* Two signs that need re-thinking: “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice, No Peace.”
As for the former, why not “All Lives Matter.” Whether we’re talking renegade cops, gangbanger drive-bys or Boko Haram horrors in Africa. Let’s not cherry pick to accommodate an agenda, let alone court hypocrisy.
As for the latter, it still sounds like extortion. And it typically precedes formal fact-finding.
* If I’m MSNBC, I don’t know how you keep Al Sharpton as a talk-show host when he also wears that high-profile activist hat. Most recently he was seen running literal interference for Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake after a press conference.
* Both the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo and the envelope-pushing, anti-Muslim American Freedom Defense Initiative have been catalysts for recent violent responses. But here’s the bottom line from the Garland, Texas shooting prompted by a Mohammad-cartoon contest mocking Islam.
On one side is a calculated, disrespectful, legal act with ridicule and provocation as an end. On the other side is a barbaric, horrific jihadist act with murder as its end. Not even close.
* Versatile, plugged-in business writer Richard Mullins has left the Tampa Tribune for the Tucker Hall public affairs firm. Tough hit for TT, but a local coup for TH.
* Is there a better local sports interview than Steven Stamkos, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s best and classiest player? He’s friendly, honest and doesn’t speak in locker room clichés.