Snipers kill five police officers in Dallas, wound seven others during protest

Neil Franklin, former Maryland Police Major, on Dallas shootings of officers (CNN): “This is what I feared when I heard about these two shootings over the past couple of days. … We need leadership from our law enforcement community all across the country. We need leadership from the protest community. To step forward and say we are not going to tolerate violence anymore.’

Celebrity reax to latest police shootings:

“We are sick and tired of the killings of young men and women in our communities. It is up to us to take a stand and demand they ‘stop killing us.’ We don’t need sympathy. We need everyone to respect our lives.” — Beyonce, on her website.
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“The assault on the black body in this country is as American as apple pie. It is time for a #CallToAction. Let’s prove #BlackLivesMatter.” — Nate Parker, actor and director of the upcoming “The Birth of a Nation” film.
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“My heart is broken for all of these suffering families. Something has to change. #AltonSterling #PhilandoCastile #StoptheViolence” — Reese Witherspoon on Twitter.
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“In the interest of time, would ye noble patriots please provide a list of infractions punishable by spontaneous public execution? Thanks! … Upon receipt of this list, we’ll return to our quarters and study up, eager to enjoy freedoms of white mass murders. #LIFEHACK” — Actor Jesse Williams, on Twitter.
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“This is what lynchings look like in 2016! Another murder in the streets because the color of a man’s skin, at the hands of the people who they say will protect us. When will they be held accountable? or did he fear for his life as he executed this man?” — San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, on Instagram.
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“Don’t forget to set your clocks back 300 years tonight.” — A meme posted by Questlove of The Roots on Instagram.
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“This is not acceptable. One more life taken. One more family heartbroken. Another fatherless child. Accountability. #PhilandoCastile” — Susan Sarandon on Twitter.
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“I can’t keep calm I have a black son.” — A meme posted by actress Niecy Nash.
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“I would say good morning but it’s not. Bs like this keeps happening. This is sickening. When will it end?” — San Francisco 49ers player Torrey Smith.
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“Yo man, something’s gotta give, bro, it just has to. … We’re getting killed every day. … This (expletive) is (expletive) horrible, and it needs to (expletive) stop.” — Singer Chris Brown, in an Instagram video.
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“And now I come home to this??????? !!!YES!!!!! We all NEED to see this OVER and OVER … because it’s REAL…And it’s happening NOW!!!! I’m sad and sadly not shocked. The gig is up and we need to fix it!!! My prayers to this man’s family.” — “Empire” producer Lee Daniels, posting a video of the Alton Sterling killing.

According to USA Today it’s been 7 months since Hillary faced reporters in a full-blown press conference.

Perhaps taking unwanted questions from the media in an uncontrolled format is just another of those things politicians can avoid in what’s left of our so-called democracy.

Watching the once bitter rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton together in Charlotte NC yesterday it seemed actually genuine that they have morphed into partners and friends. Even they came across surprised at their evolution. One never knows about politicians and their capacity for amnesia, or at least encouraging public amnesia, when it suits their purposes. Still, Obama delivered a rather amazing stem-winder in support of Hillary, seemingly heartfelt and passionate — almost more persuasive than some of his most famous speeches for his own campaigns.

Question is: Can Obama deliver his coalition when he is not on the ballot? His midterms indicate he cannot.

While it seems our own planet and its inhabitants are falling apart NASA continues to do amazing things in outer space.

This time orbiting Jupiter, our solar system’s largest and oldest planet (more than 1,300 Earths could fit inside it) — after a near 5-year journey by the solar-powered Juno spacecraft, named for the Roman goddess who could see through clouds.

Last night, fittingly on July 4th, just a few minutes before midnight, NASA staff erupted in applause as their 10-year-long project to orbit Jupiter reached success. Now begins the science, the study of its mini solar system with 67 moons, some that might even contain life forms.

Congratulations again to NASA for overcoming stingy politicians, media disinterest (unless something goes wrong) and public indifference to fiercely keep on going where humankind has never gone before. (At $1.1 billion this project cost less than a third of what we spent every month on the Iraq/Afghan wars.)

NASA: “Secrets lie deep within Jupiter, shrouded in the solar system’s strongest magnetic field and most lethal radiation belts. NASA’s Juno spacecraft will plunge into uncharted territory, entering orbit around the gas giant and passing closer than any spacecraft before. Juno will see Jupiter for what it really is.”

The Washington Post: How NASA’s Juno mission could help tell us where we came from …“It is becoming increasingly clear that the formation of Jupiter was the defining event of our solar system,” Yale University astrophysicist Gregory Laughlin, who isn’t part of the Juno mission team, told The Post. “The discovery of thousands of alien solar systems over the past two decades has shown us that Jupiter, with its large mass and its relatively distant circular orbit, is somewhat unusual. We may, in fact, owe the existence of Earth’s habitability to Jupiter’s sculpting influence on the Earth’s formation, and it is imperative to peel some of the mystery from our mute, strange, and gargantuan planetary neighbor.”

Edited by Craig Crawford, Performed by Bill Barker as Jefferson

and from Jace …