Prime Time Crime

Experience told me there was more to both Officer-Involved shootings last week.  Sorry, did I say both?  According to news sources the police across the United States shot 22 people last week but for some reason we only heard about Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA and Philando Castile, over 1300 miles away in St. Anthony, MN.  Very little was known about either shooting and the only links between them were race, proximity of time, and video but that's all that was needed.  The mainstream media (MSM) played up the race angle to the exclusion of all else and the fact that both shootings occurred within 24 hours of each other darkly hinted at a campaign of racial genocide.

This became slightly problematic when the officer who shot Castile turned out to be Hispanic but the ever-resourceful MSM didn't even break stride.   A CBC headline read ' Officer who killed Minnesota man in front of woman and child identified'.  Factual yes, but clearly meant to imply cold callousness on the part of the cop (and to think they want the police trained in 'implicit bias').  Fortunately for the MSM, both Baton Rouge cops were white and both had been (gasp) 'exonerated' of allegations of excessive force in the past.  Mr. Sterling's past was somewhat more checkered with a long criminal record consisting of many things including sex crimes, gun possession, drug dealing, that he hadn't been 'exonerated' of, but you won't hear quite so much about that. 

Former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel once said "Never let a good crisis go to waste" and that lesson wasn't lost on those who practice the politics of racial division particularly in an election year.   Within hours the MSM was left in the dust by The Dividers.  Lacking any facts beyond those outlined above President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton wasted no time bringing these cops in guilty and declaring their actions to have been motivated by racism.  Dayton's comments were particularly irresponsible and his remark that “Nobody should be shot and killed in Minnesota...for a tail light being out of function,”  was a deliberate and contemptible mischaracterization but Clinton wouldn't be outdone: Hillary Clinton blames whites, cops for deaths of young black men.  

Hours later, as if to validate the old saying that your words have consequences, came the horrible events in Dallas resulting in the deaths of 5 police officers and the wounding of several others.  Unlike the other 2 shootings, this one really was motivated by racism with the killer declaring that he wanted to kill white people and particularly white cops.  Suddenly the air was full of smoke and the smell of burning rubber as The Dividers did one of those CHP hand-brake U-turns.  Scrambling to get in front of the cameras they condemned these barbarous acts and rhetorically asked how this could happen.   If the expressions of sorrow and unwavering support for law enforcement sounded phony and contrived it's because those that uttered them haven't had much practice.

Then it came out that the Dallas killer had not shot himself as initially reported but had been blown up by explosives delivered to him by a police robot giving the MSM one more shot by opening up a new can of worms.  In the words of the Los Angeles Times "it also raises difficult ethical questions about how and when such technologies should be deployed in a civilian setting to allow police to kill a suspect while facing little or no risk" (if the cops aren't at risk, well it's just not fair is it) while other pundits questioned why the robot was deployed rather than negotiating.  Although a shrug and the words 'this is Texas' would have done nicely, Dallas Police Chief David Brown patiently explained that the police had faced quite enough risk for one evening and Mayor Mike Rawlings backed him to the hilt.  Besides, they did negotiate. But the robot had the last word.

The only comfort to be found here is the way that both the people of Dallas and the law enforcement community rallied to support the Dallas Police Department and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Police.  I was very proud to hear on the news yesterday that the Vancouver Police are sending officers to Dallas when memorial arrangements are made.  Kudos to Chief Constable Adam Palmer.  In the midst of unspeakable tragedy it's gestures like this that make the job like no other.