Breaking News: CNN looking to scapegoat Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

[Hutzpa]

for making a statement in allowing people from the community to protest the killing of a young blackman.

What I find troubling also is that everybody seem to be ignoring the cause of the riot and are now focusing on the destruction of buildings.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. The entire coverage is getting a samey feel about./NT

[shenmue]

2. CNN has dropped so far in quality over the years

They have very few good people left. Maybe Anderson Cooper.

[backscatter712]

22. CNN's become just as bad as FAUX News.

They're complete garbage.

[mmonk]

3. I noticed that.

[Iggo]

4. Not blaming the killer cops, eh?

What a surprise.

[Mika]

5. Same ol' shit

The vast majority will never get the objective of the corporate owned media. To anger and vilify, but, mainly to stratify US citizens (and citizens of other nations they want to exploit) ... the media control the narrative to control the perception.

[joeybee12]

6. Boy they're slow...Fox Noise started blaming her hours ago...nt

[Hutzpa]

9. You know with Fox News that's to be expected

whereas CNN is a bit more surprising as they claimed to present an unbiased coverage or persuasive coverage.

[appalachiablue]

12. MSNBC's Morning Joke & Mika this am were all over her-she didn't approve police cameras,

she encouraged protestors, ie 'rioters'. It was terrible, I rarely watch-

[Hutzpa]

15. I have to say

Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia was the only one I noticed who came to her defence which made me proud of the man. I gave him a lot of stick during the 07' and 08' campaign, but it pleases me to see him grown into a very vocal and stand up guy.

[appalachiablue]

16. Good for Mayor Nutter. Philly & Balto. are great cities of the US & Atlantic coast. Lot of

heritage, commonality and good people. I wish I got to both more often, but hope to change that-

[Egnever]

7. What i don't understand is how people couldn't see that coming

The second the riots erupted it diminished the legitimacy of the protests What was a powerful expression of frustration with injustice turned into a spectacle of opportunism.

Very few people in this country want to see police abuse most are willing to do what they feel they can to try to stop it or are willing to sign on to any movement designed to stop it. When looting and destruction become a part of the program a good portion of the people that are more than willing to stand with you no longer are willing to do so.

The tide was building and now a good portion of that tide has turned away in disgust.

I find it very sad but completely predictable.

[Hutzpa]

14. There is a thin line between anger and venting

when people of these community feel as if they have been ignored by everyone that is supposed to protect them we shouldn't be surprised when things
get out of hand.

[Egnever]

17. Not surprising in the least

I doubt anyone was very surprised by the riot hell the police closed stores and the mall in anticipation of it.

[FarPoint]

8. The media is in full force carpet bombing mode.

I noticed CNN being way to obnoxious and aggressive with her last night.

[SoCalDem]

10. She will be the scapegoat.. Just like Louisiana's governor was

Governors of opposite party always hang someone below them out to dry.... and Bush (while not governor) hung her out to dry )

To be fair though, she apparently vetoed cop-cams and she DID say "destroy".. She should have said "oops.. did I say destroy? I meant demonstrate"... and she should have said it IMMEDIATELY.. A day later after a riot, is too late..

I think she is toast

[Vinca]

11. MSNBC was trashing her earlier today, too.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

13. Nobody cares about black people; it's all our fault. The black mayor? Doubly her fault.

[kwassa]

25. well, she was Mayor While Black ....

It must be her fault.

Republicans feel safe in criticizing black officials who are not President. The black officials are surrogates, stand-ins, for the racist hatred the Republicans feel towards Obama.

[Ed Suspicious]

26. Her blackness probably makes her "the worst mayor on race relations in history" as I saw numerous

times today the same sort of criticism being levied at the President.

[kwassa]

32. She will face worse criticism than any white mayor has ever received.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

35. Absolutely! I'm wearing my Maryland scarf today in solidarity. Proud to be a Marylander!

[snooper2]

37. well, she did veto forcing the PD to use body cameras

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

38. Regardless, she herself is NOT responsible for the actions of others. Stop the bullshit.

These problems have been lingering in Baltimore and cities like it for decades.

Don't pretend that it's about one or two public policies or a wrong-headed decisions by one official.

Again, cease the bullshit. Stop blaming the black people, please. You're transparent.

[snooper2]

41. local leaders need to fix their broken police forces and people need to participate

I went to my first HOA meeting Monday night since we moved in last fall-

There were around 40 people there for about 700 families, dismal. I also plan to start going to city council meetings in our new town.



People don't give a shit till something happens. People need to give a shit when nothing is happening-

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

42. People give a shit. That's why they're burning down their own communities. They're tired of

giving a shit and nobody doing anything about it.

They're tired of giving a shit and being shat upon.

They're tired of giving a shit and being blamed for giving a shit.

They're tired of giving a shit and being told to shut up, pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps even though it's clear that they have none.

Frankly, people are sick and tired of giving a shit!

Look at the comments at the end of all these articles. The vast majority of people are apathetic to the plight of people in these communities. They could care less about them.

The hatred is very real. It's very sad. Actually, it's sick!

[marle35]

18. The interpretation of her statement is mind-boggling to me

The 'destroy' statement - she obviously didn't mean it that way. What an inane thing for the media to focus on.

When I heard it, I thought she meant exactly how she explained it later - by giving space to peaceful protesters, they inadvertently made it easier for some destructive protests as well.

I don't usually attribute these things to racism, but what happened to everyone's listening comprehension?

[Hutzpa]

23. When the motive is driven by hidden agendas

reading comprehension is completely ignored.

[uponit7771]

24. It went away when her skin color showed up... I've experienced the "get dumb" effect

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

39. Exactly! And people are pretending that it was just HER actions alone that is the cause

of what happened in Baltimore. Nonsense and they know it.

Just like the ice storm in Atlanta last year. Every outlet tried to blame it only on Mayor Kasim Reed even though those roads were *federal* roads out of his control. White folk went out of their way to blame him. When he tried to explain this, they doubled down, accusing him of shifting blame.

Sound familiar? Sounds very much like the treatment President Obama and Eric Holder receive on a near-daily basis.

[wheniwasincongress]

30. I think

her words got jumbled up as she spoke - I'm sure she had been awake for quite some time. In any case, it is so disheartening to see the media focus on that (and the slap-happy mother) instead of something like, I don't know, black men day after day being killed by police

[marle35]

33. I guess she and I both speak 'jumbled English'

Last edited Wed Apr 29, 2015, 07:51 AM - Edit history (1)

Because what she said makes perfect sense to me, in full context.

It's so obvious that she has done nothing but denounce the protesters who have caused destruction. To the point of calling them "thugs", when the term is a much more accurate descriptor of the police behavior preceding this.

But anyway, perhaps Pres. Obama said it best: the people impersonating journalists at CNN are usually at CNN.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

43. Don't be afraid to call racism when it's right there in your face. It's right there. Call it!

[uponit7771]

45. This should be its own thread but the litmus for racism gets skewed mostly by the racist

[Nevernose]

19. Malcolm X said it best:

If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.

[Hutzpa]

21. Absolutely spot on

just seeing how the narrative went from Freddie Gray being killed by rogue cops to people rioting in the streets is
all the evidence you need.

[AuntPatsy]

29. Concur!

[uponit7771]

46. +1

[alcibiades_mystery]

20. There are few things more terrifying to the (white) American psyche

than the image of police retreating in disarray from a crowd of advancing black men.

We have not moved on very much from the deep-seated fear of slave revolt at the heart of the American experience.

[Ed Suspicious]

27. I agree, but for some reason, as a white guy, I don't fear it in the least.

I always rate regular citizens over crooked cops no matter the skin color.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

40. Preach! And to think DU is any different? These folk swear up and down that there's no

racism here or in the Democratic Party. The hell there isn't!

[alcibiades_mystery]

44. Homegrown, too, for sure

They show up in the predictable threads like clockwork. They despise black people.

[AuntPatsy]

28. Most are no longer discussing Mr Gray

[iloveObama12]

31. CNN A Joke Now

smdh!

[gopiscrap]

34. I agree with you

fuck the property issues, it's people we need to be worried about!

[MH1]

36. Of course they are

She is a highly intelligent, competent, educated black woman, and clearly a Democrat.

Republicans just can't allow her to succeed, and therefore must seize every opportunity to try to bring her down.

Even a complete moron would understand her statement the way she intended it, unless deliberately trying to twist it into something bad, as the conservative news media has done.

That said, it's clear her and the rest of the establishment's idea of "balance" was ineffective at preventing violence. But that's different than saying they intentionally "allowed" the violence to happen. Any intelligent, thoughtful person realizes that it was a difficult, if not impossible, line to draw, and most of us would have got it wrong too, if it had been our job to draw it.

[Eleanors38]

47. I have a theory! [run for it] ---

This stems from a very fruitful discussion elsewhere on the role of right wing shout-show radio, its impact, history, future, etc.

The power elite of the RW, finding its radio listenership declining, and its influence in jeopardy, has decided to jump ship to the bottom-feeders of cable T.V., while it's still time, and blow its bowels there. We'll have to put up with that for a while, until someone finds a viable bidness model by which sewer holes are mass flushed on the Inner Tubes.

See?