George Zimmerman, the innocent, traumatized victim of dangerous Skittle-flinging ninja-thug Trayvon Martin, has been doing what you would expect someone who was acquitted after shooting an unarmed minor to death to do: lying low and contemplating the fragility of life while respecting the grief of the Martin family. Or not:
That’s Zimmerman touring the fucking Kel-Tec gun plant in Cocoa Beach and posing for photos with an employee like some celebrity or huckster politician (with boob sweat). Kel-Tec manufactured the gun used to shoot Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman also reportedly inquired about this sweet little number:
It holds 12 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun shells, which could take out half a busload of unarmed high-schoolers.
I know some of you are convinced Zimmerman is a cold-blooded murderer who went looking for someone to kill that rainy night. I always thought he was a squirrely incompetent instead, a squishy, officious little prick who thought strapping a gun on made him a BIG man and ended up killing a kid when his RoboCop fantasy went awry.
Damned if this personal tour of the death instrument factory and grip-and-grin photo-op don’t make me think y’all might be right after all. Who the fuck does such a thing, except a sociopath?
[X-posted at Rumproast]
Rex Everything
First page of Stephen King’s The Shining, no?
The Red Pen
Shorter Jack Cashill*:
Obama forgot to tell Ni-CLANGs that it was OK for Trayvon to die.
*Jack Cashill’s major contribute to Western culture is the theory that Bill Ayers ghost-wrote all of Obama’s books. (“And my wife wrote his sonnets!” — Monty Python)
Wag
Of course that little shotgun is completely illegal for hunting ducks, as a federal law ( dating back the 1930s) limits hunting magazines to three shells, giving the ducks a sporting chance, and preventing wanton destruction of our precious wildlife resources.
WereBear
Indeed.
All wingnut heroes are sociopaths…
diana
America fuck yeh! Where else in the world could this happen?
Ta Nehisi-Coates posted that when he went to France everyone there had heard about Trayvon Martin. I hope they don’t see this bit of follow-up news.
this guy is embarrassing every American.
other than the Republican party, of course, which embarrasses itself…
J R in WV
Mad dog… smiling like an idiot. I can’t believe the owners of the plant allowed him to cross the threshold. Maybe they’re rabid dogs too?!
I note the guy he’s holding the hand of isn’t quite thrilled looking. Jobs are hard to come by these days, maybe he had to do his best to keep the job.
Scott S.
God, I cannot wait for this ass to eventually aerate his own skull.
Linda Featheringill
That gun holds 12 shotgun shells? Wow.
Also, it it’s not legal for hunting animals, what is is legal for?
[I know what it’s real purpose is, I just want to know if it’s legal anywhere.]
Elizabelle
Betty: I think you’re right on your take on Zimmerman (squirrelly incompetent), but since his arraignment he’s been surrounded by fans (gun nuts and wingnuts) who think Trayvon Martin attacked him, with a sidewalk.
It’s important for gun rights supporters and other Zimmerman fanbois and grrls to believe that, lest they acknowledge their hero killed an unarmed high school student, who had Skittles and iced tea on his person.
Villago Delenda Est
@diana:
I mean, seriously, after the deserting coward malasstration, how can we be held in greater contempt outside our borders?
Rand Paul and Ted Cruz both want to give it the old college try, though…
Felonius Monk
Never fear there is always another wrinkle in the fabric of the universe:
Homeland Security Employee Promotes Race War
Librarian
Why can’t he be both?
Elizabelle
I don’t think the Trayvon Martin story has played out yet.
There’s a second and third act coming.
Eventually Zimmerman will get his.
Villago Delenda Est
@Librarian:
A dessert topping and a floor wax? Why not!
BruinKid
Two teenagers beat to death a WWII vet in Spokane, Washington, seemingly at random with no motive at all, other than to kill someone.
And here’s why Rush Limbaugh just got an erection upon hearing the news: the two teenagers are black. One of them was arrested this morning.
How much coverage do y’all think this will get on Fox News tonight? Sean Hannity might devote his entire show to it. The comments to that CNN article are full of horribly racist comments that have gotten hundreds of “likes”, and the Gawker story on it actually has some commenters openly using the n-word (“you can take the n***** out of the jungle….).
Fuck. And on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s March on Washington. Double fuck.
Alexandra
Nice touch.
Although, not literally. Eww.
Kay (not the front-pager)
Yes, Exactly. Also,
See, what happened that night was the will of God doncha know.
MattF
i don’t have much of an opinion about Zimmerman because I think rooting around in a septic tank is a bad idea, pretty generally.
piratedan
@BruinKid: not all kids are good, some of those kids are black, some are white, some are brown etc…
but yes, all we’re going to hear about on this “slow news cycle” is some more race war baiting and ooga booga from the Right.
All we need now is a Nancy Grace appearance
boatboy_srq
How about somebody whose Keystone Cop’s grand misadventure made him The Sociopaths’ Hero?
Betcha there’s money in that fifteen minutes’ worth…
Botsplainer
@Elizabelle:
Like Paul Kersey in Death Wish I, II, III and IV, he will constantly find himself in the wrong place, needing to pre-emptively fire off rounds to keep himself safe.
Unlike Paul Kersey in Death Wish I, II, III and IV, he will find himself in prison eventually, unable to join the AB for protection due to his heritage, unable to join the Latino gangs because of his upbringing, and will find himself easy pickins for the folks that he thinks “get away with everything”, who will vindicate Trayvon.
A more deserving fate never happened to anyone.
Ben Cisco
Maybe one of these days, we’ll be able to let people know the shit is coming and have them actually consider it BEFORE it happens.
It didn’t work when we warned about hysterical response to President Obama’s election.
Or when it was predicted this douchecanoe would walk after assassinating Trayvon Martin.
But maybe tomorrow…
ThresherK
Hey, if I learned anything from a youth misspent watching Twilight Zones, the “squirrely incompetent [snip] who thought strapping a gun on made him a BIG man ” was usually more dangerous and caused more stoppable tragedy than the cold-blooded killer.
GregB
Zimmerman will kill someone else again.
TooManyJens
I think he’s the squishy officious prick, etc., who started to believe the lie he told about how he had to shoot Trayvon because the alternative was unacceptable. And then when the gun lovers and racists built him up into this huge hero standing up against a thug, that just cemented his self-image further.
kindness
Karma happens. Karma works. It sucks in that it doesn’t have to happen right away. Sometimes it takes a while. Sometimes it takes several lifetimes. But I have faith in Karma.
boatboy_srq
@Linda Featheringill: Less than 15 rounds per magazine, so not “assault weapons” grade, even if the AWB were still in effect. So, legal for Home Defense, and for SYG. Because you never know when Teh Authoritahs will roll up, without body armor, in a school bus, to arrest you, for which this seems most ideally suited (i.e. too much firepower for basic home protection but not enough to stop Big Gubmint Coming to Take You Away, or: Just Enough Weaponry for Cops To Shoot You Dead).
Botsplainer
@ThresherK:
The folks who trote the Twilight Zone episodes wrote more about the human condition than the fantastic, which is what makes them age so well. They’re timeless.
Botsplainer
@GregB:
Within the next year or two.
Redshirt
Gosh, I can’t wait for good friend of John Cole, Ted & Hellen, to arrive and shit up this thread with his “insightful” “opinions”.
Also, gaurantee Zimmerman is even more of a hero today because of this tour. You know he’s a hero, right (to the 27%)? What a country.
Ruckus
@Ben Cisco:
That would be nice.
I doubt it will happen. People don’t want to hear about how big of assholes they really are.
But it would be nice.
WaynersT
I have a sense things will not go well for him. He seemed like a mental case to begin with, so after all this….oy.
I think I read somewhere that he said he was on his way to Target when he came across Trayvon. Whomever feels the need to shop at Target with a loaded concealed gun is going to end up in trouble one way or the other.
catclub
@Linda Featheringill: “what is is legal for? ”
Crowd suppression. The company is probably flogging it to the Egyptian military right this minute.
gogol's wife
@GregB:
You can take that to the bank.
ThresherK
@Botsplainer: “Hey, how come your house has electricity and nobody else’s does?”
(Commence little riot on Maple Street.)
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Linda Featheringill: It’s a pump shotgun. Legal in all 50 states.
@Wag: All you have to do is put in the hunting plug – got one with my Mossberg many years ago. Restricts your magazine to three rounds. No problem and totally legal.
This would be a shitty hunting shotgun because the barrels are so short, but hardly illegal if plugged.
Kel-Tec makes shitty guns. Not surprised that they’d jump on any publicity no matter how shitty; they need the help because everyone knows that KEL-TEC MAKES SHIT GUNS.
Ben Cisco
@Ruckus: If people can realize it after the fact, and they have to go through that process enough times, then there’s always a chance.
scav
@piratedan: The bored teenager violence is certainly a cheap mediameme du saison: we had one shooting kittens with bows and arrows recently in Chicago. Because nothing like that has ever happened before (find the front page!) — apparently the other violence they have to deal with isn’t enough to push sales anymore (lump those together into nightly bodycounts). I mean, they’re reporting the charge of the arrested Spokane perp with robbery while still pushing the random violence meme? Has it suddenly become a tradition to only rob people you know? Damn media. The violence is bad enough without their putting the afterburners and incitement on it.
Ruckus
@boatboy_srq:
Yes.
For home protection you want a pump shotgun. Not for the firepower but the noise it makes when you chamber a round. In the middle of the night that is a very loud, very distinctive noise. A very chilling noise if you might be on the receiving end.
Keeps you from having to actually shoot someone.
That may not be the concept the gun idiots are looking for.
boatboy_srq
@catclub:
You make that sound like pest control. Oh, wait…
Chyron HR
@Redshirt:
“Why aren’t you outraged about the three black men who murdered a white child in Oklahoma? Would you believe… one black guy and a mulatto?”
Ruckus
@Ben Cisco:
Oh I hope so.
Not high hopes mind you but still.
How many times in your lifetime have people warned, and loudly, against complete stupidity and it made absolutely no difference?
Botsplainer
@ThresherK:
“Practical joke perpetuated by Mother Nature and a combination of improbable events. Practical joke wearing the trappings of nightmare, of terror, of desperation. Small human drama played out in a desert ninety-seven miles from Reno, Nevada, U.S.A., continent of North America, the Earth, and, of course – the Twilight Zone.”
– From I Shot an Arrow Into the Air
MomSense
@Redshirt:
It wouldn’t be so bad if people didn’t engage him. It is much easier to scroll on past his crap but when people respond to him the crap takes over the whole thread.
T. Scheisskopf
You guys have to understand: FL has a huge sub-group for whom shooting someone is all that would complete them in life, and the the more cutaneous melanin the better.
Also, for whom the Kel-Tec is better than German Porn, or at least its equal.
Napoleon
@GregB:
Unless that someone beats him to the punch.
boatboy_srq
@Ruckus:
But Not Shooting Someone is so dissatisfying for the Reichwing. Nothing says “this house not safe to burgle” like the riddled corpse of the last guy who tried it plastered all over the front page and national news. Because petty theft is always justifiable cause for homicide, and ‘nad-enhancing (‘nad-replacing?) weaponry is necessary for all Real Hetero Xtian Patriotic Ahmurrcan Men.
OTOH, if there’s the least suspicion that a suspect has one of these beauties, can you imagine the PD NOT taking that into account during an arrest? It has “come after me with teargas, kevlar and a helicopter” written all over it.
Ruckus
@Ruckus:
I should have said “an old style pump shotgun, like a mossburg or remminton.
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
You know the ideal in corp america these days don’t you? The quality doesn’t matter, only the price. If you have to make it shitty to get the price down no worries. Low price. Low quality. The new merica. Now the normal merica.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
At this point, a distinction without a difference.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ruckus:
DO NOT underestimate the psychological impact of the noise as part of the entire “defense” argument for firearms.
Studies after WWII found that soldiers closer to the crew served weapon (the “machine gun”) in their squad were more likely to fire their own weapons.
The noise is a huge part of a battlefield, and staying AWAY from a huge noise producer is a good tactic. It means you’re not hitting the center of the enemy’s strength, you’re on on a flank…and thus have greater probability of success in your assault.
boatboy_srq
@T. Scheisskopf: There’s a few of us here who’ve actually been to
South GeorgiaNorth/Central/Panhandle FL.Ben Cisco
@Ruckus: Too many times to count (spent half my childhood in the land of “hold my beer and watch THIS!)”
scav
Oh, and of coure they admire the Zimm: Making as much cash as possible out of Publicity, however gained, socking it to the rubes, is a part of their ‘MercanDream™ and idealized homo economicus ‘mericanius behavior.
Citizen_X
Now you’ve done it, Betty. Now you’ve summoned Ted & Nugent, who’ll lecture us all about how “YOU WEREN’T THERE!”
Mike in NC
Does Zimmerman have a book deal in the works, and if so does it come with crayons?
But seriously, the same people that worshiped Sarah Palin will stand in line for hours to get this maggot’s autograph.
? Martin
Getting in on the grift. Unsolicited, a bunch of yahoos in Ohio raised $12,000 to buy Zimmerman a new gun. Imagine what he could earn if he actually went along with this?
(See: every other member of society wondering how the fuck they can survive on $8/hour and decide to cash in by inviting Discovery Channel to broadcast them so we can point and laugh.)
Ruckus
@boatboy_srq:
Oh we are in agreement here.
? Martin
@T. Scheisskopf:
Fixed.
Gene108
Zimmerman looks very fit and trim compared to his photos at the trial. Good for him for getting in shape.
Ruckus
@Villago Delenda Est:
I believe that was exactly my point.
muddy
@Redshirt: I just leave the thread when I see him now. Not enough pie in the world.
Also a bit confused by our host’s passive aggressive relationship with same, yells at him online, gets props from many (“I came 3 times!”) for being tough, but the end of the “tough talk” is that now that T&H will freak out extra (thanks for getting that cart rolling faster than usual John, we all sure appreciate that) and then some other FPer will have to ban him.
He’s John’s pet, John doesn’t mind him shitting in the living room, that’s his choice. My choice is not to sit in someone’s living room when there’s massive piles of shit all over, waiting for someone else to come and clean them up. Easy enough.
Botsplainer
@scav:
I’ve had this discussion lately about latter middle aged paunchy white guys and their arsenals. Basically, the gun pervs have put out so much propaganda that they’ve inflated a massive bubble which is due to pop at any moment. Already, older firearms are almost impossible to sell even at acquisition price because of the massive influx of new assault rifles and 9 mm pistols, because Obama and the coloreds are going to take yer gunz – it is an excess of inventory (particularly uber gay militarized looking black plastic futuristic looking chunks of shit) which is destined to face the reality of crashing demand in the near future.
Why crashing demand? At some point in time, as the husband announces that he is making another trip to the gun store to get more guns/ammo just to be safe. The wife thinks about the collapsing gutters, the grinding noise in the dishwasher, the car tires that are worn through three layers of cord, the leaking toilet, the age of the AC coil, the retched state of the roof and the fact that she hasn’t had a real vacation in five years and that one was to Gettysburg or Antietam to watch some Civil War re-enactors. As this swirling mass of thoughts goes through her brain, she says “my fucking ass you are. In fact, you’re selling some.”
Best part is that he’ll either sell off his plastic and metal penis extenders, or they’ll get divided up in the divorce.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@GregB: He’ll try to. It’s the only noteworthy thing he ever did in his life; the siren song of wingnut fame will compel him to put himself in a situation where he’ll have to haul out his little Kel-Tec shitpile thug pistol and play Dirty Harry again.
If he tries it with a real-life criminal the end result is going to be a lot different, and it won’t be the other guy lying on a slab.
Hal
@Gene108:
I wonder how much weight he’ll put on the next time he kills someone?
Villago Delenda Est
@Ruckus:
Aye, I poorly worded it, I wanted to extend and expand on your (IMHO) quite correct thoughts on the matter.
Botsplainer
@scav:
I’ve had this discussion lately about latter middle aged paunchy white guys and their arsenals. Basically, the gun pervs have put out so much propaganda that they’ve inflated a massive bubble which is due to pop at any moment. Already, older firearms are almost impossible to sell even at acquisition price because of the massive influx of new assault rifles and 9 mm pistols, because Obama and the coloreds are going to take yer gunz – it is an excess of inventory (particularly ubergay militarized looking black plastic futuristic looking chunks of shit) which is destined to face the reality of crashing demand in the near future.
Why crashing demand? At some point in time, as the husband announces that he is making another trip to the gun store to get more guns/ammo just to be safe. The wife thinks about the collapsing gutters, the grinding noise in the dishwasher, the car tires that are worn through three layers of cord, the leaking toilet, the age of the AC coil, the retched state of the roof and the fact that she hasn’t had a real vacation in five years (and that one was to Gettysburg or Antietam to watch some Civil War reenactors). As this swirling mass of thoughts goes through her brain, she says “my fucking ass you are. In fact, you’re selling some.”
Best part is that he’ll either sell off his plastic and metal penIs extenders, or they’ll get divided up in the divorce.
piratedan
@scav: no argument and I completely expect some poor kid to be gunned down shooting hoops somewhere and have that go completely unreported… this is the problem with the Republican economic recovery, stocks are doing well overall, housing prices are coming back but there’s not much vibrancy of jobs out there, hence bored kids with no jobs and not much to do because the municipal coffers are bone dry and instead we’re more likely to see flames fanned rather than any insight into cause and effect. Just sad that a vet had to lose his life in a completely senseless fashion.
Kay
@Botsplainer:
I agree. Martin was the third person who (allegedly) “attacked” George Zimmerman. It’s weird with Zimmerman. He’s never the aggressor! People just attack him for no apparent reason. What are the odds.
Rosalita
@TooManyJens:
my thoughts exactly.
Botsplainer
@scav:
I’ve had this discussion lately about latter middle aged paunchy white guys and their arsenals. Basically, the gun pervs have put out so much propaganda that they’ve inflated a massive bubble which is due to pop at any moment. Already, older firearms are almost impossible to sell even at acquisition price because of the massive influx of new assault rifles and 9 mm pistols, because Obama and the coloreds are going to take yer gunz – it is an excess of inventory (particularly uber gay militarized looking black plastic futuristic looking chunks of shit) which is destined to face the reality of crashing demand in the near future.
Why crashing demand? At some point in time, as the husband announces that he is making another trip to the gun store to get more guns/ammo just to be safe. The wife thinks about the collapsing gutters, the grinding noise in the dishwasher, the car tires that are worn through three layers of cord, the leaking toilet, the age of the AC coil, the retched state of the roof and the fact that she hasn’t had a real vacation in five years (and that one was to Gettysburg or Antietam to watch some Civil War reenactors). As this swirling mass of thoughts goes through her brain, she says “my fucking ass you are. In fact, you’re selling some.”
Best part is that he’ll either sell off his plastic and metal pen!s extenders, or they’ll get divided up in the divorce.
max
I know some of you are convinced Zimmerman is a cold-blooded murderer who went looking for someone to kill that rainy night. I always thought he was a squirrely incompetent instead, a squishy, officious little prick who thought strapping a gun on made him a BIG man and ended up killing a kid when his RoboCop fantasy went awry.
I’m with Librarian – I thought he was both. The key is that I don’t think guys like that think of black kids like Martin as human beings. More like large pests. Killing him doesn’t carry the same moral weight. (I think different weights of moral importance for other human being beings applies to everyone, but with a squishy, officious prick, it’s way more exaggerated. (‘He couldn’t even pull up his pants!’))
@Linda Featheringill: That gun holds 12 shotgun shells? Wow. Also, it it’s not legal for hunting animals, what is is legal for? [I know what it’s real purpose is, I just want to know if it’s legal anywhere.]
It looks like a regular riot gun (shotgun), but tricked up a bit (for ‘tactical’ engagements, that is, killing the black hordes). Probably legal most places. Going solely by the picture, it looks like it some kind of auxiliary support up top, which I am going to guess is probably for a grenade launcher. (Or a laser sight!)
max
[‘It’s supposed to look scary.’]
The Red Pen
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
But is it a Class 3, like the Ithaca Stakeout? I couldn’t find anything on Google about that.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
But don’t you know that he needs to stock up if he has to be the defender Sanford needs to protect everyone from vicious one-man thug crime sprees?! I mean, have there been any thefts since he shot that super-mega savage Trayvon “SUPER MURDER THUG!” Martin?! SEE! He’s a fucking hero and you should all bow down to him you fuckin’ cretins!!
—
Ugh…..christ. I know that was me venting in bitter, frothing sarcasm, but god help me I know that’s the fucking attitude of too many people since all of this exploded. Everyone feels free to let their freak flag fly and say what they really feel. Far too significant a number in this country seem to act like Blacks (and by extension, most ‘brown folks’) are a literal plague, but only now they act vindicated enough to say it loud, proud, without reservation or fear of real backlash
Ted & Hellen
Betty, it’s so brave of you to post this here on Balloon Juice.
Thank you for your courage.
HR Progressive
The KSG-12 shotgun is a wonderful weapon.
…For using in a Call of Duty game.
Seriously, neither Zimmerman nor anyone subscribing to right-wing ideology needs the KSG-12.
Does “anyone” need it? Probably not. But it’s a good looking piece of hardware.
TooManyJens
@Redshirt: Why would you SUMMON HIM like that?!
srv
I’d already suggested this before, but Zim should do a Buffalo Bill circus tour.
PeakVT
I know some of you are convinced Zimmerman is a cold-blooded murderer who went looking for someone to kill that rainy night.
I don’t think many here believe Zimmerman got out of his car with the express intention of killing Martin. Instead, I (and many others) believe Zimmerman got out his car with the express intention of starting and emerging “victorious” from an entirely unnecessary confrontation, and he did so because he was armed and felt empowered by the SYG law. So, he should have been found guilty of 2nd degree murder, IMHO (if FL law allows provides for distinctions in degree).
CONGRATULATIONS!
@The Red Pen: The Stakeout is Class 3 because it’s short barreled – VERY short barreled.
The Kel-Tec is 18″ barrel – full size and therefore not Class 3. Of course, 90% of it is cheap plastic and will probably blow up in the user’s face like their SU series of rifles do, but that’s not a problem but rather a feature as far as I’m concerned. You deserve what you get if you buy cheap shitty guns.
@max: That’s just for a light or sight. You put a grenade launcher on that plastic rail and fire it, and you’ll end up with a grenade launcher buried in what’s left of your chest cavity.
WereBear
Gotta be a fusspot here: when I said he was a Sociopath, that’s from my point of view.
But from his own, he’s defending himself. He’s a damaged mess of compensation and paranoia and denial; but that’s not sociopathy,
Redshirt
@TooManyJens: Like it wasn’t going to be here regardless. Raise Shit Shields!
The Red Pen
Zimmerman: The 12-gauge auto-loader.
Gun Shop Clerk: That’s Italian. You can go pump or auto.
Zimmerman: The .45 long slide, with laser sighting.
Gun Shop Clerk: These are brand new; we just got them in. That’s a good gun. Just touch the trigger, the beam comes on and you put the red dot where you want the bullet to go. You can’t miss. Anything else?
Zimmerman: Phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range.
Gun Shop Clerk: Hey, just what you see, pal!
Zimmerman: The Uzi nine millimeter.
Gun Shop Clerk: You know your weapons, buddy. Any one of these is ideal for home defense. So uh, which will it be?
Zimmerman: All.
Gun Shop Clerk: I may close early today. There’s a 15-day wait on the hand guns but the rifles you can take right now…. and you have to fill these out too.
[Zimmerman loads the 12-gage shotgun]
Gun Shop Clerk: You can’t do that.
Zimmerman: Wrong!
[Zimmerman shoots the clerk]
AxelFoley
@GregB:
No, I think eventually he’s gonna run into the wrong person, and he’ll get the same treatment he gave Trayvon.
ruemara
@kindness: How I wish that were so, but this is a universe without justice, karma, or truth. Zimmerman will probably die rich and old, secure in the knowledge he got away with everything.
Botsplainer
@Ted & Hellen:
I liked your earlier works better. This one fell so flat that it reminds me of Gerry Cooney fighting George Foreman.
Ted & Hellen
Oh the other hand, I suppose Zimmerman is simply emulating Trayvon’s parents in “keeping it classy” with their “foundation” and its griftatarian ways.
So see? It all evens out.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@ruemara:
Don’t forget “proving” what savages all those blahs really are. Oh, and being the posterchild for why guns are the super-mega win and the only freedom that matters.
Christ, I wouldn’t put it past some GOP folks to nominate him to office because of how much he represents all their pet rocks.
Chris
I think this confirms your point of view, actually. He’s a squishy prick who thought strapping a gun on made him a BIG man. Now that he’s successfully killed a Scary Young Thug AND been acclaimed as a Big Man by half of the nation for it, he’s convinced that he was right and that strapping a gun on him did make him a Big Man. This is him following that trajectory.
Redshirt
@The Red Pen: LOL. To this day, that is still an incredible movie.
Ted & Hellen
@ruemara:
Oh well.
At least you can comfort yourself with the knowledge that he only killed one person in self defense and “got away with everything,” while thanks to PBO GWB and Cheney, who killed hundreds of thousands, did much worse but are enjoying the same result.
So see…considered in context of our justice system’s priorities, this isn’t so bad.
Chris
@BruinKid:
… and that’s why the inevitable flood of comparisons between these people killing the WW2 veteran and George Zimmerman killing Trayyvon Martin will fall flat, just like every one of the black-on-white crimes they’ve tried to compare to it while asking “why don’t liberals care about whites;” because the cops arrested the black suspect, just as they did in every single one of these cases, and just as they didn’t do with Zimmerman.
Botsplainer
@TooManyJens:
How does one summon Theodore? Look over one’s back into a toilet while chanting “asshole, bloody asshole” three times?
Ted & Hellen
@boatboy_srq:
I know, right?
Just ask Trayvon’s newly wealthy mom and dad.
TooManyJens
@Chris: That, and because unlike with Trayvon Martin, nobody’s trying to paint the veteran as a thug who needed killing.
Ted & Hellen
@MomSense:
Oh come one, Nonsense, you know it would be so boring if you all just sat in a circle and told each other what you already think over and over and over and over and over and…
…oh wait…
Chyron HR
@Ted & Hellen:
Jeepers, what’s a “Trayvon”? Does it have anything to do with that “Trayboon” guy the Zimmerman fan club is always talking about?
Ted & Hellen
@Chyron HR:
You must enjoy flopping around in some really nasty places on the Intertrons.
Why do you think you do that?
The Red Pen
@Ted & Hellen:
Zimmerman killed someone else besides Trayvon Martin?!
@Chris:
If you click through the article I posted in comment #2 (not really recommended), you’ll see that the comparisons are going to be the big noise. The big noise will be people claiming that innocent white folk are being targeted in Trayvon Martin revenge killings (and Obama is responsible for encouraging them #thanksobama).
Again, not that I recommend it, but the article will give you a preview to the vomit-inducing claim that white people are in more danger than ever thanks to everyone who questioned the justice in the Martin
murderreasonable killing.Kay
@Chris:
And they’re not claiming self defense. It’s an idiotic comparison. Zimmerman’s case revolved around the self defense claim. Had he not made the self defense claim he would be in prison.
The two cases have absolutely nothing in common.
Ruckus
@Botsplainer:
If only that was the key it would be pretty easy to never see that bloody asshole ever again.
Jennifer
Remember how upset folks were that OJ went “free”? And he’s been in jail for how many years now? This guy will end up there too.
Until then, though, we could keep the bufords entertained with a George Zimmerman reality show. Call it something like, Why Won’t Everyone Stop Threatening Me?. Each episode would feature Zimmerman gunning down another innocent citizen, after he either manufactures a situation of conflict or just gets jumpy. Maybe by the time we get to him screaming about how threatened he feels before opening fire on a bunch of teens on a basketball court, even the gomers will see the absurdity of STG. Probably not, though. They’ll be enjoying watching blah people get shot way too much to think about much of anything else.
Chyron HR
@Ted & Hellen:
Ooh, ooh, I know, it’s because I’m a “botulist botsplainer race traitor”, and all the other things you keep incoherently shrieking at us. Am I close?
LanceThruster
Next stop: David Letterman for a Top 10 list countdown…
Nautilator
I like how he grew his beard back. He shaved it off for the trial to make himself more innocent-looking, he obviously has no need for that any more.
Ted & Hellen
@Chyron HR:
“Race traitor…?”
Nah, you made that one up all on your own, little feller. You always have to embellish…
ranchandsyrup
So apparently Trayvon’s parents engineered this whole thing to get rich off of the death of their son? That’s a weird fantasy that wingerz have these days. Rather pathetic movement of the goalposts but that’s what they’re going with.
TooManyJens
@LanceThruster: Letterman wouldn’t have any part of that shit.
Lawrence
If Fox can hire “Contributors” like Oliver North and Mark Fuhrman, can George be far behind?
Scotius
I was wondering if Zimmerman was going to be smart enough to lay low and let the dust settle. I guess we have our answer. Chances are the next African American he starts a confrontation with is going to have the sense to be packing more than Skittles.
J.D. Rhoades
@BruinKid:
Well they have to have some black on white murder to scream “why won’t Barack Obama and Al Sharpton talk about this” about, now that one of the Defendants in the shooting of Chris Lane (that Australian baseball player) turned out to be white.
Once that news came out, I asked one person who’d been beating that particular drum in the name of white butthurt “which white person are you angry at for not deploring the murder?” He didn’t answer.
J.D. Rhoades
@Jennifer:
Send that to the writers at Key & Peele. It’d make a hell of a sketch.
Mark B.
Is there going to be a civil suit against this guy? He was acquitted due to a rather generous interpretation of the SYG law, but couldn’t a case be made for blatant disregard for human life that ended some poor kids life. I don’t care even if they can win, I want him to spend the next two years giving depositions and testimony and bankrupt him paying for lawyers.
ruemara
@ranchandsyrup: Since 2000, I’ve noticed that goalposts not only move, but shift rapidly.
Chyron HR
@ranchandsyrup:
Hey, now, Ted & Hellen is absolutely NOT a “winger”. He’s just repeating all of their talking points “from the left”.
Amir Khalid
There was that staged incident not long ago where George Zimmerman “rescued” a family whose car had flipped over after a friend in the police had tipped him off to the accident. And now this. Will Perez Hilton soon be bringing us breathless reports of George’s life on the red carpet? Does the cover of People magazine await him, to be copied by Ted & Hellen for an amateurish celebrity portrait?
ranchandsyrup
@Chyron HR: He’s saying that too? I only see him talking about pie. That is hilariously sad.
scav
@ranchandsyrup: Well, to the sniwflake crowd, they’re only special until they lift-themselves bootstrappy out of the birth canal — then it’s all a matter of if they chose their parents correctly. Choose correctly and you’re the excuse for gun-totin Bible-quotin ain’t we better than those damn violent mooslims and gang-banger Christians. Otherwise, you might find your highest and best use is gun-fodder (rather than pulling school janitor duty when not in class). economicus fiat!
Chyron HR
@Ted & Hellen:
“I never said that” isn’t really an effective rebuttal from somebody who changes his pen name on a monthly basis (and pretends to be someone else half the time), but fair enough.
I notice you don’t deny your bizarre habit of calling people “botulists” despite it not being a word in any known human language. Do you have some sort of brain disorder, or is it an attempt at a “sniglet”?
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Chyron HR: I was not aware that the left was now a collection of bitter old racists with no social skills.
Soonergrunt
@Chyron HR: Two black kids, and a white boy. Seriously. That kid is as white as me, just like his whole family.
And the kicker is that having killed a white guy at random, they were headed to kill a black kid they knew. They were arrested in front of that kid’s house, in fact.
Ted & Hellen
@Chyron HR:
Nah. I leave repeating winger talking points here to all you weirdos who spend your Internet time slobbering over far right wingnut web sites, fondling your outrage and reporting back here.
Botsplainer
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Unfair. He has social skills – they might be similar to those of a gibbering, nasty old drunk failed businessman, but they’re social skills nonetheless…
Trollhattan
Zimm’s a wannabe failed cop (couldn’t pass muster in Florida? That’s a low damn bar.) who now has lapped his Warholian fifteen about a hundred times. He’s a perfect poster boy for asiprational gun-lovin’ basement-dwellin’ losers who’d like nothing more than to have their SYG hero profile moment on Fox. The term “marketing tool” fits perfectly.
We’re not rid of him, not by a longshot. He’s Joe the Plumber with an actual pelt on his wall.
Citizen Alan
@Ted & Hellen:
Don’t you have some children you should be molesting or something?
Jim Treacher
Why do you guys hate Hispanics?
ranchandsyrup
@Jim Treacher: Watch out for that truck!
Ted & Hellen
@Citizen Alan:
Oh gosh no.
I try to get that out of the way before noon.
Jennifer
@Jim Treacher: They aren’t as tasty as dogs.
Jennifer
@J.D. Rhoades: It’s actually derivative of a 70’s SNL sketch, where Claudine Longet (sp?) was “accidentally” shooting skiers as they came down the slopes. This as a joke on Longet’s claim that she had accidentally shot her boyfriend who was a prominent skier.
Betty Cracker
@ranchandsyrup: Do you think that’s The Daily Caller’s actual Speed Bump or merely an impostor?
Tone In DC
@Amir Khalid:
Now you’re just messing with me. This shit came from some Onion piece.
On the very off chance you’re not…
What. The. Fuck.
In what James Thompson/Rod Serling universe did this happen?
ranchandsyrup
@Betty Cracker: It’s clearly the gubmint, out to get him for his truthiness. Then he can assume his preferred posture, brave poutraged victim.
Mike in NC
@Trollhattan: Seth Rogen made a movie called “Observe and Report” about a dumb loutish security guard at a shopping mall who couldn’t qualify to be a real cop, who nevertheless wanted to be a hero. Whether that inspired Zimmerman or not remains a mystery.
dollared
Low IQ, celebrity and firearms. This will not end well. And it won’t make me one bit sorry when it happens.
Chris
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Hadn’t you heard? Liberals are teh real racists.
The Red Pen
@Jennifer:
The event was the “Downhill Biathalon,” where a downhill skier would also shoot — just not very accurately.
ruemara
@Tone In DC: It really happened. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/23/family-saved-george-zimmerman-grateful-terrified-t/
and they refuse to comment on it.
brantl
This greasy shit stain is Barney Fyfe, with testosterone poisoning and delusions of actual, you know, competence.
Amir Khalid
@Tone In DC:
I’m not making this up.
Seanly
@Jim Treacher:
I don’t like that George Zimmerman is making a quasi-celebrity out of his cowardly killing of a young man. It’s particularly ghoulish that he’s touring the factory wherein his instrument of death was made. I know nothing of the man so I can’t judge whether I would like him or not. But I can hate his actions. And I can be angry about how and why, in my opinion, the coward got away with murder.
Unfortuantely, there is no hell or even karma in this world and usually not enough justice. For Ted, that does include the lack of all those for the Cheneys, Bushes, tinpot dictators, assorted evil-doers and Masters of the Universe out there.
Tone In DC
@ruemara:
That hurt my eyes.
rk
@Ted & Hellen:
No actually it does not even out and you as usual are a moron.
Tone In DC
@Amir Khalid:
I remember November of 2004 very well. Kerry had a slim lead right before the election, and the whole country had seen Junior, Cheney and Rove lie us into a war with a country that did not attack us.
I said to myself, no way does Shrub win this. No damn way. Too much evidence of incompetence, corruption and more, all in plain sight. This shit couldn’t happen twice, after the Supremes handed it to Junior before.
Wednesday morning, I woke up and read the Post site. Shocked and appalled doesn’t cover how I felt, not by a ways.
That Zimmerman article is a little bit like that Wednesday morning nine years ago.
Just cannot believe this shit.
Betty Cracker
@ranchandsyrup: Maybe it really was him; Treacher pinched off a turd over at Tucker’s joint that pretty much mirrors the comment here. I hadn’t visited that catbox in awhile. Looks like Tucker made him get rid of that embarrassing “trawler” illustration for his DC blog, which looked like a crayon drawing of Gilligan pissing off the transom of the SS Minnow. Drawn with toes.
Chyron HR
@Ted & Hellen:
Another proud graduate of the Kansas public school system.
ranchandsyrup
@Betty Cracker: It’s him. He does this from time to time here at Balloon Juice (Soonergrunt can verify as I’ve seen him mention it in the past where Treacher comes in and tries to “win” the thread and/or link to it with “look at the mean libruls” crap). Had some interactions on other sites where Treacher comments as well. This weak sort of tu quoque is all he has.
Chris
@Seanly:
I know a couple people who’ve killed people in war, the only context I can think of in which killing is actually expected and the entire country will consider you a hero for it.
They don’t make quasi-celebrities out of themselves for it. In fact, they barely ever bring it up. I don’t know precisely what their inner feelings are, if they feel guilty or ashamed or not, but either way it’s pretty much the last thing they ever want to talk about, or relive. (The soldiers I’ve met who can’t STFU about the glory and honor of their military service are invariably the ones who never went near a war zone).
There’s something seriously fucked in the head about anyone who’s actively working to be known and acclaimed everywhere he goes as “that guy who killed that other guy,” even if you do believe him that it was totally justified and in self-defense.
Jennifer
@The Red Pen: No, actually, it was a fictitious event – the Claudine Longet Invitational. The skiers weren’t armed – Claudine Longet was picking them off accidentally from the sidelines.
LAC
@Ted & Hellen: It couldn’t be more boring than your routine: wake up, sexually harass dog, roll your painted balls over a canvas as “art”, come here, sleep, wake up, sexually harass dog, etc. Oh, and use the word “bint” because you ‘eard it on “fawlty towers” on the telly, guv’nor…
realoldguy
I always thought George Zimmerman would make a terrific NRA spokesperson, as he exemplifies what gun fancying in this country is really all about: the freedom to kill anybody who frightens you. It’s in the Second Amendment, right? Our forefathers won the West by carrying a rifle in one hand and a bottle in the other.
The Red Pen
@Jennifer:
I remembered it wrong. I had convinced myself this was a parody the cross-country-skiing+shooting biathalon, but it was just a parody of Longet.
It’s weird, because I remember everything else that happened in 1975 like it was yesterday.
The Red Pen
@LAC:
The dog was asking for it.
Trollhattan
@ranchandsyrup:
Yup, he’s peed in this pond before. I’z honored and shit.
J.D. Rhoades
@Mike in NC:
Saw that one. It was a lot darker than I expected.
shepherdwong
I just can’t figure out why someone like Zimmerman can’t be called what he is: a psychopath.
– Dr. Robert Hare, Snakes in Suites
Zimmerman obviously doesn’t give a fuck (no empathy, guilt or shame). But he absolutely followed the norms of his subculture.
LanceThruster
@TooManyJens:
You’re obviously right. I was thinking of the “15 minutes of fame” that he was cashing in in his head.
LAC
@The Red Pen: Ahh, true – the dog shouldn’t have been out so late in that sexy collar – his eyes said no, but the tail wag meant yes…
I remember that case and what a big deal it was on TV. And this was before the 24 hour cable news cycle. That some classic SNL.
Unabogie
Amazingly, his haircut has changed from the parted on the side, nerdy cut, back to his goatee and buzz cut. And he appears to have magically dropped 50 pounds in a month. Damn if this psycho didn’t wear a fat suit at his trial to make him look “meek”.
Citizen Alan
@ruemara:
Thanks a lot for that link. I now how to Clorox my brain after reading just a few of the comments about the impending race war which is all the fault of blacks who fantasize about killing whites.
Citizen Alan
@Tone In DC:
I went to bed early on Election Night in 2004. About 20 minutes into the election night coverage, Wolf Blitzer read off a poll result saying that the number one thing voters had on their minds was “morals and values,” and I knew that it was all over, that enough ignorant bigots had gone to the polls and voted a straight GOP ticket in order to send a message to all the f*****s.
Jay in Oregon
@Unabogie:
I dropped 30 pounds in that short of time once. Stress and/or depression can do that to you.
dww44
@piratedan: At the very same time that they (conservative media of all sorts) have apparently given very little play to the Antoinette Tuff story which exemplifies the very best of Christian love and dealing with a potentially violent situation with non-violence. And made doubly delicously rewarding because it was a black person showing love and mercy to a white one, who was obviously mentally ill.
At least I assume they’ve not, based on third party sources. I’ve not checked any of them to find out if that’s true.
Tone In DC
@Citizen Alan:
I specifically avoided Faux Noise, Leslie Blitzer and such that night. Their pontifications and prognostications make Jimmy the Greek look like an oracle (and a paragon of tolerance and virtue).
Having said that, I was so through with the press after the Swift Boat liars were on TV all day, every day from August 2004 until the bitter end in November.
The term “values voter” was enough to pretty much make me heave by late 2004.
dww44
@Unabogie: Yeah, that was a short period of time to drop that much weight. I am suspicious.
ThresherK
@Botsplainer: If you did that from memory, I’ll be doubly impressed.
Joey Giraud
@Ted & Hellen:
I’ve been perceiving you as contrarian but principled. Is there any principle underlying ridiculing Martin’s parents for finding a way to get some money from this tragedy?
If my teenage son were killed in this fashion, I would certainly not turn down offers of money, I might even solicit for money and use it to promote gun control.
And I’m white.
Patricia Kayden
What a disgusting waste of human DNA is the Rightwinger hero Zimmerman. Hope the next person he meets is armed too. At least in that case it will be a fair fight.
Donut
@LAC:
That last sentence you came up with there was fucking perfect. Thank you.
Patricia Kayden
@dww44: Conservative media promotes anti-Black racism. Not surprising that they have nothing to say about Ms. Tuff.
I love her reaction to President Obama’s phone call.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/22/obama-antoinette-tuff_n_3799974.html
Bob h
Soliciting funds for the George Zimmerman Institute of Law Enforcement?
Pococurante
Whoa. Now that is a nice home defense gun. I like it.
Something tells me it is an absolute PITA to clean and maintain though.