Sanford Cops Wanted to Arrest Zimmerman

Posted on by

Here’s a new wrinkle in the Trayvon Martin killing, from the Miami Herald —

Despite public claims that there wasn’t enough probable cause to make a criminal case in the Trayvon Martin killing, early in the investigation the Sanford Police Department requested an arrest warrant from the Seminole County State Attorney’s office, the special prosecutor in the case told The Miami Herald on Tuesday.

A Sanford Police incident report shows the case was categorized as “homicide/negligent manslaughter.”

The state attorney’s office held off pending further review, The Miami Herald has learned.

I don’t know what they were going to “review,” since there was a shocking inattention to collecting evidence at the scene.

The development is in stark contrast to the statements repeatedly made by Bill Lee, the Sanford police chief who has since stepped aside and was lambasted for his handling of the case. Lee publicly insisted that there was no probable cause to arrest Zimmerman, leading many critics to say he came across more like a defense attorney for the security buff.

“Zimmerman provided a statement claiming he acted in self defense which at the time was supported by physical evidence and testimony,” Lee wrote in a memo posted on the city’s website. “By Florida Statute, law enforcement was PROHIBITED from making an arrest based of the facts and circumstances they had at the time.”

Yesterday ABC News reported —

The lead homicide investigator in the shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin recommended that neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter the night of the shooting, multiple sources told ABC News.

But Sanford, Fla., Investigator Chris Serino was instructed to not press charges against Zimmerman because the state attorney’s office headed by Norman Wolfinger determined there wasn’t enough evidence to lead to a conviction, the sources told ABC News.

Police brought Zimmerman into the station for questioning for a few hours on the night of the shooting, said Zimmerman’s attorney, despite his request for medical attention first. Ultimately they had to accept Zimmerman’s claim of self defense. He was never charged with a crime.

Serino filed an affidavit on Feb. 26, the night that Martin was shot and killed by Zimmerman, that stated he was unconvinced Zimmerman’s version of events.

Possibly the Sanford police department has entered the “every man for himself” ass-covering phase of the investigation. As in, “Hey, don’t look at me. I’m not the one who let the jerk go.”

The Right, which has been on a sickening “smear the dead kid” binge for the past several days, has now seized upon the information that George Zimmerman is a registered Democrat. Ed Kilgore: “aha! The whole thing was a Blue Team fragging of some sort, and nothing Real Americans should care about.”

GOP for Individual Mandate Before They Were Against It

Posted on by

Awesome segment by Rachel Maddow last nignt —

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Maddow documents that way back when Republicans were battling the evil “Hillarycare” instead of the evil “Obamacare,” Republicans pushed an individual mandate to purchase health insurance as a solution for soaring health care costs. And this includes some of the same Republicans who today declare that the individual mandate is the end of liberty as we know it. If you are short of time you can skip to the 5 minute mark, right before the juicy bits start.

Update: Several news stories say that the justice’s questioning today suggests the conservatives on the Court are going to end the mandate. Steve Kornacki says ain’t necessarily so. Ezra Klein is less optimistic.

Sanford Police Keep Digging That Hole …

Posted on by

George Zimmerman’s lawyer chickened out of an appearance on MSNBC’s The Last Word — but Lawrence O’Donnell asked his questions anyway.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Sanford police are leaking every smear of Trayvon Martin they can think of to justify the miscarriage of justice they are perpetrating. Trayvon is being portrayed as a juvenile delinquent who had been suspended from school for possession of an empty baggie that may have contained marijuana! So, obviously, shooting him was justified somehow.

Now the police are claiming that 140-pound Trayvon Martin had “decked” the 200-plus-pound Zimmerman with one punch and was pounding his head into the pavement when Zimmerman shot him. Zimmerman suffered a broken nose and head injuries! Although oddly, he didn’t need immediate medical attention. He went to a doctor the next day, police say.

But you know what doesn’t seem to exist?

  • Photographs or medical reports of Zimmerman’s injuries
  • Photographs of the crime scene, including the state of Zimmernan’s clothes.
  • Zimmerman’s clothes, showing grass stains and other evidence that he was pushed to the ground.

Seriously, Sanford police? You expect us to just believe you that this happened, when the injured party can’t refute it, because he is dead?

Un-bee-lee-va-bull.

Even if actual evidence comes to light that Trayvon Martin had “decked” Zimmerman, as Charles Blow says in the video above, “If you start a fight and are losing it, you don’t get to claim self-defense.”

See also “What Everyone Needs To Know About The Smear Campaign Against Trayvon Martin (1995-2012)” and “Dishonoring Trayvon Martin.”

Obama 2, Bishops 0

Posted on by

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops struck out again last week when a “federal judge ruled against the bishops in a fight over whether the group could impose its views on contraception and abortion through its control of taxpayer dollars.”

According to the Mother Jones article linked above, the Bush Administration contracted with the bishops to provide services to victims of human trafficking.

The bishops had been administering virtually all the federal money allocated for such services, about $3 million a year, doling it out to subcontractors who served victims all over the country. The USCCB had prohibited the contractors from using the federal funds to pay for staff time to counsel victims on contraception or abortion, or to refer them for such services.

In 2009 the ACLU sued HHS, arguing that such restrictions on the use of taxpayers’ money violates separation of church and state. The suit was still working its way through the courts last fall when the Obama Administration chose not to renew the contract, mostly because the Bishops refused to provide some of the services the victims actually needed.

The decision set off a firestorm in Congress, where House Republicans accused the administration of bid-rigging and violating the bishops’ religious freedom during a marathon oversight hearing in December.

Right, because the Constitution gives churches the right to use taxpayers’ money to further their own sectarian interests … oh, wait …

Anyway, the federal judge said,

To insist that the government respect the separation of church and state is not to discriminate against religion; indeed, it promotes a respect for religion by refusing to single out any creed for official favor at the expense of all others….This case is about the limits of the government’s ability to delegate to a religious institution the right to use taxpayer money to impose its beliefs on others (who may or may not share them).

Yes. Thank you. And excuse me for the snark, but contracting with the Bishops to provide services for victims of human trafficking seems a bit like contracting with the Daughters of the Confederacy to run racial sensitivity programs.

From the NRA to George Zimmerman, via ALEC

Posted on by

Paul Krugman writes about a connection between FLorida’s “stand your ground” law and the infamous ALEC.

Specifically, language virtually identical to Florida’s law is featured in a template supplied to legislators in other states by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-backed organization that has managed to keep a low profile even as it exerts vast influence (only recently, thanks to yeoman work by the Center for Media and Democracy, has a clear picture of ALEC’s activities emerged). And if there is any silver lining to Trayvon Martin’s killing, it is that it might finally place a spotlight on what ALEC is doing to our society — and our democracy.

ALEC, of course, is also behind a lot of anti-union, anti-consumer protection and anti-environmental protection bills that have been popping up in state legislatures by the truckload. ALEC is funded by several big corporations — including Koch Industries — and interest groups. It invites state legislators and their families to all-expenses-paid “conferences” at luxury resorts, gives them the boilerplate of bills it wants to become law, and even coaches the saps how to sell the bills to constituents and other legislators. This accounts for a rash of nearly identical bills being introduced in many state legislatures at once. (See, for example, four ALEC bills vetoed by the governor of Minnesota last month.)

Krugman continues,

But where does the encouragement of vigilante (in)justice fit into this picture? In part it’s the same old story — the long-standing exploitation of public fears, especially those associated with racial tension, to promote a pro-corporate, pro-wealthy agenda. It’s neither an accident nor a surprise that the National Rifle Association and ALEC have been close allies all along.

And ALEC, even more than other movement-conservative organizations, is clearly playing a long game. Its legislative templates aren’t just about generating immediate benefits to the organization’s corporate sponsors; they’re about creating a political climate that will favor even more corporation-friendly legislation in the future.

Did I mention that ALEC has played a key role in promoting bills that make it hard for the poor and ethnic minorities to vote?

Do read all of Krugman’s column, because he provides a lot of details we all need to know, and I don’t want to re-run the whole column here. Just go read it.

Sorta kinda related — be sure to also read “The Outsourced Party”

Pity the Lonely Wingnut

Posted on by

Mittens can’t understand why younger voters support President Obama over him (or any other Republican).

“I joke, and I don’t mean to be flip with this — because I actually see truth in it — I don’t see how a young American can vote for a Democrat,” Romney said when asked what economic message he would have for young people.

“I apologize for being so offensive in saying that, but I catch your attention. But I mean, in the humor, there’s some truth there. And I say that for this reason: that party is focused on providing more and more benefits to my generation, and amounting trillion-dollar annual deficits my generation will never pay for.”

He argued that while Democrats support “the greatest inter-generational transfer of wealth in the history of humankind,” the Republican Party is “consumed with the idea of getting federal spending down and creating economic growth and opportunity so we can balance our budget and stop putting these debts on you.”

“These debts are not frightening to people my age, because we’ll be gone,” he said.

Jeff Jacoby wrote a standard SOB (Same Old Bullshit) article seconding Mittens. Jesse Singal responds.

Jacoby himself admits that the “debt wasn’t piled up without plenty of Republican help. During George W. Bush’s presidency, annual federal spending skyrocketed from $1.8 trillion to $3.4 trillion, and $4.9 trillion was added to the national debt.”

Now, he goes on to argue that Obama ran it up even more, but we all know that Obama’s spending had a lot to do with recovery measures that were a response to the situation he inherited—not to mention wars he didn’t start an an expensive Medicare drug bill he wasn’t around to vote for.

Behold, the chart (click to enlarge):

Which President Caused the Deficit?

So I’m not sure where this leaves his argument. Young voters should support Republicans because… they run up debts, but not as quickly as Democrats? This actually hasn’t been true, historically.

Click to enlarge

But beyond the fact that it’s Republicans, not Democrats, who are the real big spenders, I suggest that Mittens and JJ try to put themselves into a young person’s shoes, so to speak. The evil federal deficit is an abstraction compared to the tangible effects of policy in their lives. Student loan debt is eating their economic future right now. And Mittens, and Republicans in general, have been colossally insensitive on the problems being caused by student loan debt. The basic Republican plan for student loans is shut up and pay up. Oh, and give the student loan business back to the sharks.

Jobs going overseas? Republicans refuse to address the issue but instead blame unions. And then if you ever do get a decent paying job and pay off your student loans, your parents will be finding that their Medicare vouchers aren’t worth the paper they are printed on, and you’ll be on the hook for their medical bills. Soylent Green, anyone?

Meanwhile, they foment culture war and show themselves to be utterly out of touch with younger people on social issues across the board. The question is not, why don’t more young people vote for Republicans? It’s, how stupid does a young person have to be to vote for Republicans?

But wingnuts are equally clueless about other demographic groups that don’t like them. They go on a hysteria-hate binge over female contraceptives and then wonder why there’s a gender gap. Their insensitivity on racial issues is legendary, but their explanation for why a huge majority of African Americans tend to vote for Democrats is that they’ve been “brainwashed” to stay on the “liberal plantation.”

Seriously, anyone who is not already a mega-billionaire has got to be brainwashed to vote for Republicans these days.

Great Retorts

Posted on by

Charles Pierce has a first-rate rant on the Trayvon Martin murder (yeah, I’m calling it murder) that includes this retort to Geraldo Rivera’s “Every time you see someone sticking up a 7-11, the kid is wearing a hoodie.”

“And every time I see someone convicted of ripping off pension funds, he’s wearing a $500 suit.”

Actually, I don’t think that’s true. It’s more like a $1500-$2500 suit, if not higher. It may have been awhile since Mr. Pierce shopped for a suit. But it’s a good point.

Someone asked Newt about polls that say many Republicans think the President is a Muslim. And Newt actually said, “Why does the president behave the way that people would think that [he’s Muslim]?” And John Cole asked, “Why Does Newt Gingrich Behave in Ways That People Would Think He is an Asshole?”

And finally — it surprises me that Rick Ungar writes for Forbes, since the rest of their writers are obvious Koch Brother puppet think tank hacks. Ungar tends to get his facts straight, however, so do read “The Giant Medicare Fraud Committed By Congress: Repeal Of The IPAB.” Compare/contrast to this insipid puff piece on the imbecilic Paul Ryan at Fox.

For more on IPAB and why it’s a good thing, and why Big Pharma wants to kill it, see Sarah Klliff.

A Crazy Gun Law Too Far?

Posted on by

Last night Ed Schulz interviewed Dan Gelber, a former Florida state senator. Gelber had been in the Florida legislature when the “stand your ground” law passed; he was one of the few senators who voted against it. He said that during the legislative session he asked repeatedly for the name of a single person in Florida who had been unfairly prosecuted for defending himself. And no one could produce such a person.

In other words, there was no wrong that needed to be remedied by the “stand your ground” law. Nothing was broke that needed to be fixed. “The NRA is a victim of their [own] success in that they have won all the major battles and look for these fringe issues now” Gelber said. “This was a solution in search of a problem.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Gail Collins said essentially the same thing in a column a few days ago.

There is nothing so dangerous as a lobbying organization that’s running out of stuff to lobby about.

I am thinking in particular of the National Rifle Association. These people are really in desperate straits. The state legislatures are almost all in session, but some of them have already pushed the gun-owner-rights issue about as far as it can go. You can only legalize carrying a concealed weapon in church once.

This year, in search of new worlds to conquer — or at least to arm — a couple of states are giving serious attention to bills that would allow gun owners to carry their concealed weapons in places like day-care centers and school buses.

People, do you think there is a loud public outcry for more guns on school buses? I truly believe that this is all the product of a desperate N.R.A., trying to show its base that there are still lots of new battles to be won.

On the other hand, a few hours after videos of then-Gov. Jeb Bush signing and endorsing the “stand your ground” law popped up on TeeVee and the web, Jebbie endorsed Mittens for president. Coincidence?

For example, see the Ed Show again, about 53 seconds into this clip:

Heh. Anyway — Lately we’ve seen several examples of the Right pushing too far and getting smacked for it. Susan G. Komen for the Fail is still smarting from its recent public humiliation. Several scheduled events have been postponed or canceled, and several executives have resigned.

It may be awhile before we get a clear picture of how much Rush Limbaugh hurt himself with his Sandra Fluke rant, but the Right remains in denial about what happened and is unlikely to moderate its behavior in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, right-wing state legislatures continue to pass more and more ridiculously crazy anti-abortion laws, and in some place a backlash is well underway.

Political processes are broken and have failed to protect us from right-wing insanity, but it appears a lot of people are learning to fight back on their own. The Crazy may finally have exceeded its bounds.