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The Blaze, Site Founded By Glenn Beck, Insinuates That Slain Teen Trayvon Martin Was Troublemaker

The Huffington Post  |  By Gene Demby  |  Posted: 03/21/2012 4:13 pm Updated: 03/23/2012 9:25 am

An ugly story may be getting uglier.

The Blaze, a right-wing site started by Glenn Beck, has a post up insinuating that Trayvon Martin may have been a dangerous criminal.

Martin, who was black, was walking back to his father's house after a trip to the convenience store in Sanford, Fla. on February 26. George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch member who was identified by his father as Hispanic, called 911 and told the dispatchers that the teen "looked suspicious."

Despite being told by the dispatchers not to engage the teen, Zimmerman left his car and approached Martin. Neighbors called into 911 to report a scuffle, some cries for help, and gunshots. When police arrived, Zimmerman admitted to shooting Martin, who was unarmed, but claimed that he acted in self-defense. Zimmerman has not been arrested or charged, and the incident has attracted national attention.

“I can’t for the life of me understand how they can justify not making an arrest!” Sharpton said on a recent episode of his MSNBC show, "Politics Nation."

But Mytheos Holt, an associate editor at the Blaze, chided Sharpton "for being too willing to exploit racial controversy" and for dismissing claim of self-defense Zimmerman. Holt went further and criticized Trayvon Martin by insinuating that the slain teen was a troublemaker.

We’re also learning more about Trayvon Martin. According to reporters he had been suspended from school. The International Business Times says Martin’s suspension was due to last for 10 days. But what exactly was he suspended for in the first place? Sources sympathetic to Martin say he was suspended for “excessive tardiness.” However, a quick review of both the local policies for Martin’s school, the Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School, and of the Miami-Dade school district’s district-wide policies, raise some doubts.
Holt went on to enumerate the many infractions which can lead to a student being suspended in that school district — including theft, sexual harassment, vandalism or sex offenses. No reports have suggested that Martin was suspended for anything other than lateness. Holt did not explain in his post why he assumed that these hypothetical infractions were likely.

The sentiment that Martin was up to no good was echoed in the comments of the post, but they were less extreme than those found on the website of Fox News.

"GOOD SHOT ZIMMY. lol" wrote one commenter. "i’m just glad Zimmerman didnt miss and hit an innocent bystander," said another.

This is pure B.S I want to see the kids police record even if something is expounged also why was he removed from facebook it says account terminated.Why because his parents are trying to cover his tracks just like if you hit a bus they see Dollar signs.People have dragged data about Zimmerman out where is the kids past.Don’t say he was a good boy prove it.Ask yourself what is more likely to happen any 17 year old kid when you ask a question.A smartass reply I have never and I mean never seen a teenager run unless he did something wrong.I guess no crinimal has ever cased a place when they went to a store.It takes me aback the way all these facts are quoted by people who read one story on a issue.

The above comments were flagged by the blog LittleGreenFootballs.

Though the Martin case has become a major national news story, Fox News has dedicated relatively little airtime to covering it. As of Monday at noon, the network had aired just one segment on the case, compared to 41 segments on CNN and 13 on MSNBC.

FOLLOW BLACK VOICES

An ugly story may be getting uglier. The Blaze, a right-wing site started by Glenn Beck, has a post up insinuating that Trayvon Martin may have been a dangerous criminal. Martin, who was black, ...
An ugly story may be getting uglier. The Blaze, a right-wing site started by Glenn Beck, has a post up insinuating that Trayvon Martin may have been a dangerous criminal. Martin, who was black, ...
 
 
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10:45 AM on 10/06/2012
I know nobody will see this, but I have to say it. Glenn the Muse ....how can I say it with love, the Muse sucks. I was expecting something great since you indorse it, but I must say I had never heard of them before and now I know why. Their music is phony. To me it sounds like a comedian singing opera,or the woman Roseanne Barr ( sp) singing the Star Spangled Banner.
Come on Glenn I really like your show and agree with you totally in politics, but the Muse? Yes I listened to the lyrics. My opinion is not based on the lyrics but on the performance. I love you Buddy but please don't tell us too much of yourself. It frightens me to think what else you may be that far off about..I love your show
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emeraldcircle
Real talk. 2013. Believe that.
01:04 PM on 05/13/2012
"Despite being told by the dispatchers not to engage the teen, Zimmerman left his car and approached Martin." - Untrue.
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nitwitsRus
my udder username is...
08:15 PM on 05/12/2012
naugh
Glenn is pretty careful
with what he posts on The Blaze
he let his posters do the dirty work
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torgman3
1 man's Founding Father is another's slaveowner
02:03 AM on 05/03/2012
Why does Glenn's web site title sound like a dating service for transvestites?
03:14 AM on 07/28/2012
...actually it is.....glenn is NOT the hate-monger he is maid out 2 bee.....
06:21 PM on 04/17/2012
What side of the story do you expect? Glenn Beck has a racist network that exploits and airs racist comments! Who cares about how he thinks, about Trayvon Martin! Its not his child!!!!
07:13 PM on 03/31/2012
As a previous poster put it, Zimmerman put himself in harms way by unnecessarily pursuing the victim against the advice of the police. He instigated the confrontation--whether he meant well or not. His life was not placed in danger until he himself put himself in danger with ample opportunity to avoid it. I'm not saying he should rot in jail, but he made the wrong decision and took the law into his hands, and I think he should pay for it in some way.
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davidarnold
07:49 PM on 04/19/2012
What is the role of a neighborhood watch member? Just because he wasn't on duty. Should he have turned away from what could have been someone intending to do harm in the community?? I agree that he should not have persued Martin after the dispatcher told him not to. But because he did, did it give Martin the riight to attack him?? Since both were in a public place, both had the right to be there. Have you ever been walking and noticed someone following you for quite a while? Then discover that the person following you was going to the same store you were? If I attacked everyone who followed me for an unusually long time, the number would at least around twenty or so.
12:56 PM on 04/20/2012
Well, I can say that the role of neighborhood watchman does not include carrying a loaded weapon and following and apprehending suspicious people. Their role is to "watch" and report. Zimmerman took this role far too seriously and his actions resulted in a death. We don't know that Martin attacked him. We do know however, that Martin is now dead. Being followed at night, on the way home is different than being followed into a store in broad daylight.
03:31 AM on 03/29/2012
HuffPost sucks
07:14 PM on 03/28/2012
You are so ridiculous. Too bad you have no idea at all what you're talking about. You obviously haven't heard what Glenn has said about this story, and there is some evidence that Trayvon has been in trouble. Glenn and everyone at The Blaze still says that his character in itself doesn't matter in this situation. If the story, using actual facts not speculation, shows that George Zimmerman did this the way we've heard he did, then he should face the full force of the law. Beck's producer said if he did this the way we've heard, he should face the death penalty. No one wants to go after the victim, but he was no angel. So come one, get real. Grow up and learn what they're really saying at The Blaze and what Glenn Beck himself is saying before you become so smarmy. You obviously have now idea what you're talking about. That's whats wrong here. I at least look at both sides and gather as many facts as I can. I don't think you can say the same.
08:15 PM on 04/25/2012
It doesn't matter what crimes Trayvon had committed, whether or not he was on drugs, a drug dealer, kicked out of school, in school, white, black, smart, dumb; his life was taken unnecessarily. Zimmerman was told not to proceed. Trayvon was shot just minutes before the police arrived as proven by 911 calls. Zimmerman's wounds were not life threatening. He didn't require any medical attention. He "knew" help was on it's way. He should have waited for backup. He did not have to kill Trayvon. Zimmerman literally ran down Trayvon - Trayvon was the victim from the beginning to the end!! No one can you tell a person's criminal history just by looking at them? If Zimmerman could determine Trayvon's criminal history just by looking at him; in the rain with a hoodie over his head and determined that he was violent - that was all the more reason he should have waited for assistance. The truth is; we cannot judge an individual's personality by looking at them. Trayvon was crying for help not Zimmerman as he lied and said he was. PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES - PRAISE GOD!! Brainwashing has finally become OBSOLETE!! AGAIN, PRAISE GOD!! Let the truth and righteousness prevail throughout this wonderful land of ours - the USA!!
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Marian Yates
08:24 PM on 03/27/2012
George Zimmerman, Son of a Retired Judge, Has 3 Closed Arrests
Did George Zimmerman have help from his father, a retired judge, in clearing his name in three separate arrests?
06:37 PM on 03/26/2012
FYI, the Facebook pictures were not troublesome at all. They showed a teenager goofing around. He had grills in his teeth, yeah, but it was not menacing. Further, the pic of him standing and giving two middle fingers, well teenagers of all races post pics like that. I did not see any pics of his tattoos, however, as was mentioned on other sites.

All in all, the pictures people are making "raising issues" over, is very much about nothing.
04:35 PM on 03/26/2012
The problem, one of many as I see it with the "don't back down law" is what if Trayvon wasn't backing down and because of that he was killed ? Zimmerman is using the defense because he had the gun, and he was the one who used it, but switch it up. What if Trayvon got a hold of the gun and used it to kill Zimmerman ? Could he then claim justifiable homicide as self-defense ? Zimmerman wasn't a trained police officer, he wasn't in a police car, and he wasn't in a uniform, why would Trayvon listen to him ? Why shouldn't Trayvon have attacked him, the guy was following him and Florida has the don't back down law. In the end Zimmerman will fry for it, he wasn't a police officer, the cops told him to stay in the car, he didn't. Through direct cause and effect as a result of his actions, and that's important, he acted when he could have stayed in his car, an unarmed boy died. Beck's blather about the kid's past is a non-issue and Beck knows it, like Geraldo it's a cheap ploy for ratings.
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persuter
06:55 PM on 03/26/2012
Indeed, it's worth noting that if Trayvon had had a gun, he would have been fully justified in shooting Zimmerman down under the law.
01:07 AM on 03/27/2012
Well . . . I guess. The important point is that the defense will try to blur that line, they'll say Zimmerman feared for his life / safety whatever and based on that he fired in self-defense.

But one thing does not excuse the other and that's an important distinction.

The (unfounded) theory floating is that because Trayvon "allegedly" attacked Zimmerman, Zimmerman justifiably shot him. But that doesn't hold water because Zimmerman made the choice to pursue, against the advice of the police.

The law says you don't have to back down, but if you chase someone and that results in an altercation the argument fails; you made the choice to pursue. You cannot ex post facto claim that you then "had" to kill an unarmed man because he turned on you.

There is also another aspect to Zimmerman giving chase and thereby *knowingly placing himself* in danger. Zimmerman has said he was in his car, he could have stayed put, or he could have left the scene, but he didn't. And here again we see intent, he left the car, he did so with a loaded weapon. He had the choice to leave the scene, but he didn't.

>>>>
01:08 AM on 03/27/2012
>>>>

The other piece is what did he believe at the time Trayvon had done ? And the prosecution will look at this; what did you know, and when did you know it. They'll try to establish his mind-set in the minutes leading up to the killing.

Zimmerman has admitted he suspected him to be a robber. All right fine, so we'll stipulate that. Again, where are the grounds for pursuit ?

If Zimmerman pulls up and a woman comes running out of the bushes, bleeding and with torn clothing saying she's just been raped by someone matching Trayvon's description there *might* have been a higher justification to Zimmerman's pursuit. If Zimmerman could reasonably claim that based on evidence he was a personal witness to that Trayvon posed a credible threat (due to the woman, her statement, and the physical evidence of an alleged attack).

But Zimmerman had NONE of that, he had no such justification, no cause, and most importantly no authority.

Robbery while annoying isn't a crime punishable by death. So even if Zimmerman really believes as he says - that he thought Trayvon might have been a robber, so a kid steals a DVD player ? You don't kill him for it.

Zimmerman was playing cowboy, and he screwed up, Hopefully he will do hard time for it.
07:14 PM on 03/31/2012
Excellent points...
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johnsmith9875
Cranky old man
04:16 PM on 03/26/2012
The problem from the very start is Zimmerman sought confrontation. The law does not apply in such cases even if the other person fights back.
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johnsmith9875
Cranky old man
04:11 PM on 03/26/2012
Beck was too crazy for even Fox News
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05:39 PM on 03/27/2012
You do know that Beck didn't write the article, right?

HuffPo got more clicks to this article by adding Beck's name compared to what they would have if they would have used Mytheos Holt's name (the actual writer of said article on the Blaze).

I also don't agree with HuffPo calling the Blaze a "Right Wing" site. You do know that the former HuffPost CEO Betsy Morgan was hired to head The Blaze, right? You didn't? Don't feel bad. Not a lot of people know this.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2011/01/06/ex-huffpo-ceo-betsy-morgan-on-what-drew-her-to-glenn-beck/
03:50 PM on 03/26/2012
Beck just wants some attention so he is saying the most obvious and stupid thing. Just ignore him.
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Jose Soberanes
It's your responsibility to succeed!
03:33 PM on 03/26/2012
The police repot shows Zimmerman was attacked and that Martin was going for the gun. This was self defense and the only witness, the only one who called 911 can justify it was self defense. The liberal media has this story wrong!!
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johnsmith9875
Cranky old man
04:10 PM on 03/26/2012
Trusting what the Sanford PD said at this point is not advised. They're in hot water right now and will say anything to cover their butts.
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MikeLawson
Still to the Left, still Right for it
05:15 PM on 03/26/2012
Liberal media? Really? Sigh…...