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Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Monday yet again…gaaaaaaaah!!1!icky!

Hope the SoCal and TX contingents haven’t melted and are doing okay this morning.

K8-E --

It sucks your prospective clients just blew you off; I don’t understand folks who do that sans emergencies.

Mac --

The thread GIF made me smile; guess it appealed to my “bad gerbil” tendencies. 😉

============

While skimming news links this morning, I kept imagining Don LaFontaine (Movie Trailer Guy) saying, “In a world gone mad….”

Just Sven
Editor
11 years ago

Good morning!

Slightly cooler today out here, but a lot more muggy. No fires, and after the tragedy in AZ, that’s a good thing.

Been watching some of the Zimmerman trial coverage this morning. I noticed that George Zimmerman is left-handed; this from watching him take notes during testimony. The night he shot and killed Trayvon Martin, he was carrying his pistol on his right side or hip in an inside-the-waistband holster. That raises some questions for me:

1. I assume that he fired the shot that killed Martin with his right hand, which I assume was his non-dominant hand. Or is is possible that he writes left and shoots right?

2. If he shoots left-handed, why would he carry his pistol on his right side?

3. If you carry concealed, and even if you were left-handed, would it make sense to carry it, while driving, on your right side and away from the driver’s side door?

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  Just Sven

My $0.02:

1) I’m left-handed -- and footed -- but shoot long guns (as well as putt and bat) right-handed. I think that’s all from having been taught to bat right-handed as a very young kid. I lean toward using my left hand for handguns but am also fairly comfortable using my right hand (although I have to remember to switch eyes…).

2) Perhaps he’s more comfortable cross-drawing and/or simply prefers wearing his gun on the right. (I prefer having my cell holster on my right to avoid feeling as though my dominant hand/arm is impeded by teh phone.)

3) Good question; don’t have the personal experience for a considered response.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  Mac

Since my left eye’s also dominant, I suspect I’ll never be quite as proficient right-handed…but when you’re left-handed, the tendency is to become fairly ambidextrous because so many day-to-day tasks are oriented toward “righties”.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Heya, Mac!

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  Mac

Yup…hee!

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  Mac

Me, too.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Mac --

How are you guys holding-up with teh hot weather?

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  Mac

Hope that whatever’s going on with Elena’s family isn’t too serious.

And that your AC functions better than ours. 😉

We’re planning to replace our entire HVAC system by next Spring. And we’ll be needing a new roof in the next 24 months, too. (I’m surprised teh original three-tab shingles have held up as long as they have…and glad that our roof is well-sloped.)

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
11 years ago

Echoing Fatwa’s sentiments about Elena’s family.

Fatwa -- too bad you don’t have any roofing resources in Georgia (we’re going to have to replace ours in the not-so-distant future and I’m not looking forward to it).

Just Sven
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  Mac

Sorry to hear about the troubles with Elena’s family, Mac. Thoughts and prayers.

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
11 years ago

Good morning/afternoon, Gerbil Nation!
As Sven said, the temperature is down, which is good, but the humidity is up, which isn’t. Going to try to get some things done that I didn’t get to last week -- paperwork, phone calls, cleaning things up, etc.

Thanks for the thread pic, Mac. A good choice for a Monday.

Just Sven
Editor
11 years ago

Thanks for the responses, guys. I’ve never carried concealed and my experience even with a holstered weapon is pretty limited.

This whole case is a fiasco. Unless there is some blockbuster witness for the prosecution, I can’t see a conviction.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Paddy --

What sort of roof do you have?

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
11 years ago

Architectural shingle over a shake roof. So that means tear-off of both roofs and installation of plywood decking.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

It does indeed.

If you weren’t quite so far south of teh SFV (and if gas prices weren’t so high out there…)

Resser-fresser.

Just Sven
Editor
11 years ago

The lesson I’m taking home from the Zimmerman case? Avoid talking to the police and if I have to, do it with my lawyer present.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  Just Sven

Sven --

That’s always good advice. Especially because anything you say (or which the cops claim you said) can and absolutely will be used against you.

Remember…it is not your job to make the cops’ job easier.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Addendum(b) --

All interactions with LEOs should also be (at least) audio documented wherever it’s legal to do so.

(I was pleased to learn that my Bluetooth headset works with the audio recorder in my phone.)

Just Sven
Editor
11 years ago

Which is a very sad state of affairs. But there you go….

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  Just Sven

They’ve nobody to blame but themselves, along with slimeball prosecutors and judges.

Just Sven
Editor
11 years ago

Andrew Branca has been doing the bulk of the work reporting and commenting on the Zimmerman case over at Legal Insurrection. In a thread over the weekend (http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/06/zimmerman-trial-open-comment-forum-weekend-wrap-up/comment-page-1/#comments) he made this comment :

“Saying nothing to police until you’ve spoken to your lawyer is good advice for people who are really not very bright–too much foolish talk can certainly get a person in a great deal of trouble. The police are there to investigate a potential crime, not to salve your trauma. Having said that, anyone of reasonable intelligence can, and should, take a much more sophisticated approach to interacting with the police following a defensive force incident.”

My thought was: Yeah, it’s worked out real well for George Zimmerman. Branca followed it up with:

“I think the idea of saying absolutely nothing except “I want my lawyer” is silly and harmful because it prevents the preservation of evidence that may be essential to your claim of self-defense, and implicit in the claim of self-defense is the admission that you, indeed, committed the act of force against another so stating that fact would have been necessary under any circumstances at some point in the process. Going so far as not identifying yourself to officers at the scene as the user of force would like qualify as consciousness of guilt evidence, and if you’re going to have to do that anyway what harm can come from adding–”because I was in fear for my life.”

“I wouldn’t say a word beyond that scope-I’m the guy, I was in fear for my life, that over there is evidence, those people over there are witnesses, happy to talk more after legal counsel–until I had competent counsel present.”

It’s an interesting discussion.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  Just Sven

That’s probably about right for a shooting…but nothing beyond that.