Daily Topics - Monday July 15th, 2013
By shawnt56
Catch The Thom Hartmann Program LIVE 3-6pm ET M-F!
Have a question or comment for Thom? Grab your phone, hit record and send your video to YourTakeMyTake@gmail.com and we may air it on "The Big Picture."
Hour One: Slave patrols are alive & well in Florida / Plus, will there be justice for Trayvon? Debbie Hines, Legal Speaks
Hour Two: Was Trayvon convicted of assualt from the grave? Mychal Denzel Smith, The Nation Magazine / Plus, Zimmerman is armed and dangerous again - Richard Fowler, The Richard Fowler Show
Hour Three: How will there by justice for Trayvon? Barbara Arnwine, The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Comments
#2
Ashamed to be a Floridian.
#3
Is that a pistol in your pocket, or are you just afraid to see me?
#4
I'm a neighborhood watch captain in Jacksonville Florida.
I don't think it's fair to equate us with "slave patrols" when all we're doing is conciousness raising in the neighborhood and encouraging neighbors to keep an eye on each other and know each other and know what is going on.
Six months before the Zimmerman situation, I was confronted by two black teens, in hoodies, in front of my house in the early afternoon. I stood on my porch, and they didn't move, like they couldn't decide what to do.
I asked them what they wanted, and the "leader" gave me an attitude (like a punk teen, whatever), but he was not looking at me, but looking past me into my house. He was even standing on his toes, looking into my house.
I said (in my meanest voice)"what are you lookin' at? " He said he was looking at what I had. I told him he better move on down the road, and quit looking in women's houses. Then I went in my house.
They stood there for a minute, like they were unsure about what to do, then they went on down the road. I called the cops to report suspicious activity.
Forty minutes later, a cop came by. I talked with him, gave him a description, and told him why I though they acted suspicious, and what direction they were headed. The cop left.
Well, the cop came back two hours later, told me he found those guys. He said "one of them pulled a gun" and he had to arrest them. He found out one was on parole.
I don't know what really happened when the cop caught up to these guys, but I was glad they were off the street.
A week later, Angela Corey's office(DA for Trayvon Martin's case) called me for my sworn statement. I told them exactly what happened, and exactly why I thought these two acted suspicious, and that we had been having burglaries in the neighborhood.
It seems my statement was not enough to lock them up for long. There's nothing more I could truthfully add to my story. I'm glad the cop caught them.
If they had a gun, I never saw it, and I was not going to say that I did. I don't know what happened to the two, but I do know burglaries in the neighborhood stopped.
So, neighborhood watch fills in for the budget cuts to the police department, and keeps watch on the neighborhood during the day when everyone is at work, and at night when people are sleeping, and when people go on vacation.
If you see suspicious activity, you are to call the phone tree, and call the police. The police don't tell you to have a gun, or do patrols, or confront anyone.
Think about it: if they are looking for a home to burglarize, and your house is not an easy target, they will move on to an easier target. By that time, the police will be in the neighborhood and have a chance to catch them red handed.
Anyway, sorry for the long story, but the happy ending is, everyone lived.
#5
The plan of the corporate-owned GOP is to bring back the Gilded Age, when corporations ruled America.
Union busting, forcing people into poverty, corporate-owned politicians, racial tension, ineffective or non-existent government oversight, uneducated population, anti-immigrant sentiment, Bible-thumping, and a class system, where the wealthy and their heirs will rule America.
That is the goal. That is the prize for the elite few. That is why there is no reasoning with them, and no room to compromise. They are remaking America, with the help of the right wing propaganda machine and the voters.
The low-information voters don't have the education or intellectual curiosity to find out the truth, so they simply turn over the responsibility to "them rich people must know sumthin' an' maybe it'll rub off and trickle down".
The working-class don't have the time to research the truth because they're too busy trying to live and raise a family.
The young people don't know anything any different, and have not been taught basic civics or know the role of government. They have no knowledge of 'civic duty' or their rights and ownership of America.
The progressives are stunned, and keep waiting for someone to lead the uprising.
This is the culmination of a long-term plan, and Americans are letting them get away with it.
"Stay the course" said George H. W. Bush. "You're my base" said George W. Bush. Starve the government until it's small enough to drown in a bathtub" said Grover Norquist.
#6
I think people are missing a KEY point in Zimmerman's police interview. He said he turned to find Martin facing him. He had to explain how this young kid got the better of him and said, "I was distracted, reaching for my phone". Even the detective asked him, "could that have been construed as a threat to Martin?". But think about it from the paranoid mind of Zimmerman...he has a criminal cornered and is determined to make sure the police get this one...what would anyone in that sitation do...reach for his phone and hope the guy stands there patiently waiting, or reach for his gun to hold the criminal at bay until the police arrive?
Now look at that scene from Martin's viewpoint....some guy is following him, even when he tries to run from him....he finally decides to confront him and ask what's up...rather than identify himself as any kind of neighborhood watch, the guy reaches for a handgun! What would you do?!??! You can't outrun a gun, so you have to jump the guy to keep him from pulling the gun on you. From there, they rolled around until Zimmerman got the gun up and shot him. I actually think Zimmerman:
1. didn't intend to shoot anyone that night, but hold him for the police
2. was too stupid to identify what he was doing
3. probably was clueless at the moment he reached for a gun what effect it would have in that situation
4. actually felt from that point on, that he WAS fighting for his life
I think Murder 2 was a joke, but clear cut case of manslaughter!
#7
With all the evidence (FACTS) of the case, WHY are so many people mad about the verdict? ...and why do so many people feel assaulting someone is OK?
Tryvon had a right to confront Zimmerman, but NOT assault him!
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