Hatfields and McCoys

This looks like it is going to be good. 

Maybe even good enough to fill some of the void left by the absence of Justified (which has been renewed for a fourth season).

Memorial Day is May 28.

You only thought lynching was a thing of the past

Thomas Sowell writes:

 Whatever the ultimate outcome of the case against George Zimmerman for his shooting of Trayvon Martin, what has happened already is enough to turn the stomach of anyone who believes in either truth or justice.

An amazing proportion of the media has given us a painful demonstration of the thinking — and lack of thinking — that prevailed back in the days of the old Jim Crow South, where complexion counted more than facts in determining how people were treated. One of the first things presented in the media was a transcript of a conversation between George Zimmerman and a police dispatcher. The last line in most of the transcripts shown on TV was that of the police dispatcher telling Zimmerman not to continue following Trayvon Martin. That became the basis of many media criticisms of Zimmerman for continuing to follow him. Only later did I see a transcript of that conversation on the Sean Hannity program that included Zimmerman’s reply to the police dispatcher: “Okay.” That reply removed the only basis for assuming that Zimmerman did in fact continue to follow Trayvon Martin. At this point, neither I nor the people who assumed that he continued to follow the teenager have any basis in fact for believing that he did or didn’t. Why was that reply edited out by so many in the media? Because too many people in the media see their role as filtering and slanting the news to fit their own vision of the world. The issue is not one of being “fair” to “both sides” but, more fundamentally, of being honest with their audience. NBC News carried the editing even further, removing one of the police dispatcher’s questions, to which Zimmerman was responding, in order to feed the vision of Zimmerman as a racist. In the same vein were the repeated references to Zimmerman as a “white Hispanic.” Zimmerman is half-white. So is Barack Obama. But does anyone refer to Obama as a “white African”? All these verbal games grow out of the notion that complexion tells you who is to be blamed and who is not. It is a dangerous game because race is no game. If the tragic history of the old Jim Crow South in this country is not enough to show that, the history of racial and ethnic tragedies is written in blood in countries around the world. Millions have lost their lives because they looked different, talked differently, or belonged to a different religion. In the midst of the Florida tragedy, there was a book published with the unwieldy title, No Matter What . . . They’ll Call This Book Racist. Obviously it was written well before the shooting in Florida, but its message — that there is rampant hypocrisy and irrationality in public discussions of race — could not have been better timed. Author Harry Stein, a self-described “reformed white liberal,” raised by parents who were even further to the left, exposes the illogic and outright fraudulence that lies behind so much of what is said about race in the media, in politics, and in our educational institutions. He asks a very fundamental question: “Why, even after the Duke University rape fiasco, does the media continue to give credence to every charge of racism?” Harry Stein credits Shelby Steele’s book White Guilt with opening his eyes to one of the sources of many counterproductive things said and done about race today — namely, guilt about what was done to blacks and other minorities in the past. Let us talk sense, like adults. Nothing that is done to George Zimmerman — justly or unjustly — will unlynch a single black man who was tortured and killed in the Jim Crow South for a crime he didn’t commit. Letting hoodlums get away with hoodlumism today does not undo a single injustice of the past. It is not even a favor to the hoodlums, for many of whom this is just the first step on a path that leads to the penitentiary, and maybe to the execution chamber. Winston Churchill said, “If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost.” He wasn’t talking about racial issues, but what he said applies especially where race is involved. Some may wonder why I am spending more time on this subject than the upcoming presidential election.  The short answer is that I identify with Mr. Zimmerman. Like him I choose to carry a firearm for self-protection and can see myself in his place because under the same set of circumstances I would have done the same thing that he did. If I were knocked to the ground and someone were sitting on me slamming my head into the concrete you had damn well better believe that I would shoot the son of a bitch. What is happening in Florida is a terrible tragedy and I don't mean the death of Trayvon Martin.  The tragedy in Martin's case was that he chose to identify with hoodlum culture in his dress, his speech and his actions.  After that decision was made his future in either a prison cell or a slab at the morgue became if not written in stone at least a very likely possibility.  No the tragedy I am referring to is the railroading of an innocent man, George Zimmerman, for the crime of choosing to be the one who survived a violent encounter one rainy night in Sanford, Florida. If Zimmerman had not been armed he would be dead and Trayvon Martin would be sitting in a prison cell awaiting trial for murder and the media - outside of the local TV and newspapers - would not have the slightest interest in the matter.  Race hustling maggots like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would not have slithered into the area to decry the gang-chic culture that tells young blacks that the way to be cool and authentic is to mimic the behavior, speech and dress of the violent gutter thug. The mainstream media would not have flooded the area and engaged in a campaign of outright lies to make Zimmerman look more sympathetic (by among other things publishing a picture of him as a twelve-year-old boy rather than a current photograph) and Martin look more guilty. The President of the United States would not have poured gasoline on the fire by issuing a statement in which he attempted to establish a personal emotional connection to the late Mr. Zimmerman or saying something like, "If I had a son I would do all in my power to keep him from turning out like Trayvon". No, if Trayvon Martin had completed his intention of murdering George Zimmerman on that wet night in Sanford the overwhelming majority of us would have never heard his name. But George Zimmerman had a gun and the will to use it to preserve his life and so we all know his name and that of the young man whom he was forced to shoot. The race maggots like Jackson and Sharpton and Obama are gorging themselves right alongside the sharks of the mainstream media on the wreckage of a good man's life and reputation.  A good man has committed the unpardonable sin of defending himself against a politically protected attacker and has placed himself in the cross-hairs of a corrupt politically motivated prosecutor as the governor and billion dollar tourist dependent business interests like Disney and Miami hotel operators cheer her on and call for the political/media lynching of an innocent man. In George Zimmerman's place I would have done the same thing as he did and so I see the lynch mob coming after him as a threat to me as well.

If I wanted America to fail

He should just say, "If I wanted America to fail I would vote for Barack Obama and any other Democrat on the ballot."

Justice for Zimmerman?

Lloyd Marcus asks "What about Justice for Zimmerman?" in a piece on American Thinker:

I keep thinking of an episode of the 1973 TV show Kojak: The Marcus-Nelson Murders.  Homicide detective Kojak suspects that the black teenager accused of murdering two white girls is being framed by his fellow detectives.

The case gets a lot of media attention; politics and careers enter the mix.  The frightened accused black kid pleads his innocence to detective Kojak who believes him.  Kojak educates the defendant to the cold, harsh reality of the situation; he informs the kid that despite his innocence, the case has become such a political hot button, and because the police held the kid in jail for so long, he must be found guilty of something.

I see this same scenario developing in the Martin/Zimmerman case.

Most Americans desire a fair and just outcome when it comes to this tragedy.  But Lord help us if the evidence proves Zimmerman innocent.  If Zimmerman is ruled not guilty and allowed to walk, I foresee Rodney King-type riots in the streets.  Thus, is Zimmerman's fate already sealed?  Will a jury decide that Zimmerman must be declared guilty of something?

While Al Sharpton, the New Black Panthers, and all of the other racist race-hustling usual suspects clamor for justice for Trayvon Martin, I wonder if justice is even possible for George Zimmerman.

Tragically and frighteningly, we live in a time in which the law and truth appears to be losing relevance in America.

[. . .]

 Regardless of if the evidence proves otherwise, Zimmerman will be found guilty of "something" to avoid riots in the streets.  We are talking political correctness on steroids.

Folks, I am not saying that Zimmerman is innocent.  I do not know.  I am simply saying that in these morally bankrupt times in which we live, I am concerned that facts and truth are becoming irrelevant.

Since Zimmerman posted $150,000 bail, here are just a few of the shocking tweets calling for violence against him.

Ima kill Zimmerman myself *loads semi* where he at

I think imma personally kill George Zimmerman...anyone's welcome to join (: ...Leggggoooo !

 I WOULD KILL DA SHYT OUTTA DAT ZIMMERMAN DUDE IF I SAW HIS A** BOAAAA

 Someone pass me a gun, imma go follow zimmerman, shoot and kill him and say #imstandingmyground

Lets kill #zimmerman

They let Zimmerman free lets kill that MF

George Zimmerman Released From Jail 150,000 Bail! WTF!  Ni**a You Are About To Die, Start Writing Your Will!...

  Have you heard the slightest hint of media outrage over the threats on Zimmerman's life?

Have you heard any rebuke, or any hint of the Obama administration taking action against these thugs?  Oh, I know...they are still busy investigating Ted Nugent for passionately encouraging voters to vote Obama out in November.

 But seriously, folks, the media's and Obama administration's passivity regarding the threats on Zimmerman's life is shocking and should be an eye-opener to us all.  Anyone on the left's excrement list can expect no justice and no peace.

Go read the rest. 


These are come conclusions that I have reached about the Zimmerman/Martin affair:


1. While understanding that there could be some surprise evidence which proves conclusively that Mr. Zimmerman did murder Martin I have to say that the evidence which has become public knowledge to this date leads me to the conclusion that George Zimmerman acted properly and shot in lawful self-defense.  


2. The stand-your-ground law in Florida did not come into play here because when you have been knocked to the ground and someone is sitting on top of you slamming your head into the concrete you have exhausted any conceivable "need to retreat".

3. The Special Prosecutor is a whore who is attempting to feed an innocent man (a man she knows to be innocent) into the meat-grinder of the criminal justice system in order to gain political advantage for herself in a tough reelection campaign.  She should face exactly the same fate as former Durham DA (and now ex-convict) Mike Nifong - disbarment and a prison sentence.


4. The Governor of Florida, Republican though he may be, is a poltroon and should be voted out of office - preferably in a Republican primary.  The decision to appoint a special prosecutor was nothing but a craven capitulation to the Disney corporation and various tourist based business operators who feared the potential for violence if Zimmerman was not charged.  The pressure on the judge, prosecution and the jury to produce some kind of guilty verdict will be enormous.


5. Street gangs, both black and Hispanic, are even now planning Rodney King-style riots for Florida cities for the same reason that gangs in LA planned the riots there - as a cover for massive looting.  Just as the LA gangs planned to riot regardless of the jury verdict the gangs in Florida will do all in their power to trigger mass violence in larger Florida cities no matter how the Zimmerman case plays out in court.

6. The governor of Florida, whom we have already established is a coward, will lack the courage and resolution to deploy the National Guard from the beginning of the court proceedings (in case the whole thing is dismissed early by an honest judge - as it should be) and probably not even after the jury goes into deliberations (if the farce is allowed to go on that long).  Any forceful response will be too little, too late and only after mobs of enraged "youths" are burning down the Magic Kingdom and the Miami beachfront hotels.


7. Whatever damage is done will be blamed on Florida's stand-your-ground law, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with this case (see point 2).


8. Democrats will continue to exploit this tragedy for political purposes and the GOP will utterly lack the courage to respond in any meaningful way.  Expect the Romney campaign to come out in opposition to stand-your-ground laws.  

9. I know that Ann Coulter has written a column making many of the same points that I have made about Zimmerman/Martin but when Romney comes out against stand-your-ground we can expect her to write a column explaining that opposition to stand-your-ground is the "real" conservative position and that if Florida had gun laws like Massachusetts had under Mitt Romney none of this would be happening.


10. Some professor at MIT will study the shape Coulter had to twist herself into to write the column mentioned in point 9 and win a Nobel Prize for opening new ground in the study of multidimensional physics.


11. On issues of race black Americans live in an alternate reality where it is still 1938 and lynchings still happen on an almost nightly basis.  How else to explain the absolute uncritical acceptance of Twanna Brawley's utterly ridiculous story about being kidnapped and gang raped by white police officers or their apparently sincere belief that Treyvon Martin was an innocent little black child who was stalked and gunned down by a white racist.


12. While most people will be inclined to believe that which tends to confirm their most deeply held convictions about the world the mainstream media and the race industry in America have proven that they will also come right out and lie to make others believe it as well.  How can anyone still believe one word which comes out of the network news, most daily newspapers or wire services on any cable news outlet other than FOX (and FOX hasn't covered itself with glory in this matter either).?


More lessons can be learned from this tragic affair but let us please remember that the most important fact is that an innocent man is being charged with 2nd Degree Murder by an utterly corrupt special prosecutor and that the entire weight of the mainstream media, the racial grievance industry and, it would seem, the political establishment of the state of Florida and the United States government is going to be focused on getting a conviction regardless of the facts of the case.


Pray for George Zimmerman, and for our nation.

The Zimmerman/Martin affair

I have not commented to date on the shooting of a young black man by an Hispanic community watch volunteer in Florida for the following reason.

Early media accounts of incidents like this are extremely unreliable - even when there is no racial/political component involved.  When there is a racial component - Martin was black and Zimmerman wasn't and a political one as well - early reports suggested that Zimmerman wasn't initially charged with a crime because of Florida's "stand your ground" law (a law the left despises because it empowers honest citizens who are willing to take responsibility for their own lives and not be dependent upon government) then the mainstream media can be expected to go into full blown "advance the agenda mode" and ignore, distort and outright lie.

All three of these things have been in full view throughout the reporting of this unfortunate incident.  NBC edited the audio tape of Mr. Zimmerman's call to the police to make it appear that he was suspicious of Mr. Martin not because of his behavior but because of his race.  ABC aired a fuzzy video tape of Mr. Zimmerman being taken into the police station on the night of the incident with the commentary that there was no sign of injury to Mr. Zimmerman's head (which would contradict his statement that he has been knocked to the ground and that Martin was slamming his head into the concrete of the sidewalk) when a slight enhancement of the video (something a TV studio is more than capable of doing) would have revealed injuries to the back of Mr. Zimmerman's head consistent with his statement.

The mainstream media and left-wing politicians like New York City's mayor Bloomberg (who barely qualifies as a sentient life form) have used this case to call for the repeal of the "stand your ground" laws pioneered in Florida and now on the books in something like 36 states.  These laws, for those who may not be aware of them, simply state that there is no duty to retreat from any place where one has a legal right to be before using force, including deadly force, to defend oneself from an attack.  To give you an idea of how extreme some "duty to retreat" laws are or have been it was at least once a requirement in the state of New Jersey to attempt to flee from your own house before using deadly force to resist a lethal assault. 

As I said above the left hates stand your ground laws because it empowers citizens to take responsibility for their own safety instead of cowering in fear while praying that an agent of the state can get there in time to save them.  The left also hates these laws because they endanger the lives of criminals, who make up one the natural constituencies of the left.

With the media in a froth to advance the "America is a racist nation where blacks are in imminent  danger of losing their lives to heavily armed racist whites (who probably have a bible in the hand not holding the gun)" meme and blame sensible pro-self defense laws for the "murder" of an "innocent" black "child" it is an absolute certainty that the mainstream media will have to be dragged kicking and screaming toward any kind of accurate reporting.

However patience will be rewarded.  A trickle of information revealing the true nature of the facts had been steadily emerging which entirely support Mr. Zimmerman's account of the events.  The Special Prosecutor's thinly disguised campaign speech announcing her intention of charging Mr. Zimmerman with 2nd degree murder and the accompanying affidavit of complaint has been condemned by sources as diverse as liberal lawyer Alan Dershowitz, - “Most affidavits of probable cause are very thin. This is so thin that it won’t make it past a judge on a second degree murder charge,” . . . “There’s simply nothing in there that would justify second degree murder" - to conservative attorneys Andrew McCarthy, - "This affidavit is not law, it is agitprop" - and Mark Levin.

Better quality video footage of Mr. Zimmerman on the night of the incident clearly shows the injuries to his head.  Current pictures of Mr. Martin which show him as he looked on the night he attacked Mr. Zimmerman (complete with gold teeth, tattoos and obscene gestures - all the accoutrements of modern gang chic) -  rather than the years-old picture provided by his mother. The dishonest editing of the Zimmerman's 911 call by NBC was exposed and the accusation that he used the racial epithet "coon" was debunked.

It is apparent that the decision to charge Mr. Zimmerman was motivated entirely by politics.  The Special Prosecutor is in a tough reelection fight and like former DA (and now former convict) Mike Nifong in Durham, NC is attempting to curry favor with the mob.

Why Florida's Republican governor would play along is no mystery either.  People who live in Florida explain to outsiders that Florida doesn't have a state income tax because the "Mouse House" pays them.  The Mouse House is, of course, Disney.  Disney World is located in Orlando which is less than 30 miles from Sanford and is one of the largest employers in Florida and is a major source of tax revenue to the state.  Consequently Disney has enormous clout with the FL state government. 

The last thing Disney wants is flash mobs of black "youths" descending on the Magic Kingdom and attacking white tourists.  The last thing owners of hotels and night clubs in Miami want is those flash mobs running wild on their turf just as business owners in Daytona Beach have nightmares of Spring Break turning into a blood bath which would frighten off middle class college students for a the next 30 years.  And how would the elderly retires in communities like The Villages react to a hundred members of the New Black Panther Party with baseball bats invading their community?

Florida is a state which depends upon tourism and retires to drive its economy and both of those groups can be easily frightened away by racial violence.  This is all the incentive that a governor, of whichever party, needs to lay down for the demands of racial hustlers like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and racial lunatics like Louis Farrakhan and convene a kangaroo court in order to throw an innocent man to the mob.

George Zimmerman should never have been charged with any crime.  However a court of law is one of the few places left in our society in which truth and genuine fairness still matter and Mr. Zimmerman has an excellent chance of getting the charges dismissed if he has the good fortune to stand before an honest judge.  Even if his judge allows himself to be intimidated by the mob he will likely be acquitted by a jury of his peers.  Only to face possible charges by the most corrupt Justice Department in the history of the Republic.

Even if Zimmerman escapes a prison sentence he will have still lost his job and home and have massive legal bills to pay - not to mention the death threats which will still hand over his head for years to come.  All because of a dishonest mainstream media, corrupt politicians and prosecutors and a racial grievance industry which exists to prevent real progress in race relations found him a convenient target in an election year.

Democrats say the darndest things

"I think one man is just as good as another so long as he's honest and decent and not a nigger or a Chinaman."
- Harry S Truman, 33rd President of the United States

Pay attention to Wisconsin

From American Thinker:

Wisconsin conservatives and Governor Walker have some work to do between now and June 5 when the recall election is held. A Rasmussen survey shows a majority of voters in Wisconsin favor the governor's recall.

Washington Examiner:

A new Rasmussen poll finds that Republican Wisconsin Scott Walker is in trouble of being recalled June 5, with a majority, 52 percent, saying they will vote him out less than two years after he took office and immediately went to work to cut the power of public service unions.

The poll revealed a remarkable shift from February when 54 percent of Wisconsin voters said they would vote against the recall. In today's poll, just 47 percent said they would vote against recalling the governor. Details will be released at 1 p.m.

Worse for Walker: 53 percent disapprove of his job as governor with a whopping 46 percent saying they "strongly disapprove" of Walker. Majorities of both men and women now support his recall. Rasmussen found that his support among Republicans and conservatives remains strong.

With outside labor union money pouring into the state, and near hysterically energized opponents, Walker is going to have to develop an awesome ground game to see his way to victory. He did it before during his election battle in 2010 when his organizational muscle triumphed over his Democratic opponent Tom Barrett - who he might face again.

There's still time to flip those numbers and Walker, an experienced campaigner, will no doubt make good use of it.

If Governor Walker loses the recall election it will signal that the public employee unions own the state of Wisconsin.  This would be a very bad thing for Wisconsin and if it signals any kind of national trend a very bad thing for the nation as a whole.

There was a time when government workers did not have the right to unionize.  They earned a bit less money than their private sector counterparts but they had civil service job protection which meant that it was almost impossible to fire them and they had the perk of early retirement with an excellent pension.

That began to change in the Kennedy administration.  JFK signed legislation allowing public sector workers to organize and collectively bargain.  Since that time Congress and state legislatures have watered down or eliminated most of the old civil service protections that public workers once enjoyed.  The reasoning was that since they now had unions to protect them they no longer needed the legal protections they once enjoyed.

That worked very will for public sector workers for a while.  Government workers at the state level no longer earn less than their private sector counterparts.  And they have lifetime pensions and lifetime healthcare all paid for from the public treasury.  And they have retained the right to retire at a younger age than private sector employees as well (although Social Security doesn't begin paying them any earlier than any other citizen).

The problem is that the bill has now come due.  The nation is flat broke.  No it is worse than that.  As Mark Steyn points out if God himself were to shower Washington DC with 15 trillion dollars worth of gold bricks all that would do is make the nation flat broke because that would only cover our indebtedness.  That is correct, a 15 trillion dollar windfall to the federal treasury would leave us with exactly nothing.

Government at the federal, sate and local level has grown massively and now consumes around half of the nations productive output.  How far would you get going through your day with a dead body almost exactly the same size as you strapped to your back?  That is the situation that the private sector faces every day carrying the dead weight of government.

The system is nearing the point of collapse.

We cannot go on spending money that we do not have to finance government that we do not need.  Not only do not need but that actually makes things worse.

America's government workers for the most part do not care about the overall health of the nation.  Any more than the Greeks rioting in the streets to bring back lost benefits that their government could never have afforded to pay them care that they are demanding that the citizens of Germany and France loan money to their government which will never be paid back to finance the comfortable lifestyles that they have become accustomed to.

If the nation is to be saved it will take leaders like Scott Walker and citizens willing to stand behind them.

Wisconsin is a referendum on whether the United States of America can survive and whether it deserves to survive.

4 more years?