SEND IN THE CLOWNS – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  It didn't take long for the Fraternal Order of Stupid Comments to make its presence known after the horror of Dallas.  Consider, from the Daily Mail: 

Human rights activist Jessie Jackson has pointed the finger at Donald Trump and his followers for helping to create a rising climate of fear in America which has contributed to the shocking deaths of five police officers in downtown Dallas.

Rev Jackson said there was an 'anti-black mood' in America which also saw discrimination against immigrants, Muslims and women.

Speaking in the aftermath of the coordinated attack on 11 police officers in Dallas, Rev Jackson called on President Barack Obama to hold a conference on violence and racial disparities.'

There's a time in life for some people to get off the stage.   Jackson's time is long past.  This is a man who once referred to Jews as "Hymies" and New York as "Hymietown."  He's still giving us moral lectures.

Or get this one, from Minnesota's intellectually challenged Democratic governor, Mark Dayton, about a black man killed by police several days ago in his state.  From NBC News:

An "appalled" Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said Thursday that police wouldn't have shot and killed Philando Castile if he'd been white and called for justice "with the greatest sense of time urgency."...

...Dayton said Castile would be alive if he hadn't been black, adding that the shooting demonstrated a troubling pattern of racism among some Minnesota law enforcement officers.

"Would this have happened if those passengers, the driver were white?" he asked. "I don't think it would have."

I wonder how Dayton knows that.  Does he have a secret device that can read the minds of the officers involved?   That statement, made before all facts are known, was inflammatory and grossly irresponsible. 

Then of course we have the president of the United States, who has a history of inserting himself into these controversies before any investigation is concluded.  After the police shootings earlier in the week he announced that we must confront police bias.  Again, only preliminary facts were known.  There was no direct evidence of bias, although that might certainly turn up.  And, of course, Obama has now put in another plug for gun control. 

It would be wise for some people to just shut up and gather facts.  There have simply been too many cases where the reporting of the original event turned out to be highly inaccurate. 

July 8, 2016