But now to more serious matters and News Corp's Miranda Devine, who is once again trying to exploit a tragedy to score cheap political points

Last month the Tele columnist blamed the death of 80 people in London's shocking Grenfell Tower fire on 'green ideology' and 'deadly green ideas'.

And last week she was at it again, blaming the shooting of Sydney woman Justine Damond by Minneapolis police on America's Black Lives Matter campaign.

Saying their activists quote 'may as well have pulled the trigger'.

It's a pretty astounding claim

And it brought a flood of angry comments from Tele readers:

What an absolute joke of an article! — Daily Telegraph, 19 July, 2017

Bottom of the barrel Devine even for you! — Daily Telegraph, 19 July, 2017

And over on Twitter the reaction to Devine was just as harsh:

Really!! Nothing to do with US gun culture or untrained and undisciplined cops? Even by your standards this is atrocious! #unbelievable — Twitter, @klunzaz, 19 July, 2017

Is there a tragedy you won't twist to further your own political agenda? Is there a line that you won't cross? — Twitter, @MattGrudnoff, 19 July, 2017

Miranda's argument, as put to Macquarie Radio's Steve Price, is that the Black Lives Matter campaign, which grew from protests in 2012 after the shooting of 17-yr-old Trayvon Martin, has created an atmosphere in which American police feel unsafe:

MIRANDA DEVINE: ... the police are terrified to just do their job. STEVE PRICE: Everybody is very ... MIRANDA DEVINE: Everyone ... STEVE PRICE: ... very trigger happy and very nervous. MIRANDA DEVINE: Yeah ... — 2GB, Nights with Steve Price, 18 July, 2017

And on that basis, says Devine, you can't blame the policeman Mohamed Noor for firing his gun.

And that same line is being taken by Noor's defence team:

Attorney for police officer in Damond shooting cites fear of ambush 'It's certainly reasonable to assume that any police officer would be concerned about a possible ambush under these circumstances,' Fred Bruno said. — MinnPost, 19 July, 2017

Now, we may never know exactly what occurred that night, because Noor and his fellow officer had their body and dash cameras switched off.

But Justine's family's lawyer, who also represented the family of Philando Castile a motorist shot dead by Minnesota police last year, says the ambush claim is ludicrous:

"You are ambushed by a person who called 911 who is a blonde woman in her pyjamas for crying out loud?" Mr Bennett said. Mr Bennett said the common thread in police shooting cases he has been involved in is a "panicky officer". — The Australian, 20 July, 2017

Devine's thesis, of course, is that Black Lives Matter has made more officers feel more panicky and more inclined to fire their guns.

But, while two terrible ambushes did cause a spike in deaths last year, the long-term figures show a decline.

So far in 2017, 26 US police officers have been shot on active duty, but that's below the rate of the last decade.

And less than half the rate of officer deaths in the 1970s.

Nor are the police killing more members of the public.

So far, this year, 554 people have been shot dead by police across the US. Or almost 3 a day.

But that is on a par with 2015 and 2016 when total deaths finished at close to 1000 each year.

And even if Black Lives Matter has marginally increased the risk to officers and suspects.

There are surely more telling points to make about Justine's tragic death.

Such as, it beggars belief that police could shoot a sane, unarmed, unaggressive, woman in her pyjamas, after she has called for help.

And that white people may now understand why black people, who are more than twice as likely to be shot dead by police, might be angry and afraid.

Also, that it's shocking that police who do shoot black or white Americans are almost never brought to justice.

Not least in the state where Justine Damond was killed:

Since 2000, at least 148 people in Minnesota have died after being shot, Tased or restrained by a police officer. To date, no officer has been charged in any of those deaths. — StarTribune, 7 July, 2016

But instead of pointing that out, or noting that 1000 people are shot by American police every year, Devine just uses the tragedy to advance her own political agenda.

MIRANDA DEVINE: I don't think it's too long a bow to say that Justine, you know our Australian wonderful yoga teacher ... ... her death is a consequence of the whole Black Lives Matter fake narrative, their dishonest narrative that police are racist ... — 2GB, Nights with Steve Price, 18 July, 2017

Really? Well, to quote one succinct comment below her Telegraph column, we think that is: