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Mr. Scorpio
Mr. Scorpio's Journal
Mr. Scorpio's Journal
November 20, 2013
I’d hate to be a former Zimmerman juror today
A chilling 911 call shows George Zimmerman trying to frame his girlfriend -- just like he did Trayvon Martin
JOAN WALSH
We already know at least one member of the jury that acquitted George Zimmerman in the killing of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin has had second thoughts about their verdict. If any of them are feeling particularly bad today about their role in setting Zimmerman free, now that he’s been arrested (a second time) for domestic abuse, I’d advise that they wait before listening to the chilling 911 call he made Monday afternoon. It’s extremely disturbing.
I’d give the same advice to Fox’s Sean Hannity, who tried to turn Zimmerman into a right-wing culture hero for killing Martin, allegedly in self-defense, except Hannity shows no signs of having a conscience.
The news that Zimmerman had been arrested again isn’t surprising. It’s just a matter of time before the entitled gun nut and wannabe cop hurts someone else. Just since his release from jail in July, he’s been stopped by law enforcement for speeding at least three times, and police have been called to his home by his estranged wife, who said he threatened her with a gun (she refused to press charges). He also toured the factory that produced the weapon he used to kill Martin. Zimmerman is not now and never was a mild-mannered guy who was at the wrong place at the wrong time and reluctantly killed a young thug who attacked him in self-defense; he is himself a thug with an anger problem looking for trouble.
But given that he used self-defense to evade a murder conviction, it’s appalling to hear him on a 911 call trying to use the same defense against his girlfriend. Samantha Scheibe called police to say Zimmerman held a gun to her face, shattered a glass table, then threw her out of her own house. We hear her yell at Zimmerman on the call. “You just broke my glass table, you just broke my sunglasses and you put your gun in my friggin’ face and told me to get the fuck out!”
http://www.salon.com/2013/11/19/id_hate_to_be_a_former_zimmerman_juror_today/?source=newsletter
JOAN WALSH
We already know at least one member of the jury that acquitted George Zimmerman in the killing of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin has had second thoughts about their verdict. If any of them are feeling particularly bad today about their role in setting Zimmerman free, now that he’s been arrested (a second time) for domestic abuse, I’d advise that they wait before listening to the chilling 911 call he made Monday afternoon. It’s extremely disturbing.
I’d give the same advice to Fox’s Sean Hannity, who tried to turn Zimmerman into a right-wing culture hero for killing Martin, allegedly in self-defense, except Hannity shows no signs of having a conscience.
The news that Zimmerman had been arrested again isn’t surprising. It’s just a matter of time before the entitled gun nut and wannabe cop hurts someone else. Just since his release from jail in July, he’s been stopped by law enforcement for speeding at least three times, and police have been called to his home by his estranged wife, who said he threatened her with a gun (she refused to press charges). He also toured the factory that produced the weapon he used to kill Martin. Zimmerman is not now and never was a mild-mannered guy who was at the wrong place at the wrong time and reluctantly killed a young thug who attacked him in self-defense; he is himself a thug with an anger problem looking for trouble.
But given that he used self-defense to evade a murder conviction, it’s appalling to hear him on a 911 call trying to use the same defense against his girlfriend. Samantha Scheibe called police to say Zimmerman held a gun to her face, shattered a glass table, then threw her out of her own house. We hear her yell at Zimmerman on the call. “You just broke my glass table, you just broke my sunglasses and you put your gun in my friggin’ face and told me to get the fuck out!”
http://www.salon.com/2013/11/19/id_hate_to_be_a_former_zimmerman_juror_today/?source=newsletter
November 19, 2013
During the Zimmerman trial, we have had DUers argue for his acquittal, which, of course, happened...
Some argued that his acquittal was going to happen because the prosecution was bungling the case, or that the Florida laws were tilted towards Zimmerman's way, or even that the justice system in that part of Central Florida itself was never going to field a jury that would convict some non-black person of killing any black person.
Now, if those arguments were tempered with a caveat that he SHOULD have been convicted of killing an innocent kid, I wouldn't have had any qualms with that line of argument at all.
But we have had people state that he should have been acquitted because they believed him to be not guilty of the charges. In that Travon Martin did something that warranted his own killing.
It's those people that I ask now; Do you still think that George Zimmerman deserved to be acquitted in the shooting death of Travon Martin?
Even today?
November 19, 2013
Asshole of the Day, November 13, 2013: Sarah Palin
by GirlGetALife (Follow @GirlGetALife)
Sarah Palin is certainly no stranger to controversy - it seems the woman lives to put her foot in her mouth. Not surprisingly, she’s gone and done it again. First, she compared the national debt to slavery, for which she earned an Asshole of the Day nomination.
African-Americans, along with people who possess common sense and a sense of decency were, understandably, upset with the comparison. An interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper provided Palin with the perfect opportunity to clarify her statements. But Palin couldn’t - or wouldn’t - do so. Instead, she suggested that perhaps black people simply couldn’t comprehend her definition of the word ‘slavery’.
She said:
"I’m sure if we open up the dictionary, we could prove that with semantics that are various, we can prove that there is a definition of slavery that absolutely fits the bill there, when I’m talking about a bankrupt country that will owe somebody something down the line if we don’t change things that is, we will be shackled. We will be enslaved to those who we owe."
http://assholeoftheday.us/post/66912889165/asshole-of-the-day-november-13-2013-sarah-palin
Caribou Barbie thinks that Black people cannot comprehend slavery by her definition
Asshole of the Day, November 13, 2013: Sarah Palin
by GirlGetALife (Follow @GirlGetALife)
Sarah Palin is certainly no stranger to controversy - it seems the woman lives to put her foot in her mouth. Not surprisingly, she’s gone and done it again. First, she compared the national debt to slavery, for which she earned an Asshole of the Day nomination.
African-Americans, along with people who possess common sense and a sense of decency were, understandably, upset with the comparison. An interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper provided Palin with the perfect opportunity to clarify her statements. But Palin couldn’t - or wouldn’t - do so. Instead, she suggested that perhaps black people simply couldn’t comprehend her definition of the word ‘slavery’.
She said:
"I’m sure if we open up the dictionary, we could prove that with semantics that are various, we can prove that there is a definition of slavery that absolutely fits the bill there, when I’m talking about a bankrupt country that will owe somebody something down the line if we don’t change things that is, we will be shackled. We will be enslaved to those who we owe."
http://assholeoftheday.us/post/66912889165/asshole-of-the-day-november-13-2013-sarah-palin
November 19, 2013
EXCLUSIVE: Teenager spends 3 years in jail and charges dropped
Eyewitness News
NEW YORK (WABC) -- 20-year-old Kalief Browder may be physically free, but mentally he is still trapped behind bars on Rikers, where every day was a battle to survive.
"It's very hard when you are dealing with dudes that are big and have weapons and shanks and there are gangs," says Browder, "you know if you don't give your phone call up, or you don't give them what they want you know they are going to jump you. And it's very scary."
In May of 2010, Browder was a 16-year-old tenth grader, walking home on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx after a party. "This guy comes out of nowhere and says I robbed him. And the next thing I know they are putting cuffs on me. I don't know this dude. And I do over three years for something I didn't do."
Browder's family couldn't make the $10,000 bail on the robbery charges, and he had a legal aid attorney. Browder is now represented by a civil rights law firm.
"Someone who did not know Kalief Browder, and simply told the police officer, 'Officer I was robbed two weeks ago and that kid did it', that's where it ended. That was the identification," said Browder's attorney, Paul Prestia. Browder said that at the time, the stress was overwhelming, and at some point he tried to commit suicide.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?id=9317078
NEW YORK (WABC) -- 20-year-old Kalief Browder may be physically free, but mentally he is still trapped behind bars on Rikers, where every day was a battle to survive.
"It's very hard when you are dealing with dudes that are big and have weapons and shanks and there are gangs," says Browder, "you know if you don't give your phone call up, or you don't give them what they want you know they are going to jump you. And it's very scary."
In May of 2010, Browder was a 16-year-old tenth grader, walking home on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx after a party. "This guy comes out of nowhere and says I robbed him. And the next thing I know they are putting cuffs on me. I don't know this dude. And I do over three years for something I didn't do."
Browder's family couldn't make the $10,000 bail on the robbery charges, and he had a legal aid attorney. Browder is now represented by a civil rights law firm.
"Someone who did not know Kalief Browder, and simply told the police officer, 'Officer I was robbed two weeks ago and that kid did it', that's where it ended. That was the identification," said Browder's attorney, Paul Prestia. Browder said that at the time, the stress was overwhelming, and at some point he tried to commit suicide.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?id=9317078
November 19, 2013
28 Common Racist Attitudes And Behaviors
28 COMMON RACIST ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS THAT INDICATE A DETOUR OR WRONG TURN INTO WHITE GUILT, DENIAL OR DEFENSIVENESS.
Below is a list of 28 common racist attitudes and behaviors that indicate a detour or wrong turn into white guilt, denial or defensiveness. Each is followed by a statement that is a reality check and consequence for harboring such attitudes.
1. I’m Colorblind.
“People are just people; I don’t see color; we’re all just human.” Or “I don’t think of you as Chinese.” Or “We all bleed red when we’re cut.” Or “Character, not color, is what counts with me.”
REALITY CHECK + CONSEQUENCE:
Statements like these assume that people of color are just like you, white; that they have the same dreams, standards, problems, and peeves that you do. “Colorblindness” negates the cultural values, norms, expectations and life experiences of people of color. Even if an individual white person could ignore a person’s color, society does not. By saying we are not different, that you don’t see the color, you are also saying you don’t see your whiteness. This denies the people of colors’ experience of racism and your experience of privilege.
“I’m colorblind” can also be a defense when afraid to discuss racism, especially if one assumes all conversation about race or color is racist. Speaking of another person’s color or culture is not necessarily racist or offensive. As my friend Rudy says,
I don’t mind that you notice that I’m black.” Color consciousness does not equal racism.
The rest: http://www.stcloudstate.edu/affirmativeaction/resources/insights/pdf/28ToolsChange.pdf
Below is a list of 28 common racist attitudes and behaviors that indicate a detour or wrong turn into white guilt, denial or defensiveness. Each is followed by a statement that is a reality check and consequence for harboring such attitudes.
1. I’m Colorblind.
“People are just people; I don’t see color; we’re all just human.” Or “I don’t think of you as Chinese.” Or “We all bleed red when we’re cut.” Or “Character, not color, is what counts with me.”
REALITY CHECK + CONSEQUENCE:
Statements like these assume that people of color are just like you, white; that they have the same dreams, standards, problems, and peeves that you do. “Colorblindness” negates the cultural values, norms, expectations and life experiences of people of color. Even if an individual white person could ignore a person’s color, society does not. By saying we are not different, that you don’t see the color, you are also saying you don’t see your whiteness. This denies the people of colors’ experience of racism and your experience of privilege.
“I’m colorblind” can also be a defense when afraid to discuss racism, especially if one assumes all conversation about race or color is racist. Speaking of another person’s color or culture is not necessarily racist or offensive. As my friend Rudy says,
I don’t mind that you notice that I’m black.” Color consciousness does not equal racism.
The rest: http://www.stcloudstate.edu/affirmativeaction/resources/insights/pdf/28ToolsChange.pdf
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