If they get control of the streets!
With the election of Karen Bass in Los Angeles, black mayors run our four largest cities. Big deal. Eventually, everyone but the New York Times will quit playing identity politics. (Actual headline: “For Ghana’s only openly transgender musician, ‘Every day is dangerous’”)
What IS relevant, Jason Riley in the Wall Street Journal concludes, is that all are Democrats. Liberal black mayors have done an excellent job screwing up our big cities for the last 50 years. Take Lori Lightfoot in Chicago. (As Henny Youngman used to say, “Please!”)
Black elected officials were liberal Democrats who enacted policies — higher taxes, more government spending, a larger welfare state — similar to their white counterparts.
In Coleman Young’s Detroit, the focus was on securing federal grants to provide government jobs for black supporters. Meanwhile, crime rates exploded, the tax base fled the city, and Detroit’s population fell from about 1.5 million to less than one million on Young’s watch. … Marion Barry’s Washington in the 1980s likewise featured government preferences for minorities, bloated city payrolls, high crime, and a declining population.
— Jason Riley
New York’s mayor may break the mold
On Tuesday 11-29-22, NYC Mayor Eric Adams issued an order expanding law enforcement officers’ authority to take mentally ill New Yorkers into custody and bring them to a psychiatric hospital for an evaluation — with or without their consent!
The Dispatch reports that Adams’ order will extend that power to anyone who “appears to have a mental illness and cannot support their basic human needs” to an extent that causes them harm.
Let’s do the same for youth in trouble
Can’t we also use the same thinking to take the young gang bangers and car thieves off the streets and out of our public schools? The Werkes is looking for a mayoral candidate who will advocate something truly transformative, sans the kind of content-free, Woke buzz words that substitute for real reform. (Looking at you, Gloria Reyes. Quit “reimagining” public safety and start providing it!)
The Werkes renews its proposal to re-purpose the vacant Oscar Mayer plant on Madison’s east side to a secure, residential youth rehabilitation center.
Just half of the 72-acre site could serve as a middle- and high school for troubled boys. Tear up some of the asphalt for growing produce and flowers. Support a small livestock operation. Teach welding, automotive repair, electronics, food preparation, the building trades. (MATC is nearby.) Participants would cook their own food, bus their own tables, scrub halls, do the laundry. They would also have organized sports — even compete with some of the smaller schools in the area. Wear blazers for special occasions.
A Republican legislature should have no trouble enacting the enabling legislation:
- Overhaul state law regarding adjudication of minors — something like 5 contacts with law enforcement triggers involuntary commitment.
- Amend criminal law to automatically charge parent(s) or guardians every time their child is arrested.
- Offer voluntary commitment as an option to such parents and others.
- Dane County’s would be one of several around the state operated by county consortiums under state authority to replace Lincoln Hills.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: We quote once again southside police Captain Mike Hanson: “We have a problem that we’re arresting a 14-year-old for his fifth time stealing a car. We have a problem where these youth are committing shootings where innocent people are struck or even killed. Until that message resonates at higher levels than I — in the state legislature and the state government — we’re going to still be here at Groundhog’s Day.”
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
Excellent blog post. I only have one point, I think there would be a constitutional issue with the following proposal.
Amend criminal law to automatically charge parent(s) or guardians every time their child is arrested.
Automatically charge the parent(s) with what?
We’ve actually had a similar conversation about this idea before and I asked, “Charge them with what exactly?” and further added that “You can’t charge a parent for being an ignorant parent and being stupid is not illegal. You can only charge people for things they do that are actually illegal.” The rest of the conversation went like this…
If they automatically charge the parent(s) without any evidence to justify the charge, the Police and Prosecutors could face some real legal and social problems. This could be viewed as tyranny and I’m absolutely positive that’s not where you’re coming from.
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“A Republican legislature”. Where are they Dave? They have a near super majority and all they want to do is chase bamboo ballots and Israeli lasers. We have a huge budget surplus; use it. If you don’t like democratic mayors; then find a republican to run who is not an election denying flaming nut job. Isn’t it time to stop bitching about Xmas trees and get down to real work?
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richard lesiak wrote, ” ‘A Republican legislature’. Where are they Dave? They have a near super majority and all they want to do is chase bamboo ballots and Israeli lasers.”
What the heck are you squawking about now?
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Are you trolling me stevie? We have a republican legislature. Sit down with Evers and hammer out a plan. Spend some of our surplus. If both sides work together, they can run over the nut-jobs and get some stuff done.
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Richard,
What’s the “chase bamboo ballots and Israeli lasers” squawking about?
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Don’t engage idiots, Steve; they’ll drag you down to their level where a lifetime of experience in dimwittery kicks in.
The Gotch
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Great idea. Try to run as a Republican in Cook county, good luck. The dems would vote for Lucifer, before they’d support a republican. Dane and Milwaukee counties are no different. Sheeple, they are.
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I’m talking about Wisconsin. The GOP has a majority. Go to Evers and hammer out a plan.
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Speaking of Cook County: Systemic Racism in Chicago?
1. 2,240 Shootings, 440 Homicides from January thru July 2020.
Almost every shooter and homicide were black democrats – 97.7%, but BLM and Chicago‘s Lefty Politicians blame “police and systemic racism.”
2. The Chicago mayor? A black democrat.
3. The Superintendent of Police? A black democrat.
4. The Cook County States’ Attorney? A black democrat
5. The Chief Judge of Cook County Circuit Courts? A black democrat
6 The Illinois Attorney General? A black democrat.
7. The Chicago Fire Department Commissioner? A black democrat
8. The Cook County Board President? A black democrat.
9. The State Senate Majority Leader? A black democrat.
10. The Illinois Lieutenant Governor? A black democrat.
11. The Illinois Secretary of State? A black democrat.
12. The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County? A black democrat.
13. The Cook County Clerk? A black democrat.
14. The Chicago Treasurer? A black democrat.
15. The Chicago Police Board President? A black democrat.
16. The Chicago Transit Authority President? A black democrat.
17. The CEO of Chicago Public Schools? A black democrat.
18. The Commissioner of the Department of Water Management? A black democrat.
19. 40% of the City Council belong to the Black democrat Caucus.
Their average pay is $122,304 annually each, PLUS $122,000 per year in
expenses. Their pension for life is 80% of last pay.
Republican head count in the City Council is ZERO.
William Hale Thompson was the last Republican Mayor of Chicago in
1931.
For 89 years Democrats have controlled the Chicago Mayor’s Office.
At the end of fiscal 2019 the Chicago deficit was $838,200,000!
Sensing a trend, here?
The Gotch sure is.
And it simply must be Structurally Institutionalized Systemic Intersectional Fragility engendered by Paternalistic Colonialist White Supremacy!
The Gotch
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And here I thought we were discussing our home state of Wisconsin. But don’t let me interrupt your massive deflection. Carry on.
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Richard the Lesiak troll and unapologetic liar wrote, “And here I thought we were discussing our home state of Wisconsin. But don’t let me interrupt your massive deflection. Carry on.”
Hmmmm, Richard the master of deflection troll on this blog is actually chiding someone else for a deflection? You’ve got to be kidding me! What a f’ing hypocrite! By the way troll, that deflection wasn’t started by the Gotch who you replied to, the Gotch simply replied to a comment that already existed, you’re wrong for chiding the Gotch.
So since we’re talking about irrelevant deflections now, I’ll return to this…
Richard the Lesiak wrote earlier, “They have a near super majority and all they want to do is chase bamboo ballots and Israeli lasers.”
Richard has been asked multiple times by me what this “chase bamboo ballots and Israeli lasers” is all about but the rhetorical coward hasn’t offered any explanation. Now I’m going to ask this hypocritical trolling coward an addition question about the same quote, how does “chase bamboo ballots and Israeli lasers” apply to the Wisconsin Republican majority legislature?
Come on troll, out with it.
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Eye opening Gotch! Permission to borrow?
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“Permission to borrow?”
Have at it, SF…with the caveat that despicable Lefty will slobber RAYcism most foul, fact-based Reality be damned.
The Gotch
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The Blogge Idiot TROLT chides someone else for being off-topic?
Priceless!
Norm brings up the similarity between Milwaukee, Dane, and Cook Counties, and The Gotch merely added some rather telling distinctions.
He’d tell you to try harder if he thought it was within your UNskilled set.
The Gotch
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It’s called conspiracy theory nonsense. The same stuff that Vos spent a ton of money and time on with Gableman. The same Wis gop who sent a list of fake electors to Washington. The same BS that got Vos called to DC to explain himself. Nobody in the gop controlled state gov’t had the balls to say ENOUGH. And you will be part of the gop who will turn their back and create fantasies about how tRUMP and Fuentes was nothing but photoshopped pic posted by the Chinese and believe every word. So, point your fake outrage at something worthwhile; unless, your out to replace gotch as the resident angry old man.
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Great ideas, Dave. Unfortunately, the liberals that run Madison and Dane County are allergic to great ideas that actually accomplish positive things for the good of the greater community. What they are all for, when it comes to crime, is from little to absolutely nothing when it comes to dealing with the criminals – you have covered these stories ad nauseam on this blog in the almost 3 years since I found your blog.
As for the Republican legislature passing those laws – I have no doubt that Gov. Evers would veto any bills and his Dem allies in the legislature voting against overriding any vetos. Even if these bills are for the greater good and safety of the residents of Dane County, Milwaukee County, and the rest of the State of Wisconsin. After all, the Dems mantra these days is that criminals, adult and juvenile, have more rights than their victims and the population in general.
Scotty
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You make a lot of assumptions.
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And, pray tell, what “lot of assumptions” have I made? What I said above is based on recent history. If you are going to disrespect my comment, you need to explain your off the cuff flippant comment. There are a huge number of criminals in Milwaukee and the large cities in the United States and some in Madison that are processed, have the recommended charges by the police either reduced or dropped by so called “social justice” prosecutors and judges. A revolving door, per se, where these guys are back on the street before the arresting officers can complete their arrest paperwork. Exhibit A, Darrell Brooks. He should have been in the Milwaukee County jail a year ago for attempted murder of the mother of his child (attempted murder by use of his vehicle when he ran her over) several weeks before he actually murdered 6 people and maimed scores at the Waukesha Christmas parade. Instead, the charges were reduced and he was let out on a ridiculously low bail recommended by the assistant D.A. As for an Evers’ veto on legislation passed, you haven’t been paying attention to Wisconsin state government where Evers and the GOP legislature leaders are barely talking if at all to try on working together between the two branches. Hell, Evers even took credit in his recent re-election for signing “bi-partisan” legislation when the governor could either sign it or veto when the Dems in the legislature had no say in the bills’ crafting.
Scotty
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27 Of 30 Most Crime Ridden Cities Are RUN_BY_LEFTY
In related news:
*Water’s wet,
*Heavy objects (like TANK Abrams) submit to gravity, and
*Jeffy Epstein didn’t kill himself.
The Gotch
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richard,
All you have to do is look at Wisconsin CCAP to look at the most recent players in the revolving door criminal justice system we have in Wisconsin. Take for example the latest Wheel of Misfortune winner, Lamar Jefferson, who is accused of shooting a man on the 100 block of State Street right here in good old Madison Wisconsin. Despite the previous charges against him, which included a charge that got him released from jail 2 days before he shot the man who is now in the hospital, he has remained on OUR streets!
https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=2022FO002141&countyNo=13&index=0&mode=details
The Police arrest the scum and they get released right away to go back out on to OUR streets to commit more crimes.
No consequences mean no consequences!
Unless and until We the People attach consequences to the actions of those who break the law, we will be burdened by their continuing actions.
BTW- You got to ask yourself, just who is paying for the man in the hospital? It ain’t Lamar, it ain’t some imaginary government that has money that falls from the sky, it is you and me!
You and I and every taxpayer who is reading what is written here is paying the price for dear old Lamar’s actions right here on the 100 block of State Street.
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Once again, I refer to Blaska’s post. ” state legislature and the state government.” Get to work and strengthen our laws. Put something meaningful on the books. Judges and prosecutors get away with this because they can. Why did the gop end up running Timmie and losing? Because there isn’t one republican in the capital that has done anything meaningful enough that could get the people behind them. If the laws on the books are being ignored, then put penalties in place and enforce those penalties. There is no reason in the world why someone with 8-9-10 OWI’s is able to still be on the road. None. Every Democrat I know wants safe streets, criminals punished, good schools. The gop has the majority; use it. Evers wants less crime. He will not veto any meaningful legislation. Vos barely won this time. Why? Because he ain’t done s##t.
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“There is no reason in the world why someone with 8-9-10 OWI’s is able to still be on the road. None. Every Democrat I know wants safe streets”
That’s a BINGO!
Drunk/impaired drivers have taken far more lives of innocent bystanders than the gangbangers ever will. Would we see better laws if the offenders weren’t primarily white people?
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Here in WI you can get around the OWI issue by getting a UTV. Legal to drive on local roads in most of the state, don’t need a license, insurance, or sobriety. But you can still go way too fast and kill yourself or others. I think WI is the only state in the midwest and Canada that doesn’t tie OWI to other motor vehicle use, boat, ATV/UTV, snowmobile. Alcohol and speed are the main causes of death/injury on all of those. Close the loop hole.
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but, those same democrats want to have “no cash bail, restorative (no jail) justice,” early release, …………
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Richard, I’m not surprised to know you and most of your friends don’t want out of control crime to continue. Who would?
I scratch my head, though, wondering why you continue to vote for the party that chooses to do nothing about it.
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And what has your party done? The gop owns state govt. and the courts. The main reason every attempt at a crime bill fails is because of guns. Any talk of regulation and everything goes up in flames.
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You have a habit of answering questions with questions. Answer mine first.
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Hold gun manufactures liable. Remove guns from persons that are extreme risk. Reinstate the assault weapons ban. Background checks. Gun shows loophole. Brady Law. Child safety locks. Did they all pass? No and you know why. Your turn.
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Assault weapons in general and AR-15s in particular are boogeymen that the ammophobes use to beat responsible firearm owners over the head with ineffectual feel-good legislation that helps no one. The latest iteration of the assault weapons ban was ridiculous enough to classify a number of semiautomatic handguns, including the Glock 19 (one of the most common home defense pistols) as an assault weapon. When gun manufacturers testified before Congress after Uvalde, one of the more ridiculous Democrats on the panel (I don’t recall her name) demanded they install biometric locks on all firearms, likening it to the one on her phone. Nevermind that every one I’ve ever used fails to unlock the phone 20% of the time—terrific odds in a life or death situation. We might actually get agreeable gun legislation if every Democrat proposal on it wasn’t diluted with sheer idiocy like this. And if they’d actually get serious about addressing crime in the cities they’ve been in charge of for years that are descending into apocalyptic horrors.
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Mordecai, you said it better than I ever could.
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I’ll reimagine public safety, Gloria. Here’s my non-exhaustive vision:
– Not needing to install a security system on my house to protect it from roving bandits that get their jollies playing burglar because they think jobs are for suckers
– Expecting to be able to walk downtown in Madison and other cities without being harassed or assaulted by drug-ridden savages
– Being able to leave my car parked unlocked in my driveway without it being stolen by barely-teenage thieves in broad daylight
– Not having to fear for my life in Chicago or another large city if I take the train one stop too far
– Not having to do research every time I visit an unfamiliar city so I know what neighborhoods not to drive through
– Living with the comfort that if a local police officer shoots a black person that my neighborhood will not be besieged by bloodthirsty mobs intent on setting it ablaze
And while I say “my” and “I”, I want these things for everyone.
And by the way, someone pin a medal on Mayor Adams. The abolishment of involuntary commitment of mentally unstable people and all the havoc it has wreaked is the legacy of progressive zealots and their ACLU attack dogs (back in the 70s, if I recall).
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Great list. Now tell us how theses lofty goals are going to be achieved.
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I don’t see why these goals are lofty, except for the lack of political will of leftists to achieve them—each and every one of them has been a reality in my lifetime, and some only disappeared recently.
It is the responsibility of our elected officials to produce the environment of public safety that we as voters and taxpayers expect. My clients tell me the product and results they want and pay me to figure out how to achieve it—the same applies here. But since you asked for my ideas, here are a few:
1. Support and elect people that have the same vision for public safety as what I just outlined and who have already displayed a willingness to do what is necessary to deliver it.
2. Take Blaska’s lead on youth rehabilitation centers and adequately fund them for as long as they produce good results. Staff them with men who have come from similar backgrounds and experiences and come out on the better side of it—in other words, men that are willing to be father figures. Teach these youth marketable skills that prepare them for joining the workforce, partner these programs with real employers, and let them earn money while doing it.
3. Target at-risk youth deemed suitable for rehabilitation, lower the threshold for sending them there (steal a car once and off you go), and send them to prison if they reoffend or fail to shape up.
4. Strongly consider perpetual disrupters and troublemakers in the public school system as candidates for rehabilitation. If they’re causing problems for those who actually want to learn, remove them from the classroom.
5. Create similar rehabilitation facilities for the homeless, mentally ill, drug addicted, or all three, and make commitment compulsory after one police contact.
6. Restore the nuclear family as the model environment for raising children into well-adjusted adults and incentivize it through tax breaks and other support. Actively encourage this environment with education campaigns beginning in middle school that prepare kids for becoming adults, parents, and everything that comes with it.
7. Actively discourage having children outside the nuclear family model through the same means, and if education campaigns fail, start stripping social programs that subsidize bad decisions.
8. Expand the castle doctrine to shopkeepers’ place of business. Make it lawful for them to subdue active looters and arsonists that mob their businesses by any means necessary, up to and including deadly force.
9. Treat civil unrest of the likes seen in summer of 2020 as domestic terrorism. Apply the punishments that go with it to any agitator or active participant.
10. Consider any encouragement of said domestic terrorism by an elected official (ex. Max Prestiagiacomo) as grounds for immediate removal from their position.
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Excellent Points_Of_Light, MTR!
The Gotch
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By ridding the known Universe of slovenly, shiftless, lazy, sorry @$$, gutless, worthless, freeloading, drooling, feral, sloppy fat, endomorphic, gimmee gimmee, sponging, generationally dependent, phuque-witted, indigent, useless, illiterate, ethically squishy, uneducated, demonstrably despicable, snowFLAKEy D卐M☭CRAT Lefties!
The Gotch
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