Category Archives: safety

Los Angeles, failed city

Los Angeles is run by democrats. It therefore has the pleasure of being one of the worst cities in America. In other words, another demorat-run failed city.

The streets of Los Angeles

It’s a combination we typically see in blue cities: high crime (some data suggests that Los Angeles is more dangerous than before the Wuhan virus outbreak and lockdowns), rampant homlessness (despite spending billions of dollars), and open drug use on the city streets (in particular, fentanyl pouring across our open southern border).

LA County DA George Gascon (demorat)

Throw into the mix a Soros-funded district attorney, George Gascón. There was a second effort to recall him last year, which failed due to 27% of the signatures being invalid. (Funny how demorats care about signature validation when it affects one of their own).

The final touch? Proposition 47, which basically allows shoplifting $950 worth of merchandise with no consequences. Also, Los Angeles has a zero cash bail policy now, too. You’ve got the perfect recipe for a failed city!

And there are plenty of criminals willing to take advantage of the democrat policies that plague Los Angeles. Case in point:

Gascon speaks at the 0:48 mark: “…and we will use every tool available under law when there is an arrest made.”

Quite the qualifier there. LAPD says that last year, only about one quarter of these “smash and grab” robberies led to an arrest. Again, they are very careful with their statements. How many of these arrests actually led to a prosecution and conviction?

I sound like a broken record here but when are voters going to realize the obvious?

DCG

 

Seattle, failed city (part 3)

Liberals ruin everything they touch.

One of the many homeless encampments throughout Seattle.

I grew up in a suburb of Seattle, which even though has been ruled by demorats since 1969, use to be a semi-safe place to visit. As kids, we lived across the lake and would bus it to downtown Seattle to visit the Center, food fairs and even concerts.

Now, I’d never venture anywhere to downtown due to rampant crime, homelessness and open drug use on the streets. You can read more about the failures of demorat-run Seattle in my parts 1 and 2 that I’ve posted here.

Democrat Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell

The current demorat mayor, Bruce Harrell, had promised to address the city’s many issues, of course. Yet after a year and a half in office, absolutely nothing has improved in the city.

I was just in Seattle in May (for a funeral) and saw the disaster with my own eyes. But don’t just take my word for it.

Take the word of a 23-year veteran of the Seattle Police Department, Lieutenant Jessica Taylor, who says that “criminal are running this city.”

Jason Rantz from KTTH radio reports that Taylor resigned, sending the Seattle Police Chief a scathing 15-page letter. Take a look at what Taylor has to say:

“Chief Diaz, let me tell you, the state of the Seattle Police Department and this city is a disgrace,” she wrote in the letter she shared with the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “The toxic mix of the Seattle City Council’s absurdity, the spinelessness of the Mayor, the leniency of the prosecutor’s office, and your failed leadership has accelerated this city’s downhill slide straight to rock bottom. The problems were already brewing before you came on the scene, but since your arrival, it’s been a free fall into anarchy & chaos.”

Taylor also blames the Seattle City Council for playing politics and catering to the radicals in the region.

Read the brutal resignation letter here.

Seattle just had a primary election for Council members and, of course, all the incumbents appear to be safe and in strong positions heading into the November election. Nevermind the fact that the city they govern is a hot mess.

The cognitive dissonance in democrats is astounding. By committing even further to their beliefs, they will NEVER learn this important lesson:

DCG

Too little, too late: Oakland NAACP calls for state of emergency over soaring crime

Progressives never think through to the cosequences of their “brilliant” propositions. Any one with a brain could have told you that the Defund the Police movement which began in 2020 after the death of Saint George would have disasterous consequences. Proof: See here, here, here and here.

Now Oakland citizens are learning the hard way that actions have consequences. From The Daily Mail:

“Oakland NAACP leaders have called for a state of emergency over soaring crime in the area, as they blame the defund the police movement and the George Soros- backed district attorney for the rising violence.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch president Cynthia Adams called on local officials to come together with local and federal resources to tackle the mounting public safety issues in the district.

She wrote a letter alongside Bishop Bob Jackson of the Acts Full Gospel Church to ring the alarm about the shootings, robberies and murders that have become a common occurrence in the district

The NAACP letter comes as North Oakland has seen a a 22 percent increase in robberies and 18 percent increase in violent crime this year.

Murder levels abruptly spiked from the 78 seen in 2019 to 109 in 2020 – the same years calls for defunding the police, spurred by the Black Lives Matter movement, were introduced in earnest. 

Last month, Oakland cops urged residents to secure their homes – including by trimming hedges and shrubs so thieves have nowhere to hide – amid a rise in brazen burglaries while residents are inside their homes.”

Read the whole Daily Mail article here.

Soros-backed Alameda County DA Pamela Price

The Alameda County DA is Pamela Price, who was elected in January 2023. George Soros heavily funded her races through his California PAC.

Less than two months after the citizens elected Price, they’d already had regrets. Back in March prosecutors were quitting over her radical agenda. And the families of crime victims were calling for the ousting of Price following the her failed bid to slash a sentence in a triple murder case.

I suppose I can’t blame the voters for electing Price when her vision as a district attorney sounded plausible. She promised to “end gun violence,” “restore trust in our criminal justice system,” and “establish prosecutorial accountability.”

Yet if voters had done their homework, they would have seen the first red flag that was backing from George Soros. Also, several red flags on her platform such as:

  • “…support a Conviction Integrity Unity to evaluate unfair prosecutions and excessive sentencing practices with a special focus on racially-biased prosecutions.”
  • “Stop over-criminalizing our youth.”
  • “…pursing comprehensive alternatives to incarceration for those who come in contact with the criminal justice system.”

But I don’t expect the majority of democrat voters to be well informed. Between them voting (D) for decades and the intentional misinformation of the media, democrate-run cities are now facing the consequences of their actions.

As they deserve. One day, maybe, just maybe, voters will realize the cold hard truth:

DCG

When liberals’ virtue signaling collides with reality

Remember last fall when Florida Gov. DeSantis sent illegal aliens to the sanctuary state of Massachusetts and deposited them in Martha’s Vineyard? The illegal aliens lasted only 44 hours before the city got rid of them.

Professional virtue-signaling expert NYC Mayor Adams

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is also a virtue-signaling hypocrite. His state and city are sanctuary havens for illegal aliens yet when the reality of their offer sets in, they offer zero compassion.

Case in point, from NY Post: “Sobering video show migrants sleeping on cardboard outside iconic NYC hotel as shelter hits capacity.” From the article:

The group slept shoulder-to-shoulder across three full blocks while waiting to be taken into the currently full city shelter as NYPD officers monitored the situation.

Heartbreaking images showed crowd-control ropes separating the migrants from passersby, as those waiting for access to proper shelter huddled under blankets with their belongings alongside them.

Groups of migrants also have slept inside white “dollar vans” parked outside the hotel after they were turned away because of overwhelming numbers. 

“Right now, it’s essential that we get on top of the inhumane & concerning conditions immediately as we figure out how to change intake,” frustrated City Council majority leader Keith Powers (D-Manhattan) tweeted over the weekend, citing “the situation” at the Roosevelt.”

Read the whole story here.

It’s been almost a year since Mayor Adams committed (virtue signaled) to be a “sanctuary city” for illegal aliens. He obviously didn’t take that commitment seriously as he leaves illegal aliens sleeping along NYC sidewalks.

Back in March this year he knew the city was unprepared to deal with the reality of harboring illegal aliens. But he stuck to his conviction (virtue signaling) and now the “compassionate party” is treating these people as nothing more than dogs.

These people may be out on the streets yet we all know the real reason why the demorat virtue signaling for illegal immigration will continue:

DCG

Career criminal shot & killed after hospital standoff in failed Portland, Oregon

Liberal cities and states are disintegrating before our very eyes. Portland, Oregon is an example of the consequences of elections.

In May 2020, Portland city commissioners voted to cut nearly $16 million from the police budget in response to complaints about police force and racial injustice. As a result: Portland had a 300% increase in murders from July 2020 to February 2021. In the first two months of 2021, 17 people were  murdered — a 1,600% increase from the one murder reported during the same time period in 2020.

In 2022, Portland’s homicide number was higher than the city’s 20-year average.

It doesn’t help these demorat-run cities are electing Soros-backed prosecutors who refuse to properly punish the criminals.

Case in point: A career-criminal, PoniaX Kane Calles, shot and killed a security guard at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in Portland on Saturday. He was subsequently shot and killed by police in the neighboring city of Gresham. Calles had made threats to staff at the hospital in the days leading up to the shooting.

Calles (formerly Reginald Kane Jackson) had a lenghtly criminal record (which began in demorat-run California) that included:

  • Attempted second-degree assault (for stabbing a man in the face with a knife; he was placed on probation for three years)
  • Reckless driving
  • Driving with a suspended license
  •  Third-degree criminal mischief (prosecutors dropped the charge)
  • Attempted murder
  • Robbery
  • Battery
  • Disorderly conduct
  • Vandalism

Calles also had mental health issues (obviously).

Read the whole sordid story of this criminal’s background here at The Oregonian.

No amount of new gun laws would have stopped this guy. He was also ordered to undergo drug treatment and have a mental health evaluation. Obviously that didn’t happen or change his behaviors.

The only solution is to punish the criminals. Or try electing bureaucrats and politicians who care about punishing criminals and preserving law and order in their cities. Yet I’m not going to hold my breath that liberals will learn to do that in the near future. They never learn:

DCG

This works for me: Woman drags climate activist by the hair to stop her from blocking traffic

DCG

San Francisco, failed city part 2

Time and time again we see demorat-run cities that are in utter chaos: Rampant homelessness, public drug use, and increased crime. See examples here, here and here.

Man caught pooping in aisle of a Safeway store in San Francisco.

San Francisco is one of those progressive cities that tops the list of failed cities. Not only are their streets dangerous and covered with feces, tax-paying citizens are held hostage to the criminals.

Shoplifting is all but legal in California so now stores are forced to lock up goods to prevent theft. Enjoy your shopping experience, tax-paying citizens!

From Daily Mail:

“Theft has become so bad in San Francisco that some stores are now padlocking shut their freezers and tying metal chains to ensure the doors remain closed overnight

Video shot by one potential shopper at a local Walgreens in the city sees aisle after aisle of products locked away behind Perspex and glass, out of the reach of thieves.

Even lower value items such as toothpaste and tissues are kept under lock and key, such is the rampant theft that has been occurring in many of the city’s pharmacies and supermarkets. 

At one particular location, on 16th Street and Geary Blvd, the freezer doors are entirely chained up, with staff concerned thieves will come into the store overnight to empty the contents.

Shop workers have already reported a problem with thieves coming in to the store as many as 20 times a day to fill their bags full of products including items that need to be kept at cool temperatures such as frozen pizza and ice cream. “

Read the whole story here.

Don’t feel too bad for most of the citizens though. They voted for this. And have voted for this for decades. They never learn:

DCG

Retired Florida Marine finds missing toddler after frantic 24-hour search

Hoorah!

Photo from Hernando County Sheriff’s Office

From NY Post:

“A retired Florida Marine who miraculously found a missing toddler in dense woods Friday after hearing his faint whimpers is being hailed as the Sunshine State’s “man of the year.”

Joshua “JJ” Rowland, 2, vanished Thursday after wandering away from his home in Brooksville, setting off a frantic search involving law enforcement, canines, drones, and hundreds of volunteers.

Roy Link, 62, a retired parks department worker in Hernando County, was preparing to go fishing when he heard of JJ’s disappearance and joined the desperate effort as hopes began to fade.

“Something told me no, gotta do this.” Link later told reporters.

After 24 hours passed with no sign of the tot, Link said, he was combing through a wooded area several miles from JJ’s home and strained his ears for any unusual sounds.

“I listened good,” he said. “I heard like a whimpering kind of noise and at that point, I was like, there’s no kids here, it’s gotta be JJ. And sure enough, I went in the woods, 100 feet from where I was at.”

The frightened boy reached out to Link and began calling for his mother.

“We were just talking and both of us were getting a little emotional,” Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis said alongside the local hero in a video posted to Facebook. “Little JJ climbed onto him and didn’t let go. He was so excited to see him.”

Read the whole story here.

DCG

The virtue-signaling mayor caption contest

This is our world-famous 265th Caption Contest!

Here’s the pic:

About the pic: New York Post reports that after “dying to go” to the Metropolitan Gala “for years,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, finally got his wish. Adams, 61, arrived at the May 2022 Met Gala wearing a statement suit adorned with custom art from Laolu, a Nigerian artist who is based in New York City.

You know the drill:

  • Enter the contest by submitting your caption as a comment on this thread (scroll down until you see the “LEAVE A REPLY” box).
  • Body and Soul‘s writers will vote for the winner.
  • Any captions proffered by our writers, no matter how brilliant (ha ha), will not be considered. :(

This contest will be closed at the end of Tuesday, January 17, 2023.

‘To get the contest going, here’s my caption:

Meanwhile, new12brooklyn reports that “Gun violence is on the rise in New York City.” So much for virtue signaling….

For the winner of our last Caption Contest, go here.

~E

Off-Duty New York Fireman Saves Woman From Burning Car

Thank goodness for that toxic masculinity!

DCG