White Cop, Black Victim:

Update: Now it's Friday……I give up.

Update: It is now 5:00 Thursday, Dec. 4 and as of yet there is NO mention of Eric Garner on the online website front page.

Ignorance and indifference is alive and well here in knoxville….

at least in the the KNOXVILLE NEWS, on-line version anyway, our source of all news they feel you need to know. Not one word about the Eric Garner grand jury "no bill" decision and the resulting peaceful demonstrations in New York City and across the country. Just a few disparaging stories on the Michael Brown decision…mostly from the perspective of "those black thugs asked for it." (Of course I'm sure folks around here are pissed off that a sympathetic demonstration was going on  at the University of Tennessee…those disruptions were brought to the fore.) I don't remember reading but a paragraph about Tamar Rice, at the twelve year old shot by a cop, either. 

Folks around here get all their news from FOX. What more do you need? Well, maybe they at least heard this in passing: Judge Andrew Napolitano, a FOX staple as a legal analyst, stated that the death was negligent homicide.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/03/andrew-napolitano-eric-garner_n_6265026.html

The officer who caused the death of Eric Garner is not new to such behavior.

".. Pantaleo falsely claimed that he saw crack and heroin in the backseat of the car—everyone in the vehicle was arrested, but the charges were subsequently dismissed."

http://gothamist.com/2014/07/21/cop_who_put_eric_garner_in_chokehol.php

The policeman that killed Tamar Rice was already fired once, and unfit for duty.

" According to the personnel file, supervisors questioned Loehmann's maturity and were already in the process of removing him from the police department when he left."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cop-who-shot-tamir-rice-was-distracted-and-weepy-say-ex-bosses/ 

Not to mention the baldly farcical grand jury hearing held by Prosecutor McCulloch, who led the jury in the direction he wanted by "dumping" all evidence on them with no instruction, discarding witnesses who did not conform to his version of what happened, and giving false instructions to the jury of nine white and three black persons. I didn't even mention that Darren Wilson was allowed to tell his rehearsed "testimony", unquestioned' for four hours……highly unusual.

"Also, the assistant to the prosecutor gave the jurors an outdated…now illegal…law on which to judge all the "evidence' they were to present. Then after everything was presented she said, in essence "oh, never mind…we goofed….my bad."

http://jabberwockwords.blogspot.com/2014/11/loosen-blindfold-on-lady-justice.html

Nobody is saying that Michael Brown was totally innocent. Nobody is denying that Eric Garner had not been in trouble before. Yes, Tamar Rice had a fake gun…as did John Crawford in Beavercreek, Ohio (my Alma Mater, by the way). But what the heck is wrong in a country that now has a militarized police force that feels the "shoot first, ask questions later" route is the way to go? Are these "big strong guys" now afraid of ALL black people? Is human life…somebody else's anyway…that unimportant to them? Has the "us versus them" mentality that the Right loves to push on media such as FOX and RW radio really taken hold? 

Pretty much sums it up for me:
http://ezkool.com/2014/12/jon-stewart-goes-off-on-non-indictment-in-eric-garners-case-video/ 

I am totally disgusted….and the people here in Knoxville are more concerned with which new restaurant to go to, the Vols finally going to a Bowl game once more, or when the First Baptist Church is having it's Christmas program…..

UPDATE:

Aside from mostly ignoring the GOP-led Beghazi report findings,  here's their idea of "fair and balanced" coverage:

How, exactly, did Fox News cover the House Benghazi report? Fox's headline is "CIA gathered intelligence on weapons to Syria: Benghazi report." What the hell does that even mean? That's not burying the lede. That's changing the lede into a word salad. Here are the first three paragraphs from the Fox News article online:

http://tinyurl.com/ngjpndf

The headline on our Sunday television section in the Knoxville News read as follows: NEW LEVEL OF FOX NEWS DOMINANCE DEMANDS ANALYSIS, NOT DISMISSAL

I was of course intrigued because there is not enough money in the world for us to have this network on in our home..…and disgruntled because this area of the country needs NO encouragement to hate everything or anybody that does not subscribe to their conservative point of view. 

Seems like the main gist of the article was based on the premise:
"I think one of the reasons for this latest evolution of ratings dominance might be that Fox was a far better watchdog on the Obama White House than any other TV news organization. It took the heat and the blowback from an administration that showed an enmity for the press not seen on Pennsylvania Avenue since the dark days of Richard Nixon, but it stayed the course. And now with viewers seeing the contempt this administration had for them and the truth, they respect what Fox did the last six years."      http://tinyurl.com/mq6vx2f 

Hmmmm…in another article by Mr. Zurawik he notes that his faith in the media (namely "60 Minutes" and CNN) began slipping after the 2008 election. Coincidence, I'm sure.   http://tinyurl.com/qftmvwb

I hate to bring this to Mr. Zurawik's attention…but FOX News always lies and is proud of it. They even endured six different hearings to get to this conclusion.

"The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.

In its six-page written decision, the Court of Appeals held that the Federal Communications Commission position against news distortion is only a “policy,” not a promulgated law, rule, or regulation. Fox aired a report after the ruling saying it was “totally vindicated” by the verdict."

http://foxnewsboycott.com/resources/fox-can-lie-lawsuit/

Or perhaps it's this:  "Or maybe, it's what some critics of Fox say: That those who watch the channel only want to hear one side of the story, and that's all that Fox gives them."

Well, Glory be!!

 A response I wrote in the Knoxville News in regards to a somewhat negative (HA) rebuttal to another writer's column on liberalism garnered a little attention. Got to keep pushing the blue buttons here in the red state.

Comment of the Day: Letter: Fischer column on liberalism worthless

Posted by Jabber:

Personal responsibility and accountability is all well and good, and a safety net is preferable to watching people go without food, or shelter, or kids not getting three meals a day because their parent’s jobs have been eliminated due to the greed and outlandish profits being made by the big corporations these days. To say that welfare or food stamps for families is enabling them to be dependent in this day’s economy is ludicrous. Most people did NOT ask to be unemployed. MOST college grads expected to find work in their chosen fields. MOST seniors did NOT expect their 401Ks or pensions or health plans to be cut by their former employers. (To even HAVE health insurance dependent upon your employment is a topic for another day.)

Todays’ Right Wing or GOP is an abomination, no more conservative or Christian than the Taliban which it is starting to resemble. “The modern conservative is engaged in one of the world’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is the moral justification for selfishness”.

John Kenneth Galbraith

Read the comment thread here. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/dec/20/comment-of-the-day-letter-fischer-column-on/