Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Saturday, May 19, 2012

Glimpse of George Zimmerman

By John Ballard


The investigation of the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida is amassing a mountain of data. 
This audio, via Think Progress, strikes me as a very telling insight into the character of George Zimmerman. 



An old lawyer's saying is If your client is guilty, then argue the law but if he is innocent, argue the facts. 


I have a strong suspicion that any trial of George Zimmerman will see the defence keeping a bright light on Florida's ugly stand-your-ground law.  


But from where I stand, it appears that Trayvon Martin was the one doing exactly that, standing his ground. And the result was that he got a bullet in the heart. I'm curious to know if there may be other records of previous Martin and Zimmerman encounters.


The witness in this audio said at one point he reflected on a cost-benefit analysis of how to respond to Zimmerman's behavior. "I had to lay down the cost-benefits of really beating this guy up to teach him a lesson." [9:30] 


 


 



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