Category: News Scan

Another Lie: Legalizing Pot Stops Smuggling

by · Aug 12, 2020 12:17 pm

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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CA Law Enforcement Braces for Inmate Releases

by · Aug 5, 2020 2:29 pm

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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How To Deal with Criminals When the Police Stand Down

by · Aug 2, 2020 12:39 pm

Minneapolis has been at the center of the widespread insurrection and rioting the country has seen over the last couple of months.  Its City Council has voted to disband the police, while crime is surging (those who think those two things are unrelated can stop reading here).

With robberies and other violent crime on a tear while the police sit in criminal justice reform’s doghouse, law enforcement has sent out tips for how law-abiding citizens should react to criminals.  The advice is pithy:  Obey them.

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Court Overturns Boston Bomber’s Death Sentence

by · Jul 31, 2020 3:25 pm

In an unanimous 187 page ruling announced today, a panel of the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the death sentence given to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two radical Muslim jihadist brothers who set off pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring 260 others.  Nick Givas of Fox News reports that the court found that the trial judge had failed to properly vet the sentencing jurors with regard to possible bias stemming from publicity surrounding the bombing.

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The Facts on Operation LeGend

by · Jul 23, 2020 3:27 pm

On Wednesday July 22 President Trump announced that the Justice Department would be sending hundreds of additional federal agents into major cities, in an attempt to reduce the number the shootings and violence that has escalated in recent in weeks, and compensate for weak local governments.

“We will never defund the police. We will hire more great police. We want to make law enforcement stronger, not weaker. What cities are doing is insanity.” Continue reading . . .

Hobbling Cops and Shortening Sentences

by · Jul 22, 2020 3:54 pm

Over the past several years real law enforcement leaders, not appointed chiefs in liberal cities or George Soros-funded DAs, have been warning that giving in to demands by Black Lives Matter and progressive politicians for sentencing and policing reforms would result in more crime.  President Barack Obama used his pen to begin these reforms, releasing thousands of drug dealers from prison,  backing off federal prosecution of dealers for new crimes,  implementing “catch and release” on our southern border and initiating federal consent decrees to handcuff police in big cities like Chicago, supposedly to reduce racially-biased policing.  By 2019, many of the most populous states had adopted some form of sentencing reform, cutting sentencing for most crimes,  shortening or eliminating enhancements for repeat felons and reducing or eliminating bail.  In the face of intense pressure by local politicians, activist groups and a complicit media,  Police departments have backed away from progressive policing, particularly in minority urban areas.

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Circuit Courts Divided on Trump’s Sanctuary City Grants

by · Jul 20, 2020 3:43 pm

Last Monday, the Ninth Circuit scaled back a nationwide order that blocks the Trump administration from cutting off grants to sanctuary jurisdictions after finding that the mandate should only apply in California.

Nicholas Iovino of Courthouse News reports that the new verdict comes after a 2017 lawsuit brought by San Francisco. The city sued the Justice Department after the Trump Administration announced plans to make jurisdictions ineligible for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, unless they gave immigration agents unrestricted access to local jails, and provided 48 hours’ notice before releasing undocumented immigrants from jail. California joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff, and later passed it’s own separate set of “Sanctuary State” laws in October 2017.

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Violence and Crime in the US Surges

by · Jul 17, 2020 3:48 pm

Violent crime rates have been soaring across the US, as the global pandemic and nation-wide protests create the ‘perfect storm of distress.’

The summer season brings substantially higher crime rates in most parts of the country, causing many agencies to deploy more officers than usual to keep cities safe. This year, police departments are also struggling amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the challenges of safely battling civil unrest, and heightened political tensions.  Now, they also facing rising crime.   Fox News’ Stephanie Pagones compares crime data from across the country, reporting how cities have been affected by this year’s challenges.

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Berkeley to Eliminate Traffic Cops

by · Jul 16, 2020 10:45 am

After hours of emotional testimony, city leaders in Berkeley, (pronounced Berserkley), voted to replace police with unarmed civilians for traffic stops to curtail racial profiling.  Janie Har of the Associated Press reports that a separate civilian-run department would be created by the city to enforce parking and traffic laws as part of the effort to cut the Police Department budget in half.

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