Thursday, April 15, 2021

IS BEING INVOLVED IN THE SHOOTING OF AN UNARMED BLACK PERSON A GOOD CAREER MOVE NOW? (updated)

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports:
One of the Louisville Metro Police officers who fired shots during the attempted search warrant execution that left Breonna Taylor dead in her apartment last year is writing a book about the case.

"The Fight For Truth: The Inside Story Behind the Breonna Taylor Tragedy," written by Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, 48, will be edited and published by Tennessee-based Post Hill Press.

Post Hill Press Senior Publicist Devon Brown confirmed Thursday morning that Mattingly's book will be published by Post Hill this fall.

Mattingly will be available for interviews then, she said....
HuffPost has more:
The book will be published by Tennessee-based Post Hill Press and distributed by Simon & Schuster....

Post Hill Press focuses on “Christian and conservative political books,” among other areas, according to its website. The company has published several right-wing authors including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who is currently facing accusations of sexual misconduct, and Laura Loomer, a far-right, anti-Muslim extremist.
Post Hill is a small publisher, but it has the ability to make a book a bestseller. One of its recent titles is an attack on Dr. Anthony Fauci titled Faucian Bargain: The Most Powerful and Dangerous Bureaucrat in American History. The book, by Steve Deace and Todd Erzen, reached #1 at Amazon, #1 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, and #4 on the USA Today bestseller list.

I know that right-wingers have no problem with cops involved in the shooting of unarmed black people, but I'm struggling to remember when one of those cops has tried to become a celebrity. (I'm not counting George Zimmerman, who wasn't an actual police officer when he shot Trayvon Martin.) But I guess this is a natural progression for the right -- war criminals such as Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher have been Fox News stars, and some of those indicted (or even convicted) in connection with Trump-Russia have worn their indictments as badges of honor. So why not these cops?

I'd like to believe we'll someday emerge from this period of right-wing madness, but I suspect things will get worse before they get better (assuming they ever get better). Eventually, I imagine, a shooting of this kind will turn the perpetrator into a genuine right-wing superstar. Maybe the shooter will get a permanent slot on Fox, or run successfully for the Senate.

I suupose there are still limits to conservative depravity -- the subtitle of Mattingly's book refers to "the Breonna Taylor tragedy." But in time I expect a cop in an incident like this to own his bloodlust and be praised for it. Or maybe Kyle Rittenhouse will beat all the cops to the punch.

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UPDATE:

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