Several stories that went underreported during the July 4 holiday serve as a barometer on the pulse of society, an indicator of where our culture is now and where it may be headed.

In the early morning of July 5, Miosotis Familia, a 12-year veteran on the New York City police force, was shot and killed in the Bronx when a man came up to the passenger side window and shot her in the head.The assassin, Alexander Bond, was chased down and killed by two officers when he drew his gun.Officer Familia, the mother of three, died three hours after being shot.Bond spent seven years in prison for robbery before being released on parole in 2013. Last September he posted an anti-police message on Facebook. The fact that he slipped through the cracks of the system cost a police officer's life.Earlier this year, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration said it planned to spend $10.4 million to outfit NYPD patrol cars with bullet-resistant window inserts. Adriana Sanchez, sister of the slain policewoman, told reporters that the city should have funded the bulletproofing of windows on police vehicles a long time ago.The assassination of officer Familia didn't stop de Blasio from jetting to Hamburg, Germany, a day later to speak at a demonstration against President Donald Trump's policies and the growth of right-wing populist movements in Europe.De Blasio's quick exit from the city to mock President Trump on foreign soil for political reasons was despicable - a deliberate snub of the men and women in blue.In Chicago, home to another liberal mayor, Rahm Emanuel, more than 100 people were shot during one of the bloodiest Fourth of July weekends in the city's recent history.In a written statement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Trump administration has created the Chicago Gun Strike Force and is sending 20 more permanent ATF agents to Chicago."The Trump administration will not let the bloodshed go on; we cannot accept these levels of violence," Sessions said.The anti-police violence we've been seeing should evoke strict mandatory sentencing such as automatic life prison terms or the death penalty.The third underreported story of the week occurred in Pensacola, Florida, where a federal judge ruled that a cross must be removed from a park because it is a religious symbol on public land. The 34-foot concrete cross had been the focal point for Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Easter Sunrise services for decades.The lawsuit demanding the cross be removed was filed in 2016 by the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the American Humanist Association on behalf of four Pensacola residents.Federal Judge Roger Vinson sided with the protesting groups and ordered the cross to come down on July 19.But the judge also stated in his ruling that it is "part of the rich history of Pensacola and Bayview Park."The judge based his ruling on a similar cross case in Rabun County, Georgia."If the cross under review in Rabun County violated the First Amendment and had to be removed, the cross here must suffer the same fate," Vinson wrote.The judge admitted that "the enlightened patriots who framed our constitution" would have most likely found this lawsuit absurd and if he were deciding this case on a blank slate, he would not favor the plaintiffs."However, after about 75 years, the Bayview Cross can no longer stand as a permanent fixture on city-owned property," he wrote.Stories like these prove the need for "enlightened patriots" to run for elected office and fight for the American liberties and values our Founding Fathers espoused.By Jim Zbick |

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