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t was late afternoon. I was puzzling through life as an unemployed person. I swam for an hour and felt good. Is this what life could be like? I was uncertain about that and both giddy and apprehensive. Jon-without-an-H texted me while I was working on a pro-bono project that had me quite animated.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou going to be at Willow?\u201d I read on the Android.<\/p>\n
\u201cC U 2nite\u201d I poked back.<\/p>\n
I had no idea it was possible to be so busy while not doing anything particularly relevant to wealth creation, and that was how I found myself spending money I was not completely sure I could replace. It was unsettling to think that I was at the high water mark, and everything from here was going to result in taking things out of the rainy day fund.<\/p>\n
Considering the amount of rain we have had this month, that may not bode well.<\/p>\n
The feeling gave the Happy Hour White at the Willow Bar a little extra zing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Ramadan in the morning,\u201d I said. \u201cBetter drink up. Taliban might be watching, and who knows whether Arlington County is going to start observing Sharia Law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo shit,\u201d responded Jon-without. Actually, we may not have to differentiate any longer, since John-with-an-H got so famously outraged with Old Jim that he decamped the Willow bar, possibly never to return.<\/p>\n
At the time, Jim shrugged. Perhaps we should have noted the sundering of the bar-room social fabric at the time. Perhaps it doesn\u2019t mean anything, but I liked John-with, and still do, even if I don\u2019t see him again.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you watch any of the Zimmerman trial?\u201d asked Jon-without.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just sampled it. The Prosecution didn\u2019t seem to have much punch in their closing statement. They must be playing for manslaughter since they won\u2019t get Murder 2.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sick of the whole thing,\u201d I said. \u201cThis is not about justice or the law. It is a microcosm of everything else going on. The crisis in the lower middle class, for example. If shmucks like Zimmerman could move away, they would have and this never would have happened. They are stuck in a social situation that the cops can\u2019t control, and besides, that isn\u2019t their job anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, what is their job?\u201d
\n\u201cProtecting themselves and cleaning up after something happens. Remember that saying? \u2018When seconds count the police are only minutes away.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you think is going to happen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. I guess it will depend on how the jury takes the defense summation. There seems to be plenty of room for uncertainty, and the State has to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means they can\u2019t get Murder Two>\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely. But then they threw the option to convict for manslaughter, which the jury might see as a compromise. The judge could still throw the book at the Z-man. Thirty years, maybe. Which is sort of awkward if he was defending himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you think they know just how divisive this has all been?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the sequestration of the jury, you would have had to have been on the moon not to know how worked up people have been over the racial issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe media sure seems to have worked overtime to get everyone stirred up over this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey sure have. There is a ton of violence in every city, though the numbers are down. It is still horrific, but it doesn\u2019t fit the agreed narrative.\u201d I lowered the level of wine in my glass. \u201cPart of it is regional. The media reports things based on where they live. Most places in the Northeast have laws that say your legal obligation is to retreat when threatened, so that seems logical to them and they report the story that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that the whole stand-your-ground thing?\u201d<\/p>\n
I nodded as Tex the big ex-Marine came down the bar to see how we were doing. \u201cPrecisely,\u201d he said, firmly. \u201cIn states like Florida, you have no obligation to retreat when confronted by some who is going to possibly deadly force against you. You can defend yourself anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is sort of crazy,\u201d mused Jon-without. \u201cI mean, it seems like the only one to tell the story is the person who shot first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is pretty clear that if you discharge a firearm in public, you are going to get arrested. But I would rather be judged by twelve than carried by six,\u201d I said, taking a modest sip of wine. \u201cVirginia is a stand-your-ground state, but they have not implemented the statute. I have to learn to drink slower, given my reduced circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI sympathize with your position. Let me buy you a drink. I don\u2019t think I am going to get laid off until next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou might learn to like it,\u201d I said. But of course, you are not an ancient old fart like me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tex took care of us, and upgraded us to hi-test for the one for the ditch. \u201cTravel safely gentlemen,\u201d he said gravely.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the only way to go, Tex.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jon-without raised his balloon glass filled halfway up with dark brown liquid. \u201cL’Chayim,\u201d he said, as we clinked glasses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIns\u2019hallah,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/image5-203x300.jpg\")
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Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
\nwww.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
t was late afternoon. I was puzzling through life as an unemployed person. I swam for an hour and felt good. Is this what life could be like? I was uncertain about that and both giddy and apprehensive. Jon-without-an-H texted me while I was working on a pro-bono project that had me quite animated. \u201cYou […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5709"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5715,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5709\/revisions\/5715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}