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.