Stand Your Ground Doesn't Equal Neighborhood (Death Squad) Watch

[chefcraig]

But look, this is obviously a fucking stupid ass hispanic who decided to shoot some black guy in Miami...happens every fucking day...

Not quite. Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is north of Miami by roughly 250 miles, as the crow flies.

[jhale667]

Who knows anything in this case? The main problem in the whole deal has been the absurd rush to judgement taking place here, along with what could be a general amount of potentially misplaced outrage on both sides before all of the details have come to light. I'm not about to form an opinion on any of it until the truth about what took place comes out, if in fact it ever does. At this point, you have the usual muckraking, self-appointed guardians of society jumping into the frame, making speeches and pretty much clouding the water rather than revealing any insight, other than their own by now predictable agendas. As a result, you have people dedicating their assumptions and opinions not on the facts, but on every 15-30 second soundbite that rears it's ugly head in an unending stream of misinformation.

Seriously, if you are a rational, even semi-lucid adult, who needs this shit?

Dude, if you're a rational, even semi-lucid adult, the police letting Zimmerman go without collecting any evidence after a fatal shooting - even if it is presumed to be self-defense - is suspect, bottom line. The fact that the kid had ID and a cell-phone on him and yet was still kept as a John Doe for days is also suspect (the cops reportedly didn't even bother calling the last few numbers dialed on the phone). Racial component aside (this is seemingly off-brown-on-black crime anyway), the investigation was botched - had there been no media attention, there may not have even been an investigation. It stinks.

You're a Florida resident - is the Sanford P.D.'s reputation as bad as reported?

[ELVIS]

I was always led to believe that 9-1-1 was an emergency number....what the hell was I thinking?

Hell yeah!!

"Do dis be 911?

Da dalla stoh bees out of my tampons, so's I goes to da bitch at the countah and slips on da flow she bees moppin' and now I don't bees feelin' my foots and legs!

Call da POPO!!!"

[ELVIS]

Not quite. Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is north of Miami by roughly 250 miles, as the crow flies.

Ahh...same thing...

[jhale667]

Neither one is innocent...

How do you figure that, if Martin was indeed merely walking home minding his own business?

[ELVIS]

How do you figure that, if Martin was indeed merely walking home minding his own business?

First of all, he didn't live there...

Secondly, he must have done something the communist watch guy didn't like...

[ELVIS]

You're a Florida resident - is the Sanford P.D.'s reputation as bad as reported?

I know a bit about the place...

It's a fucking pill infested college town with strip clubs on every corner...

The cops probably suck...

[chefcraig]

Dude, if you're a rational, even semi-lucid adult, the police letting Zimmerman go without collecting any evidence after a fatal shooting - even if it is presumed to be self-defense - is suspect, bottom line. The fact that the kid had ID and a cell-phone on him and yet was still kept as a John Doe for days is also suspect (the cops reportedly didn't even bother calling the last few numbers dialed on the phone). Racial component aside (this is seemingly off-brown-on-black crime anyway), the investigation was botched - had there been no media attention, there may not have even been an investigation. It stinks.

You're a Florida resident - is the Sanford P.D.'s reputation as bad as reported?

OK, the investigation (or more properly, the lack of one) is yet another indictment of the overall insipid nature of policing and politics that take precedent over just about everything else in this state, next to greed and obnoxious, unconscionably awful behavior. Hardly what you'd call news in a place where corruption is the norm, not an anomaly. (I'm keenly aware that in light of the kid's death, this sounds considerably heartless. Having lived here for over 4 decades, one tends to lose much of one's compassion, let alone sympathy for one's fellow residents. Hell, consider yourself lucky if you know the names of any of your neighbors, let alone the guy that lives next door.)

Am I jaded? That depends on your personal point of view. To me, I'm being a realist. The case has been a giant cluster-fuck since the beginning, yet no amount of moral outrage (that just happens to be based not on facts but on assumptions gathered by the occasional news-break) is going to change that. The kid is dead, and isn't coming back. With the media and boneheads like Al "Sharp-As-A-Marble" and Jesse "Blaxploitation" encouraging grieving people to scream for justice or better yet, create it outside of the law is tantamount to anarchy.

I just find it odd that while no one has ever been able to exactly pin down just what it is that Jackson and Sharpton do for a paycheck, they are always capable of affording to hop on a plane in order to make their usual speeches and rabble-rousing nonsense, acting as advocates for what allegedly passes for modern black morality. Having these nitwits advise anyone on what to think and how to behave makes about as much sense as having a vegetarian tell someone that likes steak or raises cattle for a living to give up meat, sell the ranch and start eating granola, because it's morally correct or justified.

[jhale667]

First of all, he didn't live there...

Secondly, he must have done something the communist watch guy didn't like...

He was staying there with family members, close enough... And yeah, he was apparently guilty of walking while black.

I just find it odd that while no one has ever been able to exactly pin down just what it is that Jackson and Sharpton do for a paycheck, they are always capable of affording to hop on a plane in order to make their usual speeches and rabble-rousing nonsense, acting as advocates for what allegedly passes for modern black morality. Having these nitwits advise anyone on what to think and how to behave makes about as much sense as having a vegetarian tell someone that likes steak or raises cattle for a living to give up meat, sell the ranch and start eating granola, because it's morally correct or justified.

No disagreement there, I don't think Sharpton and Jackson should be anywhere near this case...

[FORD]

I know a bit about the place...

It's a fucking pill infested college town with strip clubs on every corner...

That doesn't sound so bad

[chefcraig]

No disagreement there, I don't think Sharpton and Jackson should be anywhere near this case...

It really is mystifying. These guys arrive out of nowhere to appear at some race-related hot-spot, make a series of highly combustible comments, then slither back under whatever slime-encrusted rock they have been hiding out beneath until the next occasion comes along. About the only thing you can clearly come away with when these two imbeciles show up is that the facts about whatever they are talking about are nebulous as hell.

[jhale667]

It really is mystifying. These guys arrive out of nowhere to appear at some race-related hot-spot, make a series of highly combustible comments, then slither back under whatever slime-encrusted rock they have been hiding out beneath until the next occasion comes along. About the only thing you can clearly come away with when these two imbeciles show up is that the facts about whatever they are talking about are nebulous as hell.

Sharpton should stick to being a host/commentator on MSNBC and stay far away from incidents like these. He'll never live down the Tawana Brawley thing IMO, and him being around makes things seem more questionable. He's not helping, even if he thinks he is.

[chefcraig]

He'll never live down the Tawana Brawley thing IMO, and him being around makes things seem more questionable. He's not helping, even if he thinks he is.

What was that Dave Roth line about "selective amnesia?" It would appear that Sharpton has made a career upon his own (and the general public's) engagement of the device.

[MUSICMANN]

Let's all kinda step back and look at this situation with a little perception and reality. Doesn't matter if there was a racial slur called out. The facts remain that if you as a person decide to confront the other person for whatever reason, you better be damn prepared for what you may get entangled in. I have to ask, would this have even made the news past the very local area, if the black teen would have killed the white/Hispanic guy, i don't think so. You surely wouldn't have seen the usual suspects that crawl out from under the rocks that do nothing more than build up more tension and hatred. You really wouldn't have seen any president take the kind of stand that Obama has taken on this matter as well.

The facts remain that black on black crime is rampant in neighborhoods across this country and none of that makes national headlines like this. Whatever the outcome of this situation turns to be, the facts remains that a person lost their life over a miscalculated action that happened between to people. As unfortunate as that is, everyone must take responsibility for their own actions and not be so fast to pass judgement on either of the two men involved, and really understand this was a human on human situation, nothing more.

[jhale667]

What was that Dave Roth line about "selective amnesia?" It would appear that Sharpton has made a career upon his own (and the general public's) engagement of the device.

He's actually done a lot of good over the years since then and tried to rehabilitate his reputation, think he even worked with Newtered on some bipartisan project pre-election time, but I've never forgotten him doing what amounted to shouting "fire" in a crowded theater as far as race-relations go. Sure, he was fooled like everyone else at the time, but he kind of became the poster child for false accusations of that type. Pretty doubtful there's any falsehoods being perpetrated by the Martin family, but if it were me I wouldn't want him anywhere near it.