Breaking of records is near Guinness World level in America’s largest and Democrat-controlled cities. Specifically, crime stats are skyrocketing to near unmanageable heights. But you’d never know it listening to the muckety-mucks of Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City, who seem bent on competing for the title of Uncontrollable Crime Wave Politician.
The leaders of those municipalities have been training for this challenge for years, but it appears 2021 will garner them a framed award certificate. After all, unlike their predecessors, these elected officials have finally perfected the patented shoulder shrug, point and blame, followed by “Nothing to see here, folks, move along.”
Crime? What Crime?
It’s no wonder that crime is up in cities that promote defunding the police. Liberty Nation’s Jeff Charles dove into year-end stats to reveal:
“FBI data show a 30% increase in murders from 2019 to 2020. And 2020 was already a bloody year in cities across the nation; murders notched the largest single-year jump in the bureau’s 60 years of recording such figures. Amid this surge in crime, police forces are dwindling. In June, a Police Executive Research Forum study revealed a 45% increase in the police retirement rate and a 20% increase in resignations of law enforcement officials between 2020 and 2021.”
And which jewel of a city tops the murder list in percentage increases? Chicago. Mayor Lori Lightfoot, whose Windy City has become the epicenter of gun violence, recently pointed the finger at local retailers – not her lackadaisical policies and priorities. Lightfoot addressed the uptick in robberies and said in a presser, “We also got to push retailers. I’m disappointed that they are not doing more to take safety and make it a priority.” Retailers are still head-scratching because they thought protecting citizens is the responsibility of the municipality.
Shop owners gave Lightfoot the gift of calling her “misinformed,” although privately other terms likely were used. The most involved Lightfoot has been in her city appears to be painting crosswalks in rainbow colors. Well, in her defense, no criminal thug would dare commit a crime near such a positive vibe.
But other illustrious mayors seem to be directing media traffic toward others at fault.
I Said Crime Is Down. So, It’s Down
Bill de Blasio (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)
Outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio bloviated about his policies on Fox News, saying he created a safer Big Apple. Despite the latest figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that point to a massive increase, Mayor Bill swears he lowered crime: “Eight years I’ve been mayor, index crimes, major crimes in New York City down 11% over eight years. The bottom line is that there is today in New York City, a much safer city than we were eight years ago.” But he slipped in this little nugget as a parting shot: “I have confidence, and the NYPD has confidence that we’re going to get back to the pre-pandemic levels soon.” Ah, so crime has risen.
And it appears Philadelphia is competing against NYC for misdirecting the truth. Philly District Attorney Larry Krasner shot down the report of a 13% increase in homicides. “We don’t have a crisis of lawlessness, we don’t have a crisis of crime, we don’t have a crisis of violence. It’s important that we don’t let this become mushy and bleed into the notion that there is some kind of big spike in crime. There isn’t.” Ah, the irony of “bleed into the notion” was lost upon Mr. Krasner.
There Must Be a Category for Deceitful Pols
This writer did some digging on Guinness World Records and found no category for the most shoulder shrugs, reflexive finger-pointing in a given year, or false accusations – but the application and suggestion were indeed made for future record-seekers. Why shouldn’t politicians try to outperform one another in kicking the can of crime stats down the road? Is the feat as interesting as that of, say, Gary Duschl, a record holder of the longest gum wrapper chain? Politicians will never be as famous as Jericho, who sports the longest horns of any yak to date, but we could perhaps measure the noses of political Pinocchios. So far, the Dems are outpacing themselves.
~ Read more from Sarah Cowgill.
