First, the “good” news — and I say that sarcastically.
While Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago — which leads the country with at least 739 murders this year — remain below their respective record annual homicide rates of the 1990s, at least 12 large cities across America have already broken their annual records. These cities have one thing in common:
They’re all run by Democrats.
Many of the same Democrat cities, incidentally, whose city councils have supported the Defund movement in one fashion or another since the early days of the “peaceful protests” in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, cashless bail, and treating violent criminals’ cell doors like revolving doors. Go figure.
All Democrat-controlled city governments. Every one of them.
The numbers are staggering, as reported by Daily Mail.
Philadelphia has recorded 521 murders, breaking its record from 1990 and surpassing New York and Los Angeles. Indianapolis, Louisville, Toledo, and Baton Rouge have already broken records that were set just last year. St. Paul, Portland, Austin, and Rochester shattered long-standing murder records from the 1980s and 90s. The metrics show multiple common denominators, but none more glaring than, you guessed it:
Every single one of the above cities — and others — has long been controlled by Democrats.
Not only did Philadelphia’s previous annual homicide rate stand for 30 years until this year, the “City of Brotherly Love” and its 521 homicides YTD blows away New York City at 443 and Los Angeles at a paltry [sarc] 352. What the hell’s going on? You got it:
Democrat city governments that pander to violent criminals.
As retired NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told ABC News:
Nobody’s getting arrested anymore. People are getting picked up for gun possession and they’re just let out over and over again.
Listen, I’m not LeBron James when it comes to noted law enforcement experts but it doesn’t take a prima donna flopper on the court to realize when you fail to harshly disincentivize violent criminals, they tend to continue to commit violent crimes. Wait — LeBron doesn’t understand that, but you do.
One need look no further than Portland, Oregon — the hood ornament of the super-liberal Pacific Northwest — for a perfect example of “oops.” Via Daily Mail:
In progressive Portland, soaring crime prompted the city council to last month restore $5.2 million of the $15 million it cut from police budgets during last year’s Black Lives Matter protests.
Portland has recorded more murders this year than much larger San Francisco, and has roughly twice as many homicides as its larger neighbor, Seattle.
‘Many Portlanders no longer feel safe,’ Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, acknowledged. ‘And it is our duty, as leaders of this city, to take action and deliver better results within our crisis response system.’
[Now says the buffoon who all but donned a Black Lives Matter cheerleading uniform and picked us his Antifa pom-poms to before entusiastically heading to the streets of his own city throughout night after night of rioting in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.]
Portland’s police department has struggled to keep up with the soaring crime rate amid an acute staffing shortage and budget cuts.
In Indianapolis, the murder tally shattered last year’s record high in early November, noted Daily Mail. Democrat Mayor Joe Hogsett has blamed what he calls the “public health crisis” of gun violence. Nonsense, Joe — the public health crisis is violent criminals on the streets. Grabbing guns from law-abiding gun owners does not stop bad guys with guns from committing violent crimes.
Hogsett in November even said “COVID-fueled disruptions to violence reduction have had lasting effects” in the city. Bullcrap, Joe — I live here. Lemme get in one more shot at Hogsett for naively saying the following, as transcribed by Daily Mail:
We continue to encourage all residents to do their part to resolve disputes without guns, and to work with law enforcement to hold accountable those who choose violence.
Oh, okay, Joe — how ’bout you head down to West 29th and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., or Mass Ave and East 34th Street, some night, and preach that nonsense. Condolences to your family, if you do.
The list goes on, as reported by Daily Mail, from Columbus, Ohio, to Louisville, Kentucky, to Austin, Texas, and beyond. And you know what? The song remains the same. Sing it with me:
They’re all run by Democrat city governments.
But you already knew that.