Crime
December 1, 2019 — John Hinderaker
It has been widely reported that Usman Khan, the London Bridge terrorist, was released from prison in December 2018 after serving half of the term to which he was sentenced in 2012. Khan was one of a group of nine jihadists who were arrested in 2010 for plotting to blow up the London Stock Exchange. They also contemplated “Mumbai-style” terrorist attacks, and one of the plotters had a hit list
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November 17, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
A foreign correspondent I used to know liked to say that a good test for national decline is the smell of urine. In declining countries, one frequently smells it. Americans in certain jurisdictions can expect to smell more urine soon. Left-wing prosecutors, some financed by George Soros, will be decriminalizing urination in public. This is one of a several “quality of life” crimes the left wants to stop prosecuting. Some
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November 7, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
George Soros, the Hungarian billionaire, succeeded in toppling two fine Northern Virginia prosecutors this year in Democratic primaries. Pouring unheard of amounts of money into local prosecutor races in Arlington and Fairfax Counties, Soros was able to take down Commonwealth Attorneys Theo Stamos in Arlington and Raymond Morrogh in Fairfax. They will be replaced by prosecutors who are borderline qualified, if that, and who very likely will adhere to the
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November 4, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Al Pacino once starred with Ellen Barkin in an underrated movie called “Sea of Love.” Pacino played a New York City cop. Early in the film, Pacino organizes a sting to capture dozens of New York City’s most wanted criminals. He has them invited to a special meet and greet with the New York Yankees. Suspecting nothing, the crooks and thugs arrive. They are duly taken into custody. Bill de
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November 3, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post has a Sunday magazine. This week, the entire magazine, an unusually thick edition, is devoted to the topic of prison. All of the articles are written by people who are incarcerated now or were incarcerated in the past. The illustrations and photographs are also exclusively by this cohort. The lead article is by Piper Kerman. She served 13 months in federal prison for money laundering and drug
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October 25, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Pharmaceutical companies are taking the blame for the opioid epidemic in America. We’ve all heard the narrative: Americans become addicted to pills prescribed by irresponsible doctors and peddled by unscrupulous drug companies. Many die of an overdose. There’s no denying that this occurs. However, a new study from Massachusetts strongly suggests that it is not the main reason for the opioid epidemic. The study found: Prescription opioids were detected in
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October 8, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
It was bound to happen, and sooner rather than later. Joel Francisco, dubbed by authorities the crown prince of the Almighty Latin Kings gang, was released from prison thanks to the First Step Act. Now, he is now wanted for murder. Francisco was sentenced in 2005 to life imprisonment for trafficking in crack cocaine. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 reduced sentences for this crime, but not retroactively. The First
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October 6, 2019 — John Hinderaker
On September 30, the FBI released its annual report on crime for 2018. It showed that violent crime declined over 2017 in every category except rape, where a revised definition was applied. The number of homicides declined by 6.1%; the rate went down by even more than that, to 5.0 per 100,000. The FBI’s good news about crime got very little publicity, and I can’t find a single publication that
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October 3, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The “jailbreak” crowd, which includes far too many conservatives, likes to point to Texas as providing powerful evidence for the merit of releasing felons from prison early. Indeed, the usually sensible Sen. John Cornyn of Texas was a leader of the federal push for lenient sentencing. In support of his position, he liked to cite the Texas experience. That experience didn’t work well this weekend for Houston’s first Sikh officer,
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September 28, 2019 — John Hinderaker
A number of American cities are in crisis–San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles come to mind–but Minneapolis is giving those better-known towns a run for their money. Violent crime in Minneapolis is rising alarmingly, and it is getting international attention as a result of an incident that was recorded by security cameras. In broad daylight, just outside the entrance to Target Field, where the Minnesota Twins play, a gang
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September 14, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Minneapolis once had the reputation of being a nice city. That seems, now, like a long time ago in a galaxy far away. These days, the reality is different. This sickening video of a gang of youths viciously brutalizing a man just outside Target Field, where the Twins play baseball, has gone national. It is visual proof of how feral downtown Minneapolis has become: More and more, violence intrudes on
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September 13, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, deserves to be prosecuted. His crimes, false statements to federal investigators, were documented by the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, an Obama appointee. Andy McCarthy discusses the crimes here. McCabe is an enemy and fierce critic of President Trump. I always worry when enemies of the president face criminal prosecution. Sending political enemies to prison is a hallmark of authoritarian
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September 7, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Montgomery County, Maryland is taking criticism for enabling rapists. As I discussed here, at least seven illegal immigrants were arrested and charged with sexual crimes during a six week period this summer. Montgomery County enables rape and other crimes by illegal immigrants by refusing to cooperate with the federal government in removing criminal illegals. For example, Rodrigo Castro-Montejo, a Salvadoran national living in the U.S. illegally, was arrested in Montgomery
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September 3, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Recent mass shootings have prompted calls for new gun control legislation aimed primarily at rifles. However, most murders are not the product of mass shootings by people who want to make a statement, political or otherwise. They are committed on a small scale, with handguns, by ordinary criminals. At Conservative Review, Daniel Horowitz presents a seven-step plan to reduce homicides. I have distilled his seven steps to six, which are
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September 2, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Jason Hopkins of the Daily Caller reports that in Montgomery Country, Maryland, where I live, at least seven illegal immigrants have been arrested and charged with sexual crimes since July 25 of this year. In the latest case, Emilio Carrasco-Hernandez, a 37-year-old from Honduras, was arrested for allegedly holding a 15-year-old girl down and raping her. In other cases, illegal immigrants have been charged with raping an 11-year-old and a
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August 27, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I wrote here about Jared Kushner’s boast to big GOP donors that felons released from jail are registering to vote as Republicans. Kushner quipped, “I guess climate change is not their No. 1 issue.” The donors, all of whom are wealthy enough to protect themselves and their families from the crimes the released felons will likely commit, had a good laugh. No doubt, some ex-cons are registering as Republicans. The
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August 26, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
According to Axios, Jared Kushner told Republican donors that felons are coming out of jail and registering as Republicans. “I guess climate change is not their No. 1 issue,” Kushner joked at a donor retreat in Wyoming. Right, avoiding punishment for criminal conduct is the No. 1 issue for many felons, which is one reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Kushner cited recent statistics he said he’d seen
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