Man kills two New York police officers execution style. Online postings indicate possible retaliation for deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

Courtesy of Fox News:  

The gunman who ambushed and murdered two NYPD officers as they sat in their squad car Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn vowed to kill police in a number of social media posts that vowed retaliation for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, authorities said. 

Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, wrote on his Instagram account: "I'm putting wings on pigs today. They take 1 of ours, let's take 2 of theirs," hours before the killings, two city officials with direct knowledge of the case confirmed for The Associated Press. He used the hashtags Shootthepolice RIPErivGardner (sic) RIPMikeBrown. The post also included an image of a silver handgun and the message, "This may be my final post. The post had more than 200 likes but also had many others admonishing his statements. 

Police said Brinsley, who was black, approached the passenger window of a marked police car at approximately 2:45 p.m. local time and opened fire, striking Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in the head. The officers -- one Hispanic, one Asian -- were on special patrol doing crime reduction work in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. 

"They were, quite simply, assassinated -- targeted for their uniform," said Police Commissioner Bill Bratton during a news conference at Woodhull Medical Center, where the officers were pronounced dead Saturday evening. 

As you can see I linked to the Fox News report on this because I knew they would put the connection to Michael Brown and Eric Garner front and center. And that is going to be the focus from conservative outlets going forward.

It is quite appropriate to report on those connections of course, but we all know that Fox and their Right Wing counterparts are going to make sure to focus on the shooters ethnicity and the online postings to suggest that the peaceful protests that have been taking place in New York and other places around the country are partly responsible for this shooting.

After all that is what they do.

And this gunman, who did a terrible and inexcusable thing, provided them with an early Christmas gift that they can now exploit in order to suggest that cops are dealing with animals on the streets and it is understandable that occasionally they utilize too much force in response to the constant fear that they could be murdered at any moment.

Former St. Louis police officer: Darren Wilson processed his own evidence after shooting Michael Brown. #Fergusonisnotover.

Courtesy of 3 Chics Politico: 

Redditt Hudson a former police officer with St Louis County police says Darren Wilson processed his own evidence. Reddit also says he was in the room when Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson told them, Darren Wilson had no knowledge of Michael Brown being involved in a store robbery before the encounter with Wilson.

Hudson also wrote a rather incredible piece for  the Washington Post about how being a cop taught him about racism within law enforcement.

I think Chris Hayes is one of the last television hosts still digging into Ferguson, for which I admire him greatly.

It seems since the Eric Garner situation hit the front pages, with incriminating video and everything, that the shooting of Michael Brown has been permanently pushed to the side.

And that is too bad, because in my opinion there is still much to learn about the Ferguson case, and it will never be uncovered now that most news outlets have moved on to the next hot story.

However Michael Brown remains dead, Darren Wilson remains free, and justice remains unserved. 

I Can't Breathe.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Some in Congress have already expressed their solidarity with Garner and other victims of police brutality. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), the sponsor of legislation to curb police militarization, made a moving tribute to Garner, speaking about police militarization and including the phrase, “I can’t breathe” between each statement—the phrase Garner said as his life was choked away, and which has since become a rallying cry for protesters.

Here it is in its entirety:

“Black men and boys killed by police. 

 I can’t breathe. 

Impunity for the killers—no justice, no peace. 

I can’t breathe. 

Militarized police met peaceful protesters on their knees. 

I can’t breathe. 

Weapons of war—a show of force on our streets. 

I can’t breathe. 

Disenfranchised youth driven to violence as speech. 

I can’t breathe. 

Cynical media makes this great TV. 

I can’t breathe. 

This cowardly Congress afraid of losing our seats. 

 I can’t breathe. 

Half-hearted reform when there’s more that we need. 

I can’t breathe. 

Just thinking about the despair that it breeds. 

 I can’t breathe. 

 Black lives matter. Hear my pleas. 

 I can’t breathe."

Okay that gave me chills.

Jon Stewart on Rand Paul's contention that the death of Eric Garner was partly due to taxes, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Speaking of Comedy Central pundits, this month is the Colbert Report's last month on the air.

It's finally episode will air on December 18th.

So Colbert is really pulling out all of the stops and will broadcast from Washington D.C. on Monday. His guest will be a certain President of the United States, which I think indicates the kinds of people who are fans of the show.

These two shows have often served as an oasis of sanity during incredibly divisive times, and I for one will be incredibly sad to see one of them coming to an end.

For the most tone deaf response to the Grand Jury decision on the choking death of Eric Garner where else would you go except Fox News?

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

Moments after the decision was announced, Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson expressed her deep concern about the outcome. Not concern that the police killed Garner, who was allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes, without facing legal repercussions. But concern that anger over the decision could impact a “the tree lighting ceremony” scheduled for that evening at Rockefeller Center.

Sadly for Carlson her worst fears were realized.

The mayor’s appearance tonight at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting has been canceled.
— Mike Grynbaum (@grynbaum) December 3, 2014

Yeah it really sucks when the unnecessary death of a black man, and a miscarriage of justice, screws up people's holiday plans.

And coming in a close second in tone deafness is potential 2016 presidential candidate Rand Paul, who blamed the whole thing on taxes. That's right taxes: 

Well you know I think it’s hard not to watch that video of him saying ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’ and not be horrified by it. But I think there’s something bigger than the individual circumstances. Obviously, the individual circumstances are important. But I think it is also important to know that some politician put a tax of $5.85 on a pack of cigarettes so that driven cigarettes underground by making them so expensive. But then some politician also had to direct the police to say, ‘hey we want you arresting people for selling a loose cigarette.’ And for someone to die over breaking that law, there really is no excuse for it. But I do blame the politicians. We put our police in a difficult situation with bad laws.

Well so much for Rand Paul's attempt to court the African American vote.

The Grand Jury's decision in the Eric Garner case was so terrible that it drained the funny right out of Jon Stewart.

You know we rely on Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert, to find the humor in situations that seem to defy laughter.

However during last night's show Stewart's reaction was really the ONLY reaction that we could have expected him, or anybody, to have in response to this incomprehensible news.

Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Victor White III, Eric Garner,  after awhile it is simply too much to take anymore.

Finally white America has discovered something about itself that minorities have known all along. And they don't like it.