Short Memo to the Police Chief of Ferguson, Missouri: 1. You Are Not Helping. 2. So Please Shut the Fuck Up.

The police chief of Ferguson, whose cops have been fired from riot control duties for gross incompetence, responded by trying to run a smear campaign against Michael Brown, the man that his officer allegedly murdered.

The state police commander on the scene was pissed off about that, commenting that there was no need to release that information. Well, yes, there is a need, if you're a vicious pea-brained clown who is trying to protect his own ass and to keep a riot going.

And the cops still haven't figured out that showing up in riot gear before the riot is a bad thing.

For most of Friday night, a festive atmosphere reigned in Ferguson as hundreds of people lined a two-block stretch of West Florissant Avenue, waving at honking cars slowly passing by, but shortly after midnight, the situation turned volatile as police showed up in riot gear.

The several hundred protesters who had remained had been fairly peaceful but stood in a face-off with police at the corner of West Florissant and Ferguson avenues.

The groups stood about 20 feet away from one another, some police officers pointing guns at the crowd, some protesters pointing cameras at police. Police told the crowd over a loudspeaker to disperse immediately. Some in the crowd threw a few bottles at police, who didn’t initially react.

After several minutes, police turned and left, but as they retreated, they sprayed smoke bombs and threw sound cannons at the crowd. Some responded by throwing more bottles.

And there is a good reason why the Feds are looking into it: The local prosecutor is a wannabee cop who consistently has their backs, no matter what they do. I'm not saying that in St. Louis County, that the cops could machinegun a busload of nuns and kindergarteners who are holding puppies and get away with it, but you shouldn't be surprised if they did.