The correct comparison to make isn't crime rates year to year, it's crime rates before and after 2019/2020 as we enter a new normal. There is always going to be some random statistical variation going from one year to the next. That's meaningless. What matters is the massive and sustained increase that the country has seen in the post-pandemic era (an increase that no other country on the planet seems to have suffered by the way).
I know I'm not alone in pointing out that reform prosecutors embody the values of a privileged class that, while not immune to crime, is far less likely to fall victim to it compared to people living in poverty and want. We are talking about a class of people who have had every advantage in upbringing and education taking steps that result in drastic harm to the lives of the have-not's of society. How can you look at that and not conclude that something is terribly broken?
Who's going to look out for the Rachael Abraham's of the country when the people who are supposed to be in charge abdicate both their authority and their common sense? Abraham grew up in foster care. She had a hard life. She didn't need any more challenges piled in front of her or any more burdens added to the load that she already carried. For the children of privilege to condemn her based on an ideology with little to no relation to the real world is enraging.
Citing lower rape or murder rates in SF or Portland is simply a result of the citizens abandoning law enforcement as a means to report serious crime, a giving up by street officers, who know that filing reports is an exercise in futility, and lower-line prosecutors who have long since learned that aggressive prosecution will get them nothing but child support enforcement detail (generally the worst assignment in a DA's office) if they try to do what we used to encourage - aggressive prosecution.
Both Portland and SF were remarkable "shining cities on a hill," with the intellectual, commercial, food, and ethnic life that made visiting and living there exciting and, yes, diverse.
That has all gone to hell. The woke have infested all forms of government and non-profit just like the 1956 classic movie filmed in the Bay Area, THE BODY SNATCHERS. But these aliens speak a form of English and are super righteous.
One cannot claim a man gunned down in the street isn't the victim of crime. You cannot write off the shuttering of hunderds of infrastructure stores in downtown that are critical to a safe inner city.
When I was DA in my smaller community (Astoria) I could do my best to enable free speech, business investment, and a brisk and healthy commerce, but I never really created it. The difference is that the DAs of Portland (and LA and Seattle and maybe SF) have it within their ability, and apparently their aim to KILL these cities.
I do not see how Portland will ever pull out of the death dive fueled by 3rd grade test medians for 6th graders, rampant gun violence, and when no guns, then knife violence, overdosing on the most deadly drugs (fentanyl and meth) and no real effort to do anything but SUPPLY them.
The enablers are acting like the cool kids in high school who show everyone how hip they are by knowing how to work a rig and score meth. HOORAH!
The correct comparison to make isn't crime rates year to year, it's crime rates before and after 2019/2020 as we enter a new normal. There is always going to be some random statistical variation going from one year to the next. That's meaningless. What matters is the massive and sustained increase that the country has seen in the post-pandemic era (an increase that no other country on the planet seems to have suffered by the way).
I know I'm not alone in pointing out that reform prosecutors embody the values of a privileged class that, while not immune to crime, is far less likely to fall victim to it compared to people living in poverty and want. We are talking about a class of people who have had every advantage in upbringing and education taking steps that result in drastic harm to the lives of the have-not's of society. How can you look at that and not conclude that something is terribly broken?
Who's going to look out for the Rachael Abraham's of the country when the people who are supposed to be in charge abdicate both their authority and their common sense? Abraham grew up in foster care. She had a hard life. She didn't need any more challenges piled in front of her or any more burdens added to the load that she already carried. For the children of privilege to condemn her based on an ideology with little to no relation to the real world is enraging.
One side in this debate is delusional.
Citing lower rape or murder rates in SF or Portland is simply a result of the citizens abandoning law enforcement as a means to report serious crime, a giving up by street officers, who know that filing reports is an exercise in futility, and lower-line prosecutors who have long since learned that aggressive prosecution will get them nothing but child support enforcement detail (generally the worst assignment in a DA's office) if they try to do what we used to encourage - aggressive prosecution.
Both Portland and SF were remarkable "shining cities on a hill," with the intellectual, commercial, food, and ethnic life that made visiting and living there exciting and, yes, diverse.
That has all gone to hell. The woke have infested all forms of government and non-profit just like the 1956 classic movie filmed in the Bay Area, THE BODY SNATCHERS. But these aliens speak a form of English and are super righteous.
One cannot claim a man gunned down in the street isn't the victim of crime. You cannot write off the shuttering of hunderds of infrastructure stores in downtown that are critical to a safe inner city.
When I was DA in my smaller community (Astoria) I could do my best to enable free speech, business investment, and a brisk and healthy commerce, but I never really created it. The difference is that the DAs of Portland (and LA and Seattle and maybe SF) have it within their ability, and apparently their aim to KILL these cities.
I do not see how Portland will ever pull out of the death dive fueled by 3rd grade test medians for 6th graders, rampant gun violence, and when no guns, then knife violence, overdosing on the most deadly drugs (fentanyl and meth) and no real effort to do anything but SUPPLY them.
The enablers are acting like the cool kids in high school who show everyone how hip they are by knowing how to work a rig and score meth. HOORAH!
Well said, Josh. (The Richman kid)
Breaking news: Man who made a living putting people in cages thinks more people should be put in cages!
Details at 11.
So clearly stated. Thank you, Nancy.