Zimmerman trial - Prosecution finished

Here's a Wikipedia article on Heirloom plants. Heirloom plant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, there is no article on heirloom grapes. May I suggest that you could write the needed article? If you do then perhaps you may want to mention that the grape skin can be thin?

 

I'm starting to understand your limits and bias, do you think wikipedia is the best source for your political views as well?

 

Why is it so hard for many to believe that Trayvon Martin may have initiated the physical altercation that lead to his death?

We know that Trayvon Martin did marijuana at least twice a week, was suspended from school multiple times (drugs, fights, graffiti), was caught with marijuana at school, got caught vandalizing school property, got caught at school with stolen jewelry from a home burglary near his school, got caught at school with burglary tools, got into multiple fights and texted multiple times about buying a handgun. Plus his own mother kicked him out of the house because of his troubles with drugs, school, fights, etc. These are the plain hard facts.

Rachel Jeantel who was the star witness on the phone with Martin is now saying on CNN that she told Martin that Zimmerman might be a [gay] rapist. She is also now saying that Martin did not want Zimmerman finding out out where he lived because his little brother was there. It's too bad the original police investigators did not speak with her before she was coached. We may have learned a lot more.

So given Martin's history and that he thought Zimmerman was a [gay] rapist, is it so unbelievable to think he threw the first blow?



sources:
DEFENDANT'S 3RD SUPPLEMENTAL DISCOVERY
Jeantel: I Told Trayvon Zimmerman Might Have Been A Rapist | RealClearPolitics
Rachel Jeantel: "Weed Don't Make Him Go Crazy, It Just Make Him Go Hungry" | RealClearPolitics
Articles: Barack Obama could have saved Trayvon Martin
The Curious Case Of Trayvon Martin’s Backpack With Stolen Jewelry and Burglary Tool

 

I would assume that Trayvon threw the first blow. It also seems reasonable to me that George might have confronted Trayvon and tried to retain him for the police before Trayvon threw the first blow. Regarding smoking pot, perhaps he needed to smoke pot more and then he might not have thrown the first blow?

A couple of thing seem clear to me. First, there's no excuse for Trayvon to sit on top of George and pound on him. Second, unless you're a policeman or sure that you're not going to get into any confrontation, you don't follow strangers late at night into dark lonely neighborhoods.

 

I don't know why it is necessary to start making rules like that so early in our bromance? I'm honored to be confused with Bill Dayson.

(On the other hand I would like to establish an honest open bromance from the beginning. I have in the distant past enjoyed participating in what was probably the longest running flame war in Internet history, most of which took place on Usenet before the world wide web was invented.)

 

It is a little confusing from the other side of the world. The Sandy Hook massacre caused outrage here as it did in other countries. There was a tirade here about the US gun laws and how could the US tolerate these things happening. Yet, for all the outrage that lit up around the world, there did not appear to be the outrage in the US that this Zimmerman trial has sparked. Sandy Hook school teachers have become a measure of professionalism and bravery for the world.


I wonder whether these jurors will become the equivalent for justice? To stand in the middle of all this hate and render a verdict that would be so unpopular in so many quarters must be very brave and serve the notion of justice well. How easy would it have been for them to come in and say to the judge we are deadlocked then pass the ball onto another jury. They didn't, and that says a lot for them. They obviously knew that there would be repercussions, if they were ever identified, no matter what verdict they rendered. Some of that Sandy Hook guts showed.

 

Too bad you cannot see our media and a lot of our TV, movie and rock "stars" right now. Their conclusion is that the jurors were racist.

 

Here is another "Stand Your Ground" case that might make the national news.

Here's Florida

 

Yes, except the Zimmerman case didn't involve the FL "Stand Your Ground" law. The defense he offered at trial would have been available to him had this unfortunate incident occurred in any state. Zimmerman's lawyers never tried to invoke SYG, which would have required a separate hearing. But never mind. SYG sounds so cool and Charles Bronsony, let's keep talking about it!

 

OK, knock yourself out.

 

Rather, here's a link to what I would call probably the most sensible thing I've read about the trial so far. Check it out if you haven't already.

Trayvon Martin verdict: Racism, hate crimes prosecution, and other overreactions. - Slate Magazine

 

Oh man, the author almost gets there. He was about to voice his outrage and then FINALLY decided to look at the trial and evidence? Wow. But, it is Slate so what do you expect. Still, it takes a big person to admit when their initial reactions to the case were wrong and based on falsified evidence.

 

Among all the nonsense, reading something with a little intellectual honesty, however belated, was really refreshing. It's a shame it's been so rare throughout this case.

 

I consider this to be a rather trollish statement in that it it exaggerates and tries to bait an emotional response as Cory seems prone to do.

While some have mistakenly attributed the ruling as being racist, it is not a common theme pushed by the media. Perhaps Cory only watches Fox News? I haven't watched any Fox News since the verdict but I wouldn't be surprised if they we're pushing that kind of thing. On the media I've seen some discussion about race in that some statements asserting that the white community doesn't have an appreciation for the harassment still being experienced by black males. For example, my neighbor for over 20 years is black. He complained to me once that he was tired of being stopped and questioned by the police while simply driving to and from his own home. He had been stopped about half a dozen times while I had never been stopped. In none of those stops was he doing anything wrong and did not get any citation. This is a nice neighborhood with the average home price maybe around $600,000 and he always drives much nicer cars than I do. The only reason he gets stopped is because he is black.

 

I don't know about media. In this country, I have seen some totally biased reporting. I have also seen the media with an agenda. The interesting thing that when they have an agenda it generally is not bought by Mr Average who sees through it. But that is here, not the US. I don't have a clue about any media agenda or otherwise in the US or ,for that matter, the depth of the racial tensions there.

Juries are interesting creatures from my long experience. All people have subjective reasoning in their decisions. I have noticed, however, when people have the responsibility for the lives of others in their hands, they take it very seriously and can/will make decisions contrary to how they personally feel about individual. There are always exceptions, but in the main, I think juries get it fairly right.

I have seen juries dodge the question by simply reporting deadlock. A trial where people's passions run high like this presents a very strong temptation for juries to dodge by deadlock. People do fear repercussions which may be very real. It also means that these passions will be evident in the jury pool which also may contribute to deadlock. I congratulate this jury for placing a higher value on justice than themselves and doing its duty. This is a strength for your justice system. They should be applauded for that.

 

I streamed the entire trial via the online news feed at HLN. For some reason I seemed to get the best coverage from their feed. As I have stated in the past, I used to get most of my news from MSNBC. That stopped midway through this fiasco when it came to light that they were editing tapes, not showing all pictures from the night in question. I'm sure I mentioned my distaste on this very board.

I've seen it mentioned that FOX is also still strong on the narrative and that most of the commentators there are saying it was racial, shouldn't have got out of his car, murderer, etc... I don't watch any news channels. I will sometimes YouTube an interview if I need information, but I do not watch any media. You think I watch FOX, but you don't either and then you make statements based on that mistaken hunch. Sounds trollish to me

 

In the US, most all media is slanted and promotes a liberal agenda, with the exception of FoxNews which clearly is conservative leaning. I still think Fox does a better job of reporting all the facts of an issue than other networks who seem to pick and choose talking points to fit their narrative.

From what I've read, Australia has its own racial tensions to deal with. did you see the video of the middle aged woman cursing at those Asian boys? I mean come on, at least here in the US we're closet racist. I mean we might shoot you, but we'd never call you racial names on a crowded city bus! By the way, what part of Australia are you in? I'll be heading to Geelong in January.

 

This link is not working.

 

Ted, I think there's something up with your browser. You said the link provided on another thread wasn't working, as well. I am able to pull up both.