Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Come on, man.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

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67Comments

  3. 3.

    Scott

    The experts are not only anonymous, they’re dialing a secret line that connects directly to the reporter’s brain…

  4. 4.

    Rathskeller

    Can any criminal lawyers speak to how weird was that hearing? In my limited experience, it seemed like a game of calvin ball suddenly broke out.

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    The story is here on the Yahoo! News site.

    Basically, Zimmerman’s lawyer Mark O’ Mara questioned the special prosecutor’s lead investigator Dale Gilbreath at Zimmerman’s bail hearing: O’ Mara got Gilbreath to admit that he can’t disprove Zimmerman’s claim that it was Trayvon who confronted him, and that he doesn’t know who threw the first punch. A couple of lawyers that AP spoke to (identified in the story) say this was a smart move by O’Mara, but the prosecution insist their case is unshaken.

  6. 6.

    Arm The Homeless

    I would like one of these talking heads to start putting together the narrative of what we are looking at with the Trayvon Martin case: Local justice subverted; picked-up by national media after black-community leaders begin a campaign to investigate the facts further; Inevitable media-distortions, lies, innuendo, incomplete-facts, and career ambitions get wrapped up.

    Personally, when I speak to people here in Florida about the case, I frame it as an instance where the media was given free-reign to amplify this case because no one locally seemed to want to. It took such an obvious miscarriage of justice, which was being swept under the rug so as to cover-up lax police work and ‘good ‘ole boy’-ism, for the media to get interested. This nightmare is because the killer of a 17yo was walking free, presumably with his gun-permit in full effect.

    I remind them that if SYG stays on the books, no matter the outcome of this case, these types of shootings, the hoop-lah, the fear that unstable people with guns might shoot you for being up too early looking for yard-sales, will all still be here even after the election season.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    Meanwhile, their ombudsman is crying over how the WaPost is failing their young bloggers, one of whom resigned after copying work without attribution, perhaps accidentally, perhaps not.

    Ombud: I spoke with several young bloggers at The Post this week, and some who have left in recent months, and they had the same critique.

    They said that they felt as if they were out there alone in digital land, under high pressure to get Web hits, with no training, little guidance or mentoring and sparse editing. Guidelines for aggregating stories are almost nonexistent, they said.

    Meanwhile, this prime CYA quote from Fred Hiatt’s paper:

    Katharine Zaleski, executive director of digital news, said that bloggers are made aware of The Post’s high standards: “We’re deeply conscious of the imperatives our bloggers face and go to great lengths to ensure they have the editorial support they need. We tell bloggers that their first and central priority is accuracy, not speed, not buzziness.

    Ombud, again: The Post lets go nearly three dozen veterans in the newsroom to cut costs, and it falls short in cultivating its young and future talent.

    You know who the WaPost is really failing? Its readers.

    Their paper version has sunk so low, I won’t even care when it folds.

    We continue the subscription because it’s cheap. Period.

    Virtually nothing to read in the once coveted front section. Only worthwhile is the events around town listings.

    Yeah, there’s Ezra Klein, but I find him off blog links.

    The Post is screwed.

  9. 9.

    the Conster

    @Elizabelle:

    I guarantee WaPo is worried, but the lesson they’ll learn is to hire more conventional wisdom spewing right leaning hacks. They’re a very old dog now.

  11. 11.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Who are these “experts”, anyways? Villager whelps around the water cooler at the Pravda on the Potomac building?

    The WaPo is the epicenter of the Villager infestation. Take out the entire nest. Cleanse it with fire.

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    @the Conster:

    It’s shocking how few editors the Post seems to maintain.

    Assuming they’re any good, and that’s dubious.

    You didn’t see this a few years back.

  13. 13.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @General Stuck:

    says the candidate ought not to make targeted appeals to women and Hispanic voters, but instead can win them over by speaking the “language of unity.”

    Oh, so convince them that their second class status should be accepted in the name of unity, eh?

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    @Elizabelle:
    From the feedback that its other young bloggers gave, the Post isn’t providing its newbies with clear working guidelines or adequate supervision. It’s a classic example of a supervisory failure: the supervisor assumes that because he understands the orders he’s giving, you do too; or if you don’t you’re an idiot. It has taken until now for the Post to notice that blogging is not a different thing from journalism on other media.

    Introducing the Post’s newbie bloggers to regular print reporting will help, but they really need the editorial supervision that print reporters also get.

  16. 16.

    ruemara

    I’ve been hearing how wonderful the “apology” by Zimmerman was, usually from pundits. So… what other narratives will we get to see feed an outcome?

  17. 17.

    Yevgraf

    @Elizabelle:

    It’s shocking how few editors the Post seems to maintain.

    That costs money and impacts profits.

    I kind of want to start “Weathermen II”, only with more bombs targeting pundits, CEOs, big media investors and their extended families.

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    @Amir Khalid:

    Agreed.

    The WaPost is all about money and pageclicks.

    It’s been hollowed out, and has a “Right Leaning” and “Left Leaning” opinion section. (More employment for hacks.)

    I kind of agree with Villago Delando about cleaning the nest.

    Ombud again:

    The Post just had a rough few days. It was shut out of the 2012 Pulitzer Prizes, which were announced Monday. On the same day, journalists here had to accept or reject The Post’s fifth buyout offer in nine years. The union representing newsroom workers says that at least 32 accepted, and probably more.

    No Pulitzers. Ya think?

  19. 19.

    TooManyJens

    @General Stuck:

    Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Mitt Romney supporter who has been rumored as a potential vice presidential pick, says the candidate ought not to make targeted appeals to women and Hispanic voters, but instead can win them over by speaking the “language of unity.”

    He’s not exactly wrong. There’s no possible way Romney can sell himself as someone who gives a damn about women and Hispanics. I mean, he won’t be able to sell them that “language of unity” bullshit either, but it has the advantage that it won’t put off the people who hate women and Hispanics.

  20. 20.

    Yevgraf

    @General Stuck:

    Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Mitt Romney supporter who has been rumored as a potential vice presidential pick, says the candidate ought not to make targeted appeals to women and Hispanic voters, but instead can win them over by speaking the “language of unity.”

    Meanwhile, nobody in the Village will recall “yer with us or agin’ us”, Just Us Sunday, Freedom Fries, Purple Heart band aids, America Hating Terrorist Lover, or any one of a thousand disparaging themes against even the mildest criticism or call for reflection by anyone not a Redoublechin.

    Unity, my ass.

  21. 21.

    Roger Moore

    @TooManyJens:

    I mean, he won’t be able to sell them that “language of unity” bullshit either, but it has the advantage that it won’t put off the people who hate women and Hispanics.

    And give them an excuse to diss women and Hispanics (and any other minorities that votes strongly Democratic) as selfish special interest groups that care more about themselves than the country. See, they ignored Mitt’s call for unity, which proves they’re unwilling to give up anything for the common good.

  22. 22.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Elizabelle: Normally, I don’t have much time for Patty Pexton, WaPo ombudsnobody, but this is his stopped-clock moment.

    The paper has decided to create a “news of 30 seconds ago” section, in an attempt to compete with HuffPo and drink the pageviews milkshake of the original sources. This is different from what Ezra and co. are doing, but they have the advantage of coming from a different blogging environment, before HuffPo and Gawker and the other content mills. (TPM is heading the same way, which is fucking depressing.)

    So, Pexton’s right: it’s a sign that buyouts and cost-cutting have left the WaPo as a shell: there’s no organisational capability remaining to create new journalists.

  23. 23.

    Clime Acts

    The talk here of other players constructing “narratives” is hilarious, given that the Juicitariat has constructed an entire narrative which ends in Zimmerman’s conviction, based entirely on media accounts and dumbassery.

    Because, I mean, we know that the media is entirely reliable and that you guys are entirely unbiased, and that no prosecutor would ever mess with the facts of a case in order to ensure a conviction, so why not, eh?

    What is with the lynch mob mentality here? I do not understand the refusal to simply follow the case and wait for the outcome, in a calm, reasonable manner. The over the top assumption of guilt is freakish.

    I make no assumption that Zimmerman is innocent, either. Perhaps he needs to serve 30 years, I don’t know. Basic point is none of you know either, but that doesn’t stop your frothings for a hanging.

    So nakedly tribal, and again a nice mirror image of the tribal crazy on the far right.

  24. 24.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    It’s weird how MSM in all its forms seems to have shifted rightward so much over the past few weeks. I used to find WBZ morning drive time to be quite bland and apolitical, basically just the “ten minute news loop” format so perfect for commuters: {NEWS! SPORTS! TRAFFIC! WEATHER! NEWS! SPORTS! TRAFFIC!… etc}.

    But even they seem to have shifted rightward. There’s more of what I’d call ‘editorial’ content then I recall even hearing from them. And, of course, it’s all right-wingish editorial content.

    Very odd.

  25. 25.

    Frank Cuffman

    So nakedly tribal, and again a nice mirror image of the tribal crazy on the far right.

    That’s crazy talk. Liberals are not hypocrites no matter what you say.

    Al Sharpton knows what the facts are and Zimmerman is a murderer. He told us so.

  26. 26.

    lacp

    @Clime Acts: I’m not sure whose comments you’re referencing – certainly nothing on this thread looks very lynch-mobbish. This is exactly the sort of case that spawns millions of narratives: so little is known beyond the fact that a teenager was killed by somebody who had been following him for no good reason.

    The apparently perfunctory police investigation didn’t help, and the surrounding legal environment adds to the problem (I find Florida’s SYG law even weirder than Pennsylvania’s, and I don’t know how Zimmerman was able to get a CCP with his record).

    I have my own opinions on the case (which aren’t particularly favorable to Zimmerman), but it would not surprise me in the least if he walked – perhaps without even a trial.

  27. 27.

    Chyron HR

    @Clime Acts:

    Still trying to sell your “Zimmerman is a political prisoner of the Obama regime” line, huh?

    How’s it feel to know that you came up with an attack on Obama that’s such transparent bullshit that not even Glenn Greenwald is buying it?

  29. 29.

    Amir Khalid

    @Clime Acts:
    Sigh. Timmy, Timmy, Timmy … No one here is saying that George Zimmerman is certain to be convicted. The Stand Your Ground law might yet keep him out of jail after he confronted an unarmed boy without good reason and shot him dead.
    Sanford PD seems to have shirked its duty to arrest Zimmerman and investigate the shooting thoroughly. A special prosecutor, appointed after a public outcry, has determined that there is a case of murder 2 against Zimmerman.

    Aside from the courtroom drama, there are larger issues here than Trayvon Martin’s apparently needless death. Is SYG a sensible law, or does it encourage vigilantism and/or discourage homicide investigations? Was racism or nepotism at play, or both, when Sanford PD apparently sat on this case? What does the disparity between white people’s attitudes to this case and black people’s say about the ongoing race divide in American society?

  30. 30.

    Cromagnon

    @Clime Acts:

    Come on dude. Its human nature to have strong opinions on subjects we know almost nothing about. Life is more fun that way

  31. 31.

    Cromagnon

    @Amir Khalid:

    What does the disparity between white people’s attitudes to this case and black people’s say about the ongoing race divide in American society?

    Or alternatively, what does the disparity between white people’s attitudes to the O.J. Simpson case and black people’s say about the ongoing race divide in American society?

  32. 32.

    Clime Acts

    @Chyron HR:

    Still trying to sell your “Zimmerman is a political prisoner of the Obama regime” line, huh?

    See, this here is an excellent example: What the fuck are you babbling about? Please provide a link to where I wrote anything of the sort.

    Since you can’t do that, please acknowledge same. Thanks.

    It is imperative to your tribal identity that Zimmerman be found guilty of murder. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, but to you only one outcome will suffice.

    Is that your version of American citizenship?

  33. 33.

    Clime Acts

    @Chyron HR:

    How’s it feel to know that you came up with an attack on Obama that’s such transparent bullshit that not even Glenn Greenwald is buying it?

    Ummm…what imaginary attack on Obama are you alleging I made? Link, please. And not to the voices in your head.

  34. 34.

    Clime Acts

    @Cromagnon:

    Or alternatively, what does the disparity between white people’s attitudes to the O.J. Simpson case and black people’s say about the ongoing race divide in American society?

    Oh dear.

    Awkward.

  35. 35.

    Corner Stone

    @Amir Khalid:

    What does the disparity between white people’s attitudes to this case and black people’s say about the ongoing race divide in American society?

    I don’t know. What are white peoples’ attitudes to this case?

  36. 36.

    jncc

    I still can’t believe that Zimmerman got bail.

    The facts, as stated by folks here on Balloon Juice, couldn’t be more clear:

    Zimmerman intentionally picked out a black child to stalk and kill. Zimmerman had “100 pounds of muscle” on the kid but he still chased after him even after a police officer told him EXPLICITLY not to do so. Zimmerman ran after Martin. He shot Martin for no reason and then was beating Martin for 10 seconds after shooting him the first time while Martin cried out for help. Zimmerman then shot him a second time. You can hear this on the 911 call by the woman who called the police after she heard the first shot. This was obviously an intentional, premeditated murder.

    Then the police did no investigation at all and just took Zimmerman’s word for everything. It’s very suspicious that the new witness who claims that she saw Martin straddling Zimmerman and beating him did not come forward until weeks after the incident.

    And those pictures that showed blood running down the back of Zimmerman’s head? Well those could “possibly” be self inflicted.

  37. 37.

    Corner Stone

    @jncc:

    The facts, as stated by folks here on Balloon Juice, couldn’t be more clear:

    I think you may need to slow your roll.

  38. 38.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    @Clime Acts:

    It is imperative to your tribal identity sense of justice that Zimmerman be found guilty of murder.

    Fact: He shot and killed an unarmed kid. Zimmerman must suffer for this.

    As far as your ‘nuance’ is concerned, he should at least be up for manslaughter. Yet is likely to walk, scott free.

  39. 39.

    Clime Acts

    @Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor:

    Fact: He shot and killed an unarmed kid.

    Hmmm…is it possible that Trayvon, during a scuffle, got the gun from Zimmerman, and became armed?

    Why, yes, yes it IS possible, and that’s why there will now be a trial to find out one way or the other to the best of a jury’s abilities, what actually happened.

    You don’t know shit about it.

    Lynch mobs in the south who strung up innocent black men believed THEIR “sense of justice” demanded their irrational, tribally based actions too.

    Guess you’re kind of like them.

  40. 40.

    jncc

    @Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor: Spot on, you are.

    Even if every fact I summarized above is wrong (perish the thought) and even if the incident happened the way Zimmerman said it did, that he was walking back to his car when he was jumped by Martin who then got him on the ground and started pounding his head into the sidewalk, that could not in any way form any sort of justification for shooting Martin because Martin was “armed only with skittles”.

    Zimmerman should have retreated and not attempted to stand his ground.

  41. 41.

    Clime Acts

    @jncc:

    and so the blithering speculation based on spectral telepathy or something-something continues, unabated…

  43. 43.

    Gian

    it did seem off for a bail hearing. But it’s Florida. Normally I thought they were about the nature of the charges, and the liklihood the defendant poses a flight risk or a danger to the community.

    I thought there were things like preliminary hearings and trials where the cross examination of the prosecution’s investigator actually is supposed to happen.

    So to that end yeah, the whole showboating thing is to play to the right wing media and had just about nothing to do with the legal purpose of a bail hearing.

  44. 44.

    Amir Khalid

    @Clime Acts:

    Hmmm…is it possible that Trayvon, during a scuffle, got the gun from Zimmerman, and became armed?

    Zimmerman admits that it was he who shot and killed Trayvon. If Trayvon managed to wrestle the gun away from him, as you suggest, then I must ask: how did Zimmerman manage to kill Trayvon with a gun that Trayvon was holding?

  46. 46.

    Clime Acts

    @Amir Khalid:

    how did Zimmerman manage to kill Trayvon with a gun that Trayvon was holding?

    Simple: He would have gotten the gun BACK from Trayvon during the ensuing struggle. But I don’t know, like you I wasn’t there.

    Unlike you, I’m not pretending that I was.

    Which is why there will be a trial, under a national spotlight.

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    @jncc:

    Zimmerman should have retreated and not attempted to stand his ground.

    It’s not a question of whether Zimmerman should have retreated or not. It’s a question of whether he should have followed after Martin in his truck and gotten out to follow him on foot. That’s not standing his ground, that’s creating a confrontation where none existed before. It’s the disparity between Zimmerman’s actions in chasing after Martin followed by his claim that he was just defending himself that gets people riled.

  49. 49.

    JoeShabadoo

    @Clime Acts:
    Hmmm…is it possible that aliens came down abducted both of them, kept them in a time stasis field and probed them repeatedly. Trayvon then died from repeated probing so the aliens dumped both him and Zimmerman back down with Zimmerman framed so people wouldn’t suspect aliens are among us.

    Why, yes, yes it IS possible, and that’s why there will now be a trial to find out one way or the other to the best of a jury’s abilities, what actually happened.

    But I don’t know, like you I wasn’t there.

    Unlike everyone else, I’m not pretending that I was.

    Which is why there will be a trial, under a national and hopefully intergalactic spotlight.

  50. 50.

    Bubblegum Tate

    @Derelict:

    How long before Zimmerman gets a Faux News gig?

    I dunno if he’s gonna get a full-on gig, but Sean Hannity is definitely going to give him an on-air blowjob, possibly two.

  51. 51.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Amir Khalid:

    Please. The fuckhead wingtard troll’s pathetic head will go into an infinite loop if you make it actually think about the fucking facts.

  52. 52.

    Corner Stone

    @Roger Moore: Actually, there’s no law against following someone in a public space, nor is there a law against asking bullshit questions of said person.
    IMO, there’s a lot of BS surrounding this horrible event.

  53. 53.

    ItAintEazy

    @Amir Khalid:

    Hmmm…is it possible that Trayvon, during a scuffle, got the gun from Zimmerman, and became armed?

    Face it, these clowns got nothing.

  54. 54.

    Amir Khalid

    @Clime Acts:
    And another thing. If Trayvon had gotten the gun away from a man who was threatening his life, how come it’s not George Zimmerman wearing the bullet holes?

  55. 55.

    karen marie

    @jncc: It’s hard to imagine how this could possibly have happened (Martin “pounding” Zimmerman’s head into the sidewalk) because Martin was significantly smaller than Zimmerman.

    Right there I call bullshit on Zimmerman.

    @Amir Khalid: Shot him in the back.

  57. 57.

    Amir Khalid

    Not that this relevant to anything, but from the photos I’ve seen of Zimmerman there’s no way he’s 5 foot 9 and 250lbs. He’s just not that bulky. I’m about that height myself, and I’d estimate his weight at 175-180lbs tops. Still 30lbs or so heavier than Trayvon, who was 5 or 6 inches taller and a high school athlete. I think that any scuffle between them would have been more even than is supposed. Not, of course, that it excuses or justifies the final outcome in any way.

  58. 58.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    @Clime Acts:

    Hmmm…is it possible that Trayvon, during a scuffle, got the gun from Zimmerman, and became armed?

    No, not very. Seeing as there’s no real evidence of a life-threatening struggle, and Trayvon was the one who ended up dead and all.

    BTW, even if your (bullshit) scenario were true, Zimmerman still killed someone, and therefore should still be put up on involuntary manslaughter charges.

    You want my theory, Skippy? The cops, for whatever reason, basically decided then and there that Zimmerman didn’t need to go to jail. And then they fucked up the investigation (esp. the forensics) on purpose, so no prosecutor will ever be able to get enough solid evidence to convict.

    So fear not, Craver of Justice… IMO Zimmerman walks. You (and the right wing rascist trash you so eagerly enable) will then be able to gloat under whatever name you’re using that week.

  59. 59.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor:

    While there’s been a lot of discussion about the injuries that Zimmerman claims Trayvon inflicted on him in the claimed struggle, what’s been missing from this discussion is what injuries, prior to being shot and killed, did Zimmerman inflict on Trayvon in what he claims is a fight for his own life. The only word we have is from the funeral director who says that Trayvon had no injuries (other than the gunshot wound) that had to be covered up prior to the funeral.

    IMO if Trayvon has no injuries indicating there was a fight to the death going on prior to his being shot, then Zimmerman is in trouble.

    I’m really interested in seeing the coroner’s report.

  60. 60.

    Clime Acts

    @Lojasmo:

    So you arena apologist for both fucking children and killing them? WINNING!

    Apologist? Oh gosh no.

    I actively encourage both activities. They are tres delightful.

  62. 62.

    Clime Acts

    @Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor:

    You want my theory, Skippy? The cops, for whatever reason, basically decided then and there that Zimmerman didn’t need to go to jail. And then they fucked up the investigation (esp. the forensics) on purpose, so no prosecutor will ever be able to get enough solid evidence to convict.

    So is it your position that if there is not enough evidence to convict, Zimmerman should nonetheless be put in jail on your say so? Cause, you know, you KNOW.

    Is that how things should work?

  63. 63.

    Jebediah

    @Corner Stone:

    Actually, there’s no law against following someone in a public space, nor is there a law against asking bullshit questions of said person.

    No, but it would seem to undercut the “stand your ground” defense.

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