The Zimmerman Trial

[KEEF]

Hadn't seen this image before.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18tn56hwlcf83jpg/k-bigpic.jpg


I'm only linking it because it's a dead body; don't want to post it since it might be inappropriate for some. Martin's body at the crime scene.

How and why did this get out on the net?

 

[Antischism]

How and why did this get out on the net?

I'm not sure. I was kind of surprised to see this, to be honest. Especially since it's the very first thing you see on the front page of Gawker.

 

[amy31416]

The GPS data from the Martin phone and Zimmerman phone would give strong evidence. The prosecution says the GPS data in Martin's phone is only present for 29 of the last 30 days - guess which day's data is "lost"? If the data in Zimmerman's phone did not match his story, I'm guessing that fact would have come out by now.

Well that's pretty damned suspicious.

 

[KEEF]

I'm not sure. I was kind of surprised to see this, to be honest. Especially since it's the very first thing you see on the front page of Gawker.

Looks like a battle cry to rile up the troops... riots on the streets.

 

[KEEF]

The GPS data from the Martin phone and Zimmerman phone would give strong evidence. The prosecution says the GPS data in Martin's phone is only present for 29 of the last 30 days - guess which day's data is "lost"? If the data in Zimmerman's phone did not match his story, I'm guessing that fact would have come out by now.

Someone should just make a call to the NSA, they could get that lost data for them

 

[AuH20]

Gawker is pretty hilarious to read. "He was wearing khakis!! There was no way he could have attacked George Zimmerman wearing khakis!!! Blacks are dehumanized in this country by the right, but let's forget about the death centers built in their communities." Loons. Absolute loons.

 

[AuH20]

The GPS data from the Martin phone and Zimmerman phone would give strong evidence. The prosecution says the GPS data in Martin's phone is only present for 29 of the last 30 days - guess which day's data is "lost"? If the data in Zimmerman's phone did not match his story, I'm guessing that fact would have come out by now.

Is this true? What is Zimmerman pitted against if key data like this can magically disappear?

 

[amy31416]

Looks like a battle cry to rile up the troops... riots on the streets.

For certain. The article is even more telling than the picture.

This, Courtesy of MSNBC, Is Trayvon Martin's Dead Body. Get Angry.


A reader of mine sent me this photo last night. As the murder trial of George Zimmerman wheezes to its conclusion, the TV networks dutifully pipe in live pool video from the courtroom, as if it is force-fed to them and they have no choice but to excrete it, soft and undigested, into our living rooms, bedrooms, offices. Sometimes, the pool recorder or the networks' producers don't switch to a mundane image of lawyers being lawyerly quite fast enough, and we get to see snippets of the human cruelty, stupidity, and frailty that occasion trials such as this.

This is Trayvon Martin's body. These are the last skinny jeans he wore, cuffed once at the bottoms. These are his stylish kicks, his sockless ankles. There are Trayvon's taut neck, his slack jaw, his open eyes.

This is what happens. Not just when we input "black" and "teen" and "hoodie" and "night" into our onboard computers and output "DANGER," but also when we find the aftermath Newsworthy, and must consume it voraciously from start to finish, but insist that we cannot stomach seeing the bones and gristle on our plates.

This image has made its way to the internet on message boards and the like, but not on any notable sites that I could find. The Huffington Post and others have published some images of Martin's body—covered by a sheet—but none of his face.

I had a brief conversation by email and phone last night with the reader who wanted to send this to me, who felt compelled to save it, but seemed unsure why he had. Before he'd shared the image, I asked him what it showed. Was it newsworthy? He stammered. "It's... a dead black kid," he said, disturbed, hoping five words could convey many more. In email, he'd asked me: "What will you do with pic?"

To Trayvon's parents, Sabrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, I'm sorry that I feel compelled to share this photograph. Were I a slave to journalistic norms, I would say that it's somehow in the public interest to see him there. I would point out Florida's sunshine laws, and the TV network's incompetence, and argue the inevitability that this image would've gained a wider audience than it has already.

But those are rationalizations. They don't explain my motive: Good old-fashioned rage that this kid is dead because my home state empowered a dullard aficionado of Van Damme and Seagal movie cliches to choose his own adventure. Florida literally gave George Zimmerman license to make up neighborhood threats and invite violent confrontations, confident in the knowledge that he carried more firepower jammed down his sweaty fat waistband than every army on earth beheld before 1415.

I wish I were a better person than that, but I'm not. People come up short all the time, after all. I suppose it's a good thing I don't have a gun.

Gawker contributor Adam Weinstein is a Florida-based writer and editor. You can reach him via adamweinsteinwriter.com.

http://gawker.com/this-courtesy-of-msnbc-is-trayvon-martins-dead-body-753370712

 

[Pericles]

Is this true? What is Zimmerman pitted against if key data like this can magically disappear?

As we all know, the criminal "justice" system is heavily tilted in favor of the prosecution. The reason this is so, is because the courts suborned (see what I did there) themselves in the process bu no longer being impartial.

 

[Antischism]

Edit: Amy beat me to it.

The guy has a different view of the case than most people here, and he made a bold decision to post the picture because he felt it would resonate with people and make them angry enough to care and take the prosecution's angle. My more cynical side thinks he did it for the number of hits the site would get and the attention.

I don't think it has anything to do with wanting to incite a riot and hatred of whitey.

 

[AuH20]

For certain. The article is even more telling than the picture.



http://gawker.com/this-courtesy-of-msnbc-is-trayvon-martins-dead-body-753370712

Adam Weinstein. Why oh why?

 

[enhanced_deficit]

Vast majority of people in both black and hispanic communities very likely don't see it as a major ethnic/racial issue but more like a tragic mishap. They both have pretty much same skin color, media may keep trying but it is not going to sell well as a race riot. It is fail.

6 people were shot in Chicago last week. Why this one incidence deserves special national coverage but not others.

 

[amy31416]

Adam Weinstein. Why oh why?

(I know your question is rhetorical, but I like to explore it more.)

His claimed motive:

But those are rationalizations. They don't explain my motive: Good old-fashioned rage that this kid is dead because my home state empowered a dullard aficionado of Van Damme and Seagal movie cliches to choose his own adventure. Florida literally gave George Zimmerman license to make up neighborhood threats and invite violent confrontations, confident in the knowledge that he carried more firepower jammed down his sweaty fat waistband than every army on earth beheld before 1415.

I suspect his actual motivation is so his stupid punk ass has something to write about that fits his narrative to demonize "white" people, give more ammo for anti-gun laws and make moves to take away a neighborhood's ability to organize and protect themselves.

 

[Antischism]

Vast majority of people in both black and hispanic communities very likely don't see it as a major ethnic/racial issue but more like a tragic mishap. They both have pretty much same skin color, media may keep trying but it is not going to sell well as a race riot. It is fail.

6 people were shot in Chicago last week. Why this one incidence deserves special national coverage but not others.

The thing about this case is that it got absolutely no attention from the media at first until people started making noise about it and felt something was amiss. The media eventually picked it up, and it became a huge deal.

I guess people view this similarly to how almost all missing persons cases that become major media stories involve "pretty" white women and children, but the hundreds of other cases go unmentioned. Some things just seem to capture people, and with the Zimmerman case, it was a particularly interesting situation that transpired.

 

[brushfire]

6 people were shot in Chicago last week. Why this one incidence deserves special national coverage but not others.

Because those 6 people dont readily serve a political agenda... The shootings happen all the time, and there were 20 homicides just in the first week of this month.
http://homicides.redeyechicago.com/

This is why the GZ is of any interest to me. Because it demonstrates how our legal system is easily corrupted. Zimmerman should have never been prosecuted. The race cards, and "police wannabe" rhetoric, all come from the narrative that was built to serve a political agenda. This agenda has permeated every aspect of this case.

All that said... Lets see what happens to Chicago going forward. We have a carry law on the books now, a law suit pending over the delay in providing permits, and the recent removal of the CFP (Chicago Firearm Permit). I'm betting it looks a little something like Gary IN, after IN passed its law.

 

[Antischism]

It seems like the prosecution saved the best for last. They're going all in right now on their closing argument. O'Mara did a pretty decent job on the defense's closer though, despite a few slip-ups.

 

[Ender]

(I know your question is rhetorical, but I like to explore it more.)

His claimed motive:



I suspect his actual motivation is so his stupid punk ass has something to write about that fits his narrative to demonize "white" people, give more ammo for anti-gun laws and make moves to take away a neighborhood's ability to organize and protect themselves.

The "neighborhood" did not organize itself, Amy- it was Zimmerman. The head of the HOA did not think they needed a Neighborhood Watch. Zimmerman got the NW going and then failed to do what he had been specifically taught. The lady from the police department who instructed them, testified to this.

In testimony Tuesday, Wendy Dorival, who worked as the volunteer program coordinator for the Sanford Police Department, said she made a presentation to facilitate a neighborhood watch program in 2011 for residents of Retreat at Twin Lakes, where Zimmeran lived and Trayvon was visiting a friend of his father's on the night he was killed.

Assistant State Attorney John Guy showed the jury a slide show that Dorival used at neighborhood meetings. The presentation warned citizens against being vigiliantes and urged them to work with police — be the eyes and ears of the community and report suspicious activity. "They're not supposed to take matters into their own hands," Dorival said.

I am certainly NOT against communities protecting themselves but if Zimmerman was hot for a NW, then he should have followed the rules he was taught. I believe that THIS is the major issue.

Do communities have a right to protect themselves? Absolutely.

Do I have the right to walk down the street without being profiled or stalked? Where does my freedom end and yours begin?

My POV is that this entire situation was caused by Zimmerman:
a) Not obeying the rules that HE specifically asked for-
b) Stalking a kid that was doing nothing but walking
c) Inciting an tragedy that would never have happened if he had simply stuck to the rules that he had asked for.

Was Martin perfect? Of course not, but his "past" has been colored to make him look evil, when he seems just a teenage kid doing the "cool" stuff teenage boys do. Most conservative/libertarians sites now ignore Zimmerman's past while making as much out of Trayvon's every move as possible.

I do not believe that Zimmerman set out to kill Martin, but I do believe that his arrogance caused Martin's death. He is guilty of stupidity in the first degree, which could translate to manslaughter.

 

[klamath]

(I know your question is rhetorical, but I like to explore it more.)

His claimed motive:



I suspect his actual motivation is so his stupid punk ass has something to write about that fits his narrative to demonize "white" people, give more ammo for anti-gun laws and make moves to take away a neighborhood's ability to organize and protect themselves.

true

 

[amy31416]

The "neighborhood" did not organize itself, Amy- it was Zimmerman. The head of the HOA did not think they needed a Neighborhood Watch. Zimmerman got the NW going and then failed to do what he had been specifically taught. The lady from the police department who instructed them, testified to this.



I am certainly NOT against communities protecting themselves but if Zimmerman was hot for a NW, then he should have followed the rules he was taught. I believe that THIS is the major issue.

Do communities have a right to protect themselves? Absolutely.

Do I have the right to walk down the street without being profiled or stalked? Where does my freedom end and yours begin?

My POV is that this entire situation was caused by Zimmerman:
a) Not obeying the rules that HE specifically asked for-
b) Stalking a kid that was doing nothing but walking
c) Inciting an tragedy that would never have happened if he had simply stuck to the rules that he had asked for.

Was Martin perfect? Of course not, but his "past" has been colored to make him look evil, when he seems just a teenage kid doing the "cool" stuff teenage boys do. Most conservative/libertarians sites now ignore Zimmerman's past while making as much out of Trayvon's every move as possible.

I do not believe that Zimmerman set out to kill Martin, but I do believe that his arrogance caused Martin's death. He is guilty of stupidity in the first degree, which could translate to manslaughter.

That post isn't about Trayvon or Zimmerman, it's simply about Adam Weinstein trying to incite people to violence and use the opportunity to push for his progressive agenda where he probably has fantasies of disarming Americans who had nothing to do with it. He has that "never let a crisis go to waste" mentality that I abhor.

There's already been gov't funding for some of the protests, and I consider anyone who's trying to encourage violent protest repulsive and possibly being paid a few tax dollars along the way.

 

[RonPaulMall]

. My more cynical side thinks he did it for the number of hits the site would get and the attention.

I don't think it has anything to do with wanting to incite a riot and hatred of whitey.

And what do you think race riots would mean for his page views and attention, not to mention the political agenda his tabloid pushes for? The establishment left wants riots. It is good for their politics. It is good for their page views. And it is good for their bottom line. It's not like Adam Weinstein and his ilk live anywhere near the communities that are going to go up in flames. They live in the little walled communities or heavily policed urban havens of gentrified bliss they built to ensure neither they nor their families ever have to rub elbows with the Trayvon Martin's of the world, not to mention the angry mobs they are gleefully cheering on.