Plain Dealer Editors: Trayvon Was Murdered
One sentence demonstrates why today newspapers are an endangered species.



An August 3rd editorial in the the Plain Dealer of Cleveland, "Notes of a native son, as President Obama addresses race,” referred to the murder of Trayvon Martin:

Obama wanted to explain to those Americans who have never been followed, suspected or singled out because of the color of their skins [sic] why those who have took [sic] the murder of an unarmed 17-year-old black high school student so personally and viscerally, [sic] The president was not criticizing the jury. “That’s how our system works,” he said.

[Plain Dealer Editor's note: This editorial was updated Aug. 4, 2013 at 2:15 pm to correct a grammatical error in the fourth paragraph.]

Sloppy editing and grammar crimes aside, the fact that the editors chose to use the word murder in reference to the charges for which George Zimmerman was acquitted by a jury of his peers demonstrates more than a lack of journalistic responsibility in their apparent quest to continue to stir up racial tensions in the community. It also exemplifies the reason the Plain Dealer and other so-called legacy media outlets barely have a pulse in the year 2013.

Unbalanced reporting is nothing new for the Plain Dealer, Ohio’s largest newspaper. It has been long known for its partisan hackery, which reached a fevered pitch during the 2012 election. So it’s no surprise that the paper is in its death throes.

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The Trayvon Martin Case, Update 36.6: Ignoring Fact, and Messaging

The civil rights movement was one of the greatest success stories in American history. Like the feminist movement–yes, I know they’re not exactly parallel in importance–it achieved, in a very real and practical sense, all of its objectives. Circa 2013, actual racists are, rightly, social pariahs, unwelcome anywhere in decent society,




and as Dr. Martin Luther King hoped, people are judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

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She proposed that the library remain open and named the Trayvon Martin Memorial Library...

Alice's Restaurant - Arlo Guthrie
And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
Where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
Committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
Looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
Rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
They was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
Bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
Father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly
'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
And said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?"
And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench
There, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I
Said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand,
And we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,
Father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the
Bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of

Though they've been divorced since 1999, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton have presented a united front since their son Trayvon was killed, appearing on national television and at marches and rallies to call for justice. Tracy Martin, a longtime driver for Sysco Corp., described Trayvon as his best friend. Trayvon was staying with Tracy Martin and his girlfriend, Brandy Green, at her townhome at the Retreat at Twin Lakes when the shooting happened. When Tracy Martin awoke Feb. 27, 2012, to find his son hadn't returned home overnight, he called police and reported Trayvon missing. He later identified the teen, when police showed him a photo of his slain son, he says. Tracy Martin's testimony could be key on an important issue at trial: Who was recorded crying for help in a 911 call which captured the gunshot? Police say Martin told them the cries weren't those of his son; he says he was misunderstood, and has since heard a better-quality copy of the recording, and is sure the screams are Trayvon's.

“[We] talked and I told him I’d love him to talk to the team. He came out and he was very, very encouraging,” Holmes said of Tracy Martin. “ . . . [He] got a standing ovation from our guys. He talked about just persevering and told the guys to keep on pushing through the hard times. The message he shared with the kids was very positive and they were very responsive.”

Zimmerman verdict sparks interest in insurance programs that defend gun owners

FORT WORTH — The Florida acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who Zimmerman said he shot in self-defense, has resulted in a surge of business for a Texas company that insures gun owners.

“People who have seen what happened to Zimmerman began to consider their own circumstances and asked how would their life be affected if something like that happened to them,” said attorney Edwin Walker, co-founder of Texas Law Shield.

Texas Law Shield, a Houston-based company that provides legal representation for gun owners who act in self-defense, charges members a base monthly fee of $11 to advise them during police investigations and represent them at trial. The four-year-old company has a 24-hour hotline to assist its more than 70,000 Texas members if they have questions about the state’s self-defense laws, Walker said.

“There are about half-a-dozen crimes where a person can be charged if they simply display or discharge their weapon,” Walker said. “You don’t have to shoot someone to get in trouble.”

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Very long, very wide ranging update - McDaniel goes through all recent events, including MOM's speech at the Tiger Bay Club, the BGI, and a bit of politics.

The Trayvon Martin Case, Update 36.6: Ignoring Fact, and Messaging
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HBO Newsroom Deceptively Edits Zimmerman 911 Call as Part of Plot
By Noel Sheppard | August 12, 2013 | 01:24

In March 2012, NewsBusters reported NBC’s Today show deceptively edited George Zimmerman’s 911 call to make it appear he was a racist.

On Sunday, HBO actually had one of its primary characters on the series The Newsroom deceptively edit that call exactly the way NBC News did it (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Later in article:
Certainly they were aware of what happened with NBC News’s edit, and that not only were people fired, but also Zimmerman is suing NBC News.

Why would HBO want to inject itself into this issue with a lawsuit pending and the nation's nerves still raw unless it was attempting to somehow vindicate NBC News for its negligence.

Full article here... http://m.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-she ... sroom-plot

Zimmerman verdict sparks interest in insurance programs that defend gun owners

The covered states under the multi-state option are the following:
Alabama Arizona Arkansas
Colorado Florida Georgia
Indiana Louisiana Mississippi
New Mexico Oklahoma Tennessee
Virginia

Linnea Pearson, a Florida International University professor and former teacher of Travon Martin’s brother Jahvaris Fulton, said one of the reasons Trayvon got into trouble was because he was suspended.

“As an educator, one of my concerns is that when a student gets in trouble, he’s just out,” said Pearson, who is fighting to save the California Club library. She proposed that the library remain open and named the Trayvon Martin Memorial Library, after the Miami Gardens teen who was fatally shot by George Zimmerman in Sanford on Feb. 26, 2012.

http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?optio ... Itemid=199