If Zimmerman doesn't walk, it won't be for lack of prosecutorial effort.
And if the Japanese who harbor no love for their Middle Kingdom neighbors want to create a satirical anti-Chinese anime, all they have to do is cartoonize Dr. Bao and put his words, verbatim, in the balloons.
Sheesh.
Jul 5, 2013
Jul 4, 2013
Happy Independence Day
In a foul mood I might quibble with Roberta about a little of this and a little of that in her morning take on The Revolution that led to American Independence. Since I'm feeling pretty cheerful, and because it seems to me that she nails 90 per cent, maybe more, of an essence of what we are, I'll just sneak you a sample and suggest the rest is worth a read.
...no luck runs forever and I'm half-convinced we have already passed the point where future historians will draw a line, saying, "Here the Republic ended; here the Empire began."
---
I've gotten away from our older Grand Old Fourth celebrations.
In a way I miss the hot court house lawn and the hotter breath of an overly excited official oration. The 1903 Springfield salutes by the VFW were fun, and "America the Beautiful" from the talent-limited Methodist Church choir was not uninspiring. It was the first patriotism I knew. Some of it stuck, and I still cover my heart when the Flag passes by. And despite decades in the hog-wallow of American misgovernance, I make that salute without the slightest embarrassment.
Because when in the course of human events it becomes apparent that our revolution has been betrayed -- as all revolutions always are -- the core idea remains. The real Stars and Stripes of our nation is the notion of glory in free association among sovereign human beings.
...no luck runs forever and I'm half-convinced we have already passed the point where future historians will draw a line, saying, "Here the Republic ended; here the Empire began."
---
I've gotten away from our older Grand Old Fourth celebrations.
In a way I miss the hot court house lawn and the hotter breath of an overly excited official oration. The 1903 Springfield salutes by the VFW were fun, and "America the Beautiful" from the talent-limited Methodist Church choir was not uninspiring. It was the first patriotism I knew. Some of it stuck, and I still cover my heart when the Flag passes by. And despite decades in the hog-wallow of American misgovernance, I make that salute without the slightest embarrassment.
Because when in the course of human events it becomes apparent that our revolution has been betrayed -- as all revolutions always are -- the core idea remains. The real Stars and Stripes of our nation is the notion of glory in free association among sovereign human beings.
 | |
Salute the Three Percenters, Then and Now |
Jul 3, 2013
Zimmerman
Zimmerman is not looking guilty of murder so far. I offer that after frittering away too many hours watching the trial, from the state's opening vulgarity through Barrister Knock-Knock's greeting to the jury to the Hannity interview.
He's being caught in tiny lies of the sort you and I and Mother Theresa would whip out in a flash to lipstick any incident which turned out badly for us, but his core story still (again, so far) stands. Not even the most rabid anti-Zimmerman, errr, analysts on the teevee can make much of the "inconsistencies."
So the prosecution is left with orts for facts and is hoping, I thiink, to dress the table with two fat capons.
(1) The race bird, of course. The accused is whitish. The dead person is blackish. Ergo malicious racial prejudice. The judge did well to keep the term "racial profiling" out of the arguments, but just plain "profiling" is kosher. She couldn't possibly have barred it without being laughed off the bench. And can any jury, even a knock-knock jury, miss the state's intended meaning?
(2) The emo bird. It isn't hard to believe that prosecutors knew they had a rotten evidentiary case and carefully planned days of relative tedium as stage setting for the great close, parental sobs for such a good boy. Anyone -- any parent, anyway -- understands their grief and wishes to his Heaven that it had not occurred. But their anguish and our empathy have nothing to do with the facts of what happened that night in Sanford. I'm looking forward to seeing the legal artistry each side will use to persuade the jury to believe or disbelieve that.
----
Couple of sidebar notes:
--In the Hannity interview Zimmerman said he never heard of the Florida stand-your-ground law. Very hard to believe. I assume the state will get a few points from this. More generally, you and I face some extra work in explaining that the Zimmerman defense has little, if anything, to do with stand-your-ground. It is a traditional self-defense case.
--The medical examiner's testimony that Zimmerman was not hurt all that badly is going to mislead a fair portion of the GED set. They will understand that a victim must reach some sort of injury threshhold before his right to defend himself kicks in. "Okay. Ya gotta let the guy bang your head on concrete at least seven times and break your nose twice. Then ya gotta ask him nicely to stop before ya can shoot him."
---
EDIT TO ADD: That didn't take long. Out of the gate the state is introducing Zimmerman's criminal justice course records to demonstrate he studied stand-your-ground. Teevee says those transcripts show him with a 1.5 GPA, and suggests defense may have to mount a stupidity response.
He's being caught in tiny lies of the sort you and I and Mother Theresa would whip out in a flash to lipstick any incident which turned out badly for us, but his core story still (again, so far) stands. Not even the most rabid anti-Zimmerman, errr, analysts on the teevee can make much of the "inconsistencies."
So the prosecution is left with orts for facts and is hoping, I thiink, to dress the table with two fat capons.
(1) The race bird, of course. The accused is whitish. The dead person is blackish. Ergo malicious racial prejudice. The judge did well to keep the term "racial profiling" out of the arguments, but just plain "profiling" is kosher. She couldn't possibly have barred it without being laughed off the bench. And can any jury, even a knock-knock jury, miss the state's intended meaning?
(2) The emo bird. It isn't hard to believe that prosecutors knew they had a rotten evidentiary case and carefully planned days of relative tedium as stage setting for the great close, parental sobs for such a good boy. Anyone -- any parent, anyway -- understands their grief and wishes to his Heaven that it had not occurred. But their anguish and our empathy have nothing to do with the facts of what happened that night in Sanford. I'm looking forward to seeing the legal artistry each side will use to persuade the jury to believe or disbelieve that.
----
Couple of sidebar notes:
--In the Hannity interview Zimmerman said he never heard of the Florida stand-your-ground law. Very hard to believe. I assume the state will get a few points from this. More generally, you and I face some extra work in explaining that the Zimmerman defense has little, if anything, to do with stand-your-ground. It is a traditional self-defense case.
--The medical examiner's testimony that Zimmerman was not hurt all that badly is going to mislead a fair portion of the GED set. They will understand that a victim must reach some sort of injury threshhold before his right to defend himself kicks in. "Okay. Ya gotta let the guy bang your head on concrete at least seven times and break your nose twice. Then ya gotta ask him nicely to stop before ya can shoot him."
---
EDIT TO ADD: That didn't take long. Out of the gate the state is introducing Zimmerman's criminal justice course records to demonstrate he studied stand-your-ground. Teevee says those transcripts show him with a 1.5 GPA, and suggests defense may have to mount a stupidity response.
Jul 1, 2013
Reflections on the maddening science of physics
The motivation: Yet another effort to tourist-proof the dock before the Independence Day invasion.
The method: Double the designed load-bearing capacity via 4x4 piles and 2x6 cross pieces, assembled with carriage bolts.
The hypothesis: An ordinarily adept American male can install said carriage bolts -- slightly underwater -- while lying on his belly, manipulating a 9/16" wrench blindly behind a longitudinal stringer.
Conclusion: Under such conditions "righty-tighty, lefty-loosey" becomes quite a challenging notion.
---
The method: Double the designed load-bearing capacity via 4x4 piles and 2x6 cross pieces, assembled with carriage bolts.
The hypothesis: An ordinarily adept American male can install said carriage bolts -- slightly underwater -- while lying on his belly, manipulating a 9/16" wrench blindly behind a longitudinal stringer.
Conclusion: Under such conditions "righty-tighty, lefty-loosey" becomes quite a challenging notion.
---
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