Crime
January 25, 2022 — Steven Hayward
The old cliche about the news media is that “if it bleeds, it ledes,” but during the AGF (After George Floyd) madness that gripped the nation in the summer of 2020, the media was happy to run with the narrative of police brutality, and gave lavish favorable coverage to “defund the police” advocates. But there are signs that even the mainstream media is starting to have second thoughts, though I
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January 24, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
When I read this frontpage headline in the paper edition of yesterday’s Washington Post — “Cities look to halt deadly surge” — my first thought was that there is no significant surge in deaths from the coronavirus in our cities. But the Post wasn’t writing about the pandemic. It was writing about murders. Yes, the Washington Post has finally acknowledged the epidemic of violent crime in America. No more emphasis
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January 24, 2022 — John Hinderaker
In the Twin Cities, as throughout much of the country, rising crime is a top news story. While homicides draw the most headlines, the crime that has most instilled fear in law-abiding citizens, in my area at least, is carjacking. I lived in the Twin Cities metro area for more than 40 years before, to my recollection, I ever heard the word “carjacking” in a local context. Now, carjackings are
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January 22, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
2021 was a year of awakening for all but the most obtuse among the woke. It was the year when we realized, or relearned, that inflation isn’t a thing of the past. It’s something that happens when government largesse helps create excess demand. And it stings. 2021 was the year when we realized, or relearned, that attacks on the police and a reduction in police funding, coupled with prosecutors whose
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January 22, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Fraud in government programs is so routine that one wonders how much anyone still cares. Kyle Smith has done some research on this topic, as it relates to purported covid funding. As he notes, it takes considerable digging because “the media aren’t terribly interested in stories that reflect badly on Democrats.” [Congress has] already appropriated some $6 trillion in fighting COVID, though. That’s more than we spent fighting WWII, which
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January 20, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
Virginia’s new governor, Glenn Youngkin, has received well-deserved praise from conservatives for actions he took his first day as governor. I want to recognize the early moves of Virginia’s new attorney general, Jason Miyares. The Washington Post reports. Virginia’s new Attorney General Jason S. Miyares has already launched a probe of a state parole board he feels failed crime victims, fired several employees, including in a unit that investigates wrongful
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January 18, 2022 — Scott Johnson
When the authorities let the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct headquarters burn following the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day 2020, all hell broke loose. Thugs from all over the state made their way to the Twin Cities to participate in the orgy of riots, destructions and looting that spread throughout the Twin Cities. One such participant was Montez Terriel Lee, Jr. Lee came up to the Twin Cities
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January 17, 2022 — Steven Hayward
One of the signs that Ronald Reagan noted as an indication that the Soviet Union had entered a state of advanced decrepitude socially and economically were news reports in late 1980 in both the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times about three separate freight trains bound from Moscow to Odessa that simply disappeared, victims apparently of piracy. One wonders whether Russia, currently contemplating reassembling the Soviet empire starting with the Ukraine
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January 15, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Across America, citizens are up in arms about rising violent crime. In my own state of Minnesota, polls show that crime is voters’ number one concern. And when they say they want the governor to focus on violent crime, they don’t mean that they want him to encourage more of it. But liberals are untroubled by factors like public opinion, not to mention constitutional duty. Minnesota has a Sentencing Guidelines
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January 14, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
Marilyn Mosby is the Baltimore prosecutor who gained fame for prosecuting six police officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray in 2015. Gray died in police custody. Mosby failed to obtain a single guilty verdict. However, she did help undermine police morale, which led to a shrinking of the force and a sharp increase in violent crime in Baltimore More recently, Mosby has been under investigation by the Justice
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January 9, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
My friend who reads the New York Times has been waiting for it to provide frontpage coverage of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s memo instructing prosecutors not to seek jail or prison time for all but the most serious crimes and to cease charging a number of “lower-level” crimes. Having previously relegated the matter to page 18, the Times finally elevates it to the front page in discussing pushback by New
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January 8, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Alec Baldwin goes on a tirade in which he joins O.J. in seeking the real killer, and also recalls Harvey Weinstein’s pledge to battle the NRA with a Tourette-like reference to “January 6.” In a bizarre rant Alec Baldwin just compared his shooting of his cinematographer to Jan 6 and seemed to blame both on ‘right wing hate’ pic.twitter.com/BHrIdxugHy — Jack Posobiec 🍊 (@JackPosobiec) January 8, 2022 The truth, Alec,
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January 5, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
New York City has a new mayor, Eric Adams. He’s a former cop who campaigned on promises to support the police in efforts to make his city safe from runaway crime But less enhanced and proactive policing won’t take New York far unless it’s accompanied by effective prosecution of those whom the police arrest. Unfortunately, Manhattan’s new district attorney is on record as unwilling to perform that core task. The
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January 4, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
It looks like Andrew Cuomo will not be criminally charged by the Manhattan District Attorney for providing misleading information to the public about the number of deaths from the pandemic in New York nursing homes. Cuomo’s lawyer says he’s been so advised by the DA’s office. Andy McCarthy argues that the DA’s decision not to prosecute is probably the correct one. There’s no doubt that Cuomo deceived the public. State
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January 3, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The sudden spread of carjackings has cast a net of fear over the Twin Cities. The Star Tribune explored it in yesterday’s page-one story by David Chanen: “Carjackings sweep through Twin Cities communities.” Subhead: “Police struggle to keep with the latest crime trend.” In the paper’s hard copy, the headline asked: “Who is stealing so many vehicles?” It answered in the subhead: “Carjacking surge is blamed on armed teens who
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December 30, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The George Floyd riots that devastated the Twin Cities the week following Floyd’s death on Memorial Day last year weren’t the end of it. We had a follow-on eruption at the end of August in the heart of downtown Minneapolis when a crowd went on an incredibly destructive rampage of rioting, looting, and arson. The Center of the American Experiment’s John Phelan concisely recounted the events this way: In the
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December 29, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Edina is one of Minneapolis’s wealthiest suburbs. At one time, its public school system was considered to be among America’s best. Formerly a quintessential Republican suburb, Edina has trended Democratic in recent cycles and is now considered a firmly Democratic town. But that may be about to change. Historically, Edina’s desirability was due largely to its proximity to downtown Minneapolis. But bordering on Minneapolis is no longer a virtue. The
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