Monday Open Thread [7.15.13]

The Editorial Board of the Independent on the Zimmerman verdict:

[T]he first black president of the United States ventured an early comment, saying that if he had had a son “he would look like Trayvon”.

In so saying, Barack Obama pinpointed the truth that a great many white Americans will see a young man up to no good before they see a president’s son. For all the civil rights advances over half a century, personified by the black family now residing in the White House, racism remains pernicious and entrenched. […]

[T]he verdict leaves the impression not just that it is acceptable for an individual in large parts of the US to take the law into his own hands, but that the life of a young black man is cheap. This incendiary case from central Florida – electorally, a swing district of a swing state – shows how far, despite Mr Obama’s election, the US still fails to practise racial equality.

And if you celebrated Zimmerman’s verdict, Andrew Sullivan” says you just might be a racist. At the very least you are repellant. And I agree with him.

I wish I could have some sharp response to the Martin verdict except profound sadness. I can see two things clearly: when there are no witnesses but the two individuals involved in a fight, and the victim is dead, and you live in a state that provides “stand your ground” immunity for self-defense, then proving a murder beyond a reasonable doubt is hard. […]

Equally, I found the way in which many elements on the right brandished their relish at seeing Zimmerman vindicated was more repellent than the identity politics faction that politicized the case. A young black man was dead, after he was clearly racially profiled, followed and challenged. Those facts alone should, in my view, lead to nothing but sadness, not a gleeful turn on the racial merry-go-round. […]

The “stand-your-ground” law – when it interacts with race – can come perilously close to a return to the right to lynch black men in America – just for being be in the wrong place at the wrong time, for doing nothing wrong, except wearing a hoodie and carrying some Skittles. Perhaps the best way to react now is to raise awareness about these laws that all but sanction murder because in a one-on-one conflict, in which there are no reliable witnesses and in which one of the individuals is dead, reasonable doubt is a very hard hurdle to overcome. This verdict may give some racist vigilantes encouragement to single out and murder black men with a sense of impunity. That is simply unacceptable, to put it mildly. It is a terrifying reminder of how the past can become present again.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that filibuster reform is needed in Congress because it has a lower approval rating that North Korea. Then just fucking do it Harry. Stop talking. Stop bluffing. And do it. And do it for everything. Presidential nominees. Judicial nominees. And legilsation. Do it.

The only way the GOP will win the presidency in 2016 is if they nominate Chris Christie.

NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–Quinnipiac: Fmr. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton (D) 46, Gov. Chris Christie (R) 40; Clinton 50, Sen. Rand Paul (R) 38.

After six months of horrid attacks on Clinton regarding Benghazi and her age, Christie is the only viable candidate that gets within striking distance (6 points of Clinton). And I cannot see for the life of me how Christie wins the nomination of today’s Republican Party. He hugged President Obama!!! That crime led to Charlie Crist down in Florida being drummed out of the Party. Further, even if Christie does run, he will either run as who he is, a relative “moderate” business and law and order Republican, or he will try to out crazy the other crazies and flip flop on everything. If he does the latter, he destroys the Christie no-nonsense brand that is buoying his poll numbers now. If he does the former, then he finds himself occupying the same space as Jeb Bush, and both of them will fight for the 20% of the Republican electorate they represent, losing to Rand Paul or Ted Cruz.