Ready for the Riots? Zimmerman Trial Nearing End, Defendant Looking Like a Winner

If you have been following the Zimmerman trial over at Legal Insurrection, you are aware that the great majority of witness testimony has supported Zimmerman's claim that he acted in self defense.

There is no way anyone remotely objective could come to any other conclusion:  George Zimmerman is innocent of second degree murder or manslaughter.

There has been a lot of discussion over the 911 call during George Zimmerman's scuffle with Trayvon Martin.  Someone is screaming for help.  The Martin witnesses claim the screamer is Trayvon, while the Zimmerman witnesses claim the screamer is George.  The Zimmerman witnesses are by far the most credible -- and, there are more of them.

So why would Trayvon Martin scream for help while he was straddling Zimmerman's chest and pounding the man's head into the cement?  The claim that the screamer was Martin is entirely laughable.

This is a case that should never have gone to trial.  It was tried in support of Democrat racial politics, assisted by some conservatives like Michael Savage and Rich Lowry (there are always those who seek to ingratiate themselves with the liberal establishment and media).  Now, as the obnoxious prosecutor tries desperately to fend off the flood of defense witnesses, the trial would appear to be headed for an acquittal.  Or so one would hope.  You can never be sure.

A lot of underclass blacks on Twitter and other forums are swearing to commit violence and riot if Zimmerman is acquitted.  I really hope that isn't true, because I really do desire genuine racial harmony and peace, even as I insist on a color-blind justice system (i.e. one that doesn't stage show trials in order to motivate and appease a key constituency).

There's an even more pressing reason why the would-be rioters should reconsider.  George Zimmerman isn't the only "crazy-ass cracker" with a gun.

Deep Thought For Today

Famous Hollister Bike Rally Returns After Five Year Absence: Big Success

My small, rural town of Hollister, California is most famous for the great biker rally of 1947.  Well actually, it became known as the Hollister Riot.  Biker gangs filled the downtown area over the July 4th weekend of 1947, getting drunk, racing their bikes, making noise and breaking things.  According to some, the bikers didn't harm, rape or rob anyone, and didn't destroy any private property.  The whole thing was blown out of proportion, they say, by the San Francisco Chronicle looking for headlines.  A famous photo in the Chronicle shows one drunken biker sitting on his motorcycle surrounded by a sea of empty beer bottles.  The scene was staged, the bottles gathered, a cycle borrowed, and a drunk shanghaied to play the biker.

Maybe so, but Hollywood decided it would make a great movie:  biker gangs take over small California town, terrorize the populace, and create havoc!  So in 1953 they made a film about it, called "The Wild One," starring a young Marlon Brando as the chief protagonist and rebel.  (One lady character asks him "What are you rebelling against?" The Brando character replies, "What've you got?")

Bikers in Downtown Hollister

In any case, the July 4th Hollister Biker Rally became an official event, and for many years bikers (mostly on Harley Davidsons) have flocked to our small town every July 4th to party, party, party, fully welcomed by the town.  Bring money.  Then one year the Hollister City Council added up the revenues, costs and expenses and learned they were losing around $100,000 per rally.  So the rally ceased, at least until private promoters could be located to fund the event.  This year they did that.

The Hollister Biker Rally took place over July 5th and 6th this year, and the town filled with thousands of brilliantly painted and decorated Harley Davidson motorcycles.  There were booths, street vendors, food vendors, bands and even a couple of prostitutes, all watched over by an army of local cops from surrounding towns and counties.

This was the most successful biker rally that I have seen here.  People really enjoyed themselves, and I think the addition of many different bands (of the musical variety) was a major factor in that.  Twenty different bands took turns playing at three different locations, providing a variety of music.  My favorite was the eight piece latin-based band in the Civic Auditorium, a band seemingly modeled after Santana.  They are called "the Chicano Allstars" and played Santana favorites, latin jazz, and some Sam and Dave soul tunes.

Of course, there was lots of flesh on display, an unofficial contest of biker ladies on who can show the most cleavage without getting arrested.  Aye Chihuahua, I'm a leg man but found myself almost persuaded to convert.  This may require further study while Mrs. Chomper is looking the other way.

South Korean Jet Crashes On Landing in SFO

Last night a South Korean commercial airliner crashed on landing in San Francisco, killing two teenage girls and injuring 182 others.  The crash appears to be pilot error -- apparently, he came in too low, too soon and clipped a seawall, tearing off the tail.  It's amazing how everyone but the two young girls survived, considering how charred the plane is.  Those inflatable escape slides worked very well to save so many.

I read (in one of the Freakonomics books) that Korean airlines have crashed more than other airlines due to the cultural aspects of the Korean pecking order:  copilots would not speak up to warn the captain of danger, or dare to disagree, or even to take matters into their own hands to avoid crashes.  After the third crash or so, they finally investigated and arranged for a different protocol to avoid crashes, and it seems to have worked, at least up until now.

The black boxes have been recovered and it will be interesting to see what the pilot and crew conversations reveal.

150 Years Ago Today: Pickett's Charge; How Bro and I Refought the Battle of Gettysburg

Stogie at Gettysburg

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the "high water mark" of the Confederacy when 12,500 Confederate soldiers attacked Union defenses on Cemetery Ridge.  The Confederate troops were told to focus on the Copse of Trees on Cemetery Ridge, and began a fast walk forward towards the Union lines.  The Southern lines were showered with canister, shells and musket fire and few actually reached the stone wall (a barrier of loose boulders piled in such a way as to make a kind of fence).  The great Confederate General Lewis Armistead was shot down just before reaching the Angle, a bend in the stone wall.  A monument today marks the spot where he fell, and I have been there.  The Angle is still there as well, a quiet, pastoral scene with no hint of the desperate fighting that occurred there.

There is an excellent photo essay of reenactors at Gettysburg this week, and they have recreated the sights and scenes of that momentous battle with incredibly authentic detail.  See it here.

I was at Gettysburg in August of 1992, as a Confederate reenactor and extra ("background artist") in the Ron Maxwell movie "Gettysburg," based on the novel "The Killer Angels."  Bro and I had prepared for the filming for weeks in advance; I had grown a salt and pepper beard and we flew to Virginia where we rented a car and drove to Gettysburg.  We arrived and set up our tent in the Confederate camp, where we stayed for the week, constantly wearing our heavy woolen uniforms and marching at daybreak with other Confederate reenactors over grounds where the actual Confederates marched and died 129 years before.  With our uniforms, 1857 Enfield muskets (working replicas), canteens, haversacks, cartridge belts, rough brogan shoes, bayonets and other gear clinking and clanking to the tramp of marching feet, we took our places in the lines and prepared to once more assault the Union lines beyond the wooden fence bordering the Emmitsburg Pike.

                                                                                      Reenactors at Gettysburg, 2013

It was a hot, uncomfortable, busy week, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  It was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life, and not because we were in a movie, or rubbing elbows with famous actors like Martin Sheen (as Lee) or Stephen Lang (as Pickett), but because we were paying homage to our courageous forbears on the same sacred ground where they fought and died.  It was almost a religious experience.  As we the Confederates quietly passed the statue of General Lee on Seminary Ridge, where the real Confederates began the charge, we entered the actual Hallowed Ground to form our battle lines.  The Copse of Trees on the horizon is still there, and the grassy green expanse in front of us seemed silent and sacred.  How very different from that day in 1863, when the field between Seminary Ridge and Cemetery Ridge was filled with roaring cannon and the rattle of  musket fire, billowing gun smoke, whistling shells and the screams of dying men, a scene of  blood and carnage and death.  Though the field before us was now silent, we could see, hear and smell the battle in our imaginations.

Soon our long gray line was marching forth, our red battle flags unfurled to the Pennsylvania breeze.  Many Confederate descendants, overcome with emotion, wept.  Bro and I marched forth with fixed bayonets, shells exploding on either side, rockets streaming over our heads, around dead horses here and there, onward toward the wall!.  We were finally shot down at the Angle (filmed later at an alternate location), and it was an honor to "die" for the Southern Cause.  One of our members actually did die, of a heart attack, later that week.  Actor Sam Elliot later led a memorial service for him and one other reenactor who died as well.

Bro and I were members of the First Virginia Infantry.  After the filming, we drove to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond and walked among the graves of the Confederate dead.  General Pickett is buried there, as well as many of his men.  We found one tombstone that identified the dead as a member of the First Virginia who fell at Pickett's Charge.  We also visited the graves of Jefferson Davis and Jeb Stuart, who are buried close to each other.

****

That's my Pickett's Charge tale, one that I and Bro actually experienced in the flesh.  Somewhere in the film "Gettysburg," there is a scene of grizzled, smoke stained Confederates marching toward the camera at the outset of Pickett's Charge, and for a few brief seconds, I am visible in the line, black slouch hat on my head, shouting at the other troops to "straighten that line."  Bro appears right behind me, for only a second before the scene ends.

Truth is Now Hate Speech in David Cameron’s Britain - Must Read Article by Paul Weston

Paul Weston, a British subject and Chairman of the British Freedom Party.  He is opposed to the Islamization of Britain and the growing loss of freedom and safety of British citizens there.   Today he has a righteous rant against the far left British government and its incredible sell-out to radical Islam.  Read it here:
Truth is Now Hate Speech in David Cameron’s Britain.

Rick Darby at Reflecting Light has an essay on Weston's article at this link.  As Rick points out, being anti-Islamization in Great Britain today involves two very real dangers:  (1) the Muslim immigrants there may murder you for criticizing their religion of barbarity and (2) that the far-left British government may imprison you for criticizing their religion of multiculturalism.

Western civilization rests on shaky ground these days.  Where will it end?

H.L. Mencken and the Gettysburg Address

As the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg approaches, I think it is appropriate to pierce the self-delusion of Yankee apologists and dreamers with a quote from H.L. Mencken.

by H.L. Mencken

The Gettysburg speech was at once the shortest and the most famous oration in American history...the highest emotion reduced to a few poetical phrases. Lincoln himself never even remotely approached it. It is genuinely stupendous. But let us not forget that it is poetry, not logic; beauty, not sense. Think of the argument in it. Put it into the cold words of everyday. The doctrine is simply this: that the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg sacrificed their lives to the cause of self-determination – that government of the people, by the people, for the people, should not perish from the earth. It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue. The Union soldiers in the battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of their people to govern themselves.

George Zimmerman Looking Like a Winner in Zimmerman-Martin Case

Introduction:
There's no doubt in my mind that 90% of black Americans believe Trayvon Martin was cruelly and unjustly murdered by George Zimmerman.  After all, Martin is black and Zimmerman is Hispanic.  Not white, but close enough to justify racial biases.

A Neighborhood Watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, shot and killed an unarmed, black 17-year-old, Trayvon Martin in February 2012.  Zimmerman claimed it was in self-defense and was released as police said there was no evidence to dispute this.  Indeed, Zimmerman's bloodied face and head clearly supported Zimmerman's claim of self defense.

My Opinion and My Concern:

In America, you get special consideration if you are black.  Blacks are a "protected class," and that protection means that any confrontation, fight or disagreement by a non-black is presumed to be "racism," and the non-black individual guilty until proven innocent.  We all know this, though many will never admit it in public.  After Martin's death, the race-grievance industry went into overtime, insisting that Zimmerman must have shot Martin simply because the dear boy was black, wearing a hoodie and eating Skittles.  Zimmerman was eventually arrested and charged with second degree murder, not on the basis of any credible evidence, but because he had sinned against our sacred tribe of Dalai-Lama black folks, and because white liberal politicians can never pass up a photo-op proving that they are the incarnation of Atticus Finch.  My concern is that Zimmerman has been denied equal treatment under the law simply because of race.

HOWEVER:

The above has been my concern over this trial from day one.  However, I do not know what happened on the grounds of that Florida homeowners association back in February of 2012.  Also, I wouldn't want my 17 year old son shot dead either.  Maybe Zimmerman provoked the confrontation by following Martin too closely, by insinuating that Martin was a criminal about to perpetrate a crime, based on nothing but racial considerations.  I can understand how that would totally piss off Martin and provoke a fight.  So what really happened?  I was content to leave it to the jury to sort it all out, and not prejudge the case (like 90% of blacks have already done).

Witness Testimony So Far:

A defense attorney, Andrew Branca, at Legal Insurrection has been describing the testimony and trial over the past few days, and most of the witnesses, including those called by the prosecution, convincingly uphold Zimmerman's description of events:  Martin attacked Zimmerman, got on top of Zimmerman and began punching him in the face in a mixed, martial arts style; Zimmerman screamed for help; and Zimmerman shot Martin out of fear for his life.  (Zimmerman claims that Martin went for Zimmerman's gun and threatened to kill Zimmerman.)  Photos of Zimmerman's wounds after the altercation confirm that Martin had done serious physical damage to Zimmerman's face and head.

The prosecution's primary witnesses were either destroyed in cross-examination by the defense, or gave testimony supporting the defense positions.  Andrew Branca described it yesterday:

Once again, it was simply not a very good day at all for the prosecution. The primary State witnesses today were Rachel Jeantel, Jenna Lauer, and Selma Mora. The first had her credibility substantively destroyed, the second was powerfully–almost humiliatingly–co-opted by the defense, and the third provided testimony entirely consistent with the defense’s theory of lawful self-defense.

My Conclusions:
Based on testimony and evidence so far, George Zimmerman is proved innocent of murder, as he clearly acted in self-defense and in fear for his life.  Martin's death was a tragedy, though largely self-inflicted by his own uncontrolled rage.  It most certainly was not second degree murder.

However, will the jury agree?  Who knows.

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Are Banned From Britain

Muslim Protest in London, 2006.  Britain Protects 
and Welcomes Hateful Muslims But Bans Those 
Who Are Critical of Muslim Intolerance and Violence

Via American Power: Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer have been officially banned from entering [formerly] Great Britain due to their opposition to Islamization of the West. This makes no sense -- if you oppose hatred, mass murder, violence and intolerance -- all of which is Islam on steroids -- you are banned from Britain. If you are a hateful, Jew-hating, terrorist supporting radical Imam, you are welcome.

See photos below of folks who live in Britain and have NOT been banned.  In fact, British police surrounded these protesters to protect them from regular Brits who were outraged at the signs advocating violence and murder.  One Brit was threatened with arrest for attempting to counter demonstrate.

If you speak the truth about Islam, you will be banned.  Freedom of speech is not allowed in Great Britain anymore.  Truth is not a defense.  What kind of insanity is the British government pushing, and why?

If you want to visit Great Britain, you cannot voice opposition to Islam.  Why?  Because Great Britain, home of the West's biggest fools and cowards, is busily Islamisizing itself, in an attempt to de-westernize itself into yet another barbaric backwater.  Long live dhimmitude!

My feeling for the leaders and government of Great Britain is one of abject contempt and disgust.

Muslim Threatens Mass Murder

Muslim Threatens Mass Murder While
Enjoying Protection of London Police

The True Nature of Islam

Scientists Who Dispute Man-Made Climate Change

Climate Depot is a climate related blog that I have linked to for a couple of years, but rarely read.  That's because the "global warming" controversy just isn't as sexy or as immediate as other current events.  Also, the climate controversy requires one to read graphs, study technical terms, and follow meandering scientific claims and counterclaims.  Since Barack Obama is now using the global warming fraud to once again undermine the economy, reading Climate Depot and related blogs (like Real Science) is now a priority.

If you read Wikipedia, a liberal biased site, you will see that "science" is 90% sure that human activity is driving global warming.  However, there is a growing number of qualified scientists who dispute this.  It is educational to read what some of the most prominent say about the "science" of global warming.  Read this article at Climate Depot: SPECIAL REPORT: More Than 1000 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims – Challenge UN IPCC & Gore.