Let's talk about Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and how unbelievably fucked up this all is

jesus

is it standard to send armed police if you trip off yr medical alert pendant?

ogmor, I totally get and largely agree with what you're saying, but you do understand that sometimes people say "I wanna kill that fucking guy" without actually meaning it or intending to suggest that they'd use those exact words in expressing their displeasure to that guy.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20120410/NEWS02/304100104/Kenneth-Chamberlain-Sr-autopsy-released-Family-says-he-could-not-attacked-cop-read-report-

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-04-04/news/31283015_1_official-police-version-grand-jury-cops

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/326099/20120410/kenneth-chamberlain-police-racial-slurs-trayvon-martin.htm

xp yeah, but there's lots of shit its best not to say even if you don't mean it. anyway.

http://signon.org/sign/justice-for-kenneth-chamberl?source=mo&id=38418-6199198-CTTDgyx

a few more details: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-04-04/news/31283015_1_official-police-version-grand-jury-cops

heart broken

And...see, stories like that are what breeds those moments of impotent rage towards awful people who do awful things for no goddamn good reason.

if i saw a nyc cop get stabbed, i'd sit down on the curb and watch him bleed to death instead of calling for the reward

― candice spergin (cankles), Saturday, October 31, 2009 1:07 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I wouldn't, but sometimes, man...

jesus, first i've heard of that

san diego cops are pretty nice guys in my experience, highway patrol guys are whatever, they only pull you over if you're already breaking the law (speeding, cell phone, etc)

but if i saw a sheriff get stabbed ...

america just has a problem with "cop culture" ... i think there's just too many people out there who buy into this idea that cops are the only thing standing in the way of total societal breakdown a la dirty harry, charles bronson, robocop, etc, like if cops didn't carry guns america would turn into a mad max style wasteland in a matter of weeks.

^ yeah, this is a real problem, imo. coupled with this is an ever-increasing acceptance of the idea that the danger & necessity of police work renders almost any sort of "collateral damage" acceptable. throw in america's general apathy about abuses of power, and cops are basically never held accountable for anything they do. you just hope never to run into them, and if you do, you hope that they don't happen to take killing offense to your "attitude" or w/e.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/george-zimmermans-legal-team-withdraws-council

“We have lost contact with him, we are not sure what he’s doing,” the lawyers said

^^^bit early maybe to rest much on it, but can't say this is a development that astonishes me

coupled with this is an ever-increasing acceptance of the idea that the danger & necessity of police work renders almost any sort of "collateral damage" acceptable.

see also: the "freedom isn't free" get out of jail card americans give their soldiers ("oh yeah, it's easy to criticize our troops while you sit there in your prius drinking a latte, i'm sure you would rather live in a taliban state") and the fact that many police (in san diego at least) are former military and yeah

formula for impunity

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/images/trayvonmartinrally7.jpg

dude

um

well i say good on don king for that

It is difficult to stoke the flames of righteous ire in the face of painfully stupid hair

truthconk

omg lol

t's easy to criticize our troops while you sit there in your prius drinking a latte,

never understood this: it's way too easy to spill a latte in a Prius.

whoa @ that link from mark s.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/george-zimmerman-attorney-hold-press-conference-4-30pm-203437097.html

yeah, i had not heard that white plains thing before now, fuck the entire world

ogmor was otm earlier and his is a worthwhile perspective to keep when talking about people who upset you deeply or do harm to others

The attorneys say they know of Zimmerman's location and have his personal phone number but have been unable to reach him directly for 48 hours. "George can't go out and buy a Diet Coke. There's a bounty on his head," Uhrig said.

those attorneys sound like straight up regular joe paranoid rightwingers, it's kinda bizarre

anyway i know we don't actually talk about the case itself here anymroe for whatever reason but this was on the front page of the NYT today: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/us/grand-jury-review-skipped-in-trayvon-martin-case.html

takeaway - the prosecutor seems to be p terrible but tends to bring a lot of charges, so the chances that zimmerman'll be charged seem OK

convicted is a whole other matter

I read the article this morning too and didn't think she was terrible...? She's in an impossible political position. Charges are still possible.

Profile on her is...interesting? Not sure what it portends for the case.

The attorneys say they know of Zimmerman's location and have his personal phone number but have been unable to reach him directly for 48 hours. "George can't go out and buy a Diet Coke. There's a bounty on his head," Uhrig said.

is this a fat joke?

― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, April 10, 2012 5:22 PM (1 minute ago)

actually i can imagine how he'd feel threatened - i've seen a fair amount of this. i mean he should be in a jail cell awaiting trial right now, so let's not feel too bad for him, but given the magnitude of this case i could understand the feeling

oh "fat joke", nvm me

convicted is a whole other matter

― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, April 10, 2012 5:25 PM (3 minutes ago)

well this is up to the jury eh, but that article also implies corey has a pretty high conviction rate

No "evidence whatsoever from the time the earth cooled until right this minute" that Zimmerman is a racist

On the other hand, we just quit representing him because he is totes 1 x luny and we can seriously do nothing for him from now till the exploding sun swallows time itself

During that press conference, they revealed that Zimmerman had had a conversation with Hannity.

"We learned that he had contacted Sean Hannity of Fox News directly, not through us, and we believe, I can't confirm this, we believe that he spoke directly with Sean, off the record, and he's not even willing to tell us what our client told him," attorney Hal Uhrig said.

so apparently zimmerman tried to contact the prosecutor too?

Zimmmerman is now taking his cues straight from Sarah Palin's playbook and is "Going Rogue".

A man who hires lawyers then shakes them before representing himself as he contacts any number of folks he really has no businesses contacting has a racist crazy fool for an ex-client, or something.

so apparently zimmerman tried to contact the prosecutor too?

― swaghand (dayo), Tuesday, April 10, 2012 6:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

crazy murderer is crazy

"A man who hires lawyers"

I think there is an open question as to whether this is true of Zimmerman or not. Current weirdness makes slightly more sense if lawyers were supplied to/opposed upon him, as some have suspected.

"We learned that he had contacted Sean Hannity of Fox News directly, not through us, and we believe, I can't confirm this, we believe that he spoke directly with Sean, off the record, and he's not even willing to tell us what our client told him," attorney Hal Uhrig said.

Hannity-mental patient privilege

Zimmerman didn't break the law, Uhrig said, and was justified in shooting to kill.

"Many people remember the case of Liam Neeson's wife, who fell on a little ski slope, hit her head one time on the ground and died," Uhrig said. "We're familiar with shaken baby syndrome. You shake a baby, the brain shakes around inside the skull, you can die."

where's the bill to arm skiers and babies

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/10/obama-buffett-rule-santorum-live

(starts out about Santo, but includes coverage of the press conference)

This press conference is now degenerating into a shouting match. It's moments such as this that makes one suspect that the American legal system may have one or two minor flaws.

"Sir, can you give us a recap for those of us who came in late?" asks a journalist. "I can't," giggles Uhrig. That about sums it up.

I'm starting to wonder if his lawyers are actually The Yes Men.

lol shaken baby is fake

wait, according to him you can die by shaking a baby

the baby explodes, taking you with it

i think unfrozen floridian lawyer Uhrig's point is to reinforce the idea that a) zimmerman was getting his head knocked on the ground and b) that's life threatening even if it's not very forceful. b) is true enough but it's a) that he's really pushing

as an aside, 'shaken baby' has come under increasing medical and legal scrutiny recently. it's a popularized thing but probably not a 'syndrome', and people have been put away for murder when the evidence was veeery sketchy.