'Our city is in peril': Portland business owner closes store — and posts scathing note on front door blasting criminals, authorities who fail to punish them



A Portland, Oregon, business owner permanently closed her store this week — and posted a scathing note on the front door blasting criminals as well as authorities who fail to punish them.

What are the details?

“Our city is in peril,” the note on the door of Rains PDX read. “Small businesses (and large) cannot sustain doing business in our city’s current state. We have no protection, or recourse, against the criminal behavior that goes unpunished. Do not be fooled into thinking that insurance companies cover losses. We have sustained 15 break-ins … we have not received any financial reimbursement since the 3rd.”

\u201cThe owner at Rains tells me after five break-ins in about three weeks, she made the sudden decision to permanently close. Staff here are putting pressure on the city to look after small businesses dealing with ongoing challenges with crime.\u201d
— Megan Allison (@Megan Allison) 1669494749

Rains PDX owner Marcy Landolfo told KATU-TV that this week marked the 15th break-in at her business in a year and a half.

"It’s just too much with the losses that are not covered by insurance, the damages, everything," Landolfo added to the station. "It’s just not sustainable."

She also told KATU that she's covered the cost out of pocket for most of the necessary repairs following break-ins — and that after others, she simply left windows boarded up.

"The products that are being targeted are the very expensive winter products, and I just felt like the minute I get those in the store, they’re going to get stolen," Landolfo explained to the station.

Landolfo also told KATU she's concerned about her employees' safety and doesn't see her physical store as a feasible business model anymore.

"The problem is, as small businesses, we cannot sustain those types of losses and stay in business," she added to the station. "I won’t even go into the numbers of how much has been out of pocket."

KATU said it reached out to Mayor Ted Wheeler's office when Rains PDX was broken into in late October.

While the mayor's team said work is being done to increase funding for business repair grants through Prosper Portland, Landolfo told the station that isn't sufficient action.

"Paying for glass — that’s great, but that is so surface and does nothing for the root cause of the problem, so it’s never going to change," she added to KATU.

Just two weeks ago, KPTV-TV reported on Portland's rampant property crime and its impact on businesses:

City of Portland struggling with rampant property crimeyoutu.be

Pennsylvania House report attributes 'catastrophic rise in violent crime' in Philadelphia to radical Democrat DA Larry Krasner, now facing impeachment



Pennylvania lawmakers minced no words in a damning new report issued on Monday that detailed Democrat District Attorney Larry Krasner's various shortcomings as well as the fallout of his leftist policies.

The "Second Interim Report," produced by the House Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order, stated that the George Soros-backed Philadelphia district attorney "has contributed to a catastrophic rise in violent crime at the expense of public safety" and failed "to integrate and effectuate his progressive policies with any success."

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the committee voted 5-0 to send the 63-page report to the House, which voted 189-11 on Oct. 24 to accept it.

While the report did not explicitly demand that Krasner be impeached, the chairman of the committee, Republican state Rep. John Lawrence (R-Chester/Lancaster), stated on Monday: "Today’s report is by no means a conclusion of the committee’s work. The investigation into the historic crime and violence in Philadelphia and recommendations for possible solutions will continue in earnest over the coming weeks."

Pennsylvania House Republicans announced Wednesday that they were filing articles of impeachment, stating that "impeachment is one of the Pennsylvania Constitution's strongest tools for the General Assembly to hold an elected official to account" and adding that Krasner had overseen a "year of record bloodshed."

The report

Philadelphia scores an 8 on Neighborhood Scout's crime index, where 100 is the safest. The likelihood of becoming a victim of a violent crime is 1 in 102.

Last year, the city set an all-time record with 559 murders. The Philadelphia Tribune reported that as of September 30, 400 people have been murdered so far this year.

Although part of the problem is that the Philadelphia Police Department is grossly understaffed, the report released by state lawmakers this week indicated that much of the crime can be attributed to Krasner's progressive policies, his "handling of criminal cases, and ... abject failure to respond, in any meaningful way, to the current crisis."

The select committee noted that to date in 2022, "65% of all violent offenses have been withdrawn by the [district attorney's office] or dismissed by the courts, resulting in no prosecution for those crimes."

Violent crimes include murders, nonfatal shootings, rape, robberies, and aggravated assault.

The report noted that Krasner's DAO withdraws cases "at an alarming rate" as compared to district attorney's offices in other Pennsylvania counties. "The data reveals that in 2019 and 2020, charges associated with certain firearms offenses were withdrawn by the DAO at a rate of 18% and 20%, respectively, compared to the respective statewide averages of 8% and 10%."

Krasner's approach to crime has allegedly emboldened criminals, who understand that the "likelihood that they will be arrested is slim and ... once caught, the likelihood that they will be prosecuted and incarcerated is minimal."

A number of Krasner's destructive policies were discussed in the report. In 2018, his office reportedly ended the requirement of cash bail for a number of misdemeanors and felonies. Krasner's office also implemented a policy whereby it would reduce or neutralize more consequential sentences or convictions to spare criminal noncitizens from deportation after they had committed crimes in Philadelphia. In one instance, "a child pornography charge was pled to a summary offense solely because the defendant was an illegal immigrant."

Doubling down

Chairman Lawrence summarized the committee's findings: "Criminals are not being prosecuted. Crime rates are up dramatically. And the citizens of Philadelphia are paying the price. A thousand Philadelphians have been murdered since the beginning of 2021. Carjackings and non-fatal shootings have skyrocketed under Krasner’s watch. Residents literally fear for their lives. Morale in the law enforcement community is low."

"Rather than change direction or realign his prosecutorial priorities, DA Krasner hired Washington, D.C., lawyers and sued the select committee in an attempt to stop the investigation and set roadblocks at every turn," Lawrence added.

Krasner sent a letter to members of the select committee on Oct. 21, in which he rejected blame for the chaos he has overseen, going so far as to suggest that his methods were sound. He wrote, "Criminologists know what works to prevent crime. It is not love for the NRA, opposition to reasonable gun regulations, or draconian sentences. ... All leading criminological reports show zero correlation between crime and progressive/reform prosecution."

In a city that is setting murder records, Krasner claimed, "Every decision I make as District Attorney is with the goal of seeking justice and improving public safety ... we are winning."

Impeachment

While the report did not call for impeachment, an expert opinion was included speaking to the legislature's ability to remove a prosecutor under the Pennsylvania Constitution.

In a section entitled "Prosecutorial Discretion in the Commonwealth," Bruce Antkowiak, a criminal justice professor at Saint Vincent College, indicated that "in those situations where a prosecutor's discretion is abused to the level where the legislature believes that it constitutes misbehavior in office, the only remedy currently available under Pennsylvania Law is provided for in Article VI" of the state's constitution.

Accordingly, the "Governor and all other civil officers shall be liable to impeachment for any misbehavior in office. ... The person accused, whether convicted or acquitted, shall nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment according to the law."

On Wednesday morning, the Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus announced the group is filing to impeach Krasner.

Republican state Rep. Tim O'Neal said, "Larry Krasner is a failed district attorney who has violated his oath of office and continues to operate outside the boundaries of the law. ... It is my hope that today’s vote is the first step in further accountability against Larry Krasner as we seek to ensure the laws of this Commonwealth are enforced and respected in Philadelphia.”

Northern Bronx suffers 30% spike in violent crime since electing 'defund the police' socialist Rep. Bowman



Democratic socialist Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) was elected to represent New York's 16th Congressional District on December 29, 2020. His district, encompassing most if not all of precincts 45, 47, and 50 in the Northern Bronx region, has seen a marked spike in violent crime this year.

Fox News noted that so far in 2022, there have already been 3,396 violent crimes reported in these three precincts, whereas the total number in 2021 was 2,609. Violent crimes include rape, robbery, felonious assault, and murders committed with a firearm.

This spike in violent crime constitutes approximately a 30% rise over last year's figures.

Precinct 50 alone has witnessed a 73.8% overall increase this year, up 185% since Bowell's election in 2020.

On a list of the precincts in the Bronx with the most murders, Bowman's 47th ranks fourth highest.

Statistics indicate worsening crime elsewhere in Bowman's district. The city of Mount Vernon, for instance, has seen a 39.4% total increase, with 80.4% more grand and petit larceny and twice as many rapes. In July, Mount Vernon saw a 260% increase in robberies.

Shortly after his election, Bowman wrote, concerning American law enforcement: "A system this cruel and inhumane can't be reformed. Defund the police, and defund the system that's terrorizing our communities."

\u201cWe're fighting in your memory, Tamir. You won't be forgotten.\n\nA system this cruel and inhumane can't be reformed. Defund the police, and defund the system that's terrorizing our communities.\u201d
— Jamaal Bowman (@Jamaal Bowman) 1609281928

On February 12, 2021, Bowman reiterated his desire to defund the police, claiming that upon doing so, "we need to scrutinize the ones that remain with the full force of the law."

Bowman, also an advocate for reparations, had previously defined his terms: "Defund the police means defund the occupation of black bodies and the militarization of our communities."

In July 2020, around the time Bowman declared, "We don't need to hire more police," former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio cut approximately $1 billion from the NYPD's 2021 operating budget. According to the Citizens Budget Commission, the department thus incurred $322 million in cuts. The NYPD's head count was consequently reduced by 1,163 uniformed officers. By last estimate, the NYPD's authorized uniformed headcount stands at 34,771.

Despite his calls to defund the police, Bowman reportedly requested increased police presence at his home for a period of two weeks after the January 6 incident at the Capitol.

Horowitz: It’s the violent gun felons, stupid



We need not steal people’s guns without due process, as Joe Biden suggests, nor do we need to send in the National Guard to protect America’s cities, as Donald Trump recently suggested. What Chicago’s experience demonstrates is that we simply need to lock up the gun felons and career criminals who have already been found guilty through due process. It’s not so much about funding the police or drastic measures of having the military occupy American cities, but about simply locking up the criminals.

Americans watched with horror the viral video of a 16-year-old with a gun bust under his belt tussling violently with a NYPD officer on one of Manhattan’s infamous subways. It turns out that the boy had previously been arrested April 12 in Brooklyn for allegedly carrying a loaded gun and then again just two weeks ago for a robbery, but the details of the cases are sealed. Yet despite the history of gun violations and violence, the suspect was released on his own recognizance a day after the struggle with police.

This case embodies the source of the violence in cities like New York and Chicago. The culprits all have endless violations of bail terms and parole, and numerous violent crimes and gun felonies piling up on each other before the original case is disposed of in court, yet they continue to be released, especially in the case of the growing juvenile violence. Any other policy thrown into the public policy discussion other than tougher sentencing, pre-release holding, and tougher parole conditions is a distraction. You can fund police all day long, but if the criminals are not punished, they will just fight with the police knowing there are no repercussions.

“He’s charged with all those things, and now in his third arrest, he’s released again,” a high-ranking police source told the New York Post of the subway brawler. “What does it take to get locked up here?” This incident occurred a week after the man who attacked New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin was freed within a few hours on cashless bail.

Democrats wax poetic about gun violence, but then when they actually catch gun felons illegally possessing guns and committing more crimes in violation of their previous release or parole, they still offer them low bail. A Chicago judge recently released 32-year-old Clear Huddleston on a $3,000 cash deposit after he was caught illegally possessing a gun and drugs, despite his criminal history, which included robbery in 2008, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon in 2012, theft in 2016, and armed robbery in 2016. The way Democrats speak of guns, you would think they’d offer the death penalty to someone caught illegally possessing a gun as a career violent felon, yet even career violent gun felons and robbers are easily released and given multiple “chances.”

Then there is the case of Steven Kelsey, a Chicago man on parole for shooting a man while on electronic monitoring for possessing a firearm while out on parole. So he already had his second chance, despite actually shooting someone with a gun. Now he has been arrested for, you guessed it, an armed carjacking. Before the July 12 carjacking, Kelsey was convicted of illegal gun possession and aggravated discharge of a firearm in a 2015 case that started as an attempted murder case. This is after having been charged as a juvenile twice for possessing stolen motor vehicles and once for aggravated vehicular hijacking. Yet he didn’t serve much time, and shortly after he was paroled for the shooting, Kelsey was arrested again and charged with … you guessed it … unlawful use of a weapon by a felon on parole. But he was released in June of last year with just a $10,000 bail deposit on electronic monitoring, which, as always turned out to be worthless in deterring him from the armed carjacking earlier this month.

This is the story of nearly every carjacker and murderer in every major city, and it’s happening in red states too. Earlier this month, a 15-year old carjacker in Memphis was released from some nebulous juvenile program on electronic monitoring and is now accused of killing a woman in another carjacking, despite wearing an ankle monitor.

Carjackings are out of control as a result of repeat juvenile offenders never getting punished. This phenomenon fueled more than 1,900 carjackings in Chicago last year. At some point, youthful indiscretion should not be an excuse for serious, repeat offenses.

If we only deterred and punished the known career criminals, we’d stop most violent crime. The debate over police funding, while important, is largely a distraction to the main issue. Republicans, including President Trump, bought into the over-incarceration argument last decade, which led to an acceleration in de-incarceration of the most dangerous career criminals. Ironically, Trump himself made the comments about deploying the National Guard to suppress riots at the “America First Policy Institute,” which is run by his former domestic policy adviser Brooke Rollins, who convinced Trump to embrace the jailbreak agenda and also dissuaded him from actually deploying the National Guard during the BLM riots of May-June 2020.

It’s very easy for Republicans to broadly inveigh against rising crime under Democrats. But unless they commit to shedding their ties to the pro-jailbreak, Koch-backed organizations pushing de-incarceration, they will continue managing a rise in crime.

Horowitz: Gun violence, the real red flags that no one talks about



Democrats love guns. They have a policy of leaving no gun felon behind. So long as you actually assault someone with the gun or possess it after having committed a violent crime, you are a protected class in need of “criminal justice reform.” God help you, though, if you are caught carrying a gun to protect yourself from one of those carjackers roaming the streets of cities like Chicago.

Biden is calling on us to do “something” about guns and to pass red flag laws. Well, the biggest red flag is someone who with full due process has already been convicted of multiple violent crimes. That person shouldn’t own a gun, right? Well, what happens when he is caught illegally possessing one? Liberal prosecutors, politicians, and judges don’t want to lock him up because it would add to the prison numbers, which is an anathema to Biden’s de-incarceration goals. If you would only lock up the gun felons in this country – those who do harm to other people with guns or possess guns after having done harm to others – most violent crime would be deterred.

Last Wednesday, a female Chicago cop was seriously injured after a suspect shot her from his car during a traffic stop on a city street. Mayor Lori Lightfoot released a statement saying she will “be praying for the injured officer and the entire department as they grapple with yet another heinous and deliberate assault on our officers’ lives.” But these same leftists always lambast conservatives for offering prayers rather than “doing something” about gun violence. And in this case, as is the case with most city shootings, there was a lot that could have been done.

According to CWBChicago, the suspect in the shooting, a convicted robber, was arrested in October 2020 during a drunk driving incident for possessing a loaded handgun in the car as a convicted violent felon. Court records show the man was released on just $500 bail at the time, and then prosecutors completely dropped the charges just four months later. After all, they believe felony possession is just a technical “nonviolent, low level” offense.

Nearly all the shootings in cities like Chicago are committed by criminals that fit this profile. How about we call Biden’s bluff and have each state create stiff mandatory minimums for felony possession and for committing violent crimes with firearms, while ensuring that prosecutors cannot drop these cases and that judges cannot release them on low bail?

Gun control doesn’t work, but criminal control does.



What is particularly egregious is that Democrats essentially do not believe in prison time for juvenile gun felons, even though an increasingly large share of gun crimes, especially armed carjackings, are being committed by those under 18. The same leftists who demand we raise the age for the legal purchase of firearms to 21 have no problems letting those under 18 off the hook after they assault someone with a firearm and then are caught multiple times while in felony possession of a firearm. Again, most of the murders and carjackings are committed by people who fit this criminal profile. You might call carjacking laws the ultimate red flag laws, except they are never enforced.

Take the case of Isaac Corona who was just charged with the murder of Justin Gamino in Chicago. According to prosecutors, Corona was charged with illegally possessing a firearm as a juvenile but was given probation. Then, in 2016, a grand jury indicted Corona on charges of attempted murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm, and aggravated assault by discharge of a firearm after he went up to a victim and fired three shots. Luck would have it that he missed and then the gun jammed, but that was as close to attempted murder as it gets. However, thanks to a plea deal he reached with the prosecutor, Corona was sentenced to only three years, much of which was served while on home electronic monitoring, and the sentence was also cut in half for “good behavior.”

Seven months after his parole ended in January 2021, Corona ran from cops during a traffic stop, and you can guess what police allegedly found in his jacket pockets. Yup, a loaded handgun in one pocket and a magazine in the other. I doubt he had much regard for the capacity of the magazine either. By this point, any sane person would say he should be held without bail and be sentenced to mandatory 25 years. Instead, he was given low bail, and later in October, officers found Corona at the scene of a shooting unlawfully possessing ammunition and resisting police.

Three days later, Corona succeeded in striking a plea deal and was sentenced to just two years in prison. Of course, the sentence was reduced by 50%, and he received credit for time served mainly on home electronic monitoring. Consequently, he was out less than two months later in early January 2022, and that is how he was on the street to allegedly kill Justin Gamino, a father of a 2-year-old girl who was about to complete his high school degree.

Now, guess who was Corona’s alleged accomplice in the car that day? According to court records, Antonio Gonzalez was one of four people in the car with Corona but got away from police and later allegedly ran over a Chicago cop with a stolen car. What was his history? According to CWBChicago, about a year ago, Gonzalez was arrested during a traffic stop for illegally possessing a handgun. According to court records, he posted a $500 bond deposit then failed to show up in court twice. Despite his failures to appear, the judge never issued a warrant for his arrest. Then several months later, he was arrested again for involvement in a carjacking, but despite the pending gun charges and failure to show, he was released on a $1,000 deposit. Not surprisingly, he is now accused of being involved in, you guessed it, another carjacking and murder case involving a gun.

How about the recent case of Darrell Frazier in Chicago? After having shot a handgun into an occupied car, he pleaded down to just a three-year sentence, which of course was truncated due to state law. Then in November 2020, he was charged with shooting his own son in the leg. The judge did the right thing and held him on $1 million bail, but three months later, he slashed his bail to just $50,000, and Frazier went home on electronic monitoring and GPS by posting a $5,000 deposit. Despite violating the terms of his release, he was actually absolved of electronic monitoring after paying an additional $2,000 deposit. Talk about a red flag! Fast-forward to May 27, and police arrested him for tossing a loaded handgun wrapped in a hoodie on the ground in a residential neighborhood.

These are essentially the stories of every major American city thanks to the “criminal justice reform” agenda, which mollycoddles gun felons so long as they are violent, have a criminal record, and have a proclivity to harm people with guns. You might even call them red flags.

Every GOP governor would be wise to immediately call for mandatory 25-year sentencing with no good time credits or parole for anyone caught to be in felony possession after having been convicted as a violent felon or someone illegally possessing a gun in furtherance of a crime. Most cities are plagued by juvenile carjackers who assault people with guns multiple times in the same year and don’t go to prison. Biden and his ilk believe the age for carrying a gun should be 12 so long as that individual is assaulting people with it rather than defending themself from the assaulters.

If Democrats want gun control, it’s time to give it to them in spades.

Horowitz: Tennessee governor opposes bill making murderers serve full sentences



One of the most remarkable dynamics in American politics is that the majority of Republican governors are more pro-criminal than most average Democrat voters and even some local Democrat politicians. You see, at some point, crime could get bad enough that even Democrat voters will beg for help. But GOP elites, controlled by the Koch-funded NGOs and big business interests, are so myopic in their thinking and divorced from reality that they continue to push the “spirit of the age” policies supported by the corporate elites until the gates of hell.

Imagine being a governor of a deep red state like Tennessee during a time when radical leftists are promoting anarchy and de-incarceration, fueling the worst crime wave in a generation. Then, your own legislature passes a truth-in-sentencing bill, HB2656 / SB2248, to ensure that those found guilty of crimes like murder, robbery, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, or carjacking serve their full sentence. The vote is 20-6 in the Senate and House 86-9 in the House, with numerous inner-city Democrats joining every single Republican in support. The Democrat mayor from the biggest city in the state, which is plagued by growing violence, supports the bill, along with other sheriffs and local law enforcement.

Well, that is the gift package that was placed on Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s desk. Yet rather than taking yes for an answer and unwrapping it, he announced his public opposition to the bill. It will nonetheless become law, because he is merely declining to sign it but will not veto it. However, it is quite evident that had the bill passed without super-majorities, he would have vetoed it. That is a mere glimpse into the heart and mind of nearly every GOP governor aside from Governor Ron DeSantis. Some just do a better job hiding their leftist views than others.

In what can only be described as the transgender equivalent of crime policy logic, Gov. Lee stated in his letter to the Senate and House leaders that he believes the more you lock up violent criminals, the more crime there is; the less you lock them up, the more crime goes down.

His views perfectly capture the spirit of the age of the far left, where everything, including basic biology, morality, and common sense, is perfectly inverted.

For years, Republicans supported the Soros de-incarceration agenda by propagating the lie that the prisons are full of “first-time, nonviolent, low-level offenders” and that these compassionate politicians were merely pursuing leniencies for those people. As we all understood at the time, the prison population mainly consists of career criminals with long raps sheets, many of whom often plead down from even worse crimes. Thus, if your goal was to lower the prison population at all costs (rather than fighting crime), then you would inevitably have to release violent criminals. Well, now Bill Lee is revealing the extent of the criminal justice reform fraud by opposing a bill exclusively targeting the most dangerous criminals without even expanding their sentences.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, we began locking up more criminals. Crime plummeted, and eventually homicide dropped by 70%, saving tens of thousands of people, particularly black victims of gang murder. Since we reversed that trend of incarceration, we have reversed the trend of reduced crime. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the combined state and federal prison incarceration rate has shrunk by 28% since 2010. The percentage of the American population in the U.S corrections system (combined federal and state) is lower than at any time since 1992. And those numbers have precipitously dropped due to COVID, perfectly coinciding with a massive crime wave.

There is no question that the plummeting incarcerated population has a lot to do with the massive crime wave. The drop in incarceration was particularly steep among those sentenced for serious crimes. The number of persons sentenced to more than one year in state or federal prison decreased from 1,379,800 in 2019 to 1,182,200 in 2020. State and federal correctional authorities held 352 persons age 17 or younger at year’s end in 2020, a 46% decline from 2019. There is your juvenile crime wave right there. It defies logic to suggest that the unprecedented reduction in the prison population did not contribute to the unparalleled annual increase in homicide in 2020 and 2021.

Just as in other states, the incarcerated population, according to BJS, dropped by 14% from 2019 to 2020 during the COVID. The COVID jailbreak was the perfect case study in the “science” of de-incarceration, and it failed spectacularly. It’s hard to suggest that the record increase in homicides and carjackings in 2020 and 2021 – and still coasting in 2022 – is not the result of the criminals being on the streets instead of behind bars.

Why is it that elites in both parties are exclusively focused on criminal justice and not victim justice? Clearly, criminals are not being deterred, and if you can’t support something as simple as this bill exclusively targeting the most violent criminals, that reflects a pro-criminal sensibility. The governor’s own Task Force on Sentencing and Recidivism recommended a truth-in-sentencing bill.

Bill Lee was a signatory to that report.

As for his contention that prisons cost too much money, it’s like saying that waiting to make a left turn at a busy intersection costs too much time. Some things must be done. We increase construction of infrastructure and funding for every service with the growth of the population. Yet anti-incarceration advocates artfully cut funding for incarceration so that they can present the public with a false choice of overcrowding or jailbreak.

A recent Fox News poll asked respondents which policy they thought would decrease gun violent more – “tighter restrictions on people buying guns” or “tougher penalties for people who commit crimes with guns.” By a margin of 54%-33%, respondents chose tougher penalties. And this is something of a different question, because it’s specifically targeting gun violence and offering intuitive gun control as an option. The number of people who, at a minimum, support tougher penalties on violent criminals regardless of their views on guns is undoubtedly much higher.

Until the crime wave hits the neighborhoods of those running government, big business, and culture, the attitude of most governors will reflect that selfish myopia.

Horowitz: TN legislature passes bill to finally lock up violent criminals



In recent years, sentencing for violent criminals has been like common core math. You start out with a sum of 20 years, for example, but somehow even the worst career offenders wind up turning 20 years into 8 years’ time served. Tennessee has become the first state to finally implement truth in sentencing to make sure that a sentence is actually served.

Last week, after a decade of red states promoting the Koch/Soros jailbreak agenda, the Tennessee legislature put victims first and passed true criminal justice reform. HB2656 / SB2248, as amended, requires people convicted of one of nine criminal offense categories to serve 100% of their sentences – no exceptions. This means no good time credits or parole are available for those found guilty of homicide, vehicular homicide, attempted first-degree murder, robbery, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, or carjacking.

Additionally, those found guilty of 20 slightly lower-level but still significant crimes, such as aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated robbery, burglary, and arson, would still be eligible for good time credits, but only after serving 85% of the sentence.

This bill has reversed the decade-long tide of weak-on-crime legislation percolating through red-state legislatures. For years, we’ve been told that there is somehow an over-incarceration problem with people serving draconian sentences for nothingburger crimes. The reality is that even the most violent career criminals often serve a few months here and there and constantly get out to reoffend. With the growing crime wave in cities like Nashville and Memphis, the role of the de-incarceration agenda is hard to deny.

To begin with, most of the sentencing these days is very lenient. For example, in 2019, out of 17,355 felony convictions in Minnesota, only 3,612 were fully sentenced in accordance with the sentencing guidelines. Once you add all the parole and good time credit programs to that, even the worst career criminals are only serving a fraction of the sentence. This doesn’t even account for all of the ways they plead down throughout their criminal career, thereby incurring a sentence well below the threat level of their criminal proclivities. At a minimum, this bill ensures that violent and dangerous criminals will at least serve the entire sentence they are given. This bill should serve as a model in every other state, as the crime wave continues to grow.

The American Conservative Union, which hosts the annual CPAC gathering for alleged conservatives, vigorously opposed this bill because it apparently still believes there are too many, rather than too few, criminals behind bars. However, no sane person can believe we need to let more people out of prison.

Those who think we don't have an under-incarceration problem should consider the following statistics from the FBI in 2019. Just 61.4% of the 14,325 homicides, 32.9% of the 124,817 rapes, 30.5% of the 239,643 armed robberies, and 52.3% of the 726,778 aggravated assaults were "cleared" cases. That means that in 5,529 murder cases, 83,752 rape cases, 166,552 armed robbery cases, and 346,673 aggravated assault cases, there was no arrest. Hence, just in the four violent categories alone, there were over 758,000 violent crime cases that went without a resolution just in one year.

What about duration of incarceration? According to BJS, among the prisoners released from state prison in 2018 – before some of the recent "reform" – they only served, on average, 44% of their sentences. Even for murder, it was only 58% of their sentences. The median length of time served for murder was less than 10 years in 30% of the cases and was more than 20 years in only 42%. The median time served for rape was less than 10 years in 64% of prisoners. In total, 71% of those serving time for a violent crime category served less than five years, and nearly half served less than two years.

In reality, the bromide of “criminal justice reform” for “low-level, nonviolent offenders” was always a ruse. Now groups like the ACU openly admit they oppose even truth in sentencing, much less enhanced sentencing, for the most violent and career criminals.

The truth in sentencing bill passed the Senate 20-6 and the House 86-9 with bipartisan support and now heads to Governor Bill Lee’s desk. The bill was sponsored by House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who made a rare speech from the well of the House chamber to present his bill. This legislation piggybacks on last year’s truth in sentencing law, which closed the early release loopholes for crimes traditionally committed against women and children, such as rape and child abuse.

Reminiscent of some of the debates over COVID, proponents of weak sentencing are demanding to see “studies” showing more jail time leads to less crime. Speaker Sexton believes no such study is needed when common sense dictates fewer criminals on the street equals less crime. “This solution creates the toughest penalties in America for violent criminals; it also establishes a firm line for criminals not to cross,” said the speaker in a statement to TheBlaze. “If they do, punishment will be swift and severe under our new law. I do not need a fancy study to tell me more bad guys in jail with longer sentences reduces crime.”

It is shocking how red-state governors and legislatures have failed to pursue these ideas until now. Even blue-state governors are now vulnerable to defeat because of the growing crime wave. A recent Gallup poll showed that 53% of Americans worry a “great deal” about crime and it ranks as the third most important issue on the minds of voters. A Pew Research poll showed that crime is the number-one issue among black voters.

With surging crime in cities like Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee had the sixth highest murder rate in 2020. In both 2020 and 2021, Memphis set new homicide records and now boasts the ninth highest homicide rate in the country and is ranked the most violent metro area in the country. The homicide rate in Tennessee has gone from a low of 5.2 per 100,000 in 2013 to 9.6 in 2020. Motor vehicle thefts have spiked from 183 per 100,000 to over 300. Even smaller cities like Chattanooga have become increasingly dangerous.

Kudos to the Tennessee legislature for recognizing that weak-on-crime policies plague red states just as much as blue states and need to be rectified. Along with the passage of robust medical freedom bills and a new ivermectin over-the-counter bill, the Tennessee legislature is on its way to forging an agenda of freedom and public safety that should be emulated in every red state. If every GOP supermajority state would use its power to its fullest, we wouldn’t have to wait for ineffective GOP majorities in the irremediably broken federal system to make a difference.

Horowitz: When setting someone on fire is considered a low-level crime



So, what would you define as a “nonviolent, low-level” crime eligible for cheap bond? How about setting a pregnant woman on fire and breaking out of jail on just $5,000 bond?

Devonne Marsh, 42, had a two-decade violent criminal record under his belt when he allegedly poured lighter fluid on his girlfriend and set her on fire in his Malcomb, Michigan, home. The victim was 27 weeks pregnant with twins and remains in the hospital in critical condition with burns on more than 60% of her body. According to the Macomb Daily, police say the victim was being held against her will and tortured. The total list of charges against Marsh last Friday includes attempted murder, assault and battery of a pregnant individual, domestic violence, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, delivery/manufacturing of controlled substances, felony possession, felonious assault, and felony firearm.

Now, one would expect someone like this to be held without bail, you know, like those military veterans held without bail in D.C. for trespassing charges, even though they have no prior criminal history. Instead, his bond was set at just $50,000, which means he was released on just $5,000 cash deposit. This, despite the fact that not only is he a convicted violent felon, but according to the Michigan Department of Corrections, he absconded from probation since 2020 and has an outstanding arrest warrant from the Livonia Police Department.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced she is filing a motion to have Marsh's bail increased. She said: “His original bond was woefully inadequate, and we will be seeking a more appropriate bond given these charges.” However, like all big-city prosecutors, Kym Worthy is part of a political party that supports the de-incarceration agenda, which has created a culture of leniency up and down the criminal justice system. Sure, they will get embarrassed by bad PR from low bail requirements after heinous crimes are committed, but why are these criminals given so many chances to commit these crimes in the first place? The judges in the big urban centers reflect these values and have continuously set bail at appallingly low levels for such dangerous criminals.

Meanwhile, in Houston, Emmanuel Mallard, 27, is charged with a similar crime, allegedly brutally beating his wife and then burning down the house with her in it. She managed to escape, and the suspect is still on the run. But again, such behavior doesn’t occur in a vacuum. From 2013 to 2019, he racked up a rap sheet that included charges related to theft of property, burglary of vehicle, obstruction or retaliation, terroristic threat in a public place, and various charges of assault of a family or household member with bodily injury. How could someone like that have been out of jail enough to commit that many crimes?

According to police, the victim claims the husband was attempting to kill her to prevent her from testifying against him in a previous case. He allegedly tied her up in her father’s home, stripped her clothes, stabbed her in the stomach, hit her with a crowbar, and threw a cloth doused with lighter fluid on her as he set the house ablaze.

Notice he was trying to prevent her from testifying about a previous case. This is what happens when criminals are constantly released. Not only are they free to commit more crimes, but it makes it harder to convict them on the previous crimes because they are able to constantly threaten victims and witnesses.

What about child sex crimes? Do you think relatively low bail is a good idea for those criminals? Are they also considered low-level? Moss Worthington is charged with two counts of luring a minor for sexual exploitation, 11 counts of sexual conduct with a minor, and two counts of custodial interference in connection with the kidnapping of two teen girls in Tucson. He was originally held on $250,000 bond in December, but was released on Friday after bail was reduced to just $50,000. What do you think this does to the ability of the victims and their families to testify against him?

Then there is the juvenile crime crisis. In the Houston domestic violence case, Mallard also had a record when he was a juvenile. That is another facet of our broken justice system and failed deterrent. It begins when they are juveniles, as minors are increasingly committing more numerous and violent crimes than ever before. Once they learn not to fear the justice system as minors, that behavior is never deterred when they are adults.

Just a day before the alleged Mallard incident in Houston, 17 year-old Frank Deleon Jr. is accused of shooting his girlfriend Diamond Alvarez 22 times. Despite the heinous murder charge, he was released the very next day after posting a $250,000 bond. I would say this is another example of lax juvenile justice laws, but we now see adult murder suspects being released as well. And if murder suspects who are juveniles are released on bail, you can only imagine those who commit “lower” level crimes, such as carjackings, are free in perpetuity.

The nation is suffering from a carjacking crisis, nearly all of which is committed by juveniles. According to Philadelphia police, there have been 90 carjackings just during the first half of January in the City of Brotherly Love. They say most of the carjackings are being committed by juveniles between the ages of 14 and 17. But these are not children’s crimes. They are holding people up at gunpoint. If they go undeterred at this age, their criminal careers will only deteriorate with age.

But fear not. These are not the sorts of juvenile “criminals” the police are interested in. The NYPD is now enforcing vaccine passports on little boys in restaurants. Once again, we must ask, what is the purpose of the big-city police if the only thing they succeed at is enforcing immoral and inhumane edicts of tyrannical mayors? The only thing worse than abolishing the police is abolishing prison, appointing liberal judges, and electing pro-criminal district attorneys who neuter all the positive work police do in affecting an arrest. For in that case, police can only become a liability to serve as a conduit for tyranny rather than an indispensable tool for ordered liberty.

Horowitz: New Justice Department report: Prison rates plummeting, lowest level since 1992



Why is there a record number of criminals on the streets? Well, if they are being removed from the prisons, where else do you think they will land?

It’s not enough for Republicans to only focus on funding the police. What point is there in funding the police if prosecutors, judges, and new laws from the legislature will just let out all the repeat violent offenders? A new Bureau of Justice Statistics report easily sheds light on why there is so much rampant crime in the streets. Here are some of the key takeaways:

  • The combined state and federal imprisonment rate has declined a whopping 28% since 2010, and the incarceration rate is now the lowest since 1992. Contrary to those who believe there is an over-incarceration rate among black people, the rate of decline was even sharper – 37%.
  • Although the culture of leniency has been going on for a decade, it was massively accelerated by COVID jailbreak. The population went down 15% just in one year from 2019 to 2020. That is the single largest decline since records began to be kept in 1926. Nine states showed decreases of greater than 20% (New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois, North Dakota, Maine, New York, Hawaii, California, and Vermont). New Jersey claimed the No. 1 spot, with nearly a one-third reduction in its entire prison population in one year, following a decade of slower declines.
  • On the state level, some incarceration rates are even lower than the national aggregate. For example, the incarceration rate in New York is the lowest since 1984, and in California it’s the lowest since 1990.
  • Not only were so many people released, but so many others were not sentenced and incarcerated last year. There was a 40% decrease in those initially sent to prison since 2019. That number was 66% for California and 60% for New York.
  • The drop was particularly steep among those sentenced for serious crimes. The number of persons sentenced to more than one year in state or federal prison decreased from 1,379,800 in 2019 to 1,182,200 in 2020.
  • State and federal correctional authorities held 352 persons age 17 or younger at year end in 2020, a 46% decline from 2019. There is your juvenile crime wave right there.

Is there any wonder why every major city is plagued by carjackings and shootings? Prison ain’t pretty, but making our streets look like the prisons is much worse. Yes, it’s time to “lock them up” and build more prisons. The notion that it’s low-level crimes and drug crimes that are fueling the prison population, especially among black people, is nonsense. The fact of the matter is that a higher percentage of black prisoners are incarcerated for violent crimes than white prisoners. Only 49.8% of white prisoners are incarcerated for one of the violent crime categories, while 64% of black prisoners and 66% of Hispanic prisoners are in prison for one of those offenses. White prisoners are actually more likely to be incarcerated for drugs or property crimes, while black prisoners are more likely to be incarcerated for weapons charges.

In fact, just 12% of incarcerated black criminals were in prison by year’s end in 2019 for drug charges, and only one-fourth of those people were in for possession. It’s also extremely likely that even those few people were only there for a short time because they pleaded down from more serious charges or they were repeat offenders with a more serious criminal history, parole violation, or broke the terms of probation. Roughly 80% of black prisoners were in prison for murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, car theft, or weapons charges. So, the notion that we have an over-incarceration problem among black criminals is a complete hoax – and in fact, we have an under-incarceration crisis among all demographics, especially for violent crimes and car thefts.

Republicans have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to right the ship when the legislative sessions commence. They have political winds at their backs, with 61% in an ABC News/Ipsos poll disapproving of President Biden’s handling of crime. A new Pew Research poll shows just 28% of Americans, including 40% of black people, believe that criminals are sentenced for too long. And those numbers would likely drop if people would know how little time people serve for serious, repeat offenses.

From longer prison sentences to more funding for courts, prosecutors, and prisons, Republicans need to embrace law and order once again. With so many cities setting homicide records this year, there is simply no constituency for the Koch-Soros jailbreak agenda.

OUT OF TOUCH: Is THIS what VP Kamala Harris did while IGNORING the border crisis?



Vice President Kamala Harris may not be doing anything to solve the border crisis, but thanks to the San Francisco Chronicle, we at least know she's doing something. While illegal immigrants are overwhelming our borders, gas and grocery prices surge, and crime rates reach record highs, Vice President Harris has just finished redecorating her office.

On the radio program, Glenn Beck and Stu Burguiere discussed the veep's apparent priorities and suggested that she just might be out of touch with the American people.

Watch the video clip below:


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