Facts are difficult to come by in the Trayvon Martin Case, and

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. An acquaintance of mine

who is, shall we say, a gun enthusiast, was going on about just the other day how Martin was an enormous kid and a "gang-banger" who got himself justifiably shot because he was beating the crap out of Zimmerman, and that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton should just STFU.

I pointed out that the discovery materials that had just been released (including the autopsy report) showed that Martin was 5"11" and 158 lbs. (not exactly enormous), and that his only injury other than the gunshot wound was a small abrasion on his left ring finger (not the knuckles), which is inconsistent with the results of beating the crap out of somebody. I also told him that Martin had no criminal record and had not been a member of a gang, and that his only known infraction was a suspension from his high school (where he was a good student with high grades) because he was found with an empty plastic bag that had apparently contained pot. I told him these were established facts, not the opinions of Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, and he should check it out himself, from a source other than Fox News.

*silence* Then...

"Well, I guess we're just going to have to wait for the results of the trial, I mean we really don't have all the facts yet, do we...?"

I said, we do have some of the facts. Check 'em out.

I guess folks don't always like facts unless they support what they already believed to be true.