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The horrible murder of two local journalists in Roanoke, Virginia, has affected me more than I thought it would. Journalists are taught early on to compartmentalize. As a local TV reporter, I saw bodies from plane crashes and victims of mass murder. I covered natural disasters and witnessed the aftermath of cruelty to children and other inhumanities. The murders of 24-year-old Alison Parker and her 27-year-old cameraman, Adam Ward, by a deranged and disgruntled man whose shoulder chip was as big as a boulder took me back to my early days in the business. At Alison's age, I was working...

You wish he had named names . . . On today's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough flatly stated "I do blame it on cable news" for "people wearing uniforms being a lot less safe today than they were before Ferguson." So just which cable networks did Joe have in mind? Until last week [when he was relegated to the Sunday morning desert], Scarborough's own MSNBC was the Al Sharpton network. So surely Scarborough was pointing the finger at least partially at MSNBC. But as he continued, Scarborough also identified other unnamed cable networks that he accused of "glorifying" Vester Flanagan and...

Bernie Sanders' record skews way to the left on one issue after another: health care, taxes, campaign finance, international trade, abortion and the Iraq war. Gun control? Not so much. "Bernie Sanders, Gun Nut" was the headline in the liberal online publication Slate. After the Sandy Hook massacre, other progressives called for tough new restrictions on firearms, but Sanders disagreed. "If you passed the strongest gun control legislation tomorrow, I don't think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen," he said. The obvious explanation for this anomaly is that he comes from Vermont, a state...

After self-described “racist” killer Dylann Roof executed the black members of a church Bible study, people found photos of the killer holding the Confederate battle flag. There were also photos of him burning and stomping on the American flag — per the request of a social media activist. Suddenly, the ‘Southern Cross‘ was removed from the public square all over — state houses, companies, flag poles and college campuses. The murders prompted the call for the digging up the body of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. The Virginia murderer had in his possession the ‘gay...

On August 26, 2015, a deranged black male who claimed he had been the victim of racism in the media industry, shot and killed two young, very talented and promising journalists in Roanoke, VA, at point blank range. Incidently, they were white. By legal definition, it was a hate crime. An act of violence motivated by racism or homophobia is a hate crime. But victimhood in this country evokes two completely polarized responses--by the political and media establishment, the criminal justice system, and the respective communities. I haven't heard the term "hate crime" mentioned once in all the many hours...

On August 26, 2015, a deranged black male who claimed he had been the victim of racism in the media industry, shot and killed two young, very talented and promising journalists in Roanoke, VA, at point blank range. Incidently, they were white. By legal definition, it was a hate crime. An act of violence motivated by racism or homophobia is a hate crime. But victimhood in this country evokes two completely polarized responses--by the political and media establishment, the criminal justice system, and the respective communities. I haven't heard the term "hate crime" mentioned once in all the many hours...

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke (D) declared, “shame on the left” for “exploiting misery and tragedy for a — to pursue a political agenda” on Thursday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel. Clarke said, “Well, shame on the left, shame on the Democrats for once again exploiting misery and tragedy for a — to pursue a political agenda. Shame on the president of the United States to invoke terrorism into this horrific incident that happened in Virginia.”

America is still reeling from the on-air execution of Alison Parker and Adam Ward. While doing their jobs, both were slain by a devout racist and former colleague of their. The thoughts and prayers of everyone at PolitiStick go out to the families of these victims. It’s a senseless crime and it’s natural to try and make sense of such heinousness. The shooter, a homosexual black man, authored a 23-page manifesto clearly explaining his racial motivations for killing the two straight white people. And though America became engulfed in a rage of race-obsessed hysteria after the Dylann roof shooting, few...

The cold-blooded Roanoke killer kept getting fired, kept threatening co-workers, and kept claiming he was the real victim. Vester Lee Flanagan claimed in a suicide note Wednesday that June’s massacre of black parishioners at a South Carolina church was “the tipping point” that sent him on the path to murdering two journalists on live television Wednesday. But in court papers and interviews with The Daily Beast, former colleagues describe Flanagan as a problematic employee, who was repeatedly reprimanded for his harsh treatment of coworkers, and complained racism was behind harsh evaluations of his work. “He just had a history of...

Dinesh D’Souza, conservative author, movie-maker, columnist and pundit, took to Twitter to do some trolling on left-leaning pages and post some counter-views on the widely reported shooting deaths of two white television crew members by a black man – even suggesting President Obama better stand on the side of blind justice, not race-based politics. In reference to Vester Flanagan, the black former television journalist whose on-air name was Bryce Williams, D’Souza tweeted: “When a black gay guy goes nuts and kills white people, is it safe to call it a DOUBLE hate crime?” Flanagan, prior to killing himself, was believed...

He waited for the cameraman to turn back. He wanted the audience to see her die, and the cameraman had panned to the right, to show the resort, so he lowered the gun and waited for him to turn back. Then he opened fire. Some fat loser named Vester who wanted to kill some white people and settle some scores and make a name for himself. He was “Bryce” on TV. And he was Bryce on Twitter as he posted the video of himself gunning down three innocent people, unloading his Glock into them and America's consciousness. Camera in the...

Flanagan sent ABC News a 23-page fax about two hours after the shooting, saying his attack was triggered by the June 17 mass shooting at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, the network said. Nine people were killed, and a white man has been charged in that rampage. The network cited Flanagan as saying he had suffered racial discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying at work. He had been attacked by black men and white women, and for being a gay black man, he said.

Hours after the shooting deaths of two Roanoke reporters on live television, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe called for more gun control. […] “It goes back to what I’ve talked about for a long time,” McAuliffe said. “There are too many guns in the hands of people who should not have guns.” …

<p>According to a former WDBJ employee, Vester L. Flanagan — the man authorities say they’re seeking in connection with Wednesday’s fatal shooting of two journliasts — worked at WDBJ as a reporter about a year using the on-air name Bryce Williams.</p>

A news crew for a CBS affiliate in Virginia was gunned down during a live report near the Bedford County-Franklin County line in Moneta early Wednesday morning, law enforcement officials said. Police and emergency services were on the scene, which remains active. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is also involved in the investigation. WDBJ7 reporter Allison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were killed by an unidentified assailant who approached the pair as they were filming an interview at the Bridgewater Plaza and fired in their direction as many as eight times. Footage of the shooting aired...

A gunman killed a reporter and videographer for a CBS affiliate in Virginia in a shooting that was broadcast live Wednesday morning. Alison Parker and Adam Ward, a reporter and cameraman for CBS Roanoke affiliate WDBJ-TV, died in the shooting, Parker's mother confirmed to CBS News. WDBJ-TV reports that deputies from Franklin County and Bedford County were on the scene. The shooting happened at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Virginia.

MERRY HILL, N.C. — Under a blistering sun, Nicholas M. Luccketti swatted at mosquitoes as he watched his archaeology team at work in a shallow pit on a hillside above the shimmering waters of Albemarle Sound. On a table in the shade, a pile of plastic bags filled with artifacts was growing. Fragments of earthenware and pottery. A mashed metal rivet. A piece of a hand-wrought nail. They call the spot Site X. Down a dusty road winding through soybean fields, the clearing lies between two cypress swamps teeming with venomous snakes. It is a suitably mysterious name for a...

A coalition of civil rights and other activists demanded Thursday that U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte take action to revive a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in a downtown Roanoke rally of more than 300 people. “I’m here to tell you something, Congressman Goodlatte. Fix the Voting Rights Act!” said Priscilla Ouchida of the Japanese American Citizens League, one of more than two dozen groups represented. Organizers hope the rally — which included state activists and national figures — will ramp up public pressure on the Roanoke County Republican, who chairs the committee where efforts to update the voter...

ERICA YOON | The Roanoke Times Delegates cheer candidate Ed Gillespie during his introduction at the state Republican convention Saturday in Roanoke. Less than 90 minutes after voting began at the convention, Gillespie’s nearest rival, Shak Hill, conceded the nomination to Gillespie. The low attendance — 4,200 delegates had registered but about 2,700 came to Roanoke — may have expedited the balloting. Ed Gillespie, a fixture in national Republican politics, easily won his party’s nomination Saturday to take on Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., setting up a marquee fight with control of the Senate at stake. At 2:50 p.m., less than...

Anybody else here at RPV convention? Who are you supporting in U.S. Senate race? Showing a video of the greatest President of the 20th Century at the moment. We all know who that is.