Author: Michael Rushford

While shootings went down slightly in Chicago last weekend, homicides doubled compared to the week before.  Adding to this chaos,  Greg Norman of Fox News reports that the FBI has intercepted intelligence indicating that the city’s gangs have made a pact to “shoot on sight” any officer who had drawn a gun.  The FBI alert indicates that roughly 36 gangs are actively looking for police officers with guns drawn.  According to the alert, the purpose of the pact is for gang members to film the shooting of officers with their guns drawn and distribute the video to the national media.

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A reporter from the Daily Caller was robbed in Minneapolis last night as new protests were sparked by a murder suspect’s suicide.  Jordan Lancaster of the Daily Caller reports that Kyle Hooten, who contributes stories to the news group, was confronted at 9:30 PM by two men near a mall which was being looted.  Hooten was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a backpack.  One of the men said “white boys don’t need a bulletproof vest, you’re not the ones getting shot.”  When the reporter resisted one of the robbers displayed a gun, Hooten gave up his belongings and was allowed to leave.  He later received hundreds of death threats after posting about the robbery.

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In a unanimous ruling announced today, the California Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence given to murderer Scott Peterson in 2005.  Barnini Chakraborty of Fox News reports that the high court did not dispute Peterson’s guilt for the murders of his wife Laci and unborn son, but the court held that errors in the selection of jurors, including dismissing jurors who were opposed to the death penalty invalidated his death sentence.

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Hedge fund billionaire George Soros has pumped millions into local District Attorney campaigns in recent years to elect pro-criminal, anti-police progressives to head prosecution offices.  James Varney of the Washington Times reports on how that’s working out.  In St. Louis, Soros funded PACs contributed more than $190,000 to progressive Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner’s campaign back in 2016.  Today, violent crime is up just under 9% making St. Louis the most violent city in the country.   In Philadelphia, where defense attorney Larry Krasner got $1.7 million from Soros’ Pennsylvania Justice and Public Safety PAC to get elected DA, homicides are up 34% this year.

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Attorney General William Barr announced yesterday that the Justice Department will appeal the 1st Circuit’s ruling last month overturning the death sentence of Boston Bomber Dzhokbar Tsarnaev.  Tsarnaev and his older brother were responsible for the April 15, 2013 bombing, which killed 3 and injured 260.  Boston 25 News reports that the federal appeals court ruling held that the trial judge in the case had failed to adequately vet potential jurors about their knowledge of the crime in the highly publicized case.  “We will do whatever is necessary.  We will take it (the case) up to the Supreme Court and we will continue to pursue the death penalty,” said Barr.

Operation Legend, launched in early July to address the explosion of violent crime accompanying the George Floyd riots, has pulled more than 1,000 serious criminals off the streets and seized 400 firearms so far.  Danielle Wallace of Fox News reports that the $78 million campaign, which swarmed hundreds of federal agents into Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Memphis, and Indianapolis has resulted in arrests for crimes including murder, firearm possession, carjacking, drug dealing and bank robbery.  To date 61 defendants are facing federal charges.  Among those arrested with the help of federal agents is 22-year-old Ryson Ellis for the June 29 murder of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro , who was shot and killed while he slept in his mother’s Kansas City apartment.

Over the years we have reported on the impact of California’s adoption of sentencing reforms, which have forced the early release of thousands of criminals from prisons and jails.  Since Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown signed the 425-page Prison Realignment bill into law back in 2011, California has suffered from increases in violent and property crime, while crime was falling in most other large states.  Now the state of Virginia seems ready to follow California’s lead.   Hans Bader of Liberty Unyielding reports that the state’s Democrat-controlled Legislature  is considering bills to shorten sentences, and reinstitute parole.

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The marijuana legalization debate has been over for a while in many parts of the country.  Recreational pot is legal in California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Illinois, Colorado, Alaska, Michigan, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine.  Medical marijuana is legal in 19 states, and possession has been decriminalized in most others.  When states were considering legalization, advocates made several appealing promises.  One of the most effective of these was that once pot was legalized, the illegal drug trade would die off and law more enforcement resources could  be focused on serious crime.   That turned out to be a lie.  

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Last month California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he was authorizing the early release of another 8,000 prison inmates due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Quinn Wilson of the Bakersfield Californian reports that Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood is concerned about the type of offenders being released.  “You must be an overachiever at committing crimes to be in (a CDCR facility).  These are reoffenders and they’re going to go out and reoffend,” said the Sheriff.

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