Author: Michael Rushford

Another habitual felon has targeted a woman alone on a commuter train.  This time it was last Monday in Chicago at 9:30 p.m. when Lawrence Reed, who has at least 13 priors, poured gasoline on a young woman riding alone on a CTA Blue Line train and set her on fire.  Alexandra Koch of Fox News reports that Reed had recently been released from jail after being charged with aggravated battery for attacking a woman at a psychiatric hospital last August. Reed apparently selected the young woman at random while she was sitting on the train looking at her phone.  Totally unprovoked he came up from behind and doused her with the gas. Before he could light the gas, the woman ran to the back of the train with Reed following. He then lit her on fire and as she rolled on the floor while he watched.  When the train stopped, the woman, who was still on fire, managed to exit before collapsing on the platform.

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An article by Hans Bader in Liberty Unyielding raises questions about the reliability of government reported crime data.  The article cites statistics compiled by UCLA PhD and former Harvard Professor John Lott which indicate that prior to the Biden administration, the annual FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) tracking reported crime in the U.S. and the separately conducted National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which interviews roughly 240,000 Americans about crimes committed against them,  complemented each other by indicating similar trends in criminal activity.  But, as Lott notes, after 2020,

“they’ve diverged sharply: The FBI reports fewer crimes, while more Americans say they’ve been victimized. Unreported crime was always a factor . . . . Another factor appears to have skewed the FBI data: the breakdown of law enforcement in this country. When people believe police won’t catch or prosecutors won’t punish criminals, they’re simply less likely to report crimes. Between 2010 and 2019, victims reported 63.3% of violent crimes to police. In the last three years, that number plummeted to 48.8%. Arrests fell as well–from 26.5% before COVID-19 to just 16.6% afterward.”

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According to the American Journal of Public Health 62 million Americans aged 12 or older are using marijuana, and the market for the drug has reached nearly $40 billion.  The increase in marijuana use corresponds with the effort to legalize it, which has now occurred in 38 states and U.S. territories.  The impact of the drug on public health has become difficult to ignore with numerous studies documenting the negative effects both psychological and physical which are common among regular users. One of those negative impacts is fatal vehicle accidents. A Wright State University study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons reports that more than 40% of those who die in car crashes have high levels of THC, the compound in marijuana what makes users high. The average blood level in fatal accident victims was 30.7 ng/ML.  The legal limit among states which have legalized marijuana for recreational use ranges from 2 to 5 ng/ML.  This suggests that users involved in car crashes had smoked or ingested the drug shortly before getting behind the wheel, or while they were driving. Money is driving the marijuana industry’s continued push for more states and the federal government to legalize the drug for recreational use although at least half of the marijuana currently sold in the U.S. is on the black market. It was a mistake for America to start down this path and it’s costing people’s lives.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10 by the radicalized 22-year-old boyfriend of a transgender male roommate has become a polarizing event eclipsing even last year’s attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a campaign rally. The day after the shooting MSNBC commenter Matthew Dowd said in an on-air interview that Kirk had been “one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place.”  A day later Dowd was fired for making that statement. On his late night September 15 show, host Jimmy Kimmel told his audience “The MAGA Gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”  Two days later ABC announced it was pulling Kimmel’s show off the air indefinitely after two of ABC’s largest broadcast networks reported they would no longer air it.

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In recent weeks, crime has become the central topic of debate among politicians and the major media. The President is responsible for this. Crime was a primary issue in his campaign and helped get him elected. His decision to deploy the national guard to augment police in Washington, DC and send troops to assist the ICE removal of illegal alien criminals in Los Angeles has been met with harsh criticism by democrats who continue to claim that crime is not a serious problem. While crime rates are lower than during the Black Lives Matter crime explosion of 2020, the 283 murders in Chicago and 186 in New York City this year represent crisis-level violence to most people. The New York Post reports that on September 1, a stolen car pulled up to a popular deli in the Bronx at 7:30 PM and two young black men jumped out and opened fire, killing one and injuring four. All of the suspects were arrested, including a 16-year-old. A week earlier, a 15-year-old repeat offender on an ankle monitor was arrested by New York police for killing a man during a botched robbery. On August 23, four young black men, including a 16-year-old, were arrested for shooting up a basketball tournament at a New York park, killing one and injuring three others , including a 17-year-old girl currently fighting for her life from a gunshot to the face. Is anyone surprised that many New Yorkers don’t feel safe?

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Last November over 68% of California voters announced that they wanted state law enforcement to crack-down on thieves, drug dealers and addicts.  Proposition 36 passed in all 58 counties including the liberal strongholds of San Francisco, Marin and Los Angeles. The measure was opposed by the democrat party, almost every democrat in the Legislature, the Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General and every liberal/progressive public interest and non-profit organization in the state.  It mandated that habitual thieves and drug dealers be charged with felonies and that drug addicts arrested for a third time for drug possession be ordered into either treatment or jail.  So how did democrat lawmakers react? Earlier this year Assemblywoman Sade Elhawary, who represents gang-infested South Central Los Angeles, introduced a bill that ABC News reports would allow habitual felons to go into a rehab program rather than jail or prison. This bill,  AB 1231, the Safer Communities Through Opportunities Act, is a direct rebuke of the California voters, including several million democrats who voted for Proposition 36.  In July during the budget process, media exposure shamed Elhawary and her colleagues in the Legislature into approving a one-time set aside of 1/4 of the funds needed annually to allow counties to fully enforce Proposition 36.  Now they are considering a bill allowing judges to completely ignore it and let the criminals go.  In order to actually restore public safety in California, at the 2026 election voters must burst the bubble that the democrat majority of the state legislature are living in by removing them from office.

The newly-elected District Attorney of Arapahoe County Colorado is facing a recall after announcing that her office will not be prosecuting sex offender Solomon Galligan for attempting to kidnap a little boy from a school playground last year. Jennifer Taer of the New York Post reports that District Attorney Amy Padden announced last Friday that it has been determined that Galligan, 33, is not competent to stand trial and will be released to a mental health facility.  Galligan, who is currently receiving gender transition treatment, was caught on video approaching a group of students at an Aurora elementary school playground and grabbing an 11-year-old boy.  When the child broke free, Galligan ran off.  His older sister told reporters that her brother has been in an out of jail for twelve years and that it’s not safe for the community or Galligan to be out on the streets.  She said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder when he was 16, he was deemed unfit to stand trial in previous instances and wasn’t institutionalized because of a shortage of beds in mental-health centers.  Another relative said “This has been like the fourth time that we’re sitting here thinking, ‘How the hell did he get released? Who’s letting him out?’ “

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