Trayvon Martin.

If it had been a cop, it probably wouldn't have even made national news. The USA has a well established tradition of not giving a fuck when cops kill black people.

Isn't the takeaway from this that any asshole can now get away with murder if he can goad the victim into kicking his/her ass first?

 

I think the takeaway is that if the EnEsEh had been doing a better job of bugging all our cellphones that we would have a better idea of what actually happened during the incident.

 

At this point, the best we can hope for is that future assholes will think twice about the possible inconveniences they might suffer for stalking young men in the process of being black.
Ha. Right.

 

There are local law enforcement guidelines which neighborhood watch associations need to adhere to. Whether violations of them are legally binding or not wouldn't even apply here as Zimmerman's neighborhood watch wasn't registered with the Sanford PD and therefore in no jeopardy of violation - it would seem. But in Florida, who knows.

 

Yeah, I'm shocked a bit by this. I thought he'd get manslaughter at the minimum. Bad precedent. I can't believe you can claim self defense from a situation you create...agaisnt the express direction of cops, and get off clean. Is this because the prosecution didn't include the leser charges from the beginning?

 

I hope they don't prevent him from carrying a firearm. Something tells me he might just need it for real now.

 

He wasn't found to be negligent with his firearm so I don't see how they could prevent him from carrying it.
The whole incident was badly handled. What a fucking circus.
I have too much to do today, I'm going to try not to think about it.

 

And, another young man who also didn't "intentionally commit an act or acts that caused death" or demonstrate a "depraved mind without regard for human life," is still dead.

 

When it comes to Florida and HOA's, you better bet your ass that they're legally binding. They lead the nation in making veterans take down American flags displayed in front of their homes.

What would be incredibly lovely here is if the HOA's insurance company (Travelers, if memory serves, but I could be wrong) decides to subrogate against Zimmerman. That's effectively them saying "you being a dumbass cost us a few million bucks. Start repaying, asshole." If they decide to do it, and there were indeed rules against what he was doing that he signed when he joined the neighborhood watch, they can probably win. The question is whether or not the potential negative publicity from that side is worth it to them. There's a reason that they didn't defend him if he was acting within the scope of his duties as a volunteer.

 

And yet, a black woman in Florida was just given 20 years for firing a warning shot in her own house (Florida woman sentenced to 20 years in controversial warning shot case - CNN.com). Seems pretty clear that the issue isn't gun laws or stand your ground laws, it's what color the person pulling the trigger is.

Same old shit, different package.

 

I honestly don't want to continue this debate anymore, anywhere, but statements like this are like red flags to a bull.

It's tempting to want to put this to bed by tying it all up in a nice neat little package where everyone gets to walk away bearing some of the responsibility but I don't see this as a case where that can be done successfully.

Where is the evidence proving Trayvon Martin did anything at all "wrong?"

Am I wrong concluding that the perception of Trayvon being in the "wrong" at any point came from GZ himself?

 

Open season on black boys after a verdict like this | Gary Younge | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

 

It might not be only your Canuck perception. It may account for the glut of dirt cheap homes for sale in Florida. It may be that the reason snowbirds and retirees aren't cashing in on the bargains has as much to do with the perception of Florida as irresponsibly gun-happy and inconsistently judicial, as it does a lack of financial ability.
--- merged: Jul 14, 2013 at 12:14 PM ---

 

I think it's bit early to wrap this up with a few terse sentences Doogie Howser style. I'm wrong at least several times a day, and so far, in none of these instances have I wound up dead on the ground with a bullet wound or getting away with killing someone. This situation is rich with specific examples of the ways in which the United States is generally fucked up.

Young black man treated with suspicion just for being black? Check.
Pale skinned guy treating young black man like a subhuman, getting his pale ass kicked as comeuppance then resorting the safety of a firearm, then the safety of the institutional racism of the state? Check.

I'm not sure who is being harmed by the soap boxing, but I'm pretty sure that there's no way that soap boxing this will be more harmful than pretending that it's nothing more than a tragedy about people who "were wrong in some of their actions".

 

Does this have anything to do with tort insurance? Might be a really stupid question, I don't know jack about insurance. I do remember when I first started working for the State I attended several different training courses where at some point they stressed we were covered by "tort insurance." It was always stress as long as we acted within our training and followed regulations we could not personally be sued or if we were sued the State's "tort insurance" would cover us completely. It's been a long time and maybe I've got that mixed up with something else, just can't remember.
--- merged: Jul 14, 2013 at 12:44 PM ---

Little odd the same groups that came out of the woodwork to fund and support Zimmerman were absent for her case.