Vox Sentences: The Justice Department shuts down its Trayvon Martin investigation

1. No justice for Trayvon

Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin; Samaira Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice; and Lesley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown Jr. on December 13, 2014 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

• The Justice Department has closed its investigation into Trayvon Martin's death without filing civil rights charges against his killer, George Zimmerman.

  [NYT / Lizette Alvarez]

• This was expected; as early as October sources in the department were saying it was unlikely they'd be able to prove Zimmerman intentionally shot Martin because he was black.

  [Vox / German Lopez]

• That "intent" standard was essentially made up by the Supreme Court in a 1945 case that greatly weakened the Civil Rights Act of 1870, the Reconstruction-era statute under which Zimmerman would've been charged.

  [Slate / Mark Joseph Stern]

• Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Vanita Gupta cited this extremely high standard as the reason Zimmerman wasn't charged: "Our decision not to pursue federal charges does not condone the shooting that resulted in the death of Trayvon Martin and is based solely on the high legal standard applicable to these cases."

  [Justice Department]

• Zimmerman was acquitted of murder and manslaughter by a Florida jury in 2013.

  [NYT / Lizette Alvarez and Cara Buckley]

• The Martin family declined to file a civil suit against Zimmerman before the statute of limitations ran out in 2014; they faced long odds, owing to Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law.

  [The Guardian / Paul Lewis and Richard Luscombe]

• The family did reach a settlement with the housing development where Zimmerman — a Neighborhood Watch member — shot Martin to death.

  [NYT / Lizette Alvarez]

2. Reform, Lamar. Reform.

An anti-austerity demonstration in front of Greek parliament on February 11, 2015 in Athens. (Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)

• Greece and its European lenders appear to have agreed on a package of reforms.

  [NYT / James Kanter and Niki Kitsantonis]

• Under a deal reached last Friday, Greece had to submit an economic reform plan to European finance ministers in order to keep getting bailout money and bank support.

  [WSJ / Gabriele Steinhauser and Matthew Dalton]

• The plan that the Greek government, led by the leftist party Syriza, submitted includes: tax reform that cuts loopholes, improves compliance, and raises revenues; a crackdown on corruption in government spending; a pledge to not reverse privatizations that have already happened (though not necessarily to do more); and a promise to maintain a balanced budget.

  [Vox / Matt Yglesias]

• You can read the full list here.

  [Yanis Varoufakis]

• "The deal Syriza has now agreed to substantially undercuts the radical left elements of the Syriza agenda. At the same time, it does represent a more flexible approach to budgeting and what looks like a more sensible path to reform."

  [Vox / Matt Yglesias]

• That being said, Greece's access to more bailout money isn't yet secure; it still has to "agree [on] a final list of reforms by the end of April, and then implement them."

  [FT / Peter Spiegel]

3. Veto number 3

The Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act with the signature of Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) after a signing ceremony in the Rayburn Room of the Capitol February 13, 2015 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

• President Obama has vetoed a bill that would have fast-tracked development of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

  [NYT / Coral Davenport and Michael Shear]

• Obama promised to veto the bill in early January.

  [Vox / Brad Plumer]

• This is only the third veto of his presidency, and the first of major legislation.

  [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

• The Senate vote to pass the bill was 62 to 36 …

  [NYT / Coral Davenport]

• … and the House vote was 266 to 153, neither of which is enough to break a veto.

  [Washington Post / Lori Montgomery and Steven Mufson]

• Obama could still approve the pipeline on his own; he's said he's still considering the matter.

  [AP / Josh Lederman]

• The basic case against Keystone: Keystone would let Canadian oil ship at lower cost than rail, which possibly means more of it gets burned and the climate situation worsens.

  [Vox / Brad Plumer]

• Keystone's environmental impact is a matter of considerable debate, but one estimate holds that not approving it could leave 1 billion barrels of Canadian tar sands oil in the ground by 2030.

  [Maximilian Auffhammer]

• Then again, oil transported by pipeline is less likely to spill than oil transported by rail, which arguably bolster the case for Keystone.

  [Vox / Brad Plumer]

4. Misc.

• A new study suggests gerbils, not rats, are to blame for the Black Death.

  [Vox / Brad Plumer]

• The DC government's FAQ on its new marijuana policy includes such questions as, "How can I get some pot then?"

  [Aaron Davis]

• The jury determining if Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" ripped off Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" won't be allowed to hear "Got to Give It Up" — just a recording of the sheet music version, which sounds like "a rendition by the animatronic band at Chuck E. Cheese."

  [Ratter / Kate Conger and Parker Higgins]

• The Pentagon office that's supposed to protect whistleblowers from retaliation is being accused of itself retaliating against employees who tried to get it to take that mission seriously.

  [McClatchy / Marisa Taylor]

• Here are all 30 times the New York Post and Daily News have used "99 Problems" jokes in writing about Jay-Z.

  [NY Mag / Jaime Fuller]

5. Verbatim

• "The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site."

  [The Guardian / Spencer Ackerman]

• "I am coming after you with everything I have. You can take it as a threat."

  [Bill O'Reilly to NYT / Emily Steel]

• "While the CCP may run the country, Sora Aoi might just be Japan’s most famous daughter in China, and she commands the hearts of its lonely men."

  [The Daily Beast / Brendan Hong]

• "Changing the tenses in this piece is a relatively simple edit; I cannot bring myself to make it."

  [The Verge / Elizabeth Lopatto]

• "When Juice asks whether I want to hear some of his new songs, I wonder how many of the people I write off in this way go home to a room where they make things they’ve devoted their lives to."

  [n+1 / Leon Neyfakh]

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