Apr 10, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 22 comments
His lawyers are withdrawing as counsel, citing that they haven’t been able to contact him. They say he is still in United States. Would you blame him if he decided to run off to Peru or something? Can he get justice after what’s happened in the media?
I also heard that he had ignored advice from his lawyers, and spoken directly to the police and prosecutors. If that’s the case, it’s a remarkably bad idea. But I’ll be honest, whoever Zimmerman’s lawyers were, I have not been impressed with their ability to handle a trial by media. To me you can’t let the family set the agenda in terms of public opinion. I wouldn’t be surprised, facing impending indictment because the mob demands it, if Zimmerman didn’t feel he was just not well represented.
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Apr 10, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 1 comment
Should Florida Change its self-defense law? Yes and No. At least we have a paper willing to print both sides of the debate.
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Apr 10, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 17 comments
From PBS News Hour:
Martin, who was black, was on his way to a convenience store in a mostly white gated community when George Zimmerman, who is white, shot and killed him after a disputed altercation. Martin, who was carrying only candy and a soft drink, was discovered by police lying face down in the grass. Zimmerman was briefly taken into custody, but has not been arrested.
That’s as far as I need to read to know they aren’t interested in reporting facts, only the myths generated in the wake of this.
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Apr 9, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 18 comments
Apparently the Florida special prosecutor says it will not be needed. I don’t know if this means anything, but I would think that if prosecutors didn’t plan to prosecute, they’d want the political cover of having a jurors be the ones to decide that. So if I had to bet, I think we may see charges, in which case this goes to trial.
This could potentially bring Florida’s SYG/CD law into the case, since my understanding is that Zimmerman’s lawyer can motion for immunity, which is decided by a judge using the standard of preponderance of evidence.
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Apr 6, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 3 comments
Hugo Chavez celebrates Good Friday by asking God to save his life:
In a televised speech to the Catholic service in his home state of Barinas, Chavez cried and his voice broke as he eulogised Jesus, revolutionary fighter Ernesto “Che” Guevara and South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.
One a Jewish carpenter who preached love your fellow man, a mass murderer who preached killing your fellow man if he didn’t back the revolution, and a guy who could have been the South American Washington, but decided he needed to be a dictator instead.
“Give me your crown, Jesus. Give me your cross, your thorns so that I may bleed. But give me life, because I have more to do for this country and these people. Do not take me yet,” Chavez added, standing below an image of Jesus with the Crucifix.
You know, if I were God, I think I’d have a little trouble hearing.
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Apr 4, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 8 comments
Big tornados ripped through yesterday. A bit worried that the last thing we heard from Traction Control in Arlington was “Rain, hail and thunder have just started.” We sincerely hope any readers in the area made it through things unscathed.
That’s one thing I like about living here, is that we’re not too crazy on natural disasters. We might get blizzards sometimes, and the occasional remnants of a hurricane that brings torrential downpours, but nothing life threatening. Just about every other place I’d consider living has something. Texas? Hurricanes and Tornadoes. Florida? Hurricanes. Washington State? Earthquakes and the occasional volcano. Colorado? Hmm. Colorado might be fairly natural disaster free in most of the places that have tech jobs. Sure blizzards, but I’m used to that.
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Apr 3, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 97 comments
Getting tired of this case yet? I sure am. But it’s all that’s in the media, and it’s the best shot our opponents in the gun prohibition movement have had to return to relevance in years. Unfortunately for them, I think this case jumped the shark. Miguel notes the slowly disappearing political memes. Over at Just One Minute, it turns out the audio forensics expert offered up by the media is, in fact, no such thing. Turns out plenty of other experts agree that the comparison just isn’t valid. I’m not surprised to hear this, because the story of the audio analysis set off my bullshit alarm as soon as I read it, but not being an expert in the field, I was reluctant to come out guns blazing on it.
Also, ABC now has an “enhanced” video that shows Zimmerman’s injuries, which is several lacerations to the back of the head. I don’t think the guy needs to be bleeding out all over the place. I’ve had my bell rung hard enough in my life without drawing blood to know you can still get a concussion without cutting the scalp. Also in that article:
In a letter to U.S. Department of Justice officials, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton allege that State Attorney Norm Wolfinger met with the Sanford police chief within hours of the teen’s death and that together they overruled a detective’s recommendation that Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter. The letter claims a lead investigator filed an affidavit stating that he didn’t find Zimmerman’s story credible.
Wolfinger called the allegations “lies” and said no meeting took place.
“I’m outraged by the outright lies contained in the letter,” Wolfinger said in a statement. “I encourage the Justice Department to investigate and document that no such meeting or communication occurred.”
It’s been rather amazing how much of what the family has said in public have turned out to be outright fabrications. The family has very little credibility left with me at this point, especially since I was originally quite sympathetic to the idea of taking the case to a grand jury to evaluate the evidence. I still think that’s the right thing to do in this case, but my sympathy for the family diminishes with every fabrication. I tend to give grieving families the benefit of doubt, but I don’t like being outright lied to. The lawyer over at Crayfisher notes:
On another topic, I have seen a number of posts bemoaning how the “wingnuts” are smearing Tayvon Martin and defending his killer. According to these people anyone who casts doubt on Zimmerman’s guilt must be a wingnut.
Since when is defending accused criminals a wingnut activity?
This has been driving me bonkers too, that the left has essentially taken the position that Zimmerman is guilty before his case has even gone before a jury. I think blowhards like Sharpton would be happy to lynch Zimmerman in the media if it means Sharpton gets to be relevant again. I believe the reason the NAACP has been, comparatively speaking, the voice of reason here is they probably understand that if this case blows up in a big way, it’ll hurt Obama. Rightly or wrongly, I think a lot of Americans viewed Obama as an opportunity to move beyond the politics of race. This case is not only bringing that back to the forefront, it has the potential to set race relations back decades. For people like Sharpton, that translates into increased relevance, but I don’t think that’s a good thing for this country.
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Apr 2, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 8 comments
Lead and Gold is not impressed with his analysis. I don’t understand why anyone pays attention to Frum anymore.
BTW, root canal was mercifully short. Less than an hour. That was my fourth root canal, over all, but the third on a second molar. The other ones seemed to take a lot longer. This one was about 50 minutes.
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