Geraldo Rivera and Dennis Baxley: A couple of hoods

Geraldo Rivera, in another characteristic display of brilliant journalism, has written -- on the Fox News site -- that Trayvon Martin would be alive today if he had not worn a hoodie.

His hoodie killed Trayvon Martin as surely as George Zimmerman did.

Well, there are some who would argue that Fox News probably had a lot more to do with turning George Zimmerman into a deranged right-wing killer than apparel choice had to do with the death of Trayvon Martin. (C'mon. Do you really think that Georgie-boy got his news from any other source?)

I like Digby's response: "I guess it's not just the sluts who are asking for it when they dress in a provocative way." Incidentally, the cold weather back East has turned me into a hoodie wearer.

I'll tell you who may bear the most responsibility of all for this tragedy: Florida State Representative Dennis Baxley, author of his state's "stand your ground" Wild-West-shootout law. Brad Friedman gives a background briefing on Baxley, exposing some stuff I didn't know -- especially his embrace of the word "darkies" and his disgusting love for all things Confederate.

Baxley also has a history of vote suppression:

With such a history of respect and caring for his fellow Americans, especially the white ones, it comes as little wonder that Baxley was making the media rounds last year [see below] conceding, when pushed, that though his state had no "voter fraud" problem, it was, nonetheless, important to shorten early voting periods and level serious criminal fines against folks who dared to register voters to exercise their franchise --- such as the Florida high school teachers who were arrested and charged for registering their students to vote in violation of Baxley's new anti-voting law last year.

Oh, yes, and the non-partisan Florida League of Women Voters --- who have been legally registering voters in the Sunshine State for the past 72 years, until Baxley's voter suppression law forced them, for the first time in their history, to call off their program for fear of putting their registration workers at risk of criminal felonies, fines, and prison time --- is actually a partisan Democratic organization, according to this insidious putz.

He was funded by the NRA when he sponsored that terrible law. I don't have an issue with gun ownership, but I have come to despise gun nuts.