Mamdani Bans Times Square Public Celebration of America's 250th Anniversary

meaww.com: Fact Check: Did Zohran Mamdani ban celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary in Times Square?

The answer is yes, yes he did.

The fact that the reason given is that there is insufficient police resources to protect the celebration is most convenient indeed -- considering it is his deliberate budgetary decisions reducing police resources. 

A special Times Square ball drop for America’s 250th birthday will still happen, but most people won’t be able to attend in person. Organizers confirmed that the event will take place at midnight on July 3, even after Mayor Zohran Mamdani introduced an emergency rule that limits many public events during the FIFA World Cup period in New York City. 

Rather pathetic, that.  

Mamdani has over $165 million to spend on funding for legal defense for illegal immigrants, but can't be bothered  and claims the city cannot afford to protect a celebration of America for Americans.

One of America's leading cities, indeed one that considers itself to BE the leading city, will not be holding a public celebration of this nation's 250th Anniversary.

Quite pathetic, but quite in character for Mayor Mamdani. 

Nothing Says That's Detroit For Ya

Like having felons  . . .  on their Police Commission. 

The Detroit News:  Convicted felons on Detroit police board work on legal issues as video emerges

Yep not just one felon on the Detroit Police Commission but multiple. 

Note one of the felons, who has since resigned when it came to light he had outstanding charges for being a felon in possession of a firearm and had threatened a police officer had been placed on the commission. 

Interesting how the Democrats keep saying they are against gun-related crimes and gun ownership in general, but keep placing criminals who have used guns in crime or committed other felonies in positions of authority. 

Funny, that.

Well Progressives, I Guess That's One Way To Get Crime Stats Down

Not by doing anything to actually stop crime mind you.  

Instead the progressive solution is to have police ignore crimes.

The Detroit Free Press: Could Detroit end minor traffic stops? Michigan cities offer road map

Detroit police oversight board members hoping to limit minor traffic stops after a series of police shootings that started with issues including alleged license plate and tinted window violations can look to the experiences of at least three Michigan jurisdictions that have restricted such stops in recent years.

“Driving equality”-style ordinances and policies in Washtenaw County, Ann Arbor and East Lansing have aimed to prevent racial profiling and reduce citizen contacts with police. . .

Yep, if you ignore low-level crimes, and don't pursue them, you let the more major criminals continue their actions uninterrupted, then you will get less interactions where criminals are caught by police.  

You will also get more serious crimes committed by these criminals as a result as they weren't stopped and then caught for lesser offenses on their way to commit more serious crimes.

People aren't being shot by police for license plate and tinted window violations nor for failing to have their cars registered and up to date.

They are getting shot when, after being pulled over, they're found to have more serious warrants, or are driving drunk, or otherwise committing illegal acts and THEN THEY FORCEFULLY RESIST ARREST.

If you want less people getting shot while committing crimes, great or small, maybe teach them to stop resisting arrest. 

But, that would imply personal responsibility (and lack thereof) is the cause of the issue, and not the systemic racism nonsense the progressives are spouting. 

That's One Turkey Who Won't Make It To Thanksgiving

The Jerusalem Post: Florida police kill Turkish man threatening Tallahassee synagogue, Ron DeSantis 

A Florida resident shot and killed a Turkish national on Thursday after deputies said they saw him reaching for a gun while they were serving him a warrant related to threats he had made against both a Tallahassee synagogue and public officials, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office said.

Ali Bayhan, 38, was suspected of making threats against multiple elected officials, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and of calling in a bomb threat to Temple Israel in Tallahassee, the office told local media station WCJB.

Threatening terrorist attacks on a synagogue and the governor of a state, and then pulling a firearm on sheriff's deputies when they come to arrest you is going to end in the appropriate result. 

Stupid Criminals: Do You Want To Get Shot? Because That Is How You Get Shot

The Detroit Free Press: Roseville man shot by police after rear-ending patrol SUV, pulling knife on officers

Yep, that is exactly how you do that. 

If you ram a police car right outside the police station, and then get out and advance on the officers with a knife in your hand, and refuse to drop the weapon, you are pretty much guaranteed going to get shot.

Attacker is now in hospital with charges pending. No other info on the attacker released at this point. 

Kudos To Grand Blanc Police Officers

Unlike other police agencies (cough Broward, cough Uvalde), when it came down to it, the Grand Blanc Police did their jobs, and did them very well.

The Detroit Free Press: Newly released body camera video shows Grand Blanc Twp. officers racing toward shooter

 The Detroit News: Two officers take on alleged Grand Blanc Mormon church shooter, bodycam video shows

The officers arrived quickly, took decisive action and advanced on the killer and put effective shots on him and stopped his rampage. Their rapid and effective intervention prevented this massacre from becoming even worse.

Well done indeed.

Stupid Criminals: What We Have Here

Is a massive failure of the victim selection process.

Our stupid criminal decided to rob not just one, but two armed off-duty police officers. 

 ABC7: Man shot while allegedly trying to rob 2 off-duty NYPD officers at Penn Station

Law enforcement officials say a couple, a husband and wife, were boarding an LIRR train between tracks 18 and 19 around 7 p.m., when the suspect tried to rob the husband, an off-duty NYPD officer.

The suspect wound up in a scuffle with the husband, and that's when police say the wife, also an off-duty NYPD officer, pulled out her gun and shot the suspect in the arm and stomach.

Yep, it happily be that way sometimes.

With this being Alvin Bragg's New York, it is no surprise that the robber had not just a laundry list of prior crimes, but had committed an assault last month but was already out on the street when he made his bad victim selection:

Sources told Eyewitness News that the 32-year-old suspect, who lives in a shelter in Brooklyn, has five prior unsealed arrests, mostly for assault and menacing, including one alleged assault that happened just last month. 

Funny how that happens. At least this assault had an ending that may just keep him off the streets and unable to commit crimes for at least another month. 

More Media Tight Focus On Details

NBC had this lovely headline: Family of Mexican father fatally shot by ICE near Chicago 'wants justice to be done' 

Get down far enough in the article, and you see that justice, in fact, was done. But it takes quite some time, as NBC buried the facts either deliberately or in an act of journalistic malpractice.  

And NBC posted this bit on Facebook on the same article: 

  

 

Per the family and MBC, how this illegal died is such a complete mystery that needs answers: 

Nearly a week after a Mexican immigrant was fatally shot by an immigration officer during a traffic stop in the Chicago area, his family in Mexico and community members continue to seek answers as they call for more transparency in the probe looking into the sequence of events surrounding his death.

Only when you get 10 paragraphs, and about two full screen scrolls down the article, do you find out what occurred and why he got fatally shot: 

According to ICE, two officers pulled Villegas González over, but he resisted arrest and attempted to flee the scene.

Yep, it's the whole resisting arrest decision by a criminal leading to things going pear-shaped.

 But wait, there's more, a lot more:

Surveillance footage from a nearby nail salon broadcast by a local CBS News TV station shows an SUV blocking Villegas González's car. Two ICE agents are seen by Villegas González’s car, one on the passenger side and the other on the driver's side. Villegas González starts backing up. As he drives his car forward, the ICE officer standing by the passenger side attempts to go after Villegas González; the other officer is not visible in the video anymore.

One ICE officer "was hit by the car and dragged a significant distance," according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, which added the officer "sustained multiple injuries and is in stable condition."

Oh, it was that kind of resisting arrest, where you drag an officer with your car and then get shot.  

"Fearing for his own life, the officer fired his weapon," striking Villegas González, DHS stated.

Surveillance footage from a nearby auto shop captured the sounds of at least two gun shots.

A video from a witness shows the two ICE officers removing an injured Villegas González from his car after he crashed into a cargo truck. A video from the cargo truck driver obtained by Telemundo Chicago shows both ICE officers providing first aid to Villegas González.

According to ICE, both Villegas González and the injured officer were taken to a hospital. Villegas González died of multiple gunshot wounds at the hospital. The ICE agent, who has not yet been named, was released from the hospital after receiving care for back injuries, lacerations to the hand and knee tears.

Yep, it is just a complete mystery, at least to NBC, leftists, and his family as to why he was shot.

 

To the rest of the world, not so much, really.

Apparently, "Police Should Ignore ARMED Criminals" Is A Real Leftist Take

Yep, apparently in order to stop Black criminals from being shot, which makes progressives sad, there's a serious advocacy effort that police should not stop people who appear to be illegally armed in Detroit.

The Detroit Free Press: Stopped for a curfew violation, shot by police: When nonviolent stops spiral in Detroit

Yes, they're serious about this:

Futterman, the Chicago professor, questioned whether officers should chase for suspected guns, particularly when they do not see one. He helped that city craft one of the nation’s most restrictive foot chase policies after back-to-back March 2021 fatal police shootings involving foot pursuits over minor issues. 

How's crime been doing in Chicago since those policies ignoring crime and restricting chasing criminals have been implemented?  Oh, not so good.

Let's examine some of these chases described on the article: 

Detroit police were drawn to Walter Peete by his hand in his pocket.

The 29-year-old was leaving the corner store in February 2018 after picking up a deck of cards to entertain two young cousins who’d grown bored playing Uno. For the short walk, Peete had taken an unloaded gun he was not legally allowed to have. He’d later say it was because the neighborhood was dangerous — someone had once pulled a gun on him there and his sister had been robbed. 

Describing Peete’s hidden hand as gripped in a way that suggested he had an illegal gun, special operations officers driving by approached him. When Peete ran, they gave chase. 

The pursuit ended with an officer shooting Peete 13 times, leaving him laying bloody in his driveway with three generations of family in the house.

Well, the article fails to mention why poor little Peete (who ain't little per the pictures) can't legally have a firearm. Maybe, just maybe, it was because he was on parole for a felony conviction for drugs. I thought we wanted to keep guns out of the hands of criminals?

The article goes on:

Why chase Rayshawn Walden? 

Well, if you have to ask that question as a reporter when the following facts are in the very same article immediately following the question posed, I daresay you're a special kind of stupid:

It was a split-second decision made by a DPD officer who saw him standing at a gas station in the summer of 2020. Officer Bailey Rumschlag said his pursuit was touched off by a bulge on Walden’s hip indicating he had a weapon. As they ran, Rumschlag said Walden began turning on him with the gun in hand, prompting the officer to shoot. 

Yep, when after fleeing from police, you then turn towards a police officer with a gun in your hand, getting shot is highly likely.

Let's sum up the article -  Police are looking for criminals illegally carrying guns. If you're illegally carrying a gun,  making sudden moves with the illegal gun while being stopped by a police officer leads to you likely being shot.  The pro-criminal element in Detroit and elsewhere is upset by this.

Again, if you want to truly save Black Lives, teach Black criminals not to resist arrest, including that vital bit of information that apparently everyone  else but them already knows:

 If you pull a gun or you point a gun at a police officer while resisting arrest you are probably going to get shot. 

So much for the Left being all about getting "guns off the street". 

A Gun Banning Democrat Undercuts One Of The Gun Banner's Main Arguments

Rep Jasmine Crockett (D), the rather outspoken and mouthy progressive, just opened her mouth again and demolished a cherished argument of the Democrats and gun banners.

You know,  it is the platitude they always make for gun bans: "You don't need a gun, the police will protect you!" 

The New York Post: Dem Rep. Jasmine Crockett sparks backlash with ‘stupid’ claim about law enforcement: ‘Truly one of the dumbest statements ever made’

A clip from Crockett’s appearance on the “Grounded” podcast — which premiered last Wednesday — went viral as critics seized on her remarks.

“I want to be clear that, like, law enforcement isn’t to prevent crime. Law enforcement solves crime, OK? That is what they are supposed to do. They are supposed to solve crimes, not necessarily prevent them from happening per se,” she said.

There goes the entire progressive gun banner "police will protect you" argument right out the gun banner's window.

She's somewhat right, you know. 

While Rep. Crockett is indeed simplistically glossing over the effect of the presence of police as a deterrent to crime, and the lucky events when police are able to arrive to interdict a crime in progress, and the fact that police are indeed preventing future crimes by apprehending criminals for prior outstanding crimes, she's not completely wrong in this case.

She is in fact right in that statement as the police have no legal obligation to protect general members of the public from criminals nor indeed to stop crime before it occurs.

But, the Democrats and progressives really didn't want to make that public knowledge and instead used the claim that "the police will protect you" as an argument for the general populace's disarmament.

And she just opened her mouth and put an end to that argument. 

Well, That Got Walked Back Quicky

Looks like Dearborn Heights isn't rolling out the Arabic police patches after all.

The Detroit News: Dearborn Heights walks back post about police patch with Arabic writing

The push-back that resulted from the announcement that they would be the first police department with Arabic patches has them not just reconsidering but claiming it the whole thing was just an "internal discussion". 

Sure it was. 

This Is Fine - DEI And Police Ediiton

The Dearborn Heights Police Department has decided to update their patches.

The update makes them the first police department in the United States with Arabic on their patches.

 Fox2 Detroit: Dearborn Heights first in U.S. with Arabic on police patch

So is it DEI or DIE? 

Useful Advice For Stupid Criminals: Don't Point A Firearm At A Cop

It tends to lead to a bad outcome, especially if you are driving on a suspended license, are pulled over and then flee the traffic stop, and have outstanding warrants, and on top of that pull out a gun while running away anf then turn back towards the cops gun in hand.

The Detroit News: No charges for Shelby Twp. cop who fatally shot Troy man as bodycam video released

“Had (Jackson) thrown his gun on the grass and kept running, everything changes,” Tignanelli added. “As soon as (Jackson) made a slight turn toward the officer, that’s when it happened. You can’t wait for the muzzle flash.” 

Bodycam footage certainly helped show what happened.  Thomas Antonio Jackson decided to not just resist arrest, but pull a firearm on a police officer while doing so and start turning towards him.  A very bad decision, that.

This sort of thing happens when you teach people there are no consequences from resisting arrest cause your life matters and such:

[Macomb County prosecutor] Lucido said he's seen an "exponential rise" in people fleeing from police. "Every day, I'm dealing with this," he said. 

If Black Lives really Mattered, those protesting and claiming they support BLM could certainly save a lot of Black Lives by spending less time protesting police and more time teaching people:

1. Not to run from police; 

2. Not to resist arrest; and 

3. Most especially, not to point a firearm at police.

Surprise! Criminals And Their Families Lie.

I mean, who knew that criminals and their families might be less than forthcoming with the truth about an incident?

In this particular scenario, the criminal in question, Rakim Wright, did it wrong.

Fleeing from police after a domestic violence call and  shooting at them while doing so, then shooting himself before he could be arrested, resulting in Rakim assuming room temperature and leaving one less violent domestic abuser in the world.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to whip up a "hands up don't shoot" false narrative, and a shot at winning the ghetto lottery, witnesses and family claimed that "Wright was unarmed and shot by the officers".

 The police video of the incident shows otherwise: 

Fox 2 Detroit:  Video shows Warren domestic violence suspect fatally shooting self after firing at police during chase

 Yes criminals lie, their family lies, and witnesses lie. 

We will note this was not Wright's first time of doing things wrong, but it was his last:

Wright also had previous arrests for assault with a dangerous weapon, malicious destruction of property, and felony weapons charges.  

What Did He Think Would Happen Exactly?

In general, once you put hands on someone, and especially if that someone is a cop, things are likley not going to go how you want them.

The Detroit Free Press: DPD officer suspended for striking man in his 70s, investigation ongoing

Yes, the headline has the officer in trouble for hitting a 70-year-old, which, after all, sounds bad.

The 70-year-old was however acting the fool, not listening to officer commands to quit making a disturbance in public, and most importantly, hit the officer on his head first before the officer got physical with him.

The drunken 70-year-old thought he could take a cop, and he thought wrong. 

No description of the idiot beyond his age is given, for some reason.

So sure, the officer could potentially have chosen a lower force option than laying the drunk idiot out with one hit.  Then again, one could argue his action was a rather proportional response of a strike for a strike, and hard to call it unreasonable as it stopped the attack right there.  Had he tackled him or did other restraints it likely would have been the same use of force complaint and may have caused more damage.  Hard to see what further de-escalation the officer should have been done once idiot had his hands start flying like that - again all at the idiot's instigation. Indeed from the sequence of events reported, it seems the cop did act in a restrained manner with repeated requests for the idiot to stop his disturbance and leave the area, right up until the idiot decided to lay hands and hit him on the head.

Indeed, had Mr. idiot kept his hands to himself, the responsive strike would not have happened.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that if you go out and start stuff and strike a cop -- or indeed any member of the public -- and you're not acting in self-defense, you get what you get in return and shouldn't get to complain when you get hit back.

Detroit Police Oversight Commissioner Caught Trying To Get Hands-On With Criminal Conduct

One would think he would know better, but instead apparently thinks he is instead above the law.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit police commissioner cited for encounter with prostitute

A member and former chair of Detroit's police oversight board was caught with a sex worker Wednesday morning, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says.

Deputies say they caught Bryan Ferguson of the Detroit Police Board of Commissioners engaged in a sex act with a prostitute in his vehicle at 7:15 a.m., according to Edward Foxworth, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

 . . .

Bates said Ferguson asked officers at the scene if they could "help him out."

Hilariously, he claims he was just stopped in his truck and was just minding his own businesses when a woman of ill repute jumped into the truck all on her own and started jumping his bones.

He also pulled the "do you know who I am?" bit by telling the deputies that caught him inflagrante delicto that he was a police oversight committee member. That didn't help him.

Meanwhile the entire Commission is under investigation itself for lots of irregularities, including financial ones. What a surprise that Detroit lefty politicos who oversee the police are apparently committing corrupt and criminal acts. Funny, that.

Ann Arbor Decides Broken Windows Are No Problem

Remember the Broken Windows Theory of crime prevention? In short, the idea is that allowing low-level crimes and signs of disorder encourages more and more serious crime.  So enforcing the law and enforcing low-level infractions and smacking criminals doing low-level offenses helps deter more major crimes from occurring.

The theory worked.

The City of Ann Arbor doesn't like this theory.  Per their beliefs, stopping criminals committing low-level crimes is apparently racist.

The Detroit Free Press: Ann Arbor adopts ban on select traffic stops to help build trust with minority population

Ann Arbor City Council unanimously approved an ordinance banning certain traffic stops, in an effort to build trust with the city's minority population.

Under the new law, police officers can no longer pull over drivers for equipment violations like tinted windows, a chipped windshield or loud exhaust.

So now, these low-level violations of the law will be ignored in Ann Arbor, allegedly because minorities are more likely to have cars with tinted windows, a chipped windshield or loud exhaust.

Citing an extensive body of research, the ordinance points to the disparate outcomes of traffic stops that Black, Indigenous and people of color experience — making interactions with police, even for minor infractions, laced with trauma.

The risks and trauma associated with traffic stops for Black people and people of color outweigh any potential safety benefits, according to the Urban Institute, and they instead create a tension between community members and those sworn to protect. Traffic stops neither increase trust in police or people's perceived sense of safety among their neighbors.

We will note that traffic stops, for quite valid reasons, such as these equipment violations, are excellent starting points to catch criminals traveling back and forth as they commit crimes  -- and thus they actually lower the victimization of Black, Indigenous and people of color by criminals.

We'll also note if you have trauma from being in a traffic stop, you're either getting it as a result of resisting arrest, which is on you, no matter what color you are, or you simply lack the emotional resilience to be driving a 4,000 plus pound vehicle on the road.

But the City of Ann Arbor has now decreed that they will ignore minor crimes in the name of social justice and progressiveness.  Expect Ann Arbor to see a rise in broken windows as a result, and a rise in crime - which I am sure they will be completely surprised about as a result.

Stupid Criminals - The Art Of Bad Impersonation

In Michigan, impersonating a police officer is, amazingly,  only a misdemeanor on your first two  - yes two! - offenses.  It really should be a felony from the get-go, as fake cops cause no end of mischief, and reduce the public's trust in real police interactions. Again, don't try and be a wanna-be.

So our intrepid stupid criminal  - Christian Katan Mansoor, 18 - as young and dumb as they come, decided to play cop and tried to pull over another driver complete with flashing red and blue lights on his car.

Turns out, the other driver was a real police officer.

Much hi-jinks then ensued.

The officer asked for Mansoor's ID, and Mansoor went back in his car and quickly took off.  He then got chased by the real officer, then the Oakland County Sheriff deputies joined in, and after a brief foot chase he was arrested.

Nicely done by the real officers and deputies.

If You Hire Unqualified Officers In The Name Of Diversity, Don't Be Suprised With The Result That Is Diverse From The Acceptable

In the killing of Tyre Nicols by 5 Black Officers of the Memphis Police Department, it's beginning to look like a progressive wish for diversity over all the things led to unqualified (but diverse!) officers being on the street.

Daily Headlines Live: Police Charged with Murder of Tyre Nichols: Cops are Hired after Job Requirements Are Lowered

“According to a source within the Memphis PD, the 5 charged officers weren’t hired through the usual structured PD hiring process,” Parmar claimed. “City leaders felt the existing process was too strict and kept certain people from getting jobs at the department. City leaders began their own hiring process and then pushed new hires into the agency, bypassing the testing procedures in place at the department. You can read between the lines what that all means.”

“All 5 of the charged officers were hired by the City, and didn’t go through the rigorous PD testing process,”Continued the statement “This is what quota hiring looks like. Lawsuits and dead innocents. The city should pay (sic) the lawsuits instead of the Police department. This Murder wasn’t created by old school policing or by ‘white supremacy’. This murder was directly facilitated by liberal policy.”

In short a quest for diversity, led to less than qualified applicants being hired including the city providing waivers for felons to join the force.

It will be interesting to see if these officer's personnel files ever come to light and to see if they actually did have the standard testing, including psychological testing, performed prior to their hire.

That statement as to lowered standards now has been confirmed as to at least two of the officers, and we may find out that the source was correct as to all 5 bypassing the normal hiring requirements: 

MSN: Memphis cops charged in Tyre Nichols murder hired after PD relaxed job requirements

WFIN: Tyre Nichols death: 2 Memphis officers involved in stop joined department after it lowered hiring standards

When you have low standards in the name of making sure "certain people" get hired, or your desire to just get bodies in uniform, you get low quality applicants working the streets and the potential for tragedy.  

Add the difficulty in getting qualified applicants after the Defund The Police Movement did its thing, couple it with an acceptance for lower standards and even felons wearing a badge, and it's sadly unsurprising that unqualified officers will act in unqualified and unacceptable ways.

This was a pretty clear case where the use of force to stop and secure someone resisting arrest went way, way, way beyond the acceptable level of force permissible to effect an arrest.

The result of progressive fantasies is perhaps the ultimate irony:

A local news report from 2021 praised efforts by the department to recruit more "people of color," due to their purported likelihood to "use force far less frequently than white male officers."

That praise sure didn't age well, as once again for the record, all five officers who beat Tyre Nichols were "people of color".

Stupid Criminals: That Is The Expected Result

The Detroit Free Press: Suspect killed after shots fired at MSP troopers, police helicopter in Detroit

So our winner of the Darwin Award: Detroit Edition, began his stupidity last night by first shining a green laser at  a Michigan State Police Helicopter. This is felony-stupid all by itself as green lasers are blinding and can cause a loss of control of the helicopter.

Idiot then compounded his stupidity by firing on the helicopter.

Idiot, then for a final act of stupidity, fired on responding officers on the ground who appropriately and properly ended the threat with finality.

No words of BLM  protests, nor of lawyers and family members coming out of the woodwork to claim the idiot was "a good boy" and that the police should have sent a social worked.  

At least not yet.