Tag: George Zimmerman

Self Defense Now a Federal Issue

House Democrats said Tuesday they will offer an amendment to push to overturn stand-your-ground self-defense laws in states like Florida.

The amendment, which would withhold some grants from states that have such laws, will come as part of the House’s debate on the Commerce Department spending bill.

“‘Shoot-first’ laws have already cost too many lives. In Florida alone, deaths due to self-defense have tripled since the law was enacted. Federal money shouldn’t be spent supporting states with laws that endanger their own people,” said Reps. Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the two Democrats who are offering the legislation. “This is no different than withholding transportation funds from states that don’t enforce seat-belt laws.”

Florida’s law, which allows residents to use force in response to an attack without first having to retreat, has come under scrutiny after the nationally-polarizing death of teenager Trayvon Martin. George Zimmermann, a neighborhood watch volunteer, has been charged with murder in the case.

via Washington Times.

Surely they jest!  I guess Reps. Grijalva and Ellison would rather have dead victims.

I have some news for these guys, our right to self-defense comes from our creator — not from the government.  If you think otherwise go put yourself between a mama bear and her cub.

#KillZimmerman: The Left is Silent

On March 24 a “KillZimmerman” Twitter account began publishing calls for violence against George Zimmerman, the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26.

Five days later, the account is still on its crusade to avenge Martin.

The sender’s initial tweets made his or her aims clear: “No Justice No Peace!!!!!!!!!! #KILLZIMMERMAN #KILLZIMMERMAN #KILLZIMMERMAN,” they read.

via The Daily Caller.

This is a problem.

Yesterday there was a post over at Althouse about how someone had taken a poll about the Martin/Zimmerman issue.  A Poll!!  We do NOT use POLLS to determine if someone is innocent or guilty!!

We are a nation of laws.  Our system is not perfect; but it does work.

And where is the MSM on this?  Where’s the left on this?

When Gabrielle Giffords was shot the MSM & the left were everywhere jumping up-and-down that it was all Sarah Palin’s fault.  Palin — love her or hate her — never, in any way, called for Giffords to be killed.

Here, this person is actually publicly calling for the assassination of another person.  Somehow that’s acceptable?  Is this really who we’ve become?

Kuryente: Ya, I Never Heard of it Either

One Tagalog word for which no exact translation in English exists is “kuryente.” It literally means “electric current,” but the word can be applied to the practice of spreading sensational but faked news in order to produce a media jolt. One newspaper translates “kuryente” as “a bum steer”; others have rendered it as “actually but not really” or “confirmed but not definite.” At any rate, the phrase applies perfectly to the storm of bogus rumors swirling around the Trayvon Martin media feeding frenzy. The Daily Mail reports:

Fake Will Smith tweet about Trayvon Martin sweeps the internet  — and Spike Lee retweets wrong address for George Zimmerman. … Man tweeting as Will Smith tweeted angry post about no justice for Trayvon — Spike Lee retweeted incorrect Florida address for Trayvon’s killer, George Zimmerman — Man posing as Will Ferrell also tweeted about high-profile case.

Americans are no stranger to the phrase “fake but accurate.” But kuryente takes things to another level where the lie becomes the truth; or worse, to where nobody can tell the difference.

The couple who actually live at the address which Spike Lee wrongly believed to belong to George M. Zimmerman now fear for their lives. The address was actually associated with the electoral roll of a different Zimmerman — George A. Zimmerman — though of course such fine distinctions are lost in the wash. As for the “Will Smith” tweets, the author of his missives is actually a “white man from Nashville, Tennessee.”  Nor is Will Ferrell the Will Ferrell — his spokesman says his tweet was a hoax.

Not that it will make any difference. The main thing about faked news is that it shouldn’t matter whether it is in the slightest degree true. It is far more important for the news to confirm what we want to hear: our deepest suspicions about our neighbor or our wildest vanities about ourselves. People will believe it because they want to. As for the truth, well what about it?

Even the most basic facts becomes surprisingly irrelevant. Media Matters, for example, apologized to Matt Drudge after accusing him of being a “racist demagogue” for running a fake photo of the victim — only to discover it was actually a real photo. You would have thought Media Matters would know true from fake to play the fact-check game, but really, why would factuality be important?

Winston Churchill once observed that “a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” The immense power of kuryente consists in that it operates in the world of myth. It does not belong in the universe of fact. Hence what happened when, who liked what, what reasons there were for which: these are irrelevant.

via PJ Media.

An amazing piece.  Go read the whole thing.  It’s well worth it.

The author, Richard Fernandez, has pulled an incredible excerpt from George Orwell that mirrors exactly what we’re going through with the Trayvon Martin situation.

What have we become when we cannot identify — nor really care for — the truth?

Trayvon Martin’ death vs. 16 Others… Every Day

A lot of energy is being focused on the death of Trayvon Martin as a sign of racism in our society.  Yet I find myself deeply troubled by the very selective upset of civil rights leaders.  In 2010, 6470 blacks were murdered in the United States, more than 17 per day.  Examining the single offender/victim table shows that 90% of black murder victims were murdered by another black. (No surprise: most murder is within race.)  I don’t mean to suggest that Trayvon Martin’s death is unimportant.  But where is the outrage and fury of the civil rights groups about the 16 black-on-black murders that happen every day in the U.S.?  We don’t know if Zimmerman did something criminal, or just something stupid that led to Trayvon Martin’s death.  But we do know that every day there are sixteen black-on-black murders in the U.S., and they almost never receive this kind of attention and concern. Or is it only a concern if the killer isn’t black?

via PJ Media.

Indeed.