Crime
Blog
California’s Soft on Crime Policies Claim Another Victim
McKay was a three striker with multiple convictions and two prison sentences for violent offenses dating back to 1999. His last ten-year stint ended in 2019. When he was stopped by deputy Cordero, he had already been convicted of his third strike. However, he was free on reduced bail pending ...
Blog
Gaslighting California’s Crime Victims
“Gaslighting” is Merriam Webster’s Word of the Year for 2022. It is defined by Webster’s as the: “Psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to ...
Commentary
Boost police accountability to help improve urban policing
Especially as crime has increased in many cities the past two years, Americans want safe streets, but with responsible policing. They don’t want to get mugged, but also don’t want abuses such as the beating of Rodney King by the LAPD in 1992 or the death of George Floyd in ...
Crime
Marjy Stagmeier – Improving Low-Income Communities
Our guest this week is Marjy Stegmeier, a successful Georgia developer and author of the new book Blighted: A Story of People, Politics, and an American Housing.
Blog
The Night Westwood Died and Crime in Cities
On January 31, 1988, 27 year-old Karen Toshima was enjoying an evening with her boyfriend in Westwood Village. She had just gotten a promotion at work and like thousands of other Angelenos did almost every weekend decided that Westwood was the place to be. After dinner, Karen and ...
Blog
Is lefty San Francisco moving in a rightward direction?
Apparently, everyone has a breaking point and for San Franciscans things broke around COVID-19. While public schools shut down amid the pandemic and parents were openly frustrated, the school board took several actions that landed it on the wrong side of voters. That led to the recall of three members ...
Blog
The Campus Sexual Assault Epidemic – Our laws make it worse
The State of California has released its 2021 annual crime report and crime is up across the board. Of particular concern are the sexual assault statistics. According to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, “the rape rate increased 8.6 percent in 2021 (from 33.8 in 2020 to 36.7 in ...
Blog
How a ‘perfect storm’ killed an LA philanthropist
How a ‘perfect storm’ killed an LA philanthropist BY STEVE SMITH The murder of philanthropist Jaqueline Avant, the wife of famed music producer (“The Godfather of Black Music”) Clarence Avant, sent shock waves throughout Los Angeles society. Her death, during a home-invasion robbery on Dec. 1, 2021, not only shattered ...
Blog
Crime in California and the Left/Right Divide
Writing for the LA Times recently, columnist Anita Chabria calls Kern, Merced, and Tulare counties “Trump’s California” and describes Kern as first amongst the “the locales where your chance of being murdered is greatest.” Merced and Tulare round out the top three. She then contrasts them and their conservative district ...
Blog
Union power makes urban reform nearly impossible
It’s well known that private-sector unions imposed higher costs and competitive disadvantages on companies that remained in cities. In a 2010 Cato Journal article, Stephen J. K. Walters explained that unions sparked their transformation “from engines of prosperity into areas afflicted by economic stagnation, chronic poverty, and all the social ...
California’s Soft on Crime Policies Claim Another Victim
McKay was a three striker with multiple convictions and two prison sentences for violent offenses dating back to 1999. His last ten-year stint ended in 2019. When he was stopped by deputy Cordero, he had already been convicted of his third strike. However, he was free on reduced bail pending ...
Gaslighting California’s Crime Victims
“Gaslighting” is Merriam Webster’s Word of the Year for 2022. It is defined by Webster’s as the: “Psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to ...
Boost police accountability to help improve urban policing
Especially as crime has increased in many cities the past two years, Americans want safe streets, but with responsible policing. They don’t want to get mugged, but also don’t want abuses such as the beating of Rodney King by the LAPD in 1992 or the death of George Floyd in ...
Marjy Stagmeier – Improving Low-Income Communities
Our guest this week is Marjy Stegmeier, a successful Georgia developer and author of the new book Blighted: A Story of People, Politics, and an American Housing.
The Night Westwood Died and Crime in Cities
On January 31, 1988, 27 year-old Karen Toshima was enjoying an evening with her boyfriend in Westwood Village. She had just gotten a promotion at work and like thousands of other Angelenos did almost every weekend decided that Westwood was the place to be. After dinner, Karen and ...
Is lefty San Francisco moving in a rightward direction?
Apparently, everyone has a breaking point and for San Franciscans things broke around COVID-19. While public schools shut down amid the pandemic and parents were openly frustrated, the school board took several actions that landed it on the wrong side of voters. That led to the recall of three members ...
The Campus Sexual Assault Epidemic – Our laws make it worse
The State of California has released its 2021 annual crime report and crime is up across the board. Of particular concern are the sexual assault statistics. According to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, “the rape rate increased 8.6 percent in 2021 (from 33.8 in 2020 to 36.7 in ...
How a ‘perfect storm’ killed an LA philanthropist
How a ‘perfect storm’ killed an LA philanthropist BY STEVE SMITH The murder of philanthropist Jaqueline Avant, the wife of famed music producer (“The Godfather of Black Music”) Clarence Avant, sent shock waves throughout Los Angeles society. Her death, during a home-invasion robbery on Dec. 1, 2021, not only shattered ...
Crime in California and the Left/Right Divide
Writing for the LA Times recently, columnist Anita Chabria calls Kern, Merced, and Tulare counties “Trump’s California” and describes Kern as first amongst the “the locales where your chance of being murdered is greatest.” Merced and Tulare round out the top three. She then contrasts them and their conservative district ...
Union power makes urban reform nearly impossible
It’s well known that private-sector unions imposed higher costs and competitive disadvantages on companies that remained in cities. In a 2010 Cato Journal article, Stephen J. K. Walters explained that unions sparked their transformation “from engines of prosperity into areas afflicted by economic stagnation, chronic poverty, and all the social ...
