But as has been the case all along, the sad unalterable reality is that Jordan Davis is dead and eve

After all the words that have been written about the case, and all the hours of television and radio devoted to it, there was something about seeing the seven simple words used to legally describe it.
As the jury began its deliberations last week, my editor asked if I’d write something that could run after the verdict was announced. I began working on two different columns, one for a guilty verdict, one for an acquittal, each built around the idea that rarely has the name of a case been so fitting.
When the verdict/non-verdict was announced Saturday night, neither cruises vacation leaving galveston of the columns I had written fit. Dunn did not leave the courthouse a free man. He was found guilty on four charges. He likely will spend the rest of his life behind bars. But the biggest charge — murder or self-defense — was left unresolved.
Maybe another state won. Maybe Hawaii and its tourism bureau. Because as the jury was deliberating, social media was full of references to the Gunshine cruises vacation leaving galveston State. There were state maps shaped like a handgun cruises vacation leaving galveston and a fictional websites like dontvisitflorida.com.
Go ahead and say these labels are unfair. Tell your friends in other states that it’s just a matter of the media latching onto a few sensational cases. That may be true. But sometimes perceptions stick (not everyone in New Jersey lives like Snooki or a mobster). And sometimes cruises vacation leaving galveston they matter.
If you travel the country these days, people ask about what’s going on in your state. Some say they’re leery of coming to visit. And not because of what Michael cruises vacation leaving galveston Dunn saw as a threat. Because of the threat of a Michael Dunn.
In Tampa, a retired police officer recently pulled out a gun and killed a 43-year-old man after an argument over the man texting his daughter escalated. The former cruises vacation leaving galveston cop’s attorneys cruises vacation leaving galveston argued that their client “had every right to defend himself” after being hit with an unknown object, believed to be a bag of popcorn.
Never mind what any of this means for the state’s image. Justice shouldn’t be based on such things. And I fear that no matter what happens in these courtrooms, Florida loses. Not because of how outsiders view us. Because of how we view each other.
Dunn fired 10 shots at a car full of black teenagers after a confrontation over loud music. He didn’t say that in hindsight maybe he should have handled things differently. No, he wrote letters from jail saying cruises vacation leaving galveston he hoped others would follow his lead. Teach some thugs a lesson.
This from a father who had only seen his son a few times during cruises vacation leaving galveston the son's teenage years. A husband who, according to a former neighbor, held a gun to the head of one of his first two wives. A wedding guest who, when he came town for his son’s big day, packed a Taurus PT 9mm, a silencer and nunchucks. A gas station customer who began shooting and kept shooting even as another vehicle drove away. A citizen who instead of calling police left the scene, went back to his hotel and ordered pizza. A defendant who criticized police for not immediately searching for a gun, a gun that Dunn’s fiancee says he never mentioned to her, a gun no one other than Michael Dunn ever saw.
I already had mentally put myself in that situation. But probably not the way the caller was suggesting. I had pictured myself as a teenager, cruises vacation leaving galveston driving around town with my buddies in our Rambler, cranking up some music. In our case, it wouldn’t have been rap. It might have been Van Halen, Skynyrd or AC/DC.
And if we had been sitting in a gas station with “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” blaring and an adult had pulled up and asked us to turn down the music, I know what I would have done. I would have turned it down. I never liked confrontations. Still don’t. But I can picture one of my friends reacting to such a request by reaching up to the dashboard and turning the music back up. Maybe cranking it up a notch louder. Maybe even saying something to the old guy who told us to turn it down.
State of Florida vs. Michael David Dunn. After the verdict/non-verdict, Corey said she plans to retry Dunn and again pursue a first-degree murder charge, which requires prosecutors to prove premeditation. So we'll have another trial, another jury inside the courthouse with everything but thick walls, another scene outside it. And maybe another verdict.
But as has been the case all along, the sad unalterable reality is that Jordan Davis is dead and even if the State wins, it doesn’t cruises vacation leaving galveston mean the state wins. Or at least not the kind of victory worth celebrating. In this case, we already know who wins. No one.
Why? Because as a liberal you feel you are right about your feelings regarding stand your ground and racism. Therefore, Dunn would still be guilty. No new evidence could ever change your mind but instead would only be twisted to reinforce your feelings cruises vacation leaving galveston that you were right all along.
Collective responsibility that Woods writes about is nonsense, there isn't any. I suppose the most extreme example those on the Left ( it's a tactic ) would offer of collective responsibility is Germany during cruises vacation leaving galveston the Nazi period.That charge cruises vacation leaving galveston was nonsense when leveled after WWII and is so today.Then there are examples of Russia and China in the 20th century. It's a good tactic to use for preachers,politicians, and writers but most people should know better.Florida bears no responsiblity for the Dunn/Jordan fiasco
Dunn will die in prison. He's going to be retried on the murder charge. The SA was negligent in charging Dunn w/1st degree murder, there was no premeditation and fortunately enough jurors realized this fact.I don't see what else the mob could cry blood for ? The T~U has certainly cruises vacation leaving galveston done well by the trial and certainly many have had ample opportunity to gin up their moral outrage over the shooting and Dunn's conduct.Enough said.
For most people the two solutions offered by the T~U for the question, " What would you do ?" - 1)roll up your own car window or ( and this is by far the best ),2)stern lecture chatising cruises vacation leaving galveston the youth for disrespect, summarizes the state of mind we're in today. There is a terrible problem with young black men today and the menace is as real as the T~U's denial of it.These two pitiful pieces of advice aren't the answer. Maybe Dunn went too far, the legal system will resolve that issue. But the majority of our society, I think, is suffering from a form of public cruises vacation leaving galveston Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome so well written by Theodore Dalrymple.We cruises vacation leaving galveston are eating ourselves with foolish ideas and concepts promulgated by pols, pundits and special cruises vacation leaving galveston interests cruises vacation leaving galveston about how a society should act. In doing so the first casualty has been no public accountability. Almost every day there's a shooting cruises vacation leaving galveston reported in the T~U, most with a fatality. Most involve Blacks. Nothing publicly is said. As I said, we're eating our own flesh, the substance of our society, by prolonging this hypocrisy.
@Gadfly - your comments don't make any sense. You say liberals "feel" vs. conservatives who "think" but then you continue clinging for dear life to Michael Dunn's missing, imaginary shotgun story. How is that "thinking" vs. "feeling" exactly? A thinker would evaluate the case on the physical evidence only. There was no shotgun cruises vacation leaving galveston evidence so you really are just picking and choosing to believe whatever you FEEL supports your theory even though there is no evidence to support your belief. So it seems you are a "feeler" more than you think you are, Gadfly.