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Daniel Penny was acquitted of a charge of criminally negligent homicide by a New York jury Monday, inspiring both the media and Black Lives Matter to do their thing. As Twitchy reported, the Associated Press fumbled its headline by calling Jordan Neely simply a “subway rider,” when we all know Neely’s title was “beloved Michael Jackson impersonator.”

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The Wall Street Journal’s headline also could have used some more thought.

The choking of a homeless man? It’s been a long time since Twitter controversially increased posts to 280 characters, and even more for subscribers. They couldn’t have fit in “a homeless man who was threatening passengers on a New York subway”? “A homeless man with 42 arrests”?

And we wouldn’t use “choking” either. A forensic pathologist testified that asphyxia was not even the cause of Neely’s death, but rather the combined effects of synthetic marijuana, schizophrenia, and other factors.

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How did Penny get away with choking a homeless man? At least the Wall Street Journal kept race out of its headline — it saved that for the story because without it, there would have been no story:

This editor is sticking with beloved Michael Jackson impersonator.

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