StrangeSox

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 04:34 PM) Which is frightening. I used to have cap guns as a kid, but they looked nothing like a real gun. Well not nothing like, but certainly not anything as close as the one in the picture. Actually I remember as a kid, I sawed off the plastic barrell of a cap gun, exposing the short metal chamber inside. If you put a jumping jack or bottle rocket into the barrell, which was a loose fit, and fire the cap gun, it would ignite the firework. Instant rocket launcher! I'm kind of surprised I still have all my fingers. Also happy I never tried to make them look like a real gun. Here's an Airsoft AR-15 right below a real AR-15. Paint that orange tip black and it's indistinguishable.

that looks remarkably like the toy gun I took the orange tip off of when I was little.

I don't know why they make airsoft guns that are essentially indistinguishable from the real thing if you remove the orange tip.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 03:48 PM) Uh, disagree completely. That struggle - what happened, how it happened, etc. - sets the stage for how Wilson can act afterwards. If he was attacked, if Brown went after the gun, if Wilson was injured, Brown could have been 10-15 feet away and just motioned in Wilson's direction and I'd be fine with Wilson shooting him. The threat of danger was real given what he just went through. Brown is a person who just fought with a cop and tried to get his gun. He's capable of anything. He was at least 30 feet away from Brown, and I'm pretty sure the law is not on your side with that interpretation. But we're still back to there not being any evidence, leaked or otherwise, that we know about at this point that supports Brown making a move at Wilson. Maybe there are some witnesses we don't know about who testified to the GJ, but what's publicly known contradicts that claim. She explicitly disavowed the conclusion the reporter stated in her piece. Which is good, because you can't even draw the conclusion the reporter stated from an autopsy result. You also can't know what the reporter did or didn't summarize because we don't have a transcript of their verbal conversation. It's equally possible that the reporter simply misunderstood what she was being told and ran with it because it'd be a big story (and it was!)

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 03:24 PM) I don't think anything "completely" clears him. We'll never have that. Obviously I'm assuming what we've read is true. If it's true, I don't think charges should be brought. You've got the forensic report that says he was shot from close range in the thumb. There were reports that Wilson got punched. Brown's blood all over Wilson and the car. I still think the independent med. examiner who told the reporter the forensics matched Wilson's story that Brown was not surrendering, and the retraction that was really not a retraction, is persuasive. Obviously I don't know. I'm not given the evidence like the grand jury. But if all of those things I've read are true, I do not think charges would be appropriate. You've got a guy that attacked a cop, tried to grab his gun and got shot. Other than some witnesses - whose eye-witness testimony is always unreliable right? - everything else seems to support Wilson's story or at least the story as laid out by the police dept. Throw in the way the states attorney is handling this - multiple prosecutors, everything being transcribed, promises to be open and transparent - I mean obviously there's public pressure here to do SOMETHING. Nobody disputes that there was some sort of struggle at the car. Really, though, whether Brown attacked Wilson or Wilson grabbed Brown isn't really relevant. Even if we go with what's reported as Wilson's version of events, we're still left with Brown turning and running away from Wilson and Wilson chasing after him. At that point, he doesn't have justification to use deadly force on Brown. It's pretty confusing to me to hear people say (and you're not the only one) that the leaked evidence so far is persuasive in justifying the shooting. The only thing you've really got there Wilson's own version of events. Then there is the autopsy report, and I'm not sure why you take the reporter's second-hand version of what the medical examiner said over the medical examiner flat-out stating that she was misquoted. The autopsy report seems to conclusively show that Brown was not shot from behind, but it doesn't (and can't) say if he was shot at from behind, and it also doesn't and can't say if he was charging at Wilson or if he was surrendering. Even going with what's being reported as Wilson's version of events, Brown stops, turns around with his one hand (the one that was shot) held to his chest and his other hand raised out to his side. Up to this point, even, there's not a whole lot of dispute. It's at that point that we get the critical break in the story, with all known witnesses saying Brown clearly surrendered while Wilson allegedly claims that Brown charged after him. The autopsy report doesn't say anything one way or the other on that and really can't. There's no leaks of actual witness testimony, so there's nothing publicly known at this point that supports Wilson's version of events.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 03:22 PM) Does the grand jury's decision actually determine whether charges can be brought up? For some reason, I thought the DA could still choose to prosecute. He can but I'm pretty sure he's already said he's just going to follow whatever the GJ says.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 02:43 PM) No I'm saying if he were actually charged. Obviously the grand jury is a very important and necessary step. But to me, assuming that the evidence that has been supposedly leaked is true, there's no way charges should be brought. And just to correct what you said there, we have a criminal who attacked a cop that got shot. Not just "someone." An alleged criminal who allegedly attacked a cop and then ran away who got shot. What evidence that's been leaked do you think completely clears Wilson? The most that's really been leaked is "several witnesses support Wilson's version of events" without any specificity on whether they support a portion of Wilson's story or all of it. That's all we have at this point. Wilson's version of events and the public witness statements all more or less match up until the moment Michael Brown turns around. Multiple witnesses say Brown then surrendered while Wilson's leaked story is that Brown then charged at him. Nothing that's been leaked so far gives any indication one way or the other on that last, crucial part. edit: this is why an actual trial would be beneficial, so we're not just relying on leaked and vague pieces of evidence.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 02:35 PM) This is all being done to appease the masses. While unfortunate, I think that's necessary here. I really don't get this mentality. We have an officer shooting someone to death and multiple witnesses saying the person was surrendering. How is a grand jury just something done to "appease the masses" and not a completely legitimate inquiry into the killing of Michael Brown?

Sure, just like there were going to be huge riots when the Zimmerman verdict was announced.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 02:18 PM) A trial would be nothing more than a politically-motivated show. Unless there is some very strong evidence out there that hasn't been made public, there is no chance of a conviction. I don't see why that'd be the case. Short of there being witness testimony that hasn't been made public, all of the witnesses we've heard from so far don't support Wilson's version of being charged by Brown.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 02:15 PM) OK, I went from 83 to 64 and still no 21-13, though there was one 21-12. Yeah, I saw one 21-10 and I think a 20-13 but no 21-13. Not a whole lot of 21-X's all together.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 02:04 PM) No way that is true. it's true going back to at least 1984, I got bored of checking that that point: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/chi/

last year they set damn near every record there is to set for this franchise offensively.

Walmart organizes food drive for its own employees

Final report from the Republican-led House investigation on Benghazi:

I don't actually see anyone expressing sympathy for the parents or the dead child in this thread, though. Instead, I see them being called stupid. edit: except ssi71, who did call it a tragedy.

I'm pretty happy I didn't get shot to death when I pulled the orange cap off of a bb gun when I was probably about 11 or 12. My mom wasn't too happy with me though when she saw it.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 09:37 AM) Greg, the real issue is that most departments offer bonuses to any cop that gets into a shooting. The bonuses grow if the person is paralyzed or killed. And some even have kickers that depend on the age of the person shot, often increasing on either end of the age spectrum. lol so that's what the Saints modeled their bounty system on

All I need is 50 from Orton and I'm good.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Nov 23, 2014 -> 08:36 PM) I love the look on the face of the guy in the background.

this punter is pretty terrible

Luck's 4 fumbles are not helping my cause

jesus christ edit well I'll take that

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Nov 23, 2014 -> 01:15 PM) Cutler sucks. He can't throw a football to save his life. I have no idea what's happened to him this year. He's always been prone to making dumb decisions and causing a turnover, but this year he's just been pretty bad all around. He's missing routine throws. Not that last play, though. That was on the WR.

yeah that's definitely the cause of it