On Twitter, Missouri’s Democratic governor, Jay Nixon, calls for calm in Ferguson.

Hours after police in Ferguson, Mo., arrested two reporters and fired tear gas at protesters Wednesday night, state Gov. Jay Nixon released a statement calling for calm.

Nixon, a Democrat, has faced widespread criticism for not weighing in earlier as the situation in Ferguson continues.

His full statement:

"The worsening situation in Ferguson is deeply troubling, and does not represent who we are as Missourians or as Americans. While we all respect the solemn responsibility of our law enforcement officers to protect the public, we must also safeguard the rights of Missourians to peaceably assemble and the rights of the press to report on matters of public concern.

"I have been closely monitoring the situation and will continue to be in communication with local leaders, and I will be in north St. Louis County tomorrow. As Governor, I am committed to ensuring the pain of last weekend's tragedy does not continue to be compounded by this ongoing crisis. Once again, I ask that members of the community demonstrate patience and calm while the investigation continues, and I urge law enforcement agencies to keep the peace and respect the rights of residents and the press during this difficult time."

Spoiler: CNN went all in.

Here is the total time in broadcast minutes that cable news networks spent on Thursday morning discussing the violence in Ferguson, Mo., between police and protesters after the police shooting of an unarmed teenager last week.

CNN spent 152 minutes on Ferguson coverage between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m.

CNN

MSNBC spent 67 minutes on Ferguson coverage between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m.

MSNBC

Fox News spent 43 minutes on Ferguson coverage between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m.

Fox News

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“This administration doesn’t have the desire, doesn’t have the will to actually stop it.”

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Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas says people crossing the border could be terrorists or have Ebola, adding the Obama administration won't stop the border crossings because they view them as "undocumented Democrats."

"This administration doesn't have the desire, doesn't have the will to actually stop it. Because...they saw people coming across as undocumented Democrats," Gohmert said. "So they want to keep that surge of people coming in illegally. Even though it includes a big spike in other than Mexicans. OTM's as we call them. It includes a spike in people from countries where terrorism abounds. We have people coming in from countries where Ebola is located."

Gohmert added people could be coming across the border "with diseases we simply do not need," because they are getting unchecked.

"That's not fear mongering, it's just saying let's be careful."

Gohmert's not the first Republican congressman to suggest kids at the border might have Ebola.

Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia wrote a letter to CDC in July expressing his concern that migrants at the border could have Ebola.

"Reports of illegal migrants carrying deadly diseases such as swine flu, dengue fever, Ebola virus and tuberculosis are particularly concerning. Many of the children who are coming across the border also lack basic vaccinations such as those to prevent chicken pox or measles. This makes those Americans that are not vaccinated – and especially young children and the elderly – particularly susceptible," Gingrey said.

Rep. Todd Rokita of Indiana also suggest kids at the border could have Ebola in a radio interview last week.

“Ferguson, Missouri, it’s not the Congo. It is not China, It is not Russia. We can do better. It takes me back to the ’40s, the ’50s, the ’60s.”

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Speaking on MSNBC Thursday, Rep. John Lewis said the situation in Ferguson, Missouri reminds him of the 1940s, '50s, and '60s in the United States. Lewis said President Obama needs to declare martial law to protect protestors and keep the situation from spiraling further out of control.

Here's Lewis' full answer to question from Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC about Ferguson:

It is very sad and unbelievable. It's unreal to see what the police is doing there. First of all, Ferguson, Missouri is part of the United States of America. People have a right to protest. They have a right to dissent. They have a right to march in an orderly, peaceful, nonviolent fashion. And the press has a right to cover it. Ferguson, Missouri, it's not the Congo. It is not China, It is not Russia. We can do better. It takes me back to the '40s, the '50s, the '60s. To have a city that are majority African-American and only three African-American on the police force. Or to have local police officers refer to the protesters as animals. Or to have people dress in military garment and pointing rifles directly at the protesters. That is only going to incite people. So my own feeling is, right now, is that President Obama should use the authority of his office to declare martial law. Federalize the Missouri National Guard to protect people as they protest, and people should come together. Reasonable elected officials, community leaders and address what is happening there. If we fail to act, the fires of frustration and discontent will continue to burn, not only in Ferguson, Missouri, but all across America.

Here's the full segment:

As the protests in Ferguson continue, CBC chairwoman Marcia Fudge had strong words for the St. Louis County police department.

Ferguson, Missouri August 13, 2014.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

WASHINGTON — The chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus said in a statement Thursday the actions of the police in Ferguson, Missouri, reminded her of wars and uprisings abroad.

"An elected official was arrested, journalists are being assaulted and innocent, unarmed individuals are having weapons pointed in their faces for merely being outside of their homes," said Rep. Marcia Fudge. "What I saw last night reminded me of violent responses to uprisings in countries around the world, not here in my own backyard. We are supposed to be better than that."

Earlier this week, Fudge and other members of the CBC called on the Department of Justice to expand the scope of their investigation into the shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager who was killed by police on Aug. 9.

Fudge was strongly critical of the St. Louis police department, which has clashed with protestors since Brown's death.

"If the St. Louis County Police Department's intent is to deescalate the situation in Ferguson, the way in which they have proceeded is a counterproductive means to that end, and they are doing much more harm than good," she said.

Rep. Hank Johnson pivots off Ferguson to introduce the “Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act.”

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Amid growing criticism of the military-style equipment and tactics deployed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, a Democrat from Georgia plans to introduce the "Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act" in Congress next month.

Rep. Hank Johnson asked his all his colleagues Thursday to join him in supporting the bill, which he said in a letter "will end the free transfers of certain aggressive military equipment to local law enforcement and ensure that all equipment can be accounted for."

Images of assault rifle-carrying camouflaged police riding through Ferguson on military vehicles similar to the IED-resistant equipment used by American armed forces in combat have proven to be a jolt of energy for a long-simmering debate about police militarization.

In his letter to Congress, Johnson signaled that he expects his bill to break through the partisan gridlock in the House.

"Before another small town's police force gets a $700,000 gift from the Defense Department that it can't maintain or manage, it behooves us to reign in the Pentagon's 1033 program and revisit the merits of a militarized America," he wrote. "I hope we can work together on this important issue."

The 1033 program, instituted in 1996, transfers equipment the military is not using to police forces; the program has been approved as a very small part of the National Defense Authorization Act, a military spending bill that generally passes with overwhelming bipartisan support.

There are some initial signs of bipartisanship on the issue of ending police militarization. Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul penned an op-ed for Time Thursday in which he called for an end to the militarization of the police force but didn't offer any specific steps.

Outside activists who have been pushing the government for years to abandon police militarization are cautiously optimistic about the growing outcry.

"Organizations like the ACLU have been warning about the dangers of aggressive policing, particularly in communities of color, for a long time," said Kara Dansky, lead author on a June ACLU study of military tactics and modern police forces.

"I am encouraged to see that people are willing to engage in a conversation about this topic," she said. "Ultimately, we want the police to protect and serve communities, not wage war on the people who live in them. It's high time that Americans engaged in a conversation about that."

Obama comments on the ongoing situation in Missouri.

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President Obama urged calm in Ferguson, Mo., in remarks Thursday on the escalating situation between police and protestors following the death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown at the hands of a police officer.

"I know that many Americans have been deeply disturbed by the images we've seen in the heartland of our country as police have clashed with people protesting. Today I'd like us all to take a step back and think about how we're going to be moving forward," the president said. "This morning I received a thorough update on the situation from Attorney General Eric Holder and have been in communication with his team. I've already tasked the Department of Justice and the FBI to independently investigate the death of Michael Brown along with local officials on the ground."

The president added the Department of Justice was working with local authorities to find ways to maintain peaceful protests while avoiding "unnecessary escalation."

Obama also spoke Thursday with Jay Nixon, the governor of Missouri, who is traveling to Ferguson to make sure public safety is maintained.

"I also just spoke with Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri. I expressed my concern over the violent turn that events have taken on the ground and underscored that now's the time for all of us to reflect on what's happened and to find a way to come together going forward. He's going to be traveling to Ferguson. He's a good man and a fine governor, and I'm confident that working together he's going to be able to communicate his desire to make sure that justice is done and his desire to make sure that public safety is maintained in an appropriate way."

Reflecting on the death of Michael Brown, which the president called "heartbreaking," Obama urged a transparent investigation from local police into the teen's death.

"Of course, it's important to remember how this started. We lost a young man, Michael Brown, in heartbreaking and tragic circumstances. He was 18 years old. His family will never hold Michael in their arms again. And when something like this happens, the local authorities — including the police — have a responsibility to be open and transparent about how they are investigating that death and how they are protecting the people in their communities.

Obama said "there is never an excuse for violence against police or for those who would use this tragedy as a cover for vandalism or looting. There's also no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protests or to throw protesters in jail for lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights."

Speaking on the arrest of two journalists, the president said police should not be arresting journalist or "bullying" journalists "who are just trying to do their jobs."

The president concluded by urging calm in Ferguson and saying, "Now's the time for healing," adding to let the investigation into Brown's death run its course to see that "justice is done."

"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," he said. "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."

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

“I’m not sure why they’re not looting the tattoo parlor except that they might have some of the strongest, friendliest relationships there.”

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Republican Rep. Steve King made a number of comments about the clashes between police and protesters in Ferguson, Mo., following the death of an unarmed black teenager.

Earlier Thursday, in comments published by Right Wing Watch King said he saw no reason to be concerned of racial profiling because all the protesters were of a single "continental origin."

"This idea of no racial profiling," King said, "I've seen the video. It looks to me like you don't need to bother with that particular factor because they all appear to be of a single, you know, of a single origin, I should say, a continental origin might be the way to phrase that."

In an extended version of that same interview with NewsmaxTV, King said protesters were not looting a local tattoo parlor because their friends work at the establishment.

"They're not going to loot the gun store because there's someone in there with one," King said. "I'm not sure why they're not looting the tattoo parlor except that they might have some of the strongest, friendliest relationships there."

“Join him by signing the petition to stop Obama’s amnesty today!”

Ted Cruz's campaign sent out a text message Thursday morning asking recipients to "join the fight" to "stop Obama's amnesty today!"

It's the first text message sent since BuzzFeed initially signed up for updates from Cruz's campaign exactly 365 days ago.

The text includes a link to a website run by the Ted Cruz Victory Committee. The Victory Committee describes itself as a "joint fundraising committee" made up of other pro-Cruz groups Ted Cruz For Senate and the Jobs Growth and Freedom Fund.

A call to Cruz's campaign office was not immediately returned.

Here are the two texts from Cruz. One sent Aug. 14, 2013 and the other on Aug. 14, 2014.

The website linked to in the text message has a form for visitors to submit some basic contact info and a copy of a recent op-ed by Cruz that focuses on immigration.

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“The real problem is we’ve lost the professionalism of journalism.”

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Republican Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn called some shows on Fox News "totally not fair and totally not balanced," in a dig at the networks "fair and balanced" slogan.

"The truth is somewhere in between the three," Corbun said of MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News. (A livestream from local politics blog TheOkie cut out before Coburn made that comment.)

"There are certain shows on Fox I can't watch," Coburn said. "Because they're totally not fair and totally not balanced. I want all the information if which I can make the best decision."

Coburn was speaking as part of his farewell town hall tour Wednesday at the southeast campus of Tulsa Community College. The senator is retiring this year; he is currently being treated for a recurrence of prostate cancer.

Coburn was responding to a question about how he would "fix" media to focus on less superficial things if he was in charge of it. He said he also reads the New York Times and Wall Street Journal saying "the real problem is we've lost the professionalism of journalism."

After complaints from service members and lawmakers, military services now consider cornrows, braids, and twists as acceptable hairstyles.

The U.S. military eased restrictions on hairstyles after their policy of banning twists, dreadlocks, and Afros and regulating the size of cornrows and braids, was criticized as being racially biased against women of color, the New York Times reported.

AP Photo/US Army

In April, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered all military services to review their hairstyle policies in response to a complaint lodged by the Congressional Black Caucus.

In an Aug. 11 letter to the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Hagel wrote that after reviewing their grooming regulations, all military services — except the Marine Corps, who are still reviewing the policies — will now include cornrows, braids, and twists as "authorized hairstyles."

The Army and Air Force will also eliminate offensive language such as "matted" and "unkempt" from their grooming policy, Hagel said.

He wrote that these changes were in keeping with the military's efforts to "ensure fair and respectful policies for our diverse force."

The changes also included increasing the size of braids, cornrows, and twists and changing the term "dreadlocks" to "locs."

cbc.fudge.house.gov

From her statement:

"I'd like to thank Secretary Hagel for his prompt attention and response to the concerns expressed by women of color serving within our Armed Forces and to the women of the Congressional Black Caucus. Secretary Hagel immediately instituted a review process that has resulted in adjustments to policy language and grooming standards across the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. These changes recognize that traditional hairstyles worn by women of color are often necessary to meet our unique needs, and acknowledges that these hairstyles do not result in or reflect less professionalism or commitment to the high standards required to serve within our Armed Forces."

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Without Supreme Court action, same-sex couples should be able to marry beginning Aug. 21.

WASHINGTON — A conservative legal group representing a clerk of court in Virginia is asking the Supreme Court to issue a stay keeping the ban on same-sex couples' marriages in place for now.

In the absence of Supreme Court action, same-sex couples should be able to marry in Virginia come Aug. 21 following a decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday denying a request to stay its earlier decision ruling the ban unconstitutional.

Michèle McQuigg, the clerk of court for Prince George County, has asked for the stay to be issued by Aug. 20, a day before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is due to issue a mandate stopping enforcement of the state ban. She is represented in her defense of the 2006 amendment by lawyers with the Alliance Defending Freedom.

According to the filing, the request to Chief Justice John Roberts is supported by state officials — who have been opposing the constitutionality of the constitutional ban on such marriages this year — and a second clerk who is a defendant in the case.

"The last word on the marriage lawsuits in America rests with the U.S. Supreme Court. It has already said that lower-court rulings on state marriage laws should be placed on hold for now," ADF lawyer Byron Babione said in a statement, referring to rulings issuing stays in other marriage litigation. "The 4th Circuit was wrong to ignore that and deny Virginians an orderly, dignified, and fair resolution to the question of whether they will remain free to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Alliance Defending Freedom is asking Chief Justice Roberts to do what the high court has done before and stop this ruling from going into effect before the litigation reaches its end."

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring opposes the constitutionality of the ban but has asked the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of the case to resolve the issue with finality. McQuigg also has said that she will be asking the court to hear an appeal.

Clerk Michèle McQuigg's request to Chief Justice John Roberts:

Her notice on the position of the other defendants:

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“The guidance is that they’re using excessive force,” a Justice Department official tells BuzzFeed.

Police in combat gear in Ferguson, Missouri, on Wednesday.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

WASHINGTON — As residents of Ferguson, Missouri, prepare Thursday for another night of demonstrations following the police shooting of Michael Brown, six separate agencies from the Department of Justice are on the ground to facilitate community relations, investigate Brown's death, and according to a Justice Department official, keep the military-like police presence to a minimum.

"You're going to see less militarization on the ground thanks to guidance from the Justice Department," the official said Thursday afternoon.

Agencies from the department are following through on concerns about police tactics first raised by Attorney General Eric Holder in his statement on the Ferguson situation Thursday.

"I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and vehicles sends a conflicting message," Holder said.

Holder promised "technical assistance" to guide local law enforcement to a less militarized presence. The Justice Department official said advice was flowing between Justice Department officials and the St. Louis County police department, the agency in charge of the tumultuous scene Wednesday night. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon changed things up Thursday, placing the Missouri Highway Patrol in charge of the Ferguson scene and dismissing the St. Louis County police.

The St. Louis County Police were receptive to federal advice, the official said. The Justice Department has now offered assistance to the Highway Patrol as well, the official said. Essentially, the federal assistance comes in the form of conversations, the official said. Department officials with experience in dealing with large crowds and an angry, divided community reach out to local law enforcement leaders and tell them what they know. In the case of Ferguson, the official said, what they know is to not do anything that will lead to violence.

"Not doing anything that's going to incite," the official said, referring to the militarized presence. "They need to scale back on that."

"Right now the guidance is that they're using excessive force," the official added.

Half a dozen Justice Department agencies are helping to calm things in Ferguson. They include: the FBI, which is running an independent investigation of Brown's death; Community Relations Services, which is helping to facilitate conversations between local leaders, protest leaders, and community leaders at groups like the NAACP; Community Oriented Policing Services, one of the groups helping advise the local cops on the ground in Ferguson; the Office of Justice Programs; the Justice Department's Civil Right Division and the local U.S. Attorney's office.

In the short term, these groups are working to create space for dialogue between the protestors and community leaders.

"The long-term goal is to build community trust," the official said. "How do we heal, how do we bring the community back into the fold? There are a lot more meetings that are going to happen."

“We just need more data.” The Democratic senator’s potential second crack at changing sexual assault

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand still believes she can convince the last several senators who voted against her sweeping and controversial effort to change the way the military prosecutes sexual assault.

The New York Democrat's bill that would take the prosecution of sexual assault cases outside the military failed 55-45 in March, a surprisingly narrow defeat. In an interview with BuzzFeed, the New York Democrat said Wednesday she thinks she can "win over the last few senators" with a new, shifted approach.

Gillibrand has requested the raw data for all sexual assaults from "the four major bases, one for each of the services." Instead of focusing on the nine out of 10 service members who don't report assaults, Gillibrand wants to focus on the one in 10 who do. She believes looking at that smaller set of people will demonstrate the discrepancies in what the military says publicly on the topic.

"We just need more data," Gillibrand said.

When that data will be available is less clear: The request was made five months ago. It took four years for a similar request made by the Associated Press for the statistics on sexual assault on just one base in Japan to be completed, Gillibrand said. That report revealed that of nearly 500 sex crime allegations, only 24% went to courts-martial at that base.

"When a survivor speaks out and tells what happened to him or her, that is overwhelmingly persuasive," she said. "When we get that data, we will be able to assess it and say 'This is what the cases look like when they're reported ... This picture is not pretty either. This is a picture of justice not served.'"

In the interim, Gillibrand has launched a second initiative into addressing how college campuses deal with sexual assault with a bipartisan group of senators, including fellow Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, whose competing military reform bill passed unanimously in the Senate just days after Gillibrand's failed.

Gillibrand has proposed a handful of new policies and penalties for colleges. On Wednesday, she elaborated on one of the bill's key pieces: an anonymous survey filled out by sexual assault victims that would be sent to the Department of Education and published for the world — and prospective college students and parents — to see.

Gillibrand said schools wouldn't be able to touch the survey information. Currently, schools oversee Clery Act reporting, submitting their own number of annual sex crimes — a process many argue gives schools an incentive to make cases disappear. Gillibrand is aiming to remove the school as middle-man and introduce a higher standard of transparency into the process.

"Now, because the climate of the school is going to be public, their incentive is to clean it up, actually fix the problem," Gillibrand said — which may cause the most headaches for colleges under the proposed bill. There will be no easy, standardized fix; what contributes to a dangerous climate, Gillibrand said, is not necessarily the same thing at any two campuses. While discussing these potential factors, she actually brought up an example from her personal life:

"When I was freshman at Dartmouth, I received a note in my mailbox the first week as to where I was rated in my class in terms of how good looking I was — that sets a climate," she said. "I was a very young freshman and I didn't care and I just disregarded it, but that could undermine peoples' feeling of safety — that on their first day they're being objectified. That is not a great feeling for a young student."

Gillibrand also emphasized her proposed requirement that schools hire confidential advisers to thoroughly explain victims' reporting options to them — and addressed one notably absent aspect: standardized sanctions for perpetrators found to be guilty by their colleges. Punishments for those students currently range from book reports to expulsion.

While the senator said she personally supported a minimum penalty for those adjudicated as responsible and didn't rule it out for the future, the senators "didn't have consensus on it" prior to the bill's introduction.

Gillibrand's core pursuit, however, is creating incentives for institutions to be transparent about their internal climates of sexual violence.

"They have to assess, 'What are the risks in my school? What's causing these negative climates? Is it alcohol-infused? Is it sports-team infused? Is it a certain class of students feeling above the rules?'" she said. "That's their job, or they're going to get bad press."

“If the picture is authentic, at least from my point of view, it’s not memorable because I don’t remember the young man.”

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Former National Security Agency director Michael Hayden says a picture of him with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in the September issue of Wired magazine wasn't a memorable experience because he doesn't remember taking the photo.

"Mr. Snowden remains a defector, all right, whether he's a got a picture of me on his wall or not," Hayden said to NewsmaxTV Friday. Static in the recording makes the interview temporarily inaudible after the remark.

"I'm pretty sure in 2011, which is the alleged date of picture I was actually the guest speaker.,.and as I recall I gave a hell of a speech," Hayden said in the interview. "An awful lot of young folks were coming up and they wanted to get their picture taken so obviously Mr. Snowden was one of that group. If the picture is authentic, at least from my point of view, it's not memorable because I don't remember the young man."

Hayden has in the past called Snowen "a traitor" and has said Snowden had "evil intent" in leaking information.

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Brought to you by the Clinton Foundation.

Hillary Clinton stars a House of Cards-style video for her husband's upcoming 68th birthday.

The bill features a couple jokes about Clinton running for president, Chelsea Clinton's pregnancy, and Kevin Spacey breaking his character of Frank Underwood, who he plays on the hit TV show.

Here's the video:

youtube.com

Starting in Las Vegas. “We see ourselves as a disrupter of the disrupters.”

Uber is illegal in Las Vegas — Nevada's strict transportation regulations have so far thwarted all of the company's attempts to operate in the state's huge potential market.

Another taxi-app has quietly launched in Las Vegas, however, and plans to expand to New York, Miami, and Washington, D.C. The app, called Ride Genie, brands itself as an "e-hailing" app instead of a ride-sharing one — it only works with licensed cabbies, rather than the fleets of drivers hired by Uber and Lyft.

That willingness to operate with established (and often politically connected) cab companies is at the core of Ride Genie's ambitions: becoming an app to rival Uber and Lyft.

But Integrity Vehicle Solutions Company CEO Mark James, whose company owns the app, has a steep hill to climb. Uber is valued at a nearly $20 billion and is backed by some high-powered investors including Google, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs. Ride Genie is just beginning to scratch the surface.

Despite the challenge of that scale, James is looking far beyond the Nevada desert.

"We see ourselves as a disrupter of the disrupters," James said in a phone call with BuzzFeed.

Uber has dealt in recent months with several of its drivers have been accused of sexual assault and kidnapping. James hopes that because his app uses only government-licensed drivers, people might feel a little safer using his app.

James himself is a veteran of the Las Vegas cab industry. He ran several cab companies in Nevada; he eventually sold his way out of the taxi business and fully invested in his startup.

James said he's well into talks to expand into even larger cities, including New York, Miami, and Washington, D.C. There's also a plan to bring the app to an international city, though James won't say which one.

James's willingness to comply with regulation comes with a cost. Every time users book a ride with the app, there is a $5 surcharge in addition to the fare. James counters that by noting customers will only ever pay the government-sanctioned rates — no "surge pricing."

Ride Genie is hardly the first app to work solely with licensed cars. Other cab companies have built their own apps to provide users with the ease of the technology-based ride-sharing apps without losing money to unlicensed drivers.

But James said his is the first of its kind to unite various cab companies in a city to work with just one app.

"These are people who for decades have been fierce competitors, but have come together around a single app technology," James said.

“Crisis in Missouri.”

Newspapers around the country covered the clashes between police and protesters following the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old from the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo. at the hands of a St. Louis County Police officer.

Here are some of them:

Newsuem / Via newseum.org

Newsuem / Via newseum.org

Newsuem / Via newseum.org

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State Sen. Norm Sanderson’s office said comments about impeachment were made by “someone else in the room…and it was taken to be the senator.”

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper

Takaaki Iwabu/Raleigh News & Observer / MCT

WASHINGTON — A state senator in North Carolina made waves last week for reportedly telling a Tea Party group the Republican legislature planned to impeach the state's attorney general over the AG's decision to stop defending North Carolina's ban on same-sex marriages. But the state lawmaker's office said Friday it was someone else in the room.

According to the Carteret County News-Times, state Sen. Norm Sanderson reportedly told the crowd that Attorney General Roy Cooper's decision to stop defending the ban was impeachment-worthy and the paper quoted him as saying, "If he's not going to defend what we, the citizens of North Carolina, want him to defend, we need to probably impeach him because he's been a vocal opponent of the marriage amendment ever since it was passed."

Sanderson's office said Friday that the senator's comments were "misinterpreted" and the comments about impeachment were made by "someone else in the room…and it was taken to be the senator," said Sanderson's legislative assistant Kathy Voss. Voss said that at "no time has the senator discussed impeaching Attorney General Roy Cooper, the only discussion that occurred was relating to the intervention."

Several North Carolina papers picked up the remarks and a national reporter from Talking Points Memo even asked the campaign of the Republican candidate for Senate, House Speaker Thom Tillis, if Tillis would support impeachment (his campaign said he would not).

The Carteret County News-Times reporter, Mark Hibbs, told BuzzFeed he "stands by the story."

Voss said Sanderson was explaining that the legislative leaders of the House and the Senate could intervene and defend the same-sex marriage ban if for some reason the attorney general decided he would not.

"The comments attributed to him in the press as they relate to the impeachment of the state attorney general were misinterpreted," Voss said. "In addressing concerns related to the defense of Amendment One, he explained there was a statute in place that allows the senate president pro tem and the speaker of the House to intervene – key word — on behalf of the citizens of north Carolina to defend the laws of this state should they agree and if the AG fails to do so."

"He was asked about impeachment and replied that that is certainly an option for any state elected official to be removed from office under certain circumstances however that would be a decision made by leadership," she continued. "He then redirected the discussion to what he was talking about which was intervening not impeachment."

Cooper had announced last month he would no longer defend the ban on same-sex couples' marriages, known as Amendment One, after the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a similar ban in Virginia. The 4th Circuit also has jurisdiction over Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

When asked why Sanderson never asked for a correction, Voss said that Sanderson believed it to be a "a non-issue. He didn't say it."

"He has not stomped his feet or asked for a retraction. He was happy to be quoted on what he did say and what he did say had to do with intervening and not with impeachment," she said.

Conservatives pushing to limit the growth of federal police forces see an bipartisan opening after Ferguson.

Riot police in Ferguson, Missouri August 13, 2014.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Conservatives and libertarians who have condemned what they call a growing militarization of federal regulatory agencies are hoping the outcry over police tactics in Ferguson, Missouri, this week will bring a renewed focus to their cause and, for the first time, widespread bipartisan support.

In recent years, the number of federal agencies running armed police forces and using them to enforce laws and regulations has grown, a trend that has long troubled the coalition of libertarians and social justice progressives often linked on matters of criminal justice procedure.

Much of the debate over the growth of these police forces has been trapped in DC partisanship, however. After Ferguson, advocates are hoping that is finally going to change.

"I see a real connection. The new public debate on [militarization] is going to help focus attention on the regulatory side, too," said Walter Olson, a top scholar at the CATO institute who's written extensively about militarization. "There a lot of the same issues, and there are now really interesting possibilities for political coalitions as well."

Until this week, opponents of regulatory agency militarization most often cited the 2009 and 2011 raids of the Gibson Guitar factory in Tennessee. Around two dozen armed agents from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and other federal agencies stormed the factory as part of a larger federal investigation into allegations Gibson was using illegal wood in the manufacture of guitars. Eventually, the company settled with the federal government over the wood, but the image of guns and bullet-proof vests used in the raiding of a business over stacks of wood galvanized the tea party and quickly fueled conservative claims of Obama administration overreach.

Perhaps because of the tea party flavor to the outcry, or perhaps because progressives are likely to favor the strict enforcement of environmental regulations, the tactics used in the raid never really caused a bipartisan ripple in the political debate. Democrats, for the most part, steered clear. Progressives mocked Republican politicians who rallied supporters with rhetoric about Gibson, which they saw as a larger attack on regulations rather than concern about the raids.

But with a Democrat now leading the House charge to demilitarize police forces like the St. Louis County force that arrested journalists and lobbed tear gas into crowds of protesters Wednesday night in Ferguson, Olson says it could be time for the tactics used in the Gibson raids and other government actions like it to jump into the wider political debate. One prominent Republican voice, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, has also been vocal on police demilitarization in the wake of Ferguson.

Olson, like other close observers of the so-called "regulatory agency militarization" issue, are cautiously optimistic that Ferguson is finally putting their cause in the public spotlight.

"They seems to not be breaking into the general public discussion until now," he said. The questions surrounding the county police in Ferguson Wednesday and at the Gibson Guitar factory years ago are the same, Olson went on.

"Is more force being used [to keep people safe] or because the idea is to make more of a showing that law enforcement is in control?" he said.

Utah Republican Rep. Chris Stewart has introduced legislation aimed at reducing the arming of federal regulatory agencies. So far his "Regulatory Agency De-militarization Act" has no Democratic co-sponsors, but a staffer for Stewart said the representative has been out of the country, and the staff in his office focused on the militarization issue out as well during the long August Congressional recess, suggesting there hasn't been much effort to capitalize on the militarization moment this week.

Olson said he's hopeful a new bipartisanship around federal regulatory agency militarization will come, but he said the process will take time as the initial shock of Wednesday in Ferguson wears off and evolves in to a larger part of the political conversation.

"It's early. Give people time to talk about it. I do think people will find we have a unique opportunity for people to talk to each other who don't usually talk to each other," he said. "I think the chance is there that now people are focused on some of the questions that civil libertarians have been asking all along."