“It's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission” states an adage that the staff of the New Republic magazine has apparently adopted, especially when it comes to writing disparaging things about George Zimmerman, the man who was found not guilty of murdering black teenager Trayvon Martin three weeks ago.

In an essay entitled “The Law That Acquitted Zimmerman Isn't Racist But That Doesn't Mean the Outcome Wasn't,” Richard Ford -- a Stanford law professor -- claimed: “Zimmerman was an edgy basket case with a gun who had called 911 46 times in 15 months, once to report the suspicious activities of a seven-year-old black boy.”