Here we go again.
In the past couple of days two black men were killed in officer involved shootings. As always, there’s been a rush to judgment, this time spurring a protest in downtown Dallas. The media is broadcasting a new tragedy this evening. Ten police officers have been shot. Three are dead, three are in critical condition and of this hour, three are reportedly in surgery. This, according to the media.
One must remember an important point. Preliminary reports by the media are almost always incomplete and are sometimes simply wrong. I believe the media sensationalizes these things even beyond the tragedies they are. This garners ratings. It also inspires riots. Inciting to riot is illegal. They should simply report facts when they acquire them, without adding commentary. Rumors and suppositions are not news and , therefore, don’t fall under the original Constitutional concepts of protections afforded a free press.
The prior two officer related shootings I mentioned above are being addressed quickly and aggressively and have yet to produce arrests of any of the involved officers. The FBI has been called in to investigate, affording an outside agency an uncompromised inspection without local agency bias. Yet the Dallas protest has the officers publicly convicted. So, to display anger, ten offers were shot. This, prior to knowing exactly what happened during the earlier shootings. Mob mentality. The same was true in the Freddy Gray (Baltimore) death in police custody issue. One officer went on trial today. Two others have already been acquitted. This is upsetting to some of the public because they wanted guilty verdicts. The facts be damned.
I don’t know what the perpetrators of this heinous act had in mind. If they were thinking this would get cops to back away from using lethal force when the officers feel their own lives are in jeopardy, they were wrong. What they have done is the exact opposite. Now, police will be much more on edge than they were. The inevitable result? Just watch.
If you don’t want to endanger yourself when dealing with a cop, simply obey his/her commands. That’s the law. If you get shot anyway, a cop will go to jail. Bet on it.
DEVELOPING STORY ( 11:00 pm. C.S.T. ) 10 officers shot. 3 dead.
UPDATE ( 1: 50 am. C.S.T. ): Media now reporting 11 officers shot. 4 dead. It will be interesting to see how things turn out after they’ve gathered bits and pieces together and are able to report a fact or two.
UPDATE #2 ( 2: 55 am. C.S.T. ): 11 officers shot. 5 dead.
POSSIBLE FINAL UPDATE #3 (7/8/16 evening) 12 officers shot. 5 dead. 2 civilians shot.
Brian Williams (MSNBC) also reporting at 2:55 am. that the post Ferguson reduction of military type vehicles and uniforms used by police will be reversed. He might be right, but he is only speculating. That is not yet fact and he has no official information on the subject.
Brian left “NBC Nightly News” for a short time in early 2015 after he apologized for a story he embellished. The year 2003. A Chinook helicopter in Iraq was hit by an RPG. Brian did not witness the event, but reported it accurately. His story changed over time until he claimed to have been aboard that helicopter. While campaigning for the Presidency in 2008, Hillary told students at George Washington University that on March 25, 1996, she landed at Tuzla Air Base in Bosnia “under sniper fire”. She claimed, ” There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.” The reality was that there was no sniper fire and she took the time to casually accept some flowers from a little girl upon her arrival.
It must be fun to pretend to be honorable and brave. I wonder who Brian will vote for in November. I’m sure your guess is as good as mine.