• One of the results of yesterday’s primaries is that Nevada’s leading pimp won the Republican nomination for a state legislative seat. Going from pimp to the state legislature just seems like progress on the learning curve if you ask me.
• Paging Mike Rowe! Talk about dirty jobs! First, we heard about Kim Jong Un bringing his own toilet with him to Singapore because it “will deny determined sewer divers insights into to the supreme leader’s stools.” Did the Norks seriously think that we’d be after some Kim Jong Two’s? Now comes news from Nature magazine that Australian scientists are researching “fecal transplants” for Koala bears. Those scientists must be really fun to talk to at parties. Don’t forget to bring some Olestra chips.
• New confirmation of cause-and-effect: California reduced sentences for “minor” crimes, and you’ll never believe what happened next! From the Los Angeles Times:
Thefts Rise After California Reduces Criminal Penalties
California voters’ decision to reduce penalties for drug and property crimes in 2014 contributed to a jump in car burglaries, shoplifting and other theft, researchers reported.
Larcenies increased about 9 percent by 2016, or about 135 more thefts per 100,000 residents than if tougher penalties had remained, according to results of a study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California released Tuesday.
Thefts from motor vehicles accounted for about three-quarters of the increase. San Francisco alone recorded more than 30,000 auto burglaries last year, which authorities largely blamed on gangs. Shoplifting may be leveling off, researchers found, but there is no sign of a decline in thefts from vehicles.
Proposition 47 lowered criminal sentences for drug possession, theft, shoplifting, identity theft, receiving stolen property, writing bad checks and check forgery from felonies that can bring prison terms to misdemeanors that often bring minimal jail sentences. . . The ballot measure led to the lowest arrest rate in state history in 2015 as experts said police frequently ignored crimes that brought minimal punishment.
Fox Butterfield was unavailable for comment.
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