Their minds are closed; don’t confuse them with facts

The Madison Common Council did something good Tuesday 05-15-18 and they will get some credit for it: they expressed their appreciation for police during National Police Week. Unanimously. (Their resolution.)

The dangerous book

Mayor Paul Soglin recalled how Madison’s finest turned back an outbreak of homicides. Ald. Skidmore handed Madison police officer Emily Samson a plaque. Officer Emily noted that policing is dangerous work (nationwide, 143 lost their lives in 2016) but that her profession is rewarding and there is no place she would rather police than Madison. A standing ovation followed.

As part of the evening’s entertainment, Paula and Steve Fitzsimmons, Cindy Hodgeman, and Maria Milsted led four citizens who read excerpts from the book, the War on Cops. The group gifted soft-cover copies to each of the 20 alders and to Mayor Paul. Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute wrote the book and autographed the 21 copies. 

Ald. Phair won’t read it

Two alders — Matt Phair and Ledell Zellers — refused their copies! The pure liberal-progressive-socialist faith cannot be corrupted by well researched arguments. Do not confuse them with facts — their minds are made up!

Phair is especially troubling, given that he misrepresents the crime-plagued Meadowood neighborhood. Here is an excerpt on what he is missing: 

As 2016 wore on, the anti-cop movement and its high-placed political and media enablers remained impervious to all the facts that contradicted their “policing is racist” narrative. They were also indifferent to the mounting loss of black lives. Officers in minority neighborhoods were backing off of pro-active policing under the constant refrain that such policing was racist. As a consequence, violence accelerated. I have called this combination of de-policing and rising crime the Ferguson Effect [which] sparked the Black Lives Matter movement. …

While the deadly violence was growing in 2016, four studies came out from the academy … rebutting the Black Lives Matter narrative. There was no bias against blacks in police shootings. The studies found … that blacks were less likely to be shot than whites. Yet the Obama administration continued its pursuit of phantom police racism into its final week, when the Justice Department put Baltimore police under federal control … following the death of drug dealer Freddie Gray in 2015. More here. 

Apparently, such such facts are uncongenial for Ald. Matt Phair, who backed the $372,000 examination of the Madison Police Department’s for supposed “implicit bias.” That report, by the way, has been out for four months. Not aware of a single recommendation implemented by the Council. Or even proposed. Matt will tell you he knows all about history because he teaches it in junior high. Paula Fitzsimmons has more here.  

Tell Matt he needs to study a little history.

This, that, and the other thing

• It’s called the camel’s nose under the tent. That “Urban Forestry” charge on your property tax bill was supposed to sunset this December 2018 but the alders Tuesday lifted the sunset, making the $4.3 million annual tax permanent. Surprise! Surprise!

as God is my witness …

• WI State Journal reporter Chris Rickert is asking all you good liberal-progressive-socialists: “Any reluctance about applying for the Child Tax Credit, enrollment for which begins today? Democrats and liberals have derided it as a Walker campaign ploy. Please [direct message] me if you want to talk to for a story.” Oh, the perils of being pure of heart in the Emerald City!

• Lil’ Kim is just moving his bishop to see how Trump counters. 

• The Street in Gaza erupts when _____ (fill in the blank).

• Anyone who succeeds is “Establishment.” Right? So Donald Trump is now Establishment. On the other hand we have the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which has ruled Mexico for most of the last 100 years. The equivalent would be the Middle East “peace process” that has produced precious little peace.

• You want climate change? The Big Island of Hawaii is changing the climate as we speak. As Dr. Evil would say, “Mag-Ma!”