668 Comments

"Of course, these people did not deserve harm because of their support for soft-on-crime policies."

Deserve? Perhaps not. But just deserts for inflicting evil ideas that increase the risk of crime and death on everyone because of what they lobby for? Perhaps. You reap what you sow comes to mind.

Expand full comment

It is very hard to have any sympathy for them. How naive and arrogant the SJWs are is shocking.

Expand full comment

I can neither muster any sympathy nor am I inclined to gloat. I’ll save my sorrow for the truly innocent, often women and children, who have been assaulted, attacked, murdered, and had no distorted vision of a utopian, “equitable” society, but were just living their lives.

Expand full comment

Disgraceful how hard and cruel you people choose to be! Sorrow isn't some finite thing you have to guard selfishly. Compassion costs nothing and hate destroys your soul. I cannot understand the self righteous stinginess of all of you who feel compelled to deny any sympathy to someone of a different political persuasion. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!" Where is your humanity and common decency? If we lose those shared values, there will be no society left worth arguing about.

Expand full comment

Hello, Brigid. I’m not choosing to be anything, it’s simply how I feel…or don’t feel. I’m not blessed with bottomless reserves of sympathy or compassion. I’ve seen too much, I know too much. I don’t celebrate this death, I don’t mourn it, I’m indifferent to it.

The fact is, the policies for which the late Mr. Carson (RIP) and his comrades argue, for which they march — presumably in between going to brunch and getting tattoos — and the feckless progressive prosecutors — some of whom, thankfully, have been forced out of office — carry out, cost innocent lives. Just off the top of my head:

24-year-old Areanah Preston, a Chicago police officer, was shot dead in May of this year. The perpetrators all have lengthy criminal histories.

In February of this year, 17-year-old Janae Edmondson of Nashville was in St. Louis for a volleyball tournament when she was hit by a speeding car. As a result, her legs later had to be amputated. The driver who hit her was out on bond on a robbery charge despite nearly 100 bond violations.

February of 2022, in New York, 35-year-old Christina Yuna Lee was killed after being stabbed more than 40 times in her apartment, where police found her, naked from the waist up, in the bathtub. Her attacker was out on supervised release on three open cases, including one where he allegedly punched a stranger on the subway, and had an extensive record in New Jersey.

January 2022, 24-year-old Brianna Kupfer, a beautiful young woman, working alone in a Los Angeles furniture store, was stabbed 26 times, murdered in broad daylight. Her injuries included 11 stab wounds to her chest, two to her abdomen, one to her pelvis and seven to her arms. She was sliced in at least 20 places on her body, and was inflicted with so many wounds, many of them 5 inches deep, that she died from exsanguination. Her aorta, liver, lungs, and stomach were repeatedly penetrated by the blade. Her killer had a lengthy criminal record that stretched from coast to coast.

The list goes on and on. I go down the horrible internet rabbit hole, and read stories like these every day. I’ve wept for these victims.

So, please, with respect, spare me your righteous indignation. At best, where this case is concerned I feel only disgust that the victim’s friends are profiting off his death — a GoFundMe campaign for money that provides them with “space to heal” — and relief that the attacker is off the streets, at least for now, before he kills again.

Expand full comment

Don't justify yourself by tarnishing the names of those fallen. I'm family of a police officer who died in the line of duty at the hands of a violent criminal. I've seen a lot too but still absolutely reject your view, as would my family and the families of many of those you listed I'm sure, that you can decide from a news clip who is worthy of compassion. It's dangerous to normalize hatred based on snap judgments, and we're heading too quickly down that road. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. -MLK

Expand full comment

Good lord. What “hatred”? I’ve expressed no hatred toward anyone. (Although I can find some for the perpetrators.) “Tarnishing the names of the fallen”? Tarnishing?! What are you talking about?

I don’t know why you singled me out in the first place when there were far more callous comments by others, but so be it. I don’t need to justify myself to you or anyone else. You don’t have to accept my view. It’s also incredibly presumptuous to think you know how the families of victims feel based on your own experience. I’m betting you’re wrong. But my sincere condolences for your loss.

If you feel sad about this activist’s murder, good for you. I feel nothing about it. Your patience-trying platitudes won’t make me, or likely anyone else, feel or think differently.

Expand full comment

Christopher, it's true your comments were less callous than others and not hateful so much as self righteous, but the general trend of dehumanizing our political opponents is incredibly dangerous and I reserve the right to object. It is absolutely contrary to the religious beliefs of many of us to judge who is more righteous or worthy of compassion, so I would say it tarnishes the name of a devout Christian, for example, to say you withhold that compassion in his name. The secular argument is that if we start descending into blind tribalism rather than the rule of law, we are lost. I'm not sure why that's hard to understand since there are so many examples historically I don’t know where to start. We don't want what's next.

Expand full comment

We are 80% of the way there already.

Expand full comment

They cannot have it both ways. A profound injustice has occurred. If they refuse to see it, there can be no sympathy.

Expand full comment

It’s been reported elsewhere that the girlfriend of the Brooklyn stabbing victim, herself an “ACAB” type, set up a GoFundMe...for herself, and that she refused to provide a description of the assailant to police. I can’t confirm either story but neither would surprise me. I believe these people would be happy with anarchy if it clears their guilty white liberal consciences.

Expand full comment

This is true about not wanting to mention race when making reports. My godson is SF Police in the Tenderloin (hardcore stuff) and he says that when he takes reports from the young tech types they hem and haw and get all nervous when it comes to the assailant's description. The guilty are going to destroy us all.

Expand full comment

If the assailants had been white, it would be the first thing mentioned in every report. The fact that it's not even mentioned in this article is telling.

Expand full comment

Perhaps they scared of cancel culture - I feel for all of us America over the edge with this current administration.

Expand full comment

Dear god

Expand full comment

Are you kidding? Nothing is more politically incorrect in the Social Justice Cult than actually acknowledging that most criminals are black.

Expand full comment

GoFundMe . . . for herself? Speaks volumes!

Expand full comment

Well it is GoFund-ME

Expand full comment

If it’s true it’s a shocker.

Expand full comment

There was a Go Fund Me account set up by Mr. Carson’s co-workers, psrt of which was to allow them to afford to have the “time away from work to grieve”. More elitism and “luxury beliefs”. The night my grandmother died, I drove an hour to be with her, arrived back home st 1 AM, and was in the OR at 7:15 for a full day of elective cases.

Expand full comment

It’s there

https://www.gofundme.com/f/ryan-carson

Expand full comment

They've raised almost $70K off this. One of the donors:

I donated $5 because it was the minimum but I wanted to say this: you people are disgusting, depraved ghouls for profiting off of this man's death. Morales standing there and effectively laughing at him while he died on the street, at him while he died, refusing to cooperate with the police, and exploiting his death for money is one of the worst things I have ever seen and I hope - although I doubt it - GoFundMe yanks down this wretched theft.

Expand full comment

Oh no! GoFundMe only yanks things like the Canadian truckers' strike fund, where the money was actually being used to put bread on the table and pay for attorney's fees.

Expand full comment

Ghoulish.

Expand full comment

Quote from the GoFundMe campaign: "... so that we can have space and time to grieve, and remember Ryan. Immediate needs are to offset the costs of working class people taking time off of work to properly mourn."

It is hard to believe these luxury beliefs are held by "working class people."

Expand full comment

When you can’t actually afford your “luxury beliefs”, you have to steal from others to pay for them. BLM (Big Luxury Mansions) is the archetype of this growing grift, and this is just a metastasized version.

Expand full comment

OUCH!! I note the emphasis on "working class people". i'd like to run a background check!

Expand full comment

I thought, naively, that everyone who worked was "working class." Oh wait, I forgot, there is no class distinctiion in America, we are all just one big happy family and were all created equual, even if some are more equal than others.

Expand full comment

It’s crazy can’t get my head around all of this.

Expand full comment

"Hi everyone.

We are a collective of Ryan's close friends, reeling from a brutal loss. We are asking for your help on behalf of his partner in easing the burden and stress of this horrifying situation so that we can have space and time to grieve, and remember Ryan. Immediate needs are to offset the costs of working class people taking time off of work to properly mourn.

If you Google 'Ryan Carson', you'll hear (and now see) about the tragedy that struck on early Monday morning. But if you look past the breaking news, you'll see news on his legislative victories, you'll probably find his social media accounts filled with thoughts and memories, and you'll find collections of his artistic works to date. We hope you may find his thoughts on mutual aid, his works of advocacy, and understand that his radical principles of community care, justice, and dismantling an individualized profit-centered way of life are worth carrying forward in our own communities.

It is this time of remembrance and healing that will allow for reflection; we thank you in advance for any material support you can provide.

In pain and gratitude,

Ryan's Friends"

Expand full comment

So they have learned nothing. Or else their social status is more important to them than the death of their friend.

Expand full comment

Is that a Portlandia skit or is that real?

Expand full comment

This is disgusting

Expand full comment

$73,732 and rising raised for Claudia Morales.

Expand full comment

For those, like me, who don’t know all the trendy acronyms:

SJW - social justice warrior

ACAB - all cops are bastards

Expand full comment
founding

*communists release prisoners and open borders

“Oh so looks like we need the government to help us now, don’t we.”

Expand full comment

If men were angels no government would be necessary - Federalist Papers 51

Expand full comment

But You should have at least some sympathy for them. Their views might be foolish, but foolishness is no crime that deserves the death penalty. Or we would all be dead.

Expand full comment

Activists like him are finally getting a taste of the misery that their "defund the police" policies have inflicted upon poorer areas of the cities. Had this psycho stabbed someone else he would have campaigned on the psycho's behalf. The same goes for the other two SJWs who got their comeuppance in the last week.

Expand full comment

I have little sympathy for those whose views are foolish and who force those views on others. It is not a crime, and certainly doesn’t “deserve” the death penalty. But it is extremely arrogant and elitist.

Expand full comment

Many many years ago, Anna Sewell wrote a novel entitled Black Beauty. When the horse’s life is endangered through the ignorance and naïveté of young Joe, and the head groom speaks harshly to him, the owner of the horse intercedes and asks the head groom to be kind. The groom answers, “When people say, oh, I did not know, I did not mean any harm, they think this excuses them from blame. But the harm has been done.” (This may not be perfectly accurate, I don’t have my copy with me.). To say of someone, oh, but they meant well - that’s about the worst thing you can say.

Expand full comment

By the way....I assume You're meaning well too.

Expand full comment

I mean neither harm nor well. However, facing the consequences of your actions is part of being a responsible adult. These several cases bring to mind the San Francisco councilwoman who was a staunch supporter of police defunding, who called the police once she herself was a crime victim. Death is too high a penalty to pay for foolishness, I agree, but every day people suffer the same fate for just being poor and living in a poor neighborhood. Don’t they deserve the same compassion?

Expand full comment

Worse yet, other people suffer the predictable consequences of their foolishness.

Expand full comment

How much sympathy have You got for staunch "gun rights" supporters who get shot by individuals who obtain guns because of the lack of meaningful gun control to keep guns out of the hands of individuals who have a history of committing violent crimes?

Expand full comment
Oct 7, 2023·edited Oct 8, 2023

To be kind the first condition is to know and speak the truth. People who cannot do that are fakes even if they use the word more often than others.

Expand full comment

It’s not about “deserving”. It’s about Natural Consequences. Some of us learned this in childhood from parents who allowed us to fall, to fail, when we lived in the safety of their care. Many of these elites will not change no matter what happens to them or their loved ones. And that is arrogance and false pride under the tent awning of a cult.

Expand full comment
founding

“Just because the internment camps were your idea doesn’t mean you deserve to be attacked by the detainees.”

Expand full comment

One wonders those elites in France who were led to the Guillotine or in the Soviet Union who were taken from their homes never to be seen again had the same feelings? Reading history is your best educator.

Expand full comment

I'm sure a lot of them went to their deaths believing that the whole thing was nothing but an administrative cock-up, and that someone in authority would be along shortly to correct it.

Expand full comment

Like Napoleon 😅

Expand full comment

Dear Albert...the exact fate that awaits anyone who disagrees with the Marxist orthodoxy of the left...agree or be "disappeared"...g.

Expand full comment

France is special case maybe. Few places and times did the Poor actually rise up to take the heads of the rich. Far more often the elite classes were comfortable in their separation from need.

Expand full comment

No, these progressive activists and politicians did not "deserve" to be attacked and harmed. Nor was this a case of "just desserts," insofar as there is nothing "just" about the violence perpetrated in these cases. And I have no problem feeling sympathy for anyone who suffers a violent, unprovoked attack.

But, according to progressive ideology, the perpetrators in these cases are not to be blamed for their actions. They were driven to commit assault by the racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic/and just plain fundamentally unjust, white supremacist society in which we live. They bear no personal responsibility and therefore should not be charged or imprisoned or punished in any way by our racist/sexist/etc corrupt justice system. It's unfortunate that some people were attacked, but that's the fault of "society," and the only remedy is to completely dismantle and destroy all of our systems and institutions and traditions and to start from scratch so we can rebuild our society as the equitable utopia it could easily be if only we all cared enough to make it happen.

Expand full comment

THIS. 100pct. "dismantling systems of oppresion"..... pardon me while i lose my lunch

Expand full comment

But you lay one finger on these feral creatures and it’s one can of whoop-ass for you.

Just sayin’

Expand full comment

Great post!

Expand full comment

The thing is nothing will change until the elites start feeling the serious repercussions of their idiotic choices,

Expand full comment

And apparently they are feeling these repercussions according to the news tonight. Biden says he “has no choice but to build the wall” and his hands are tied because of a law passed in 2019 (during the Trump administration that he’s ignored so far) that forces him to start construction immediately. Once the compassionate, loving residents of Martha’s Vineyard and NYC faced the reality of millions flooding the border and thousands showing up eyeball-to-eyeball with them they’ve decided open borders aren’t really such a good idea after all.

Expand full comment

Yep - Biden has found a way to help out 'sanctuary cities' who only want to be sanctuaries for a few appropriately progressive illegal immigrants instead of the hordes actually expecting sanctuary, while managing to blame the whole thing on Trump.

Truth is really stranger than fiction - as no fiction writer would be caught dead writing this kind of crap!

Expand full comment

President Biden's lawyers realized he was in danger of being impeached due to failure to execute the law, when funds for a section of wall were appropriated by Congress in 2019. Biden's people returned to Congress and asked that the funds be transferred to another, similar purpose, but Congress refused. This is failure to execute the law and is impeachable - easier offense than complex case of bribe money from Ukraine or other problems. (Check Mark Levin radio, 10/05/2023.)

Expand full comment

like the migrant mess in Manhattan!

Expand full comment

They never do though.

Expand full comment

I was going to quote the same thing. While they did not deserve what happened it was a fully predictable action. As poor and downtrodden die by the hundreds with barely a whimper by the press, the death of two affluent “activist journalists” results in non stop news.

Expand full comment

Maybe you don't believe in fair housing or LGBTQ rights, which is your right, but what kind of grand-canyon-sized leap are you making to connect these issues/policies to increasing people's risk of death Because these are the issues the journalist was fighting for. What is the purpose of calling these ideas "evil" vs. truly arguing where they might be backfiring? For example, pushing for police reform is not necessarily increasing risk of crime and others' dying. In fact, there is a good argument to be made the community policing, responsible policing, is what keeps everyone safe. But maybe you know otherwise. Maybe you've made a study of it and can tell us exactly where they do and don't work. But beyond the reluctance to actual engage in substantive argument, what I find the most staggering here is the casual way you and others are suggesting that these people who I'm pretty sure you know almost nothing about "deserve" what they got ("just desserts" means essentially the same thing as deserve.) I realize everyone here feels empowered to say whatever they want, protected by the anonymity of their made-up names. But this is a public forum, not a mob.

Expand full comment

Don't be so dense. "Community policing" = "no policing, except in the neighborhoods where the elites live". This ain't our first rodeo. All of these ideas (to the extent that they are actual ideas, and not just labels that sound good), have been tried before. This time, the results were completely predictable. There is no excuse. "But I had good intentions" doesn't cut it anymore. Results matter. It's time to get real. Criminals commit crimes. It's what they do; it's what they are. Most of them cannot stop committing crimes any more than Wile E. Coyote can stop chasing the Road Runner; nor do they feel like trying. They like being criminals. Committing crimes and harming others gives them joy. That's it.

There is a lot that can and should be done to keep people from starting down that path. But once someone has gone down the path, the odds of reforming them is almost nil. That has to be dealt with, and unfortunately there are very few options that aren't completely inhumane.

And making excuses for it is an F-you to the lower classes. It takes opportunities away from them. Today, we have an upper class that, having climbed the ladder, is busy pulling it up behind them. Filling middle-class and working-class neighborhoods with crime is one way of killing upward mobility.

Expand full comment

Thank you for this response. There is no need for anyone to "prove" these recycled criminal justice policies don't work because they were already tried in the 1960s and 70s (rehabilitation, restorative justice etc) and failed spectacularly leading to rampant crime. That was how the whole "tough on crime" movement came about in the 80s and 90s, which was very effective in reducing the crime rate. These people have short memories and misplaced sympathies. I'm sick of them giving the benefit of the doubt to criminals and not the innocent public.

Expand full comment

What a brilliant post thank you AS!

Expand full comment

So well said Alabama!

Expand full comment

Granted the mayor of D.C., Muriel Bowser, is no Mensa candidate, but she allowed "Defund the Police" painted on sidewalk to remain. Now that carjackings are routine, she's crying that she's 400 police officers short. YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS UP.

Expand full comment

Nope you can’t - no bullshit there Marcia.

Expand full comment

Paula, I am sorry but the ubiquitous slogan “Defund the Police” did not look like a request for police reforms. It looked like eehhh.. well, defund the police. Which is what was being done. You disagree?

Expand full comment

"there is a good argument to be made the community policing, responsible policing, is what keeps everyone safe."

Trayvon Martin could not be reached for comment.

Expand full comment

Just after George Floyd would have been the perfect time for reasonable discussion about police reform. I think the motivation would have been there. But instead, we get ACAB, defund the police and BLM protests. And now that the emotions from that have metastasized, it’s difficult to be sympathetic.

Expand full comment

That, or we could just start with the fact that there is zero connection between the victim's activism and/or beliefs and their attacks. The couple assaulted in Brooklyn were assaulted by a young man with no history of criminal activity or contact. So whether they were ACAB/"DefundThePolice/"BLM" activists or not, what is the policy that they were activating against, or that was not in place or not being enforced, or whatever, that played a role in this attack? The second story of the journalist, at the time of the writing, has not yet found the attacker. So we have no idea of who the attacker was or their motives, and whether or not this was a crime that would have otherwise been prevented if policing was "stronger" or against the activist's beliefs.

This is one of the worst "opinions" that not even the very few "facts" cited within can backup its conclusion that TFP has printed, but yet was presented as a -> b logical conclusion (but of course, with the loose caveat "we're not actually blaming the victims here har har") for the red meat devouring base to consume as fact (and of course they ARE blaming the victims), and the comments do not disappoint. "Honestly" - this is very disappointing for Bari and team to have presented like this. Shit like this is cause for pause at the next renewal.

Expand full comment

Lol. Dude worked on improving recyclling and solid waste management.

Expand full comment
founding

Oh so he only *voted* to open the borders and empty the prisons. So he was only directly causing the problem but it wasn’t his day job.

👍👍👍

Expand full comment
Oct 5, 2023·edited Oct 5, 2023

How do you know that he voted for those things - "emptying prisons" - from the fact that he worked in the field of recycling and waste management?

Is this like your claim that Planned Parenthood offices are performing castrations?

Expand full comment
founding

“THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT DEMOCRATS VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS!!!”

😂😂😂

Expand full comment

Dear Kevin...Comprof2.0 isn't worth one second of your attention...g.

Expand full comment
Oct 5, 2023·edited Oct 5, 2023

So working in the field of recycling, etc. is a "Democrat" thing? Or means they want to "empty all the prisons."

Is this like your claim Planned Parenthood offices are castrating children?

So, yes...once again, you have no evidence for your claims, but I'm sure we'd all love to hear your "thought provoking" claims.

Expand full comment

He voted Democrat. Democrats advocate defunding police and open borders.

Expand full comment
Oct 6, 2023·edited Oct 6, 2023

Think we've been through this already....Name one major, substantive Democrat politician that has advocated for defunding the police and/or open borders.

No police departments were defunded. They have maintained their budget and/or had it increased.

Expand full comment

Biden on the border. VP Harris on defunding the police.

You’re right. We have gone through this and you were proven 100% wrong each time.

Expand full comment

666

Expand full comment

InThailand that would be 555. The word for 5 is ha.

Expand full comment

How is the GOP field looking? Still waiting for all those reasonable GOP base/voters to show up?

Expand full comment

Justice first. Sympathy later - where it’s deserved.

Expand full comment

A harsh judgement, but a just one. “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

Expand full comment

Mark, here is how the same media company handles the portrayal of crime suspects.....

https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1710012450555175160

Expand full comment

Exactly - but you forgot to mention that the white dude acted to prevent injury to others (don't know about the black one, but the immutable stats are that he was probably perpetrating violence rather than preventing it)

Expand full comment

The phrase is “just deserts”, where “desert” refers to the very concept of deserving something. So you’re saying they do in fact deserve it.

Expand full comment

Wow - thank you. I was unaware of that and appreciate the info.

Expand full comment

I was thinking the same thing, in terms of making beds you have to sleep in.

Expand full comment

The murder victim in the video "inflicted evil idea that increase the risk of crime and death on everyone . . ." Really? How on earth would you know that?

Expand full comment

Well, yes, those are strong words. But people who advocate defunding the police are in fact doing exactly that.

Expand full comment

I agree that people who advocate doing away with police are doing exactly that: raising the risks for all of us. But was that particular murder victim an advocate getting rid of our police? I found no evidence that he did, so the lack of sympathy for his being murdered is incredibly misplaced. Writers cannot use specific people to make general points if the specific people are not part of the general group--it's unfair to the specific person.

Expand full comment

No, not 'just deserts' - don't be a fucking lunatic Mark.

Expand full comment

The recent change of heart from the Biden Administration on the southern border wall is another fine illustration of this phenomenon. Suddenly, when massive numbers of illegals were transported to Democrat-run cities, the seriousness of the southern invasion became a reality and the opposition to the wall immediately vanished. Funny how that works.

Expand full comment

> massive numbers

New York has received roughly 110,000 in the last few months. Since the beginning of the Biden administration, an estimated 7-10 million have crossed the southern border. So, New York has gotten about 1% of the new arrivals.

I mean, it *is* a massive number. But it's a tiny drop compared to what Texas has needed to deal with.

Expand full comment

But Trump was vilified and mocked for the wall. See how this works? F Joe Biden and every POS who voted for that senile imbecile.

Expand full comment

Amen

Expand full comment

Sending illegals to sanctuary cities was a brilliant move.

Expand full comment

Martha’s Vineyard sure had a buncha of “In This House We Believe” signs show up at the city dump

Expand full comment

Replaced by "Neighborhood Watch" signs ...

Expand full comment

Try living in one of those border towns. Our official population is around 35k, have almost double that number detained in our sector monthly, significant number are “paroled” into our community with a pinkie swear to appear for an asylum hearing in 5-7 years

Expand full comment

God it sounds like a nightmare

Expand full comment

I’m so sorry for you. Florida has periodic surges of migrant boats, but nothing to compare with your plight.

Expand full comment

The reason they are changing, to a small degree, their policy is because an election is coming and so time to become more centrist. If Biden wins the election they will continue ramping up immigration so as to destroy the US and try to shore up their support with foreign born voters.

Expand full comment

Foreign born voters do not support this free flow of immigrants. We came here legally and in general are better patriots than Democrats

Expand full comment

I do agree this is an 'election ploy'... I just can't accept the hypothesis that the American people will be too clueless to see right through it.

Expand full comment

The people that voted for Biden are the same people that voted for Fetterman.

Expand full comment

"Run to the center, govern to the left" has been a leftist slogan for a century.

Expand full comment

Gavin Newson is their back up plan. Think about that - Democrats will vote for that guy.

Expand full comment

they re-elected both bush ii and obama both true failures at everything they touched

Expand full comment

“I just can't accept the hypothesis that the American people will be too clueless to see right through it.”

Believe it. Public schools have intentionally produced clueless graduates just for this purpose.

Expand full comment

It would take a thousand sins from their own tribe to equal one sin from the other.

Expand full comment

I don’t believe we are, the MSM are underestimating the electorate - they in for a very rude awaking.

Expand full comment

Rob 2024 is the most important election of our lifetime - we have got to get them out of power!

Expand full comment

"You can deny reality but you cannot avoid the consequences of denying reality." Ayn Rand.

Expand full comment

Texas Gov Abbott (and De Santis) started the busing and I wonder if he ever could have imagined how effective that would be in changing laws.

Do you think if his opponent in the gubernatorial race last year, democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke, had won, Biden would have changed his tune on this topic?

Expand full comment

And then of course he rambles on about who's to blame for not having the $ appropriated. What a wanker

Expand full comment

Well said. It shows the the Democrats both nationally (President, Congress) and locally (City Mayors) were using the illegal immigration issue as a pure political tool and they have no care for the illegals themselves. You are a sanctuary city until someone actually takes you up on it. The border wall is racist and serves no purpose until the political situation makes you look bad. Then suspend 26 federal laws (clean air act etc..) to build more wall. The frustrating part is they get total cover for this hypocrisy from the MSM.

Expand full comment

Hilariously, the Biden Administration is now claiming that it doesn’t want to build that stretch of wall, but they’re compelled to do so by a law passed in 2019. In,other words—it’s really Trump’s fault!

Expand full comment

OMG can you believe the crap that was sprouted today on MSM

Expand full comment
founding

Also, Andre, The Biden Regime most likely feeling panic over their “low and falling” poll numbers + heat from the House Republican investigations into the Biden Crime Family! Their usual, “But, but, but Trump” rhetoric doesn’t seem to be working, as Trump’s poll numbers are “high and rising”.

Expand full comment

You can’t beat a trump crime family! The Democrats have asked Senator Menendez who’s been indicted to resign. But George Santos, who is a total fraud and imposter was never asked to resign by the Republicans. Interesting.

Expand full comment

As it's been said, "a conservative is a former liberal who's been mugged by reality"

Expand full comment

Yip comedy at its best!

Expand full comment

Ah, you will never surmount the estimable Thomas Sowell:

"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong."

They thought they would not pay a price for their beliefs, but they did; however, that lesson went for nothing. The only benefit is that maybe someone like them will see and learn.

Expand full comment

Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote a great book about this very phenomena - Skin in the Game.

I can think of so many similar circumstances where progressive elites have no skin in the game, especially on issues related to illegal immigration and violent crime. The classic example is how they all send their kids to private school.

Expand full comment

Case in point: Chicago Teacher's Union President Stacey Davis-Gates has said that private schools are fascist and racist, played a part in nixing a program to give grants to underprivileged kids in order to attend them....but she sends her kid to one.

Expand full comment

Hypocrites!

Expand full comment
founding

These aren't very fast learners, Jim.

Expand full comment

Wonderful quote, thank you. Did Sowell just describe the political class, policy think tanks and academic expert consultants??

Expand full comment

Maybe so; maybe so....

Sowell has written many books; I spent nearly all of my first ocean cruise sitting on the deck, reading his 704-page book on economics. (I know; I need to get out more...) Probably his best known and most widely quoted book is "The Vision of the Anointed." He is a prolific writer, now in his nineties. To my mind he's in a dead heat with Clarence Thomas as America's Greatest Treasure.

Expand full comment

Thomas Sowell is 93 years old and recently published his 40th book, Social Justice Fallacies.

Expand full comment

Uncle Thomas seems to have accumulated quite a lot of treasure.

Expand full comment

My guess is that Justice Thomas is waiting for Trump's next presidency before he retires. Unlike Ginsberg, he has no known diseases, so it might be a good strategy.

Expand full comment

I hope he's holding his breath.

Expand full comment

Is Justice Thomas too uppity for you? Dares to think in ways the white folks don't like?

Expand full comment

No, Biden is too uppity for me, Thomas has too many unanswered financial questions and some of his decisions seem political and amount to favoritism. You, however, seem to have a problem with how black and white folks think. I listen to words, I don't think in color. I guess all those years playing with black musicians must have rubbed off on me. Your arrogance is outstanding.

Expand full comment

Did you call him "Uncle Thomas" because you "don't think in color"?

Expand full comment

What wonderful treasures these two men make us look and feel great again!😃

Expand full comment

He puts it so well.

Expand full comment

Highly unlikely Jim.

Expand full comment

Luxury beliefs sum it up perfectly. As one who works in the trenches and somewhat understanding of the other I never cease to be stunned by the elites ability to make pronouncements on things they have never even come close to experienced. Being with the other is an education in and of itself and more valuable than untested opinions and data

Expand full comment

Here's another luxury belief:

If you want to make an omelette, sometimes you have to break a few eggs.

Said most often by the people enjoying their omelette. Not so much by the eggs.

Expand full comment

Orwell's observation on that particular belief is right on point: "Where's the omelet?"

Expand full comment

I’m entrenched in the trenches myself.

Expand full comment

So true!

Expand full comment
founding

“The vast majority of educated people have never been in a real fight or experienced serious physical injury.”

———————————————————

Build Back Bullying

Expand full comment

One of my favorite quotes is, "Idealism is directly proportional to the distance you are from the problem."

Expand full comment

Love!!!!! Accurate

Expand full comment

Make America Grapple Again

Expand full comment
founding

When Jamal Bowman said he didn’t know it was a fire alarm I tried to start

#BelieveAllBowman

but it never took off.

😢😢😢

Expand full comment

#BelieveAllBowman! Brilliant! Take a bow, man.

But for the fact the congressman has worked in a school, I might believe his

cockamamie excuse. He may have been a principal but I get the impression he wasn’t the brightest student.

Expand full comment

he was a peter principle

Expand full comment

LOL, thanks for the laugh

Expand full comment

😂

Expand full comment

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Expand full comment

😂😂😂

Expand full comment

The classic example of that was the two NY "Bros" engaging in a filmed "confrontation" with each other - with escalating shrieks of "F... You", no "F you," "NO F YOU!!!"' Without a single punch thrown or even likely contemplated. Kids used to get into fights all the time. Heck the last serious fight I had was with some idiot street thug in Buffalo in my mid-60s. And a few shoving bouts since then. Problem is that now, the skells are almost all carrying and the notion of a fair fight doesn't even enter their psychopathic brains.

Expand full comment
Oct 5, 2023·edited Oct 6, 2023

That video of the guy getting stabbed in NYC, or rather the events leading up to it, made me think about this. The victim did position himself between the thug and the woman, that was good. He also had an arm out and pushed off the attacker once or twice and that was before the knife was pulled out - I would hope that I would have been punching by then. Then the victim rapidly moved backwards and tripped over the bench, basically putting himself out of the fight / defenseless and that is when the thug fatally stabbed him in the chest.

Situational awareness is key though, when the thug started kicking cars or mopeds or whatever the couple KEPT WALKING TOWARDS him also when he first walked past them while they were on the bench they DIDN'T EVEN LOOK UP. I am 100% sure I would have turned around while keeping an eye on him as put distance between us. I also wouldn't be on the streets of NYC at 4am. The one time in this century I had to be on the streets of my hometown here late at night (due to a car emergency) I was lawfully armed and very situationally aware.

Expand full comment

Good point, and as a rabbit, I can really relate to that (we are at the bottom of the food chain, after all, and we’re delicious) 😉.

Living in a medium sized city with a Soros-backed prosecutor, I encounter a lot of homeless on any given day doing errands, taking a walk, etc. I always make sure that I notice and assess everything around me, and I make sure to tune into my gut feelings about who “feels” dangerous. Just the other day I decided to walk AWAY from my car in the parking lot because a creepy-feeling homeless guy was hanging out near my car (calm down, he was White -- a very dirty White, but still White). If I had told myself that I shouldn’t pay attention to my gut feelings because (racism/sexism/homophobia, etc.), I may not have come out of the encounter well. Today’s homeless guy in the parking lot didn’t give me the creepy vibes, so I went about my business unimpeded.

Expand full comment

Does anyone else feel like we have reached the end of an era in America? In the 19th century, you had to constantly expend that mental effort to maintain vigilance against predators (animal and human). But in the 20th century, we finally reached a point where people in most areas could feel secure in their persons and their homes, and so they could use that mental bandwidth on things that were more productive or enjoyable. That America is fading away, and 19th century America is back. Once again, predators stalk the nation, and one must maintain constant vigilance.

Expand full comment

The Wild West, version 2.0! Brought to you by Big Tech, big government, and the woke industrial complex.

Expand full comment

Except the criminals are the only ones allowed guns. Those of us who actually read history remember that it was the six-shooter 'equalizer' that actually tamed the 19th century. Now that equalizers are mostly illegal (except for criminals of course) we are back to the untamed 19th century again - gee who would have thunk it!?

Expand full comment

NYC, Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans and many other US cities had atrocious violent crime rates in parts of the 20th century also. We’ve had a black crime problem for half a century now but we can’t talk about it or acknowledge it.

Half the counties in the US have zero murders per year.

Expand full comment

You can thank the Dem/Soc for this.

Expand full comment

Studies show if you feel uneasy, then act on it and get the hell out of there. Your gut is right most of the time. Be safe not sorry.

Expand full comment

It was hard to watch that video. The stupidity in their actions was breathtaking to behold. My heart breaks for them. Those kids are a product of leftist education - an idealistic make believe world where, thanks to educators- and 'loving' parents - they are taught that people are basically good and consequences for bad decisions don't or should not exist. Taken to its logical conclusion this delusion gives you your modern day socialist; spoiled, arrogant, self absorbed, entitled, smug and superior; not one ever having personally witnessed or been forced to live under the ideologies they espouse. Progressive ideas die when they meet reality. As this video shows, this confrontation can sometimes be a brutal one. I am all for them getting a brutal dose of reality. It is the only thing that snaps them back into the real world - if they survive it

Expand full comment

Read the Gift of Fear. Great book and you were right to listen to your gut.

Expand full comment
Oct 6, 2023·edited Oct 6, 2023

Don't worry, Rabbit. Your time will come. Night of the Lepus!!

Expand full comment

💯 on all points it’s exactly what I do.

Expand full comment

Carson falling over that bench is so painful to watch. That was the end of him. Some commenters on Twitter also pointed out how useless his "strong independent woman" girlfriend was. The both of them obliviously approaching that lunatic and telling him to chill! Also, that she would agree to wander around that part of Bed Stuy at 4 a.m. in a long gown is just beyond idiotic. If it's true that she's keeping the Go Fund Me --they didn't even live together....

Expand full comment

I think him falling made the scumbag thug braver and more violent. If he’d stayed on his feet and kept him at a distance maybe he’d have survived with some superficial cuts.

Expand full comment

The killer was so depraved that he kicked a man when he was down.

Expand full comment

And spit in the girlfriend’s face.

Expand full comment

As a single young woman in Baltimore in the 90’s, I had situational awareness before it was even discussed as such. If I didn’t, I was well aware bad things would happen. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. As I told my sister when discussing her silly Coexist sticker, I’m sure bunnies would love to coexist with bobcats, but the bobcats have to agree first.

Expand full comment

Or, you could have kept your hand in your pocket where you keep your legally registered conceal-carry firearm, ready to defend yourself and your significant other. OH Wait - I Forgot! There is no such thing as a legally registered firearm in N.Y. - and even if there were, even pulling one out of your pocket/holster puts you in for the grand prize of 'assault with deadly weapon' no matter the circumstances or outcome; yeah, great idea!

Expand full comment

That caused a really, really important question to pop up for me: when Billy Joel sang "I walked through Bedford-Stuy alone" as if it was a bad thing, was that RACIST?

I think we can all agree discussions of this sort are always more productive when we ignore the facts, pretend public polices are irrelevant and redirect discussion back to baseless accusations, ideally of racism.

Expand full comment

I liked the lawfully armed part of your post.

Expand full comment
Oct 6, 2023·edited Oct 6, 2023

Welcome to South Carolina. ~5mil citizens and ~500,000 active concealed weapons permits. Criminals know they’re taking their chances, we’ve got “castle doctrine” and “stand your ground” and “alter ego” laws.

Expand full comment

Just like Texas!

Expand full comment

SC and TX have long connections, many of the men lost at The Alamo were originally from SC. Of course, whereas Texas has only been independent / sovereign once, SC has been twice (1776 and 1860). But we admire your efforts there. :)

Expand full comment

That's fitting close to Russian roulette odds.

Expand full comment

When you remove ineligible citizens due to age (CWP holders here must be 21), it’s pretty close. Note that we’re not an open carry state though, so the only way to legally carry in daily life outside your home or car is with a CWP.

Expand full comment

Also I never move without my tazer it’s small and fits in my purse.

Expand full comment

Exactly why I carry, Bruce. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, because what used to be petty bullies really HAVE become psychopaths.

Expand full comment
founding

Are you out of your damn mind, Shane? You have white skin and you live in a Democrat area. Do you have any clue what will happen if you use a gun for real?

I guess if you ever stop posting I will assume the Democrat DA you voted for threw you in a dungeon. Best wishes.

🙏🙏🙏

Expand full comment

I used to live in near Chicago, where all that was true so I had to carry, um, discreetly when I drove in for work or play. Now I live in Arizona, which prefers to throw predators, not honest gun-toting citizens, in the can . . . if the predator survives the defensive measures thrown his way at high speed :-)

That said, even armed, I'd never be dumb enough to (a) walk through a crummy neighborhood at 4 in the morning, and (b) tell a Crazy to calm down.

I never did vote for a Democratic state's attorney. They didn't exist in the Chicago suburbs in which I lived--unlike the city, most suburbs were controlled by country-club Republicans. Our cops and (most) prosecutors were first-rate and I was happy to vote for them.

Being Liberal doesn't necessarily mean being Stupid. The Woke end of my spectrum gives me a headache and real Liberals a bad name.

Expand full comment

Like my lawyer joke: 99% of all liberals (it makes me cringe to call them liberals.) give the other 1% a bad name.

Expand full comment

Sadly, yes, the wingnuts on the left give Liberals a bad name, just as the wingnuts on the right give conservatives a bad name.

Expand full comment

Shane, I can do that in CT (but don't usually) but not in NYC where I'd be arrested. Which is why I switched from boxing to krav maga, which, at least gives me a fighting chance with psychopaths who know no bounds. But I know I'm still at risk if I end up hurting one of these animals because NYC is run by leftist lunatics.

Expand full comment

Sad that NYC is still so arrogant. Americans have the right to defend themselves against brutal attacks, and no government should take that right away or even diminish it.

Expand full comment

Also, learning basic defensive moves is a very good idea for everybody. My arthritic body doesn't allow for Krav Maga any more, but even a few easy-to-execute and -remember body chops to sensitive places will do the trick. The problem, as the article explored somewhat, is that so few Americans are willing to use violence to solve a problem that legitimately needs violence to be solved. We keep telling ourselves that "violence isn't the solution!" but nobody told the predators that. My view: Violence (and guns) isn't the solution to most problems, but it's the ONLY solution to a few.

Expand full comment

Well said.

Expand full comment

Great post!!!

Expand full comment

I made a similar argument several years ago to a millennial who was whining about how bad bullying is. My point was (and is) that almost all of us experienced bullying at some point growing up and learning to deal with it is just part of life. Learning to stand up for yourself, even if it means some bruises, is a valuable growth experience. There's something to be said for being punched in the face by someone 20-30 pounds heavier than you and realizing that, though it hurts, it's not the end of the world.

Expand full comment

You learn to punch back and, if you’re lucky enough to have a father who encourages you to do so, as I did, you punch back harder.

Expand full comment
Oct 5, 2023·edited Oct 5, 2023

Exactly. Don't be an easy target. Make there be consequences. It also helped some of us learn to regulate our own smartass mouths, which is also a useful skill. Sometimes a guy might actually deserve to get punched in the mouth. Some of the shit I hear young adults say today makes it clear nobody ever taught them manners.

Expand full comment

I was, without question, occasionally deserving of punch in the face myself.

Expand full comment

if you aint been bullied. you aint. __________

Expand full comment

Bring back corporal punishment in schools.

As it is, the kids are assaulting each other (and their teachers!) with what seems to be increasing severity & frequency. May as well have the teachers dish it out starting as early as possible. Wrap a pre-K kid on the knuckles once or twice with a ruler & see what happens. Hard to see how it’d lead to worse than the status quo.

Expand full comment

Keep it simple…have violent kids thrown out of school along with the spineless egging it on camera person(s). It is time for serious admins to stop handing out Jolly Ranchers to every student caught kicking, hitting, or spitting because they promise not to do it again.

Expand full comment

I absolutely would retaliate if a student attacked me! That being said, hitting a kid for, say, breaking something is not a natural consequence and shouldn't be part of a consequence for that misdeed.

Expand full comment

How about pepper spray? Would that be a consequence of a misdeed?

Expand full comment

Or at least dodgeball

Expand full comment

This is the correct answer. And don’t underinflate the red balls. Maximum psi.

Expand full comment

"Physical pain—even bodily soreness—was just not a reality in this person’s world." This is why a key plank of my platform for benevolent dictator is that anyone who claims to be oppressed in a place like Brooklyn or Adams Morgan, or on an "elite" campus, should have to go to SERE. It'll be for their own good, and for ours.

Expand full comment

The luxury beliefs of the sanctuary city dwellers are also being tested against reality.

Expand full comment
Oct 5, 2023·edited Oct 5, 2023

Heh, I just posted something similar about the LB residents of our Sanctimonious Cities.

Expand full comment

Fabulous read!!! I am a criminal defense attorney. Most of my clients victimize their own neighbors. None take a bus up from south Houston to The Woodlands to rob suburbanites.

Expand full comment

IP attorney here. Not sure how you do that, but you have my respect.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Counselor!

Expand full comment

GAL attorney here... likewise, incredibly impressed with your fortitude

Expand full comment

Sounds like your transit system isn’t equitable.

Expand full comment

LOL..the bus route stops at the end of city limits. Suburbanites don't need the bus. Even the nannies have cars.

Expand full comment

One of my favorite scenes in 2020 happened as I stood outside my apartment at 82nd and Columbus, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. (For those who don’t know, this is one of the whitest, most liberal neighborhoods in the country.) A massive procession of protesters on $2000 bikes streamed down Columbus Avenue (escorted by NYPD cars), chanting, “How do you spell racist? NYPD!” Across the intersection from me, about 8-10 NYPD officers of the nearby precinct stood by the barricades, defending these people’s right to protest. Every one of those officers was black or brown and probably lives in the far reaches of an outer borough. Every cyclist was white and probably lived on the UWS (or in Williamsburg). The people affected by defunding the police? They’re in Bed Stuy. They don’t own bikes. Their kids are being mugged on the way home from school.

Expand full comment

That's a great story. REALLY does make the point

Expand full comment

And bless those officers.

Expand full comment
founding

“On Monday night, blocks away from the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Congressman Henry Cuellar was carjacked by three armed men.”

——————————————————-

Swedish tourists, again. When are we going to unite and finally restrict Swedish tourism.

Swedish tourism is *not* safe and effective.

Expand full comment

Dear Mr. Durant,

The level of violence in Sweden per capita - with a population of 10 million - has become very bad to the extent that the Swedish Army has been conscripted to assist the police in combating gang killings that have overwhelmed the police. September 2023 was the worse months for shooting deaths since records have been kept.

In 2022 there were 90 bombings and 101 attempted bombings. This year, up to 15 August, there had been 109 bombings. There are now so many grenade attacks in Sweden that it’s the only country outside of Mexico that keeps a record of them.

It is reported that social services in the small city of Örebro say guns are now so easy to come by that most of the ‘at-risk’ youths they work with could probably get hold of one in a day.

Hopefully, we in the USA never have to experience the level of violence that is currently being experienced in gang warfare in Sweden.

Expand full comment

On a completely unrelated note, roughly 1 in 5 people in Sweden are foreign-born, the highest percentage of any country in Europe (aside from Luxembourg and the Holy See). But I want to stress how completely and totally unrelated that is to things like bombings or grenade attacks.

Expand full comment

The ‘foreign-born’ ’ began flooding into Sweden, France Norway and Germany when the elites in government (i.e. Angela Merkel et al.) determined that all from benighted areas of the globe should be encouraged and welcomed into Western Europe’s cradle to grave social welfare states. Every type of crime, most notably rapes, have soared in these countries, and there are now no-go zones for police. Life in these countries is now more nasty and brutish and, yes, perhaps short, but the elites are forever insulated from their stupid decisions.

Expand full comment

Until they aren’t.

Expand full comment

Yes, Bobbybob, I was just about to say that.

Expand full comment
founding

Sounds like Sweden needs more immigrants to boost their economy.

Expand full comment

😂🤣😂😱

Expand full comment

They need more social justice education programs to re-educate the foreigners!

Expand full comment

Bringing in 3rd Worlders unsurprisingly brings in 3rd World problems and crimes. In Sweden they have hand grenade usage a lot (as there is more availability out of Eastern EU) and even RPG's sometimes.

Expand full comment

"Mr. Durant."

Now THAT's funny.

Expand full comment

"With all due respect..."

Expand full comment

Sounds fishy.

Expand full comment

We know they are not white because if they were that would be the very first thing mentioned in every article, including this one.

Expand full comment
founding

"The death of two progressive activists shocked the nation...."

No, it did not. It shocked people who are out of touch with reality, though I will grant that might represent a fair sized segment of the population. It didn't shock anyone with a functioning mind.

I don't recall the name of the talking head who was highly amused by rioting a few years ago and seemed happy to egg them on. Until it got within a block or two of his home. Then he said, "Get these animals away from here!" Nice verbiage.

Whatever can't go on forever...won't. Denying reality can't go on forever without dire consequences. Denial doesn't stop the denied things from happening--it just makes it surprising when they do. They did. Some people were surprised when the murders happened. Others are surprised it took this long.

Expand full comment
Oct 5, 2023·edited Oct 5, 2023

It actually shocked very few people at all, because the Right wasn't surprised and the Left simply isn't hearing about it at all from its media.

The only people who are shocked are those who knew the victims.

Expand full comment
founding

Kinda my point.

Expand full comment

Great article. When will the “elites” truly start caring about the underserved instead of all the virtue signaling?

Expand full comment

The short answer is: Never.

The long answer: Also never. But they might start to pay attention when it reaches more of their doorsteps and backyards, or effects the number of votes they get.

Expand full comment

That is always the case. We have seen this with the illegal immigrant crisis. Everyone loves a sanctuary city until the immigrants arrive. We saw this happen in Martha's Vineyard and it only took about one hour. We are seeing this happen in New York City, and other bastions of liberalism. Virtue signaling is wonderful as long as it is taking place in a virtual world. Once things take place in their real world and they start to really affect them, it is no longer as much fun as pretending you are playing a videogame. Liberals love government spending and love the idea of taxes being raised on the wealthy, until they become one of the wealthy. Then they quickly run to their accountants and lawyers to try to find tax shelters. Liberals love public schools, except for their own children. If all of a sudden the teachers unions were able to shut down all private schools, liberals would be immediately in favor of special publicly run charter schools. Liberals also love experimenting on black Americans. This population has been easily duped for the last 55 years. They are told by their own leaders who are in the pockets of white liberals, that only the Democrats can help them. And yet we can see that after more than five decades things have only become worse than they ever were before. If white liberals had to live the same way that their victims do, they would have demanded change along time ago.

Expand full comment

*affects the number of votes.

Expand full comment
founding

“Sadly, it will probably take more high-profile deaths and attacks for people to wake up”

——————————————

Yeah basically we need George Soros and his kid to get walloped in the nutsack a few times by some migrants and released prisoners and that should fix this.

🥜🥜🥊🥊🥊

Expand full comment
founding

Full disclosure: this comment was just a shameless ploy to use the phrase “walloped in the nutsack”.

Expand full comment

what makes you think either of them has a "nutsack"

Expand full comment

I have four sons and they would be so proud of your nutsack comment! 🤣😂

Expand full comment

This right here:

Luxury beliefs can stem from malice, good intentions, or outright naivete. But the individuals who hold those beliefs, the people who wield the most influence in policy and culture, are often sheltered when their preferences are implemented.

Some online commenters have said that my luxury beliefs thesis is undermined by these tragic events, because the victims were affluent and influential—and they still suffered the consequences of their beliefs. But the fact remains that poor people are far more likely to be victims of violent crime. For every upper-middle-class person killed, 20 poor people you never hear about are assaulted and murdered. You just never hear about them. They don’t get identified by name in the media. Their stories don’t get told.

Expand full comment

It's not just violent crime either. We had a relative (by marriage) with a child who was severely mentally disabled. The mother had her own set of mental problems, and had to live in the projects because there were very few jobs she could do. We used to go visit her. She told us not to ever leave anything of value there. Twice, family bought her a medium-sized television for her son to watch. Both times, it was stolen within 24 hours. Thieves constantly watched what was going in and out of everyone's unit, and if anyone brought in anything that appeared to be valuable and easily fence-able, they would simply bash down the door or break a window to get it. The management of the complex constantly scolded residents about doors and windows have to be repaired -- it wasn't the fault of the thieves, but of the residents that "tempted" them.

How good can you feel about your life if you can't have any personal property at all? A place like that can never be a home; at best, it's just a hole to get in out of the rain. When the justice system doesn't bother with property crimes, it breeds disrespect for the law among the citizens, and it encourages the criminals to push the boundaries.

Expand full comment

"it wasn't the fault of the thieves, but of the residents that "tempted" them." Sounds like a Sharia law arguement.

Expand full comment

These attacks on elitists are long overdue. The article says that they don't deserve to have violence inflicted upon them, but it does seem to be necessary to wake up the woke. I especially resonated on the observation that most elitists have never experienced physical violence so they don't understand what violence is and misuse the word to describe "offensive" language. They aren't stupid but they are inexperienced and naive. A few robberies, assaults and murders - strategically placed - should disabuse even the most elite of their naivete.

Expand full comment

The Woke won't stop afflicting us until they feel real fear. Either from the perps for whom they weep or the good people whose lives are upended by their arrogant stupidity.

Expand full comment

look how the Zoomocracy Elites were the first to throw the impoverished and hungry under the bus with school closures when they thought they were at risk from Covid. You need school and meals and jobs? too bad!

Expand full comment

I was friends with Josh for years - while I agree with the tenor of the article, Josh was not exactly the "elite liberal" he's being made out to be.

He was in recovery (that's where I know him from) and had taken plenty of classes at the School of Hard Knocka. He had those "latte liberal" political beliefs, yes, but he actually thought that they might change things for the people that suffered in Philadelphia. Was he wrong? Yes. Did the policies he supported ultimately cost him his life? Yes. However, it wasn't out of elite-education ignorance that he believed what he believed; they were hard won.

Expand full comment

Thanks for bringing us back from point-making abstractions to reality. These were human beings who were murdered, whose only crime was well-meaning naivety. I’m sorry for your loss.

Expand full comment

Thank you; also, while we're talking about reality, the author is correct that the people that feel the brunt of these political beliefs are the very people the elite liberals purport to be saving. While we mourn the loss of these innocent people, let their untimely deaths also put to rest their misguided policies and return to law and order.

Expand full comment

That's the thing, though. None of these ideas are new. They were all tried back in the 1960s. The same thing happened then that's happening now. "There was no way to know this would happen" doesn't cut it as an excuse, because there was in fact a way to know.

Expand full comment

It's a little more involved than police being "defunded". Just because the money is the same these movements destroyed morale among current officers AND passed laws which made police unable to be defended by the municipalities they worked for. SO you can have the same budget but few officers and fewer new recruits. So yeah they were defunded

Expand full comment

Not only is this true, but the 'defund the police' movement not only destroyed police morale in those progressive cities that followed through, it damaged police morale and hurt recruiting everywhere. Fewer young people are now willing to take up law enforcement as a career.

Expand full comment

Why put your life on the line every day for a community that hates you? I don't blame them.

Expand full comment

I think it does something even worse than that. Whenever such things happen, it's the honest and good performers who are driven out, while the corrupt ones who have connections and know how to game the system remain. So the overall level of corruption increases -- which gives the defund advocates more ammunition.

Expand full comment

And the cops who are still around don’t dare confront anyone..especially not a member of a protected class. They drive around doing nothing to avoid going to jail themselves. Who can blame them?. In SF and Oakland there are no more traffic stops.

Expand full comment

In some instances defeated.

Expand full comment