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

Fox's Rivera: "I Submit" Jurors "Would Have Shot And Killed Trayvon Martin A Lot Sooner Than George Zimmerman Did"

Most Americans I imagine go their entire lives with little to no exposure to the criminal justice system. It takes stuff like celebrity trials or other salacious spectacles to put the legal system in the spotlight, which is messed up on so many levels, since they are the farthest thing from indicative of how things usually work. And yet they become the basis of commonplace armchair judgement for years to come after the fact.

Other than traffic court, I imagine most go their entire lives with little exposure to the court system, period.

Rivera's such a shitwad

Most people who will have an opinion on the Trayvon verdict probably haven't watched a substantial amount of the actual trial, let alone the whole trial.

yknow i'm always surprised at what a shitty human being geraldo is, you'd think i'd be desensitized to his shittiness by now and yet

you think people still clown him about capone's safe?

or getting hit with a chair

people forget he used to be even more of a sensational whore than he is now

This isn't all that relevant, but Geraldo Rivera is a graduate of my law school, and his big "gift" to the law school was this crappy "cafe" on the ground floor of the main student housing building, which is called Geraldo's -- a sort of institutional-looking room with carpeted walls and a neon, cursive "Geraldo's" sign. It looks sort of like a snack bar from a 90s sitcom. But the thing is, my law school is in the middle of a neighborhood teeming with good cafes and restaurants, so no one ever went there and they stopped running it as a cafe after like two years. So now it's just this sad empty room with a neon "Geraldo's" sign where occasionally a couple of people can be found studying.

omg that's hilarious

Amazing

did the sign have a blinking neon mustache?

man I can't find photos

yeah I can't find a good one either, although fwiw I think I am misremembering carpeted walls and it was actually wood-paneled walls. In any case, it didn't look like a real cafe and the sign was ridiculous.

aha!
https://irs0.4sqi.net/img/general/width960/15529028_0cdmKQSNuwyewlHYQcuzObP_0avGKWOh01eepE1H1y0.jpg

Found one--this is when it was under construction, iobviouslty

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aE_aWSx44U0/UOyNur-dj6I/AAAAAAAAQXY/eQIsVmiK7YQ/s320/19620-C201011-Top-40-OMG-Geraldo-Rivera-Capone.jpg

His autobiography is awesome, especially the part where he talks about his sexual prowess.

if I know BLS had that sign I probably would've gone there

*knew

oh here
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/02/05/nyregion/thecity/05gera_lg.jpg

maybe airport lounge or conference room is a more appropriate comparison, but the sign always made me think of saved by the bell or something like that

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121202154505/memoryalpha/en/images/3/3a/Ten_Forward_(bar).jpg

xp yup, looks like law school. i wonder if there's a standard "law school study lounge" look builders have on file. i was hoping it'd be like the Max, with neon geometric shapes and Ettore Sottsass style animal prints everywhere

defense attorneys are such clowns and meanwhile the prosecution is hitting hard at the end here "isn't it every child's worst nightmare to be followed by a stranger in the dark?"

i really think they're gonna convict for manslaughter. they gotta.

lmao @ Geraldo's

the actual picture of Geraldo's makes it seem much less bleak than I was hoping/expecting

that neon sign with the gifting statement below it is incredibly sorta lol but mostly sad.

jk, it's fucking MEGALOL.

law lounge looks just like everyones except the lighting scheme is like a weirdass starship flyover

it's very era-specific. everything is in the shape of an ellipse

i think i can hear sad lonely saxophone just looking at that fucking sign.

Needs a neon-animated sign of a chair hitting a guy.

10:20 a.m. ET: "Four minutes -- that felt like a long time to you, that we sat here and did nothing for four minutes? You get to think what Trayvon Martin was doing," said O'Mara. "Four minutes to do what? To walk home? Run home? The four minute mile was broken when I was like, 12… I do know you can run a mile in about four minutes if you’re in decent shape."

This is complete and utter horseshit. A "decent shape" mile time is like 6-8 minutes; he's talking about running as fast as top US high school athletes as being in "decent shape".

Rivera had gone forward in time to check out the Daft Punk record when tossing around design ideas.

I do know you can run a mile in about four minutes if you’re in decent shape

you know how athletic those black teens are.

ugh sorry, i just

12:51 p.m. ET: "This case is not about race, it’s about right and wrong. It’s that simple," Guy said. He asks them to reverse the roles and imagine Zimmerman walking home in the rain with a hoodie and Martin with "hate in his heart" driving around in the car.

"If it was Trayvon Martin who had shot and killed George Zimmerman, what would your verdict be? That's how you know, it's not about race. To the living we owe respect but to the dead we owe the truth."

omg legal jujitsu, a real-life invocation of the "A Time To Kill" gambit

I want to applaud at my desk

meanwhile a number of twitter conservatives are preparing themselves for riots

somehow I can see many folks' answer to this question

If it was Trayvon Martin who had shot and killed George Zimmerman, what would your verdict be?

but I mean if that works correctly then it should be eye opening for the person who goes "oh yeah in that case, guilty!" of course

How does a conservative person prepare for a riot?

I'm not writing very well formulated posts, but I just imagine the way many people would answer that question and it makes me feel worse, not better.
xpost

I found this one:

Kathryn Jean Lopez ‏@kathrynlopez 2h
I once had an odd exchange with Janet Napolitano involving existential matters. I'd tell you more, but it was off the record.

https://twitter.com/brokeymcpoverty/status/355750072073461760

boom

lol

meanwhile window breakers on FB are reminding each other in advance not to film unmasked people

"if you plan to take action to support trayvon, remember..."

x|

jury could have a verdict today if they're in agreement. nobody wants jury duty hanging over their weekend enjoyment.

reading transmetropolitan, just got to this bit:

http://i.imgur.com/DaqILtR.jpg

this stuff is making my stomach hurt

especially when i got tricked into clicking on a link saying the verdict's in and it was a picture of a dead kid lying on grass
fuck everybody