Category Archives: safety

Seattle, failed city (part 4)

Democrat policies are killing once-great American cities. Seattle is a prime example.

The lawlessness allowed in Seattle has led to an increase in cime, open-air drug use, repeat offenders and decreased public safety. This can be directly attributed to democrat policies that include their Defund the Police Movement as a capitulation to BLM and the Saint George riots.

Remeber CHOP (Capital Hill Occupied Protest)? In June 2020, then mayor Jenny Durkan allowed Antifa/BLM/various thugs to take over six blocks of the city for 23 days and had the Seattle Police abdicate their responsiblities and vacate a precinct building. Shootings occured there and a teenage boy was killed.

Seattle democrat leaders haven’t learned much about policing crime and adequately punishing criminals since that event as they have now set a record for homicides, the highest level of homicides the city has seen in nearly three decades.

The criminals have now set their sights on new targets: middle and high school students at/around schools. Jason Rantz at KTTH reports the following:

“The Seattle crime crisis is now finding middle and high school students. A group of armed and masked thieves are targeting students after school and there aren’t enough officers to proactively police the neighborhoods. They’re committing the crimes in broad daylight.”

Yahoo News reports that Ballard High School and Whitman Middle School parents are on edge after a number of muggings, some of which turned violent. Since September 15, there have been five attacks where teen boys on their way home from school were jumped for their iPhones. Guns were used in some of the robberies.

KTTH also reports that there will be minimal consequences for the minors committing these crimes, as is to be expected in democrat-run cities.

“Following the nationwide trend in Democrat-run cities, the thieves appear to be teens. In Washington state, teen criminals seldom suffer meaningful consequences. Washington Democrats passed legislation preventing officers from talking to teen suspects until they have a lawyer present, even if the suspect’s parents consent. When teens do get caught, they seldom see jail time. Instead, they’re pushed into restorative justice programs run by police and prison abolitionist groups. The county provides little oversight.”

Read the full KTTH story here.

Seattleites should embrace the suck. Y’all voted for this yet never remember this key item:

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The “revolving door” of crime in Washington State

Criminals in democrat-run cities are given a pass under the guise of “criminal justice reform,” “equity” and “systemic racism.”

Throw in activist judges, BLM and the “Defund the Police” movement popular in these cities and you have the perfect recipe for the release of repeat offenders and increased crime.

Seattle has 118 repeat offenders which the city, a couple of years too late, now realizes is a threat to public safety.

The problems associated with democrat policies extends south of Seattle as well.

In Thurston County, Washington (Olympia area) they experienced slightly more crime in 2021 compared to 2020.

Judge Sharonda Amamilo

In 2020 the people of Thurston County elected Judge Sharonda Amamilo to the Thurston County Superior Court. The Court web page describes the good judge:

“Judge Sharonda D. Amamilo was elected to the Thurston County Superior Court Bench in 2020 and began her historic first term in 2021 as the first person of color to serve as a Judge in Thurston County. She is committed to protecting the constitutional rights of all citizens, bringing a diversity of experience and background to objectively deliver compassionate justice to litigants appearing before the court; many with traumatic backgrounds.”

How compassionate is the judge? As reported by Jason Rantz at KTTH, she released a woman who led police on a high-speed chase, has 17 prior convictions, failed to show up for five previous court appearances, and was booked for three counts of assault in the first degree, possession of a stolen vehicle, attempt to elude, and DUI. The good judge released the suspect on her own personal recognizance, on the promise she’d return for a future court date.

You can read all the details about the judge’s compassion for criminals here.

Progressives never learn:

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San Francisco, failed city part 3

We all know that democrat-run San Francisco is a failed city. The homelessness, crime, locked up store shelves, open-air drug use, poop-covered streets, stores closing, and the list goes on and on.

Yet I never did expect this headline:

San Francisco Bay boaters forced to fight off ‘pirates’ as seafaring bandits ravage community

Thieves are getting very creative in California. From the Fox News story:

“Residents living on houseboats and yachts in the San Francisco Bay resorted to physically fighting off seafaring bandits who are ransacking their ships, former harbor master Brock de Lappe said.

Another woman said she rescued a man whose sailboat drifted into the bay without a motor or any way to get back to shore after one of the “pirates,” which is what the resident call the burglars, cut his boat line during an argument. 

“The open shoreline of the (Oakland-Alameda) estuary is littered with sunken wrecks and derelict, end-of-life vessels, and crime has risen to truly intolerable levels,” de Lappe said during a municipal meeting. 

Since the summer, burglars have been using small boat homes to raid yachts and houseboats in the Oakland-Alameda Estuary, which is populated by marinas with over 3,000 slips, to steal anything of value.  Then they either sink the ships or dump whatever is left of the boats miles away in the Oakland Harbor or along its shorelines. 

Mary Spicer, who founded a group of volunteers that has been cleaning the estuary since 2017, canceled their cleanup this year “because of safety concerns” from a particular homeless encampment, where she said there have been violent incidents. “Unfortunately, I don’t feel comfortable bringing children to the site until those are addressed by the city of Oakland,” Spicer said.”

Read the whole story here.

I sound like a broken record:

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Our nation needs some hope and healing…

Democrat-run cities are dangerous for their citizens and law enforcement. Between their “Defund the Police” movement which has resulted in increased crime, cashless bail policies and soft-on-punishment district attorneys, no one is safe. Just take a look at some recent headlines from our nation:

These stories break my heart. It’s so disheartening to see what is happening to some of our once-so-beautiful American cities.

Americans better wake up to the fact that elections have real life-and-death consequences. Politicians are failing their citizens while implementing their horrendous policies. We need strong leadership restored to our cities (and country) before they completely perish and rot before our very eyes.

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COVID truth bombs

See also “CDC is at it again: Mask up!

~E

Delete the Temu shopping app!!!

You have probably made purchases online from Temu, enticed by the really, really low prices.

If you’ve installed the Temu app on your smart phone, delete it NOW!!!!

This is from Kim Komando, the radio talk show host who specializes in computers and IT:

Seemingly overnight, everyone’s talking about Temu, an online shopping app full of deals that seem too good to be true. You’ll find $17 wireless earbuds, $1 “gold” necklaces and $23 wedding dresses.

No wonder Temu is the most popular shopping app in the U.S., behind only Amazon. But most of us know little about the app’s origins. Like these apps, it’s tied to China.

I did some digging into whether it’s safe to use. Here’s what I found.

Where did Temu come from?

This app isn’t some fly-by-night operation. Temu (pronounced “tee-moo”) is based in Boston, Massachusetts, by PDD Holdings Inc. PDD is headquartered in Shanghai, China. PDD also owns the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo headquartered in — you guessed it — China. (More on Pinduoduo and its shady app below.)

Over 50 million Americans have downloaded Temu since it launched state-side in September 2022. You might remember its expensive Super Bowl ads promising to let you “shop like a billionaire.”

Searches for terms like “Is Temu legit” surged once Americans saw just how low the prices are. Not surprisingly, you get what you pay for.

What you need to know before using Temu

First, you’re buying goods directly from manufacturers in China and other parts of the world. That’s why shipping times are often much longer than on sites like Amazon. You might get your stuff in a week, but it could be more like 12 days.

For the most part, the prices are low because the goods are cheap. The pictures of what you see advertised may not be what you actually get.

Online reviewers seem to agree: Cheap is nice, but not when the quality is too shoddy to use. Temu’s BBB rating is 2.21/5. Reviews at TrustPilot are interesting, with 38% 5-star reviews and 41% 1-star reviews.

But that’s not the worst of it. As you shop, Temu collects lots of information.

It gets worse

Temu isn’t unique in all the info it wants to capture from your phone. Most apps out there want as much as you’ll give up. But considering its ties to Communist China, the permissions seem even more frightening to me.

Temu collects, among other things:

  • The info you provide, like your name, address, and phone number.
  • Details you enter, like your birthday, photo, and social media profiles.
  • Your phone or computer’s operating system and version, IP address, GPS location (if you allowed it), and browsing data.

They also gather more about you from third party sources, including Temu sellers, public records, social media, data brokers, credit bureaus, and marketing partners.

Americans using Temu are selling the country out for bargains that really aren’t worth it. I say you delete it. Here’s how:

On iPhone, long-press an app, then tap Remove App > Delete App. Tap Delete to confirm.

On Android, touch and hold an app, then tap Remove App > Delete App > Delete.

Still have TikTok on your phone? Here’s why it’s more complicated than fun viral videos. 

In bad company

While Temu collects a lot, it’s nothing compared to Pinduoduo. Remember, they are owned by the same company.

Cybersecurity researchers found it wasn’t just tracking device info and activity — malicious code allowed it to bypass cellphone security settings to spy on other apps, read notifications and messages, and even change settings.

Temu gains full access to all your contacts, calendars, and photo albums, plus all your social media accounts, chats, and texts. In other words, literally everything on your phone.

Why? Company insiders told CNN that it’s a way to spy on users and competitors to boost sales.

No shopping app needs this much control, especially one tied to Communist China. If you’re using Pinduoduo, delete the app from your phone ASAP. It’s also reportedly hard to remove everything, even after you delete it.

Pro tip: If you downloaded Pinduoduo, you really need to do a full factory reset on your smartphone to wipe out any remaining code or tracking.

~E

Austin, Texas, failed city

Another democrat-run American city heading for chaos.

Austin, Texas hasn’t had a republican mayor for over two decades.

During 2020, during the height of the “St. George” BLM-led protests and the Defund the Police movement, the Austin City Council cut or reallocated a higher percentage of money from the police budget than any of nearly two dozen other cities nationally that significantly altered law enforcement funding at the time.”

Austin cut $150 million from their police budget. How’d that work out for the citizens of Austin? From the NY Post: “Compared to 2020, Austin has had a 77% increase in auto thefts, an 18% increase in aggravated assaults, and a 30% increase in murders.”

The Austin Police Department has also lost 800+ officers since 2017.  Although the police budget has since been refunded, mass retirements and the slashing of cadet classes caused a police shortage where the department is hundreds of officers short.

Here’s the result of the elected bureaucrats actions (from the NY Post):

Short-staffed Austin police urge robbery victims not to call 911 as crime ravages city

From the story:

“The Austin Police Department posted a graphic in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, to urge residents to call 311 or make an online report if they’re robbed311 is a number usually used for non-emergency requests, as opposed to 911.

“Even if you are cautious & follow all the safety advice, you may still become the unfortunate victim of a robbery,” the Austin Police Department wrote on X.”

Read the whole story here.

Austin became a blue city that many attribute to the presence of a university and the influx of left-leaning high-tech workers from the two coasts. Their votes destroyed the likes of Seattle, San Francisco and New York. They didn’t learn an obvious lesson:

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New York City, failed city

Another democrat-run American city going to the rats. Literally.

Professional virtue-signaling expert NYC Mayor Adams

New York City has many, many problems: An influx of illegal aliens sleeping on the streets (they are a sanctuary city), a dangerous subway system, open-air drug use and large numbers of drug overdose deaths, as well as other issues that affect our large, democrat-run American cities.

The city also has a major rat problem. So much so that in April of this year Mayor Adams appointed a “rat czar,” Kathleen Corradi (earning a salary of $155,000/year), to reduce the rat population and “help deliver an equitable quality of life experience for all New Yorkers. ”

NYC Rat Czar Kathleen Corradi

So seven months later how’s that lofty equitable goal working out?

Turns out it’s working very well for entrepeneurs who are finding a way to make a buck by offering tour guides of NYC’s rodent-infested areas. There are also tens of thousands ‘RatTok’ – TikTok channels taking viewers through the city showing how many rats are living alongside New Yorkers. Read about the rat tour guides (and see photos from “RatTok”) here. Or watch below:

New Yorkers must be so proud.

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Philadelphia, failed city

Another story of a failed, democrat-run American city…

Philadelphia democrat mayor Jim Kenney

Philadelphia hasn’t had a republican mayor since 1952. The current mayor, Jim Kenney, has been in charge of Philadelphia sincee 2016 and was re-elected in 2019. Kenney was caught on video dancing and celebrating the city’s sanctuary city ruling in 2018. The drugs flowing across our open southern border have contributed mightily to Philadephia’s opioid addiction failure.

Crime is high in Philadelphia, of course. As of July 3, there was over 900 shootinngs in their city. Last year the mayor addressed citizens’ concerns over violence by saying, “We know residents are afraid, afraid to attend cookouts or go to basketball courts, afraid to let their kids play outside. I heard it on my corridor tours, I hear it at community meetings, I read your emails. I hear you and it truly breaks my heart.”

Here’s what the good mayor’s city looks like these days:

Not only should residents be afraid to attend cookouts or let their kids play outside, they should be afraid to walk their dogs. Case in point: Navy veteran brutally beaten while walkinng his dog in Philadelphia. Read the story at the link or watch this:

The victim, Scott Harris, has served multiple years on deployment overseas, but his tours were uneventful compared to his walk last weekend. “I did a year in a war zone in Iraq, did two years in Ukraine, and would not have expected this to happen in my own neighborhood,” he said.

No surprise that Philadelphia is ranked as one of the worst cities in America.

American voters in these blue cities better wake up. Our towns are crumbling before our very eyes. It truly breaks my heart that so many voters have yet to learn the most important factor when voting:

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Crime and punishment in King County, Washington

Between the Defund the Police movement, Soros-backed candidates, and  “racial justice” platforms of many democrats, it’s not very safe to live in blue cities/counties/states these days.

But it’s definitely a positive for the criminals. Take this guy for example:

Screenshot of man attempting to abduct a barista through a drive-in window.

In January of this year Matthew Darnell tried to zip-tie and kidnap a bikini-clad barista at a drive-up window at an Aburn coffee shop.  The barista was able to fight off the attacker and he was later arrested and charged on a kidnapping charge.

Flash forward seven months later and Darnell is already out of jail. From the NY Post:

“A Washington state man who tried to zip-tie and kidnap a bikini-clad barista at a drive-up window in a shocking caught-on-video attack is now back behind the wheel — to the dismay of victims’ rights advocates.

Matthew Darnell, 39, was busted after trying to yank the victim through the window at Beankini Espresso in Auburn on Jan. 16, but was freed Saturday after prosecutors cut a plea deal that called for a mere 50-day sentence.

Darnell lives just two blocks from the coffee shop.

“It raises the question of why should people bother to report [assaults],” Mary Ellen Stone, CEO of the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, told the outlet.

“We see that all the time,” she continued. “There are a variety of reasons why that happens, but the message it sends to victims is what happens to you wasn’t important. The other thing it does is that it says people that are behaving in this way, not that big a deal. You’re not going to be held accountable.

Read the whole story here.

King County Prosecutor Leesa Manion

King County Prosecutor Leesa Manion (who was sworn in 1/9/23 and is the first woman and person of color to hold the job) sure made it sound like public safety was a priority saying, I am committed to protecting public safety and increasing community health.”

She also stated on her priorities page, “Supporting victims and survivors of crime is a critical responsibility. The racial and ethnic diversity of King County has changed, and victim advocates face new and complex challenges in providing effective and culturally sensitive services.”

Manion’s promises were endorsed by all sorts of democrats, labor unions, and the REAL Justice WA PAC. REAL Justice has helped elect (with Soros money) the likes of George Gascon (LA), Kim Gardner (St. Louis), Kim Foxx (Cook County), and Chesa Boudin (SF, recalled last year).

King County voters had a choice last year between Manion and Jim Ferrell. Ferrell was a republican and switched to the democrat party in 2012 so I guess the voters didn’t have much to choose from. At least Ferrell did have the support of many police associations as he claimed one of his priorities was this: “Let me be clear: I will hold offenders accountable. We need justice for the victims of crime.”

But I guess King County voters got the prosecutor they deserve: The first woman, mother and person of color to hold that position who will “craft innovative solutions to fight and reduce crime through broad coalitions, and create positive change.”

Positive change for perps but not so much for baristas.

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