In the Zimmerman Trial yesterday, the defense team noted that if George Zimmerman is, in fact, telling the truth, Trayvon Martin would need three hands.
How did the victim see this gun? Or is it just another lie that [Zimmerman] tells? [Martin]’s holding one hand over his mouth, one hand over his noise and with that third hand he reaches for the gun?
You see, it’s that third hand that immediately makes young black men suspicious.
Also on Friday’s #TWiBRadio, the afternoon crew discussed my week in the Bay Area (05:00), the upcoming Zimmerman trial verdict (13:00), and an important grammar lesson (01:15:00).
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And Wednesday on #amTWiB, L.Joy, Imani, and the rest of the #TheMorningCrew covered the Federal Housing Finance Agency withholding money (25:00), Elizabeth Hasselbeck leaving the View (17:00), and another story of mental illness and law enforcement (50:00).
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JWL
“Let’s go hunt some Floridian young bucks tonight.. in self defense, of course” [self satisfied guffawing heard all around].
Just Some Fuckhead
lolz
Yatsuno
@JWL: STAND YER GROUND!!!
(Apparently that’s all you need to say. If you’re white, straight, and male of course.)
Lee Rudolph
In your first sentence, I think you mean “prosecution team”, not “defense time”, no?
Villago Delenda Est
It’s not the third hand.
It’s the natural skin color of the field hand.
Let’s be sure to keep our hands straight.
maya
Wouldn’t that be the prosecution team?
Roger Moore
And on the gripping hand…
NickT
You have to applaud Trayvon Martin. There he is, possessed only of some candy and a soft drink, and he grows a third hand from nothing and creates some bushes out of nowhere from which to ambush George Zimmermann.
cckids
Saw a tweet that said “only in America can a young black man go on trial for his own murder”
Amen.
The Dangerman
Three hands and packing
heatsidewalk; dangerous dudejprfrog
If TM was sitting on GZ’s chest, how did GZ get the gun out? It was holstered either on his leg (blocked by TM’s legs) or in the back of his belt (pinned to the ground by TM’s weight). I conclude on this alone that GZ is a total liar.
But I’m not on the jury. BTW I don’t think the prosecution made a great case. It will be lucky to get manslaughter.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Zimmerman has said enough that it’s clear that he has been lying to save his ass for wrongfully killing an innocent kid. On one of his lies, his attorney even concedes that Zimmerman didn’t have his head repeatedly smashed against the ground as he claims. Zim’s whole story is bunk. He stalked an innocent person and took his life, claiming that his was threatened by this innocent person. All because Trayvon was black. If he had been white he wouldn’t have been stalked and murdered by Zim.
I hope he gets M2, it’s the least he deserves.
ChrisNYC
I saw a tweet saying that the defense closing included this: “The only one who was injured at all, except for the gunshot, was George Zimmerman.” Ah … umm…wah?
Short Bus Bully
@ChrisNYC: Sweet Baby Moses, if that’s an accurate quote it makes me despair.
Also, I don’t read as much intertrons as I should. Are people making the Bernie R. Goetz connections or is that not cool these days?
mclaren
It’s almost impossible for me to believe that Zimmerman won’t be convicted. But since the impossible has repeatedly happened (the drunk-driving C student winning the presidency in 2000 and again in 2004, Reagan winning and getting re-elected, Nixon getting lauded as an “elder statesman” after his forced retirement from public life due to his massive criminality and corruption), it’s disappointingly likely.
mclaren
@ChrisNYC:
And in Ford’s theater, the only one was injured at all, except for the gunshot, was John Wilkes Booth.
Clearly the United States government needs to pay Booth’s family reparations.
Cacti
For Zimmerman to be telling the truth, you also have to believe that he:
1. Was screaming for help while he couldn’t breathe
2. Had a broken nose, but managed not to leave a drop of blood on the hands that were supposedly covering his mouth and nose
3. Had his head beaten onto the sidewalk 20-30 times and suffered only 2 small cuts
4. Wasn’t looking for a confrontation, despite his tailing a person who wasn’t violating any law, and complaining to 911 about the “fucking punks” who always get away
You also have to overlook…
1. That he lied through his teeth on Sean Hannity’s show, feigning ignorance about Florida self-defense law
2. The imaginary bushes he said Trayvon Martin jumped out of
Just Some Fuckhead
Did they say anything about Trayvon Martin getting blood all over poor Zimmerman?
muddy
I saw that defense one (the one with the knock knock joke) say today that the jury shouldn’t be swayed by the autopsy photos. He informed them that once your nerves stop you no longer have muscle tone. Also he said that the victim looked smaller than he really was because all the blood had come out.
So they should think about how scary he was when he had nerves and blood in his body, not be fooled by that silly autopsy pic. Nerves and blood made him big and scary, gotcha. Noting about the skin.
James E. Powell
I can’t say I’m surprised, but I am appalled at the intensity of the bigots’ emotional investment in Zimmerman’s cause. Why do they need him to get away with killing an innocent person? I mean, it isn’t that they feel sorry for him and hope he avoids prison. They need him to be vindicated, like he did nothing wrong.
Unabogie
@NickT:
He wasn’t just carrying Skittles. Apparently he was also carrying a 50 lb block of concrete with him in his pocket.
Unabogie
@Cacti:
And that in his first three interviews with police, he declared that he was hit once, and immediately fell backwards onto the ground. Yet the body of the kid, his, cellphone, and Zimmerman’s flashlight were all found 40 feet away. Even their cartoon today didn’t attempt to explain that bit of magic.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Jane Weintraub(?) just now on MSNBC:
Referring to Trayvon: “… he was a strapping young man”…
At least she replaced “buck” with “man”, but her dog whistle still came through loud and clear.
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: Damn you for getting to a Motie joke before me.
Anya
Those of you who watched the closing arguments, what did you think? I only watched John Guy’s closing and I thought it was powerful.
Some of the most powerful parts:
Guy describes Trayvon Martin as “16 years and 22 days forever, and the last thing he did on this earth was try to get home.”
“if the situation was reversed and 17 year old TM was driving around in a car, followed and shot GZ what would your verdict be?”
@ChrisNYC: From twitter he also said this: “Could be suspicious if someone was walking somewhere where he doesn’t belong.”
Guy’s rebuttal: “That child had every right to be where he was, he had every right to be walking, he had every right to defend himself from that strange man.” and this: “That child had every right to be afraid of a strange man following him, first in his car and then on foot.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Anya: I didn’t see or hear the closing arguments, but I do like the emphasis on Martin being a child from the bits you mentioned.
Anya
@Omnes Omnibus: He continually refered to Zimmerman as a “grown man” and Martin as a “child.” I thought the use of the child was a bit manipulative because Trayvon was 17. Do people actually refer to 17-year olds as a child?
Older
@Anya: Maybe only parents, who vividly remember the 17-year old as a 12-year old, as a 7-year old, as an infant whose diaper they changed. I have raised a lot of kids, and I thought of them all as children at least that long.
Anya
@Older: Hopefully it would work on all the jurors who are mothers.
tc
@Anya: I would refer to a 17 year old as a child. And I’m 30.
Shrillhouse
@Anya: @Anya: Yes, because that’s what a 17 year old is. A child.
FlipYrWhig
@Cacti: I was saying this before… I don’t get why Zimmerman piled on all these details about all the different ways self-defense was totally legitimate: the alleged threats, the alleged reaching for the gun, the alleged ambush from the bushes, the alleged head-pounding… I think the straightforward story would have been enough to see him acquitted: “I thought he was acting suspicious, so I tried to stop him, but he didn’t stop, so it turned into a fight and I fell and hit my head and I kind of freaked out and felt like I had no choice but to save myself by pulling the trigger.” Say you feel horrible about it and you’re giving up the neighborhood watch because it’ll make you relive it every day, and you walk. Guaranteed. Sad to say, but I think that’s what would have happened.
muddy
@Roger Moore: @Omnes Omnibus: I use “gripping hand” in conversation quite a bit.
I get freaked out by sloths because their faces look like moties.
Omnes Omnibus
@FlipYrWhig:
Imperfect self-defense. Drops it to involuntary manslaughter. The walk comes if he could credibly say ” “ “I thought he was acting suspicious, so I tried to stop him, but he didn’t stop, so it turned into a fight and I fell and he freaked out and kept attacking me so I had no choice but to save myself by pulling the trigger.”
FlipYrWhig
@Omnes Omnibus: Fair enough.
Jay in Oregon
@James E. Powell:
I am convinced that it’s because to them, Zimmerman didn’t do anything wrong. Trayvon Martin was a dangerous thug (as evidenced by the color of his skin) and if any of them were in the same situation, they would have done the same thing.
If Zimmerman can go to jail for the rest of his life for shooting a niCLANG then they could as well, and that’s unconscionable in their minds. It’s the same with all of the calls for “get ready for the animals to riot when Zimmerman is acquitted”; they see it as an opportunity to shoot some darkies and be called heroes for it.
Atrios said it best: I don’t think every gun owner fantasizes about killing someone with their gun, but I’m pretty sure every gun nut does.
Mark S.
@James E. Powell:
Because it pisses off liberals, which is about all they care about anymore.
GxB
@James E. Powell: Why do I get the feeling that the bigots will just as quickly relegate their hero to the trash heap if he is found guilty. I predict that a sizable (and vocal) group will suddenly declare Z is just some [codeword for Hispanic] shlub that got caught killing a punk. Brownish skin on even darker skin crime so no problem – and the mantle of Benghazi or whatever insipid dreck they were mewling about will be picked up anew.
Groucho48
@James E. Powell:
I think it’s a bit more complicated. I’ve noticed that in one of my regular forums, the persons most vehemently defending Zimmerman aren’t primarily bigots, though there is definitely a touch of that. They are gun nuts. I used to think they were trolling when they fervently proclaimed that Martin was obviously the aggressor and that Zimmerman had no choice but to shoot him dead. But, I’ve come to believe they mean it. Because in their fantasy view of the world, that is just how things are. It’s a jungle out there. Lone teenagers ARE thugs, just waiting for a chance to attack and probably rape god-fearing salt of the earth folks like them.
All the jokes about gun nuts being small peened inadequate bullies are true. They all would have handled that situation exactly how Zimmerman did and they are all sincerely convinced that it was the right course of action. Because the world is full of scary things, which is why they can’t sleep without a gun under their pillow or go outside without carrying a gun with one in the chamber.
They probably fantasize about situations like this one happening to them, and how they’ll be heroes and everyone will think they are brave and noble and all those good things.
Then, it turns out that much of the country doesn’t think a grown man following and shooting to death an unarmed kid walking home from the store is a good thing. If Zimmerman is convicted their whole world view is threatened. If Zimmerman is found not guilty, their lifestyle will be validated.
Omnes Omnibus
@Groucho48: I think you have hit on a lot of it. Martin must have been the aggressor or else their Travis Bickle viewpoint comes apart at the seems.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: Seams, not seems. Jesus. I can’t even blame it on autocorrect. I’ll just call it a tribute to General Stuck.
Mnemosyne
I’m always surprised that people still use the “we both reached for the gun” claim after Chicago.
Svensker
@James E. Powell:
My brother is one of those people who needs Zimmerman to be a hero. I really think it’s because Obama said Trayvon looked like his son. That makes Trayvon fair game and the butt of horrible jokes, but it”s acceptable because Obama! I also think that Trayvon is the focus of all the hatred they have for the Left, Obama, those lazy welfare t-bone chompers, and the fact that stuff is changing and they’re not in control of everything anymore.
The fact that my brother, who was always a kind and gentle person, is mocking the death of a teenage kid just horrifies me. But apparently it’s OK because “the liberal press” ran pictures of Trayvon showing him as an innocent 12-year-old instead of a scary troublemaking 17-year-old.
The whole thing breaks my heart.
Anya
@Svensker: Maybe you should show him the picture of Trayvone Martin’s dead body. He’s nothing more than a skinny kid wearing the most unthreatening clothes ever.
I am conflicted about how I feel about Gawker showing that picture without at least getting permission from his parents but I think it might help some people change their views about how “thuggish” he looked the night he was shot to death but that paranoid cop wanna be.
celticdragonchick
The founder of the Guardian Angels in New York came out yesterday to mock Zimmerman, calling him “The neighborhood nut”.
This guy who very publically defended Bernard Goetz refuses to defend Zimmerman in any way.
lojasmo
@tc:
Shit, some of the fellows I work with act like children…and they’re your age.
Pogonip
I don’t understand the conservative hostility towards Trayvon either. I get conservative e-mails (from relatives) where the venom just drips towards this poor soul who had the misfortune to cross paths with an armed idiot. I tell them they’re not doing their cause any good with this stuff.