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I do business with people in the south of Brazil all of whose names are right out of Central European casting (German, Czech, Polish) and with a family (German name) owned business in Mexico. The father looks very Germanic and the kids completely Latin. Their ancestors came over around the end of the 19th century. Naming rights do not guarantee culture or ethnic identity and a German name does not automatically mean "Nazi".

Based on looks this fellow is hardly the stereotypical southern cracker the media and the race pimps all crave and this cognitive dissonance could well be why they seem flummoxed and wrong footed about how to treat the case. I think a lot of us have the gut feeling that this shooting was the result of a neighborhood watch guy going all Rambo on an innocent kid. But with no witnesses but the shooter how do you prove it?

It's a good question. I don't know if this timeline from a local Florida station helps.

If the girlfriend who was on the phone with Martin is to be believed, it contradicts the statement of Zimmerman's father that Martin jumped out at him. What will be really important is the phone log of Martin's phone and the time that the call to Martin cut off. That will be crucial to fill in the gap between the end of Zimmerman's 911 call (7:14 PM) and the first neighbor 911 call reporting two men struggling (7:16:11 PM). If, for instance, he was still on the phone to the girlfriend just before the struggle, the "he jumped at me" defense will go out the window.