TAKING ACTION

I suppose it was inevitable. When a large and vocal group of people know what they know, there's always the chance one member of that group will decide to act on that knowledge. Remember: You don't have to be right; you just have to think you are.

Since "Black Lives Matter," a message proclaimed on signs carried by protesters, it was only a matter of time before someone would seek to even the score for those lives lost to marauding cops across this nation.

The alleged gunman (Ismaaiyl Brinsley) took out two NYC cops to avenge the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. That's what we're led to believe, anyway, based on his contributions to social media.

"Putting wings on pigs," he said.

An act of desperation designed to place the cherry atop a failed life. He apparently shot his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore, then hopped a bus for the Big Apple, where he went looking for targets.

He probably could have picked better to answer the actions of white cops. The dead officers were Asian and Hispanic. Close enough, I guess. At least they were cops and not Salvation Army bell ringers in uniform.

The gunman then entered a subway station where he apparently shot himself in the head.

Members of his family say he was suicidal.

If so, he again failed to maximize the effect. He should have tossed the weapon away and made a suspicious move in front of the police, forcing them to take his life.

Preferably on camera.

Keep the spiral of violence in motion, see? And widening as it goes. Word of potential copycat shooters has already surfaced. Police forces across the country are on alert.

As long as folks know what they know, some will take action. As long as everything they see proves them right, the closer they are to pulling the trigger. The more this perfect knowledge spreads, the more dangerous the world becomes.

But hey, it's what we do here.