Gaslighting Brought to You by the New York Times – Opinion

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An Asian woman She was shoved to her death in front of an oncoming subway car in New York’s Times Square Station.  A 70-year-old nurse randomly Attempted attack and killing at a bus stop near LA’s Union Station.  UCLA student with promising future To be knifed to the death while she was working at an upscale furniture store in LA’s tony Hancock Park area.  

The three murders were apparently random and gruesome, all committed within the span of just a few days.  Many other recent atrocities too – an off-duty Sheriff’s deputy massacredWhile house hunting in South Los Angeles was taking place, I met a Burger King employee of 19 years. Gunned Down in Harlem — after she had given the robber the money.  It went on.

I don’t know what the hell is happening here.  You are lucky to have the New York Times’ handy newsletter, which explains everything.  “Good morning,” it starts. “We explore why murders surged in the U.S.”  ((Good morning!)  Murder rates went up by 27 percent in 2020, and more again in 2021.  Which were the reasons?  The causes were: 1) pandemic; 2) police reforms and 3) increased gun ownership. 

It is their reasoning is so tortured, so devoid of any logic that it reads — as many writers have pointed out about mainstream media stories these days — like a Babylon Bee parody.  The pandemic?  Seriously, I’m so angry about having to wear a mask that I think I’ll just push a random stranger in front of a train?  “Changes in policing.” What an Orwellian description of what actually happened – a year-long, ritualized humiliation of our nation’s police — except the Capitol Police of course – and the very deliberate DefundingOf them.  But no, the Times says, that’s not it, it’s because “police may have pulled back on proactive anti-violence practices” for fear of becoming caught up in controversy, or because people have lost “confidence” in the police after George Floyd’s death.  Riiiiiiight.  It couldn’t be that NYC Disbanded its 600-force plain-clothes anti-crime unit, or that LA’s Mayor Garcetti 150 million rescued from his police department’s budget in 2020.  The myriad of other similar measures that were implemented in different cities throughout the country.  

“Americans bought many more guns in 2020 and 2021 than they did in previous years,” they continue.   You might be wondering why.  It could be that many Americans felt unsafe following the 2020 riots. They wanted to take precautions.

What’s so preposterous about this newsletter isn’t what’s included.  OK, sure, I give you that the pandemic, “changes in policing,” and more guns may have contributed to our soaring murder and crime rates.  

But it’s what isn’tThis is what makes it so bizarre.  No mention of California’s Proposition 47, which turned many felonies into misdemeanors (now you can go steal up to $950 from your local store and suffer almost no consequences); no mention of New York’s There are no bail lawsThis means that you could rob a bank and be captured, then get out of the way to rob another. The next day. no mention of crusading left-wing DA’s like LA’s George Gascon, Philadelphia’s Larry Krasner, or San Francisco’s Chesa Boudin, none of whom have ever met a convict they don’t want to set free.

It is a sad fact that almost every tragic and senseless killing that has occurred recently can be written by us.  “The suspect now in custody is XXKK, and he has a 17-page rap-sheet including battery, sexual assault, and armed robbery.” He is either out on parole or awaiting a hearing on another matter.  

So blame COVID, blame the police, blame guns, but ignore the real and obvious reasons behind the rapid decline in safety in America: the revolving doors at our courthouses where lax crime laws and extremist DA’s are releasing thousands of violent criminals onto our streets in unprecedented numbers.  

But you wouldn’t know that if you relied on the New York TimesWe are grateful for the news.  

Manhattan’s new District Attorney Alvin Bragg just announced a A slew crime he won’t bother to prosecute, and is making calls for armed robberies to be prosecuted as misdemeanors – so long as the perp didn’t “create a genuine risk of physical harm.”  (Tell that to the victim who just had a gun pointed at their head.)

A year from now, after Bragg’s policies have had time to fester, the New York Times will be trying to figure out why crime has suddenly skyrocketed even more in the Big Apple.  My guess is they’ll finger Global WarmingClimate Change

Bob Hoge, a father to four children, moved to Southern California in pursuit of the American Dream. He owns a small business and, along with his wife, isn’t leaving Los Angeles without a fight.