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marble falls

marble falls's Journal
marble falls's Journal
June 3, 2013

Zimmerman’s Attorney: If Jury Rules Trayvon Was Aggressor, Is That A ‘Loss For Civil Rights’?


Zimmerman’s Attorney: If Jury Rules Trayvon Was Aggressor, Is That A ‘Loss For Civil Rights’?
by Evan McMurry | 1:24 pm, June 1st, 2013 video » 555 comments

Following a judge’s ruling on Tuesday to not admit elements of Trayvon Martin‘s past, including drug use and prior incidents of fighting, as evidence in the murder trial of George Zimmerman, CNN’s Victor Blackwell interviewed Zimmerman’s attorney Mark O’Mara on this decision’s potential ramifications to the defense’s argument, especially given the loaded racial connotations of the case.

“Parks and Crump,” Blackwell asked, referencing the Dickensian-named law firm representing Martin’s family, “have said a lot about how this is a landmark in justice as it relates to African Americans, and racial injustice. How do you keep this trial limited to a few minutes on one night in February?”

“Well, let me ask you this. If they acquit George because the jury says Trayvon was the aggressor, if they make that decision, is that going to be a loss for civil rights? Is it? If the jury decides he’s acquitted because Trayvon was the aggressor, is that a civil rights event? I would suggest not. If they convict George because they think he was the aggressor, is that a benefit to civil rights? Some might say maybe, because at least a young black male victim of a homicide was justified, or his loss was not in vain. So they might say, ‘If you get the conviction then at least he wasn’t a lost life.’ Maybe. But the real decision is going to be who was the aggressor and whether or not George acted reasonably. Those two decisions have nothing to do with rights. They just don’t.

“Now, had the case never gone to trial, maybe. Had they said, ‘We’re not going to prosecute this guy because he killed a black kid,’ then, okay, maybe that’s a civil rights issue. But the jury decides what they’re going to decide, I just don’t see the civil rights connotation to it. I know civil rights, not as well as many of my compatriots, but I know it pretty well. And I grew up in the Sixties and Seventies, so I get a feel for this stuff, and I don’t see civil rights in this day today.”

“Was today a loss for you?” Blackwell asked.

“No!” O’Mara said. “I like the idea that we’re limiting the evidence to what it should be. It was five to six minutes that happened from the time of the non-emergency call to the time of the gunshot and afterwards with the emergency call. If we limit it to that, whatever that jury decides has to be the proper verdict, as long as they follow the evidence and the law, and then we’re done.”

Watch the whole interview here: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/george-zimmermans-attorney-if-jury-rules-trayvon-was-the-aggressor-is-that-a-loss-for-civil-rights/
June 2, 2013

Marsha Blackburn: Women 'Don't Want' Equal Pay Laws

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/02/marsha-blackburn-equal-pay-laws_n_3375167.html

Republican congresswoman Marsha Blackburn said on Sunday that women "don't want" equal pay laws.

<snip>

"I think that more important than that is making certain that women are recognized by those companies. You know, I’ve always said that I didn’t want to be given a job because I was a female, I wanted it because I was the most well-qualified person for the job. And making certain that companies are going to move forward in that vein, that is what women want. They don’t want the decisions made in Washington. They want to be able to have the power and the control and the ability to make those decisions for themselves."

Blackburn voted against the 2009 Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a landmark bill for women's rights in the workplace. The law makes it easier for women to file wage discrimination suits against employers. She also voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act of 2009.

Blackburn is hardly the only female politician to oppose laws aimed at discouraging the gender wage gap. In 2012, a new Paycheck Fairness Act failed in the Senate after receiving nay votes from Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

The gender pay gap has expanded in recent years. In 2012, women earned approximately 80.9% of what men earned. According to a recent analysis, the average U.S. woman now stands to lose out on $443,000 over 40 years.


Video clip at Huffington.
June 2, 2013

George Zimmerman's attorneys apologize for mischaracterizing evidence

Source: NBC News

By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News

Attorneys for George Zimmerman apologized Sunday for mischaracterizing evidence they said boosted their theory that Trayvon Martin was the aggressor in his fatal meeting with their client last year.

Lawyer Mark O’Mara said during a hearing last Tuesday that the defense had obtained video footage of three fights, including one in which he said two of Martin’s friends "were beating up a homeless guy."

But Zimmerman's defense team corrected that statement on Sunday, saying O'Mara had unintentionally "misstated the nature" of the footage.

In a statement posted on Zimmerman’s website, the defense lawyers said the footage actually showed "two homeless guys fighting each other over a bike."


More at the link

Read more: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/02/18702011-george-zimmermans-attorneys-apologize-for-mischaracterizing-evidence?lite



I think all the games are winding down and nothing good for Zimmerman is going to come of it.
June 2, 2013

Florida police use Taser to subdue, capture escaped llama

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., June 2 (UPI) -- Police in Tallahassee, Fla., said they had to use a Taser to capture a 6-foot-tall llama that had escaped from its owner's pen and spit in officers' faces.

Leon County Sheriff's Office deputies said they began hearing reports of a llama on the loose running through Killearn Lakes and on Bannerman Road at about 11 p.m. Friday night.

"There was some sightings, but we were never able to get our hands on it," said Deputy Tony Drzewiecki, of the sheriff's department.

<snip>

"I've been doing this 20 years and they said there is going to be a lot of excitement in this job, but no one ever told me I would get spit in the face by a llama and trampled by one," Drzewiecki said.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2013/06/02/Florida-police-use-Taser-to-subdue-capture-escaped-llama/UPI-64851370183259/#ixzz2V6JeB3wx


I am shocked they didn't shoot it.

June 2, 2013

Ex-Congressman Weiner gaining ground in New York mayoral race

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/28/us-usa-politics-newyork-mayor-idUSBRE94M18920130528

http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130528&t=2&i=735980573&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE94R1HWR00

(Reuters) - Disgraced former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner is gaining ground on his Democratic rivals in the race for New York City Mayor, according to a new poll.

Weiner, who resigned from office two years ago in a sexting scandal, had the support of 19 percent of Democrats in a Marist poll released on Tuesday. That puts him six points behind early frontrunner City Council speaker Christine Quinn, who had support of 25 percent of Democrats.

A separate poll released on May 22, the day that Weiner formally declared his candidacy, had shown Quinn, who would be the city's first female and lesbian mayor, with a wider 10 point lead.

<snip>

More than half of registered voters said Weiner deserves a second chance, while nearly 40 percent said Weiner does not have the character to be mayor, the poll found.

<snip>



(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Scott Malone and Nick Zieminski)
June 2, 2013

Berlin company specializes in autistic IT experts

By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, June 2, 2013 8:42 EDT

When German software giant SAP said last month it plans to employ hundreds of autistic people as IT experts, the news was welcomed especially at a small Berlin computer consulting firm.

The pioneering company, Auticon, already employs 17 people who live with autism, the disorder characterised by difficulties with social interactions and exceptional abilities in specific fields.

“Many people say that if a company like SAP said it makes sense… it’s very good for us,” said its chief Dirk Mueller-Remus. “That means it’s something serious, solid.”

<snip>

Its goal is that by 2020, people with autism will make up one percent of its worldwide workforce of 65,000.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/02/berlin-company-specialises-in-autistic-it-experts/




June 2, 2013

Vinegar cancer test saves lives, India study finds



MUMBAI, India—<snip>

Doctors reported the results Sunday at a cancer conference in Chicago. Experts called the outcome "amazing" and said this quick, cheap test could save tens of thousands of lives each year in developing countries by spotting early signs of cancer, allowing treatment before it's too late.

<snip>

Pap smears and tests for HPV, a virus that causes most cervical cancers, have slashed cases and deaths in the United States. But poor countries can't afford those screening tools.

This study tried a test that costs very little and can be done by local people with just two weeks of training and no fancy lab equipment. They swab the cervix with diluted vinegar, which can make abnormal cells briefly change color.

This low-tech visual exam cut the cervical cancer death rate by 31 percent, the study found. It could prevent 22,000 deaths in India and 72,600 worldwide each year, researchers estimate.


Read more: Vinegar cancer test saves lives, India study finds - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/healthcare/ci_23372863/vinegar-cancer-test-saves-lives-india-study-finds#ixzz2V4BChTdS

June 2, 2013

Rupert Murdoch is now an old man on a lonely throne



By Peter Preston, The Observer
Sunday, June 2, 2013 7:37 EDT

In his 80s, with no clear successor, the media mogul and his spun-off newpaper operation are in a precarious position

Matthew Parris went to the Orwell prizegiving the other day and suddenly saw red. Chris Mullin MP was giving a speech lauding fine investigative journalism – like that of this year’s winner, Andrew Norfolk of the Times – which he firmly asserted was achieved “despite” the efforts of newspaper proprietors. “What sneery, snivelling, ignorant, leftie rubbish,” wrote Parris.

“Who does he think pays for Norfolk’s investigations, or for my columns? Does he know nothing about the losses being clocked up by quality newspapers all over the world? … Does he realise how precarious now is the whole future of daily newspapers in Britain?” Call it, on second thoughts, a Rupert red mist.

<snip>

There’s a balance-sheet bonne bouche of $2bn and a wiping away of debts that will help News Corp mark two ride briefly high when it goes solo and public – though no longer listed in London – at the end of June. But there will also be no more lush, adjacent pastures of satellite TV or Hollywood blockbusters to assure US shareholder peace when loss-making papers have to be supported. 21st Century Fox won’t be indulging the boss’s little foibles any longer. Once the presses roll, he’s on his own.

<snip>

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/02/rupert-murdoch-is-now-an-old-man-on-a-lonely-throne/

Citizen Murdoch.
June 2, 2013

How to Think About Guns: A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast

http://www.freakonomics.com/2013/02/14/how-to-think-about-guns-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/



<snip>

This episode is a straightforward conversation between Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt, keeping in mind recent events like the Newtown, Ct., school massacre and long-standing traditions like the American embrace of guns.

<snip>

whether deterrents like capital punishment and sentence enhancements actually work.

We begin this episode with some basic data. In the U.S., there are roughly 11,000 gun homicides and 20,000 gun suicides a year. (Our podcast “The Suicide Paradox” looked into why we hear so much less about the suicides than the homicides.) What we hear about more than anything are the relatively rare but extremely disturbing mass shootings. From the podcast:

Mother Jones magazine recently built a database of mass shootings – four or more fatalities — over the past 30 years. Not everyone likes this database – it excludes, for instance, all gang shootings and armed robberies. But here are those numbers: since 1982, there have been 62 mass shootings with 513 fatalities, or an average of 2 mass shootings and 16.5 fatalities a year. (Now, remember, keep in mind there are 11,000 gun murders each year in total.) Over just the past 10 years, those numbers are a bit higher – about 3 shootings a year, with 26 fatalities. But 2012 was a very bad year: 7 shootings with 72 fatalities, more than 4 times the average number of victims in a year from mass shootings.

<snip>

LEVITT: I would just say that anyone with any sense looks at the current political climate, thinks about the kinds of proposals that are being made and accepts the fact that none of these proposals are going to have any real impact at all.



So what could diminish gun violence? We’ve asked that question before; good answers are hard to come by. Levitt says mandatory sentence enhancements work. You’ll also hear about Geoffrey Canada‘s book Fist Stick Knife Gun, which might change the way you think about violence in general.




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Name: had to remove
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Hometown: marble falls, tx
Member since: Thu Feb 23, 2012, 03:49 AM
Number of posts: 63,134

About marble falls

Hand dyer mainly to the quilters market, doll maker, oil painter and teacher, anti-fas, cat owner, anti nuke, ex navy, reasonably good cook, father of three happy successful kids and three happy grand kids. Life is good.
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