Disparate thoughts and items about Trayvon Martin case

• There's been a lot of hubbub about the mainstream media's description of George Zimmerman (who is half White and half Peruvian) being a "white Hispanic," which some have taken to be a sign that the media is trying to make this a White-versus-Black issue even though Mr Zimmerman looks "obviously Hispanic" (to me, he looks Jewish). It should be noted that in the police report, but officer son the scene later described him as "white."

• Here's the Sanford police report from where I got the above information. 

• Much sharper versions of the in-station surveillance video have been offered up the Sanford Police Department (see here, here, here, here, and here). His head does not look like it has a wound where blood had been coming out of it (it doesn't look just cleaned up, but healed). At one point the fourth video it looks like he might have a broken nose, but the angle makes it tricky. There is no sign of blood nor is there any sign of a bandage, not even a small one. 

• Critics of Trayvon Martin, noting that he smoked pot in 2011, seem to be using that as a justification for him being killed, or at least as a sign that he was unruly. I've never smoked pot before, but I've routinely heard (and my own experience backs this up) that pot smokers are kinda mellow people, making him violently reacting to Mr Zimmerman less likely, not more. 

• See points A (2821 Retreat View Circle) and B (1231 Twin Trees Lane) in this Google Maps screen shot? It was in the green area between those two buildings where police found Trayvon Martin's body lying face down, his hands beneath his body. Unless George Zimmerman was driving his car in the grassy area between the two buildings, it seems unlikely descriptions of Trayvon Martin jumping George Zimmerman near his car are true, unless their scuffle had them running around the buildings into the green area. This seems unlikely; what seems more likely is that when they encountered each other, Mr Zimmerman had in fact been pursuing Mr Martin on foot, from the front of the clubhouse to the upper left of this screen shot (from where he'd made the 911 call), despite being advised by dispatchers not to do so.

• A great deal has been made about the Stand Your Ground law in Florida. This case seems a failure of that law for two reasons. First, if what we've been led to believe is true, Mr Zimmerman could not invoke a Stand Your Ground self-defense claim because he had been the one stalking and then in pursuit with a firearm, even though he may have thought it protected him (and possibly emboldened him toward the reckless behavior that got Trayvon Martin killed). Rather, it is Trayvon Martin, who apparently confronted his stalker/pursuer, to whom the SYG defense would actually apply, but this got him killed. Either way, the law failed miserably in this particular situation. 

• According to The Guardian, one man who claims to have seen Trayvon Martin shot dead says he saw George Zimmerman walk uninjured: "He didn't appear hurt or anything else." (He described Mr Zimmerman as Hispanic.)

• A witness who said this occurred right behind her home says Sanford police "blew her off," taking only a cursory statement despite her having seen a great deal more:

  "Blew us off, and I called him back again and I said, 'I know this was not self-defense. There was no punching, no hitting going on at the time, no wrestling,'" Cutcher said.

  She says she had to repeatedly contact the police to get them to listen.

• The Sanford city manager has issued a document of FAQs that may be interesting to people following this case. It presents and then answers questions like "Why was George Zimmerman not arrested the night of the shooting?" and "Why was George Zimmerman labeled as “squeaky clean” when in fact he has a prior arrest history?" and "If Zimmerman was told not to continue to follow Trayvon, can that be considered in this investigation?"

• A too-clever-by-half title for a book on trigger-happy Neighborhood Watchmen in this Florida town might be "Sanford & Gun" (a play on words for you Millennium Generation babies).

• North Korea's Central News Agency reports on "protests on racial discrimination in U.S."

• More on this stuff as I see fit...

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