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Refusing to let the media define the Ahmaud Arbery narrative: Here are the facts we know
American Thinker ^ | 05/13/2020 | Andrea Widburg

Posted on 05/13/2020 6:43:40 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

In the Ahmaud Arbery case, the media, as always, are theorizing in advance of the data, and they are doing so in service to a divisive racial agenda. The undisputed facts (excluding the inevitably self-interested statements from the men arrested) are as follows:

Travis McMichael shot 24-year-old Arbery. The question is whether it was self-defense, manslaughter or murder.

Greg and Travis McMichaels (father and son) are white, while Arbery was black.

Videos show Arbery entering a home under construction and Arbery inside the construction site.

Shortly before Arbery was shot, Greg called 911 to report that “There’s a black male running down the street.” He’s then heard to say “Goddamit. C’mon, Travis.”

In a second 911 call around the same time, an unidentified caller reported a possible burglary in the neighborhood, saying, “There’s a guy in the house right now, a house under construction.” Next, the caller said, “And he’s running right now. There he goes right now.” The unidentified caller reported that the possible burglar had been seen before in the neighborhood and had “been caught on the camera a bunch before at night,” adding “It’s kind of an ongoing thing out here.”

An infamous video (above) shows Arbery either running or jogging down the left side of the street. The verb “running” implies escape or aggression. The verb “jogging” has a recreational feel.

A white pick-up is seen further up the road, on the right side, with a man standing by the driver’s side door. Arbery abruptly veers across the street towards the right rear of the truck. A man stands in the truck bed. The video swerves, showing only foliage.

Seconds later, Arbery is running at top speed counterclockwise around the truck’s front right side.


(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: ahmaudarbery; murder
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To: All

And as an aside, I secure my tools at the end of the day.
I don’t leave them laying around an unlocked work site or any work site.


41 posted on 05/13/2020 7:36:58 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife
“I think the last framing hammer I bought was $5 AND WAS MADE IN CHINA.”

Red Chinese-made stuff used to be cheap and shoddy.

Now it is just shoddy.

42 posted on 05/13/2020 7:38:37 AM PDT by jeffersondem
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To: SeekAndFind

When the jogger attempted to take the shotgun from the shooter, the shooter became justified in defending himself. The laws in Georgia allow you to confront someone in the commission of a crime. The jogger could have just waited until the police got there and explain that he was was just jogging and they would have let him go on his way if that was the case... instead, he grabbed the end of the gun and got shot in the process. McMichaels was a cop and wasn’t going to just shoot him. The jogger knew this, because his own brother had been arrested by McMichaels in the past.


43 posted on 05/13/2020 7:39:22 AM PDT by willyd (I for one welcome our NSA overlords)
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To: SeekAndFind

The fake narrative of ‘just out for a jog’ is required to frame what happened. Would someone tell us the distance to mama’s house from the new construction site? How far did the jogger jog from mama’s house, to the house under construction?


44 posted on 05/13/2020 7:39:27 AM PDT by Just mythoughts
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To: jeffersondem

It was an OK hammer.


45 posted on 05/13/2020 7:40:18 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

Young black males carry hammers in some areas because they can be used to rob people, break into houses and attack others, but won’t be charged as concealed weapons if the cops find one on you.


46 posted on 05/13/2020 7:41:48 AM PDT by willyd (I for one welcome our NSA overlords)
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To: willyd

Maybe we should restrict hammers?


47 posted on 05/13/2020 7:42:56 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: OKSooner

“”Probably doesn’t even meet the Georgia standard of felony theft.””

You’re probably right but he’d already committed felony burglary simply by entering a private residence. I personally think he grabbed the hammer as weapon. He knew he’d been spotted and took off running. I believe others have said he was a two timer and this would be a third. That I haven’t confirmed but could explain the extremes he took not to be stopped.


48 posted on 05/13/2020 7:43:31 AM PDT by Dusty Road (")
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To: hinckley buzzard
I agree, this is a bad situation. Nothing warranted the armed encounter.

How does an "armed encounter" get justified? Let me count the ways.

1. Gregory McMichael was a 35 year law enforcement veteran that arrested Arbery for shoplifting and was aware of this being a parole violation for his gun charge from 2013. Gregory McMichael probably also knew Arbery's piece of sh*t criminal brother who had a much longer criminal record.

2. Gregory McMichael was aware of numerous burglaries in the neighborhood, and especially concerning that specific house. He said that there was video showing this guy in the house at night, and we now know that there is video of Arbery from October of 2019.

3. Travic McMichael (son of Gregory McMichael) had a handgun stolen from his truck in January. As there is a good chance that Arbery is the thief, it would be foolish to believe he did not have that gun and was possibly carrying it.

4. Gregory McMichaels said that Arbery was seen putting something in his pants during one of the night videos in which he is captured on video. McMichael presumed it was a gun, which would be what any reasonable man would suspect.

5. As the video guy filming the incident drives towards the running Arbery, he focuses his camera on a hammer that has been dropped on the road. It appears that Arbery threw it down when he saw the McMichaels blocking his path with guns.

6. Arbery was a young athletic man and presumably stronger and more dangerous than a 34 year old tub of lard and a 64 year old tub of lard. Old tubs of lard would need some sort of weapon to prevent themselves from being beaten, potentially to death.

So there you go. Half a dozen valid reasons why the McMichaels should have been armed in an encounter with Arbery.

49 posted on 05/13/2020 7:44:27 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: SeekAndFind

Your missing a few key facts.
1) Gregory told police he had seen surveillance footage of Arbery inside the home stealing. I’m assuming this is the footage from Oct since he would not have seen the footage from that day.

Who showed him the video? Was it this guy?
“Larry English, a man building a home in the McMichaels’ neighborhood, said someone stole $2,500 in fishing gear from him earlier this year, but he never reported the theft, he told the Daily Beast.”

Stealing $2500 is a felony under Georgia law. If Gregory did see that video then it was perfectly legal for him to make a citizens arrest because he had immediate knowledge of a felony.

2) the roadblock was the second attempt by the McMichaels to stop Arbery. They had previously pulled up to him and asked him to stop.

3) Both Travis and Gregory called 911 during their attempt to make a citizens arrest. Which is hardly the action someone intent on murder would make but completely inline with the actions someone attempting to make a citizens arrest would take.


50 posted on 05/13/2020 7:45:03 AM PDT by OIFVeteran ( "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!" Daniel Webster)
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To: OKSooner

“Turns out the guy, who was no angel BTW nor was he a “jogger”, had possibly swiped a hammer from the construction site.”

If, as you say, he was no jogger then how did the idea he was a jogger get started? Who started that false narrative, and for what purpose?

Was the false narrative started and repeated to help the child of the neighborhood homeowner? Or to help some other party?

And wouldn’t a truthful narrative best serve the purpose of justice?


51 posted on 05/13/2020 7:45:25 AM PDT by jeffersondem
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To: Arones

People keep saying it because you can see the boots in the video. Generally not worn for jogging.


52 posted on 05/13/2020 7:45:52 AM PDT by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell..?)
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And semi auto hammers with high cap mags!


53 posted on 05/13/2020 7:45:58 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: SeekAndFind
So, you are saying that Gregory KNEW the man Ahmaud Arbery and recognized him when he was running/jogging?

We will have to find out after the testimony, or perhaps from his lawyer's statement, but there is reason to believe that he did recognize Arbery. He was the arresting officer for Arbery's shoplifting case.

Then again, maybe his eyes were bad and he couldn't see him clearly. At 64, I shouldn't be surprised that he can't see as well as he used to.

54 posted on 05/13/2020 7:47:54 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: Just mythoughts

I’ve seen no evidence that he was jogging but I did see him fleeing. The first video I seen showed him moving rather fast down the road and then stopping and looking around before entering private property and then entering a private residence. A few of our fellow Freeper’s notice the video had been sped up to make it look like he was jogging when he was only walking.


55 posted on 05/13/2020 7:49:00 AM PDT by Dusty Road (")
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To: SeekAndFind
They should have called the sheriff, who could have stopped Arbery lawfully and used the surveillance video mentioned in the police report to determine if he really was the burglary suspect they’re looking for. Why didn’t they do that?

Probably because in rural Georgia, police response time is such that Arbery would be long gone before they arrived -- which is something Arbery may have been counting on.

56 posted on 05/13/2020 7:49:43 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 ("Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." -- Voltaire)
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To: SeekAndFind
especially to a former cop like McMichael.

Perhaps part of why "former" appears before "cop"?

57 posted on 05/13/2020 7:50:43 AM PDT by fso301
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To: mylife

Why don’t you leave them lying around, unsecured?


58 posted on 05/13/2020 7:53:41 AM PDT by Trailerpark Badass (There should be a whole lot more going on than throwing bleach, said one woman.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

The problem with ignoring it is then the media narrative of a couple good olds white boys hunting down and murdering an innocent black jogger stands unopposed. We can hope the truth wins out but I still have meet people that believed Michael Brown had his hand up saying don’t shoot. Lies must be met with truth.


59 posted on 05/13/2020 7:54:25 AM PDT by OIFVeteran ( "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!" Daniel Webster)
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To: Dusty Road
" He knew he’d been spotted and took off running. "

Let him run. Let him run all the way home. Call the cops. Give them all the evidence like videos, etc. Start a neighborhood watch club and keep an eye out for him next time.

If he breaks into someone's house when there are people at home, he's paid for, at least that's the case in my state and I would assume also in Georgia.

Don't never, ever pursue a thief. Justice will catch up with him in time and in the meanwhile one can go buy a new framing hammer.

Don't never, ever pull a gun on nobody except in defense of one's life or home, or that of a family member.

Go playing Rambo and hsit like this happens. I'm sorry for Mrs. McMichael.

60 posted on 05/13/2020 7:56:48 AM PDT by OKSooner (Don't buy from China. Don't buy from Microsoft. Don't do Facebook. Tweet only enough to get banned.)
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