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Category Archives: News & Views

George and the Great White Shark

27 Apr

shark (noun)
any of a group of elongate elasmobranch, mostly marine fishes, certain species of which are large, voracious, and sometimes dangerous to humans.

shark (slang)
a lawyer. (Derogatory.) :  Some shark is trying to squeeze a few grand out of me.

A guy in a bad trouble needs a good lawyer and now Zimmerman has one.

When George Zimmerman replaced his former attorneys with Mark O’Mara, the first thing he did was to go on television and express his sympathies to the family of Trayvon Martin.  It was a departure from the bluster and self-promotion Craig Sonner and Hal Uhrig engaged in and whose behavior toward their client was so unprofessional SLATE legal writer Emily Bazelon ripped them both in an article called, “George Zimmerman Needs A Good Lawyer.”

Mission more than accomplished.  Zimmerman has a good lawyer in O’Mara and the way he’s working over the prosecution in the courtroom and the press on television, he’s real good., and he showed he’s earning his fee as he dropped two jaw-dropping revelations on how much better he is than Sonner and Uhrig in appearances on CNN and CBS.

(AP) ORLANDO, Fla. – George Zimmerman’s attorney says a website created to raise money for his legal defense has raised more than $200,000.

Mark O’Mara said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 Thursday night that he learned about the money on Wednesday and will inform a judge at a Friday hearing.

Zimmerman, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 26 shooting of Trayvon Martin, was released from jail this week after paying 10 percent of $150,000 bail.

O’Mara says the bail amount may have been higher if the judge knew Zimmerman had raised $200,000.

Welcome to post-racial America.  Where you can kill an unarmed Black kid and fools will send you nearly a quarter of a million dollars so you can beat the rap.

In another “better late than never” revelation, O’Mara now concedes his client’s “apology” might not have been the best move (at least now after the fact that it worked).  Hey, not bad, slick.  It only took you a week to figure out what a lot of us knew as soon as we heard it.

(CBS News) The attorney for George Zimmerman apologized for the apology his client offered to the parents of Trayvon Martin during his bond hearing last Friday, saying he did not understand the victim’s family would find the timing of his remarks inappropriate.

“We had reached out to see if we could do it privately,” attorney Mark O’Mara said on “CBS This Morning.”

Mark Strassmann reported that Zimmerman had asked for a private meeting with Martin’s parents before Friday’s hearing, which was rejected. Their lawyer, Benjamin Crump, said Thursday that requesting a meeting a day before the bond hearing was “self-serving.”

At the hearing Friday Zimmerman took the stand and, speaking to Martin’s parents, said, “I wanted to say I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was. I thought he was a little bit younger than I am, and I did not know if he was armed or not.”

Crump told the press following the hearing that Zimmerman’s apology was poorly timed and insincere. “The apology was somewhat of a surprise because we had told them this was not the appropriate time, but they just disregarded that, and he went and pandered to the court and the media and gave a very insincere apology.”

O’Mara dismissed the notion that Zimmerman’s apology was aimed at the judge whose decision it was to release him on bail, but said he did not realize the family would think it inappropriate.

“My concern is, I didn’t realize that the way [Martin's family] had responded to me was through a press conference where they said it was too late or not an appropriate time,” O’Mara said.

“To be honest, had I known that – maybe had I seen the press conference – I’m not sure that we would have done it at the bond hearing, because the purpose of it truly was to get to the family and to respond directly to the family’s request. Had I known or been told that that wasn’t the time, it wouldn’t have happened. So, I apologize for that.”

To find justice, the Martin family will need the prosecution to better than they are doing.

This guy is disingenuous enough to be a Republican presidential candidate.

I’m pretty sure Tracy Martin and Sabrina Fulton would like to tell O’Mara exactly what he can do with yet another half-assed apology.

Let’s recap: Mr. O’Meara didn’t know his client’s website had raised over $200,000 until after he was sprung on a measly $150,000 bond and he didn’t know the “apology” his client made in open court to the Martin family was neither wanted nor appreciated until after he heard about it at their press conference.

I have to admit this guy is pretty slick. If O’Mara were any more oily he should have a pipeline shoved up his asshole and we could get gas prices under $3 bucks tomorrow.

I also have to admit I really thought O’Mara was more principled than the two ambulance chasers previously representing Zimmerman. Now I see he’s just a more polished version of the same sort of snake oil salesman.  Unlike those clowns who looked like sleazy hustlers, O’Mara is smart, savvy and knows how to work the media as anyone know who watched the bail hearing post-mortems where it was proclaimed he crushed the prosecution like the Miami Heat beating up on a rec league basketball team.

O’Mara is killing it for his client.   He ate the prosecution’s lunch at the bail hearing and served it back up to them.  They had better step their game up quick because while they’re playing checkers, O’Mara is playing chess.

$200,000 won’t buy Zimmerman his own version of O.J. Simpson’s “Dream Team” legal counsel, but like 10,000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea, it’s a good start.    If he keeps kicking as much butt as he has O’Mara won’t need any other $400-an-hour attorneys to help him.  So far he’s tap-dancing all over the other side and if perception is reality, the reality is O’Mara is winning  the perceptions game.

Instead of worrying if the defense can find 12 jurors to acquit Zimmerman, it could be tougher to find 12 that will convict him.

For the sake of anyone hoping Zimmerman is convicted for the death of Trayvon Martin, they had better hope the prosecution steps up their “a’ game the next time they square off against O’Mara in court.   Boy George has a real shark on his legal team and this one is a Great White.

O'Mara speaks to (and handles) the press.

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Posted by on April 27, 2012 in News & Views

 

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A Different Kind of “Media Bias”

24 Apr

Geraldo Rivera is best at being the worst.

As part of the National Association of Black Journalists media watchdog committee, I was given the task of coming up with nominees for this year’s Thumbs Down award for statements from the mainstream media that reflected a lack of racial sensitivity, bias, racism and just plain ignorance.

It wasn’t hard to come up with candidates and especially since the Trayvon Martin case has sent so many conservatives into full-blown ranting and raving mode.  Here are my four nominees for the Worst of the Worst and what they said that earned them a spot on my list.  Only one of my choices were submitted to the NABJ board for consideration, but then there’s no shortage of journalists committing high crimes against racial diversity and the profession every day.

Geraldo Rivera: FOX News host: “I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly not to let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as much as George Zimmerman was. Trayvon Martin, God bless him, an innocent kid, a wonderful kid, a box of Skittles in his hands. He didn’t deserve to die. But I bet you money, if he didn’t have that hoodie on, that nutty neighborhood watch guy wouldn’t have responded in that violent and aggressive way,”

"No, I'm NOT related Peter Griffin."

Phil Griffin, MSNBC President: “I’m sorry, I don’t care about journalists. … I want fair-minded, smart people who understand the world and can interpret it,” he said. “If they’re journalists, great. This notion that you somehow you have to have done something to earn so-called journalists’ credentials? Stop.”

"Hi, I'm Liz Trotta, and nobody knows who I am."

Liz Trotta, FOX News Contributor: “my favorite anchorman of all time” Lester Holt to cover the story with Tamron Hall, where they “had to agree to telling their experiences as a black person, how the cops would follow them, how security and police would follow them.” “Why do you involve your black reporters and anchors in this kind of framework that can only hurt their credibility?”

New York magazine pulled this image, but the mistake was publishing it in the first place.

New York magazine:  “Obama’s Gay Marriage Evolution Watch: Day 468” (02/27/12)

Editor’s Note: This post originally used a variation on an iconic illustration of the evolution of man, known as the ‘March of Progress’, which concluded with an image of President Obama holding a rainbow flag. The illustration was intended simply as a symbolic representation of the President’s self-described “evolution” on gay rights, but has been criticized for its similarity to various racist depictions of the President and African-Americans in general. While that was not the context of the image (in fact, Daily Intel has criticized such representations before), we recognize that images of this nature do carry troubling associations, and so it’s been removed from the post. We apologize for the offense it has caused.

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Posted by on April 24, 2012 in News & Views

 

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Back Off Mitt Romney’s Religion!

22 Apr

Hey, why's everyone picking on the rich White guy?

In six months I want to defeat Mitt Romney.   I want to beat him so badly he’ll never think of ever doing anything more ambitious than sitting around trying to count all the money he’s made closing down businesses and putting people out of work..   I want to reelect Barack Obama and kick Mitt’s ass back to Massachusetts, Utah, California or wherever else he has a home.

I don’t want to destroy Mitt Romney.   He seems like a fairly decent fellow and particularly so when compared to vicious scum like Santorum, Gingrich and Perry.   I just don’t want him to be the next president.  Nor do I want him to be the subject of bigoted attacks for being a Mormon.

While attacks on politician’s personal faith should be off-limits, one reason Romney has had trouble gaining traction with certain parts of the Republican Party are lingering questions about what Mormons believe in.  Now his adversaries are using Romney’s faith as a club against him too.

MSNBC’s Martin Bashir launched a broadside attack on Romney suggesting he might be damned for lying.

Bashir alleged that Romney has lied three times in recent days, speaking about Ted Nugent’s endorsement, unemployment under President Obama and a “vast left-wing conspiracy” in the media.

“It doesn’t matter how many times he hears the truth, Mitt Romney prefers to tell lies,” Bashir blasted. He repeatedly referred to Romney as “Mitt the Mendacious.” Then, he wondered how Romney would be punished for lying, and whipped out the religious text of Romney’s faith.

“In Section 63, in verse 17 of the Doctrine and Covenants of the Mormon Church we find this: ‘All liars, and whosoever loveth and and maketh a lie, and the whoremonger, and the sorcerer, shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death,’” Bashir said. “And from the Book of Mormon to Nephi, Chapter 2, Verse 34 we find this: ‘Woe unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down to hell.’”

“Given what the Book of Mormon is clearly saying, Mr. Romney has but two choices,” Bashir continued. “He can either keep lying and potentially win the White House, but bring eternal damnation upon himself or he can start telling the truth. The question for him, I guess, is which is more important.”

There are things about Mormonism that makes me uneasy and I need to learn more about how Romney squares himself with some of the most troublesome aspects.

But Bashir using Romney’s religion to bash him is scurrilous and repugnant. Legitimate questions about a candidate’s religion are not out-of-bounds, but Bashir took it way too far in suggesting Mitt Romney may be eternally damned.

Mitt’s faith or mine or yours is nobody’s business. Now when we take our private beliefs into the public square we may have to answer questions or how it will impact upon us or others.

For example, when I was recently called to grand jury duty I was asked if I had a moral or religious objection to hearing cases where the death penalty might apply. I confess to not knowing much about the Mormon faith, but I do know it has had a somewhat “problematic” relationship with Blacks.

You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind. . . . Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which was the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another cursed is pronounced upon the same race–that they should be the “servants of servants;” and they will be until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree (Journal of Discourses, 7:290; emphasis added)

 Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be (ibid., 10:110; emphasis added)

That’s “will always be.”  Nothing about it’s okay for a White man to bang a Black woman “x” years from now and for a Black man to screw a White woman?  Well, I don’t think we really need to wonder what Brigham Young and Joseph Smith would have thought about that, do we?

Mitt Romney is another case entirely.   It is essential to know how much of Smith and Young’s teachings he believes and what he rejects.   They are his own versions of Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

If every politician that ever lied were condemned to hell there would be no room left over for the real hardcore sinners.   Going Bashir’s route doesn’t prove Romney faces an eternity burning in hell for being a liar.  It will make him a victim of the worst kind of intolerance and turn off wide portions of the electorate were Obama to go after Romney based upon his religion.

The goal is to beat Romney, reelect the president, and deny a Washington takeover by the far-right G.O.Tea Party.  It’s enough for me that Mittens is wrong on nearly every issue.  That doesn’t make him evil.   Wrong is quite enough.

If the idea of pinning a privileged rich man’s ears back sounds like a good one to you, then I’m with you.  If you want me to help rip and shred Romney’s policies, cool.  I’m with you.

Go after his religion or his family and you’re going alone.   You win by being right, proving the other guy is wrong and you can do a better job than him.   President Obama can win the election by winning that argument.  A scorched earth campaign to destroy Mitt Romney because he’s a Mormon is simply religious bigotry by another name and that’s a bridge way too far for me.

There is more than enough in Romney’s sorry record to rip him to shreds without engaging in the worst sort of gutter politics.   Hardball politics doesn’t have to mean scorched earth.

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Posted by on April 22, 2012 in News & Views

 

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George Zimmerman: “Sorry” I Killed Your Kid

21 Apr

The killer says "I'm sorry."

George Zimmerman appeared in court yesterday for his bond hearing.  His attorney said his client wished to make a statement.  From the witness stand, the killer of Trayvon Martin addressed his parents and spoke in slightly accented English,  “I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was. I thought he was a little bit younger than I am. I did not know if he was armed or not.”

The Martin family had turned down a request from Zimmerman’s attorneys for a meeting.   Now face-to-face with him, Tracy Martin wept angrily and Sabrina Fulton had no outward reaction to the apology.  The family’s attorney, Ben Crump dismissed it as “self-serving.”

I thought Zimmerman’s “apology” to the Martin family for their “loss” was too precious for words. He even managed to work in a preview of his defense strategy when he added he didn’t know how old Trayvon was or if he was armed.

I see what they did there.

Benjamin Crump, attorney for the Martin family did too.

They feel it was just so self-serving, that it was one of those things that was not sincere,” he said. “We can only guess that his motive was to get sympathy. It’s 50 days later at his bond hearing, and for the first time he’s saying, ‘I’m sorry for killing Trayvon.’”

Most people are sorry.  Sorry after they’ve been caught.

Some observers thought the bond hearing was a major setback to the prosecution’s case as the lead investigator said he couldn’t conclude  if Zimmerman’s claim he was attacked by Trayvon was untrue, nor which one was heard crying “help” that night.

The natural urge to declare winners and losers is deeply ingrained in the American psyche.   There are probably odds being given in Vegas whether Zimmerman beats the rap and walks.

Here in the land of snap decisions and short attention spans you get instant analysis by experts on whatever is the burning controversy of the day.   Way back when it used to be the job of the media to simply present the facts and let the public reach their own conclusions, but apparently everyone is so much stupider now and must have everything explained to them or they won’t know what to think.

The justice system doesn’t work well with the 24-hour news cycle.  It moves too slow and doesn’t space its dramatic  moments out between commercial breaks.   This isn’t going to discourage CNN, MSNBC or Fox from offering observations that may be flat wrong, but any sentient human being should understand going in not to fall for the hype.

Zimmerman was given a low bond of $150,000 instead of the $1 million the prosecution wanted.  He will be released and have to wear an ankle bracelet to track his whereabouts.   He isn’t the most popular guy in Florida so he’s probably going to be confined to the homes of whoever takes him in and lets him sleep on their couch.

This is the process.  It’s a long, hard journey to justice and there’s no guarantee Zimmerman will be convicted or if he is it comes along with a plea deal to a lesser charge.

But I’m cool with whatever happens.  Despite all the hand-wringing and fears that Florida would burn to the ground, there’s been no riots and no rampage of Blacks running wild on the street lashing out in rage.

That’s not to say it can’t happen, but as the process plays out everyone seems to be playing it cool and waiting to see if justice is really done.

Trayvon's parents and attorney arrive for the bond hearing.

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Posted by on April 21, 2012 in News & Views

 

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So Stupid Even A Rock n’ Roll Caveman Can Do It

18 Apr

First the hair goes. Then the hearing goes. Finally the brains goes.

A few months ago there was some minor surprise when Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine came out for Rick Santorum and doubted the president’s citizenship. What’s notable is this is the first time the only guy to get fired from Metallica for being a bigger drunk than the rest of the band put together had said anything newsworthy in years.

Rock n’ roll Republicans aren’t all that rare.   There’s Muscatel Mustaine, the late Johnny Ramone, Kid Rock, Britney Spears, Meatloaf, and Alice Cooper who are all out of the closet conservatives.  You can rock and be right-wing.  It’s just kind of weird.

Then there’s the case of The Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent who is in a class all by himself and that’s no class at all.

Speaking whatever gibberish comes out of his STD ravaged brain at last weekend’s NRA convention, Nugent continued ripping into the president, saying the Obama Administration was “wiping its ass with the Constitution” and then he went for the part that will earn him a visit from some non-prostitute patronizing Secret Service agents.

“If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will be either be dead or in jail by this time next year.”

“It isn’t the enemy that ruined America. It’s good people who bent over and let the enemy in. If the coyote’s in your living room pissing on your couch, it’s not the coyote’s fault. It’s your fault for not shooting him.”

Credit Nugent for his consistency in his hatred for the current White House occupant. In 2007, he raved at a concert, “Obama, he’s a piece of shit. I told him to suck on my machine gun.” He then turned his attention to Hillary Clinton saying, “Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch”.

Would you let this man date your teenage daughter?

I enjoyed Nugent’s music more than Nugent’s Neanderthal politics until he made himself such an insufferable prick and his politics completely took over his music.  He was on Piers Morgan’s shitty show last week babbling about the Trayvon Martin case and it was obvious he didn’t have clue One about it.. Why does anyone care what an old rock n’ roll fart has to say about politics?

Sure he could still shred with the best of them, but the Nuge was never as good as he thought he was and his “poontang, poontang, POONTANG” rap was played  out years ago.  This was before he got caught playing hide-the-salami with some sweet young meat that happened to be underage.  (Professional train wreck Courtney Love claims to have provided her oral affections to Ted when she was only 12, but you have to consider the source of that information). How did Terrible Ted solve his diddling jail bait dilemma?   Why, by getting having himself appointed the legal guardian of his girlfriend and then he could legally bone her to his depraved heart’s delight.

My daughter, who cares nothing about rock music, wandered through the living room one weekend when I was watching an old Behind the Music episode about Nugent.  She sat down and watched the whole thing and at the end she concluded, “He’s an asshole.”

Nugent is a flaming asshole.   He has also repeatedly threatened violence against the President of the United  States.  Let’s see how long it takes Mitt Romney to repudiate a serial pedophiles endorsement.   Why Republicans like to hang around with this chickenhawk (in every sense of the word), I have no idea.Maybe they’re hoping to pick up one of Ted’s stray little girls?

This is nothing new for Nugent.  Being loud, vulgar and a loudmouth was part of his schtick long before he started looking like a redneck trucker.   His obnoxiousness has grown as his record sales have slumped and put him back in the shit hole clubs and state fair circuit.

Is this Romney's idea of "family values?"

Let’s also see if the same folks who were demanding President Obama return Bill Maher’s campaign contribution because Maher is such a horrible sexist will get their undies in a wad over the author of “Bridge Over Troubled Daughters,”  “Pussywhipped”, “If You Can’t Lick ‘Em…Lick ‘Em” and the always charming, “My Baby Love My Butter On Her Gritz.”

Gene Simmons recently said he regretted his vote for Obama in 2008 and is backing Romney now.  Maybe this is a change for Ted and his fellow man-whore to hang out and make shitty old fart rock together instead of separately.

After a hard’s day work on the campaign trail, there’s probably nothing better for Mitt to unwind and rock out to Love Grenade (NSFW) for his listening pleasure.  I’m sure Mrs. Romney gets her own kind of pleasure from Mitt after listening to the Nuge.

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Posted by on April 18, 2012 in Music. Movies. Media. More., News & Views

 

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The Affidavit of the State of Florida vs George Zimmerman

14 Apr

OFFICE OF THE STATE ATTORNEY
FOURTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT of FLORIDA
ANGELA B. COREY
STATE ATTORNEY

STATE OF FLORIDA VS. GEORGE ZIMMERMAN
EIGHTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, SEMINOLE COUNTY FLORIDA

AFFIDAVIT OF PROBABLE CAUSE – SECOND DEGREE MURDER

Before me, personally appeared T.C. O’Steen and K.D. Gilbreath, who after being duly sworn; deposes and says:

Your affiants, Investigators T.C. O’Steen, and Dale Gilbreath are members of the State Attorney Office – Fourth Judicial Circuit appointed in the case by State Attorney Angela B. Corey, who was assigned in the case under Executive Order of the Governor 12-72.

Investigator O’Steen was previously employed by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and has 35 years of law enforcement experience, including 20 years handling homicide investigations. Investigator Gilbreath was previously employed by the Jacksonville, Sheriff’s Office, and has 36 years of law enforcement experience, including 24 years handling homicide investigations.

Your affiants, along with other law enforcement officials have taken sworn statements from witnesses, spoken with law enforcement officers who have provided sworn testimony in reports, reviewed other reports, recorded statements, phone records, recorded calls to police, photographs, videos and other documents in detailing the following:

On Sunday, 2/26/12, Trayvon Martin was temporarily living at the Retreat at Twin lakes, a gated community in Sanford, Seminole County, Florida. That evening Marin walked to a nearby 7-11 store where he purchased a can of iced tea and a bag of skittles, Martin then walked back to entered the gated community and was on his way back to the townhouse where he was living when he was profiled by George Zimmerman. Martin was unarmed and was not committing a crime.

Zimmerman who also lived in the gated community, and was driving his vehicle observed Martin and assumed Martin was a criminal. Zimmerman felt Martin did not belong in the gated community and called the police. Zimmerman spoke to the dispatcher and asked for an officer to respond because Zimmerman perceived that Martin was acting suspicious. The police dispatcher informed Zimmerman that an officer was on the way and to wait for the officer.

During the recorded call Zimmerman made reference to people he felt had committed and gotten away with break-ins in his neighborhood. Later while talking about Martin, Zimmerman stated “these assholes, they always get away” and also said “these fucking punks”.

During this time, Martin was on the phone with a friend and described to her what was happening. The witness advised that Martin was scared because he was being followed through the complex by an unknown male and didn’t know why. Martin attempted to run home but was followed by Zimmerman who didn’t want the person he falsely assumed was going to commit a crime to get away before the police arrived. Zimmerman got out of his vehicle and followed Martin. When the police dispatcher realized Zimmerman’s was pursuing Martin, he instructed Zimmerman not to do that and that the responding officer would meet him. Zimmerman disregarded the police dispatcher and continued to follow Martin who was trying to return to his home.

Zimmerman confronted Martin and a struggle ensued. Witnesses heard people arguing and what sounded like a struggle. During this time period witnesses heard numerous called for help and some of these were recorded in 911 calls to police. Trayvon Martin’s mother has reviewed the 911 calls and identified the voice crying for help as Trayvon Martin’s voice.

Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest. When police arrived Zimmerman admitted shooting Martin. Officers recovered a gun from a holster inside Zimmerman’s waistband. A fired casing that was recovered at the scene was determined to have been fired from the firearm.

Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Bao Performed an autopsy and determined that Martin died from the gunshot wound.

The facts mentioned in this affidavit are not a complete recitation of all the pertinent facts and evidence in the case but only are presented for a determination of Probable Cause for Second Degree Murder.

By: Investigator T.C. O’Steen, Affiant
By: Investigator Dale Gilbreath, Affiant

Sworn to and subscribed before me
This 11th day of April, 2012
Jennifer Weigel
Notary Public, State of Florida at Large

 
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Posted by on April 14, 2012 in News & Views

 

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Trayvon, Emmett and America’s Unfinished Business

12 Apr

Brothers forever bound together in blood.

When special prosecutor Angela Corey announced George Zimmerman had surrendered to authorities and would be facing second-degree murder charges in the death of Trayvon Martin my immediate thought was simple.  Good. One less criminal roaming free on the streets.

Was I happy?  No more than Trayvon’s parents were.   The only thing that had been resolved was finally Zimmerman would have to answer for their son’s death.   There was no satisfaction and if there is such a thing as closure we’re a long way off from that.    A young man would still be dead and nothing could ever change that.

A few weeks ago after going ballistic on some poor dumb bastard for saying about the case something that angered me (and I’ve been in an extended state of smoldering anger for a while now), I got an e-mail from a guy asking me why.

I know you’re not going to appreciate this, and I assume you’ll just tell me to fuck off, but your responses to people lately have been filled with an anger and rage disproportionate to anything that has been said by them.

I’d really miss you, but that’s where you’re headed—and, very much on purpose, it seems.

What’s up with that?

I answered: Well, now that’s going to require you to make a choice. Do you want the answer that makes you feel good or the answer that might piss you off?

The thing is, I didn’t want to explain why I was filled with anger and rage. It didn’t seem disproportionate to me in the least.  If anything anger seemed they right response to the way  Zimmerman’s defenders had tried so diligently  to justify killing Trayvon.

More than that, I wasn’t interesting in trying to legitimize the anger.  Why do Black people have to shout before they are heard?   Why do they have to constantly remind their countrymen they have the same expectations of life, liberty and happiness even if their skin is darker?

I respond poorly to being talked down to, cavalierly dismissed and attempts to “handle” me. under normal circumstances.  The circumstances of Trayvon’s death were anything but normal.  Bearing witness to how Trayvon was transformed from a sympathetic victim into a caricature of a bad boy who had it coming enraged me.   I have been told in no uncertain terms if only he had been more “polite” to Zimmerman he might still be alive. Another malicious little turd wrote as the attempts to dirty up Martin by the scummy likes of Matt Drudge and Michelle Malkin intensified, “If what we’re learning about Martin now is valid it’s very likely he’d have been killed at some point by another Black.”

George Zimmerman mug shot: 2012 edition

That’s kind of hard to blow off with a smile and a shrug of the shoulders. Now amplify that with the professional talking heads like Geraldo Rivera, Bill O’Reilly and George Will railing about the high number of Black men who die at the hands of other Black men, co-signed by good Negroes like Shelby Steele and what began as a Hispanic man with a Caucasian-sounding surname gunning down a Black teenager evolved into the none-too-subtle subliminal message that it’s really not such a bad thing Trayvon got shot because if George hadn’t done it, some other hood rat would have.

Sunday night I placed a long-distance phone call to ream out another friend who took me to task after NBC fired a staffer for manipulating an audio tape of George Zimmerman’s 911 calls and how it was so awful and terrible that Spike Lee had mistakenly Tweeted the address of the wrong Zimmerman and Black thugs were beating up White people and yelling, “This is for Trayvon” and wasn’t I happy I was finally going to get the race war Jackson and Sharpton were trying to start and what kind of parent lets their child out at 3:00 a.m. to buy candy and ice tea anyway?

Who needs to hear that kind of crap repeatedly yet be told if you don’t put up with it, you’re the one with the problem?   Why is it an Angry White Men are to be taken seriously and an Angry Black Man have to explain WHY he’s mad at the world?

It’s taken something out of me exerting this energy trying to set people straight on why Trayvon was the only victim that night, why he had every right to expect he could go buy candy and ice tea without some vigilante wannabee demanding he explain where he was going and why life doesn’t work like CSI or Law and Order and everything wraps up neat and tidy in the last five minutes.

I could not defend Trayvon Benjamin Martin from those whom wished to destroy him in death as George Zimmerman destroyed him in life any more passionately or fiercely than if he were my son. I get it when I’m asked, “When are you going to let this go and write about something else?”

Truth be told, this story has been a welcome reminder that even though I write this blog in the hopes others will read it, the idea never was to only write about things others wanted to read. The saying goes, “better to write for yourself and have no public than to write for the public and have no self” and it’s absolutely true. When I stop writing about what moves me and start thinking, “Uh-oh. My page hits are way down. I’d better lighten things up.” that is when I’ll know I’ve gone from being honest to simply pandering.

Which while this is not about to become a Trayvon-Free Zone, it won’t be as Trayvon intense as it has been. This blog did not drive the story into the mainstream. The tireless efforts of the Martin family did, but to whatever small way something I wrote helped that effort, I feel I’ve made a contribution beyond signing an online petition.

This story is about to enter a new phase and one that should take it where it should have been in the first place: into a court of law and out of the court of public opinion.

After a month of spin, scenarios, second-hand hearsay treated as the gospel truth, experts, eyewitnesses, spokespersons, talking heads and the dead body of Trayvon Martin batted back and forth along political and racial fault lines, I find myself ready for the story to recede from the headlines.

If I don’t hear anything more about Geraldo Rivera, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, the Pseudo New Black Panthers, neo-Nazis, John Derbyshire, the friends of George Zimmerman and those two ambulance chasers that were his attorneys for a few months, I’ll be a happy man.

The networks have been full of “experts” second-guessing whether Angela Corey should have gone for 2nd degree murder and whether she can make it stick. Of course, she has one huge advantage over them: she’s seen the evidence and they haven’t. Prosecutors often are ambitious with the charges they initially file knowing they may have to settle for a conviction on a lesser charge instead.

The story should cool down considerably as the legal proceedings grind slowly on. This should be all be welcomed by the same conservatives who never wanted any part of all this Trayvon talk in the first place. It’s not the sort of conversation they are comfortable with as it brings up issues about race and justice in America, two topics many of us would rather not discuss in the first place.

This was always supposed to be about finding justice for Trayvon and the arrest of George Zimmerman was the first step in the long process of getting it. Him behind bars isn’t the end of the search, but it’s a damn good first step.

But don’t tell me the system worked. It didn’t. The system failed Trayvon and it almost failed his family.

If it had worked as it should have when an armed man kills an unarmed teenager, George Zimmerman would have been arrested and charged over a month ago. Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin wouldn’t had to go through all this hell trying to convince America their son was worth fighting for and we all wouldn’t have needed yet another reminder why race remains both America’s original sin and the most divisive wedge issue of them all. .

There is one often repeated phrase I have resisted repeating here. At least until now.  “Trayvon Martin is our Emmett Till.”   There is a long chain of broken and bloody Black bodies that link Emmett to Trayvon and as Emmett was a martyr and catalyst for the modern Civil Rights era, so too is Trayvon a martyr and a reminder of the nation’s unfinished business.

A small bit of justice, but a long ways to go for peace.

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Posted by on April 12, 2012 in It's My Life, News & Views, Rantology

 

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THIS Is Why We Can’t Have A Post-Racial America.

07 Apr

The writing--and the racism--is on the wall

The updates to the blog have come sporadically this week, but I’ve been on grand jury for the past two weeks and protecting society from the various reprobates, dirty rotten scoundrels and ne’er do wells keeps you busy.

The cliché is a prosecutor can get a jury to indict a ham sandwich.  I can assure you that is true and they’ll throw in the cheese and mayo as well.

Which is why I am convinced if Angela Corey, the special prosecutor named by Florida Governor Rick Scott to head up the state’s investigation into the Trayvon Martin shooting wants to indict George Zimmerman she will have no problem getting a grand jury to give her that authority.   Whether Corey does or not will go a long way in determining if the facts ever come out.

While everyone waits for the state and feds to wrap up their deliberations of what comes next, the case has become the dominant story in America trumping the Supreme Court hearings over healthcare reform and a visit from the Pope to Mexico.  it comes as no surprise at all that the Martin case has divided the nation along the usual political and race fault lines as an analysis from the Pew Research Center reveals:

The Trayvon Martin shooting is the public’s top story for the second consecutive week. But interest in the teenager’s death is deeply divided along partisan, as well as racial, lines. These differences also are apparent in reactions to news coverage of the incident: Far more Republicans (56%) than Democrats (25%) say there has been too much coverage of Martin’s death.

African Americans are far more likely than whites to say they are closely tracking news about the Florida teenager’s death. Fully 58% cite news about Trayvon Martin’s killing as their top story, compared with 24% of whites. Moreover, 43% of whites say the story has received too much coverage, compared with just 16% of blacks.

Democrats, regardless of race, are following Martin’s death more closely than are Republicans. Nearly four-in-ten Democrats (38%), including 31% of white Democrats, say the killing of Trayvon Martin is their top story; just 19% of Republicans are following this story most closely. More than half of Republicans (56%) say the story has been overcovered, compared with 25% of Democrats, including 33% of white Democrats.

Overall, 37% of the public say that news organizations are giving too much coverage to Martin’s death; about as many (40%) say the coverage has been about right. Just 14% say the story has gotten too little coverage.

Most Americans would concede there’s been the healing process between Blacks and Whites has come a long way from slavery, Jim Crow segregation and the Civil Rights Era, but every so often a story like Trayvon Martin comes along and tears off the bandage revealing how raw the wounds still are. Corey can take a big step by indicting Zimmerman, but will she?  There is so much that depends on what she does.

Special prosecutor Corey can put the wheels of justice back on track, but will she?

The progress made toward racial reconciliation by people of good will is always threatened by the animosity from people of bad will   Ohio State University joined other campuses where people gathered to peacefully protest the failure of the Sanford Police Department to arrest and charge George Zimmerman.

The sincerity of the students who gathered to seek justice for the slain teenager may have sparked a backlash from someone in disagreement.  The morning after the demonstration the administrators of the Frank Hale Black Cultural Center found the words “LONG LIVE ZIMMERMAN” spray painted on the side of the building.

It’s okay that Zimmerman has his own supporters.  His family has even set up a website to ask for funds for his legal defense (and no, I’m not going to offer a link).   One of his attorneys offered a new (and novel) justification for Zimmerman shooting Martin.

Hal Uhrig, a lawyer and former Gainesville, Florida, police officer said on the CBS Morning News that due to injuries suffered in his fight with Trayvon, Zimmerman had suffered—wait for it—Shaken Baby Syndrome!

“We’re familiar with the Shaken Baby Syndrome. You shake a baby, the brain shakes around inside the skull. You can die when someone’s pounding your head into the ground.”

You know what one of the problems with trying a case in the public instead of a courtroom?   A lot of absurd, self-serving, erroneous and just plain wrong ideas float to the surface like crap in a toilet bowl, but this is a whole new level of bullshit.

Imagine you are the parent of a child that died because of Shaken Baby Syndrome and then imagine how furious that parent should be because of some ambulance chaser offering up one of the most absurd defenses since Dan White claimed overindulgence in Twinkies and junk food caused him to kill Harvey Milk.   If this is the best defense Daddy Zimmerman’s hired guns can buy Boy George,  he’s got some serious problems.

They can also offer up Restless Leg, Dry Mouth and Uncontrolled Flatulence as possible defenses as well and hope they can find 12 jurors dumb enough to buy it.   Don’t dismiss the possibility they can.

The cold corpse of Trayvon has been turned in a pinata where everyone can take their turn swinging at and bashing away to extract what they need from him.   Every last hardcore racist and casual bigot has exploited Trayvon to pump up their message that young Black males are potentially dangerous and permanently suspicious until they are proven otherwise and its okay to kill them.  Safer too.

My diagnosis is George Zimmerman suffers from being an Inflamed Asshole Syndrome and the plan for treatment should be 20 to 40 years in one of Florida’s nastiest prisons trying not to bend over for the soap.

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Posted by on April 7, 2012 in News & Views

 

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