Here We Go Again

Hello My Dear Friends. Once again we mourn the result of hate in action. 5 Dallas police officers are dead, 7 others injured, because of one man's hatred of white people. Insanity doesn't begin to describe it. So, the President, never missing an opportunity to push his political agenda, blames guns for the slaughter. Hillary Clinton says "white people have to listen more when African Americans speak", essentially blaming society for the slaughter. Although the protest in Dallas began peaceful, it certainly didn't end that way. As is the case with many of the Black Lives Matter protests, it didn't end peacefully. In this case, 12 officers who were protecting the very protesters who were protesting THEM, were shot in the line of duty. If you go to Twitter and search the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter you'll see an endless stream of praise for the SHOOTER. This is, at the very least, reprehensible. It is about to produce the exact opposite effect that these protesters claim to want. Do you honestly believe that randomly shooting police officers will lead to police officers being less aggressive during encounters with the very people who have called for their execution? Do you? I think we all know that this is going to get worse before it gets better. The long term effects are frightening. First of all, response times as going to slow. Police must be hyper-aware of any situation they're called to. Next, and more importantly,there will be far fewer capable police officers. Would you encourage your sons or daughters to seek a career in law enforcement today? As veteran police officers retire, the pool of replacements will shrink, leaving a shortage that will require the loosening of the qualifications, a lowering of the bar, if you will, for new candidates. That's scary. I can't help but wonder why they do it. What leads a person to pursue a dangerous and, these days, thankless job? It's not the money. The starting salary for a Syracuse police officer is about $41,000. Not chump change but not worth getting killed for either. I can't help but reflect on the case of Syracuse police office Kelsey Francesmone. She received a "man down" call and came upon a crowd of hundreds celebrating Father's Day. While waiting for backup, officer Francesmone heard gunshots. With everything to lose and absolutely nothing to gain, officer Francesmone, thinking innocent people were in danger, ran toward the shots. The crowd rewarded her bravery by attacking her like a pack of wild animals. What happened next, and has become routine today, is the lies. "Witnesses" ran to the media to tell their harrowing tale of how this officer, this Hero, ran into a peaceful gathering and starting shooting. None of the "witnesses" saw anyone else with a gun, no one heard any shots prior to the officers arrival and the man she shot was innocent and unarmed. The media ate it up. Of course when the facts came out, through video and actual witness accounts, we learned the original story was nothing but a pack of lies. Herein lays the root of the problem. "Hands up, don't shoot" was a lie. The viral video out of Louisiana only show the aftermath of the shooting, not what led to it, but that doesn't matter. The fact that the man who was shot had a gun was lost in the shuffle because the girlfriend says he told the officer about it. Did he? I don't know and neither do you. But, again, it doesn't matter. The story was written before any facts were actually in, feeding the police brutality frenzy. This, my friends, is what has to stop. Are there bad cops? Of course there are. Just like there are bad doctors, lawyers or auto mechanics. Police officers, like any other citizen, are INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty. Yes, we need to weed out the bad seeds. If, when the facts are in, it is determined that an officers was unjust in shooting a suspect, then that officer should be prosecuted. This "us" verses "them" mentality is only going to lead to more tragedy. Shooting innocent officers in retaliation for the suspected actions of one is anarchy. Making excuses for it, like poverty, frustration or perceived injustice only emboldens the anarchists. Blaming the guns, instead of the people firing them, is just plain stupid. Can we please stop placing color in front of the lives that matter. Black lives matter, Blue lives matter. All lives matter. While we're at it, can we please stop placing color in front of everything! Wouldn't that be a great first step in the direction of peace? How about, we all take a deep breath and start focusing on the real threats to society, ignorance and hate. I think that, if you take another look at all of these tragedies, you'll see that they all began with one or both of those. Oh, and when an armed police officer says "show me your hands", show them your hands. Rant over.
Po