# WTF Baltimore? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677 "2015-04-27T22:01:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/121 "2015-04-28T15:13:29Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > When there is no violence, it’s alright to resume protesting. > That’s police work. If police are not hobbled by city leaders who are ok with giving space those who want to destroy. > You go in and you arrest the violent offenders. If the “peaceful protesters” interfere with your work, however peacefully, you arrest them too. > You don’t establish beforehand. When the violence starts, the “right to peacefully protest” ends. Until violence stops. So how much time do you give protesters to clear the area before you start arresting everyone? So your plan is to wait until violence starts? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/122 "2015-04-28T15:14:33Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > I actually posted the clarification. Which you continue to ignore. So what? And you’re still hammering the original, believing she would actually set aside areas for violence. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/123 "2015-04-28T15:16:47Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Because mind control has not been invented yet. Why would you need mind control to prevent rocks from being thrown from within a crowd? Why don’t the police just disperse all protesting crowds? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/124 "2015-04-28T15:17:20Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > So what about the violence that’s already taken place? Someone throws a rock from a crowd. The police go in to get them and stop them from throwing any more. That’s still a rock thrown, isn’t it? Why aren’t the police ensuring that no rocks can be thrown at all? There are video’s of the rioters, looters, arsonists, and terrorists. They can be arrested at a later, more convenient, time. If you want to know why the police aren’t ensuring that no rocks can be thrown, you’ll need to talk to the Mayor, or the Police Chief. I’m sure you can think of ways that police could ensure that no rocks can be thrown at all, but those would be your opinion. Go for it. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/125 "2015-04-28T15:18:28Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > So how much time do you give protesters to clear the area before you start arresting everyone? > So your plan is to wait until violence starts? Well, first you parachute in some troops on motorcycles… ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/126 "2015-04-28T15:21:58Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > And you’re still hammering the original, believing she would actually set aside areas for violence. The Mayor said what she said. I’m not responsible for what she actually said. I’m not responsible for her office issuing a clarification, either. But the Mayor is now denying that she made her original statement. She’s blaming others for twisting the worlds she actually spoke. That’s the downside to being videoed. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/127 "2015-04-28T15:25:30Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I for one do not think the rioters are as stupid as the right wingers who took the mayor’s comments so badly out of context. So CNN is now “right wing”? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/128 "2015-04-28T15:27:16Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Well, first you parachute in some troops on motorcycles… African or European? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/129 "2015-04-28T15:27:31Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Why would you need mind control to prevent rocks from being thrown from within a crowd? Why don’t the police just disperse all protesting crowds? You could issue the orders to disperse all protesting crowds. I believe you have the same authority over the Baltimore police as **Terr** does. Or maybe the orders not to engage the rock-throwing protestor came from the Mayor’s office? Don’t be so bashful, get out there and lead the way. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/130 "2015-04-28T15:30:10Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > You don’t establish beforehand. When the violence starts, the “right to peacefully protest” ends. Until violence stops. That sounds like an invitation for the government to incite - or even create - violence. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/131 "2015-04-28T15:32:45Z")
Not responding to your first post towards me since I think the question you asked was answered in this one you’ve responded to. Do say if I’m not right in that. > [@doorhinge](#): > > You could issue the orders to disperse all protesting crowds. I believe you have the same authority over the Baltimore police as **Terr** does. > > Or maybe the orders not to engage the rock-throwing protestor came from the Mayor’s office? Don’t be so bashful, get out there and lead the way. I’m confused as to why you’d want me to do such a silly thing. Do you have such a high estimation of my abilities? Thanks, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/132 "2015-04-28T15:38:16Z")
I take the “space to destroy” comment as a recognition of a reality – sometimes the cost of restoring order immediately is deadly force, and sometimes the amount of deadly force required to restore order immediately is not worth it. I took her statement to mean that the mayor and her team had made the determination that there would be fewer deaths and injuries from letting some parts of the unrest ‘burn itself out’ than from confronting it with immediate force. I’m sure lots and lots of bullets would have restored order very quickly, but restoring order _immediately_ is not always worth the cost. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/133 "2015-04-28T15:38:41Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That sounds like an invitation for the government to incite - or even create - violence. In this particular case, it certainly sounds like the original Rawlings-Blake (aka the government) statement could have been taken as an invitation to commit violence, if the listener was looking for an excuse to commit violence. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/134 "2015-04-28T15:41:19Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > So CNN is now “right wing”? So is [fusion.net](http://fusion.net/story/126587/the-odd-tactic-of-giving-baltimore-protesters-space-to-destroy-property/) I guess. So incredibly right wing. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/135 "2015-04-28T15:41:19Z")
It’s clear that the Mayor misspoke. If not, then she needs a communications coach, because this much explaining and interpretation isn’t good for a politician. During the press conference where she makes the statement, even the guy standing to her right, cuts is eyes, right after she makes the statement, as to indicate, “what the hell did she just say?” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/136 "2015-04-28T15:41:57Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > In this particular case, it certainly sounds like the original Rawlings-Blake (aka the government) statement could have been taken as an invitation to commit violence, if the listener was looking for an excuse to commit violence. Not to any reasonable person, no. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/137 "2015-04-28T15:42:36Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Not responding to your first post towards me since I think the question you asked was answered in this one you’ve responded to. Do say if I’m not right in that. > I’m confused as to why you’d want me to do such a silly thing. Do you have such a high estimation of my abilities? Thanks, I guess. I have great faith in your ability to get things done. The City of Baltimore would probably reward you for settling this rock-and-bottle concerto. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/138 "2015-04-28T15:42:40Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That sounds like an invitation for the government to incite - or even create - violence. How truther-y of you. ---
**Author:** ![Lemmytheseal2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lemmytheseal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemmytheseal2)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/139 "2015-04-28T15:42:44Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > So CNN is now “right wing”? Yes. It’s a “news” channel owned by a giant megacorporation. What else can it be? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677/140 "2015-04-28T15:44:53Z")
> [@Lemmytheseal2](#): > > Yes. It’s a “news” channel owned by a giant megacorporation. What else can it be? You’re right Lemmy. All things are relative. From your perspective, I can see how you would think CNN was right wing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-baltimore/718677.md?page=8)