OPINION:
Congratulations, Baltimore — homicides are booming. Democrats now have a great selling point for more taxpayer money.
“There is nothing more important to me and to our future than an end to the violence that we have experienced this past year,” said Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, in a New Year’s Eve statement reported by Patch aimed at soothing angst over the city’s A-Number One 2017 Nationwide Homicide Rate, at 343.
That was after three successive years of climbing homicide rates in the city.
And that was after residents started calling their home “Bodymore” rather than Baltimore, a tongue-in-cheek way of saying, hey, we’ve got a murder problem over here.
That’s both understated and true. But it’s also a bit spinnified. What Baltimore really has is a Democrat problem.
The city’s not seen a Republican mayor since 1967. The topic of Baltimore’s long-running leftist leanings — and coincidentally violent atmosphere — last came up a couple years ago, when the city was on fire due to uprisings against police.
Maryland’s Democrat Rep. Elijad Cummings was called to CNN in June 2015 to account for all the fires and beatings and riots in the street and such, and when asked about the conservative train of thought that put the blame for the chaos squarely on the backs of Black Lives Matter-loving apologist types in the Democratic Party, said: “Chris [Cuomo], come on Chris. You know, it’s not about personalities, it’s about policy. And you know, and I know, that a lot of the policies coming down from Washington, coming down from the state, actually, too, but coming from Washington are not necessarily kind to urban areas, but particularly lately,” The Hill reported.
That’s gobbledygook for: It’s everybody’s fault but the at-fault players.
Well, don’t look for Baltimore to see a sudden switch in street violence in 2018. Democrats, who’ve been in charge for decades and who don’t want to make the hard decisions that would lead to real crackdowns on crime — hard decisions that include hiring more police and giving them both autonomy and support to get tough on crime, or relaxing the city’s gun control laws to set criminals on notice — aren’t likely to take the necessary steps this year to overturn these sorry murder statistics.
In July, Breitbart reported this: “Despite an ’assaults weapons’ ban, a ’high capacity’ magazine ban and special fingerprinting and reporting requirements on handgun sales, Baltimore’s murder rate is ’more than double Chicago’s.’ As a result, Mayor Catherine Pugh (D) is pressing for more gun control.”
And now? Now that the murder rate has soared to the point where Baltimore gets its own “Bodymore” nickname?
Pugh seems right on path for the same liberal lines of politicking.
“Our hearts ache for our city, a truly great city whose identity has been defined by these tragedies for too long,” she said, Patch reported. “As your mayor, I’m determined that these circumstances will not be our future, they will not define us, nor will we allow them to resist our determined efforts to change our narrative going forward.”
Her ideas include police reform, workforce development, youth education initiatives — and more street lighting. Street lighting.
Yes, that’ll do it.
“Without question, getting illegal guns out of the hands of criminals and off our streets is essential,” she also said. “But equally essential is that we address together the conditions that give rise to violence — hopelessness, lack of opportunity, drug dependence, lack of basic needs, lack of job and economic opportunity.”
Broken homes? Single parenting — or no parenting? Gang warfare? Police hands tied by soft-on-crime politicos?
Sadly, those didn’t make Pugh’s list of Things to Address. And even more sadly, that’s why Baltimore’s homicide rate is already — in January — shaping to be on target with last year’s. And let’s remember, the classic definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.
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