Search Results for: trayvon

The Associated Press Revisits the Trayvon Martin Case

Featured image The Department of Justice announced today that it will not pursue a federal civil rights charge against George Zimmerman, arising out of his fatal altercation with Trayvon Martin. That was pretty much a foregone conclusion, but the Associated Press took the opportunity to revisit the case: George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin in a 2012 confrontation with the teenager, will not face federal charges, »

Trayvon and Mike

Featured image Last night, basketball player Lebron James tweeted this graphic: As many have noted, there are obvious parallels between the Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown cases. Both were young black men who were, as we were told countless times, unarmed. Both were shot by men portrayed as white authority figures–Darren Wilson, a police officer, and George Zimmerman, a “white Hispanic” who, as a neighborhood watch volunteer, was a sort of honorary »

Trayvon Rallies Feature the Usual Suspects

Featured image My sense is that the “Justice for Trayvon” rallies that were held in various cities today didn’t amount to much. One basic question is, did they even have much to do with Trayvon Martin? The answer to that question is suggested by this flyer that was handed out at the rally in New York: This is exactly the same stupidity we have seen over and over from the left. Boycott »

Obama, Trayvon Martin and the Democrats’ Race-Baiting

Featured image Yesterday President Obama delivered extended observations on the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman case to reporters, on a seemingly impromptu basis. Obama’s comments were widely praised, and Paul gave them a characteristically generous assessment here yesterday. My own view of Obama’s comments is more negative, and I also think it is important to put Obama’s often high-sounding statements about race in the context of his administration’s deliberate promotion of racial division to »

Did the Department of Justice Stir Up Trayvon Martin Riots?

Featured image Today Judicial Watch released a set of documents that it obtained from multiple government sources relating to the role of the Department of Justice in demonstrations relating to the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case. This is how Judicial Watch described the documents: Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained documents in response to local, state, and federal records requests revealing that a little-known unit of the Department of Justice (DOJ), »

House Democrats Politicize Trayvon Martin

Featured image You can always tell when a political party is out of intellectual ammo. You can tell because it starts doing things like this: House Democrats said Tuesday they will offer an amendment to push to overturn stand-your-ground self-defense laws in states like Florida. Laws relating to self-defense are entirely a state concern. This is one of many areas where the federal government has no legitimate role. The amendment, which would »

Thoughts on Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman

Featured image We haven’t written anything about one of the day’s major news stories, the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. So let’s wade in: 1) For liberals, it is always 1962, and we are always in Mississippi. Unfortunately, however–from their perspective–it isn’t 1962, and the problems we now face are far more complicated and harder of solution than the problems of the early 1960s. In fact, liberalism offers no guidance »

Vice Presidential Reflections on Terrorism

Featured image Ivy League college presidents and congressional Democrats aren’t the only ones having difficulty escaping a false moral equivalence between anti-Semitism and supposed “Islamophobia.” It’s a longstanding problem. Let’s revisit: As Americans, we are unified in our commitment to protect our country from terrorist attacks, and we must seek justice for those who lost their lives in the recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. That was California attorney general Kamala »

“Break the Wheel,” or something: A review

Featured image City Journal has posted my essay/review of Keith Ellison’s Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence. I am grateful to managing editor Paul Beston for letting me have my say under the auspices of City Journal and for giving me permission to cross-post my review on Power Line today. Please see the review as published with links here at City Journal. Having covered Ellison’s career on Power Line »

“Break the Wheel,” or something, part 4

Featured image Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s memoir of the Chauvin prosecution — Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence — was published last week. It’s good to be Keith Ellison. He’s got the Star Tribune doing public relations for him. He’s got the New York Times doing public relations for him. He’s got the Washington Post doing public relations for him. He’s got NPR doing public relations for him. »

(Re)Imagine

Featured image Barack Obama remembers George Floyd on the second anniversary of his passing (tweet below). He doesn’t want to let our current focus on the Uvalde massacre distract us from attention to the anniversary and the shibboleth of “reimagining policing.” Obama puts me in mind of John Lennon: “Reimagine there’s no police. It’s easy if you try.” If you visit Minneapolis, by the way, you won’t have to do much in »

Another Dartmouth disgrace

Featured image Dartmouth College has a disgraceful record when it comes to protecting students and others from thuggish behavior from leftists. Dartmouth’s president, Phil Hanlon, seems indifferent at best to the right of students to hear conservative speakers and, indeed, to the right of all students to be free from left-wing bullies. The latest shameful episode at Dartmouth involved David Horowitz, a well-known conservative public intellectual. Horowitz provides the dismal details in »

Is America a Seething Hotbed of Racism and Bigotry?

Featured image The premise of diversity training at places like Google (and the various identity politics departments in universities that churn out endless theories of racism, sexism, etc. that back it up) is that implicit racism, sexism and all-around bigotry is pervasive in American society. Maybe DNC members like Bull Connor no longer turn firehoses on blacks in the South, and maybe Democratic jurists like Roger Taney no longer openly proclaim white »

Durham D.A. admits ideology will influence his prosecutorial discretion

Featured image If you don’t mind feeling nauseated, check out this statement by Durham County District Attorney Roger Echols, in which he explains the factors he will consider in determining “a just resolution” to the case of those who destroyed the public monument in Durham. Echols says he will balance accountability for the destruction of property against the “climate in which these actions were undertaken.” He seems to believe that a neo-Nazi »

Obama passes judgment

Featured image Yesterday, Barack Obama pronounced Donald Trump “woefully unprepared” and “unfit to be president.” He added, graciously, that the two previous nominees — John McCain and Mitt Romney — were fit for the office. Obama may be right about Trump. He certainly is right about McCain and Romney. But no intelligent American will take Obama’s word when it comes to assessing the fitness of his potential successor. Obama’s overriding objective is »

All charges dropped against remaining Freddie Gray defendants

Featured image Prosecutors have dropped all remaining charges against the three remaining Baltimore police officers (William Porter, Garrett Miller, Alicia White) accused of crimes in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. Three other original defendants (Edward Nero, Caesar Goodson, and Brian Rice) have been found not guilty. The Baltimore Sun describes the prosecution’s move as “startling,” and maybe it is. However, it was the only rational decision available. In the trials »

ESPN: the worldwide leader in bulls**t

Featured image Each year, ESPN holds something called the ESPYs. Apparently, the event is a sort Academy Awards for sports. The idea seems ridiculous. Part of what makes sports wonderful is that it’s not show business. According to Larry O’Connor at HotAir, and confirmed by other reports I’ve seen, “the ESPY award broadcast was filled with about as much race-baiting, left-wing politics as the Democrats convention in Philly will have two weeks »