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Law Enforcement
“Be worthy” — the bodycam video
Last month I wrote about the July 14 ambush of Fargo police officers by one Mohamad Barakat. Barakat murdered Officer Jake Wallin and wounded two other officers. Barakat was prepared for mass murder. Inside Barakat’s car officers found 1,800 rounds of .223-caliber ammunition, explosives, gas canisters, and a homemade grenade with a fuse out of the top. Fargo police officer Zach Robinson saved the day. From a spot some 75 »
Blue Cities: Getting It Good and Hard
Why does anyone still live in San Francisco? Why would any group hold a convention or similar event there? Why would a tourist set foot there? That city has been so badly governed for so long that the question is no longer whether it will thrive, but rather, whether it will survive. Many San Francisco businesses have closed their doors, while others are barely hanging on. Gump’s is an upscale »
Proof That Law Enforcement Does Not Discriminate Against Blacks
In May 2020, the world was turned upside down when a massively-overdosed George Floyd died on a Minneapolis street while waiting for an ambulance that could have saved his life. The narrative that Minnesota’s criminal justice system was biased against blacks immediately took hold, encouraged by Minnesota’s own state and local officials. In response to that narrative, states and local jurisdictions across America, and even around the world, enacted “reforms” »
“Be worthy”
As the man says in the song (not that one), I was born in a small town — Fargo, North Dakota. You may have heard that Fargo police officer Jake Wallin was ambushed and murdered by one Mohamad Barakat in Fargo this past Friday as police responded to a call for help on a car accident. Officer Wallin was a native of St. Michael, Minnesota and a sergeant in the »
Can’t crack that case
The White House must be the most heavily guarded and surveilled building in the United States. Yet the case of the cocaine baggie outside the Situation Room is apparently damn near impossible to crack, if I may use that term in this context. I’m not sure if the White House is still taking the line that the area is “highly trafficked,” but that is the line that Politico persists in »
“Break the Wheel,” or something, part 4
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s memoir of the Chauvin prosecution — Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence — was published last week. It’s good to be Keith Ellison. He’s got the Star Tribune doing public relations for him. He’s got the New York Times doing public relations for him. He’s got the Washington Post doing public relations for him. He’s got NPR doing public relations for him. »
“Break the Wheel,” or something, part 2
I’m still working my way through Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s just-published memoir Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence. I hope to write a formal book review that administers justice to the book. In the meantime, I want to post a series of notes on the book. This is Ellison’s second memoir and it shares certain traits in common with the first, My Country, Tis of Thee: »
Governor: Please Stay Away
On Saturday night, Pope County, Minnesota, Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Owen was murdered in the line of duty, shot three times while responding to a domestic disturbance. Two other officers were wounded. Governor Tim Walz phoned Owen’s widow to offer condolences. Alpha News reports on what happened next: The widow of Pope County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Owen who was killed in the line of duty on Saturday night has told Minnesota »
Speaking of Derek Chauvin
In my view, Derek Chauvin is a scapegoat for the ages. Scott wrote a little while ago about the Minnesota Court of Appeals’ turning down Chauvin’s appeal based on pretrial publicity. I would say this is one of the year’s least surprising news stories. The Court of Appeals was no more willing to risk inciting riots than the Chauvin jurors were. Unlike (I think) Scott, I believe Chauvin’s guilty verdict »
Getting It Good and Hard
Hennepin County, with a population of around 1.3 million, is Minnesota’s largest. In November, it elected Mary Moriarty as County Attorney. Moriarty ran as an “out” leftist committed to “restorative justice.” Residents of Hennepin County are now finding out what that means. My colleague David Zimmer recounts Moriarty’s handling of two recent criminal cases. In the first, she dismissed charges against a 35-year-old Honduran man who was accused of raping »
Another SOTU Lie
Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech is tonight. Consistent with the custom of recent years, he no doubt will acknowledge the presence of individuals in the crowd and use their stories to reinforce his policy objectives. I was shocked to learn that among those who will be present tonight are the parents of Amir Locke, as guests of Ilhan Omar. The background on Locke’s case, briefly: four men were »
A Balanced View of the Tyre Nichols Case
Tyre Nichols’ funeral is today in Memphis. Kamala Harris will attend, consistent with the Left’s view that his death at the hands of Memphis police officers has broad significance for our society. Amid ludicrous claims that the beating of a black man by five black police officers is somehow a manifestation of “white supremacy,” it hasn’t been easy to find an informed, balanced assessment of the incident. At AmericanExperiment.org, my »
Tyre Nichols Videos Released [Updated]
I was scheduled to be a guest on Laura Ingraham’s television show tonight, but I was bumped for breaking news from Memphis. On January 7, Tyre Nichols was stopped by Memphis police for what is said to be a routine traffic violation. For some reason, he fled and officers pursued him. One or more “altercations” followed, and Nichols ultimately was transported to a hospital, where he died. Five Memphis police »
Ellison remembers to forget (again)
I’ve banged my head against the wall on the matter of Keith Ellison for 16 years. He is unfit for any public office. He is most unfit for a public office with responsibility for law enforcement. One such office is the position of Minnesota Attorney General. Unfortunately, that is the position he currently holds. His run for the position in 2018 prompted my column “Can Keith Ellison turn lawman?” Ellison’s »
The Profession That Dare Not Speak Its Name
The Minnesota State College and University System (“MnSCU”) includes 37 colleges and universities around the state, and trains a large majority of Minnesota’s law enforcement officers. Only you can’t call them “law enforcement” anymore: One of Minnesota’s public university systems has ordered its schools to remove any and all references to “law enforcement.” *** “One of the changes is that law enforcement has to be taken out of everything,” the »
High on foggy Biden
Yesterday President Biden issued a blanket pardon of all those convicted of marijuana possession under federal law. The White House has posted the text of Biden’s proclamation of pardon is here.The White House has posted Biden’s video statement on the pardon on Twitter (below). Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. Hear from @POTUS on the three steps he is taking to right these »
Semi-moronic
The White House thinks they have struck gold with their attack on “MAGA Republicans” as “semi-fascist” and all the rest. President Biden’s minders in the daycare operation at the White House are wheeling him out for a primetime campaign speech addressing “the soul of the nation” tomorrow night. The speech is to take place outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia. I am following Politico’s story on the speech here. My working »