Crime
August 4, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz is utterly incompetent. For the details, read the just-released issue of Thinking Minnesota, which drives political debate in my state. During the days of rioting, looting and arson in Minneapolis that followed the death of George Floyd, it became obvious that the situation was a disaster. Walz tried to distance himself from the debacle by saying in a press conference that fellow Democrat Jacob Frey, the
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August 4, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Not long ago UC Hastings School of Law, as well-regarded law school in downtown San Francisco, sued the city because local neighborhood conditions had deteriorated to the point that the law school was losing prospective students who took one look at the place and said, “No, thanks!” Hastings is a very liberal law school—I don’t think they have a single conservative on their faculty—but as Robert Conquest reminded us, everyone
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August 3, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Everyone is familiar with stories of dumb criminals, like the person who calls an Uber for a bank robbery getaway car, but in fact most criminals are like everyone else: they respond rationally to calculations of risk and reward. And with current attack on policing advancing relentlessly, does it take a rocket scientist to know what message this sends to criminals? As such why is this a front-page headline: Homicide
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August 2, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Portland, Oregon recorded 15 homicides in July. That’s the most in one month in more than three decades, according to the police. As for shootings, there were 63 in July. In July 2019, there were 28, again according to the police. Police Chief Chuck Lovell noted that the department was forced to disband its 34-member Gun Violence Reduction Team at the direction of the City Council. According to this report,
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August 2, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Some months ago, I saw a shocking video: someone rode a bicycle down a sidewalk in Los Angeles, filming as he went, for something like a half hour. The entire time, he passed tent encampments or cities on both sides of the sidewalk. They seemed to go on forever and had an appearance of permanence. Yesterday a friend sent me a similar video, on a smaller scale, which was filmed
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August 1, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
In a unanimous ruling, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has vacated the death sentence given by a jury to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two radical Muslim jihadist brothers who set off pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. The bombs killed three people and injured 260 others. Fortunately, the other bomber, Dzhorkar’s brother who apparently masterminded the attack,
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July 31, 2020 — John Hinderaker
These days, we Republicans take our good news any way we can get it. This is from Pennsylvania: [T]here’s good news for the GOP: Registration shifts across the state show Republicans are gaining voters at five times the rate of Democrats. Since the 2016 primary election, Republicans have added about 165,000 net voters, while Democrats added only about 30,000. Democrats still maintain a 800,000-voter edge over Republicans. But that’s down
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July 30, 2020 — John Hinderaker
I related here the fact that YouTube deleted the livestream of our program today with Heather Mac Donald, in which she demolished the anti-police myths propagated by the Marxist Black Lives Matter and other leftist elements. It was too much for YouTube to take, apparently. I appealed YouTube’s deletion of the video, and it didn’t take long for cooler heads to prevail. A little while ago, we got this email
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July 30, 2020 — John Hinderaker
At noon Central, Center of the American Experiment will livestream a presentation on crime, policing and race by Heather Mac Donald, the country’s foremost expert on the conjunction of those topics. The presentation is data-rich, and contains all the facts you need to know to debunk the “systemic racism” in policing myth. You can go to the event page to register. The event is free. Registration means you will get
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July 29, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Is the Minneapolis Effect real? Check out these news stories from the last 24 hours, all collected at SupportMNPolice.com BREAKING: 2 Minneapolis police officers injured attempting to stop vehicle in suspected carjacking https://t.co/ccVAqfYkEZ — FOX 9 (@FOX9) July 29, 2020 Good Samaritan Shot After Risking Life To Help Stranger Being Robbed In Minneapolis https://t.co/gaEjFtkJe7 pic.twitter.com/DajI8oF6fa — WCCO – CBS Minnesota (@WCCO) July 29, 2020 Recent Surge In Brazen Robberies, Car
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July 28, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Thursday, day after tomorrow, at Noon Central, Heather Mac Donald, the nation’s premier expert on the intersection of crime, race and policing, will deliver the definitive smackdown of the anti-police myths that not just liberals, but corporate America, sports teams, and many Republicans have bought into. The truth is that there is no “systemic” racism in American policing. Heather’s data-rich presentation will make that clear. How do I know that
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July 28, 2020 — John Hinderaker
America’s police forces are under attack, in part by “peaceful protesters” in various cities. The Democrats and their media arm have done their best to domesticate the anti-law enforcement movement, and to make it seem almost normal. This despite the fact that those who call for defunding or disbanding police forces are a tiny minority. Here in Minnesota, my organization’s polling finds that 85% of Minnesotans support their local police.
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July 27, 2020 — John Hinderaker
The riots that have devastated Minneapolis, Atlanta, Seattle and Portland are “peaceful,” according to the Democrats and their media adjunct. Or “mostly peaceful,” when a violent act is actually being committed onscreen. This is what Jerry Nadler says; according to him, violence by Portland’s leftists is a “myth.” Then there is Nick Kristof, who denies that Portland is violent and extols the joys of “stroll[ing] along the Willamette River and
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July 27, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The Hill reports on a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll in which 77 percent of respondents said they are concerned that crime is rising in the nation’s cities. 46 percent of respondents said they are concerned about rising crime in their own communities. Although reported by The Hill, the poll apparently has not yet been posted. Mark Penn, Harvard CAPS/Harris polling director, noted that respondents are concerned that prosecutors are not
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July 25, 2020 — John Hinderaker
It is hard to see how the city of Portland can ever recover from the violence that has been unleashed by Antifa, with the connivance of local officials. One is tempted to say that Portland’s voters have brought it on themselves and are getting what they deserve–good and hard, as Mencken put it. Unfortunately, they aren’t the principal victims of the violence. Federal agents came under vicious attack while trying
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July 25, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
During the debate over the First Step Act, conservatives favoring lenient treatment for felons liked to point to Texas where, supposedly, enlightened programs were rehabilitating criminals with remarkable success. These “evidence-based” programs were cited to justify shorter sentences for, and the early release of, federal felons who took various courses while incarcerated. The usually sensible Sen. John Cornyn helped lead this charge, as did Heritage Foundation. No disrespect to Texas,
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July 24, 2020 — John Hinderaker
“Get woke, go broke” is a refrain that I learned at InstaPundit. Unfortunately, it often isn’t true. See, e.g., Nike and Starbucks. Happily, though, broke does sometimes follow woke. A case in point is the Arts and Entertainment cable network. The only reason I know about the TV show “Live PD” is that my daughters watch it obsessively. Or used to, anyway: A&E canceled “Live PD” after the George Floyd
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