I’m not sure if you watched the train wreck of a press conference with Zimmerman’s now former attorneys, but it was really the most bizarre legal event I have seen since the slow motion Al Cowling/OJ stroll down the California highway. Basically, they stated they are no longer his attorneys, and that Zimmerman is nuts. He’s talking privately to Sean Hannity, he won’t talk with them, and he called the Special Prosecutor and asked to speak privately with her and told her that these guys are just giving legal advice but are not his lawyers, and they don’t really know where he is, but it isn’t in Florida.
The press conference can be summed up as “We’re so disgusted with that website stunt yesterday that we are out of here.”
taylormattd
But I was instructed by WyldPirate that I could never understand Zimmerman until I drank a couple 40’s in the hood.
His attorneys must be anti-white.
redshirt
Sounds like par for the course for a Wingnut.
Celebrity Wingnut now!
KG
every attorney has had the misfortune of representing a crazy ass client (unless you spend your entire career as a prosecutor). most of us are lucky enough that our crazy ass clients aren’t involved in a case that leads the nightly national news.
chopper
this shit would be just awesome to watch if it didn’t start with an innocent kid getting shot to death by this douchebag.
MattF
I’m guessing that Zimmerman is feeling, um, anxious about the prospect of a prison sentence.
pragmatism
@KG:
the AZ prosecutors who worked with arpaio may disagree. being disbarred should make them stop and think. but they’ll get over it.
Paddy
What fun!! I have the video here. Video- George Zimmerman’s Lawyers Quit After Losing Contact With Him
wasabi gasp
Hmm…prolly not a good idea to shoot them.
Shari
Wherever Zimmerman is hiding, I bet he still has his gun(s) with him.
mclaren
And yet…
…And yet, Zimmerman still won’t be arrested or indicted or prosecuted.
We need to introduce a new type of jury verdict into the American justice system: “Innocent by reason of Not Being Black.”
Lojasmo
Facepalm
dmsilev
He’s talking to Sean Hannity rather than his own attorneys.
Is this laying the groundwork for an insanity defense or something?
pragmatism
@wasabi gasp: when zimmershooter said, “they always get away”, i think he was referring to himself.
bg
Can someone clue me in to what the “website stunt” was yesterday?
Linda Featheringill
I have wondered why Zimmerman was just hanging around in Florida. This is a big country and there are lots of places to get lost in. Maybe one of those white power groups will offer him sanctuary.
Seebach
It just seems to make sense that Zimmerman should make some kind of public appearance or release some sort of photo of his nose being broken. It would seem to validate a lot of his story.
And yet he won’t even see his lawyers. What a dumbass.
MildGyrate
While this press conference was going on, three black people killed three other black people.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
well if his main advisor is hannity, i think he is looking for an insanity plea.
lamh35
He’s talking to Sean KKKLanity???? That reminds me of an article I read on Entertainment Weekly of all things about KKKlanity buying some artwork from a “Conservative” artist that is a portrait of Obama in a suit burning the Constitution.
Sean Hannity shells out six figures to see Obama burn the Constitution
KKKlanity is a P.O.S. I swear I am not normally one for violence, but if it came to pass that someone cold-cocked KKKlanity I would applaud him
And the fucker is no longer in Florida!!!!! WTF is he?
Oh and I wouldn’t be surprised if that website for Zimmerman is somehow connected to KKKlanity and his ilk.
shortstop
If the shooter is in hiding, who confirmed to these guys that the website was for realz? Zimmerman’s wretched family?
FlipYrWhig
@Marcellus Shale, Public Dick: He’s pleading not guilty by virtue of in-Hannity.
pragmatism
life imitates art. maybe this will mirror the 1985 classic film, The Legend of Billie Jean. Instead of “Fair is Fair” it can be “Long Live Zimmerman”. I can’t wait for the dance number to Pat Benatar’s Love is a Battlefield.
Fang
My guess is that:
A) Zimmerman is not doing well mentally or emotionally. Leaving everything aside, he’s in the media eye which is stressful to anyone. As he seemed to have issues before this, he’s probably on edge if not over it.
B) His website has a strange uber-patriotic feel to it with the giant flag. That and him talking to Hannity makes me think . . .
C) He’s figured his only out is doing a mixture of victim role and “wingnut star” role. Certainly there have been some people out there supporting him, so my take is that in his current state he may be embracing the whole victim/rightwing-star role.
So to sum up – emotionally unstable man in the media spotlight may be embracing what he sees as potential supporters.
No, I don’t think this is going to end well.
shortstop
@FlipYrWhig: You’ll pay for that, pal. You won’t know how; you won’t know when…
Joseph Nobles
@bg: Zimmerman set up a Paypal beg website the other day. It included a picture of the black cultural center that was defaced with graffiti say, “Long Live Zimmerman.” He needs cash for living expenses and a defense fund. Just not to pay these lawyers…
JCT
So awesome that this raging nutcase can carry a concealed weapon. 2nd Amendment, bitches!
JCT
So awesome that this raging nutcase can carry a concealed weapon. 2nd Amendment, bitches!
You think maybe, just maybe, not everyone who wants to should be allowed to carry a handgun?
Mike in NC
Hannity misses having a sidekick to kiss his ass.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@chopper: What chopper said.
It’s hard to enjoy the circus when you remember what started it.
Scott
@bg: Gawker has a summary.
Raven
@Fang: It already didn’t end well.
kth
@MattF: No, he’s envisioning fame and fortune a la Joe the Plumber, and doesn’t think his current team is doing enough to enhance his marketability (my guess, anyway).
Origuy
@Fang: How long do you give him before he goes birther?
Jay in Oregon
@Joseph Nobles:
He needs cash for living expenses and a defense fund. Just not to pay these lawyers…
I suspect that his “defense fund” is going to involve a walled compound and plenty of firearms.
Amir Khalid
I’m starting to think George Zimmerman is not entirely rational, or at least has very bad judgement. It would go some way toward explaining thew incident with Trayvon. On the other hand, it also makes it very clear that Zimmerman should never have been elected as a neighborhood watch volunteer.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@lamh35:
McNaughton is going soft; were is Obama using tax payer’s money to buy our daughters birth control pills for their socialized lesbian weddings? McNaughton can’t even claim to be a conservative anymore.
LAC
@dmsilev:
Talking to Sean Hannity would be the insanity defense. That moronic website is just another layer of crazy. Get this asshole off the streets already!
AliceBlue
@Origuy:
Birther? He’ll be running for Congress in a couple of years.
Tonal Crow
It’s unusual for a lawyer to resign from representing a client. It’s even more unusual for a lawyer to resign because she can’t contact a client, when the period of lost contact is only 2-3 days.
I suspect something else is going on.
Joseph Nobles
“He’s never been able to think right after that thug bashed his head against the sidewalk…” -Eventual family defense
wasabi gasp
OT: Gawker has a new columnist: The Fox Mole.
shortstop
@Tonal Crow: Weird how they left the door open to him coming back to them, though.
(Here in Illinois, we watched Blago’s defense team become a revolving door, so it doesn’t seem so strange.)
ChrisNYC
@wasabi gasp: Ah! I almost posted that myself. That video. Wow. Mitt’s horse. Sean Hannity’s wife HAS to play tennis once a day. “Keeps everything afloat, you know.” Wee the peeple. Take their country back.
Geoduck
@Amir Khalid:
Was he ever actually elected at any point, or did he just appoint himself to the role?
And yes, I would be mildly surprised if he’s ever actually charged with anything, much less serves any jail time.
Bubblegum Tate
So he’s only talking to Hannity? I’m having a hard time deciding who comes off worse in that case: Zimmerman or Hannity.
FlipYrWhig
Maybe Zimmerman is on a quest to track down Bernie Goetz.
kerFuFFler
@Linda Featheringill:
Until they figure out he is half Hispanic and half Jewish…
MattMinus
I predict there will be a congressional run in Zimmerman’s future.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
So to sum up – emotionally unstable man in the media spotlight may be embracing what he sees as potential supporters.
No, I don’t think this is going to end well.
I dunno – look how well it worked out for G Gordon Liddy.
feebog
@ Amir Khalid:
Although it has been widely reported that Zimmerman was involved in a Neighborhood Watch program, I have yet to hear anything to confirm that. I suppose anyone can claim to be a member of “Neighborhood Watch” but here in Los Angeles, there are actual organizations of people who are involved in the program. I am involved to the extent that I attend meetings from time to time, and I have my Senior Lead Officer on speed dial.
The issue of when and how you can defend yourself often comes up in these meetings. This is California, not Florida, but our SLO always cautions people that they are at legally at risk if they use a firearm against an intruder. Amazing how many 60 and 70 year olds think they are “Dirty Harry”.
yet another jeff
Wasn’t there a bit somewhere that said he told Hannity things off the record that he didn’t tell the lawyers and they learned this from Hannity?
Wondering if that’s true, and if so, the lawyers real reason for dropping Zim? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Fang
@Raven: Point taken. It’s going to end more not-well.
@Origuy: I think he may do it if it serves him or he’s manipulated.
The outcomes I see right now are:
A) Zimmerman has a complete breakdown. I see this as the most likely.
B) Zimmerman continues to deteriorate and eventually does something else violent as he feels threatened. Not sure here, he’s used violence before, but just as a gut feel I’m not putting this as the most likely outcome.
C) Zimmerman hooks up with Hannity and other cranks and is a manipulable celebrity. Then indeed he might go birther – or anything else that he thinks may save him. Judging by what little I’ve seen, his family might encourage this.
This just has the smell of something that gets worse, and worse, and ends in nothing but regret, horror, and people trying not to look each other in the eye.
KXB
Might Hannity’s actions be construed as interference in an ongoing investigation? That was one of the charges against Dharun Ravi.
A Humble Lurker
@MildGyrate:
And three white trash southern mothers drowned their babies in bathtubs. What’s your point?
lacp
Z’s old man is a judge and a wingnut. That makes me very suspicious of what’s going on. I don’t believe this TV appearance by the lawyers means squat, I don’t think they’ve actually quit, I think they both know where he is and have been in touch with him, I think he’s had help setting up the website (if he in fact had any part at all in setting it up), and I think he’s hiding because his nose wasn’t actually broken and he needs to show up in public with it “all healed up.” Any conspiracy theorizing I’ve missed here?
sharl
@A Humble Lurker: I’m never 100% certain of these things, but I do believe that is a parody (if you change the ‘M’ to ‘W’, and change the ‘G’ to ‘P’…).
AA+ Bonds
Told ya
AA+ Bonds
@bg:
TheRealGeorgeZimmerman.com is back up and you can go see it if you’d like to see a career begin in front of your eyes
TenguPhule
Zimmerman is never going to be convicted.
We’ll just find the corpse dumped out on some dark alley.
Because he is literally Too Stupid to Live.
AA+ Bonds
@yet another jeff:
They would have been smart to drop him over the website alone unless they are already riding the Right’s gravy train themselves
A client who wanders off to make his own public statements of any sort after his attorneys have told him not to (as I’m SURE they did in this case) is a problem client and one who could CONCEIVABLY get them in serious career-long trouble later if they don’t disown him; generally the folks who get away with this are filthy rich and keep shit-nosed lawyers set for life
Lord knows a fully public website hosting pictures of anti-black vandalism and protesters from Terry Jones’s crazy church, that’s one hell of a public statement
Zimmerman is just not enough of a celebrity yet to have attorneys who will take that risk, ESPECIALLY since he might well edge into Derb territory with his next statements
yet another jeff
@AA+ Bonds:
Yep, must be 50 ways to say “Danger! Do Not Touch!”
Elie
@Linda Featheringill:
Stupid fucks like this never know where to go to run. Any white group or sympathizers would just make his outcome worse, but like I said, stupid is as stupid does.
I suspect that its even worse than what the lawyers hinted at… it takes a lot for lawyers to bail on a client on such a notorious case so publicly. There is something stinky behind the scenes and my guess is that given the subjects, the what won’t be a mystery for long. Again, stupid is as stupid does …
AA+ Bonds
If Zimmerman is really a vicious racist (and my guess is, wannabe cop who invented his own law enforcement office? a billion million 911 calls in one year over suspicious characters? probably so) then 1) his attorneys surely know by now and 2) he needs a different class of attorney entirely, like the John Henry Browne type
Browne would get up there and tell us that Zimmerman is undiagnosed manic-depressive and give us some sob story about how he tried to get help but blah blah blah and also start blaming it on the Sanford PD for not getting out there in time and would make sure Zimmerman never touched a keyboard
Oh Browne . . . the model sociopath . . . the epitome of private practice
FlipYrWhig
@AA+ Bonds: Didn’t Glenn Greenwald make his bones defending the free speech rights of a white supremacist? Maybe he can take this case, because it’s important to thwart law enforcement overreach by any means necessary.
AA+ Bonds
@FlipYrWhig:
Idk if this is exactly a civil liberties case right here……………….
I mean that would sort of be the key distinction, the difference between, say, George Zimmerman’s right to announce that he’s going to murder the next young black man he meets and what actually happened
Elie
@lacp:
Sorry, but that is a lot of risk to take for such a nobody fuck up. There is no big money to get from protecting him like you suggest. Sure, it ocurred to me at first also, but then I thought about what this presents and I just can’t make a case for all this 3-D chess for such a client in such a situation with no major money at hand to grease palms. Zimmerman has no dough and unless he is not charged at all, he can’t go on the rubber chicke circuit to charge enough to make up for all the security he is going to need for the rest of his useless life. I am sure whereever he is, his head is rotating on a ball turret and every white supremacist motorcyle gang in the US aren’t going to keep his hide safe indefinitely. He knows that also. Jail aint no solace either, since I am sure he will have to be isolated even if prosecuted and found guilty. His life is fucked and good and fucked…Maybe he can get donations for major plastic surgery.
chopper
@AA+ Bonds: a wingnut star is born.
chopper
@AA+ Bonds:
certainly all the blahs out there are really what led the guy to act the way he did. i like this theory.
AA+ Bonds
@Elie:
Well imagine: George Zimmerman turns out to be That Guy, the guy who is going to put a website up with anti-black vandalism and shit on it . . . well before he does that you talk to him under attorney-client privilege and he starts saying things, things that people who put up websites like that say . . .
your #1 fear is definitely going to be that he makes ANY public statements at all, narcissistic bigoted loser that he seems to be, so you are going to tell him over and over, “don’t make any public statements, don’t say shit to anyone about anything without us there”
So they were likely primed to react to this event, through stuff that he said to them that will never be revealed
Delia
@feebog:
This was a gated townhome community. These places are always run by homeowners’ associations. And the boards of homeowners associations tend to be hotbeds for petty dictators who spend their evenings handing out fines to people whose cats managed to escape confinement or who leave their beach towels out to dry on their balcony. It’s not at all surprising that someone like Zimmerman, with major personality issues would enthusiastically volunteer to run the Neighborhood Watch program for the association or that everybody else, who actually has better things to do with their time, would let him.
A Humble Lurker
@sharl:
Ah! I thought it was a poorly disguised sock-puppet. Poe’s law and all that. Forgive me.
shortstop
@AA+ Bonds: I think that’s about it. And when they found out he was talking to Hannity, that was it.
lacp
@Elie: Hey, I’m a lefty – it’s my job to get paranoid so liberals and progressives don’t have to.
muddy
Zimmerman’s probably just wanting to use the Hannity and website BS to use as proof of his insanity later on.
Maybe he’s hiding at Limbaugh’s house. They should go and check, possibly finding drugs along the way. It’s irresponsible not to speculate, needs investigating.
Jason
A) Zimmerman has a complete breakdown. I see this as the most likely.
We can only hope. The investigation has been so bungled the only way he’ll get convicted is if the pressure gets to him and he cracks. If he stays calm, keeps up the act of being a responsible citizen who just loves him some black people and sticks to his story he gets acquitted, maybe not even charged. Fortunately, most criminals aren’t stable, they change their stories, leak out damaging information, give a demeanor of untrustworthiness, maybe even confess… most criminals convict themselves. Zimmerman’s website, his comments to Hannity — which may be “off the record” but are certainly not privileged — is Zimmerman beginning to convict himself.
Then again, Zimmerman’s best chance may be to cop a plea to first degree manslaughter and do, what, 10? Because I suspect he’s a dead man if he walks. Then again, maybe he’s a dead man at this point if he goes to prison. Maybe he’s a dead man either way. Ironically, he thought he was evading justice, and now discovering that the black community is angry enough that if they don’t get real justice they’ll settle for vigilante justice.
Tonal Crow
@FlipYrWhig:
What a stupid cheap shot. If you refuse to defend Orcs’ rights to speak, you’re telling government to go right ahead and take everyone’s right to speak. Wake UP. ETA: Did you also dump on the ACLU for defending the Nazis’ right to march in Skokie?
AA+ Bonds
With any luck he will get arrested and turn out to be just narcissistic enough to represent himself in court
And I mean lucky for everyone because if he walks, shit will get hot downtown in a minute
Mutt
@Linda Featheringill: no, no white power groups would put him up- he’s a Mud Person…..
lacp
@Tonal Crow: This isn’t a free-speech case anyway. For me the go-to guy would be Alan Dershowitz – he got Claus von Bulow off, and I thought that dude was a dead ducky. Though I don’t think Dershowitz would be particularly interested in taking this case.
AA+ Bonds
@wasabi gasp:
LOL so finally someone on the left other than me and David Brock’s employees will read Fox Nation
I been telling yall forever now, you want to see what’s on Fox News tomorrow, go on Fox Nation today
They decided to cut out the middlemen (RedState, etc.) and incubate the Kluxers themselves
Jade Jordan
@MildGyrate:
And all 3 of them will be arrested immediately and spend their lives in prison. Unlike Zimmerman.
Trakker
Fox News and the NRA must turn George Zimmerman into a victim and an American hero and quickly. This has triggered the biggest backlash against guns and stupid gun laws in a decade, or more. I’m shocked they’ve waited so long to g3t started.
Watch, we’re going to see Zimmerman on Fox non-stop telling America how the big (six inches taller!) black guy in the hoodie attacked him from behind and almost killed him. Soon the MSM will pick it up and by May Trayvon will be just another violent gangsta’ who got what he deserved.
The crowning blow will come in late April when the special prosecutor says there isn’t enough evidence to counter Zimmerman’s insistence that it was self-defense, and he’ll go free.
(I really, really hope I’m wrong!!!)
Citizen_X
@KG:
Just look at that crazy lady Orly Taitz has had to represent!
Schlemizel
@Amir Khalid:
I read that the neighborhood never agreed to have a watch program so he “elected” himself to run one.
different-church-lady
@Fang: That’s a really long way of saying “Dude is nuts, paranoid and dangerous.”
Mark S.
The ex-lawyers:
Do attorneys usually drop clients when they don’t hear back from them for a day and a half? I’ll need to keep that in mind the next time I hire a lawyer.
Elie’s right, there’s more going on. They told him to not put up a website or talk to Hannity, but the idiot went his own way.
Jason
@lacp: Dershowitz only has one guilty client to defend these days, and that’s Israel. The days of defending people like OJ and Von Bulow are bad for the image.
different-church-lady
@FlipYrWhig: Greenwald will only give a shit if Obama’s administration gets involved. It’s how he rolls.
slag
Looking forward to Ted Nugent’s George Zimmerman Benefit Concert. Because we all know who the real victims of the world are.
Craig
@Mark S.: If I’m representing a man who won’t heed my advice or respond to me, you’re damned right I’m dropping him.
lacp
@slag: What’s that, the Aryan version of Queen? “We are the victims of the world?”
quannlace
Lets not forget that truly bizarre interview on CNN’s Piers Morgan with Zimmerman’s brother. Where he was babbling on about how Zimmerman was attacked, how scared he’d ‘end up in diapers.’ ‘having to have his brother spoon feed for the rest of his life’ and more weird shit.
And even weirder when it came out that the brothers hadn’t spoken for years.
SiubhanDuinne
@Origuy:
About three, four years ago.
sharl
@A Humble Lurker: No problem;* just one regular doin’ some funnin’ at the expense of another one. In other words, just another day at Cole’s joint.
*It wasn’t me, btw/fwiw. I tried to do a parody post once, using a new (and possibly humorous) nym, but it promptly got put into moderation. It was somewhat on topic, IIRC, and thus had a limited shelf life, so its obviously hilarious content was lost in the mists of time.
Jebediah
Doesn’t a large portion of the public believe that Zimmerman, in cold blood and with malice aforethought, stalked and murdered an unarmed teenager? What’s the upside for Hannity in associating with someone like that – or is he so cocky that he believes that WingnutShield(tm) will protect him from all consequences of vile dumbassery?
Lojasmo
Didn’t a brained intern get found in his office?
Mark S.
@Jebediah:
Most of Sean’s audience are racists, so I don’t think he’s too worried about that.
yet another jeff
@Lojasmo: @Lojasmo:
Noo, that’s Scarborough…
mshew
Both lawyers violated ethics rules which prohibit disclosure of confidential information and the basis for their withdrawal as Zimmerman’s attorneys.
Paul in NC
These guys are incompetent, unethical media hounds. Ethical lawyers would not call a press conference to announce they were (in effect) firing their client. An ethical lawyer would not provide the kind of information these bozos did to the public. They purposely threw GZ under the bus. Whatever you think of GZ, lawyer purporting to represent his interests should not have done what they did.
Given that GZ has not been charged with any crime, there are no “attorneys of record.” In those circumstances, you should never hear a peep from a lawyer if the attorney-client relationship ruptured. If charges were filed, the only way the public should find out that the attorney is withdrawing is upon the filing of a Motion To Withdraw with the Court. And the motion should say no more than there are irreconcilable differences between the lawyer and the client over the proper managment of the case. Upon press inquiry, the attorney should simply respond “No comment.”
These idiots need to be sanctioned by the Florida Bar for betraying confidences of the client. And I’m somewhat taken aback that no one in the media thinks there is a problem with these kinds of press conferences. Hacks.
jnc
@mshew:
The idea of calling a press conference to announce you no longer represent someone just isn’t done. I thought the lawyers representing the Martin family were buffoons, but Zimmerman’s (former) guys take the cake.
maya
Could it be? Could it mean? Romney’s found his
grunning mate?Sebastian Dangerfield
@Paul in NC: This!
There’s such a thing as a “noisy withdrawal” addressed to the court — where the client has done something (like destroy evidence or perjure himself) that puts the lawyer in an impossible ethical bind such that continued representation would involve the lawyer in criminal wrongdoing. This kind of withdrawal sends a big fat signal to the judge and the opposing party that something massively illegal has happened. This constitutes an exception to the otherwise quite puissant duty of loyalty and confidentiality that the lawyer owes the client.
But there’s no “noisy withdrawal” to the press exception to the ethical rules that would allow lawyers to effectively trash their client in public like this. These asshats should have bar charges drawn up against them. This announcement has to violate the ethical rules. Even Florida’s ethical rules.
yet another jeff
Maybe press conferences like this are also considered self defense under Florida law?
muddy
@yet another jeff: Perfection.
Jebediah
@Mark S.:
Certainly – I meant consequences from outside his fanboys. Like advertisers, although if they are already aiming at his audience maybe they wouldn’t be bothered. Or maybe that it would be too much even for Fox to be seen as a welcoming sanctuary for murderers. I’m probably being too optimistic.
flint
@Bubblegum Tate: So …. he’s a Faux viewer?
Whoda thunk it?
Sebastian Dangerfield
Mr. Hannity, may I introduce you to Mr. Subpoena?
The Moar You Know
@Jebediah: Yep, including, to my utter shock, the two wingnut drive time jocks on KFI this afternoon, who came out rather forcefully about what a murdering piece of shit this guy was and that a murder 2 was the minimum sentence they’d be willing to let this guy have.
My jaw hit the floor.
The stink of death is on this guy, and even most of the wingnuts know it and are running from him like he’s got Andromeda Strain.
CynDee
@Fang: He can’t go home to his own bed; that’s for sure. He will either be running and hiding his entire life, or will be manipulated by others, or will be hunted down by another vigilante nutcase.
He is a hothead who knows he’s guilty of murder, and he’s realizing that he has ruined his own life because he was bent on hating a kid to death.
rea
@dmsilev: He’s talking to Sean Hannity rather than his own attorneys.
Is this laying the groundwork for an insanity defense or something?
The On-Hannity Defense . . .
Snarki, child of Loki
@Shari:
bet Zimmerman is heading to Tulsa, to see if he can “lend a hand”.
chris9059
@lamh35:
funny how Hannity provokes that response. I’ve often thought that if I were to pass Hannity on the street I’d find it difficult to resist the urge to deck him.
priscianusjr
@shortstop:
priscianusjr
@Tonal Crow:
VividBlueDotty
Not to worry, Hannity told Zimmerman he could just use LegalZoom.
Karen
@MildGyrate:
And because black people killed other black people, why are they even wasting talking about just another one right?
I bet you contributed to Zimmerman’s website.
Omnes Omnibus
Did Wyld get a timeout?
@Karen: MildP is a parody.
Mark S.
@VividBlueDotty:
Nice
FlipYrWhig
@Tonal Crow: Mostly i’m taking a gratuitous slap at Greenwald and his supposed concern about criminal justice, because I felt like being a dick for a moment (more so, I mean). But, re: Skokie, in fact I did. I’d rather not be a civil libertarian if it means spending my valuable time worrying about the precious rights of Nazis. I prioritize my politics differently than civil libertarians do.
Oxxy
@MildGyrate: And how many whites killed whites, a@@hat?
Omnes Omnibus
@FlipYrWhig: If the assholes don’t have the right to speak, none of us do. OTOH, they need to hear just how assholish they are. I don’t approve of “free speech zones” miles from the event being protested, nor do I approve of banning Nazis from speaking. To me, they are two sides of the same coin. I have a number of issues with Greenwald but this isn’t one of them.
Jebediah
@Omnes Omnibus:
A “free speech zone” means you do not have freedom of speech.
And the other stuff you said, too. I can’t count how many times I have tried (frequently unsuccessfully) to explain to friends and family that it is precisely because they will defend noxious speakers that the ACLU is so important.
FlipYrWhig
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, on principle, sure, but, if Nazis don’t get to speak, I just purely, utterly don’t care about that. If I had my druthers I’d restrict “hate speech” and find it worth the trade-off. Sure, that opens up a definitional can of worms, but, so be it.
Mostly my point was that if Greenwald is concerned about the government’s overweening coercive power, then there’s no reason not to volunteer his services to represent Zimmerman and do everything in his power to make the government prove its case against an unpopular defendant with a sketchy story. Especially if he’s eventually charged with a hate crime. I’d be curious to know what kind of defense he’d conduct.
brendancalling
@Fang: I predict a public and messy suicide.
David in NY
Guys facing hate-crime charges really shouldn’t be starting up a website that promotes racially hateful vandalism.
ny nick
@Linda Featheringill:
Zim’s daddy is military intelligence. That’s going to be either a blessing or a curse depending upon just how wingnutty his pops is.