"Think Walter Scott�s death is 'another Ferguson'? Cops don't."

Writes Peter Moskos, who is a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and was a Baltimore police officer.

To see a black life snuffed out by a fellow cop is especially painful to police officers who spend much of their careers trying to protect black lives. One New York City officer wrote me to say, �This cop also just shot all of law enforcement in the back.� At home and in roll calls around the nation, cops watched the video of Scott�s killing and cringed not only at his death, but also at the officer�s betrayal of the police uniform and everything it stands for....

"The Daily Show" chooses Trevor Noah, a South African, to replace Jon Stewart.

The NYT observes that Noah is "nonwhite," but that there's a question "why the network did not choose a woman to crack the all-male club of late-night television hosts."

[Noah] grew up in Soweto, the son of a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father, whose union was illegal during the apartheid era. �My mother had to be very clandestine about who my father was,� Mr. Noah said. �He couldn�t be on my birth certificate.�

By the time he started performing stand-up in his 20s, Mr. Noah said he had long been taught that �speaking freely about anything, as a person of color, was considered treason.�

According to the NYT, Michele Ganeless, president of Comedy Central, "said that Comedy Central... drew up 'a shortlist' of possible successors 'and Trevor checked off every box on that list and then some.'" That doesn't make sense. If the "list" is a list of "possible successors," how could one person on that list check off "every box on that list and then some"? Obviously, there's some other list. Presumably, it's a list of things Comedy Central thought would be plus factors. I guess being female wasn't one of them. Ganeless seems to have unwittingly stated that Comedy Central really wasn't hoping to put a woman in the anchor seat. Either that or gushy puffery about Noah caused her to say something she didn't mean to say.

Why is Ganeless president of Comedy Central? Perhaps she was promoted beyond her appropriate level.

Anyway, I'm not sold on Noah. I watched the clip of him that was linked at the beginning of the NYT article � I sat through the Coke-and-Pepsi commercial for "Mixify" � which shows him in a colloquy with Jon Stewart. Noah began with what seems to be the old joke "I just flew in and boy are my arms tired." When the predictable groans ensued, Noah held his arms up in the Ferguson hands-up-don't-shoot position and said:

"No, seriously, I've been holding my arms like this since I got here. I never thought I�d be more afraid of police in America than in South Africa. It kind of makes me a little nostalgic for the old days, back home."

So, get ready for jokes against America told in a not-American accent. I guess, not American was on the Comedy Central checklist of plus factors that Noah checked off (and then some).  Yeah, I know, you don't have to get ready because you don't watch "The Daily Show." I don't either anymore. I used to watch every day. I still record every show, but I can't remember the last time I felt like clicking on the recording. Maybe I got tired of Jon Stewart's incessant yelling in disbelief. How could America be so awful? But does that mean I want to hear Noah's mellifluous murmuring about how awful America is?

I know, I'm old. The show is not intended for me. I saw the commercial for Mixify. Coke and Pepsi's effort to get people to "mix" their soda-drinking with nutritious food was, to me, a ludicrously transparent effort to fend off government regulation, not what they want you to think it is:

#Realtalk: Coke, Dr Pepper and Pepsi understand that balancing your mix of foods, drinks and physical activities can get a little tricky. And since our products can play a part in that equation, we�ve teamed up to help make it easier to find a balanced mix that feels oh so right. That�s where Mixify comes in. It�s like a balance wingman.

Bringing you new combinations to keep your mix fresh and your body right. Like mixing lazy days with something light, following sweaty workouts with whatever you�re craving, and crossing cats with dragons. Because at the end of the day, finding balance keeps you feeling snazzier than the emoji of the dancing lady in red. Balance what you eat and drink with what you do. That�s how you Mixify.

Hashtag Realtalk? A balance wingman? A little tricky? Actually, it's not tricky at all. Don't drink soda. It's not tricky to me, that is, but I take it Coke and Pepsi are trying to trick teach tricks to people who are not me. And maybe those kids will love Trevor Noah.

The NYT public editor takes back her criticism of the NYT in the reporting of the Ferguson shooting.

Margaret Sullivan regrets her accusation that the Times reporters enaged in "false balance" and gave "dubious equivalency" to anonymous sources:

Giving implicit credence to the named sources who described Michael Brown as having his hands up as he was fired on by Officer Darren Wilson, I criticized the use of unnamed sources who offered opposing information: They said that the officer had reason to fear Mr. Brown. I even went so far as to call those unnamed sources �ghosts� because readers had so little ability to evaluate their identity and credibility.

Now that the Justice Department has cleared Mr. Wilson in an 86-page report that included the testimony of more than 40 witnesses, it�s obvious to me that it was important to get that side of the story into the paper.

In other words, there was a sniper aiming at the police who were overseeing a protest in Ferguson?

"Two police officers were shot here early Thursday morning as gunfire rang out in front of the police station, throwing into panic what had been a spirited � and at times tense � but largely peaceful night of protests. Demonstrators and police officers alike hit the ground when the gunshots echoed through the crisp air. Many people ran for cover. The police, clad in riot gear, dragged their wounded fellow officers to safety. Others crouched behind cars and walls, drawing their handguns or rifles as they rapidly swiveled their heads every which way to survey their surroundings.... The shots, which witnesses said they believed originated from the top of a hill about 220 yards directly across from the station, came just hours after the Ferguson police chief, Thomas Jackson, announced that he would resign, a move greeted with praise from protesters...."

UPDATE: A CNN "breaking news" email says: "St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar called last night's shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, an 'ambush,' saying the gunshots were directed at the police."

"Protesters in Madison" are "asking high school students to again leave class to attend Wednesday afternoon's rally" about "over the fatal shooting of an unarmed biracial man by a white police officer."

According to a very brief article at Channel3000, a local press outlet.

I think it's terrible for students to skip school to go to a protest, and whoever is advocating this deserves condemnation. But who, specifically, is calling on students to put protest above education and respect for rules? I need some names. It's not fair to attribute this bad behavior to all of the protesters.

Somewhere, a decision was made to begin referring to the dead 19-year-old (Tony Robinson) as a "biracial man." Perhaps that's how Robinson self-identified or what his family has requested.

Channel3000 also has an article titled "Network journalists say Madison is not Ferguson":

"I�ve been impressed here by the way everyone�s worked together: the police, the police union. And, of course, the family of the man who was killed,� CBS News field producer Mark Hooper said. �All asking for calm. All saying they trust the police department. Everybody working together to keep things calm.�

�One of the things I saw in Madison was older African American males sitting down with younger African American males. And they shared their experiences and fears, and hopes, in order to have a conversation for how they could go forward and how they can take action,� CBS News associate producer Ryan Corsaro said. �And I think that helped the situation to remain calm.�...

�When it came to the (Ferguson) protest side and the police side, things escalated very quickly. And things continued to do so night after night after night,� Corsaro said. �Here in Madison we didn't see the type of fervent anger with uncontrolled crowds. We still had crowds in Madison that were loud and fervent, but they weren't committing any acts of violence or theft or destruction of property.�