posted by Tina
California’s had a prison problem; the prisons are too full. The reasonable solution would be to increase prison capacity. But common sense is in short supply in the land of the nuts and the flakes. So what do we do? We let a bunch of them out. And what else do we do? Well a couple of years ago we passed Prop 47, a bill that turned many crimes into misdemeanors. For instance if a thief lifts an item (or two) that’s worth less that $950.00 he’s no criminal, oh no! He’s just a misunderstood child who’s been abused by society and needs another chance. We do not pursue him and we do not prosecute. According to a police report one thief caught with a gun worth over $600.00 was stunned when the cop issued him a misdemeanor ticket and let him continue on his way.
Thieves are taking that chance and they are getting away with it. Where’s the risk?
Theft of this nature is up in California since prop 47 passed. An FBI report claims it’s up by “12 percent” but also declared it “too early to determine what, if any, increase is due to the ballot measure.”
Those most affected disagree:
Prosecutors, police and retailers, including California Retailers Association President Bill Dombrowski and CVS Health spokesman Mike DeAngelis, say the problem is organized retail theft rings whose members are well aware of the reduced penalties.
“The law didn’t account for that,” said Capt. John Romero, commander of the LAPD’s commercial crimes division. “It did not give an exception for organized retail theft, so we’re seeing these offenders benefiting and the retailers are paying the price.”
Retailers and consumers do pay the price. The cost to retailers for theft nationwide is $42 billion. Shamefully a good portion of that theft in the United States comes from employees (42.9%). The estimated cost per household is $403 annually. Is this nation sick or what!
This soft o crime and criminals trend began in the fifties. when we fail to hold people accountable this is where we end up over time. anyone with a functioning conscience knows this. It’s time we started demanding more of each other, people.
Hat tip to Daniel Greenfield of Frontpage Magazine where you can read more on this subject in his excellent article, “California Decriminalizes Shoplifting, Shoplifting Doubles.”
Kudos to Chuck for passing this along.
It’s not just shoplifting, petty theft is rampant around Chico. Bicycle thefts have become a huge problem. Even if the they are arrested for a crime like burgling a car, which is also rampant in town, they are usually released without bail. The police say they don’t have jail space to hold them.
Prop 47 needs to be reversed, or at least revised. However the main issue is funding for new prisons and jails. The California budget is tight, where will we get the money?
We fund new prisons by refusing to fund leftist projects like Green Energy that has wasted trillions of dollars from the local communities all the way to the national level.
Instead of building more prisons they try to reduce the number of inmates by reducing reducing the penalty for the crimes people commit. Thus crimes that were considered harmful to societies are now ignored, which escalates the number of perpetrators who commit those crimes, because children grow up knowing they will not be punished for certain crimes against humanity. You do not reduce crime by confusing generation after generation of what is moral and good for society.
While not all immoral behavior is criminal, immoral behavior does reduce a persons ability to distinguish between what is good or bad for society. After all, the word “immorality” is just a word meaning “Crime against human nature”. The more we allow those teaching our children to twist the meaning of what is and is not moral, the more we allow crimes against humanity to be explained away as harmless to society.
Thus I come to Proposition 47. The left has successfully convinced a large portion of our society that we have too many people locked up in prisons and not enough prisons to handle them all. Instead of building more prisons, we decide to explain away the harm some crimes cause. So we then stop enforcing laws that the vast majority of citizens have learned to live by for thousands of years in every society since the beginning of time when humans learned the destruction such immoral behavior had on their society. All this to reduce the number of people incarcerated. Soon children grow up learning that something that was once considered so bad that you could lose tour freedom over is nothing.
I could go down the list of things children are involved with today that their parents and grandparents never would have even considered doing, but this is a comment not an article. The point being, the more we reduce the penalty of immoral behavior, the more children will grow up to commit crimes against humanity without understanding the full ramifications they cause all of society.
When was the last time any of you Lilly White liberals defending these stupid propositions walked into the hood to see how bad these measures have destroyed whole neighborhoods. Every time we allow the left to reduce the stigma of another immoral act, we put up another barrier for the poorest of society to crawl over in their attempt to better their life.
Chuck, you don’t have to be PC here–just say “I wish homosexuals were still arrested and put in prison (or possibly put to death) like they used to be.”
If you want to end theft, vandalism and violent crime overnight just give the people who have CC permits the right to shoot criminals they catch in the act of committing these crimes.
It would only take a few such incidents and word would get out very quickly. The crime rate would plummet over night and society would rid itself of the human waste which costs it hundreds of billions of dollars and untold suffering. –
OMG so a white Bigot can accuse, hold trial and convict?
Yea that will work NOT!
Why do you hate America?
Somebody who wants to shoot vandals dead on his lawn doesn’t hate America? He’s certainly no friend of “Due Process”, a very American concept.
Your proposal to legalize execution by vigilantes remains as scary as it is stupid, Bob.
This country is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Because of liberals like you it is the land of the scared and the home of the thief!
Being able to shoot shoplifters makes us more free? Who knew?
And no, Bob, it is *you* who are scared. Terrified, in fact, which is why you are looking for desparate, insane solutions to normal societal problems. Crime rates have actually been falling for decades, but you’re convinced that crime has gotten so bad we need to start executing people in the streets. To quote Captain America, “This isn’t freedom. This is fear.”
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/23/460851046/despite-grim-media-reports-crime-rates-are-actually-down-in-the-u-s
But yeah, let’s institute bob’s dystopian fantasy where people are allowed to shoot people for vandalism. But why stop there? Why not have a purge night, like in that movie? This is totally about fighting crime (which has been falling) and not about letting angry dudes live out their violent delusions.
Chris,
If it was commonly known, even among criminals, that criminals could be shot if caught in the act of committing a crime, what do you think the crime rate would be?
If the crime rate plummeted in this society how much safer do you think the law abiding citizen would be?
The crime rate might also be very low if we cut off peoples’ hands for stealing loaves of bread, bob. Do you suggest we start doing that?
“A low crime rate” is desirable, but it’s not the only desirable thing; due process, a working legal system, lack of collateral damage, and justice are all equally desirable, and your plan throws out *all* of those things in order to lower the crime rate. Your question is that of a simpleton with no critical thinking skills to speak of.
No because than the taxpayers would have to pay the medical and other bills of the handless criminals for the rest of their lives.
Although maybe society would be better off because a high majority are career criminals and they cost society even more.
How about executing convicted bicycle thieves? They would get a trial, you have a working justice system, no collateral damage, etc. How many bicycles would be stolen if it was commonly known, even among criminals, that they could be executed if they were convicted of stealing a bicycle? And do you think the people who steal bicycles limit themselves to committing just bicycle theft?
If anyone has to be a victim of crime than I hope it is you. Maybe you could learn a thing or two about the criminal injustice system and where victims stand.
Hilarious. The only reason you can think of for why we shouldn’t cut off the hands of thieves…is that you might have to pay for it. Wow.
“How about executing convicted bicycle thieves?”
How about not, you blistering psychopath?
“If anyone has to be a victim of a crime I hope it is you.”
You think you’re the only person to ever get their bike stolen? That happens to lots of people. Most don’t react to that by publicly advocating that we execute petty criminals, because most people don’t suffer from your crippling rage disorder. Get help. Your fear, paranoia and lack of respect for human life make you more dangerous to society than the average bike thief, and I would not surprised to see you commit a violent crime as a result of your obvious character defects.
The vast majority of people who have their property stolen never see it again. The vast majority of people who have their property vandalize never are made whole. Most crimes including violent crimes go unsolved.
This is the reason most crimes aren’t even reported.
The fact is most of the crimes are committed with impunity.
Virtually all victims of crime, including violent crime, are on their own after the criminals are gone. The number one job of the criminal justice system should be to make the victim whole but this virtually never happens.
You can talk all you want about justice and due process but the fact is the criminal justice system doesn’t work. All it does is produce more and more hardened criminals.
If the system was ruthless with criminals this would be a much safer and saner society. There would be hardly any victims of crime. But thanks to people like you we will never experience such a society.
The vast majority of people who have their property stolen never see it again. The vast majority of people who have their property vandalize never are made whole. Most crimes including violent crimes go unsolved.
This is the reason most crimes aren’t even reported.
The fact is most of the crimes are committed with impunity.
Virtually all victims of crime, including violent crime, are on their own after the criminals are gone. The number one job of the criminal justice system should be to make the victim whole but this virtually never happens.
You can talk all you want about justice and due process but the fact is the criminal justice system doesn’t work. All it does is produce more and more hardened criminals.
If the system was ruthless with criminals this would be a much safer and saner society. There would be hardly any victims of crime. But thanks to people like you we will never experience such a society.
Like the most liberals your assumptions make an ass out of you.
I have never had a bicycle stolen although I know scores of people who have.
As far as being victimized by crime I have been relatively lucky, but I have known many people who have had their lives destroyed by criminals. An f’ing liberal like you couldn’t care less about victims of crime, but you are paying too even though you are too stupid to realize it. Crime costs this society a fortune and you pay one way or another.
Your cluelessness and lack of compassion for crime victims is appalling and is just one more reason why if someone has to be a victim of crime it should be you.
Bob,
I have been the victim of a crime.
I do not believe the solution to that is to execute all criminals, because I am not a psychopath.
Your ideal society is a dystopia, and it’s never going to come to be. Not because of “f’ing liberals,” but because neither most conservatives nor most liberals would ever tolerate a society where thieves and vandals get the death penalty. That’s not about being a liberal or conservative. It’s about being an American.
You wanna live in a society which punishes criminals in the way you desire? I hear there are a few in the Middle East you’d be more comfortable in.
Bicycle thefts have become a huge problem.
Tell me about it. A friend of mine has had two bicycles stolen in three months and both were locked up with heavy duty chains and locks. I found out about this because when I met him down town he was riding an old beater bike. It looked so funny because he had that old thing locked up with a huge chain and lock. I laughed and asked who would go to all that effort to steal that? He told me what had happened to his prior two bikes and said he has given up owning a nice bike and rides one these thieves are much less likely to steal.
Now if it was public knowledge that the next bike thief caught in the act could be shot how many bicycles would be stolen?
There will never be enough money to enforce laws against theft and even violent crime but there will always be plenty of money to enforce this idiocy.
NYC to Fine Businesses That Don’t Use Correct Gender Pronouns Failing to refer to transgenders as “ze” or “hir” a violation of human rights
http://www.infowars.com/nyc-to-fine-businesses-that-dont-use-correct-gender-pronouns/
Off Topic —
Getting real. The next time some left-wing pinhead defends Islam, ask them to watch this —
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdWZQ6HY24s
Pie Guevara’s Occasional Friday Follies
I have just enough energy to post the Chris, Libby, and Dewey theme song.
White Punks On Dope
Jack,
How long do you think it will be before this nonsense hits Crazyfornia? I’d say PDQ.
You’d better get yer ze’s and hir’s straight in this here blog or you may be fined and/or shut down. And if you refuse to pay the fine they’d send you to the hoosegow.
Anyway, I bet the liberals who infest this blog are foaming at the mouth in their desire for this idiocy to be enforced right here, right now.
NYC to Fine Businesses That Don’t Use Correct Gender Pronouns
Failing to refer to transgenders as “ze” or “hir” a violation of human rights
http://www.infowars.com/nyc-to-fine-businesses-that-dont-use-correct-gender-pronouns/
This comment is racist and ignorant
“When was the last time any of you Lilly White liberals defending these stupid propositions walked into the hood to see how bad these measures have destroyed whole neighborhoods. Every time we allow the left to reduce the stigma of another immoral act, we put up another barrier for the poorest of society to crawl over in their attempt to better their life.”
My response is 1 month ago my friend. What I saw in this hood was a poverty stricken community. Children on Public Buses going to school while “WHite Addicts” took over the Bus to go to the methadone clinics. Nodding out after they got their fix.
Those poor children being exposed to that.
I saw people working 2 or 3 jobs. Public Transportation barely running through to get them to work. Dollar stores as the main store where the food is Chinese poison.
You realize some of the poorest communities in this country are white people in republican ran states?
Many Republican-leaning states get more in federal dollars than they pay in taxes?
For median income -95 of the 100 poorest counties are located in red states.
10 poorest, all of them in red states:
1. Owsley County, Ky.
2. Jefferson County, Miss.
3. Wolfe County, Ky.
4. Brooks County, Texas
5. McCreary County, Ky.
6. Hudspeth County, Texas
7. Hancock County, Tenn.
8. Jackson County, Ky.
9. Clay County, Ky.
10. Holmes County, Miss.
Those counties have been majority white poor for generations. They have no industry to speak of and their young people either escape or remain in a survival instinct as they have for all these generations.
This isn’t the same kind of poverty that exists (for both POC and whites) in big cities that have been driven to ruin by extended democrat power locally and failed redistribution policies handed down from the federal government.
The remark about the destruction to neighborhoods was not race based. It was directed toward white liberals who have promoted polices that have destroyed families and whole communities. Blacks have been disproportionately harmed, as was intended. If you want to see people thrive you don’t give them hand outs that encourage dependency and destroy urge and creativity. And if you do offer a hand up you write the law to provide the dignity of repaying the kindness in some way: Being a mentor to another, doing volunteer work for a period of time, giving back a percentage of earnings once established in a career.
Why should anyone take you seriously?
Tell me you are against allowing transvestites in girl’s bathrooms and change rooms.
Read this and tell me you disagree with the author.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/05/david-cole/obamas-creepy-bathroom-crusade/
The author of that piece claims the issue isn’t about transgenders who have undergone a sex change operation, but he’s factually wrong on that–the bills being proposed by many conservatives state that a person must use the bathroom of their birth gender, meaning that post-op transmen with penises would be forced to use the ladies’ room.
Since the author misstates the facts so clearly, there is nothing to “disagree” with, nor is there a need to read further. He simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Answer a simple question. Are you for transvestites using women’s bathrooms and change rooms?
You did not ask me that question, bob, you asked Dewey. But I will answer regardless:
I am not in favor of male transvestites using women’s bathrooms and changing rooms. (I assume this is what you meant to ask; obviously, female transvestites should be allowed to use these, no?)
I am in favor of transgender people being able to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with.
Transvestites and transgenders are not the same.
But you probably didn’t know that.
Now my question: Do you admit the author of that piece you linked to was factually wrong? States are proposing forcing people to use the bathroom of their birth gender, meaning transmen who have recieved sex change operations will be forced into the women’s restroom. Is that what you want?
They now profit from prison.
https://theintercept.com/2016/05/18/ca-marijuana-measure/
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2014/03/civil-asset-forfeiture-7-things-you-should-know
Who are “they” and are you afraid the money is being spent on law enforcement or cars, boats and swimming pools? If the latter where’s the proof of that?