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Google Demos Multi-Player AR For iOS/Android PhonesThe first AR framework to allow Apple and Google phones to play together.
T-Mobile Fined $40 Million For False Ring TonesIs that phone actually ringing?
Rumor: iPhone SE 2 May Be Coming At WWDCSome filings indicate Apple may be working on anohter iPhone SE.
Apple Unveils Red iPhone 8 & 8 PlusThey go on sale tomorrow.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 May Beat Next iPhone To MarketThe race is on between the Galaxy Note 9 and the next iPhone.
Best Buy Will Stop Seling Huawei PhonesBest Buy is pulling Huawei handsets from inventory.
MWC Showcases 5G TechnologyIt looks like 5G networks will be here soon.
iPhone X Is Selling For $1700 In IndiaAnd you thought the iPhone X was expensive in the US.
Verizon Refuses To Sell Huawei PhonesMajor US carriers are refusing to stock Huawei handsets.
Are iPhone X Sales Lower Than Predicted?Reportedly, Apple has cut production in half due to poor pre-orders.
HTC Reveals New Selfie PhoneThe new HTC U11 Eyes handset specializes in selfies.
Samsung Galaxy S9 Coming in Feburary?When will Samsung's latest smartphone arrive?
Apple Sued For "Slowing Down" Older PhonesWill these allegations hold up in court?
Are Self-healing Smartphone Screens Coming Soon?Could cracked screens be a thing of the past?
France To Ban Mobile Phones From Schools Next YearFrance will prohibit mobile phones in schools next year.
Rumor: Samsung To Release Galaxy S9 EarlySamsung may beat the iPhone X to market.
Survey: Indoor Mobile Coverage Is Still BadAlmost 1/3 of mobile users report difficulty when making indoor calls.
Report: Apple Reduces iPhone 8 OrdersReportedly Apple has reduced their iPhone 8 orders for November and December.
RIP Windows PhoneMicrosoft has confirmed the product is no longer being developed.
Rumor: Big 3 US Carriers To Sell BlackBerry MotionRumor has it the new Blackberry handset is going to all 3 major US carriers.
The Hidden Star Of Google's Event… Pixel BudsThe rest of the items were ho hum.
Google Is Dropping The Headphone Jack TooIs this the new trend for all mobile electronics?
Is Samsung's Foldable Phone Coming This Year?Samsung may be revealing a foldable phone soon.
Google To Reveal New Pixel Phone Next Month?Google has scheduled a special event for October 4.
Apple Unveils New Stuff!Today's event yielded new iPhones, Apple Watch, and AppleTV.
What Will The Next iPhone Be Called?Is it the iPhone X, the iPhone Edition, or the iPhone Pro?
Its Eminent… No Home Button On Future iPhonesEveryone seems to be in agreement now.
NYPD Ditches Windows PhonesApparently the phones are not a good as they had hoped.
The Next Mobile Trend… AR On SmartphonesAR may be the next big trend.
iPhone 8 May Be Facing Serious Supply Issues?New rumors confirm the design but also state there are issues.


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Updates Keep You HappySunday, November 06, 2005 Labels: You Me and This Blog 0 comments
Many Readers have urged me to update the site more frequently. Being creative work requiring lot of reading and research -- its difficult to update as regularly as I would like to. Hope I would be able to do that after I retire from my job!Anyway here is updated

subset: commoncrawl


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What happens when you mix a classic fairytale premise with World War II-style airplanes in a fantasy world setting? You get The Princess and the Pilot: a beautiful film of aerial adventure and tragic love.
AnimeShinbun is a community of awesome people posting and discussing the latest anime news. It's part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today's pop culture.


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The United States officials have been quiet about the specific numbers when it comes to the ongoing battle against ISIS. While on Al Arabiya television the U.S. ambassador told Iraq that they had done "devastating" damage to the terrorist group.
The U.S. was against giving a body count concerning how the battles against ISIS have been going. Iraq criticised the U.S. for not doing enough, even though they claim airstrikes have been covering a lot of ground. Such involvement encouraged the U.S. to give a more firm estimate of 6,000 ISIS fighters killed. Secretary of State, John Kerry, stated that the momentum of ISIS has been halted thanks to these airstrikes. They have even claimed "more than 700 square kilometers."
ISIS was gaining ground in Yemen, things are looking rather series. The president, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadai resigned office as of today, Thursday, January 22. In conjunction the Yemen government has also resigned.
By Garrett Jutte
Photo by Picatinny Arsenal Picatinny Arsenal – Flickr Licence


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The aftermath of "Secret Invasion" continues here as Camp Hammond is beset by mobs wanting the Initiaitve to go away. Inside the walls of Camp Hammond, however, pieces are being picked up and decisions are being made about the future.
Slott and Gage manage to cram enough plots and subplots in this issue to make the issue a lengthy read, feeling like it might be bordering on double-sized, except it isn't. Questions are answered and answers are questioned. We learn roughly when Hank was replaced. We see the continuing development of the odder-than-odd relationship between Pym and Jocasta. Slott and Gage even begin setting up pieces for other titles, like Ant-Man's reassignment to the Thunderbolts. Cameos from across Camp Hammond provide a nice overview of just how massive the Secret Invasion was and what type of footprint it left behind.
The art by Kurth has a photo-realism to it that just seems horribly displaced here on an Avengers title. Avengers art could be passingly gritty, but mostly it needs to be big and bold, bombastic and loud. That said, it is during the quiet moments that power this issue where Kurth's talent shines through with an almost Stephen Sadowski-like earnestness. In those moments, this style works.
Overall, stories are established in this issue that will not only fuel the adventures of the Avengers family of titles, but the Marvel Universe itself. After all, the reactivation of Clor by a Skrull sleeper code can't be a good thing, can it?
You can see some of Kurth's art in the CBR preview for this issue.


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So today was my first day back at work after 10 beautiful days off. When I sat down at my computer, I found over 600 emails awaiting my attention, including one from my boss requesting my presence more or less immediately in the training room. Welcome back, Natalie!
I felt pretty lucky by the end of the day. Like last year, the company is providing food for the staff for the first two weeks of the year, in order to ensure we have adequate staffing at all times to handle the influx of busyness we're still waiting on. We're in a new building with a new dining/catering staff, so this year the food is presented buffet style, rather than being hand-delivered by the CEO himself. They sent a menu around and although I still think it's a kind gesture to feed us and whatnot, it appears tomorrow is the only day there will actually be food I can eat. Last year, I had the great fortune of a contrite Vice President bringing me my special veggie lunches; today I made the most of some sad, white iceberg lettuce, wilting cucumber slices, and dried out shredded carrot... tomorrow there will be pasta.
Fortunately, I have a fridge full of vacation leftovers! I finished off the tabbouleh today while listening to my boss tell me of the praise conveyed to him by the aforementioned VP and the Director of our department, regarding my recent [insane] efforts, in his absence. The most skilled table-side violinist couldn't have played a sweeter song than the words my boss weaved: "Exceeded all their expectations" are probably my favorite words in this language.
Despite the many lucky turns today took (even though I really didn't want to go back to work, I'll be honest), I felt like I needed to share all that good fortune with my mister...
I feel like it's truly 2011, now that we've had the fortune-bringing Hottie Black-Eyed Peas and Greens from Appetite for Reduction. It was good - in place of the 1 Tbsp of hot sauce, I used a generous, tablespoon-sized dollop of harissa. All of our hot sauce terrifies me - if it's spicy enough that Mister uses it sparingly, a whole tablespoon of it has no business near my mouth. It packed just the right amount of heat to keep Mister happy and prevent my mouth from flaming.
So, here's to a lucky, fortunate, and fruitful new year!
Mister said something else at the conclusion of dinner.
"Fergie is a hot Black-Eyed Pea."
I don't know what he's talking about...


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Litigating Whistleblower Claims Before the DOL from the Employee s Lawyer s Perspective
- Brianne Logan
- 3 years ago
- Views:
1 Litigating Whistleblower Claims Before the DOL from the Employee s Lawyer s Perspective Jason Mark Zuckerman Law Office of Jason M. Zuckerman, PLLC 2109 ½ O Street, NW Washington, DC (202) Billie Pirner Garde Clifford & Garde 1707 L Street, N.W., Suite 500 Washington, D.C (202)
2 Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide; in the strife of truth and falsehood for the good or evil side. Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside... Anonymous Litigating whistleblower claims provides some of the most exhilarating and frustrating experiences that any trial lawyer may face. Clients have taken action to protect the public from unknown dangers and risks, and have paid for it with their jobs and often their careers. However, the psychological damage to a whistleblower and his or her family as a result of the experience is often much higher than the loss of income. Providing representation invariably extends from the courtroom to the kitchen table. My advice for handling clients during this life changing catastrophe is to help them understand that their life will never be the same; they will have different friends, changed values, a future much different from their previous plans. In the beginning of the litigation process, you often become their closest friend and the only person in their life who truly is willing to listen to the intimate details of what happened and understand the unfairness and inequity of the result. In the end, it is often difficult for the whistleblower to let go of the case, and they will never let go of the cause. Representing whistleblowers is truly a privilege, an opportunity to utilize the skill of your craft on behalf of ethical employees who have sacrificed their careers for the rest of us. What follows is some practical advice with practice tips: 1. The Choice of Forum As a general rule, state courts are a better fora for whistleblower retaliation claims because juries are sympathetic to such claims. Many jurors can readily relate to being the subject of an abusive working environment. But whistleblowers often portray themselves as White Knights and therefore fall harder in the eyes of a jury when the inevitable skeletons in the closet emerge, thereby undermining the good faith motive of the whistleblower. In federal whistleblower cases, the motive of the whistleblower is generally irrelevant. Dias-Robainas v. Florida Power & Light, 92-ERA-10 (Sec'y Jan. 19, 1996). Thus, DOL ALJs are less inclined to make emotional decisions in reaction to the employer s efforts to undermine your client s motive for engaging in protected actvities or the employer s efforts to prove that your client had a less than perfect performance history.
3 The whistleblower statutes administered by the OALJ generally do not preempt state common law actions for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy. English v. General Electric Co., 496 U.S. 72 (1990); although some states require employees to elect a remedy and preclude state claims where the remedy under federal law is adequate. See, e.g., Masters v. Daniel Intern. Corp., 917 F.2d 455, 457 (10th Cir. 1990) (barring state claim for retaliatory discharge because the Energy Reorganization Act provided an adequate remedy). More than thirty-eight states have adopted statutory whistleblower protections, though most of these statutes protect only employees in the public sector. See, e.g., D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act, 1 D.C. Code , Some states have enacted robust whistleblower protection for employees in the private sector. See, e.g., New Jersey's Conscientious Employee Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 34:19-5 and California Labor Code sections (b), , and Most states recognize some form of a public policy exception to the employment-at-will doctrine under common law. See, e.g., Carl v. Children s Hospital, 702 A.2d 159 (D.C. App. 1997). Some of these exceptions, however, are often so narrow as to be unhelpful. See, e.g., Sabine Pilot Service, Inc. v. Hauck, 687 S.W.2d 733, 735 (Tex.1985) (recognizing a narrow exception prohibiting an employer from discharging an employee for the sole reason that the employee refused to perform an illegal act that carried criminal penalties). Note that the whistleblower provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Sarbanes-Oxley) may strengthen this common law protection. Employees can point to Sections 806 and 1007 of Sarbanes-Oxley as a public policy prohibiting retaliation for revealing violations of federal law. State common law whistleblower protections generally offer two critical advantages over administrative federal whistleblower protections: the right to a jury trial; and the opportunity for punitive damages (although punitive damages are generally not available against public sector employers). When filing an action under state law, consider other possible claims, including: defamation; breach of contract based on personnel policies set forth in an employee handbook; promissory estoppel; breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing; intentional interference with contract; intentional infliction of emotional distress; and/or negligent hiring or supervision. 2
4 2. The DOL Complaint Although the written complaint is informal and can be supplemented in interviews with the OSHA investigator, to avoid dismissal the complaint should provide specific information on the elements of the claim. Therefore, the complaint should clearly: identify the legally protected activity that your client engaged in; identify the adverse action that your client has been, or continues to be, subjected to; 1 identify the perpetrators of the retaliatory action and explain how they became aware of the protected activity; and explain what the causal connection is between the protected activity and the adverse action. PRACTICE TIP: Have your client read every sentence of his complaint and verify every fact as accurate, complete and not exaggerated. Defense counsel will go through the complaint, line by line, in the plaintiff s deposition and any inaccuracy or exaggeration will be used to try to demonstrate your client s willingness to embellish the truth as evidence against his credibility. The complaint should also clearly identify the parties being sued and the relationship of the parties as employee and employer. Federal whistleblower statutes require the complainant to demonstrate that she is a covered employee. The DOL construes employee status broadly. An employer may be liable for its contractor s adverse action against an employee in situations where it acted as an employer with regard to the employee of the contractor. See, e.g., Stephenson v. National Aeronautics & Space Administration, 94-TSC-5 (ARB Apr. 7, 1997); Hill v. TVA, Case Nos. 87-ERA-23 & 24 (Sec y May 24, 1989). Therefore, consider bringing an action against both the direct employer and the company that hired the contractor. 1 Note that the Fifth Circuit recently held that the Faragher/Ellerth defense applies in hostile work environment claims brought under Section 211 of the Energy Reorganization Act. See Williams v. Mason, No (5th Cir. July 15, 2004). Accordingly, you should be prepared to rebut the Faragher/Ellerth defense at trial. If an employer refuses to disclose the report of its investigation during discovery, it may be barred from asserting the Faragher/Ellerth defense. 3
5 Under Section 806 of Sarbanes-Oxley, the individual managers or supervisors as well as the employer are liable for discrimination. 29 C.F.R Depending on the factual circumstances and the controlling statute, consider naming the decision-makers who were responsible for retaliating against your client as defendants. Remember that filing a whistleblower complaint with the DOL is a distinct protected activity. If the employer retaliates against your client for filing a complaint with the DOL, you should amend the complaint. 3. OSHA Investigation As a practical matter, the OSHA investigation is only as good as the investigator. Since OSHA does not have subpoena authority, the investigation is based only on voluntary cooperation, with no consequence for failure to disclose information. Therefore, it takes a good investigator to work within these limitations and actually capture more than the posturing of a party. Nonetheless, the investigation is an important part of the process with opportunities to resolve the case and to learn important information about the situation that your client may not have known. Cooperate and communicate with the investigator, periodically check on the status of the investigation, and provide whatever evidence, research or information that can help your client. Find out what defenses the employer is asserting and provide documentation to the investigator showing that these defenses are pretextual. Try to obtain the employer s position statement from the OSHA investigator. As soon as the investigation is completed, file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the investigative file, including the position statement. Respondents often over-reach in their initial statements to the DOL investigator, or withhold critical information. Seek to obtain notes, documents, and interview statements, and appeal agency decisions to withhold information under FOIA. 4. Settlement Judge Program (DOL Mediation) If there is a good possibility of settlement, this mediation program can save substantial costs for all parties. The program works well if parties truly want a resolution. If a settlement appears unlikely or your client is determined to seek public vindication, do not waste time with this mediation program. Once the case has been assigned to an ALJ, your focus should be on obtaining through discovery what you need to prove your case. The mediation program is also helpful if your client has unrealistic expectations about damages or evidence in that she will hear an ALJ s often candid assessment of her case. In order to be successful, be candid with the ALJ about weaknesses and your best evidence. 3
6 5. Discovery The discovery time frame in a proceeding before the OALJ is generally much shorter than discovery in federal court. Therefore, as soon as the case is assigned to an ALJ, you should be ready to file document requests, interrogatories. and notice depositions. As soon as the complaint is filed, if not beforehand, send the employer s counsel a preservation of evidence letter. Many companies routinely delete s pursuant to document destruction policies. Once an employer is on notice of a claim, the employer must halt destruction of documents related to that claim or risk sanctions for spoliation of evidence. PRACTICE TIP: If you do not get full answers to discovery responses, promptly draft letters to opposing counsel identifying the deficiencies, and file motions to compel if informal requests for complete responses fail. Do not wait to read the discovery responses until the day before you take depositions! It will be too late to compel the critical documents withheld to be helpful in the depositions. Document all communications and agreements concerning discovery in some form of written communications, whether by or letter. It may seem overly formal in the early days of good working relationships with opposing counsel, but as the discovery process becomes more complicated, relationships will be strained, and the written confirmation of your agreements will be crucial to bring discovery to a close and/or to prevail in motions to compel. Remember, the main goal in discovery is to establish the true motive for the retaliatory adverse action. Without being overly burdensome, take the depositions of all the witnesses you can afford to each deposition is a window of opportunity to learn something about what really happened. The information is always valuable to putting the puzzle together. Areas to explore in discovery include: Obtain all relevant policies and procedures, including the employer s progressive discipline policy, and determine whether the employer failed to follow its procedures. Where your client was subject to an adverse action for violating a particular policy or work rule, ascertain whether the employer meted out similar discipline against other employees who violated the same policy or work rule. Discover the entire history of the concern that complainant raised. Find out whether the employer experienced past problems with this issue, such as enforcement action by a regulatory agency or previous litigation. 5
7 Identify facts that would lead an ALJ to impute knowledge of the protected activity to the management officials involved in the decision to take the adverse action. For example, discover facts proving that the supervisor to whom the employee raised a concern had input in the manager s decision to take the adverse action. Discover whether the manager who took the adverse action retaliated against other employees who raised concerns. Determine whether your client s coworkers are reluctant to raise concerns for fear of reprisal. The determination of a chilling effect is critical information for understanding the dynamics of the case and framing the appropriate remedy. Obtain the personnel file of the manager or supervisor who retaliated against your client. Obtain all internal investigative files. Most companies have an internal ombudsman or an employee concerns program which perform investigations of safety concerns and complaints of retaliation. These reports often contain very helpful information. Your client s deposition: Your client must be well-prepared to explain in detail her concerns and the efforts she undertook to raise those concerns. While going through the chain of command is not required, it is an important line of inquiry to be prepared for. In addition, your client should be prepared to explain all alleged performance problems, including performance problems at prior jobs. Employers often subpoena the complainant s personnel file from prior employers. Prior to the deposition, evaluate whether the employer can establish the deliberate misconduct defense. Many of the whistleblower statutes deprive complainant of protection where she engaged in a deliberate violation of a safety regulation. See, e.g., 49 U.S.C (e) ( Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to an employee of an air carrier, contractor, or subcontractor who, acting without direction... deliberately causes a violation of any requirement relating to air carrier safety under this subtitle or any other law of the United States. ) The employer will likely try to establish the elements of this defense during the deposition and then move for summary decision. Your client should be prepared to address questions about this defense. 6
8 Electronic discovery is about more than just s. Other examples of electronic discovery include: Security logs showing when particular employees entered and exited particular facilities. These logs can cast doubt on a witness claim that she was in a particular location at a particular time. Electronic properties of documents and other metadata. This might show that a document supporting the employee s termination was altered after the employee was terminated. Messages sent from Blackberry devices or other PDAs. Electronic calendars. Informal Discovery Interview employees, but check the relevant state no-contact rule, which vary widely. In some jurisdictions, such as D.C., an attorney can contact employees who cannot bind the employer as long as the attorney discloses the fact that she represents a party asserting a claim against the employer. D.C. Rule of Professional Responsibility 4.2. Obtain through FOIA documents related to any investigation conducted by a federal or state regulatory agency of the concerns raised by your client. Often, these will be admissible. See, e.g., Creekmore v. ABB Power Sys. Energy Servs., Inc., 93-ERA-24 at 4 (Dep. Sec'y Feb. 14, 1996) (holding that NRC investigative report was admissible as a relevant public document). Research the employer s main witnesses. For example, has this witness conduct been challenged in other employment discrimination lawsuits? 6. Hearing Before ALJ Use the prehearing submission and/or prehearing conference to eliminate or at least narrow objections to the admissibility of documents. Also, determine before the hearing whether the employer will not stipulate to the authenticity of the documents you plan to offer in evidence. Under most of the whistleblower statutes administered by the DOL, formal rules of evidence do not apply. See, e.g., 29 C.F.R. 24.5(e). ( Formal rules of evidence shall not apply, but rules or principles designed to assure production of the most probative evidence available shall be applied. ). Find out early in the process whether the ALJ you 7
9 have been assigned to follows the federal rules, or has a developed evidentiary set of rules and procedures unique to them. 7. Burden of Proof Under most whistleblower statutes, the burden of proof is favorable to employees. In contrast to Title VII s motivating factor test, complainant must demonstrate only that protected activity was a contributing factor in the employer s decision to take the challenged adverse action. Most importantly, under most federal statutes, once the complainant has demonstrated that protected activity was a contributing factor in the decision to take the adverse action, the respondent must demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that it would have taken the same adverse action in the absence of the complainant s protected conduct. This is a very high standard to meet and complainant s counsel should fully understand how respondent will meet that burden. 8. Damages Advise your client early on to keep a detailed log of job-seeking efforts and results. The employer will likely argue that your client failed to mitigate her damages. Be prepared to show all letters requesting work and s demonstrating your client s effort to find work. Be sure that your client s information is consistent with similar information that has to be submitted to a state unemployment office. Punitive damages are available only under the employees protection provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. 300j-9, and the Toxic Substances Control Act, 15 U.S.C A prevailing party is entitled to attorney s fees. Keep contemporaneous and detailed records of your time and be prepared to justify every entry. 9. Settlements As in all litigation, most of the DOL cases eventually end in a settlement. Employers naturally want to settle all potential claims from a particular claimant, but there are some unique restrictions on DOL settlements that challenge settlement discussions particularly when counsel is unfamiliar with the DOL process. First, safety concerns and continued protected activity are not for sale under the DOL process. No matter how much the company may simply want a price to make the matter go away, the DOL will not approve a settlement that seeks to silence the employee. Therefore, make sure that a settlement agreement does not contain a gag provision and 7
10 instead acknowledges the right of the employee to continue to engage in protected conduct. See Connecticut Light & Power Company v. Secretary, U.S. Dep't of Labor, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 12583, at *15 (2d Cir. May 31, 1996). Second, in order to make sure that the settlement is fair and equitable, the amount of attorney s fees and expenses that the client will have to pay has to be included in the settlement. See Guity v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 90-ERA-10 (ARB Aug. 28, 1996); 90-ERA-10 (ALJ Aug. 15, 1996); OALJ Memorandum: Disclosure of Dollar Amount of Payments and Attorneys' Fees; Possible Side Agreements (September 9, 1996). So, what is usually a private matter of distribution between the attorney and the client has to be disclosed in the settlement agreement. Finally, limit a release of claims to only those claims for which the ALJ has jurisdiction. See Gault v. Carpenter Tech. Corp, 2003-SOX-21 (ALJ Sept. 3, 2003) (ALJ lacks authority to approve provisions of settlement agreement releasing claims under other statutes). Other Strategic Considerations: 10. Initiating Administrative/Law Enforcement Investigations Federal agencies have jurisdiction over the substantive violations revealed by the whistleblower, and often have provisions, policies, and in some cases, statutes prohibiting retaliation for raising concerns. For example, both the DOL and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission enforce Section 211 of the Energy Reorganization Act (ERA), which prohibits retaliation against workers in the nuclear industry who raise nuclear safety concerns. When a worker in the nuclear industry files a complaint under Section 211 of the ERA with OSHA, the complaint is forwarded to the NRC. The NRC s Office of Investigations undertakes a separate investigation of the complaint of retaliation. The NRC s role in enforcing Section 211 is to ensure that NRC licensees maintain a safety conscious work environment, an environment in which employees feel free to raise issues in which workers in the nuclear industry are able to raise concerns to both their own management and to the NRC without fear of reprisal. Freedom of Employees in the Nuclear Industry to Raise Safety Concerns Without Fear of Retaliation, 61 Fed Reg (May 14, 1996). The NRC is especially concerned with the chilling effect of retaliation, i.e., the potential for retaliatory employment actions to dissuade employees from raising safety issues. If the NRC finds that a licensee has violated 10 C.F.R (the NRC s rules implementing Section 211 of the ERA), the NRC will take enforcement against the licensee, including the imposition of civil penalties and/or suspension of the license. The NRC may also take enforcement action against the manager or supervisor who deliberately engaged in the 9
11 retaliatory act. Although the NRC does not provide a remedy for the complainant, it is critical to be fully engaged in the NRC process to strengthen your client s DOL suit. A finding by a federal agency like the NRC that your client was the subject of retaliation is strategically valuable, although its evidentiary weight depends on the ALJ. If your client has not done so already, she should raise her safety or compliance concerns with the regulatory agency that has jurisdiction over those concerns. For example, an airline mechanic who is terminated for raising concerns about faulty maintenance or violation of an FAA rule should bring those concerns to the FAA. If the agency has an anti-retaliation regulation, any retaliation against your client for her cooperation with law enforcement may result in criminal penalties. There is a particularly strong anti-retaliation provision in Section 1107 of Sarbanes-Oxley, which provides: Whoever knowingly, with the intent to retaliate, takes any action harmful to any person, including interference with the lawful employment or livelihood of any person, for providing to a law enforcement officer any truthful information relating to the commission or possible commission of any Federal offense, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. In contrast to Section 806, Section 1107 applies to all employers. When representing a client in a Section 806 claim, consider bringing your client s concerns about fraud or a violation of an SEC rule to the SEC and/or the DOJ. For employees of Department of Energy (DOE) contractors, there is an additional forum for raising concerns, although there is only a very narrow set of circumstances which would support pursuing a claim under that provision. The DOE has adopted regulations that prohibit DOE contractors from retaliating against employees for disclosure of information concerning danger to public or worker health or safety, or substantial violations of law, or gross mismanagement; for participation in Congressional proceedings; or for refusal to participate in dangerous activities. 10 C.F.R. Part 708. Note, however, that once an employee files a claim under federal or state law, including under Section 211 of the Energy Reorganization Act, the employee cannot pursue a remedy under 10 C.F.R. Part 708, unless the complaint filed under federal or state law was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. 10 C.F.R (a)(1). PRACTICE TIP: Federal agency investigations of retaliation complaints present a twoedged sword; while a decision in your client s favor is tremendously helpful from a strategic standpoint, the reverse is also true; and over-worked OSHA investigators are often unfamiliar with retaliation claims and do not go beyond the surface of the company s justification for the adverse action. Meet with the OSHA investigator before filing the complaint and, stay involved in the process. 9
12 12. Media Whistleblower issues are of extreme interest to the public usually the whistleblower raised concerns about protecting public health and safety. Often the media is an integral part of the worker s strategy to get attention to the concerns before the litigation has even begun but the filing of a retaliation complaint on behalf of a whistleblower is itself of interest to the public. Become familiar with the relevant media whether specialty media on the subject matter, the national media, and/or the local press. There are usually national, local and specialist angles to the whistleblower s story understand each element and develop a media strategy for your case. To the extent possible keep key reporters informed of the progress on the case, make your client available to talk to the media, and never exaggerate the facts or evidence. If there is an attempt made by the employer to obtain a gag order, fight it. Your client has lost his job to bring forward matters of public concern; do not voluntarily agree to silence her. Beware of Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation ( SLAPP ) suits. Some companies will file a SLAPP suit against someone who is disclosing internal information concerning matters of public concern. Fortunately, more than nineteen states have adopted anti-slapp statutes to counter the chilling effect of SLAPP suits and encourage continued participation in matters of public significance. See, e.g., Cal. Civ. Proc. Code Alignment with Other Interests Most issues of concern to internal whistleblowers are also the subject of concern to outside stakeholders citizen s groups outside the gates of chemical or nuclear plants, environmentalists, national public interest organizations, etc. When a whistleblower has been fired it is natural for the worker to seek out and be embraced by the interest groups that share the same concerns. This relationship is usually helpful and healthy giving the worker an emotional support group and the group some much needed support and factual information to rely upon. However, it is important to ensure that the interests of the two do not get overly intertwined. The client s interests are usually best served by a prompt settlement of a retaliation claim the stakeholder groups interests are usually better served by the client joining the fight for the cause and never settling a case. The interests can be managed, but it takes constant communication and clear understanding between the two entities. For example, the stakeholder group needs to understand that communications will be discoverable in depositions, so that they should not disclose anything to your client that they are not willing to have the company know about. 11
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Normal Projects' colorful storage solution for a New York studio apartment
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paw marks
on the first photo - a trace of a happy dog with a liking for fresh concrete. interpretation of the second photo seems a bit harder - certainly a cat, but what were his intentions? a tap dance practice, cat party, or simply a revenge?
name: Martin, 25-10-2009 20:22
A solo on the concrete, but on the car, i think a fandango (and with a partner.)
name: Shane, 29-10-2009 23:15
Fantastic photo. I reckon it's revenge!
name: ewczak, 03-11-2009 12:47
hehe ;]


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Accommodation Prague ChaletSstodulky Prague ChaletSstodulky Prague is excellent choice of your holiday in Prague. Please select your dates and check availability to view this hotels ChaletSstodulky Prague in Prague. You enjoy high quality service, a great view of Prague and easy access to the towns center. You can booking this accomoddation online.
Situated in a quiet area in Prague, a 10-minute drive from the Strahov Monastery, Saint Vitus Cathedral and the town´s castle, ChaletSstodulky offers a self-catering accommodation unit with free WiFi, a balcony and a terrace, and access to a garden. Private parking spaces are available on site free of charge. The property´s holiday home also comes with a well-equipped kitchen, a living area with a sofa and a washing machine. The bathroom is fitted with a bathtub. Prague centre, with the Charles Bridge, the National Theatre and the Old Town Square, is reachable within 10 minutes by car. Prague Airport is 3.7 miles away.
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With new park and infrastructure projects planned, the Balboa Peninsula may see an infusion of funds during the next fiscal year.
The largest chunk of Newport Beach's $57-million capital improvement budget is slated for that area, according to an analysis by the Daily Pilot.
Peninsula residents have complained for years that the city has neglected their part of town — the historical heart of Newport Beach — as the Irvine Co. developed Newport Coast, and cultural, commercial and governing institutions concentrated in Newport Center. Now, with core public works projects and new parks planned for West Newport, some people are satisfied to see the city turning its attention.
"We're clearly at a junction here where we need to focus on reinvestment of the west side of Newport Beach," said Mayor Mike Henn, who represents District 1, which includes the Peninsula.
If the City Council adopts the budget Tuesday, District 1 projects will consume $14.2 million, or 25%, of the capital improvement budget, among the seven council districts. District 1 also encompasses Lido Isle and the numbered streets up to 48th.


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Our 2012-17 Strategic Plan sets out to define us as world leaders in the field of childhood disability
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2002 E Hammer Lane
Directions Stockton, CA 95210
|Front Seat Programmable HomeLink Buttons
|Rear Seat Warmers
The Accord is loaded with new technology. Some of its features may even appear hidden thanks to the Wireless Charging surface now available in the 2017 Accord. You'll always be able to plug your electronic device into your Honda, but now you'll be free to charge without a cable. Simply place your compatible wireless charging device on the charging surface and you're all set.


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Every great book was once a hidden gem. Browse through the books below and start your own discovery!
|Book Discovery - newly-published and overlooked books!
|Called To Be A Soldier, by L. Wayne Smalls
|Written from the heart and experiences of L. Wayne Smalls, 'Called To Be A Solider' personifies the sometimes inaccurate accounts and assumptions made about the personal lives of the nation's military heroes. Smalls bares all to take readers to the training grounds, onto the battlefields of the Middle East and then all of the way back home
– where the fight for a normal life often continues for many years. It's heartfelt, shocking yet ultimately uplifting....
|The Heirloom, by Edita A. Petrick
|Sometimes, what we hunt can capture us.
When CIA Agent, Ted Bester, meets a woman who was publicly buried as an assassin's victim, he's understandably skeptical of her far-fetched explanation. She expects him to believe she's tied to the assassin's mind through a four hundred year old locket with an ancient curse on it. And she's alive because the spell has protected her.
It takes meeting a presence he can't explain to convince Bester Amelia might be telling the truth. And if she's right, Bester has a lot more to be worried about than a curse. The unorthodox link between Amelia and the killer shows that he takes inordinate pride in his perfect kill record, and Bester knows that it's only a matter of...
|The Space Sauna, by Tobias Weber
|He really wanted to be left alone.
Yet he chose the completely wrong place for it.
Tito felt an overwhelming desire to take a break. His love life ended in yet another disappointment and his professional career hit rock bottom. So he decided to fly to the perfect spot to take a step back: the Sol system.
He is unaware of the developments on the other side of the galaxy, where mankind's leaders meet on board the star cruiser GSS Friday. Due to the high likelihood of an android attack, the security precautions are greater than ever. Nonetheless, androids manage to infiltrate the ship, leading into a disaster.
Yet Tito's own problems are big enough as he finds out the hard way t...
|THE SICILIAN DEFENCE, by E. A. Calletti
|They call him - "Sicario" - the weapon of choice in "The Sicilian Defence."
The heinous murder of a young Sicilian immigrant strikes like a lightning bolt to the heart of his family in Furnari, Sicily. The Crisafulli family swiftly retaliates with their own vengeful message and cold-blooded justice.
The family selects "Sicario" to settle the debt.
Sicario's duty: Avenge one man's honor - husband, father, son, brother - and uncle.
Sicario's mission: Execute "The Kiss of Death" to the guilty with no negotiations and no mercy.
For Sicario, the assignment is personal. His arrival in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania brings the mission to a deadly climax, altering the town - forever....
|Equivocal Destines (Upheaving Nidola Book 1), by Raymond Clarke
|On sale for 99c this week only for a KBoards promotion :)
In a world plagued by hordes warped by magic into creatures hell-bent on the destruction of mankind, where elemental magic holds sway and determines your lot in life, Taal is of the water, which should assure him a place among the revered rudas, protecting his city and assuring him the wealth it bestows. But centuries ago, it was a water wizard who caused The Change that precipitated all of the disasters that followed, and now, being a water wizard is the lowest of the low.
With dreams much bigger than life in Takelberorl will allow a lowly water-boy, Taal sets out ...
|Is My Child Autistic or Delayed, by Susan Peterson
|2014 eLit Gold Award (Parenting/Child Care & Family)
2013 Global Ebook Award Silver Winner (Education)
2014 Reader Views West Mountain Regional Book Award
Is My Child Autistic or Delayed? is a book written for parents and professionals to explore autism concerns and developmental delays in children. The book is written by Susan Louise Peterson, a school psychologist who has conducted over 1000 assessments on young children with possible developmental delays and autism concerns. The book is parent friendly written in easy to understand language. Parent concerns in the areas of communication, stereotyped behaviors, social interaction, unusual behaviors and daily living are...
|A Contest of Succession (The Usurpers Saga), by John Phythyon
|Nine contestants. One crown. Destiny awaits.
Garrick Tremaine was happy with a simple life as a soldier. But a mysterious dream has drawn him to Twin Falls, where the duke has died with no heir. A competition to claim the throne is open to anyone, but to win it, an aspirant must answer an incomprehensible riddle. Convinced it is Garrick's destiny to rule Twin Falls, his new friend, the oddball magician, Liliana Gray, pushes him to enter the contest.
But Garrick isn't the only one seeking the crown. A sanctimonious sorcerer, a hard-headed general, and a conniving criminal all aim to succeed the duke, and a disgraced elder from a foreign city has secret knowledge that may thwart them all.
As the contenders cl...
|This Is A Time Machine, by K. Enola
|'I am dying, in a few seconds they will find my corpse splattered on the pavement, the Santa clause suit soaked in my blood and a dumb look on my face. I am dying; if the revolver pointing at my head fails then the fall will do the trick, so I guess I've got options haha. I am dying, and all I can see is a little boy waving a finger at me, disappointed, pouting, wishing he never had to grow up to become me. I am dying and... holy shit, I am dying. I am dying.'
In his final moments, a mentally unstable New Yorker attempts to save himself by altering the memories that are flashing by before his eyes, hoping to change his past and avoid his imminent demise....


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I'm not going to bother to recap the events of the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case at this point in time. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox have all been doing that ad nauseum lately. What I am going to do is just to express my thoughts on the case, something I've been reluctant to do thus far because….
Well, let's face it. Because I know that any time a case like this comes up, I tend to end up looking and/or sounding like a heartless SOB.
First, please let me be clear about something. I agree that what happened in February of 2012 was a tragedy. I agree that it didn't have to happen. I agree that it was a senseless mistake on everybody's part.
But it wasn't a crime that could ever be brought successfully to trial under the standards set forth by the U.S. justice system. Not because the system is flawed, but because it is a system that is ultimately based on the precept that people should not be convicted of crimes they haven't committed. For such a system to work, it requires a handful of basic assumptions:
- You are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
- Such proof must be beyond a reasonable doubt.
- The Blackstone Principle, which states that "It is better that ten guilty men go free than that one innocent man be convicted."
What this all means, lest I be written off as using cliches to make my argument, is that regardless of what the media tells us, regardless of what we read on blogs, or see in the paper, or read in petitions to see George Zimmerman tried for X charge, when the trial starts… it's supposed to be a blank slate.
That is the requirement of our legal system.
From that blank slate, the prosecution is allowed to lay out evidence of its course of events.
Then, the defense is allowed to lay out evidence of its course of events, or at least contradicting the prosecution's.
Finally, if they want, the prosecution is allowed to try and shoot down the defense's case. At this point, based solely on the massive amounts of information that have been thrown at them, the jury (or judge, if the right to a jury trial is waived) retire to discuss the evidence and try to come to a consensus on what the truth is.
But, here's the thing. There's a bias there. They must assume that the defendant is innocent unless they believe that the evidence they have seen proves that the defendant is guilty to the point that no reasonable person would doubt it. That's how our system is supposed to work. Does it always work that way? Nope. Does it usually work that way? Eh, that's debatable, and unrelated to this case. Unfortunately, there's that whole "human fallibility" thing going on that muddies the waters.
And the Zimmerman case was not proven to that level. Hell, from the evidence that was presented, I literally do not believe it could have been presented to that level, which is why the police didn't press charges at the start.
Here's the thing. At least in my opinion (and I'm not a lawyer, though from what I've found out from friends who are, a disgusting amount of being a lawyer is how to break the rules without getting called on it), in order to establish a conviction, you have to build a foundation of facts that support the case. Not opinions.
I hate eyewitness testimony for this precise reason. Eyewitness accounts are inherently subjective and based on opinion; they're based on snap judgments made in the heat of seeing something unusual, and often in non-ideal conditions (adrenaline, the subjects moving rapidly, lots of distractions, etc.) Studies have shown that eyewitness testimony is only somewhere around 60% at best. Why does this matter?
We've got three eyewitnesses, four if you count Zimmerman. Two of the eyewitnesses are actually audio (ear-witnesses?). One was a lady who lived nearby. She claims she saw heard two men fighting on the ground; a young man, and an angry older man. When she went to call 911, she heard one of them screaming for help. She believed it was "the young man's voice."
Now, I've actually seen and conducted experiments where people asked to identify a voice, only by voice, can only do so about 20% of the time. And that's when they're just talking, not screaming, which tends to change your tone of voice from whatever it was when you were shouting at somebody, to something more scared and pleading.
There is also the very important element of context. If you hear two voices, one higher pitched and not shouting, and the other deeper and shouting angrily, and then you hear a scream for help… your brain tends to fill in the gaps. You'll be more inclined to think "that must be the not-angry voice, because angry-voice is the one they need help against. Angry voice wouldn't be screaming for help, he started it."
Then we have Trayvon's friend, who was talking to him on the phone. We'll get to her later.
Our actual eye-witness saw two men fighting; one of them was straddling the other, and looked to be punching him in the face. He believed that it was the dark-skinned man who was on top.
Trayvon's friend gives us the following information: Trayvon thought Zimmerman was a creepy pervert who was following him around. When they hung up, Trayvon was supposedly in front of his house, which she told him to go into and call the cops on the creepy pervert. Four minutes later, Trayvon calls her again, about to be confronted by Zimmerman several blocks from his home, There's an altercation, during which we hear… well, frankly, what we hear isn't very clear. That's why the prosecution wasn't allowed to bring in their audio experts; the experts couldn't isolate a long enough segment to meet the court's standards for scientific evidence. There are all sorts of opinions about who was screaming for help on that call, but no expert evidence… associates of Martin say it was him, and associates of Zimmerman say it was him. The problem is that several of these witnesses are on shaky grounds, and all are being asked to identify cries of help in a situation where one of their loved ones would either end up dead, or end up beaten.
In addition, there was a lot of debate about whether or not Zimmerman was an MMA expert or not, and other related issues. All things that were argued back and forth. I'm more interested in what wasn't argued.
The scientific evidence in this case is a bit more revealing, potentially. I wasn't in the courtroom, so I did not see all of the evidence. Neither did I see all of the people testifying. However, here are the facts that neither side disputed and, so, I see them as being the fact that are the most 'solid,' since if either side felt they could be successfully disputed, they probably would be. Therefore, these aren't matters of opinion, and if you believe the person or not. They're matters of "this happened, this didn't."
- Trayvon Martin was shot, front-to-back, at a 90 degree angle. The gun was far enough away that there were no powder burns on him, but there were on his clothing. This means he was shot at, probably, somewhere between 2-6 inches from the barrel of the gun.
- Martin's body was found face down at the scene; there was no evidence that his body was moved or turned over.
- There were no significant injuries to Martin's body besides the gun shot.
- There was no evidence that the bullet, on passing through Martin's body, struck anything like the pavement.
- Zimmerman's DNA was not identified on Martin's hands.
- Zimmerman's face had been bludgeoned multiple times. There were lacerations on the top and back of his head as well, which were consistent with striking the concrete.
- Zimmerman's injuries were not consistent with being "slammed" into the concrete WWE style or anything like that, but they were consistent with blows to the head that resulted from, say, being punched in the face and his head swinging back. (Whatever laws Zimmerman may have broken, Newton's weren't among them.)
- Zimmerman's version of events is deeply flawed, and has changed multiple times. In particular, his version of how the fight started is at odds with what's on the phone call.
I like undisputed facts. They're the sort of thing you ought to be basing a conviction off of, because they're things that you don't have to worry as much about the human fallibility factor with. There weren't a huge number of them, but I think the ones that we have are critical to this case, and how it resolves.
Zimmerman's version of events, at the beginning, is deeply flawed. However, this is irrelevant to the legal matter at hand. The legal matter at hand is whether or not, when he pulled the trigger, Zimmerman reasonably feared for his life.
Here's the problem. What happens up to the point when the gun is drawn and the trigger pulled doesn't matter for this case, because the question of self-defense is whether or not drawing that gun and pulling the trigger was justified. Which begs the question of whether or not Zimmerman was being punched in the face and suffering subsequent blows to the back of his head from the concrete.
The smoking gun, pun not intended, for those who argue that this was murder is ultimately that there was no DNA on Martin's hands. If Martin had been punching Zimmerman in the face, then there would have been blood on his hands if he'd broken Zimmerman's nose. There was no DNA or blood. Ipso facto, Martin wasn't punching Zimmerman in the face, and Zimmerman must have suffered those injures in some other way.
The problem is that the physics don't necessarily work that way. Particularly if the blow that broke Zimmerman's nose was nearly the last one, not the first, the blood may well not have been where Martin was punching. I don't know how many of you have had bad nosebleeds before, but I have. When your head is tipped back – say, when you're laying flat on your back – the blood tends to drain back through your sinuses and down your throat. That would contain most of it, and the rest would be around Zimmerman's mouth, while most of the injuries were around the upper portions of his face.
Also, bear in mind that Zimmerman was the one who was injured, not Martin. This supports our eye-witness from before, not in that "the dark skinned guy" was on top, but in that somebody had facial injuries. Whoever was on top, according to him, was punching the other guy in the face repeatedly. That would have left injuries on Martin that didn't exist if Zimmerman had been the one on top.
Therefore, the evidence supports that Zimmerman was the one on the bottom, and there is a reasonable explanation for why Martin wouldn't have had blood on his fists.
This also explains the lacerations on the back and top of Zimmerman's head.
Given these facts, the prosecution actually had to change their story mid-trial. Now, Zimmerman wasn't beating Martin until he, in a rage, pulled his gun and shot the kid. Now, Martin was finished beating Zimmerman and getting off of him when Zimmerman pulled his gun and fired. Let's leave aside the fact that Zimmerman's changing stories – stories that changed, probably, because he honestly didn't know what the Hell was happening while he was being beaten – prove his guilt, while apparently the prosecution's changing stories – that changed because the evidence blatantly didn't support them – is perfectly acceptable to those who believe Zimmerman guilty of murder.
The fact is that you're asking a jury to decide if they can say, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a reasonable individual who has just been punched in the face repeatedly and had his nose broken would not believe his life was in danger. Even if Martin were getting off of him (a movement that is also, by the way, consistent with the 'oh shit, he's got a gun!' reaction, not just with getting off of Zimmerman because he was satisfied that the fight was over), would the reasonable response be to think "oh, he's done punching me, yay! I can go put some ice on this!"
Or to think "oh shit, what's he going to do to me now?"
At this point, the gun is drawn, and the trigger pulled. And, were I on that jury, I would need a Hell of a lot of *good* evidence to prove that Zimmerman wasn't thinking "oh shit, what now?" rather than "I'm gonna kill that punk!"
In order to convict Zimmerman, that is what you have to believe. That no reasonable person would have thought they were about to be killed in that situation, intentionally or otherwise.
It doesn't matter if Zimmerman followed Martin; he had just as much right to be walking around that neighborhood as Martin did. If he'd stayed in his car, like the operator told him to, it wouldn't have happened. But by the same token, if Martin had gone into his house, like his friend told him to… it wouldn't have happened.
Zimmerman believed that Martin might have been one of the people conducting a rash of B&E's lately. Martin believed that Zimmerman was a creepy pervert who wanted to kidnap him. On the second call we hear Zimmerman (presumably) belligerently asking Martin "what are you doing around here?" Martin doesn't respond with "My Dad lives down the street, I'm walking home." We can't really tell what his response is. If Zimmerman threw the first punch, then there's a possible case for manslaughter. But then, why weren't there signs that Martin had been struck?
Maybe Zimmerman threw the first punch and missed?
But now you're doing something that jurors are not allowed to do; you're making the facts fit the case, not the case fit the facts.
The undisputed evidence supports both men ignoring good advice that would have avoided a confrontation. A fight started, and absent strong evidence of who started it, we have to dismiss that question. During the course of that fight, the evidence supports Martin getting the upper hand, and beginning to beat Zimmerman's face, consequently making his head strike the cement sidewalk. Zimmerman, for whatever reason, pulls his gun and shoots Martin, fatally. Absent strong evidence that such a belief would be ridiculous, the jury has to assume that Zimmerman's stated fear that his life was in danger was fundamentally true.
Because in our system of justice, Zimmerman is innocent until the prosecution proves otherwise. Not until the media proves it. Not until Martin's grieving family stops believing it. But until the prosecution proves what was in his heart.
In order to argue that this was murder, you have to argue that Zimmerman killed Martin out of spite, hatred, or anger, rather than a reasonable fear for his life. Which means that you have to argue that Martin was not the one who was on top of Zimmerman and beating his face at the moment Zimmerman pulled his gun.
Nobody saw that happen, and there is no conclusive evidence to the contrary. As a matter of fact, all the evidence except for one piece supports Zimmerman's story, and that one piece does not conclusively disprove the rest.
Ergo, this wasn't murder.
In order to argue that this was even manslaughter, I believe that you would have to prove that Zimmerman threw the first punch. And, again, there is nothing that conclusively proves that.
Ergo… legally, this wasn't manslaughter.
Do I believe it may have been?
Yes, it may have been. But I don't have enough proof of who threw that first punch to say that there is no reasonable doubt. And there isn't enough evidence to say that the first punch wasn't thrown justifiably. Given how most fistfights start, it was a rapid escalation of force from the point where Zimmerman shouts, to one of them pushes the other, to one of them punching the other. With no proof of who it was that did anything except shouting.
When somebody's shouting at you, there is a perfectly reasonable response to that. You answer them. If somebody comes up, screaming "what are you doing around here," you tell them. That ends the confrontation without a fight. It makes them look like an idiot, and maybe it escalates because they don't let it drop back down.
But how can you say that there is no reasonable doubt that that is what happened?
And, in order to convict Zimmerman of even the mildest charge leveled against him… that's what you have to prove happened.
No matter if Zimmerman was 29, 19, or 9. No matter if he was hispanic, white, asian, or black himself. No matter if Martin was black, white, or another hispanic. No matter if he was 17, 7, or 27.
If Martin had been the one carrying a legal firearm, who pulled it and fired in the course of a fistfight with somebody he believed was a potential kidnapper, I would say the verdict should have come out the same way. Would it have?
That's a question about the other flaws in our legal system, and for another post.
But this isn't a travesty of justice. It's not proof that our legal system is broken. It's not proof of deeply ingrained racism in America that makes it okay to gun down an unarmed black child if you're an armed white man. It's not sending a message that you can stalk and murder black children and just call it self-defense.
These are all things that I've heard this verdict called, and it's not any of them.
It's proof that, sometimes, the jury can come to the only verdict that makes logical sense when held to the incredibly high standards of a criminal conviction.
This was a tragedy, no argument there. One person already paid for it with his life. George Zimmerman has paid for it with the fact that he's going to have to spend the rest of his life worrying about whether or not somebody might decide that they need to "self-defend" against him.
Did this have to happen? No. Whose fault was it that it happened? Zimmerman's fault for not staying in his car? Martin's fault for not getting in his house? Zimmerman's fault for bringing his gun? Martin's fault for not attempting to de-escalate the confrontation?
Maybe it was the fault of both. Maybe it was the fault of a society that needs to have somebody to blame for anything that goes wrong. Maybe it was the fault of whoever conducted those B&E's for creating an atmosphere where Zimmerman was looking for anybody who had the least sign of maybe being a criminal. Maybe it was the fault of a society that stratifies itself in such a way that people feel the desire to commit crimes to get ahead, rather than to acknowledge that their victims are just as human as they are.
Maybe it was nobody's fault; random chance and statistics combining to create a perfect storm of events that resulted in a senseless, meaningless tragedy. B&E's here that put Zimmerman on edge, horror stories about kidnappers there that put Martin on edge.
Chaos and butterflies, cooking up another way to polarize our society, to inject a little more entropy into the human condition.
We have laws in an attempt to hold back chaos and butterflies. And our society decided long ago that, in order to inflict the least harm to the innocent, it was best to set high standards that justice demands must be met in order to mete out punishment.
This was a tragedy.
But tragedy isn't against the law.