I wrote thislast night for CNN, about the massacre in Dallas: Words have the power to inspire, inflame, provoke. Or else we wouldn’t say them. When words inspire others to kill, however deranged those others might be, we must see the consequences. When those on the political right speak against immigrants, Muslims or abortion, those on the left are quick…
Tag: crime
“An Enduring Heroin Market Shapes an Enforcer’s Rise and Fall”
The contrast between this well written piece about a murder victim in the Bronx and that BS pieceabout a murder in Baltimore is striking. Not surprisingly, Al Baker is on the byline of the good piece (Benjamin Meuller is first on the byline): Over nearly three decades, Mr. Perez held court on this block of East 157th Street off Melrose…
“Rancher on horseback lassos bike thief”
Too good of a headline to pass up. And nice picture, too. From the Daily News.
All in the Family (II): Another Nexus of Baltimore Violence
Forgive me for speaking ill of the dead, as I did a few days ago. But today the Baltimore Sun has a feature about a man who has had two sons murdered. Tragic. It really is. Nobody should have to deal with one child murdered, much less two. But being cynical and a former Baltimore cop, I’m thinking maybe this…
Good News From NYC, Not-Bad News From Baltimore, Horrible News from Chicago
In New York City, year to date, murders continue to be lower than last year (124 vs 140) and higher than record-low 2014 (112). Given the rise of homicide in so many other cities, this is great news. In Baltimore there were 26 murders in May. It’s hard to call this exactly “good news.” But last year, post riot, there…
The New York Times goes to the Hood
I applaud any effort to focus on the victims of violence in America. Too often nobody knows or cares about this real carnage in this country. So over Memorial Day weekend the New York Times went to the bad parts of Chicago to sightsee: [We] dispatched a team of reporters, photographers and videographers to virtually all of the shooting scenes…
Burgled in NOLA
We were burgled while out eating dinner in New Orleans. Not that I knew it then, but right before we left the home, somebody in the St. Roch League of Non-Aligned Residents reported: A 30ish black male about 5’6″ wearing a blue t shirt and gold shorts on a light colored bike (off white, I think) was hopping fences on…
“Man Seen Wheeling Body on Staten Island Is Arraigned in Wife’s Murder”
It’s not so much the wheeling a dead body on a metal dollythat gets me. It’s the how do you get arrested 52 times by age 31?
Make misdemeanors great again!
Shoplifting has gotten a boost in California. From the AP: Shoplifting reports to the Los Angeles Police Department jumped by a quarter in the first year, according to statistics the department compiled for The Associated Press. The ballot measure also lowered penalties for forgery, fraud, petty theft and drug possession. … The increase in shoplifting reports set up a debate…
You can’t make this sh*t up
Hours after posting about the police-involved killing of robber Robert Howard, I read Justin Fenton’s amazing storyabout the robber: “Man fatally shot by off-duty officer was also shot by police 20 years earlier.” Are you effing serious?! What are the odds? I don’t think anybody in American history has ever been shot by cops in two separate incidents. I don’t…