Crime
August 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The news media reported relentlessly on all matters relating even remotely to the horrific murders in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Fair enough. But I haven’t heard much from the mainstream media about the shooting in Philadelphia of six police officers by a felon who wasn’t permitted by law to possess a firearm. Maurice Hill is believed to have fired more than 100 rounds during his standoff with police.
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August 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I wrote here about the assault case against rapper A$AP Rocky, who, while in Stockholm, beat up an immigrant to Sweden for the sin of following him around and disobeying instructions by the rapper’s body guard not to do so. Swedish authorities arrested Rocky and two members of his crew and held them in custody pending trial, pursuant to Swedish law. At the urging of Kanye West and his Kardashian
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August 11, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
It’s quite amusing to watch Democratic presidential contenders respond to attacks on their record regarding crime. They have no defense to assert that would not hurt them with their Party’s base. Thus, they respond by attacking the record of the candidate who has attacked them. There is, of course, an excellent good answer to the question of why Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, and Pete Buttigieg have
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August 10, 2019 — Steven Hayward
I’m having trouble taking the Jeffrey Epstein story with the seriousness it deserves, in part because of his links to to the most laughable public figure in American political history (Bill Clinton), who was and remains good for so many jokes. So among my posts on Twitter (which I mostly just use for jokes these days anyway): But seriously, folks. How does this happen? It is hard to credit mere
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August 7, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The left wants to discount the role of mental disturbance in mass shootings. By doing so, it can keep all of the focus on guns and “white supremacy.” In addition, allowing mental disturbance to enter the conversation might lead to a discussion of family breakdown and loss of religious faith. The left wants to steer clear of that discussion at all costs. Hence, we see dishonest news stories, like the
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August 6, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
It seems to me that any rational person would intuit a connection between mental illness and mass killings. However, the anti-gun left wants to deny the connection so that all blame can be placed on guns and white supremacy ideology. The Washington Post follows this agenda-driven line in an article called (in the paper edition) “Studies: Mental illness isn’t to blame.” The article is rubbish. Post reporters William Wan and
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August 5, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Paul has noted the comments that President Trump made on the weekend’s two mass shootings this morning. His post embeds a video of the president’s speech, which is 10 minutes long. I recommend that you watch it. It was thoughtful, measured, and, in my opinion, struck all the right notes. It consisted in large part of denunciations of the murderers and sympathy for their victims. Beyond that, Trump’s comments were
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August 3, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump stuck a blow against criminal justice when he backed, and thereby caused to be enacted, a “criminal justice reform” bill mandating the early release of many thousands of federal felons (including violent felons), plus shorter sentences for future federal felons. Given sky-high recidivism rates, the measure is certain to generate significantly more crime than would otherwise have been committed. Trump’s decision to back legislation that makes Americans less
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July 27, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
When the FIRST STEP act was making its way through Congress, its advocates claimed that only “non-violent” federal prisoners would be released from prison early. By non-violent felons they meant, in essence, drug dealers, as opposed to, say, murderers, rapists, and armed robbers. I don’t consider dealers of deadly drugs to be non-violent. Their conduct wrecks lives and sometimes ends them. But let’s accept, for purposes of discussion, the definition
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July 25, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
In the second round of Democratic presidential debates, Joe Biden will share the stage with Kamala Harris and Cory Booker. This means double-trouble for the former vice president. Biden’s biggest vulnerability isn’t his opposition, nearly 50 years ago, to busing school children for reasons of race. His biggest vulnerability in terms of policy is his support in the early 1990s for the stiff sentencing of criminals. The legislation that Biden
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July 10, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Alex Acosta held a lengthy press conference today to defend his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein prosecution. Reportedly, President Trump wanted Acosta to explain himself to the public and to face the news media. Acosta did as well, I think, as he could have done under the circumstances. He may have done well enough to satisfy Trump, who clearly likes Acosta, for now. But Acosta did not do well enough
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July 9, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, in discussing the new charges brought against Jeffrey Epstein by the U.S. Attorney’s office in New York, I said I was unclear as to whether, or to what extent, Epstein can use the sweetheart plea deal his lawyers negotiated with Alex Acosta to fight the new charges against him. Ken White, a former federal prosecutor, takes up the subject in an article for The Atlantic. White observes that “every
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June 16, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Where do the most wacko voters in America reside? Probably in Minnesota’s fifth congressional district. For years, the Democratic voters there sent Keith Ellison to Congress. Now that he has finally moved on, they have unleashed Ilhan Omar on Washington. Virginia’s Democratic voters deserve honorable mention, though. Last election cycle, they served up the scandal-ridden trio of Ralph Northam, Jason Fairfax, and Mark Herring for the top three executive positions
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June 12, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Two veteran prosecutors in Northern Virginia were defeated yesterday by leftists backed to the hilt by George Soros’ money. In Arlington County, Parisa Dehghani-Tafti narrowly defeated longtime Commonwealth Attorney Theo Stamos. In Fairfax County, Steve Descano unseated incumbent Raymond Morrogh. I warned here and here that the massive influx of Soros money might produce these results. Dehghani-Tafti and Descano both campaigned on the “criminal justice reform” mantra. After her victory,
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May 28, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, President Trump tweeted: Anyone associated with the 1994 Crime Bill will not have a chance of being elected. In particular, African Americans will not be able to vote for you. I, on the other hand, was responsible for Criminal Justice Reform, which had tremendous support, & helped fix the bad 1994 Bill! By “anyone,” Trump means Joe Biden. In fact, he also tweeted: Super Predator was the term associated
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May 24, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Last week, police arrested two teenagers, Josue Fuentes-Ponce and Joel Escobar, and charged them with the murder of 14 year-old Ariana Funes-Diaz. She was killed in a tunnel, beaten with a baseball bat and slashed with a machete. She was found naked. Reportedly, the killers, members of MS-13, ordered her to strip before they murdered her. According to authorities, Fuentes-Ponce and Escobar killed the girl because they were worried she
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May 23, 2019 — John Hinderaker
This video was in the New York Post. I saw it at Althouse. It shows a shooting of a suspect by a police officer in San Diego last year. The police officer is being approached on a street by a man who swings a four-foot chain. The officer tries to get the man to drop the chain. Ann’s comment is apt: “[I]t’s astounding how long the cop walks backward, warning
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