@1: Ooh, you sure are mad. So when an angry wannabe cop sees a young black man in a nice neighborhood, pursues him on a slight suspicion, accosts him, gets into a fistfight with him, and then shoots him dead...it's the dead black guy who's violent and racist, eh?
I'd worry less about who was on top of whom and more about how despite Zimmerman's claims that Martin was covering his mouth and grabbing at the gun, Zimmerman's DNA was not found on Martin's hands and Martin's DNA was not found on the gun or holster.

@2: I don't think there's been any testimony about DNA yet in the trial.
Acquittal or manslaughter, those are really the only likely outcomes.

These are tough times for racist shitheads.

All St. Petersburg Pride participants arrested. http://www.demotix.com/news/2205340/all-…

Dear Patrick Dempsey, I have a winning business strategy for you, a surefire way for distinguishing yourself from Starbucks: sell good coffee.

Oh, that Bank of America story is exactly what I'm living right now. We quit paying on our subprime mortgage last November, and then BofA sold it to Green Tree. What's weird is they kept the unsecured loan for 20% of the buying price, which will not be attached to any sort of collateral when the house is foreclosed. It'll be interesting to see what happens when that loan detaches from the hard asset. Green Tree will get the house, and BofA will pursue us. Fun times!

I'll say this, though: defaulting on the mortgage was the best decision we ever made. If anyone is thinking about it, there's a lot of scary stuff on the interwebs that warn Your Life Will Be Over, but the truth is a lot, lot less scary, especially in Washington State. We found the forums at loansafe.org to be a valuable resource of people who are going through the exact same thing.

You don't have to be a prisoner to the banks, to your house, to your credit score. There's a way out.

@6: It's more than good coffee, because Starbucks does sell good coffee. Some don't like it but millions do. I like the "bite" it has, others complain that it's "burnt" - I like Zinfandel over a Merlot - whether it be the grape or the bean - it's that sort of thing.
Complain about Starbuck's pricing, marketing, policies, ambiance, etc - but coffee preferences are beyond generalizations.

Re General Cartwright and Bradley Manning remember,"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." Anatole France, The Red Lily, 1894, chapter 7"

Well put, Phoebe. I also like their coffee pretty well, even if I don't so much their pricing, policies, ambience, etc. I generally avoid them, but always wind up with a guilty pleasure when I wind up with a cup for whatever reason.

@8 - TVDinner - are you aware that your web site URL is broken and is only HTTP?

@13: I figured people would just google loansafe dot org if they were interested. The autoformatting hyperlinked it for me. Here is an actual link if google is too hard.

@Mehlman: bait away, but I'm not taking it.

@14: I'm sorry, I meant the web site by your name, your profile web site.

@17: I'm heartened that you've found coffee you prefer, and avoid the ones you don't. But you missed my point entirely.

They want to do to African farms what they did to Mexican farms (and American farms).

Throw everyone off the land, and push them into apodments.

#1, 2

Not only has SLOG been negligent about the coverage but there are several items that should be sounding alarm bells.

For instance...why is the prosecution making the defenses case for them by bringing in witnesses who portray Martin as the attacker?

And what about the endless spewl of racist comments and pro-Zimmerman sentiment in blogs and comments whenever a Zimmerman article appears...anywhere? Who or what is driving or paying for this massive P.R. hate campaign?!

Raindrop, troll, & all you other wingnuts, you really should read that Correa link. I want to see your heads explode over it: You must trash Obama but you can never agree w/ a foreigner. I must but I cannot, I must but I cannot.... ::smoke slowly rises out of head::

@20: One take on your first question is that the prosecution is attempting to head these things off at the pass, so to speak, and for later vigorous cross-examination of the defense.

@21: Calm down, again, and stop babbling in all directions. I'm talking about evidence presented to the jury, the instructions of the court, and the law.

The "[snake] was apprehended in Fremont" part made me chuckle. North 120th and Fremont Ave North is in no way in Fremont. Are you just skimming these news stories you post about?

Phoebe, that is interesting. I never filled anything out, so who knows what's up with that? I suppose it will remain one of the mysteries of teh interwebs, since I'm not motivated to research it further. But thanks for the ego boost; I never would have thought myself interesting enough for anyone to even want to click on that link.

23, lol, you have no idea what I'm talking about. Hardly surprising. Since you missed the link the first time, I'll spell it out for you:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/2…

My contention is that if you in effect deputize a private citizen to carry out the work of the police then they are upheld to the same standards.

If police officer had mistakenly pursued Martin, and got into an altercation and fired his weapon killing the suspect who is then found to have been innocent of any crime what would the outcome be?

But the real question is what was Zimmerman's intended outcome of the situation?

I mean, what did he expect to happen by pursuing Martin?

-Zimmerman didn't answer Martin when Martin shouted at him, why are you following me?

-Zimmerman did not identify himself as Neighborhood Block Watch volunteer.

-Zimmerman did not flash identifying documentation.

-And at worse, Zimmerman could have pulled his weapon before the alleged altercation and ordered Martin to halt (or run). Stop, police! Drop to the ground!

That last one would have been the final escape for any suspect. Every police officer will at least order a suspect to stop and drop before firing. Zimmerman did not do that, therefore he was either not acting in the capacity of para-police or he was wrong or bad at his job and therefore must pay the price of his actions.

The only outcome that Zimmerman could have hoped for is that he would pursue Martin and shoot him, because Zimmerman did not act in the manner of a either a police officer, or someone practicing self-defense when confronted with an altercation not of his own making.

Therefore, it's pre-mediated murder.

@26, I'm sorry I thought you were referring to the Zimmerman trial since it was the only thing I commented on in this thread. I overlooked the reference to Ecuador's president. I see now that you were just introducing a new topic, and included me in your menagerie of rhetorical stereotypes. Nevertheless, that is an interesting article.
Again, my apologies.

You not been following the news Ecuador has been having its own surveillance state problems that makes it look like a giant hypocrite. What an ideologue you are.

@36: If that was to me, you're right. I am definitely an ideologue, because there must be guiding principles and philosophy towards politics and just about everything in life.

@3: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/09… http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/news/…

Glenn Greenwald would be in jail if he was an Ecuadorian journalist.
http://www.hrw.org/americas/ecuador

So when an angry wannabe cop sees a young black man in a nice neighborhood, pursues him on a slight suspicion, accosts him, gets into a fistfight with him, and then shoots him dead...it's the dead black guy who's violent and racist, eh?

The black guy attacked the white guy. Bad move. White guy had a gun.

Speaking of that Washington State budget, they just put off a transportation bill until next year. This means King County Metro gets hosed. Or maybe they raise fares and otherwise get their shit together.

@40 - Are hispanics considered white?

Thanks venomlash @38. With evidence like that I'd be very surprised if he walks.

@44: Tough break there, dudebro. Looks like you're wrong again.
See, you can go back and forth on the forensic evidence, say maybe there were some punches and grappling that didn't connect hard enough to leave defensive wounds. But the lack of Zimmerman's DNA on Martin's fingers? The lack of any of Zimmerman's blood on Martin's jacket? The lack of any mud or scuff marks on Zimmerman's coat and pants? How do you reconcile that with Zimmerman's side of the story?
Also, "hack" doesn't mean what you think it does.
"hack: Noun 2. A writer or journalist producing dull, unoriginal work: 'a hack scriptwriter'."
Dull, unoriginal work? Sounds more like your repetitive gibbering.

@29 You're so poetic.

@42,

Sometimes, yes. Spaniards are Hispanic. Is it your assertion that Spaniards are not white?

@47: I need not assert anything. I believe the U.S. census and other government forms have Caucasian with the ubiquitous "(white)" followed by other races including Hispanic or Latino. My question is purely academic.

@29 - TV Dinner brought down the Ming Dynasty? That's pretty impressive.

@48,

I don't recall what the U.S. Census asks, but I've seen many forms and questionnaires that make a distinction between Hispanic white and non-Hispanic white. The U.S. government typically regards race as a black and white issue, with many statistics on race being divided up as white, black, and other ("other" lumping together every other race and ethnicity).

@38: Unfortunately, lack of DNA on a surface does not really conclusively prove anything, especially that something did not happen. DNA recovery techniques are good, but certain surfaces are difficult to recover from, and lab errors do occur. I do not foresee a talented defense attorney having trouble calling such findings into doubt.

It will really depend on how knowledgeable and realistic the members of the jury are regarding DNA, and what lack of DNA actually proves and does not prove.

Personally, I think the way the terrible law is written, coupled with his wounds and the witnesses will be enough to let him off the hook. But he is a piece of shit who should go to jail for what he did, so I kind of hope he is found guilty.

But I really find it hard to believe that Zimmerman caused all those injuries to himself, and the few witnesses that saw the exchange were all lying, or where so mistaken in what they saw. But stranger things have happened.

Nothing like a racist troll to stir up the comments...

To those claiming Ecuador has a terrible free speech record, and therefore shouldn't be praised for having offered Snowden asylum - read this.

@51: Grass stains on Zimmerman's back, eh? Here are his jacket and pants. Can you please point out where those grass stains are?

@52: "a person who surrenders individual independence, integrity, belief, etc., in pursuit of a political position; a person who devotes him/herself to party-political machinations"
That phrase does not appear ANYWHERE on the internet besides this thread. If you found it in a print dictionary, I'd dearly love to know the title. Because otherwise it seems like you just made up that definition. Ooh, how embarrassing for you.

@53,

The DNA evidence from Martin's body is pretty damning. *None* of Zimmerman's DNA anywhere on his body, not on his hands, not under his fingernails, not on his clothes. How does that track with Zimmerman's claims of a vicious beatdown, especially his nonsense claim of Martin pounding his head into the pavement? The dude is bald. How exactly does someone pound a slippery dome (it was raining that night) into pavement without digging into the scalp? The DNA evidence doesn't prove that it wasn't self-defense, but it does prove that Zimmerman is a filthy liar. Although what a Florida jury does with that information is anyone's guess.

Also, FYI, Zimmerman waived his right to a stand your ground defense. He's claiming full-on self-defense.