Despite what’s been happening in comments at Bruce’s post on the matter (and I’ve added in a couple of things about the law, just so people will, I hope, read them before they say anything particularly stupid), I’m determined that this blog will not become about Trayvon, since there are many other important stories out there being smothered by the wall-to-wall coverage. Here’s enough for the moment.
First, Tom Maguire notes that it appears George Zimmerman weighed about 170 lbs and Trayvon Martin 150 when they confronted each other. In my first post here on the matter I noted that Zimmerman didn’t seem overweight for his height, so I was pretty sure that stories placing him at ~240 lbs were wrong. There’s more info over there that you might not have, too.
Second, PJ Tatler has still images from ABC’s video that show quite clearly that Zimmerman has gashes to the back of his head. How it was that the video now forthcoming wasn’t what originally was shown on ABC when they got their big exclusive is a matter for speculation.
Please . . . know before you blow.
More: Now Daily Caller is saying the dispatch tape shows that Zimmerman had in fact stopped following Martin.
Yet more, with John Hayward at Human Events discussing the MSM walkback.
Maguire, again, on the expertise of one of the voice recognition experts.
jefferson101 on April 2, 2012 at 4:14 pm said:
If one was inclined to be a bit suspicious, it would almost be easy to believe that some of the media were attempting to stir up hate, discontent, discord, and social unrest with this situation.
I’m not sure if they are now walking their stories back out of a sense of responsibility not to cause things to spiral out of control, or if they just got caught with their fingers in the cookie jar and fear being held responsible if things do turn off ugly.
Starless on April 3, 2012 at 8:37 am said:
Things are awfully quiet over on this thread compared to Bruce’s.
I’d think that the amazing physical transformations both Martin and Zimmerman have gone through in the span of a week within media reports would cause more people to pause and reconsider the accuracy of the specific details we’ve all heard and read, but I guess I’d be wrong.
BTW, if done right, it doesn’t matter whether someone weighs 20 or 100 pounds more than you, you can still gain the upper hand. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that the similarity in height is more significant than any similarity in weight.
Dan Collins on April 3, 2012 at 8:55 am said:
Starless is one of our oldest / closest / most important allies, and punches above his weight in foreign affairs / on the world stage / in international relations.
Starless on April 3, 2012 at 9:24 am said:
Heh. If only.
Starless on April 3, 2012 at 9:27 am said:
And while I’m at it: if Martin is 6′+ and weighs 150#, he’s a small 6′+. What do you want to bet we hear yet another correction putting Martin at 170#?
So much for the 98 pound weakling being beaten by the gigantic (“white Hispanic”) man.
Meep on April 3, 2012 at 9:53 am said:
To be fair, my husband was a really skinny guy at that age, and was 6’3″, 160 lbs. It’s believable for a young man. I wouldn’t quibble over that.
Starless on April 3, 2012 at 1:35 pm said:
What I saw for Martin was 140# at 6’2″-6’3″ (something like that and I don’t recall what day it was)–the low end of average for men of that height.
The quibble is that the pro-Martin camp made a huge deal out of Zimmerman’s size, yet as the corrections come in and the difference in mass decreases, it doesn’t seem to be such a huge deal for them anymore.
Dan Collins on April 3, 2012 at 11:09 am said:
Police already put him at 160 lbs, Zimmerman at around 180.
CW on April 6, 2012 at 4:49 pm said:
YOU SOUND LIKE A BIG FOOL …TRAYVON WAS A 17 YO TEENAGER,,,,ZIMMERMAN WAS A 28 YO RACIST…..SIZE MEANS NOTHING WHEN ONE HAS A 9MM…SO STOP TALKING STUPID….THATS WHY COPS CARRY GUNS IT MAKES THEM HAVE THE POWER……ZIMM WENT BLACK MAN HUNTING WITH A 9MM….HES A RACIST IF YOU APROACH ME ILL FIGHT TO TRAYVON HAD TO DEFEND HIS SELF AGAINST ,,,BEING HUNTED BY A WHITE RACIST PREDITOR,,,THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER GOTTEN OUT OF THE TRUCK…..A REAL WANNA BE ROBO COP….HE LIED THE SCREAMING IN THE BACK GROUND IS NOT HIS….AS HE HAS LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING…TO GET OUT…IF I BAG YOUR HEAD IN THE CEMENT …BELEIVE ME YOU WILL HAVE MORE THAN A FEW BIMBS…YOUR HEAD WOULD BE SPLIT OPEN …YOU ARE A FOOL AND SO IS THE EDITOR OF THIS REDICULOUS ARTICLE
Starless on April 6, 2012 at 6:55 pm said:
I think somebody forgot to take their Ritalin today.
jefferson101 on April 7, 2012 at 7:15 am said:
Illustrative of the whole problem, though. It would seem that the mindset is that if they don’t like the way you are walking down the street, they can jump on you and start whacking your head on the concrete. Because of the raaaaacism!
Don’t tell them, but some of us would never think of carrying a 9mm Parabellum around. 45ACP makes much bigger holes. Given the level of stability some folks seem to have, I’m beginning to wish they made a .46.
Starless on April 7, 2012 at 7:43 am said:
Or, if they don’t like the way you are talking, they can scream at you incoherently and try to rhetorically whack your head on the concrete.
I’d like to note FTR that this is the second time I’ve been called a variant of “stupid” by a transient commenter on this site. I must be doing something right.
Ryan on April 7, 2012 at 1:14 pm said:
Checking my head for bimbs at the moment…