Progressive leaders in cities and states across America are reversing radical policies on policing and drugs in the face of a voter backlash, soaring crime, and a surge in overdose deaths.
The Daily Mail online writes that in cities including San Francisco to New York, voters and leaders are rethinking liberal policies as they face issues including rising crime and drug use
Is there hope? The Daily Mail is more hopeful than the Sentinel. Progressives don’t get better; they only get worse. The solution is to get rid of progressivism and vote out progressives.
Some progressive officials are facing efforts to throw them out of office.
The Mail noted that San Francisco and Portland are reversing some of their far-left drug policies that have led to City officials declaring it an emergency.
New York is in an emergency situation.
In New York, the mayor is calling for some relief on the sanctuary city laws. However, the city council won’t allow any changes, no matter how much crime or death.
Governor Hochul is sending National Guard troops and state police to the New York City subway system. It’s not clear if this is totally due to crime or if there is a credible threat of terrorism, given the open borders and the amount of anonymous illegal aliens in the city and the state.
However, she has done nothing about the bail reform laws at the heart of the problem.
There is some shift away from defunding police and pro-criminal policies.
Portland’s crisis
Oregon lawmakers passed a bill on March 1 to recriminalize possession of drugs in response to a statewide fentanyl crisis, which has brought Portland, the state’s most populous city, to a crisis situation.
The bill re-criminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs reverses a key part of the state’s drug decriminalization law, which was the first of its kind in the U.S.
Progressive leaders who touted decriminalization promised it would end criminal convictions for the city’s most vulnerable citizens and also refocus efforts on recovery from addiction.
Instead, Oregon has seen a 190 percent increase in overdose deaths since the initial decriminalization bill went into effect in February 2021, according to the CDC. Areas of downtown Portland have been taken over by homeless drug addicts who openly use fentanyl in broad daylight.
DC is also a disaster.
Efforts are underway in Washington DC to recall two leading council members over a surge in crime. The progressive figureheads Charles Allen (pictured) and Brianne Nadeau would become the first ever to be recalled from office if the campaigns were successful.
The progressives would become the first ever to be recalled from office if the campaigns are successful.
Homicides increased by 35 percent in 2023 to 274, while robbery rates increased by 67 percent, contributing to an overall 39 percent increase in violent crime.
Last year was the city’s deadliest in more than two decades.
A former U.S. attorney appointed by George W. Bush, Brett Tolman, who is executive director of the conservative criminal justice reform group Right on Crime, has also blamed Washington’s chief prosecutor for not prosecuting most cases.
Tolman said recently that the solution is simple – and not defined by politics.
‘We do not need to change the law. We do not need a president coming in and using the National Guard to take over the city. All you need is a person on the job, whether Republican or Democrat, telling people they will enforce the law,’ he said.
The problem will get worse as more and more illegal alien criminals pour into our country. They will eventually vote, and they will vote for more pro-criminal policies. Progressives count criminals as an important voting bloc.
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I don’t think any actual change will take place. All these places plunged into the toilet at about the same time. Look for something very ugly before the next election, at least partly based on destroying the economy of democrat controlled cities.
Speaking of crime …
In his address to the nation Biden a couple days ago said that crime rates are the lowest in 50 years, screaming it victoriously as if he was the one who had accomplished that.
A few problems with that.
-1- Although I was not able to find graphs that cover 50 years, I found numbers for 1990 to 2020 ( last 3 years are impossible to find, how convenient for Biden)
and it turns out crime rates -averaged for the entire nation – have been going down since 1992…but it has NOTHING to do with Biden…in fact in the last 3 years or so crime rates have started going up again…( but good luck finding those numbers, they are conveniently hard to find, I tried Statista, it was was useless )
the graphs for 1990-2020 can be seen here
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/us-crime-rates-and-trends-analysis-fbi-crime-statistics
…
-2- Another problem is that the way crimes are counted have changed a little bit along those 50 years
…
-3- Although some types of crime are down, others are WAY UP
for example, the number of cops being murdered is up 60%
mass shootings are up…years 2022 and 2023 being the highest on record WHILE BIDEN IS PRESIDENT and he is bragging about low crime rates.
…
-4- Another problem is that during one smash and grab, to give an example of something that is far more prevalent these days, a dozen or two violent crimes may have been committed but it will be counted as one violent crime ( unless they catch each of the offenders and charge them separately, but they usually never catch 99% of the smash and grab criminals )
…
-5- Some cities saw a reduction while others saw a sharp increase…
DC saw an increase in murders of 36 % in 2023…
…
-6- Even though statistically – mathematically – the average for the entire nation is lower than it was 30 or 50 years ago, if you live in one of the cities where there is more violent crime, those nice little statistics will not protect you from being robbed, car jacked, raped or murdered.
…
Progressivism is a system devised by those who would avoid the responsibility required by liberty and freedom.