Sunday, July 14, 2013

Obama Weighs In On The Zimmerman Verdict

Obama Responds To Zimmerman Verdict: 'Stem The Tide of gun Violence' -- For Trayvon
"President Barack Obama issued a long-awaited response Sunday afternoon to the acquittal of George Zimmerman Saturday evening, reminding Americans to temper "passions," and that "we are a nation of laws and the jury has spoken."
He added that Americans should "honor" the life of Trayvon Martin by committing to "stem the tide of gun violence," and "ask ourselves if we are doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion in our communities."
President Obama leaves no opportunity behind. I supposed once he immersed himself, at the beginning, in the days (or was it weeks?) following the shooting, he has no other choice now but to continue to score political points. Obama is unrelenting and unrestrained.

Althouse Parses Obama's Statements.

38 comments:

Meade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chennaul said...

Weird that he refrained from specifically saying what we know the Liberal answer to that is--more gun control.

I went and read more of the statement at the link:

The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America. I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.

The irony is if Zimmerman had not had protection would he be dead, severely injured?

There use to be a great Canadian blog that focused on foreign policy and they use to post about gun control--one of the phenomena noted in certain cultures where the citizens were abused by dictators or one element of the society was abused by another that one of the greatest equalizers of that abuse pattern would be--

more guns, not less.

Something I think our Founding Fathers knew all along from experience when dealing with an abusive and remote monarchy--but now we've traveled far away from that I guess.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Gun violence? What about fist and sidewalk violence?

Meade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
edutcher said...

All he talks about is "Trayvon", not a word about Z.

You'd think, having been stung on this, he'd learn, but he isn't that bright, apparently.

PS No mention of the knockout game which, I'm guessing, is how many of "Trayvon"'s soul brothers will "honor" him in the weeks and months to come.

rhhardin said...

I went through age 17 without hitting anybody, or being inclined to.

If somebody says that's just a cultural thing : right.

Black culture sucks, and the left is promoting it as normal.

Which Obama is continuing.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

There was nothing about a worthless punk.

I thought that was covered in his previous statement about "if I had a son..."

Anonymous said...

Great, some commie drunk on box wine fancies himself some sort of George Zimmerman.

HE'S LAWN BOY, and he means business!

Anonymous said...

And Titus beats you. But you like it.

Meade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Look, Titus and his husband Meade have the same avatar. Matchy matchy, Meadey.

ampersand said...
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Anonymous said...

Were there eye holes in the sheet? If so, the dead guy might be Meade.

Meade said...
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Lem the artificially intelligent said...

He clearly asked for time, but it's up to the umpire to grant it. Arguing is still not a total loss.

Score update: Athletics 2 Boston 2 in extra innings.

ken in tx said...




Good on you, Meade.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I think the President is right about all this, and I intend to see to it that Trayvon Martin shall not have died in vain, and so I have changed my driver's license designation, and now I am officially an organ donor.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I think lawn boy used to be a brand of lawnmower. My father had a yellow-green walk-behind with a "T" push handle.

He replaced the handle with the "D" type now universal because the handle bars (so to speak) would catch his pockets and tear them out.

I was amazed that you could mix and match machine parts, being only a little kid at the time.

Meade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ampersand said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Now that I think about it, that Lawn Boy had an unchangeable side discharge and there was a steel wand of sorts that you could attach to the deck and it stuck out like an outrigger.

You hung the far end of the grass bag on a hook at the end of the wand, if you wanted to catch the grass.

Actually, now that I think about it even more, I used to have to cut the grass with that thing and it was kind of a piece of shit.

Still, in all fairness, I was probably too short to work a scythe.

Darcy said...

I went up to my cabin and missed much. Again.

Glad Zimmerman was found not guilty.

Anonymous said...

Too bad Trayvon Martin is still dead.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that is some sad shit right there. Of course, he is not the last violent thug who will die a miserable death at the hands of some vigilante like Meade.

Darcy said...

Yes, I think it is too bad.

Darcy said...

I just watched it. Made me kind of sad.

I don't think Althouse is a victim in all of this. I've read here and there from the people who agree with the axing of the commenting things like "of course" she was right to turn them off.

Well...my sense is that it is not an "of course" situation at all. Althouse has often posted very unkind, personal replies to her own commenters (thinking of edutcher here for a great example). The "of course" is that when you do that, you open yourself up to the kind of remarks directed back at her recently.

It's a shame, because it was ugly to read. On both sides.

The video is sad because it's a reminder of the distance she's retreated to.

Darcy said...

And I just add a whole box of macaroni and "cheese". This is not good.

Darcy said...

Ate. Not add.

Bedtime. :P

Darcy said...

But before I do...I so wish I could "Lem" Lem's blog. I loved Lem's late night ramblings at Althouse. They were adorable. And I read here that Lem worried about his smarts to contribute to another gig he was offered. I think of Lem as very, very bright. Sometimes I'd decipher one of his (often over my head or purposefully sly) quips and I'd giggle. Smarty.

It's not late, though...and I'm not Lem.

Good night.

rhhardin said...

Back in Netnews days, a stream of personal insults at every idea you posted just served as verification that the distribution system was working.

Even today any post of mine to sci.lang will produce vilification.

Nobody cares. It doesn't affect anything. Just read past those authors.

Women of course think the opposite. Everything matters.

Darcy said...

I just had to pop back on and say hi, RH. I think this is the first time you've ever replied to me. I'm honored.

Interesting. One of the sayings I love is "If anything matters, then everything matters."

But no, not everything matters to me. A lot of things matter more than they should and plenty of things should matter that don't. I'd like to do better at that.

rcocean said...

Just watched the Video. Interesting. Its obvious that Althouse and Commentators need a trial separation. I found the "I like trolls" comment illuminating. However, I think she should keep the comments off at least until August. Just answering viewer mail would be enough.

But turning the comments back on for selected posts seems like a path forward.

Mark O said...

Is this Vietnam?

Anonymous said...

And add a barrier for a single person to make lots of (tiresome) comments. Require that the commentator watch a 30-second GEICO commercial, for example. Or answer an SAT question. If Blogger doesn't have those features, then enabling word verification might be enough.

Mark O said...

If we post here, off shore with Mitt's money, we can mock Ann without fear of repercussion and without hurting her feelings.

I had not realized what a delicate flower she had become.

Sydney said...

I've always felt like there is some background I am missing in all of these Althouse dustups. When Trooper York was banned a while back, I couldn't figure out why. I always felt there was a little cadre of commenters that had some sort of personal link with Althouse and that something must have happened off blog to make things go bad. Or maybe there was a lot of visiting at each other's blogs with nasty arguments going on elsewhere. Is that what happened?

I have to say, Meade's comments here (if that is Meade) seem edgier and meaner than they seemed on Althouse.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Real classy.

For anyone who is currently posting as Anonymous, and trying to decide if they should create their own user id, consider this:

Right now, your Anonymous comments are getting lumped in with this person's comments. People who would like to see Lem's comment section become something more than a place for mindless insults are likely to start skipping commenters who are not adding value. If you have something worth saying, you're more likely to get it read and responded to if you have your own pseudonym.

Matt Sablan said...

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/07/15/zimmerman-lawsuit-against-nbc-to-start-in-earnest-asap/ -- Does NBC have the solid defense that "Well, he was found not guilty, so clearly no libel/slander happened, since no one thought he was racist from our mistake [Note: They will say it was an honest mistake]?" Or, is an accusation of racism bad enough that it doesn't need to be shown to have done any harm OR have to have been on purpose?