"First of all, peaceful protest is good. If you feel something is unfair, you should demonstrate your dissent. But responsibility goes along with protest, especially if your actions are causing distress to other people. You need to know what you are talking about. The claim that American police are hunting down young black men is a lie. However, in some places African-Americans are not treated with the proper respect - that is true, and if you deny that you are not living in the real world. Now, The Factor has learned that the New York City protests are being coordinated by hard core far-left activists. The main group seems to be 'This Stops Today,' a group of professional agitators who use social media to organize confrontations. The demonstrations you are seeing are well-planned disruptions from professional anti-establishment provocateurs. It is the American system that is being attacked by these people, not the sagas of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The deaths of those two men are being used by the far left to foment unrest. The Factor has learned that the radical left SEIU labor union is heavily involved in the protests, as are a number of other groups funded by the shadowy radical George Soros. One person who has emerged as a voice of reason is Eric Garner's daughter, Erica, who has said she doubts this was a 'racial issue.' It was brave of her to downplay the racial aspect, but many politicians are not doing that. Hillary Clinton said this: 'African American men are still more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with crimes, and sentenced to longer prison terms.' Mrs. Clinton well knows why young black men are scrutinized by police, and also why they get more jail time. It goes to guns and drugs. Inner-city drug gangs like the ones in Chicago are a plague upon the land, murdering thousands of innocent people, destroying poor neighborhoods. When was the last time you heard Hillary Clinton or most other politicians put that on the table?"

The Factor invited Geraldo Rivera to evaluate the Talking Points Memo and the recent protests. "To a certain extent," Rivera began, "what you said is wishful thinking. Having waded through two of those demonstrations in New York City, I can tell you that the vast majority of the people I saw were young people motivated by sincere outrage and coordinated by social media. Minimum wage protests are orchestrated by SEIU and other unions, but what I saw in New York was a millennial generation finally getting their faces away from the computer screen and putting their butts on the line. They are motivated by a sense that there is a great racial divide in this country and black people are getting the short end of the stick."

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, now a Fox News host, then gave his take on the racial divide. "I don't think anyone can not be terribly uncomfortable with what happened to Eric Garner," he said, "but there does seem to be an unusual level of organization. There were pre-printed signs that showed up on the streets within an hour of the verdict; I don't think you can say that's social media." The Factor added that many New York protesters did not appear to be grief-stricken. "I was out on the streets and it was a party. The atmosphere wasn't one of people grieving over the death of Eric Garner." Before leaving, Huckabee took a moment to blame government social programs for much of the chaos in poor neighborhoods. "The breakdown of the family is consistent with when we started saying it doesn't matter whether or not you have a dad, and when we started paying women to be mothers without a father."

FNC's Dana Perino, co-host of "The Five," recently took The Factor to task for "overreacting" to the protests. She entered the No Spin Zone to explain. "I agreed with your Talking Points Memos," she said, "up until the point where you said the Ferguson protests and the aftermath had set back race relations for years. I thought that was surprisingly defeatist for Bill O'Reilly to say. I don't think people who are in a position of responsible power like you are should give in to the notion that we've set back race relations for years." The Factor tried to explain why race relations have been damaged: "When people in America see footage of looting and disrespect to police and gross irresponsibility on the part of one race, they get angry toward that race. Maybe it's not fair, but that creates fear and anger."

Fox Business anchor Melissa Francis joined The Factor to respond to emails from some ticked-off viewers. One of them, George Clark of Connecticut, wanted to know why selling single cigarettes is against the law. "This is all about taxes and the tremendous tax on cigarettes in New York City," Francis explained. "There is $6.86 in taxes on every single pack! The police have a big incentive to crack down on this because the state and the city are losing money." Another viewer, Brian Coats of Michigan, is peeved because so many pundits ignore statistics that lay out the truth about police killings. "A lot of people get emotional and ignore the numbers," Francis said, "but this is all about the numbers. Every year three times as many whites are killed by police as blacks."

The Factor was joined by Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, who opined on the national debt passing the $18-trillion mark. "We've seen taxes rise," Dobbs groused, "on ObamaCare and Medicare and on the highest earners. But this money is going out the back door, primarily to entitlement and social welfare programs. We are a government out of control in every sense of the term. There is no constraint!" The Factor concluded with a lamentation: "The 'nanny state' that President Obama has created requires so much cash to fulfill the entitlement promises to 50% of the population. It has to stop or the whole financial system will collapse."

Last Sunday some players for the St. Louis Rams came onto the field in the "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" stance. The Factor asked radio host Ty Miller whether the players were out of line. "The athletes are taking a public stand," Miller responded, "pretty much like the athletes back in 1968 at the Olympics. The message is, 'My hands are up, don't shoot.' I don't think they're wrong for doing that, but this was not the proper forum." The Factor denounced the Rams players for promoting a lie: "They are taking a false narrative and perpetuating a myth that has angered people. I don't mind them protesting, but they have to know the facts."

Steve Edmunds, St. Augustine, FL: "Bill, you criticize those in the Ferguson case who jumped to conclusions without seeing the evidence. You are doing the same thing in the Eric Garner case."

Angela Ziock, Carlsbad, CA: "My husband was beaten by the NYPD and wound up in the hospital. Not all police are bad but some behave lawlessly."

Jim Paul, Wayland, MI: "Bill, was disappointed to see you and Krauthammer slam the grand jury in the Garner case. You guys need to put yourselves in the shoes of the police officer."

Singer Ray Stevens, aka the "Comedy King of Music City," has a new Christmas song that's worth checking out, as well as a new book called "Ray Stevens' Nashville."