America’s cities are once again the victim of the Left’s obsession with anarchic violence. “Not my president,” they cry, as they destroy and vandalize property, burn and steal, and beat the innocent for the crime of being present when and where they feel like beating someone.
Indications are these supposedly spontaneous uprisings are being funded and provoked by the usual leftist suspects and professional protestors. Al Sharpton, for example, is once again defining his character as a vicious racist, desperate to remain relevant as America, at long last, is poised to cancel all race cards.
Particularly ironic is that the protestors are trashing the very cities that, for the most part, voted for Hillary Clinton.
There are the usual Democrat attempts to find faithless electors, or to in some bizarre way, overturn the results of the election, despite the fact that Donald Trump won not only the popular vote–62,972,226 to 62, 277,750–but overwhelmingly won the electoral college: 306 to 232. Recall if you will all the networks and pundits solemnly intoning that Trump had no possible path to 270 electoral votes.
So for what are the “protestors” protesting? To overturn the election? No rational person can think that possible. To prevent President Trump from violating people’s rights? He ran on restoring the Constitution, and there is no indication he will do anything but fulfill that promise. To protest democracy?
They are taking advantage of an unwilling law enforcement vacation from history enacted by Barack Obama, and a credulous, willing Congress. Consider this from The Washington Examiner:
Americans’ direct experience with crime is at a 16-year high, consistent with a gradual increase — from 22 percent in 2001 to 29 percent today — in the percentage saying that they or a household member was the victim of a robbery, vandalism or violent crime in the past year,’ Gallup reports.
What’s more, some 16 percent that they personally have been the victim of crime, most often theft.
Gallup said the recent increase wasn’t huge, but the years of increases a concern.
‘Americans’ self-reported experience with crime has been trending up since about 2001 and is now at a numerical high. Although not significantly higher than the 27 percent recorded in 2015, it could suggest the continuation of the upward trend and bears watching in the coming years,’ said the analysis.
President Obama set the conditions for the gradual destruction of the rule of law in July, 2009 when Henry Louis Gates, a black man, was arrested in Cambridge, MA. On camera, Mr. Obama admitted he knew nothing about the case, but said the police “acted stupidly.” While that racially tinged comment blew up in Mr. Obama’s face, leading to the nonsensical “Beer Summit,” it set the tone for the rest of Mr. Obama’s term in office.
Trayvon Martin–the son Mr. Obama never had–Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, all presented opportunities for Mr. Obama to support the rule of law. Instead, he and his Attorneys General sent DOJ community organizers to keep the racial pots stirred, and rather than supporting the police, encouraged racial division and anarchy. When Mr. Obama has had the opportunity to speak to the nation and make clear the importance of the rule of law, he has been silent, choosing instead to push racial progress back decades.
Even though Mr. Obama inherited declining crime rates, he and the Congress, including many Republicans, have been anxious not only to empty our prisons of dangerous felons, but to make it more difficult to send them back when they commit additional crimes. Obviously they either don’t understand, or choose to ignore several salient facts. A relatively small number of criminals in any area of the country commit the overwhelming majority of crimes. And the primary benefit of prisons is not rehabilitation, but keeping the worst predators away from the innocent. If they’re locked up, they are–for the most part– committing crimes only against each other.
Mr. Obama has also been doing his part to secure early releases–clemencies and pardons–for hundreds of dangerous felons, including many that have committed firearms offenses. This from a man supposedly concerned about “gun violence.” By the time he leaves office, he will have released thousands of the most prolific and dangerous criminals in the federal prison system. There is no doubt many will return to their criminal ways.
In addition, the Department of Justice has been forcibly taking over police departments, imposing rules that make it all but impossible for officers to enforce the law, particularly against young, black male criminals. The “Ferguson Effect” has spread across the nation. Police officers are avoiding any contacts with criminals, particularly minority criminals, because they reasonably believe they will not be supported in lawfully doing their duties. More than that, they have reason to believe they might be fired, even prosecuted for entirely lawful actions.
I wrote about such a case in October in The Ferguson Effect: Deception? wherein a female Chicago police officer was badly beaten by a hulking black gang member on PCP because she was afraid to use her firearm, even though she would, under Illinois law, have been completely justified.
This has had the effect of causing experienced, qualified, ethical police officers to flee the profession as fast as they can. It has also made police recruiting very difficult, as the few that seek the job are often exactly the kind of people no competent police chief or sheriff wants in uniform.
There is another, perhaps surprising, factor. Police agencies do their best to hire people only just smart enough for the job, as I wrote in September, 2014’s Police IQ:
During my early career in law enforcement, I had the odd distinction of having two separate police chiefs in two separate law enforcement agencies in two separate states tell me that I was too intelligent to be a policeman. Readers may debate my intellect, as they often do, but I tell this little morality tale not to pat myself on the back of my brain, but to set up the story that follows. Those hapless police chiefs were giving me a more or less backhanded compliment. They weren’t my fans, yet I was so productive they couldn’t fire me without far more mistakes on my part than ten men could make. Yet, they obviously didn’t realize what they were saying about themselves and their own agencies, nor did they apparently appreciate the inherent irony.
My experience has taught me that police chiefs, sheriffs and politicians in general want police officers to be only smart enough and no smarter. Unfortunately, they really can’t say just what “smart enough” is. It’s rather like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who couldn’t come up with a definition of pornography in Jacobellis v. Ohio, but noted ‘I know it when I see it.’
In 2011, I wrote about race based hiring imposed on police agencies by the Obama Administration. That’s bad enough. Racial quotas are an unmitigated disaster for public safety. But now we have the New London, CT police department that apparently knows what ‘smart enough’ and ‘too smart’ are. And a federal appeals court agrees. From Powerline:
All of the trends in law enforcement and crime are moving in the wrong direction, thanks to more than ample encouragement by the Obama Administration. The man who was going to heal the nation’s racial wounds, heal the planet and calm the seas, instead has worsened virtually every problem we’ve ever had, and where race is concerned, has stirred up animosity that didn’t previously exist. And the minority urban poor, about who Democrats claim to care so very much, are inevitably the victims of much of the crime they unleash on the innocent. This is not merely a matter of policy, an intellectual argument for faculty lounges and congressional dining rooms. Lives are at stake.
And when it’s time for national “leaders” to stand up for democracy, for a peaceful transition of power, for the rule of law and civilized conduct, where is Barack Obama? Where is Hillary Clinton? Where are our congressional leaders? Why aren’t they, supposedly the leaders of these sorts of protestors, doing everything they can to restore order?
This is the legacy Barack Obama leaves Donald Trump and America.
This is the burden we all assume in January, 2017.
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When Trump implied that he might contest the election if he suspected fraud, the media howled that he was “undermining our democracy.” Now, they condone or ignore the riots by sore losers.
I’ve heard that Clinton won the popular vote by 400,000 votes. That’s well within a reasonable margin for error. And, when you consider how many votes for Clinton were illegal (dead people voting in Chicago and Detroit, individuals who each voted more than once in different counties or districts, Soros-owned Smartmatic machines recording Trump votes as Clinton votes, plus up to 30 million illegal aliens), it may even tip in favor of Trump.
And, yes, it’s ironic (or, more accurately, hypocritical) for Democrats to complain about “gun violence” while federal prosecutions for firearms-related crimes (convicted felons caught in possession of firearms, illegal arms sales) have decreased under Obama. And they campaigned against “mass incarceration.” That is, they want to release felons from prison. Then they will blame the NRA for crimes committed by those ex-convicts.
Something too that many people fail to realize . Since our elections are not a popular vote contest but an electoral college it is often possible that votes , ( especially absentee ballots ect ) are left on the table uncounted . If it gets to the point that uncounted votes would not affect, local, district, state national contests , it is possible there may be many ballots that remain uncounted and just kept for possible recounts . This is especially true in deep red or blue states (California) . If you go into the election results USA it is not uncommon that weeks after the election it is still sitting at 97 98 % return . There is just no need to finish statistically speaking . Also the present system suppresses opposition votes in Deep Blue/Red States .
The popular vote is also skewed because campaigns write off states and concentrate on swing states . This factor intertwines with the previous suppression based on lack of value for the vote .
We could also imagine the legal nightmare of lawsuits based on irregularites in 50 states and millions of votes.
Mike,
How do we square the above quote citing increased crime with what I have read on various sites, such as Bearing Arms, that falling crime rates mirror the increase of gun ownership? I have quoted what I recall as FBI statistics (could be wrong source; I blame old age and bad memory) for falling crime and rising number of gun owners.
I’ve always read it was the rate of violent crimes that usually decreased with increased firearm ownership rates, not the overall crime rates. In other words, criminals continue to commit crimes, but switch to lower risk crimes. For example; fewer home invasions but more burglaries, few carjackings but more car thefts, etc.
Dear PaulM:
You’re quite right with one small quibble. We have a consistently low rate of “hot” burglaries–burglaries committed when residents are home–because burglars know they’re likely to end up shot to death. The stats quoted in the article are merely a current trend, not a wholesale reversal of a twenty year decline in crime. I fear it will continue to worsen, however, for the reasons listed in the article. The dramatic increase of gun owners has coincided with a general decline in criminality, in part due to the much more serious approach to crime that put so many felons in prison. Now even Republican legislators are leaning the opposite direction. Releasing so many more felons is inevitably going to cause crime rates to rise regardless of the number of guns in the hands of law abiding Americans.
BTW, Sally Kohn is wrong. Half the country does not need trauma counseling. They need to grow up and act like rational adults.
Remember the working class people rioting in the streets in 2008, when Obama was elected? Remember the Republicans having PTSD and needing safe spaces in 2012, when Obama was re-elected?
Neither do I.
Dear Tom:
What you said.
It is not just with the police. When my son was on duty in the Korean DMZ a few years ago he ran each day to stay in shape. A good idea since he was on the wrong side of a bridge that would probably be blown if NoKo attacked. He was called into the base commander’s office and dressed down for making the troops look bad because of his extra efforts. What a change from my days in the Navy in the late 1960s.
If law enforcement in the blue cities will not stop the rioting, they will be encouraging those idiots to move into outside areas. The red areas do not have the law enforcement numbers seen in the cities, so if that happens expect citizens to be proactive. I can tell you that in my county if rioting starts here, these spoiled snowflakes will at a minimum feel the sting of rock salt; most people I know would bypass rock salt if their property/family was directly threatened as would I.
IMO, if they are destroying our homes and businesses, I would have little to lose by taking them on with my immediate neighbors assisting as we have discussed. My black humor is when we see heavy smoke north (Wilmington) or south (Baltimore) of us, it is time to prepare for the worse.
Mike
A question from the Hillary Pardon me article . I can’t help but wondering from the Hillary picture and others I have seen , When ,and what kind of throat surgery is the scar on her neck from ???
Dear dmi60ex:
I may be wrong about this, but I think it’s merely wrinkles. I’m not aware of any throat surgery, rumored or actual. Hillary’s make up wizards couldn’t keep it all hidden all the time.
My son got out of the Marines end of Oct. He turned 18 in boot camp. Spent his first 4 years as a rifleman. Near the end of that he volunteered for Marine Security Guard. One of the few things you must voluneer for in the Marines. They guard out Embassies.
You must have near perfect fitness reports to even be considered then be able to obtain a top secret clearance. They must then pass the training which has a training class which has a 40% plus failure rate.
He was then transfered to a special unit created after Bengazi. They increased his small arms plus he receved first aid training comparible to some paramedics.
He applied to his first police department today and will submit an application for two more in the next two weeks. They only take them at certain times.
There are sill good men and women who want to do this work. He could go into a private security firm and make a lot more money but he is choosing to come and protect us!
He
Dear Charles Hamner:
Good for your son, and please thank him for his service for me. There will certainly be some good ones, but the current trend is otherwise.
There’s actually two important reasons for police and sheriffs to not hire past “smart enough”.
Boredom. Smarter people get bored easier with police work. Idle minds are the devil’s playground….
Retention. Bored people move on more frequently. Investing in the training of people who are highly likely to move on is a poor use of public funds.
Now, this creates a bit of a conundrum for LEO leadership. How do they get cops who are smart enough to make good detectives and such? Note that most/all cops start out as beat cops. Which is where most of the boredom is found.
Dear BikerDad:
Actually, a large part of the problem is poor supervision. Too many police supervisors can’t deal with subordinates smarter than they are. Such subordinates tend to be proactive and spend their time keeping busy and looking for crimes rather than just driving around aimlessly waiting for calls from the dispatcher. People like that make dumber, lazier people look bad. Actually, lazy people make themselves look bad, but blame productive people for their own failings. It’s the old Japanese axiom: the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.
Who do we want answering calls, the energetic, motivated smart guy, or the lazy, unmotivated just smart enough guy?
But hey, welcome to SMM, and thanks for your comment!