Monday Stuff

I believe I should make it clear that, even though my response to the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin verdict recently was a bit muted, rest assured that I was definitely appalled all the same. I didn’t say much because 1) I don’t usually comment on matters related to our criminal justice system, partly because trying to keep up with real-time events in my commentary is something I’m not able to do as much as I’d like (Georgia’s state-sponsored murder of Troy Davis was definitely an exception, though), and 2) based on my cursory examination of what was going on, it seemed clear that Zimmerman’s defense was on its way, partly through under-handed but no less legal means, to establishing reasonable doubt.

However, the outcome of the trial is a tragedy all the same, and to get an idea as to why (in case that isn’t apparent already), I would suggest that you read this Think Progress post. Basically, if Zimmerman had been a black man without notoriety and Martin had been a white man in a similar circumstance, Zimmerman would be in prison by now. Also, as I pointed out fairly soon afterwards, ALEC has blood on its hands for supporting the utterly odious “stand your ground” law that gave Zimmerman the flimsiest of legal pretexts to approach Martin, “armed” only with some iced tea and a bag of Skittles.

And given all of this, I think the following commentary from Melissa Harris-Perry is completely appropriate (here)…



...and leave it to Martin Bashir to cut through all the BS also with this poignant commentary...

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...turning to other stuff, looks like it's more "jobs, jobs, jobs" from Orange Man and his pals (or, as I’ve said before, if men got pregnant, there would be so many over-the-counter “morning after” and birth control pills that you wouldn’t be able to count them, all advertised on Spike TV and Maxim Magazine of course)…

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…and speaking of Martin, here is my response in solidarity to this story.