| synonyms: | defender, supporter, upholder, advocate, proponent, exponent,propagandist, champion, campaigner;
informalcheerleader
"one of Eisenhower's better-known apologists"
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As rampant, unjustified police killings have finally entered mainstream discussion, this has become a favored joint tactic of the police and media. Before the killing can be processed by the public, the victim’s character is smeared by media-laundered police claims, often anonymously. Here, the tactic had the sweetened appeal that it could be used to fearmonger over an ISIS attack in the U.S., as Rahim was not only black but also Muslim. As my colleague Murtaza Hussain put it: “14 years after 9/11 law enforcement can kill someone in the street, suggest they were part of a ‘terror network’, and media will just move on.” He added: “Apparently all you have to do to defuse outrage over killing someone is apply the gangster or terrorist label to the still-warm dead body.”
The point here is not that the police claims are untrue. The point is that nobody knows if they are true or not. Yet they were aggressively and uncritically amplified by an always pro-police media, resulting in the vilification of the dead victim as an ISIS-linked terror operative within hours after his death. Precisely as intended, that, in turn, precluded any rational discussion of whether the killing was justified.Yeah! Tommy McClain supposedly had a toy BB gun stuck in his belt - end of story...
"Recent police killings are described and protested at a rally in Old Town Eureka's Gazebo Square during Arts Alive! on Saturday night. About 50 members of a new, unnamed collectie gathered to lay on the ground with targets on them as if dead, talk about how people of color still face discrimination and read the names and stories of those recently killed -- including Eureka's Thomas McClain."At least I am not the only one in this town incensed at the murder of an innocent boy by Eureka police willing to take stand and do something. (I don't consider what goes on over at the Tuluwaa Crier anything more than a pretence; watered down double-speak.) Ever since the murder and particularly since the District Attorney Paul Gallegos decided to cover over the obvious crime with his decision of impunity, I've waited for a newspaper editorial, a letter to the editor, something from the newspaper's moral standard bearers, the Reverend Eric Duff, Sherae O'Shaughnessy or Tim Martin - Just Nothing!
Nikki: thank you for following this we are angry and want answers for tommy. please feel free to message me with your ideas about what we should do. no one seems to really know what to do. Nikki Mottern
Me: Nikki, appreciate your post. An email address would have helped.
I know what I would do, what I've done, but that's me. The first thing you must do to get control is accept reality for what it is. I know you believe in and trust our system of government, respect its authority and hope, in the end, justice will prevail. The “answers” you seek are NOT for Tommy, they are for everyone. That's what I mean by accepting reality. Until then, the criminals have the upper hand.
The problem is, there may be nothing that you can do about “answers.” You can fight for justice and see that the law is enforced. In so doing, hopefully, you will have a lot of community support. I know you have mine. Where is the District Attorney, the State and Federal Attorneys General? Where are the people of Eureka? Everyone needs transparency; we need to know what is happening. Make available to the newspapers what is and is not forthcoming from the EPD and Mills.
We, the people of America and this planet are at war. Not some bogus war on terror in a far away land, but with the One Percent that owns and controls the Governments and their militarized police that have abrogated all law with their impunity. In war people, good people, die. Accept that fact and you will adjust your thinking and actions accordingly; in other words, you will know what to do. I wish you much success.
Joe says: The only actual, real "threat" the boy posed is the one that existed solely in the minds of those paranoid police officers. He had no deadly weapon in his hand. He did not demonstrate any intent to threaten; he wasn't pointing a toy gun at anyone. He was shot, NOT for what he DID, but for what those sick cops thought or believed; their worthless opinions conjured up in their minds. And that is the danger we are all threatened with. Not what you are actually doing, but what these cops "think" you are doing.So, now you know the sick reason why the boy was really killed and what's really going on in Eureka. If you are not scared to death of these people, you should be. Your life hangs in the balance.
