Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Crime and Punishment

  • If Zimmerman Had Been Unarmed . . .

    . . . Trayvon Martin would not have been shot.    On the other hand, had he been unarmed, it is highly likely that Zimmerman would be either dead or permanently injured. Trained fists can be deadly weapons.  See The Danger of Fists. And make sure you watch the video clips.  (Via Malcolm Pollack.)   So…

  • Black ‘Bash Mobs’ on the Rampage in Southern California

    Here is the story from The Los Angeles Times.  Nowhere in the article or in the video is it mentioned that the rioters are black.  You can see that they  are from the video.  The liberal media falsely portrayed the Hispanic, George Zimmerman, as white in order to fit him into their 'America is racist'…

  • The Lunacy of the Left

    Here is yet another example of leftist lunacy  from the editors of The Nation: The real problem is not that jurors were willing to accord Zimmerman the  presumption of innocence—a bedrock of our justice system. It is that Trayvon  Martin, an unarmed teenager, was never accorded the same presumption—and that so  many defendants who look…

  • The Rage of the Wolff

    Robert Paul Wolff here vents "a rage that can find no appropriate expression" over "The judicially sanctioned murder of Trayvon Martin . . . ."  "Meanwhile, Zimmerman's gun will be returned to him.  He would have suffered more severe punishment if he had run over a white person's dog." What fascinates me is the depth of…

  • Piers Morgan on the Zimmerman Case

    Piers Morgan and many others think that someone ought to 'pay' for Trayvon Martin's unfortunate death, and that that person ought to be George Zimmerman.  Morgan demands justice for Trayvon and thinks that this can be achieved only be convicting Zimmerman of some crime.   But what murk and muddle in Morgan's mind makes him think this? …

  • What Does ‘Stand Your Ground’ Have to Do with Martin and Zimmerman?

    Nothing, as Michelle Malkin explains: So, what exactly do Stand Your Ground laws have to do with Zimmerman and Martin?  Absolutely nothing, of course. Outside your own home, common principles of  self-defense dictate that unless you have reasonable fear of deadly force or  harm, you must flee if possible rather than use deadly force. But…

  • Mark O’Mara as Atticus Finch

    This is good.  By Peter Machera, former professor of English at New Mexico State University.  The 'former' comports well with the intelligence and honesty of the piece which ends thusly: It’s almost startling to see individuals on television who are intelligent,  articulate and fight for a worthy cause. We have plenty of smart people  deceiving…

  • Old Posts on Trayvon Martin

    Here are some entries from April 2012.  A Pithy Summary of the Trayvon Martin Case  (VDH turned out to have had it nailed.) The Trayvon Martin Case and the Growing Racial Divide Florida's "Stand Your Ground" Law Irrelevant to Trayvon Martin Case See also Jacob Sullum.

  • The Zimmerman Verdict: Worth Reading

    Worth Reading: Brian Tannenbaum Alan Dershowitz George Neumayr The Washington Times Garbage (Do Not Read!): Paul Campos Professor Campos is a very intelligent man, and morally decent to boot, an inference I draw from having read most of the posts on his now-defunct Inside the Law School Scam.  I'll leave it to you to speculate about how…

  • The Zimmerman Verdict and the ‘Planetary’ Difference Between Left and Right

    The significance of the Zimmerman trial is that it is emblematic of the deep and ever-deepening racial divide in this country despite the successes of the civil rights movement of the '50s and '60s and the increasing participation of blacks in all institutions of our society, a participation culminating in the election of a black president…

  • On the Zimmerman Acquittal

    A. W. e-mails and I comment: I know you've been following this case. I must say I'm impressed by the outcome. Even though I believed that Z's account of the events was consistent and that the prosecution's case was incredibly weak, I was expecting the all-female jury to cave in to the pressure and declare…

  • The Folly of “I Have Nothing to Hide”

    This is an entry from the old blog, first posted 28 December 2005.  It makes an important point worth repeating, especially in light of such recent scandals as the harassing by the Internal Revenue Service of individuals and groups whole political views differ from those of the current administration. …………..  In an age of terrorism, enhanced…

  • Capital Punishment: From One Extreme to Another

    RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Seven Saudi men convicted of theft, looting and armed robbery were executed on Wednesday, according to the country's official news agency, more than a week after their families and a rights group appealed to the king for clemency. The executions took place in Abha, a city in the southern region of…

  • The Criminology of Firearms

    An important article.  Many liberals feel that civilian gun ownership is unnecessary because adequate protection against the criminal element is afforded by the police.  I advise them to think through the following considerations: Misinformed people oppose self-defense objections to gun ban laws, urging victims to instead rely on police. This misunderstands what policing is and…

  • Feel-Good Liberalism, High Capacity Magazines and High Capacity Soft Drink Containers

    If you need further proof that leftism is emotion-driven, consider the latest Obamination, the call for a ban on high capacity magazines, an abomination which the fascist-in-chief may try to ram though under Executive Order.  I take it that these are magazines the capacity of which is in excess of seven rounds. (By the way,…