Trayvon Martin case: use of Stand Your Ground law or pursuit of a black teen?

[Razgovory]

Ever since it first debuted in September — the James O'Keefe video attacking ACORN, along with the community organizing group itself — has been unraveling. ACORN finally shuttered last month, and the video was ruled by a Brooklyn judge to be heavily edited to the point of being willfully misleading, and no charges were filed against the group. So just how edited was the film, in which it appeared that ACORN employees advised O'Keefe and his "prostitute" friend on how he, as her pimp, could hide wages from the government?

Even though in portions of the video O'Keefe appears dressed as a pimp, full-length tape obtained by the California Attorney General's Office (in exchange for immunity from privacy-violation charges for O'Keefe, who taped ACORN employees without their knowledge) shows that he not only did not dress that way at the ACORN offices, he never even claimed to be a pimp. From a press release from the office of California Attorney General Edmund Brown:


Videotapes secretly recorded last summer and severely edited by O'Keefe seemed to show ACORN employees encouraging a "pimp" (O'Keefe) and his "prostitute," actually a Florida college student named Hannah Giles, in conversations involving prostitution by underage girls, human trafficking and cheating on taxes. Those videos created a media sensation.

Evidence obtained by Brown tells a somewhat different story, however, as reflected in three videotapes made at ACORN locations in California. One ACORN worker in San Diego called the cops. Another ACORN worker in San Bernardino caught on to the scheme and played along with it, claiming among other things that she had murdered her abusive husband. Her two former husbands are alive and well, the Attorney General's report noted. At the beginning and end of the Internet videos, O'Keefe was dressed as a 1970s Superfly pimp, but in his actual taped sessions with ACORN workers, he was dressed in a shirt and tie, presented himself as a law student, and said he planned to use the prostitution proceeds to run for Congress. He never claimed he was a pimp.

"The evidence illustrates," Brown said, "that things are not always as partisan zealots portray them through highly selective editing of reality. Sometimes a fuller truth is found on the cutting room floor."

Oh, the old playing-along-with-a-gag mistake. Those ACORN employees should have known that doing that would not only get them fired, but would get their entire national organization shut down. Man.

Here is New Yorker Magazine article.  http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/03/damaging_brooklyn_acorn_sting.html

Here is Attorney general of California's office.

ideotapes secretly recorded last summer and severely edited by O'Keefe seemed to show ACORN employees encouraging a "pimp" (O'Keefe) and his "prostitute," actually a Florida college student named Hannah Giles, in conversations involving prostitution by underage girls, human trafficking and cheating on taxes. Those videos created a media sensation.

Evidence obtained by Brown tells a somewhat different story, however, as reflected in three videotapes made at ACORN locations in California. One ACORN worker in San Diego called the cops. Another ACORN worker in San Bernardino caught on to the scheme and played along with it, claiming among other things that she had murdered her abusive husband. Her two former husbands are alive and well, the Attorney General's report noted. At the beginning and end of the Internet videos, O'Keefe was dressed as a 1970s Superfly pimp, but in his actual taped sessions with ACORN workers, he was dressed in a shirt and tie, presented himself as a law student, and said he planned to use the prostitution proceeds to run for Congress. He never claimed he was a pimp.

http://oag.ca.gov/news/press_release?id=1888

Is this sufficient, Yi?  Can we move on?

[Eddie Teach]

and said he planned to use the prostitution proceeds to run for Congress. He never claimed he was a pimp.

So how exactly is he getting money off other people's prostitution if he's not a pimp? 

[Razgovory]

and said he planned to use the prostitution proceeds to run for Congress. He never claimed he was a pimp.

So how exactly is he getting money off other people's prostitution if he's not a pimp? 
[/quote]

Being a lawyer?

[Eddie Teach]

A lawyer who manages prostitutes and takes their money for it is still a pimp.

[sbr]

@ everything

[Admiral Yi]

Filiming an opening and closing in Superfly gear then changing to suit and tie for the meeting is misleading in my book and something that I did not know.

As Pedro already mentioned, asking about opening a brothel but not expressly using the word pimp is utterly meaningless.

[Razgovory]

A lawyer who manages prostitutes and takes their money for it is still a pimp.

Lawyers are magical creatures that don't live by the same rules as the rest of us.  Still it's irrelevant.

[Razgovory]

Filiming an opening and closing in Superfly gear then changing to suit and tie for the meeting is misleading in my book and something that I did not know.

As Pedro already mentioned, asking about opening a brothel but not expressly using the word pimp is utterly meaningless.

That's still irrelevant.  I was only meaning to prove that the tapes were edited.  Which I think I did.  Is SPEESH still BUSTED?

[Admiral Yi]

That's still irrelevant.  I was only meaning to prove that the tapes were edited.  Which I think I did.  Is SPEESH still BUSTED?

It's common knowledge that the tapes were edited.  The question is whether they were edited in such a way as to lead viewers to a false conclusion (as the Sherrod tapes were).  I think they still show ACORN staff giving advice to a man on how to operate a brothel.  The effect is diminished by the knowledge that the dude was not wearing a fur cape, but doesn't totally negate the actions of the staff.

[Razgovory]

Perhaps not, but no charges were filed.  More was edited then just the ending and beginning.  Compare this to MSNBC editing out one statement which so upset Derspeiss.  They are both edited to give false impressions.  Why is one okay and not the other?

[MadBurgerMaker]

Soooooo what's goin on in here?

[derspiess]

I cannot tell you how upset I am.

[Admiral Yi]

Hey Speesh, how do you feel about editing in the pimp and ho montage at the beginning and ending?

[derspiess]

Hey Speesh, how do you feel about editing in the pimp and ho montage at the beginning and ending?

A little misleading, I guess.  But not the hoax of the century.

[Caliga]

What happened to the girl from those videos?  IIRC she was pretty hot.