Sunday, May 30, 2021

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Officer Replaces Girl’s Puppy After Car Runs Over Hers: ‘Humanity at Its Finest’

New Puppy
Jonesboro Police Department/Facebook
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When a police officer in Arkansas answered a call about a girl’s puppy being run over, he also learned how sad the traumatic incident made her feel.

On May 13, the Jonesboro Police Department (JPD) received a call from a woman named Terri about her daughter Jessica’s dog being killed, the department said in a Facebook post.

“Jessica was heartbroken. Officer Lane Cohn responded to the call and Jessica’s hurt pulled at his heartstrings,” the post read.

The following day, Cohn got in touch with the Jonesboro Animal Control (JAC), the JPD Community Outreach Office, and Terri regarding a special plan he had to remedy the situation.

On May 18, the officer spoke with his coworkers about adopting a puppy from JAC for the girl, and the officers donated every penny needed to do it, including its shots and surgeries.

A few days later, Officer Cohn and Officer Jones gave the special surprise to Jessica at her home along with a goody basket from the JAC that had food, a leash, harness, dog beds, and more gifts tucked inside:

“Jessica was shocked and SO excited and thankful for all the officers who worked together to surprise her with this gift,” the department’s post continued:

We are so thankful to have officers like Lane at JPD. He could have just responded to this call and left it at that, but he went the extra steps to ask for help, ask for the mother’s permission, work with Animal Control to pick a puppy that would be suitable for Jessica, and present the puppy to the family at no cost. Great work to Officer Cohn, and thank you to all the officers who donated and to Jonesboro Animal Control for all their help and donations!

Facebook users praised the police officers for the thoughtful gesture, one calling it “Humanity at its finest.”

“Bless his heart and giving to the heart broken child. Outstanding performance from the JPD!!” another person commented.

WATCH: Missing Deaf Dog Reunited with Deaf Owner Thanks to Smart Collar

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A very special two-year-old dog in Illinois is back home with his family after he escaped the safety of his backyard.

The story began a few weeks ago when Lex wanted to go outside and play, WGN 9 reported Sunday.

“So I let him out,” his owner, Jon Rollins, recalled. “And then I went back to watch some TV and I would say about five minutes later, I got an alert on my watch saying that Lex had left the property.”

Rollins and his dog are both deaf, and Eli, Jon’s son, was at home when the pup escaped.

“Since he’s a deaf dog, we can’t just go calling out for him,” Eli explained. “He won’t hear us. I was so worried because we just got him and I was so scared of anything ever happening to him.”

Last year, the Rollins family adopted Lex from a shelter that rescues deaf and blind dogs, called Speak St. Louis, and Allison Rollins, the mother of the family, said she was happy to bring him home.

However, they did take safety precautions.

“We were worried about him getting out and she told us about Fi, the collar, so we were relieved that there was something like that for sure,” Allison noted.

According to its website, the collar allows owners to track their dogs at all times and any place.

When Lex went missing, Jon was extremely worried and the biggest concern was a busy intersection that was not far away.

“I stopped and thought, ‘maybe the app on the phone will tell me where Lex is,'” Jon said. “I look, and I say ‘yes, he’s one block on the other side of the street.'”

He immediately headed in that direction.

“I went over there and I saw a family petting something and I thought it might be Lex. So I drove to that family and they said ‘is that your dog?’ And I said ‘yes, yes,'” Jon explained.

Now, the family is relieved to have their beloved pet safe at home again.

“If we didn’t have the tracker, I don’t know if we would have ever found him,” Eli stated, adding, “or if we found him, it would’ve taken a very long time.”

Dog Surprised with Party and Adoption After Year in Shelter: ‘It Was Love at First Sight’

Charis
Effingham County, IL Humane Society
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A dog named Charis was given a special party recently to mark 365 days living at the Effingham County Humane Society in Illinois.

However, the pup had one more thing to be excited about because her adoptive family was on their way to come take her home, the Effingham Daily News reported Sunday.

Charis had been a resident at the shelter for 365 days and ECHS Adoption Coordinator Angie Sorling told the newspaper one of the reasons the dog was slightly nervous was due to the stress of being in the shelter for such a long time.

“Usually, they stay from four to 12 weeks. Puppies get adopted very fast,” Sorling explained, adding, “Some dogs can get a little anxious if they are in here too long. Apart from going out on a few adventures to the TREK trail or Ballard Nature Center, this is all new to her.”

However, she said Charis’ adoptive family immediately connected with her when they met.

“She put her head on their shoulder and looked up at me and Karen (Grupe). It was almost like she said, ‘These are my people,'” Sorling recalled. “It was love at first sight. She instantly took to them and she wasn’t scared of them.”

In a Facebook post on May 6, the shelter said, “After 365 days Charis has found her people. It may have taken some time but she says it was worth the wait.”

According to Sorling, Charis’ family knows they must be patient as she adjusts to life in their home.

“I think she loves us all … but, I know she is ready to get out of here,” she noted, adding she tries her best when it comes to matching a dog with the right owner.

“As an adoption coordinator, I take my job seriously. We listen to our dogs as well as our instincts when it comes to adopting out our dogs,” Sorling commented. “I am the voice for these dogs and it’s my responsibility to find the perfect home for them and it’s hard sometimes.”

Transit Worker Rescues Emotional Support Dog from NYC Subway

MARC A. HERMANN/MTA
MARC A. HERMANN/MTA

A New York City transit worker is being called a hero after he rescued an emotional support dog that escaped from her owner’s apartment and spent the day meandering subway tracks.

The dog, Lucy, made her escape Saturday morning from her owner’s eighth-floor apartment in Lower Manhattan while Molly Malone, the owner’s daughter, was in charge of caring for Lucy.

The owner, Susan Malone, 76, was recovering in the hospital from a broken arm and a leg at the time.

Lucy not only escaped the apartment itself, but she also boarded an elevator, was able to make it past the lobby without catching the attention of the doorman, ran outside, crossed the West Side Highway, and then descended into the Chambers Street subway station.

Lucy spent hours walking along the tracks of the 1 train until 14 blocks later when NYC Transit Train Service Supervisor Jose Bonilla found Lucy.

Bonilla had been briefed about the lost dog situation at the start of his shift, so he spent his entire shift trying to track down the pooch.

“I put myself in the path of Miss Lucy, who was at that time walking in a straight line,” Bonilla said. “She basically came up to me, I called out her name, she laid down in front of me, I petted her, I picked her up, there was a bite involved at that moment, and I was able to put her on the 2 train right into Molly’s hands. Basically another day in transit.”

Molly said she was relieved to hold Lucy again after Bonilla’s rescue. Lucy suffered a broken nail and had to be given a bath after the ordeal, but was otherwise safe.

Bonilla was awarded a certificate of commendation from the MTA for going above and beyond his duties to rescue the dog.

TWISTED! - U.S. EMBASSIES FLY BLACK LIVES MATTER FLAGS - BUT WHAT ABOUT THOSE LIVES MURDERED BY BLACKS?

 BLACKS ARE THE MOST VIOLENT SUBCULTURE IN THE WORLD!


Nicole Malliotakis Introduces Bill Prohibiting BLM Flag from Flying over U.S. Embassies

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 19: Rep. Nicole Malliotakis speaks (R-NY) during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill May 19, 2021 in Washington DC. The hearing will examine the actions that Emergent Biosolutions took that led to the destruction …
Susan Walsh-Pool/Getty Images
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Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) has introduced a bill barring United States embassies from flying flags with political messages such as those representing Black Lives Matter (BLM).

According to a Friday press release:

Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), today with House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Congressmen Ken Buck (CO-04), Michael Guest (MS-03), Darrell Issa (CA-50), Brian Mast (FL-18), and Pete Sessions (TX-17), introduced the Stars and Stripes Act of 2021, legislation that directs the Secretary of State to restrict the display of certain flags or banners at diplomatic and consular posts around the world. Malliotakis’ bill is in response to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent directive authorizing and encouraging all U.S. embassies overseas to display ‘Black Lives Matter’ flags and banners.

Blinken reportedly encouraged all U.S. embassies and diplomatic missions to honor the radical BLM movement on May 25, the anniversary of George Floyd’s death.

However, it is “inappropriate for President [Joe] Biden and Secretary Blinken to authorize and encourage the display of inherently political flags that are in no way affiliated with the U.S. Government over American embassies overseas,” Malliotakis noted in the press release:

The American flag is a beacon of freedom and hope for oppressed peoples around the world; it should be the primary flag flown above our embassies and that is what my legislation seeks to accomplish. The Administration’s directive is an insult to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our flag and our nation — especially as we head into Memorial Day weekend — and it is absolutely ridiculous that legislation is needed to correct this issue.

The news release said the BLM organization’s website promotes several “partisan political demands and initiatives” that include defunding the police.

Malliotakis shared the text of the Stars & Stripes Act of 2021 Friday on social media:

“Our beautiful American flag should fly over our U.S. embassies around the world – not the flag of a political organization founded by Marxists,” House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik stated, adding, “I am proud to co-sponsor this legislation introduced by my colleague and friend Congresswoman Malliotakis.”

Minneapolis Activist Whose Granddaughter Was Shot and Killed: ‘We Need Police’

Facebook
Facebook
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A Minneapolis man whose six-year-old granddaughter was killed by a stray bullet inside her mom’s car is reportedly rejecting calls to defund the police.

“K.G. Wilson’s granddaughter, Aniya Allen, was shot in the head as she and her mother were believed to have been caught in the crossfire between rival gangs,” Fox News reported Friday.

The 53-year-old anti-violence activist who has worked to get children off the streets and help families affected by violence for about two decades, said Thursday defunding the police “is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I can tell you this, if I was a criminal, I would support it,” he noted, adding, “I would love it.”

Since then, he has been urging citizens with information regarding the shooters in the three cases to come forward, adding he was raising his granddaughter to mirror his own actions.

“I know she was one of the future leaders – because I was raising her that way,” he explained.

In January, CBS Minnesota reported statistics showed crime was trending upward in Minneapolis.

“Recent data shows that the number people wounded by gunshots is up 250% from last year (Jan. 1 to Jan. 18),” the outlet stated.

In response to the recent shootings, Wilson said, “We need police. We need the sheriff. Send in the National Guard into some places….We had a riot going on here long before the riots.”

“That’s why I got one murdered grandchild and I’m at the hospital right now for two families of two children who’ve been shot,” he continued.

In February, the Minneapolis City Council voted to spend $6.4 million to hire dozens of police officers as some council members and activists worked to replace the department.

“The council voted unanimously on Friday to approve the additional funding, which was requested by police. The department says it only has 638 officers available to work, roughly 200 fewer than usual,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.

PHOTOS: U.S. Embassies, Consulates Worldwide Fly ‘Black Lives Matter’ Flag

Black Lives Matter flag flies at U.S. Consulate, Thessaloniki, Greece (U.S. Consulate, Thessaloniki, Greece / Twitter)
U.S. Consulate, Thessaloniki, Greece / Twitter
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U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide displayed the flag of Black Lives Matter (BLM) — an organization founded by a self-avowed “trained Marxist” — on Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd, a black American who died while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota last May.

The U.S. State Department authorized the BLM flag’s display at all U.S. “Diplomatic and Consular posts” on May 25 through a leaked memo published by Human Events.

“The Department supports the use of the term ‘Black Lives Matter’ in messaging content, speeches, and other diplomatic engagements with foreign audiences to advance racial equity and access to justice on May 25 and beyond. We encourage posts to focus on the need to eliminate systemic racism and its continued impact,” the memo read.

“This cable constitutes a blanket written authorization for calendar year 2021 from the Under Secretary for Management (M) to display the BLM flag on the external-facing flagpole to any Chiefs of Mission who determine such a display is appropriate in light of local conditions,” the memo further read while noting, “This is an authorization, not a requirement.”

U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy shared a photo to Twitter on May 24 showing the BLM flag displayed on a fence surrounding the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh.

The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo — the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the formerly communist Balkans — heeded the call by the U.S. State Department and unfurled a large BLM flag over the front of its building.

Greece seemed especially eager to comply with the U.S. State Department’s memo, as the BLM flag was displayed at both the U.S. Consulate General in Thessaloniki and at the U.S. Embassy in Athens. The U.S. Consulate General in Thessaloniki raised the BLM flag on its official flagpole just under the U.S. national flag.

The U.S. Embassy in Athens draped the BLM flag across the front of its building on so that it completely covered the embassy’s official seal.

The U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain hung a large BLM flag from the building’s roof so that it cascaded down the front of the embassy in a prominent and eye-catching fashion.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shared a video to his official Twitter account on May 25 in which he echoed sentiments expressed in the leaked BLM flag memo.

“For the United States to be a credible force for human rights around the world, we have to face the realities of racism and hatred here at home,” Blinken said in the video. “We can’t sweep our shortcomings under the rug or pretend they don’t exist. We need to face them openly and honestly. Even if that’s ugly. Even if that’s painful.”

The U.S. State Department’s authorization of the BLM flag’s display at official U.S. missions in May “and beyond” comes after the department authorized U.S. embassies to raise the LGBT pride flag on the same pole as the U.S. national flag during the month of June, which is considered “pride month” by the LGBT community.

“The flags can be hung before May 17, International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and stay up through the end of Pride Month,” a U.S. State Department cable instructed in April.

14 Shot, 2 Killed, Friday into Sunday Morning in Lightfoot’s Chicago

Lori Lightfoot speaks at her election night party Tuesday, April 2, 2019, in Chicago. Lori Lightfoot elected Chicago mayor, making her the first African-American woman to lead the city. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
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Fourteen people were shot, two of them fatally, Friday into Sunday morning in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago.

ABC 7 / Chicago-Sun Times reports the first of the two fatalities occurred at 2:15 p.m. Saturday, when a 26-year-old man “was shot in the face and chest” while driving in Lawndale. He then crashed into “a light pole in the 3100 block West Ogden Avenue.”

He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

The weekend’s second shooting fatality occurred at 9 p.m. Saturday night when a 29-year-old man on a sidewalk was shot in the head and killed by the occupant of a vehicle. The occupant exited the vehicle “in the 3700 block of West McLean Avenue” and opened fire, fatally wounding the man.

Breitbart News noted nearly 50 people were shot in Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago last weekend. Forty-six people were shot last weekend in Chicago the weekend of May 14-16, 2021, and at least 26 people were shot in Chicago over Mother’s Day Weekend.

The 26 shot over Mother’s Day Weekend included a 14-year-old who was fatally wounded by a bullet to the chest.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkinsa weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

Moms Blast BLM Activists for Profiting Off Sons’ Deaths: ‘They Won’t Even Talk to Us’

Patrisse Cullors speaks on board the Norwegian Escape during day 3 of the Summit at Sea cruise on Friday, Nov. 11, 2016 in Miami. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)
Amy Harris/Invision/AP
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Mothers who accused Black Lives Matter (BLM) of profiting off the deaths of their sons are reportedly condemning its cofounder, Patrisse Cullors, following her announcement she was stepping down.

The New York Post reported Saturday:

“I don’t believe she is going anywhere,” Samaria Rice, the mother of a 12-year-old boy shot by Cleveland police while playing with a toy gun, told The Post. “It’s all a facade. She’s only saying that to get the heat off her right now.”

Lisa Simpson, a Los Angeles-based mother whose son was slain by police in 2016, also blasted Cullors. “Now she doesn’t have to show her accountability,” Simpson, 52, told The Post. “She can just take the money and run.”

Cullors resigned Thursday after controversy over her personal wealth, although she and the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) denied that had anything to do with the decision, according to Breitbart News.

Rice told the Post she sought out Cullors to get the group’s help in re-opening a federal investigation into her son’s death. She said the two exchanged emails over the years but never met face to face.

“They are benefiting off the blood of our loved ones, and they won’t even talk to us,” Rice stated.

In April, the families of Michael Brown and Breonna Taylor, two iconic victims in the BLM movement, questioned the movement’s funding, and Taylor’s family described the Louisville, Kentucky, BLM branch as a “fraud,” according to Breitbart News:

Earlier this month, when the New York Post reported Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors had bought four homes since 2016, New York City area Black Lives Matter leader Hawk Newsome called for “an independent investigation.” Those concerns are now being amplified by other figures within the movement, after Khan-Cullors defended her real estate purchases last week as part of her effort to support her family, and claimed her wealth was not due to the organization itself.

In March, Rice came together with Simpson, who is the mother of Richard Risher, to criticize BLM for what Simpson described as “raising money in our dead sons’ names and giving us nothing in return.”

The BLM Los Angeles chapter raised $5,000 for her son’s funeral. However, Simpson claimed she did not receive any of the funds.

“We never hired them to be the representatives in the fight for justice for our dead loved ones murdered by the police,” Rice and Simpson reportedly said in a statement.

“The ‘activists’ have events in our cities and have not given us anything substantial for using our loved ones’ images and names on their flyers,” they added.

“We don’t want or need y’all parading in the streets accumulating donations, platforms, movie deals, etc. off the death of our loved ones, while the families and communities are left clueless and broken,” the statement concluded.

Report: Suspect in Cash Gernon Homicide Allegedly Tried to Snatch Toddler Girl in February

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The Texas teen accused of killing four-year-old Cash Gernon is facing two more charges, one involving a two-year-old girl in February, CBS 11 reported Thursday.

Along with kidnapping and theft, 18-year-old Darriynn Brown has been charged with injury to a child, an elderly individual, or disabled individual.

He also faces a second burglary charge, the outlet continued:

According to the affidavit for the burglary charge, Brown entered a man’s home and started going through all the rooms and closets. Picking up a kitchen knife, the man demanded that he leave. The homeowner managed to get Brown out of his home, but he came back and started kicking and damaging an interior door between the garage and home. The homeowner opened the door and Brown reentered, punching the man in the forehead, according to the affidavit.

It was then that Brown allegedly walked into the living room where the man’s 2-year-old granddaughter was sleeping. He grabbed her and started carrying her toward the laundry room at the back of the house near the garage door. Her grandfather demanded Brown let her go, but he continued with the child toward the door. Fearing Brown would take the child from his home, the man physically removed her from his grasp, according to the affidavit.

The grandfather then placed the girl back on the couch and confronted the suspect in the kitchen. Brown allegedly hit the man in his face, then exited through the back door.

The grandfather later told officers the girl was “startled and began crying when she awoke to Brown holding her.”

At the time, the homeowner decided against pressing charges.

Two weeks later, he reportedly ran into Brown at Walmart and told officers Brown approached him and apologized, stating, “he was sorry for breaking into his house and trying to take his grandchild.”

Child Abuse Detectives spoke with the man on May 18 and interviewed him about the incident that occurred on February 8 and he said he wanted to press charges against Brown.

“This was three days after Cash was found in the 7500 block of Saddleridge Drive — about a half-mile from a home he was living at with his twin brother on Florina,” the CBS report said.

Dallas Police arrested Brown on May 15 in connection with the alleged kidnapping and death of four-year-old Cash Gernon, who was sleeping when he was taken, according to Breitbart News.

GRAPHIC VIDEO: Man Who Sucker-Punched 12-Year-Old Dancer Gets 7 Years

A man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly sucker-punching a 12-year-old boy in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on July 3. Twenty-seven-year-old Cedric Moore turned himself in at the Scott County Sheriff’s Office and was charged with second-degree felony assault and first-degree child endangerment, according to KSDK.
Cape Girardeau Police Department
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The Missouri man who sucker-punched a 12-year-old boy dancing on a sidewalk has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

“Cedric Moore changed his plea from not guilty to guilty earlier this month and was sentenced by a judge for second-degree assault in Cape Girardeau,” 11 Alive reported Friday.

A viral video clip showed the incident involving 12-year-old Ethan Hagler, who was dancing on a Main Street sidewalk in July near his dance instructor, Michael Curry, and another child.

In the video, Hagler, wearing a red T-shirt, had his back turned when an SUV pulled up nearby and a man wearing a white shirt got out of the vehicle and approached the group.

He appeared to dance behind the boy before punching him in the head. The boy then fell to the ground, and the man ran back to the vehicle while Curry pursued him. The vehicle, however, sped away.

WARNING – GRAPHIC VIDEO:

“And all of a sudden I see him punch my kid, and instantly, my first reaction is what? Why?” Curry recalled:

You know, I tried to chase him back to the car. And as soon as I got the car, I saw there was two other people in the car. So I had to think about my child. He’s laying on the ground. And from there, it was a lot of people that came up to help, especially Shaker’s, the bar downtown that we usually set up in front of.

Hagler appeared dazed moments after the incident when concerned bystanders walked over to the group.

His mother, Stephanie Hagler, said he suffered a bloody nose and concussion.

Days later, Moore turned himself in to the Scott County Sheriff’s Office and was charged with second-degree felony assault and first-degree child endangerment.

“The public has understandably expressed a desire to see Moore charged with a hate crime for this heinous crime,” the Cape Girardeau Police Department said in a July 6 Facebook post:


Pinkerton: Hey, Joe Biden – the 1970s Are Calling Again. This Time It’s About Crime.

PresidenT Jimmy Carter and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., greet Biden supporters at a $1,000-a-couple fund raising reception at Wilmington, Del., hotel on Monday, Feb. 20, 1978. Biden was the first U.S. senator to endorse Carter’s presidential candidacy in 1976. Carter also attended another reception on behalf of Delaware’s Democratic …
AP Photo
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Mean Streets 

Here at Breitbart News, we’ve noted some of the similarities between the 46th president, Joe Biden, and the 39th president, Jimmy Carter—on energy and the environment, on inflation, and on foreign policy.  And now, we can turn to yet another area where Biden and Carter are starting to resemble each other: crime 

Here are some recent headlines to set the stage:

Breitbart News, May 16: “Nearly 30 People Shot Friday into Saturday Night in Chicago.” 

The New York Times, May 7: “‘Covid Crime Wave Weighed Heavily on Atlanta Mayor,” referring to Keisha Lance Bottoms, who announced her “retirement” earlier this month, having seen her popularity—and re-electability—undermined by horrendous crime statistics, per the Times: “In the first 18 weeks of the year, police statistics show homicides up 57 percent, rapes up 55 percent, aggravated assaults up 36 percent and auto thefts up 31 percent compared with the same period last year.” Of course, we might quibble with the exact wording of the Times’ headline: It’s far from clear that Covid had anything to do with the surge in crime, which started rising in 2014. And yet Bottoms, a Democrat, has to blame someone other than herself, and the Times is happy to play along.

Axios, May 1: “It’s set to be a hot, violent summer,” tells us, “A sample of 37 cities with data available for the first three months of 2021 collected by the crime analyst Jeff Asher indicates murders are up 18% over the same period in 2020. The continued increase comes after a year in which major U.S. cities experienced a 33% rise in homicides.” 

We could go on and on with grim statistics, and yet sometimes, individual sad stories tell us more; for instance, here’s the Dallas Morning News on May 16: “Police identify 18-year-old man arrested in connection with 4-year-old’s Mountain Creek slaying.”  The case concerns the murder of a toddler in a Dallas neighborhood, allegedly kidnapped and killed by a man who was—you guessed it—living at home while awaiting judicial action for an earlier case. Yes, the all-too-familiar revolving door: arrested, turned loose, another crime. 

crime scene

(Getty Images)

Okay, so where does Biden fit in? He is, after all, the president, not a mayor. And to his credit, he’s said that he doesn’t want to defund the police. However, Biden is the commander-in-chief, and so the buck stops with him.

And yet he’s not the only voice in his administration; as we know, actual policy is set by myriad voices at the cabinet and sub-cabinet level. And in this administration, many are woke.

One obvious wokester is Biden’s pick to be the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Kristen Clarke. She’s a Black Lives Matter activist who has called for de-funding the police and has a tendency to over-tweet—and seemingly, on top of all that, is a crackpot.

Yet in terms of what an assistant attorney general can do to affect crime on the streets, the issue is not just federal legislation; there’s also the little-understood variable in policing: the consent decree. Consent decrees are agreements concerning police procedures, typically worked out between plaintiffs’ lawyers (such as, for example, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union) and defendants’ attorneys (typically a city’s legal staff), and brokered by a judge.  It’s a murky process, and a liberal process, too; oftentimes, the lawyers and judges are all working in cahoots with each other, aiming to achieve an agreed-upon liberal goal.  

And the effect of these consent decrees can be profound; the Manhattan Institute’s Heather MacDonald cites some recent history:

During the Obama years, career attorneys in the Justice Department regularly taxpayer-funded fees while they held police departments to draconian deadlines and mindless paper-pushing mandates for years.

From the legal-left’s point of view, consent decrees are a beautiful thing, because the process of transforming police departments can occur outside of the political system, and away from direct accountability to the voters.  That is, the lawyers and judges can establish a new policy that has the effect of law, without any official political input.  And then, mayors and other elected officials—mostly Democrats, of course—can say, “Don’t blame me, it’s a court order, my hands are tied.”  

Thus with hidden-hand consent decrees the left gets what it wants, and Democratic pols get they want, which is the avoidance of blame.  (We might add that consent decrees have been used to win liberal goals far beyond police “reform”; including on homelessness, prisons, mental health, and schools.) 

This practice of the Justice Department pushing consent decrees was curbed under the Trump administration, and yet now, under Biden, consent decrees are likely to make a comeback. Such interfering with the police is, after all, what liberal Democrats like to do.  

And so what will this mean on the streets?  We can get a glimpse of the likely future from the recent past; here’s a revealing headline from Axios earlier this month: “Crime jumps after court-ordered policing changes.” (“Court-ordered” is a synonym for consent decree.)  As the article details, “Most police agencies in recent federally court-ordered reform agreements saw violent crime rates skyrocket immediately, according to an Axios examination of departments under consent decrees since 2012.” 

So now, will we see more such court-ordered consent decrees under Biden? And more crime? What’s your guess? 

We’ve Been Down This Road Before 

The truth is, crime can be controlled. Over the long history of the United States, the crime rate has gone up and down; the biggest single variable is the effectiveness of the police. It just takes the political will to empower the policing.  

However, politicians don’t always have the will. And to illustrate what happens with lack of will, we might recall the last period, starting in the mid 1960s, when crime exploded.  

Joe Biden, born in 1942, should remember that era well. During the decade from 1965 to 1975, as Biden went from being a new college graduate to a freshman U.S. senator, the violent crime rate rose 268 percent; the number of murders, for instance, jumped from 9,960 to 20, 510. 

That crime wave greatly affected U.S. politics. As early as 1968, Republican Richard Nixon won the White House on a pledge of “law and order.” Indeed, in those days, Biden himself posed as a tough Democrat; in his first senate campaign in 1972, he was notably pro law-and-order.  

Yet the forces pushing crime upward—liberal de-policing, lenient judges, and a pro-criminal counter-culture—were stronger than any politician or party. 

Indeed, it was not until the late 1970s that the country finally said, “Enough!” And that was bad news for the Democratic president in the White House, a fellow named Jimmy Carter. 

Carter, elected in 1976, was supposed to be different and more conservative than the Democrats who had presided over the crime-spike. Perhaps that’s why, in the Democratic primaries that year, Biden was an early and enthusiastic Carter supporter.

President Jimmy Carter and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., greet Biden supporters at a $1,000-a-couple fund raising reception at Wilmington, Del., on Monday, Feb. 20, 1978. Biden was the first U.S. senator to endorse Carter’s presidential candidacy in 1976. (AP Photo).

Yet in office, Carter proved to be helpless. He himself was personally law-abiding, even virtuous, and yet he could not pull the Democratic Party toward a meaningful anti-crime position. And it showed: In 1977, his first year in the White House, America suffered 19,120 murders; four years later, there were 23, 040 murders—an increase of more than 20 percent. Similarly, the overall violent crime rate rose more than 30 percent.  

In other words, Carter was no more successful at stemming crime than he was at reducing energy prices, or stopping inflation, or dealing with Iran.

In the meantime, Republicans sensed their opportunity. The 1980 Republican Platform was notably hawkish on crime:

We support a vigorous and effective effort on the part of law enforcement agencies. . . . Just as vital to efforts to stem crime is the fair but firm and speedy application of criminal penalties. The existence and application of strong penalties are effective disincentives to criminal actions. Yet these disincentives will only be as strong as our court system’s willingness to use them.

For good measure, the platform enthusiastically embraced the death penalty. 

That November, Carter lost to Republican Ronald Reagan in a landslide. And thanks to hard-nosed Reagan appointees such as Attorney General Ed Meese, the crime surge did slow in the 1980s, and then started to actually fall in the 1990s, as better policing techniques took hold.  Indeed, one of the anti-crime warriors in the 90s was none other than Joe Biden; in 1994, his strong anti-crime bill received widespread bipartisan support, and was signed into law by Democrat Bill Clinton. 

President Bill Clinton, accompanied by Vice President Gore and police officers from around the country, unveils his anti-crime package in the Rose Garden of the White House on August 11, 1993. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma)

President Bill Clinton (L) hugs Sen. Joseph Biden, (D-Del), on September 13, 1994, during a signing ceremony for the crime bill on the South Lawn of the White House. President Clinton said the crime bill would “roll back this awfull tide of violence” in the U.S. (Paul J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)

So we can see: When the streets are mean, the parties can work together to clean them up—if, that is, they want to.   

Yet a funny thing happened to Biden on his way to the 2020 Democratic nomination.  Mindful of the rising progressive spirit within his party, Biden, always flexible, shape-shifted his way to an actual apology for engineering that 1994 crime bill.  

This new liberal tone—defund the police, and all that—has infected the nation, demoralizing cops and inspiring crooks.  And so crime is back, big time.  As they say, ideas have consequences—and so bad ideas have bad consequences. 

So here’s a revealing headline from the Washington Post on May 15: “With violent crime spiking, the push for police reform collides with voters’ fears.” 

In other words, liberal fantasies about policing—basically, fewer police, doing less—are hitting the brick wall of crime.  To most Americans, it’s easy to have some sympathy for “criminal justice reform,” until, that is, they meet actual criminals; then, their enthusiasm tends to dwindle.

Even amidst the politically correct framing of the Post, the reality of crime-fear comes biting through: 

It has been less than a year since George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, spawning a national movement to reimagine the American criminal justice system and end race-based abuses. Yet with shootings spiking in cities nationwide . . . there are growing signs that the thirst for change is being blunted by fears of runaway crime. [emphasis added] 

In other words, defunding the police is a lot less popular, now, than up-funding the police.  And as the article further notes, progressive prosecutors—some of them funded by George Soros—are now on the defensive.  

Indeed, even New York City, where Donald Trump won just 11 percent of the vote last year, is turning hawkish. The front-runner in the Democratic primary for mayor is Eric Adams, a Black man and a 22-year veteran of the NYPD, who says, “Violent crime is the number one issue.  People want to be safe.”  

Okay, so that’s a local election, far from the Biden White House.  And yet voter discontent is loud enough to already be setting off tremors, such that even the MSM is noticing.  Hence this May 18 headline in the London-based Financial Times: “America’s urban crime wave threatens Biden.” In the words of reporter Edward Luce, “Liberals will take most of the blame if such trends persist. Biden would be unlikely to escape the backlash.”  And on May 21, an arch wokester, Ezra Klein, founder of the ultra-left Vox, now at The New York Timestweeted out a long thread that began:

Violent crime is spiking. Homicides in cities were up by 25-40 percent in 2020, the largest single-year increase since 1960. And 2021 isn’t looking any better. This is a crisis on its own terms. But it’s also a crisis for the broader liberal project in two downstream ways.

And then Klein proceeded to outline the ways that liberalism on crime hurt both people of color and the Democratic Party.  So we can see: Not even a year after the death of George Floyd, the woke left is in full retreat.

Next, on May 24, the New York Times offered this headline: “A Year After George Floyd: Pressure to Add Police Amid Rising Crime.”  As the story explained:

A year after streets echoed with calls to “defund” law enforcement and city leaders embraced the message by agreeing to take $150 million away from the Los Angeles Police Department, or about 8 percent of the department’s budget, the city last week agreed to increase the police budget to allow the department to hire about 250 officers. The increase essentially restores the cuts that followed the protests.

In other words, the whole “defund the police” movement was a blip.  Indeed, as Breitbart News has reported, support for Black lives Matter is now back down to where it was in 2019.

These headlines and data points are warnings to the Democrats, the party in power: Heed them, or you’ll lose your power.  And without a doubt, the old Joe Biden would have been heeded these warnings, and been ready to go full hawk, just as he did with that tough 1994 crime bill.  

But that was 27 years ago.  Does the new Biden—actually, the much older Biden—have the same sensitive finger on the voters’ pulse?   Is he awake enough to override the wokesters in his administration?  

As of now, those are unknown unknowns. All we do know is the fate of Jimmy Carter, that proto-Joe Biden.

“In accordance with state statutes, this charge would only apply if the assault was categorized to a lesser degree, which would not be in the best interest of seeking true justice for the victim,” the department concluded.