God will recognize His Own.

It’s like he never existed. It’s even got a name: Bush Estrangement Syndrome.

Florida Gov Rick “Batboy” Scott

Actually, I have evidence it was George W. Bush operating from his secret underground fortress.

who’s the prick? (I missed the TV coverage.) All prosecutors are pricks. Its their job.

My guess (again, I wasn’t there) is Zimmerman believed he was acting in self defense because he was getting the crap beat out of him by one very pissed off kid.

His assailant was pissed because this stranger was following him around, asking questions, and trying to keep him from going back to his dad’s apartment {a guy with no badge or uniform, an attitude and maybe flashing a gun). He reacted in very much the same way I would have reacted when I was his age if I thought some pervert with a gun was trying to give me orders. In fact, I’d probably do it right now, I know I can’t outrun a bullet so I might as well go down swinging.

I agree with your assessment. The real villains are the stand your ground law, which made it all possible, and Zimmerman, for playing cop and deliberately ignoring excellent advice from his dispatcher. Your verdicts sound about right.

Still, we don’t know what actually happened. There may be something more to this case we still don’t know. Hopefully, it will come out at the trial.

I think your sentence of manslaughter or homicide without intent are probably what’s right. But I doubt there will be enough evidence to make any charges stick. Still, Zimmerman should have been arrested and kept pending a full investigation. The fact he wasn’t was because the authorities did not want to see this stand your ground law challenged. It has been very controversial here.

And I’d be willing to bet the orders to cover it all up right after the shooting came straight from Skinhead Scott’s office in Tallahassee. The man is in the pocket of the NRA and American Legislative Exchange Council. They’ve been ramfodding stand your ground legislation through every conservative state legislature in the country (about 20 so far).

Andy Taylor was no dummy.

The state of Florida is the guilty party for enacting the law.

Personally, I feel he is guilty of manslaughter.

a person who acted in self defense with an honest but unreasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to do so could still be convicted of voluntary manslaughter or deliberate homicide committed without criminal malice.

Wiki

Have you seen the questioning by the prosecuting attorney? The guy is a class A prick.

But I am familiar with the gun culture. I was brought up with it, and to a certain extent, I’m a part of it myself. I own guns and I own them primarily for self-defense, not for sport. I’m not afraid of guns, and I’m not ignorant about them, but that doesn’t mean I like them. They are tools, and nothing more. I don’t think owning tools is a constitutional right, particularly tools whose sole function is to kill people. But I’m not in favor of banning all of them outright, either. Surely there is a middle way.

But I do live in America, and whether you like it or not, if you do too and you’re smart you’ll own one. I can’t imagine having to shoot someone, of having to defend my home by killing a stranger. It bothers me, it terrifies me, and I only am prepared to do it because I have decided that in America it is a risk we all take and we have to be ready to face. The ugly people already all seem to have guns.

There is definitely a gun mentality, it is mostly, but not exclusively, rural and Southern and it is widespread. And yes, it is strongly associated and correlated to working class white males and all those other stereotypes, including cultural chauvinism, Christian fundamentalism, conservatism and racism. Sure, not all of them are gun nuts, and you don’t have to be one of them to be a gun nut. You’ve also got black ghetto gangsta gun nuts too. They fit right in, but they’ve only lately joined the club. From a distance, or from up close, you can’t tell them apart in the dark, except they feel they have a god-given right to own any gun, and as many guns as they want.

The gun nut I’m thinking about carries it a bit further. He cloaks his pathology with phony civil rights excuses. He doesn’t have a gun, or several, he has many. He doesn’t only know how to use one, he is obsessed by them, fetishizes them, he buys and sells them, loves to handle them, caress them, work on them, shoot them, and he fantasizes about using them on the people he doesn’t like. And these people don’t like anybody except those just like them. I have talked to them, I know what they are like.

They are afraid and they hate, and they are just dying to have a legal excuse to carry one, brandish one and especially to kill someone. THey love the sound of the action chambering a round.

I live in Rocky Raccoon country, I was born and raised in it. I am not making it up, I know exactly what I’m talking about. And although there are lots of gun owners and users, the kind I am talking about is a distinct and recognizeable type where I come from, and I’ve known them for as long as I can remember.

Forget about Barney Fife. I’m Barney Fife. Have you ever seen “Deliverance”?

A frustrated wannabe bad ass.

First, Zimmerman has a temper. He’s had unlimited opportunity to observe the results of his losing his temper.

Second, he shouldn’t own a gun or be near a gun. A temper and a gun are a bad combination.

It’s analogous to a drunk person and a car. Anyone who gets drunk has enough information to know they should not be around a car. If they do drive, they are completely responsible for what happens.

Third, carrying his gun, he ran across a person who was not impressed with him or his temper. He comes to a point where he has to escalate or back down. He is in a state where he couldn’t see where he was wrong and doesn’t have the guts to accept a draw. For the same reason inadequate people insist on carrying guns, he didn’t have to negotiate a compromise, he didn’t have to try to understand the other guy, he didn’t have to question himself, he simply killed him.