Author: Michael Rushford

Illegal Alien Smuggler Kills Four

A 22-year-old Louisiana man smuggling illegal aliens into the U.S. crashed his pickup Monday, killing four people.  Mary Ann Martinez of Fox News reports that Rassian Comer had eleven illegals in his truck when he ran a red light at high speed in the small town of Ozona, Texas and smashed into a car carrying a 71-year-old grandmother and her 7-year-old granddaughter.  Both were killed, along with two of the illegals in Comer’s pickup.   Mexican cartels use social media to recruit Americans to collect illegals at the southern border and take them into the U.S., promising thousands of dollars upon delivery.   Comer, who was running from police when he caused the crash, was hospitalized with injuries.  The President’s open border policy, enabling human and drug smuggling, is resulting in tens of thousands of Americans dying annually from fentanyl poisoning and hundreds of crimes committed by gangs and others working for the cartels.  Most of the deaths related to human smuggling are the illegals being smuggled, but Americans are also occasionally killed or injured due to this activity.   The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Dallas Morning News and the three major television networks did not bother to report this tragedy.

Poll: 65% of Californians Fear Becoming a Crime Victim

A Public Policy Institute (PPIC) poll released yesterday reports that 65% of California respondents are fearful of becoming a crime victim.  This includes 70% of Latinos and 60% of African Americans.  73% of those living in Los Angeles are fearful of crime, which raises the question about the recent failure to recall District Attorney George Gascon and the election of liberal democrat Karen Bass as Mayor.  These numbers are similar to what polls reported in the 1980s and 1990s, as state voters rejected the soft-on-crime policies put in place years earlier by democrats.  The PPIC narrative questions the public perception that crime is at crisis levels:

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Philly Repeat Offender Arrested For Murder

Following a six-month manhunt, U.S. Marshals arrested 20-year-old Halim Evans and 29-year-old Jamel King for the September 2022 murder of a pregnant teen.  KYW News reports that on September 11, a car was identified on a security camera following two girls walking a dog in a Philadelphia suburb at 9:p.m.  The video shows one of the men exiting the car and stalking the girls then eventually opening fire.  17-year-old Teryn Johnson was hit in the chest and died later in the hospital.  She was nine weeks pregnant.  Police have not determined whether the suspects knew either girl.  Jamal King had prior drug, gun and assault convictions, and probation violations at the time of the murder.  He was recently sentenced to two years in prison for the gun and assault crimes but was released early after serving a few months.  Following his election in 2018, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner implemented policies to seek the lowest sentences for criminals he chose to prosecute in order to achieve social justice.  The pregnant teen’s murder constitutes collateral damage in pursuit of that higher goal.  A recent poll by the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that 90% of respondents said that crime was the top priority.

CA Legislature Kills Crime Bills

Last week the California Assembly Public Safety Committee killed bills introduced to address rising gun crimes, homelessness and the Newsom administration’s blanket policy of granting early releases to thousands of violent and serious criminals.  Ashley Zavala of KCRA News reports that  AB 328, introduced by Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Riverside), would require mandatory prison sentences for criminals who use a gun during the commission of a crime.  “If we are serious about combating gun crime, then we need serious consequences,” he told the Committee.  Essayli noted that gun-related homicides have increased by 52% in California since 2019.  Gun-related assaults were up 64% over the same period.  He also noted that the majority of victims are minorities.  Committee member Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) would have none  of it.  “When I talk to the mothers in Oakland, they’re mostly concerned about mass incarceration…..because of the disproportionate impacts (sentencing) enhancements have had on their community.”  Ms Bonta is California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s wife.

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Another Texas Murderer Facing Justice

Tonight Texas is set to execute its second murderer this week, Arthur Brown, Jr., for the murders of four people, including a pregnant woman.  Jolie McCullough of the Texas Tribune reports that Brown was convicted, along with two accomplices, of the 1992 execution-style murders and attempted murders of two others who survived.  The facts presented in a 2012 decision by a unanimous panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals described the cold blooded murders at a Houston drug house that supplied Brown and his companions, who were dealers.  All six victims were tied to chairs and shot in the head.  The surviving victims testified at trial, identifing Brown and one accomplice as the shooters.  On Tuesday, a judge denied Brown’s request for a last minute stay.  Brown’s attorneys claim they found new evidence that Brown is innocent, that his low IQ disqualifies him from execution, that one juror at the trial was racist and that his trial lawyer was incompetent.  While CJLF has no special sympathy for drug dealers, two of Brown’s victims were teenagers, and one, 19-year-old Jessica Quinones, was 9-months pregnant.  They could have straightened out their lives.  As usual all the compassion is for the murderer.  The other shooter, Brown’s accomplice Marion Dudly, was executed in 2006.  UPDATE:  Brown was pronounced dead at 6:37 PM last night.

DC Police Chief: “Lock Them Up”

Last year homicides in Washington, DC reached a twenty year high while the brain-dead City Council was passing a law to shorten sentences for violent and serious crimes.  The Daily Mail reports that yesterday Metro Police Chief Robert Contee made a startling suggestion.  “What we got to do, if we really want to see homicides go down, is keep the bad guys with guns in jail.  Because when they’re in jail, they can’t be in communities shooting people.”

What a concept….actually punishing criminal offenders.  Several questions come to mind regarding this announcement.  What if most of the offenders to be locked up are black?  Is the Chief racist?  Is he actually supporting “mass incarceration,” which progressives tell us was an abject failure in the 1990s?   Answer:  most criminal offenders in Washington, DC are black, and most of their victims are black.  Progressives and race-baiters insist that the only way to achieve “racial justice” is to stop arresting black offenders, leaving them on the streets to find more black victims.  Where is the justice in that scenario?  By the way, Chief Craig and Mayor Muriel Bowser, who also wants the district to crack down on criminals, are both black.

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Texas To Execute Double Murderer

A Dallas murderer who killed his estranged wife and her  6-year-old daughter in 2009, faces execution by lethal injection later today.  Juan Lozano of the Associated Press reports that Gary Green decided to kill his wife, Lovetta Armstead and her three children after she informed him that she sought to annul their recent marriage.  On the day of the murders Green wrote Armstead that “there will be five lives taken today me being the fifth.”  A July 2021 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit describes the murders.  On September 21, 2009 Green went to Armstead’s home and stabbed her more than two dozen times.  He then drowned the 6-year-old girl in the bathtub, before stabbing 9-year-old Jerrett, who talked Green out of killing him and his 12-year-old brother.  At trial Jerrett recounted that he “told Green because we’re too little to die and we won’t tell anybody about it.”   The overwhelming evidence of guilt, including Green’s confession, resulted in an unanimous jury finding him guilty of capital murder. UPDATE:  Green died without incident at 7:07 PM Tuesday night.

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Biden Bails on DC Penal Code Reforms

A District of Columbia penal code revision intended to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences and reduce the consequences for crimes, such as robbery and burglary, has been withdrawn by the DC City Council Chairman after President Biden announced that he would sign a bill to block it.  Because the District of Columbia is not a state, Congress has the last word on its policies. After the district’s council passed the revision last year and voted to override democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser’s veto, it still had to be introduced as a bill and approved by Congress.

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Alameda County DA Adopts Gascon-Style Policies

The newly elected District Attorney of Alameda County, which includes the high-crime city of Oakland, has announced new  policies requiring the prosecutors in her office to seek the minimum sentences possible for convicted criminals, including those who use guns.  For example, in the case of a gang member who fires a gun into an occupied car injuring a passenger, the prosecutor would not be allowed to include the Three Strikes enhancement for the use of a firearm, which would have increased the sentence for the shooter.  Rachel Swan of the SF Chronicle reports that DA Pamela Price’s new policies are similar to those of progressive Los Angeles DA George Gascon’s, requiring deputies to seek probation for criminals who under state law are eligible for jail or prison.

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Poll Paints Mixed Picture of Californian’s Views

A Quinnipiac University poll of registered California voters was released yesterday.   While the survey was heavily focused on political views with questions about Governor Gavin Newsom running for president, which democrat should replace Senator Dianne Feinstein and how they feel about Vice President Kamala Harris, there were other responses that indicate discontent by voters of all political stripes regarding how state government is serving them.  Pollsters report a sample size of around 1,000 registered voters telephoned randomly, with respondents weighted to reflect the political and human demographics of the state.   Of great significance is what questions are asked, and whether there was built-in bias.  When asked if they were satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in California, a whopping 57% were somewhat or very dissatisfied, including 32% of democrats and 63% of independents.  64% of respondents are opposed to giving prison inmates the right to vote, including almost half of democrats and 70% of independents.  A democrat-supported bill is currently moving through the California Legislature would allow inmate voting.

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