Tragedy is hijacked for others' agendas

The ongoing protests and civil disobedience in Ferguson, Mo., is no longer about the police shooting of the "gentle giant" Michael Brown.

Instead, left wing organizations like LGBT groups, Planned Parenthood, abortion rights organizations and pro-Palestinian groups have co-opted the protests along with federal unions and climate-change promoters.

Virtually every liberal mindset is represented with professionally produced signs and paid protesters who hope for their 15 minutes of fame in the media spotlight.

As the two-months long protests continued over the weekend, more arrests were made as the protesters changed tactics and took their vocal chaos to an upscale shopping mall in St. Louis.

The protesters claim solidarity with other "oppressed" groups and demand justice. But their brand of "justice" is no longer limited to Michael Brown.

The definition of justice for these freeloaders is nothing short of an arrest and conviction of the police officer involved in the shooting.

And absent that arrest and conviction, the protest is feared to turn violent.

For the protesters, we've long passed the threshold of justice or the law. In their minds and in their actions, the verdict has already arrived. And for them, there can be only one outcome.

Trying to make a connection between the incident in Ferguson and climate change, for example, is a fantasy created in the minds of those involved. Rest assured, if the television cameras left Ferguson tomorrow, so would the bulk of the paid protesters.

Law enforcement has become the target of these protests because they represent the authority that these groups detest.

It matters little what their "cause" might be, they simply want to create chaos to disrupt what they see as "oppression."

What would happen in Ferguson if the law enforcement officials ignored their responsibilities and withdrew their efforts to safeguard property and individuals in that north St. Louis community?

That's a softball question because we all know what would happen.

It's a sad situation when anarchists use a tragedy to advance their agenda. The people of Ferguson are being used as pawns in a larger story and for most of them, they are clueless of just how they are being used.

When the head of the New Black Panthers promises open "rebellion" if the police officer involved in the Brown shooting is not convicted, that would seem to fit the definition of inciting a riot.

Yet our leftist Attorney General remains silent and his lack of response is a green light for those who seek to sow the seeds of violence.

I feel sorry for the residents of Ferguson for becoming a symbol of the dysfunctional society created by our national abandonment of civility.

They deserve better.