# Ferguson, MO **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 12, 2014, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354 "2014-08-12T04:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 86
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1701 "2014-08-20T20:08:19Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Coming from you, I can’t tell if this is supposed to be sarcastic or not. The words “lame stream media” provide your answer. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1702 "2014-08-20T20:09:28Z")
You would hope. But not always. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1703 "2014-08-20T20:10:05Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Coming from you, I can’t tell if this is supposed to be sarcastic or not. Not being sarcastic. What proof do you have that this officer had an automatic weapon? ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1704 "2014-08-20T20:11:13Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > ETA: I’d love to hear your defense of the British soldiers at the Boston Masacre. Crispus Attucks had it coming. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1705 "2014-08-20T20:13:20Z")
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: with allegations of threatening to kill journalists, confiscating food and water supplies from churches, expelling Amnesty International, and verbal racism, the police have done themselves no favors, even if the one cop is telling the truth about the key event. I don’t blame anyone for not believing their version of events, and even if the one officer isn’t prosecuted, that should NOT be the end. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1706 "2014-08-20T20:13:50Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > But the weak link is the notion that if you have the leisure to shoot a warning shot you must not have been in immediate danger. I don’t think this follows. You could argue that you were in great danger and the steps you took to minimize this danger were to draw your gun or shoot a warning shot and so on, so as to scare the guy off and eliminate the danger. Where has this argument ever been rejected? Marissa Alexander ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1707 "2014-08-20T20:16:09Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Not being sarcastic. What proof do you have that this officer had an automatic weapon? I’m pretty sure I never said automatic weapon (not sure if the weapon was automatic or not), though it’s a stupid hill for you to die on in any case, as it’s totally beside the point, unless you’re an absolute moron (hint: you are). Watch the video and tell me why you think your nitpick isn’t stupid (hint: it is). ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1708 "2014-08-20T20:16:45Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > Crispus Attucks had it coming. Nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1709 "2014-08-20T20:17:49Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > …ETA: I’d love to hear your defense of the British soldiers at the Boston Masacre. (post shortened) Could I be expected to do any less than the future American President, John Adams? A mob had formed to verbally abuse, harassment, threaten, and throw objects at the soldiers. Six of the soldiers were acquitted, and two were convicted of manslaughter and given reduced sentences. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1710 "2014-08-20T20:20:19Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > I’m pretty sure I never said automatic weapon (not sure if the weapon was automatic or not), though it’s a stupid hill for you to die on in any case, as it’s totally beside the point, unless you’re an absolute moron (hint: you are). Watch the video and tell me why you think your nitpick isn’t stupid (hint: it is). Did you actually view the title of your linked video? Or did someone tell you to post it unviewed? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1711 "2014-08-20T20:23:27Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > (post shortened) > > Could I be expected to do any less than the future American President, John Adams? > > A mob had formed to verbally abuse, harassment, threaten, and throw objects at the soldiers. Six of the soldiers were acquitted, and two were convicted of manslaughter and given reduced sentences. Got it, so it it never ok to stand up to authority? Boston, Prague, Budapest, Tiananmen Square, Warsaw, they all got what they had coming? ETA: Also, please explain why it matters if the officer’s gun is automatic. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1712 "2014-08-20T20:23:40Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Marissa Alexander Marissa Alexander has zero to do with this, best as I can tell. MA claimed she only fired a warning shot - there was considerable skepticism as to whether this was what she did. Beyond that, the alleged fact of her firing a warning shot was not used to prove that she was not in imminent danger - which is what you’re claiming. It was the fact that she left the scene and came back with a gun that did her in. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1713 "2014-08-20T20:24:31Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Did you actually view the title of your linked video? Or did someone tell you to post it unviewed? Yep, sure did, dipshit. My point had nothing to do with the type of weapon, because it _doesn’t fucking matter_; he could have been swinging a meat cleaver, for all I give a fuck. It’s the officer’s actions that are the problem. But you knew that. Or am I giving you too much credit? ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1714 "2014-08-20T20:27:18Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Marissa Alexander If Marissa Alexander had killed her husband or whoever the guy was, do you think she’d have been legally better off or worse? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1715 "2014-08-20T20:29:33Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: with allegations of threatening to kill journalists, confiscating food and water supplies from churches, expelling Amnesty International, and verbal racism, the police have done themselves no favors, even if the one cop is telling the truth about the key event. I don’t blame anyone for not believing their version of events, and even if the one officer isn’t prosecuted, that should NOT be the end. I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess it would be pretty hard to remain your chipper, cheerful self after 10 days of working overtime while the nice, peaceful protesters hurled rocks, bottles, Molotov cocktails and insults at you. Were it me, I’d probably tell them to go “f” themself too. All and all, I think they have done a very good job. By comparison, go see what happened at Kent State when protesters threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at the National Guard. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1716 "2014-08-20T20:29:43Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Yep, sure did, dipshit. My point had nothing to do with the type of weapon, because it _doesn’t fucking matter_; he could have been swinging a meat cleaver, for all I give a fuck. It’s the officer’s actions that are the problem. But you knew that. Or am I giving you too much credit? I wanted to know if that officer actually had an automatic weapon and I mistakenly thought that you might have some useful information. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1717 "2014-08-20T20:30:15Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Or am I giving you too much credit? Oh, you are. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1718 "2014-08-20T20:30:25Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > So last night, a cop (appears to be state police) in Ferguson pointed his gun at protesters and said “I will fucking kill you.” [Officer to protesters: 'I will f--king kill you'](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/20/1323262/-Officer-to-protesters-I-will-f-king-kill-you) Wow talk about becoming part of the story. Does the media officially outnumber the protesters yet? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1719 "2014-08-20T20:32:22Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Is evading arrest for the felony not a close enough nexus for the felony murder rule? (Assuming that Wilson learned that Brown was a suspect in the robbery during the stop and that this escalated the situation.) > > On the broader point, would you ever advise Johnson to admit the he was with Brown during a robbery in the absence of some immunity or some plea negotiation? It seems like a dicey move to me. Absolutely not. At this stage, I’d point out that what my guy says is absolutely key to a very public, very stinky mess, and ask for transactional immunity before he said a word. And they were no longer evading arrest as part of the predicate felony. The crime was complete. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1720 "2014-08-20T20:33:26Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > I wanted to know if that officer actually had an automatic weapon and I mistakenly thought that you might have some useful information. Indeed - you’re only interested in the “useful”, pertinent aspects of the situation. I also have no idea what kind of camera was used to record the incident, FTR - guess I’m a big ol’ dummy all around! You absolute cretin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354.md?page=85) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354.md?page=87)