Trayvon Martin Investigation-By-Media Devolves Into Victim Blaming

Predictably, the tragic shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin has turned into another round of "What did the victim do to cause his own death?" instead of "Why is George Zimmerman acting as a vigilante, sentencing a kid he stalked to death because of possibly winding up on the losing end of a fist fight Zimmerman instigated?"

It's disappointing, but ... alas, not surprising.

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President Obama Sees Own Children When Thinking of Trayvon Martin

President Barack Obama talks on the phone with British Prime Minister David Cameron in the Oval Office, Feb. 13, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)President Obama gave a statement Friday regarding the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, saying that we all need to come together in a tragedy like this.

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No Apologies: On The Killing of Trayvon Martin And Being "Good"

In the tragic murder of Trayvon Martin, there's no safe place. There's no real excuse to cling to. None of the usual dismissals work or fit. It's just bad. Real bad. And sits there and stares at you with it's cruelty and unfairness and ugliness and says, "Take this."

Take this load. And pick it up.

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Penn State Child Rape Case Brings Out Worst In Sports Idolatry

I spent most of this week avoiding reading and writing about what was going on at Penn State because all I could likely add to the conversation would be a long string of curse words. A tale of how no one likes to be proven right about the more disgusting side of the human condition. The truth that some people will do anything for a win.

Even overlook the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.

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Troy Davis Is Probably Going To Die Today

After appeals and the recanting of testimony from witnesses, as well as the pleas from various human rights groups like Amnesty International and the NAACP, the State of Georgia seems determined to put to Troy Davis to death. Davis was imprisoned for killing an off-duty police officer in 1989.

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How Peoria, Ill. Got Caught In Matt Drudge's "Race War"

The Drudge Report is prone to hyperbole. It was birthed on it. Exaggeration and obfuscation with splashy headlines and duplicitous links are just part of the hype machine that has propelled the site since its early days in the 90s, keeping tabs on then President Bill Clinton's sexual habits. Despite the reputation, though, he can still shock, such as when Peoria, Ill. made the front page of Drudge last Friday due to blog reports of roving gangs of violent black youths shouting "kill all the whites." The city and its residents had no idea what kind of hype machine they were getting tossed into.

More after the jump.

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Thieves Flippin' "Hot" Stolen Hair Like Bootlegs

Back in the day they would rob the salon's cash register. Now thieves go straight for the hair, according to the New York Times' latest crime trend story. Because with some Indian Remy costing as much as $200 per package, stealing it means you can undercut hair salons and wig shops by selling the hot hair for cheap on eBay and out of car trunks for profit. But of course, some folks have gotten violent in their pursuit of hair, from a teenage girl pepper spraying a stylist to make off with the weave to a salon owner being murdered in a hair heist. 

More after the jump.

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Backpack Bomb left on MLK Day Parade Route

The FBI released this photo of the Swiss Army backpack and the two T-shirts that were inside of it along with an "improvised explosive devise." The FBI is investigating a bomb left in the path of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Spokane, Wash. City workers spotted the bomb Monday inside an abandoned backpack an hour before the parade started. Authorities said the bomb was "capable of inflicting multiple casualties" and a case of "domestic terrorism." Frank Harrill of the Spokane FBI office said, "Clearly, there was some political or social agenda here." There are fears that the bombing attempt may have been racially motivated, with Spokane and northern Idaho's history as being a hot-bed for white supremacists and violent anti-government activists. (AP via Yahoo, MSNBC)

Giffords Shooting Is Symptom of Uncomfortable Reality

In a disturbing start to a new session of Congress, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was shot in the head at a voter meet-n-greet outside a Safeway grocery store in Arizona. Six others were killed in the insuing melee, including a federal judge, John M. Roll, and a 9-year-old girl, Christina Taylor-Green, who came to the event with neighbors. She'd just been elected to her student coucil and the neighbor thought meeting Giffords would continue to fuel the young girl's interest in politics.

As in any tragedy, a lot of finger pointing has gone around in search of a cause. But the more and more I read about the man accused of attempting to assassinate Giffords (she is currently recovering in a medically induced coma from a shot to the head), the more and more this sounds like a case of a distrubed person who had too easy of access to an automatic weapon and not enough access to care for his worsening mental conditions.

More after the jump.

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