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Lowell Observatory Pushes To Name an Asteroid "Trayvon"
Flash Modin writes "The observatory where Pluto was discovered is pushing to name an asteroid after a black teenager killed in a controversial confrontation in Florida last year. William Lowell Putnam III says his family has identified with the cause of African American rights, and thus an asteroid named after Trayvon Martin is perfectly appropriate. Putnam is the sole trustee of the observatory, which was founded by Percival Lowell during his search for canals on Mars. Astronomers at the observatory discovered the asteroid in 2000, but it has not been formally named. Putnam has already asked the Minor Planet Center once to designate the asteroid 'Trayvon,' but they told him the designation was 'premature.' Now that there's been a verdict, the observatory is reapplying in hopes the naming body will see things different."
injecting stupid political games into space has got to be a new low in astronomy
I don't really think naming celestial bodies after victims is a good idea.
Astronomers usually want to inspire hope, and looking up at things named after victims just doesn't seem right.
The other side of the coin
Trayvon Martin referred to his intended victim with the racists epithet, 'Creepy-Ass Cracker' before attacking him. George Zimmerman defended himself from the racist. Trayvon died because he was a racist thug on drugs.
Zimmerman should of laid down and taken his beating - cause that's what "keeping it real" means.
(I donated to zimmerman, because that could of been me)
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
Putting aside the fact that Martin was a racist thug who got killed by someone in self defense...and that merely bringing his name and media/court situation up he was involved in that is currently still getting people across the country all pissed off at each other if its even discussed...and that this is probably just an attention-whore publicity act...and that I doubt he had much to do in the field of the sciences...what was I talking about? Oh, yeah let's name an asteroid after him. Whatever.
"William Lowell Putnam III says his family has identified with the cause of African American rights, and thus an asteroid named after Trayvon Martin is perfectly appropriate."
So a teenager whom a jury said was shot in self-defense (or there was no convincing evidence otherwise) is perfectly appropriate? Might as well name the asteroid "Al Sharpton".
How about a black scientist, like George Washington Carver? Or Mae Jemison or Guion Bluford, since this is space and asteroids we're talking about? Maybe a Rosa or a Frederick or a W.E.B. might have done a thing or two for civil rights and African Americans?
“As I see it, the social fairness showed to Trayvon Martin was very sadly lacking.”
Oh, I don't know, dominating the cable news cycle for months on end, hundreds of thousands of people taking selfies wearing hoodies and national black leaders/celebrities calling for a Double Jeopardy trial and/or punishment for George Zimmerman seems to show some kind of social backing.
Why don't we start enshrining every person that gets shot in a bar fight next?
Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
I might be wrong, but I don't think Zimmerman even knew what race Trayvon Martin was before Martin jumped him.
Whatever might be said of Zimmerman, he didn't follow the kid because he was black. People made poor choices and somebody paid with their life. It's a tragedy, but to turn it into a race issue does a tremendous disservice to all the great people who have worked hard and sacrificed so much to advance civil rights in this country.
Funny how the recordings don't seem to indicate that.
Checking the transcript, it seems Zimmerman identified him as "looks black" - nonetheless, I believe the testimony was that he didn't know Martin's race when he started following him. He only knew for sure when Martin turned to confront him the first time as he was on the phone with the dispatcher.
If a white/black/asian/polka dot guy is trying to cause me or my family bodily harm in a fit of rage? Yeah, I don't care if he's got a gun or not. I'm going to shoot the piece of shit. Multiple times. And I don't what laws you try to get passed to try and stop me.
Once you initiate physical force against me and make me think you aren't stopping you are a threat to my life and therefore...... a subhuman meat sack that needs to leak as much as possible in a short period of time.
I don't have to allow myself to be beaten, raped, robbed or killed so you can feel better. F**k you. I have the right to bear arms. And I'll do so. Attack me at your own peril.
Regardless of the details of the case itself, it's pretty clear that Martin was a racist (he used racial insults against Caucasians). He does not deserve to have an asteroid named after him, and if the civil rights movement picks him as a symbol, it will only hurt their cause.
Your macho, thug tirade just convinced me to donate to zimmerman *again*.
If every thug who ever ambushes a stranger and does the "ground and pound" dance gets shot and killed, the world will be a better place.
What kind of bullshit sensationalist tripe are you spewing?
Trayvon was not a woman. He was an insolent gang-banger wannabe that tried to kill George Zimmerman.
How about this:
When a black man is beating a non-black and smashing their head into the ground, non-blacks can only say 'please sir can I have another'. Go f*ck yourself.
The post isn't scapegoating anybody but stating facts.
By 2012, more debt was added during Obama's presidency than both of W's terms.
Obama promised to end both wars and close Guantanamo. None of those happened.
Obama signed the warrantless wiretap extension in 2012 after claiming he would end the practice in 2008.
His presidency has seen programs like PRISM vastly expanded beyond what W started.
Lastly, the saber rattling and threats of military strikes against Syria is clearly happening during his presidency.
Wait, what?
Trayvon Martin was literally beating Zimmerman to death. Any hit of Zimmerman's head to the pavement--witnessed by one of the prosecution's witnesses--could have been his last moment alive, without Trayvon even needing to find the gun to use against him.
The fact that you are too stupid or ignorant to recognize that is obvious in the fact that you missed the_Bionic_lemming's point: if Zimmerman did not act, then he would be dead or badly injured by a thug or "bully", completely regardless of the thug's race, gender, sexual orientation, or anything else that you want to associate with the shooting.
After all, who else is going to "ground pound" someone for following them in their neighborhood? Oh, I know: a bully.
Here's to hoping that it's not the_Bionic_lemming that is beaten into some form of social enlightment...
So exactly what African American rights is it that William Lowell Putnam III says his family has identified with, and why are they any different than the rights any other person living in the US has? Is it the right to beat up someone because you find them creepy?? To pummel someone just because you think they are following you, even though they haven't made any overtly threatening moves? Simple because someone is a racist and thinks that if a light skinned person is following them the 'crackah' must be up to no good??
.. name your asteroid Trayvon. It will still be an insignificant speck of dust in the universe. Kind of fitting really ... an insignificant asteroid named for someone that tried to kill someone else. That if he had lived could very well be in jail by now.
Or is it some other made-up rights that I'm not aware of???
It's only controversial to those that tried their best to turn it into a race thing instead of a self-defense thing. The racists that forced Florida to have a wasted trial with no real evidence for the prosecution just to appease so many racists. Those that want to ignore the evidence presented in court and play 'what if' games that don't use any facts at all but assumptions made my people who weren't even there.
Go ahead
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
Holy fuck a court of law enforcing the law based on the laws! Where are we people? This is the United States of America, we stand for mob justice and only caring about rights when we feel like it. We need to go to war with Florida to show them that in this country, we take acting like a stupid fuck and talking about shit that we know nothing about seriously.
Anyway, SYG was never mentioned, it was pure self defense. The worthless thug attacked first and wouldn't have let the fat one withdraw even if he had wanted too. Jump to the end: scum ended up dead. The only tragedy here was the fact that the black community cares nothing for justice and only wants to throw a fit and stage stupid walks.
some mouth breathing moron thinks he has a right to walk around with a gun
He does. Someone should re-read the constitution, and the law in florida. Just because YOU have contempt for your rights, doesnt mean the courts do.
play cop
He WAS on the neighborhood watch in an area which had suffered a rash of break ins. Come on, this was widely reported.
innocent civilians
Yes, heres the thing, a jury found that Martin WASNT innocent, and that there was grounds for a plea of self-defense. That, too is a right that citizens have.
laws that somehow support this disgusting behavior
Most societies that you would want to live in have both an adversarial court system, and a defense for killing on the grounds of self-defense. Thank goodness that is the case here. What laws, specifically are you thinking of-- hopefully not the "stand your ground" law which had absolutely no relevance to the case?
stand your ground laws, carry/ conceal laws: they have to go
Ah, yes, you were, which indicates you were successfully distracted by the media in a discussion on irrelevant laws. Look through the court transcripts and see if "stand your ground" had any relevance: You will find it did not. The issue at stake was whether Zimmerman was justified in killing Martin in self-defense.
You seem to have bought into the race-card-Zimmerman-was-a-racist story that was spun up by the media, so I really suggest you go back and look at the facts, not the op-eds and commentary that was spun up around the whole issue. The amount of bias that came out in this whole ordeal was astounding, from the doctored recordings, to the doctored photos, to the claims that Zimmerman was white, to the claims that white-on-black violence is anywhere near common (in reality, 80+% of violence is intra-racial-- white-on-white, black-on-black, etc).
I feel like we're sinking deeper each and every time I find myself saying "We have just reached a new low in stupidity."
Trying to name an asteroid after Martin is an overt political act that has no place in the naming of such bodies. It's absurd and wrong.
Smartphone ownership is UP
Violent crime is DOWN.
Cat videos on Youtube are UP
Violent crime is DOWN.
Justin Beiber album sales are UP
Violent crime is DOWN.
Google it yourself.
Pretty simple. Looking for a rough correlation in two variables in one country is almost meaningless.
I stole this Sig