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George Zimmerman sues Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren over tweets honouring Trayvon Martin

Ikari said:
Well I think to have been a victim of gun violence would require that someone shot you. As far as I remember, Martin was shot. And killed. And that he would have been 25 this year had he not been shot and killed.
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Yes, and he wouldn't have been killed in self defense if he didn't assault Zimmerman.
 
WillyPete said:
And if Zimmerman hadn't followed him around like a creep, or had simply introduced himself as the neighborhood watch, we'd also get a better result.

Mistakes were made on both sides, but Zimmerman was the adult assuming responsibility for his neighborhood's security. He wound up killing a neighborhood kid.

That he wasn't criminally culpable doesn't mean his acts shouldn't haunt him every day of his life.
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It likely does haunt him, and he doesn't need assholes bringing it up again in the media, to help their position at his cost.
 
Citizen said:
I don’t understand how a child walking home from the store is considered a moron
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Do we have to rehash this case?

The fact are well know what happened on both sides.
 
Citizen said:
Yes, but what everyone is overlooking is the fact that if this kid were white, none of this would have happened. It is not the responsibility of a 17 year old to act like an adult. It is the responsibility of an adult to act like an adult
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You have no way of knowing if that is true or not.

If you don't know the facts of the case, please go research them.
 
WillyPete said:
Why did he need to do anything? This was Zimmerman acting on his own.

He had no actual reason to be following Martin in the first place.

He saw no crimes committed, or anything more suspicious than a kid he didn't know.

Going home and working out some of his frustrations on his wife would have also been a better choice that night, overall.

She at least knew who she was dealing with.

RL intrudes. I'll wander back later.
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Did you forget about the fact that there had been some burglaries lately in that same complex?

That doesn't jive with your opinion that Zimmerman had no reason to follow a stranger walking around at night looking into other people's windows.
 
Royal PITA said:
I gave a you link which quoted him. You immediately dismissed it as "opinion". I'm guessing if I posted a similar link about Trump you'd accept it. :)
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Fool that I am, I took another look at your link.

To start, it was an opinion piece, that is literally the first word in the headline, so it's hardly a dismissal to call it opinion.

It has the quotes I was referring to. Very mild, sympathetic stuff. If you see that as interference, then you'll need to explain that better than the >75yo (at the time) conservative "race expert" columnist did. She barely tried, so I'm sure you can do better.

Even the columnist would be forced to acknowledge today that Obama didn't go through with what they were concerned about at the time of the article (federal charges against Zimmerman.)

They also included the quote where Obama accepted the results of the trial:

Obama said:
We are a nation of laws and the jury has spoken,
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This Obama "interference" you have latched onto (apparently as a way to rationalize Trump's recent pardons) isn't there. Reasonable people can say Obama should have stayed out of it, or question his motives, but to call these mild statements interference, particularly in light of the results, is just silly.
 
Ikari said:
Well I think to have been a victim of gun violence would require that someone shot you. As far as I remember, Martin was shot. And killed. And that he would have been 25 this year had he not been shot and killed.
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Martin wasn't the victim. The victim shot him in self defense.
 
WillyPete said:
I don't disagree, and that rightfully reflects on Zimmerman, but they both made mistakes that could have avoided the tragedy.

On the flipside, Martin wasn't exactly acting like a kid when he ambushed Zimmerman. I think the natural instinct with a kid would be to run home and tell their parents, which would also have worked out better.
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Yep.

He was acting like the schoolyard bully.
 
JMR said:
That is not an incorrect statement. Zimmerman was asked if he was following Martin. He said yes. He was told not to do so, and to get in his car.

I'm claiming that Zimmerman panicked while playing superhero and shot Trayvon. Are you claiming he is some kind of victims?
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Most people would panic when their head is getting pounded into the ground.
 
JMR said:
Glad to see you agree he was playing superhero. If he had followed that simple advice there would be no dead bodies, and no ridiculous threads about Zimmerman's victimhood.
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How do you suppose Zimmerman would have told the police when Martin was if he hadn't followed him?
 
j brown's body said:
The irony is that if Martin had been armed and shot Zimmerman because he felt an imminent threat, he'd be a right-wing hero. But he was Black and responded with fists instead of a gun, so he deserved to die.
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No he wouldn't. It's not self defense because you think someone will hurt you. Zimmerman was not an imminent threat.
 
bongsaway said:
I live near where that incident happened. Zimmerman called the cops and told them he was following martin. The cops told him to stop following him, he didn't and martin ended up dead and yet you support zimmerman?

He stalked the kid and killed him. Is the right so lost you folks now support this and and call the two politicians jackasses for remembering that sad day.

Just wow.
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If I remember correctly Zimmerman was told he didn't need to follow Martin.

Why try to make it sound like something it wasn't?
 
bongsaway said:
If martin had been armed and shot zimmerman, martin would be sitting in jail for some degree of murder or manslaughter. Who disagrees?
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That is true because there was no threat from Zimmerman to Martin.
 
bongsaway said:
Correct. There were no eyewitnesses. I live nearby, zimmerman stalked and killed the kid, period. All we have is zimmerman's account but his own words actually convict him of at least stalking. The cops told him to stop following martin, he didn't and martin ended up killed. What's not to understand?
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Following is not stalking. How do you suppose Zimmerman was going to tell the police where Martin was if he didn't follow him?

Why would a neighborhood watch person not follow a stranger he thought was up to no good.

Also, if Zimmerman just wanted to stalk and kill a black kid, even though he had no idea how old the person was, he wouldn't have called the police to tell them what he was doing.
 
WillyPete said:
You're seeking an argument that doesn't exist. The results of the trial were correct, legally. There was never sufficient evidence to charge Zimmerman, never mind convict him.

But, as I'm sure you're aware, legal =/= moral. Should we pretend that because he broke no laws, he is blameless?

Zimmerman and Martin both acted poorly, but Zimmerman created the situation and escalated at every opportunity. He accepted (thrust upon himself, more like) a responsibility he was not competent to perform. In his efforts to "protect" his neighborhood, he killed a kid from that same neighborhood.
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If Zimmerman had been replaced with a police officer and the same situation happened in that the officer followed a stranger though a complex and then that stranger jumped him physically overpowering him and smashing his head into the ground. What should the officer have done at that point?
 
j brown's body said:
Happens all the time. Hopefully you won't have to kill a guy who is beating you in a fight you provoked.
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Lets consider if Zimmerman didn't Martin. Martin would have been charges with assault and likely in jail. The severity of his sentence would have probably been lessened, because Zimmerman following him would be seen as mitigating circumstances.

However, Martin was the attacker, not matter how you slice it.
 
Parrish said:
Had Zimmerman been a law abiding gun owner and stayed in his car as he was asked, Trayvon would be alive today. Instead he's just a hustling loser.
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What law did Zimmerman violate?
 
Lord of Planar said:
It likely does haunt him, and he doesn't need assholes bringing it up again in the media, to help their position at his cost.
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Good, as it should because he did wrong, and the best that can come of the incident is that maybe the next incompetent wannabe cop will think twice before chasing people unannounced down dark alleys.

By all means, let's pretend it never happened to spare Zimmerman's feeling.
 
JMR said:
Was Trayvon in Zimmerman's car? Because that is where Zimmerman was told by the the police to remain.
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He was not directed by the police to remain still. He was told they didn't need him to follow Martin.

Very, very different. The blogger you got that from is a liar.
 
JMR said:
Actually one witness reported that there was a whimpering sound that stopped with the sound of a gun shot. She thought it was Martin.
The evidence did not contradict Zimmerman (being in Florida and all) it did not confirm his account.

Zimmerman was told to get in his car by the police.
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Again, that's BS.
 
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