Police identify suspect in TTC subway stabbing, was out on bail at time - "Toronto Police have identified the suspect in a subway stabbing that sent a man to hospital with life-threatening injuries and terrified riders who tried to dodge the brazen violence on a busy train Thursday afternoon. He’s been identified as 25-year-old Moses Lewin. Lewin is wanted for attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon. He was also apparently out on bail at the time, and is now also facing two counts of failure to comply with a release order."
Alleged TTC stabber dodged Toronto area court appearances - "These are among several bench warrants, missed appearances, and charges of failure to comply with release orders described in documents obtained by CTV News that have sparked questions about whether various Toronto-area authorities could have done more to hold Moses Lewin in custody before the attack. “It all suggests the justices of the peace telling him to behave is not worth the paper it’s printed on,” criminal lawyer Ari Goldkind said in an interview"
minimalist1969 on Twitter - "You'd think an anti-theft Walgreens store might have made the WaPo, NYTimes, CNN, etc. But a quick Google search shows only right wing sources reported on it. MSNBC being the one exception but they fail to mention the new store and focus on Walgreens' "overreach".
Sadly, I keep seeing example after example of this kind of siloing of the news into "left" and "right". But when any of us walk into a store with 90% of the products behinf galss we can;t just dismiss this as propagada. Facts don't care about party affiliation."
To liberals, if it's in right wing media, it must be false
Lululemon faces boycotts for firing employees who intervened in theft - "Lululemon said the employees were not fired for reporting the robbery to police but were “terminated for knowingly violating our zero-tolerance policy related to physically engaging with perpetrators which put their lives and the safety of our guests and other employees at risk.”... The employees have been identified in local media reports as Jennifer Ferguson and Rachel Rogers. Ferguson was formerly the store’s assistant manager, while Rogers, who recorded the incident, had worked for the retailer for five years. Both employees were reportedly terminated without severance pay. “That was my sole income,” Rogers told 11 Alive, while Ferguson noted that company policy is to stay out of the way of thieves and “clear a path for whatever they’re going to do.” “We’re not supposed to call the police, not really supposed to talk about it,” she added... “@Lululemon has a policy of NOT pursuing shoplifters in their stores,” reads one tweet from self-described political strategist Joey Mannarino that has been viewed nearly 70,000 times. “So, they just announced that their clothes are now free? Well, don’t ever pay for Lululemon again. They’re having a 100% off sale all day, every day. NICE!”"
They have a zero tolerance policy not for shoplifting but for doing anything about shoplifting. Ironic. No wonder they're so pricey
Lululemon Founder Chip Wilson Shares Stance on Child Labor - "Wilson writes that he isn't necessarily opposed to child labor, as "working young is excellent training for life.""
Workers Making Lululemon Leggings Say They're Beaten and Underpaid
Zaid Jilani on Twitter - "A few days after a Ring camera catches several teens in camera confessing to shooting and killing a Lyft driver in Washington, D.C., WIRED says they don't recommend Ring cameras because they let you easily send video to police."
Why was he free? Out on release, sexual offender strikes again | Toronto Sun - "On May 30, 2021, Cody Rodgers, 23 at the time, was out on interim release and awaiting sentencing on a previous conviction for sexual assault when he weaseled his way into a Sherbourne St. apartment building, loitered in a stairwell, masturbated and propositioned women before making his way back to the lobby. His 56-year-old victim didn’t stand a chance. When Rodgers made a rude sexual gesture in her direction, the widowed mother of three, her identity covered by a publication ban, hit him with her fan and quickly entered the elevator to get away. He threw a bottle of booze at her, hitting her in the head, and followed her inside.She hit the stranger several times with her hand and when she got off at her floor, hurried to her door to escape him. But he was faster and forced his way inside. The attack was brutal. Rodgers choked, kicked and hit the woman multiple times until she lost consciousness. He raped her and then fled her apartment. When she came to, the woman called 911 and was rushed to hospital with a broken sinus bone, cuts to her face and bruises to her arms and wrists... Rodgers had pleaded guilty to an earlier sexual assault on Jan. 28, 2020 and was out on bail awaiting sentencing when he attacked the second woman. He didn’t even have the presumption of innocence anymore, yet still he was free. On Nov. 1, 2021, he was sentenced for that first sexual assault to 114 days in jail, and 36 months’ probation. Last July, he also pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault and being unlawfully in a dwelling-house with intent to commit an indictable offence in relation to the 2021 attack."
50 Cent is right—no-bail is endangering American cities - "The rapper has called Los Angeles “finished” as the city reinstates its controversial zero-bail policy, releasing criminals back out on the street with no consequences... Progressives argue the move protects those who can’t afford to post bail. But that utopian vision runs up against reality—and ends up transforming prison doors into revolving doors. And when there is no meaningful consequence for committing a crime, there’s no incentive to stop re-offending... Scrapping bail is a progressive social experiment destined to fail — and to endanger Angelenos in the process. In fact, it already has failed. A recent study out of Yolo County, California, found that violent crime tripled in the Sacramento area after suspects were released on low or no bail. And this nightmare is unfolding in progressive cities across the country."
How Canada could stop releasing violent offenders all the time - "Repealing the bail provisions of Bill C-75 would be a start
Create a “reverse onus” on bail for gun criminals
Start tracking “repeat violent offenders”
More electronic monitoring couldn’t hurt
Put sentencing in the hands of higher court judges
In a January letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Toronto Police noted that of their annual shooting homicides, roughly half are committed by someone on bail...
Order prosecutors to go for broke on detention orders"
Concerns that Canada's bail reforms could disproportionately affect vulnerable groups - "Coyle argued if the government wants to improve public safety, it should be investing more money into social supports that ensure people's basic needs are met."
Repeat criminals are more important than everyone else
Crime is not inevitably caused by poverty, but more social spending is the left's agenda, so
Getting bail in Canada officially becomes harder for repeat offenders - "This means repeat offenders will have to convince a judge why they should be released instead of a prosecutor explaining why they should stay behind bars. A judge will also have to state on the record that they’ve considered the safety and security of the community when granting bail."
Edmonton violent crime severity up 12% so far in 2023 - "The severity of violent crime in Edmonton is up 12 per cent in the first six months of this year. On Monday, Edmonton Police Service Chief Dale McFee told reporters something needs to change, and soon. "We get what we tolerate. If there’s no accountability, then we shouldn't expect anything but chaos," McFee told reporters. Police say the increase in crime severity is primarily due to assaults, robberies and extortion... McFee says police want to work with prosecutors to better assess who needs to remain in jail... McFee says he wants to work with the city to do something about the encampments downtown, where he says violence often starts... Brian Pfefferle, a criminal lawyer based in Saskatoon, previously told paNOW that Saskatchewan jails were overcrowded mainly because many people were denied bail. “I had a case in Prince Albert a number of years ago where an individual was charged with homicide, he was denied bail, and he was ultimately acquitted by the jury,” Pfefferle said. “He had the shackles removed and he walked out of there after spending two years in custody. That’s liberty that was lost and never regained.” In his opinion, the bail system doesn’t need to be changed. He did agree that crime is up which is putting pressure on the jails, but efforts should focus more on prevention than keeping everyone locked up."
NYC pays the criminals and arrests the cops — it's a world gone mad - "With his indictment and prosecution of a cop who was trying to escort an unruly “customer” from a tony Manhattan tech emporium, District Attorney Alvin Bragg has sent the strongest signal yet that public disorder in New York City is a protected activity and official efforts to contain it will be treated with harsh sanction. In October 2021, NYPD officers responded to a call from the manager of the Upper West Side Apple Store that someone was disturbing customers and causing a ruckus. Cops reportedly spent 40 minutes trying to convince the lout to leave the store peaceably. Officer Salvatore Provenzano was leading the foul-mouthed miscreant from the establishment when he evidently broke away aggressively. Provenzano allegedly punched the troublemaker, who was not injured. For the “crime” of quelling a public disturbance, attempting to keep the peace, and defending himself, the officer has been arrested, charged with assault, and suspended without pay from his job. It’s tempting to call this case “shocking,” but really it’s in line with DA Bragg’s approach to Manhattan law enforcement. Bragg, a Soros-prosecutor in the classical mode, typifies the progressive approach to crime — blame underlying social conditions for criminality, and throw the book at representatives of law and order. Even before taking office, Bragg vowed not to pursue charges against a host of crimes, including trespassing, resisting arrest, and farebeating. He promised to deal with serial shoplifting — now an infamous scourge across the city — by “establish[ing] a taskforce to work with mom-and-pop business owners, cure violence providers, community leaders, advocates and law enforcement to develop community-solutions and support services to this serious issue.” That’s worked out great — just ask the clerk at the convenience store while he’s unlocking the shampoo shelf for you. Bragg — who admits that he gets “a knot in [his] stomach” when his family rides the subway — nevertheless offers sweetheart deals to gangbangers and killers. But as he said in his “Day One” Memo, “incarceration, in and of itself, can create public safety risks.” This is the essence of the progressive philosophy of criminal justice — laws cause crime, and punishment begets harm. Of course, Bragg has thrown the book at former President Donald Trump, indicting him on felony charges of having allegedly falsified business records — in his own, privately-held business. This charge is so minor as to rarely be pursued at all, and only as a felony if it was undertaken in support of some larger crime. In this case, regarding a payment to a porn star who was evidently extorting the President, Bragg is charging Trump with a campaign finance violation—a charge that the federal government declined to prosecute. Bragg also sought charges against Jose Alba, the bodega clerk who defended himself against a violent thug, and only dropped the case when public outcry penetrated the thick walls of 1 Hogan Place. And he is pursuing manslaughter charges against Daniel Penny, who restrained Jordan Neely with a chokehold on the subway... The indictment of Officer Provenzano came the same day that the city settled a $13 million class action suit on behalf of 1,300 rioters (“protestors”) who were arrested during the looting, arson, and violent unrest that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd. The message is being blasted to cops, criminals, and ordinary citizens alike: Crime and disorder merit cash payouts and praise from the city’s elected elite and their collaborators in the media and non-profit sphere. And public safety officers and foolhardy New Yorkers who imagine they have the right to self-defense face scorn, loss of income, and prison time for trying to do their jobs or protect their neighbors."
Can Prosecutors Refuse to Enforce the Law? - WSJ - "Some states forbid blanket nonenforcement by local prosecutors. In Massachusetts and North Carolina, constitutional provisions forbid anyone but the legislature from “suspending” the “execution” of the laws. California places specific duties on statewide officials to override local disregard for state law. The California Constitution obligates the state attorney general to “see that the laws of the State are uniformly and adequately enforced” and to prosecute local offenses if “in the opinion of the Attorney General any law of the State is not being adequately enforced in any county.” At the other end of the spectrum are states that grant locally elected prosecutors broad autonomy from statewide officials... Between these extremes, states have made a variety of choices about when, if at all, state-level officials can override local prosecutors’ choices. Ohio’s attorney general can prosecute any case at the governor’s request, while Pennsylvania’s usually can displace a local district attorney only by going to court and proving an “abuse of discretion.” In New York, the governor may direct the state attorney general to prosecute local cases. These varied state laws don’t track today’s partisan geography: Blanket nonenforcement is lawful in Illinois and Texas and unlawful in Massachusetts and North Carolina. To date, however, these varied laws have had little practical effect. The vogue for nonenforcement has swept cities across the country, while opponents have largely responded with abstract critiques."
St. Louis prosecutor who replaced progressive says he's 'enforcing the laws' in first 6 months - "Prosecution of violent crime in St. Louis is rising sharply in the six months since an embattled progressive prosecutor was replaced by an appointed circuit attorney, according to the prosecutor's office. Gabe Gore said Tuesday that his office has prosecuted 45% more cases than in the same six-month period of 2022, when Kim Gardner was the city's top prosecutor. Gore, speaking at a news conference, said his office also has made a dent in a backlog of pending criminal cases by resolving about 2,500 of them — mostly violent crimes in a city with one of the highest homicide rates in the nation. “There’s no type of crime that we are looking the other way on,” Gore said. “We are enforcing the laws. We don’t accept the notion that as a citizen of the city of St. Louis you have to accept a certain amount of property crime, or what people would refer to as petty crime, as a cost of living in the city." Gore, a Democrat, was appointed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson in May following Gardner's resignation. Her turbulent tenure included prosecution of a sitting Republican governor, frequent run-ins with police, and criticism from Missouri Republican leaders over a backlog of cases and a high number of cases where those convicted of violent crimes were not penalized with more jail time. The new top prosecutor said he has hired 24 attorneys to fill assistant prosecutor positions that were vacant. He's also secured working relationships with private lawyers and the U.S. Attorney's Office in St. Louis to help prosecute homicide cases... Gardner, a Democrat, became the city’s first Black circuit attorney after her election in 2016. She was part of a movement of progressive prosecutors around the country who sought diversion programs including mental health treatment or drug abuse treatment for low-level crimes, pledged to hold police more accountable, and proactively sought to free inmates who were wrongfully convicted. Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit in February seeking Gardner's ouster on three grounds: failure to prosecute existing cases; failure to file charges in cases brought by police; and failure to confer with and inform victims and their families about the status of cases. Gardner said Bailey’s attack on her was politically and racially motivated. Public opinion turned against Gardner in February after 17-year-old Janae Edmondson, a volleyball player from Tennessee, was struck by a speeding car after a tournament in downtown St. Louis. She survived but lost both legs. The driver, 21-year-old Daniel Riley, was out on bond on a robbery charge despite nearly 100 bond violations including letting the battery of his GPS monitor die and breaking the terms of his house arrest. Critics questioned why Riley was free despite so many bond violations. Gardner first drew the ire of Republicans in 2018 when she charged then-Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican, with felony invasion of privacy, but the charge was eventually dropped and Greitens resigned later that year... Gardner announced an “exclusion list” of police officers prohibited from bringing cases to her office. The nearly 60 officers were accused of posting racist and anti-Muslim comments on social media."
Weird. We're told that there was nothing wrong with liberal prosecutors not prosecuting crime, because they were prioritising what cases to prosecute. I guess liberals are just inefficient. Also, weird how politically-motivated prosecution was so important
It’s Not Just Rising Crime: Rogue Prosecutors Are a Huge Problem - "The most prominent rogue prosecutors are George Gascon in Los Angeles, Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, Kim Foxx in Chicago, Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, Marilyn Mosby in Baltimore, Kimberly Gardner in St. Louis, and Rachael Rollins in Boston. They all argue that most misdemeanors should not be prosecuted and push for the elimination of cash bail. This has led to a revolving-door criminal justice system where offenders—even violent offenders—are released back to the streets where police officers are discouraged from making arrests. And what’s the point of arresting someone, if the prosecutors in your city aren’t going to charge the criminals or even seek to detain them without bail? Presto: arrests go down, and rogue prosecutors have “data” to show that their approach “works.” Yet the results of these prosecutors’ rogue, radical policies have been disastrous... Maybe he’s been too busy making his eight-part, fawning PBS documentary to focus on keeping the City of Brotherly Love safe. Unfortunately, it’s common for these rogue prosecutors to be more concerned with making national headlines than with doing their jobs. In St. Louis, Kimberly Gardner has been, according to local news reports, criticized for being “gone from her office a couple of times every month, [and] jetting around on someone else’s dime.” Her travel has been described as “prolific and problematic,” making it “difficult to get decisions made.” Needless to say, crime in St. Louis is out of control. And Gardner is not doing nearly enough to combat it. In fact, a St. Louis judge last year dismissed murder charges against a defendant and ordered him released because the prosecutor from Gardner’s office went on maternity leave, and neither Gardner nor anyone else from her office bothered to make sure someone else was handling the case. The judge said Gardner’s office had “abandoned its duty” after failing to show up for three court hearings and failing to respond to a court order to produce evidence to the defendant. In San Francisco, a local judge took the extremely unusual step of expressing his concerns about Chesa Boudin’s management of his office... As the old saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. These rogue prosecutors frequently wind up on the same boondoggles in far-off lands together, often subsidized by the misnamed “Fair & Just Prosecution” organization, which promotes policies that are neither fair nor just—at least not to victims of crimes. The Tides Foundation, which is supported by George Soros and other wealthy individuals, and the Open Philanthropy Project, which was founded by Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife, Cari Tuna, provide funding for this group and others to act as the central clearinghouse for many of the ideas parroted by the rogue prosecutors on the ground. Essentially, a group of left-leaning billionaires discovered that they could get the most bang for their buck by funding rogue district attorneys who would simply refuse to enforce certain policies or laws they disagreed with rather than undertaking the much more difficult and expensive task of electing sympathetic state legislators to actually change states’ laws... in 2019 when Soros backed certain candidates to win their races in the Washington, DC suburbs of Arlington and Fairfax counties in Virginia, his donations accounted for almost 78 percent of one candidate’s primary war chest and 72 percent of the other candidate’s primary war chest, which were magnitudes larger than their opponents’. But what are the goals of these left-leaning billionaires and rogue prosecutors? The rogue prosecution movement has been honest in academic writings about their goals. One cheerleader for their movement wrote in a law review article that the goal is to “reverse engineer the criminal justice system.” They believe the entire criminal justice system is racist. It’s absurd, but they believe it. They are avowedly pro-criminal and decidedly anti-victim. In fact, they believe that criminal defendants—people who commit murder, rape, child abuse, abuse women, and the like—are the real victims. As a result, once elected, rogue prosecutors don’t seek individualized justice. That’s part of the problem. They forget victims, coddle criminals, and usurp the role of the legislative branch of government by declining to prosecute entire categories of crimes. That is not prosecutorial discretion. That is prosecutorial usurpation and malpractice... they support releasing most defendants with little to no bail. Guess what happens when you let a career criminal back on the street after he is suspected of committing a heinous crime?... In Chicago, police have pointed to the “skyrocketing use of electronic monitoring as a key factor” in the city’s shocking number of murders. To add insult to injury, the Chicago Tribune found that Kim Foxx, Chicago’s rogue DA, doesn’t hold defendants accountable when they violate their bail terms. According to the Chicago Tribune, “About 400 people are charged every year with felony escape. During [her predecessor’s] last three years in office, she dropped 55 such cases, compared with 420 for Foxx,” meaning that if someone is released on bail with an ankle monitor, he can essentially cut that monitor off with little to no consequences. Law professor and former federal judge Paul Cassell has convincingly argued that Chicago’s practice of releasing more defendants on pretrial release has significantly harmed community safety. And more to the point, how many lives were needlessly lost because of it?... fourteen people who were arrested for their involvement in the smash-and-grab robberies have now been released under Gascon’s radical zero-bail policies. The LA police chief explained that under these policies police can “book and process, identify you, and then your arraignment date is three or four months from now,” that the “vast majority of crime is committed by relatively few people,” and that “when the few people are constantly gaming the system to understand its weaknesses,” it allows them to “prey upon society.”... Unfortunately, rather than pushing back against the rogue, radical policies of these DAs, the Biden administration has chosen to reward them by nominating Rachael Rollins, the Suffolk County rogue DA that oversees Boston, to the U.S. Attorney—the chief federal law enforcement officer—in the state of Massachusetts... This is the same Rachael Rollins who gleefully published a list of fifteen crimes you can commit in Boston and not face prosecution. Those crimes include distribution of any illegal drug; resisting arrest; and breaking and entering a home. Never mind that, as we previously explained, “a violent career felon can break into your home, be in possession of cocaine, plan to distribute that cocaine to others, and resist arrest after you call the police, and all the charges will be ‘outright dismissed,’ so long as the reason he broke into your house ... was because he wanted ‘to sleep’ or was ‘seeking refuge’ from the cold.” As Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) explained, Rollins previously said that as a prosecutor she was “going to battle” against the U.S. Attorney on “opioids, marijuana, and immigration.” The very same laws she is now required to enforce as the United States Attorney."
Meme - "THEY'LL LOCK UP THE PRODUCT
BUT NOT THE THIEF
THE OLD REGIME OFTEN STRUGGLED TO JUGGLE ITS CONTRADICTIONS
THE RESTORATION BUREAU 2030"
Meme - "AUTHORITARIAN" *Chinese market stall with everything in plain view*
"LIBERALISM" *TOOTHPASTE, locked up with everything else*
Meme - Ben Shapiro: "So true. They're like the ring of power. No mortal man can withstand their draw. Normal, law-abiding people turn into vicious carjackers the moment these cars appear in sight."
"OPINION
FARHAD MANJOO
Kia and Hyundai Helped Enable a Crime Wave. They Should Pay for It."
Chinatown stabbing suspect out on day pass from psychiatric facility - "The person who stabbed three people in random attacks at the Light Up Chinatown festival in Vancouver on Sunday was on a day-release pass from a local psychiatric facility... The suspect, Blair Evan Donnelly, is a 64-year-old man who does not live in Vancouver. He was located nearby within minutes of the attacks and was apprehended. Donnelly is charged with three counts of aggravated assault. Donnelly killed his daughter Stephanie, 16, when living in Kitimat in November 2006. He was charged with second-degree murder, but found not guilty in January 2008 due to a mental disorder and was sent to Coquitlam’s Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, which houses several high-profile killers. By March of that year, Donnelly qualified for escorted community access, according to B.C. Review Board documents. In February 2009, he won the chance to have unsupervised community visits up to 28 days in length. While out on one of these visits in October 2009, he stabbed a friend while in a psychotic state — but this time was held criminally responsible for his actions."
Campbell River guard speaks out after suspect acquitted - "A Campbell River security guard who was stabbed inside the city’s Walmart a year and a half ago is speaking out after the man accused of nearly killing him was found not guilty. Ron Beavan says he’s lost faith in the justice system as he continues to come to terms with what happened, an incident that was all recorded on his wife’s body camera. He and his wife, Leanne, were working there together as security guards, and she was following a man who had previously been banned from the store and who she believed was in the process of shoplifting. Leanne Szasz Beaven says she had told the man to leave the store and he responded by showing her a knife... Ron, who was wearing a protective vest, had been stabbed six times in his left arm and collar bone. The blood was seen dripping out the arm of his shirt... The Beavens say Sprout was found not guilty because the judge-only trial concluded there was enough reasonable doubt that it was him. They say the man who attacked Ron was wearing a wig and COVID mask at the time."
Masking saves lives!
Chicago studies possibility of city-owned grocery store - "The city of Chicago said it is partnering with a national nonprofit organization to explore the feasibility of opening a city-owned grocery store in an underserved area of Chicago. Chicago would be the first major U.S. city to open a municipally owned grocery store to address food inequity... At least six grocery stores have closed on the South and West sides of Chicago during the past two years, according to the mayor’s office. A recent report in Crain’s Chicago Business lists three Walmart locations, two Target stores and a Whole Foods Market that have all closed on Chicago’s South and West Sides."
Target says it will close nine stores, citing violence and theft - "The company will close one store in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood, two locations in Seattle, three stores in the San Francisco-Oakland area and three more in Portland, Oregon"