Having lived in Birmingham, AL, Columbia, TN, Memphis, Washington, D.C. New York City, Atlanta and the Florida Panhandle, I can tell you what makes a city good as well as how you lose a city to thugs and the crime they produce.
It starts with the mayor and an honest city council backing a well-intentioned police force and DA. If the DA is not Soros-funded and political, that is important. Think the Duke lacrosse team prosecutor or the recent other Democrat DA (Funk) in the Nashville area who went after a Vanderbilt nurse for murder in what was a simple civil case of bad judgement.
Uneven prosecution by politically motivated DAs, like the Atlanta embarrassment Paul Howard practiced, hurts a community.
The first sign that police have lost control of your town is when loud mufflers and vulgar music blaring from cars goes unaddressed. What follows is inevitable “street racing” and crime.
It is up to citizens and voters to report and hold to account officials for enforcing laws where there is a true victim. But make sure what you report is correct. The first of this year I did my civic duty; I called the police to report a suspicious package, but the cop rightly pointed out to me that I was just watching the Women’s NCAA Swimming Championships.
Race and the tragedy born from a lie (hands up don’t shoot) which spawned the corrupt BLM movement has done more to damage inner cities than any government welfare program ever did. The resulting Democrat mantra, defund the police, harmed many more families than the occasional rogue policeman ever did.
When the liberal LA prosecutor did not prosecute Will Smith for hitting Chris Rock, you know how political a DA can be. This is the same town that had the OJ jury. In the case of Will Smith hitting Chris Rock in front of billions, the LA DA looked at the tapes and called it reasonable doubt. Ditto for the LBQT person who attacked Dave Chapelle.
Next year at the Oscars, if you are a comedic presenter, in your gift bag there should be mace and an ice pack.
Expect no help from the hyper-blue Federal system. The Southern District of New York’s prosecutors are the most politically driven of all. If anyone in the Trump family j-walks, they investigate and indict. While The Clinton Foundation and Clinton family seedy operations go uninvestigated.
It seems Joe Biden’s family might have followed the Clinton model for graft. Joe is Catholic, but his son broke with the family religion and decided to become a Crystal Methodist.
Crime in Buckhead and Chicago is on the rise, as much as gas prices. Drive-by shootings have not gone up, but not as much as peddle by shootings, given gas is at $4.85 a gallon.
Never believe crime stats a politician gives you. It is self-serving! With Covid, we have learned not to believe the CDC either. Government and the CDC tell you it is safe sex wearing a condom during sex. And that it is “safe sex,” but I had a friend die wearing a condom when he was shot by the husband of the woman he was with.
Ron Hart is a syndicated op-ed humorist, award-winning author, and TV/radio commentator; you can reach him at Ron@RonaldHart.com or Twitter @RonaldHart.