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| Rafael Ramos, left, and Wenjian Liu |
They are two New York City police officers who were murdered this afternoon.
I'm sickened.
I'm pissed off, and not afraid to say so.
"They were, quite simply, assassinated," said Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
There probably aren't any words, yet allow me to write a few.
The media will give it a special name, of course. It's what we do.
Channel 11 has already gone with "Ambush in Brooklyn." No fancy name, no hard-hitting graphic, helps it make any sense. If anything, it seems useless.
For the love of God. TWO cops are dead, and the suspect said it was coming on Instagram.
"I'm putting wings on pigs today," he wrote.
Oh there was more than that, including hashtags that indicated these murders would be revenge for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
Think about it. This guy shot his girlfriend in Baltimore, then came to Bed-Stuy. He had that much time to ponder what he was doing. Cold-blooded is perhaps the nicest way to put it.
Sickening.
Of course, the always-upstanding Al Sharpton said he is "outraged." Jesus, way to step out on that limb there. Then again, ol' Al and I have never been on the same page, so why should I be surprised?
The great City of New York is a mess right now, led by a mayor whom the police force turned their back on. That says a lot to me.
The same mayor, who said tonight, "Now is not the time for politics." Yeah, well too bad, pal. You put yourself there. You can't cherry-pick it.
While I should just stay out of it, I can't. I know police officers, and love them. What happened today was a clear message, and it's not a good one.
Let's be quite clear here: black lives should matter. Eric Garner's life should matter. Michael Brown's life should matter.
Yet so should mine. My mother's. My son's.
And cops lives matter also. They put their lives on the line every day, whether it's in Ferguson, New York City, or Carmel.
Is this hard to understand?
I understood the need to protest what happened in Missouri and on Staten Island, albeit peacefully. I don't - and won't - understand looting, destruction, and violence.
To me, tonight, the protest card is revoked. Done.
Will LeBron James wear a pro-police T-shirt? Will members of the Rams, Jets, Giants - whatever - take the field in NYPD caps?
Will there be editorials in local papers denouncing the behavior tonight?
Or is it all just agenda-driven?
Who is advocating for the police? Rallies? Protests? Will we see those?
Al Sharpton will surely advocate for the police, right? Not. A. Chance. EVER. Apparently, neither will Mayor de Blasio, unless needed to save his own political career.
It's a strange, scary time.
Tonight, hug your kids. Your family. Express condolences and thanks to a police officer. There are so many great ones, just trying to keep us safe and do an honorable job. I get that you might want to express something on social media - I mean, come on, I'm here - but think. Think a lot. Then think again. Then, after you've thought one more time, hit send.
Remember.
They were two innocent cops sitting in a patrol car.
Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.
They're now dead.
All lives matter.
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