the officer allegedly gave. Byers has proven to be very accurate in her reporting throughout the last week in regards to the Ferguson situation.

The Ferguson, Missouri police department released convenience store surveillance tape that showed Michael Brown allegedly stealing some cigars minutes before he was shot by a police officer. Aware that the release of this footage might look like posthumous character assassination of the shooting victim, Captain Ronald Johnson of the Ferguson police explained that the tape was released pursuant to freedom of information requests. Maybe, though the behavior of the police in other respects doesn't exactly scream respect for the Fourth Estate. Journalists from the Washington Post and Huffington Post were arrested, and a team from Al-Jazeera was tear-gassed. There should...

Holder will have a bipartisan congressional delegation with him when he visits Ferguson, Missouri, this week. Holder, dispatched to the city by President Barack Obama after the police shooting of Michael Brown stoked a week of protests, will be joined in the St. Louis suburb by Missouri Sens. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, and Roy Blunt, a Republican, on Wednesday, their offices confirmed late Monday.

It is long past time to speak the truth. The blacks rioting and looting in Ferguson, Missouri, are not oppressed, frustrated people. They are a pernicious and hardly secretive camorra. The rioters and looters didn’t steal food, or medicine for sick children; they stole televisions, clothing, DVDs, CDs, jewelry, cigarettes and the like. There exists no acceptable excuse for their behavior. Ergo, there remains only the truth: They are an ungodly, stiff-necked lot given over to rage and evil behavior. Even more egregious is the fact that they are encouraged and given emotional sanctuary for their condemnable actions by those...

[SNIP] Dueling narratives The officer who killed Brown says the teenager rushed at him full speed in the moments before the shooting, according to an account phoned in to a St. Louis radio station and confirmed by a source with detailed knowledge of the investigation. According to the version on KFTK, phoned in by a woman who identified herself as "Josie," the altercation on August 9 began after Officer Darren Wilson rolled down his window to tell Brown and a friend to stop walking in the street. When Wilson tried to get out of his cruiser, Brown first tried to...

Like what? Seriously, Mika Brzezinski, when you claim as you did on today's Morning Joe that Barack Obama has done "great things" on race, precisely what do you have in mind? H/t NB reader Ray R. Was it choosing to make the racist Reverend Wright his personal pastor? Appointing Eric Holder as Attorney Genera? Accusing the Cambridge police of acting "stupidly" in the arrest of a black man? Complaining about Americans who dislike him because they don't like the idea of a black president? Inviting Al Sharpton to the White House? Really, Mika, we want to know. View the video...

...."I hate that you and your family must join this exclusive yet growing group of parents and relatives who have lost loved ones to senseless gun violence" she writes in the letter published in Time magazine. "But Michael is much more than a police/gun violence case; Michael is your son." Two and a half years ago on Feb. 27, 2012, Fulton's son was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watch captain. The case quickly drew national attention as weeks went by without formal charges....

Following events in Ferguson, Missouri, I’ve been wondering: Where are the voices of black leaders who are not race baiters? Most recently, I found three such voices. Larry Elder was spot on as a member of a CNN panel. The clip is short (1.5 minutes) and well worth a listen. Elder who packs a lot into that short span of time ended with this: I hear people talk about how the Ferguson Police Department does not represent the city. So what? Are you saying that because the city has a certain racial composition you therefore can’t represent the people? If...

Who is the white guy who shot the black teenager in Missouri? By Nate Thayer August 16, 2014 We know precious little about the white cop, sergeant Darren Wilson, who shot and killed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. It is remarkable, in the age of social media, that so few details have emerged about the man who stands front and center in the living room of millions as an incarnation of American racism. Sargent Darren Wilson of Ferguson, Missouri police depatment Sargent Darren Wilson of Ferguson, Missouri police department There are no publicly available photos of Wilson. There...