On the Ground in Ferguson, Taboo Topics and Caviar’s Criminal Underground

Protests are continuing in Ferguson, Mo., five days after police there shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. We take a ground-level look at what’s happening there. Also: how did local police forces like the one in Ferguson end up with military-grade weapons and equipment? Then we look at how the situation in Ferguson is adding urgency to the investigation of a police shooting that happened on South L.A. on Monday night. Next, we talk to the host of a new podcast that examines the topics we all obsess over but don’t often discuss: death, sex and money. Finally, a peek into the strange and seedy world of the caviar black market.

Banner Image: Riot police stand guard as demonstrators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri August 13, 2014. Police in Ferguson fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters late on Wednesday, on the fourth night of demonstrations over the fatal shooting last weekend of an unarmed black teenager Brown, 18, by a police officer on Saturday after what police said was a struggle with a gun in a police car. A witness in the case told local media that Brown had raised his arms to police to show that he was unarmed before being killed. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni