Tom Toles for July 16, 2013

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    McSpook  over 10 years ago

    And then guess what happens; I get found “Not Guilty” for killing you. Pretty good for me; sucks to be you.

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    ConserveGov  over 10 years ago

    Maybe if Lil T was taught correctly as a kid, things would’ve of just went like this:Z-man: Hey what are you doing here kid?Tray-Mart: I’m going home. Mind your own business.They then both go home angry, but alive.Instead, the 17 year old gets thuggish and starts throwing punches.Lesson to kids: a lot of bad things can happen when you start a physical alteration. So don’t!

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    ARodney  over 10 years ago

    That’s assuming that Zimmerman was telling the truth. We’ll never hear Trayvon’s side, because he was shot dead. And that’s legal in Florida. Warning: if someone starts following you in Florida, shoot first. Shooting is legal, punching is not.

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    jnik23260  over 10 years ago

    Good job, Toles! You described Florida’s “Self – Defense” laws exactly!

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    taratus  over 10 years ago

    Florida is sinking anyway. Move out while you still can. Your homes are uninsurable and your water increasing brackish. Pythons eat your pets. Why not move to New York? We also have steamy heat in the summer and all the water you can drink.

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    Doughfoot  over 10 years ago

    If Trayvon had been armed and “felt threatened” by Zimmerman stalking him, the law says he could have shot Zimmerman “in self defense.” It was perhaps because of ambiguous situations like this that, in the 19th century and in most states (especially violence-prone ones like Tennessee), the carrying of a concealed weapon (gun or fighting knife) was outlawed as “cowardly” and “unmanly.” Even assuming the worst about Martin, that he started the fight because he didn’t like being followed around, he would have to have been a blithering idiot to have attacked someone he knew had a gun. There is no evidence that he was more of an idiot than any other 17-year-old. (Unless, just possibly, he knew Z was armed, was convinced he was about to be shot, and was making one desperate bid to save himself.) Any way you look at this, Zimmerman started it by following Martin against the express words of the police not to. And whatever Zimmerman “felt” it is inconceivable that Martin would have actually killed him in this situation (though he might have done him more harm than he did.) Zimmerman did not intend to provoke a fight, but he did provoke it. If he had not been carrying a gun, he would have been more cautious. Zimmerman may have acted within the law, as the jury said, but he is nevertheless fully responsible for Martin’s death. “Stand your ground” laws are meant well, but combined with concealed weapons, the results are predictable. And properly expressed by the cartoon. That’s why more than one editorial has call this trial a miscarriage of justice, but not a miscarriage of law.

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    pdchapin  over 10 years ago

    If Zimmerman had done what any reasonable person would have done, which is back off when the police told him to, Martin would be alive. That’s practically textbook definition of manslaughter. The murder charge was a stretch and confused the issue.

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    realthog  over 10 years ago

    We now know he was looking to get an illegal gun but just had not yet.

    We know nothing of the sort. Come back to the real world from Planet WooWoo.

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    rockngolfer  over 10 years ago

    As someone pointed out to me yesterday, the Stand Your Ground Law was not used in the trial, which I thought was incredible.Next up, Federal hate crime charges.

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    magicwalnut Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Seems to me, Z should have been charged with disobeying a police officer, at the very least.

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    larryrhoades  over 10 years ago

    What was the verdict?“Innocent”, “Not guilty”, or “Not proved”?Martin is dead, needlessly.Zimmerman did wrong in picking the fight.

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    d_legendary1  over 10 years ago

    Thank you Former Gubbernor Jeb Bush for this most wonderful law that allows anyone in Florida to justify murder.

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    lafayetteann  over 10 years ago

    The jury did NOT “determine that the one who attacked was Trayvon”. We will never know that because the only testimony we have is Zimmerman who wants to save his @ss. The jury determined that they could not find that Zimmerman acted to murder without a reasonable doubt.

    The jurors started out tied, three for guilty, three to acquit. Apparently the jurors who wanted to acquit talked the others into changing their opinion. That’s probably about how opinion is going – 50% support Zimmerman, 50% think Zimmerman should be in jail.

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    rickf1968 Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Stipple – you are a SICK individual – I hope justice finds you talking like that – people like you are what incites lawlessness.The courts found Z not guilty – NOONE knows what happened but God almighty and if Z was wrong he will have to answer to HIM when that time comes.As you too will have to answer for thinking like you do. I pray for you and all the other lunatics out there who think like you.

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    rickf1968 Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Stipple – you are a SICK individual – I hope justice finds you talking like that – people like you are what incites lawlessness.The courts found Z not guilty – NOONE knows what happened but God almighty and if Z was wrong he will have to answer to HIM when that time comes.As you too will have to answer for thinking like you do. I pray for you and all the other lunatics out there who think like you.

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    rickf1968 Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Stipple – you are a SICK individual – I hope justice finds you talking like that – people like you are what incites lawlessness.The courts found Z not guilty – NOONE knows what happened but God almighty and if Z was wrong he will have to answer to HIM when that time comes.As you too will have to answer for thinking like you do. I pray for you and all the other lunatics out there who think like you.

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    rickf1968 Premium Member over 10 years ago

    Stipple – you are a SICK individual – I hope justice finds you talking like that – people like you are what incites lawlessness.The courts found Z not guilty – NOONE knows what happened but God almighty and if Z was wrong he will have to answer to HIM when that time comes.As you too will have to answer for thinking like you do. I pray for you and all the other lunatics out there who think like you.

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    putertek  over 10 years ago

    If TM had time to call a friend he had time to call 911 for help he said "white ass cracker " so he was a racist

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    McSpook  over 10 years ago

    You’re correct, it is a valuable observation.This guy got away with killing an unarmed kid that he had no business confronting in the first place.He gets found “not guilty” and the kid gets buried.It does suck to be the victim.

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    jnik23260  over 10 years ago

    That would have been a reasonable thing to do if Zboy had identified himself as a neighborhood watchman, but he admitted to the detective that he did not. He wore no uniform or badge of authority indicating his duty. He looked like a big, skinhead. I’d defend myself from him, too!

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    jnik23260  over 10 years ago

    Zboy didn’t need to get out of his car. He lived in the neighborhood, which has only three streets. How could he not know where he was?

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    jnik23260  over 10 years ago

    Good.

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    jnik23260  over 10 years ago

    Either of those works for me.

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    McSpook  over 10 years ago

    “If he was Black, you would support the Verdict 1000% Yes I would also support the Verdict 1000%”.Don’t tar me with your fool’s brush, Tigger, I would NOT be in favor of the verdict under those circumstances. Shooting to kill an unarmed person, even in a fight, is wrong.Zimmerman went for a kill shot; at that range he could have shot Martin in the knee, the hip or the shoulder. Any such wound would have ended the fight immediately, but the rancid little coward went for a kill shot. He’s a gutless coward and I’m very sorry they didn’t get him for manslaughter, an opinion I’d hold regardless of his or Martin’s color.

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    McSpook  over 10 years ago

    If my ego is the size of Jupiter, your IQ must be in the mid-double-digit range.“Am I bleeding for victims who are ignored by the media?”Of course I am, you senseless buffoon. Anyone with any kind of awareness and empathy would. You think my concern is only for those whose murders make the headlines? I may not know the names of all of those victims, but I hurt for them and their loved ones, whomever they are.Have you ever lost a loved one to violence? It’s a pain unlike any other, for unlike death by disease or accident it is caused by the callousness and hatred of some twisted cretins who know no other way to express themselves or deal with their demons.I’ve had to deal with losing a loved one to violence. Don’t ever imagine that you know what it feels like if it hasn’t actually happened to you.“Justice goes awry every day in some way, shape or form.”You say that as though it was acceptable; I guess so long as it doesn’t directly affect you it’s OK. But it’s not. It’s not OK when the bad guy goes free; the only thing worse is when an innocent man is convicted. Both injustices piss me off, even if they don’t directly concern me.As far as calling Obama and Holder “racists,” I notice you toss that word at others an awful lot in your postings. You protest a bit too much. Perhaps you ought to take a good look in the mirror and see if there isn’t a slack-jawed racist staring back at you.

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    d_legendary1  over 10 years ago

    No he wasn’t. He was on the trail of some “hooded a-hole” He was trying to make sure he didn’t get away.

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    Dtroutma  over 10 years ago

    True “justice” has long been mugged in much of “the south”, let alone Florida. “Not Guilty” based on the charges filed? I initially thought it was the jurors acceptance of definitions in the laws, then I heard a juror, wife of a lawyer (and an idiot) state her reasons for her vote, which WAS to mug “justice”.

    Zimmerman was able to grow his hair out, remove his goatee, and modify his “attitude” for the media, mostly depending on silence, and having his own record hidden. Trayvon couldn’t change his views on “race”, being one, black, and two, dead. Sorry, it was obvious on the record that Zimmerman targeted blacks who showed up in “his” neighborhood, period.

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    attarian  over 10 years ago

    Thug, the new euphemism for the N word

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