Poll finds Republicans would stay and fight, Dems less so

It’s not exactly breaking news that there are profound differences between Republicans and Democrats. We see them every single day, especially in how we view the Second Amendment.

Now, understand, there are pro-gun Democrats. There aren’t many of them, but they do exist and I’m more than prepared to stand side-by-side with them to defend our right to keep and bear arms.

But they’re the minority in their party.

Yet the Second Amendment was meant as a bulwark against tyranny, either domestic or from foreign invasion, which brings us to Ukraine. What if something like that were to happen here. Who would stay and fight and who would flee the country.

Well, Quinnipiac decided to ask in a recent poll, and the results are fascinating.

As the world witnesses what is happening to Ukraine, Americans were asked what they would do if they were in the same position as Ukrainians are now: stay and fight or leave the country?
A majority (55 percent) say they would stay and fight, while 38 percent say they would leave the country.
Republicans say 68 – 25 percent and Independents say 57 – 36 percent they would stay and fight,
while Democrats say 52 – 40 percent they would leave the country.

“When confronted with a terrible hypothetical that would put them in the shoes of the Ukrainians, Americans say they would stand and fight rather than seek safety in another country,” added Malloy.

Nearly half of Americans (49 percent) say the attack on Ukraine has contributed to them feeling anxious, while half (50 percent) say it has not.

1,374 U.S. adults nationwide were surveyed from March 4th – 6th with a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points.

So more than two-thirds of Republicans and more than half of independents would stay and fight for their homes compared to more than half of all Democrats who would run.

Fascinating.

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The Fake-Meat Revolution Has Stalled
Consumer trends suggest a meatless near future is increasingly unlikely.

Recent reports suggest there’s a growing realization among consumers, industry, investors, and others that overheated predictions of a meatless future—one in which steaks, bacon, chicken nuggets, and other foods made from dead animals will be supplanted by plant-based imitations of meat dishes and lab-grown meats made from animal cells (the latter of which is still exceedingly rare)—may have been based on wishful thinking.

As Food Dive reported this week, sales of imitation meat products are faltering. The website cites remarks and earning reports from Beyond Meat—a leader in the plant-based sector that counts among its fans none other than me—that combine a bleak present reality of “negative growth and high net losses” with fears over whether this market downturn could be permanent.

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She’s a leftist political hack  – seems the most hacks are leftists doesn’t it?- who will recite any point her paymaster wants.

Is This the Dumbest Claim Jen Psaki Has Ever Made?

Sometimes, I wonder about Jen Psaki. How did she get picked to be White House Press Secretary? How has she kept her job? Sometimes I can’t tell if she is deliberately lying to the American people or if she living in an alternate universe and actually believes the horse manure she’s shoveling.

Case in point: In response to a question about John Bolton’s bizarre speculation that Trump might have pulled the United States out of NATO in a second term, Psaki claimed that the American people are “grateful” for Biden’s different approach to foreign relations.

“Well, I think that’s […] you know, another reason why the American people are grateful — the majority of the American people — that President Biden has not taken a page out of his predecessor’s playbook as it relates to global engagement and global leadership,” she said. “Because, certainly, we could be in a different place.”

We most certainly would be in a different place, if Biden had showed the strength and resolve that Trump did.

Of course, the premise of the question to which Psaki gave her inane answer was absurd. It’s hard to understand precisely where Bolton got the idea that Trump would have pulled us out of NATO, as the former president made robust efforts to get other NATO nations to pay their dues and make the alliance stronger. “There would be no NATO if I didn’t act strongly and swiftly,” Trump said last month. “Also, it was me that got Ukraine the very effective anti-tank busters (Javelins) when the previous Administration was sending blankets.”

But moving on from that, Psaki was utterly wrong about what Americans think. A recent poll found that 62% of voters believe Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if Trump were still in office.

Psaki made her stunning comment the same day that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg admitted that the administration would consider buying oil from terrorists instead of increasing domestic production, and on the heels of Psaki inadvertently admitting that Putin tends to invade other countries when Democrats are in the White House.

“You know, I was at the State Department, the president was the vice-president, the last time Russia invaded Ukraine,” she said last week. “This is a pattern of horror from … President Putin and from the cronies around him.”

Does Psaki really believe that Americans are grateful for Biden’s approach to “global engagement and global leadership” when that approach allowed for Putin to invade Ukraine, gas prices to skyrocket, and our tax dollars to fund terror-sponsoring nations?

President Trump’s leadership strengthened NATO and kept Russia at bay. The only Americans who could possibly be grateful for Biden’s approach would have to be Putin apologists.

An open letter to Gabby Giffords, Shannon Watts and Michael Bloomberg

Dear Gabby, Shannon and Tiny Mike;

The instant the first Russian T-80 crossed the Ukrainian border, the whole world could see the uselessness of everything you’ve ever said and everything you’ve ever done. You’ve been overtaken by events – mooted and muted in one fell swoop, so scram. Leave the field. It is time for you and your gun-ban groups to go.

There’s a madman with nukes on the loose who’s just 50 miles off Alaska’s port bow. No one knows how far he’s willing to go, so you’re out. The adults are taking charge. Your services are no longer required. Please take the Demanding Moms and their creepy husbands with you, open a box of wine and have yourselves a good cry. Ukraine learned nearly too late that the right to keep and bear arms saves lives, while the civilian disarmament pipedream you’ve been peddling for decades costs lives.

If you are in doubt, ask the brave Ukrainian single mom with the yellow ribbon tied around her sleeve if she’s comfortable battling Russian Spetsnaz with a standard-capacity magazine in her Avtomat Kalashnikova, or if she’d prefer a 10-round mag you’ve long advocated for and a rifle that’s California-compliant. You could also ask the young Russian conscript bouncing around in the back of a BMP – who’s belly is churning from the rations he’s eating, which expired in 2015 – if he’d prefer shooting at disarmed civilians or ones who can shoot back.

Ukraine was a bastion of gun control – something you would have found refreshing – but when Russian fighters started strafing runs, they quickly came to their senses, repealed their gun laws and issued AKs by the thousands to anyone who asked. What the Ukrainians lack in training and marksmanship they’re making up for with sheer tenacity and uncommon valor.

The whole world saw how quickly the holy grails of your gun-ban industry – licensing and registration, waiting periods, background checks, magazine and “assault weapon” bans – were cast aside once Vlad the Invader came calling. The Ukrainians issued assault weapons to their citizens – real ones – without delays, licenses, checks or 4473s. Thank God they weren’t too late.

America will never be put in that position, no thanks to you. We train constantly with the rifles you want confiscated, and we’re not going to tolerate any more of your infringements: Our guns, our gear and our ammunition are now off limits to your foolishness. You need to find something else to do – another way to occupy your spare time. Our armed civilian populace is a strategic national asset, something more than a few would-be invaders considered before declaring war. You and your ilk have been trying for years to undermine this asset. I’m pretty sure there’s a word for that, and it carries a stiff penalty, especially in time of war.

The Ukrainian resistance is showing the world – at tremendous cost – how free men and women can resist tyrannical invaders if they’re given the right tools. Thankfully, Americans have the right tools, and we will savagely resist any attempts to reduce their effectiveness or take them away.

“We let the WHO be taken over by the Chinese, but still treated it as neutral on Covid. We let UN human rights bodies be dominated by human rights violators.
We deserted our friends in Afghanistan. No wonder Putin thought he could try it on.” – Lord David Frost, former British Minister of State.

WA Gun Owner Fury Erupts as Lawmakers Pass Magazine Ban

By a 55-42 dead-of-night vote, the Washington State House of Representatives has passed a ban on rifle and pistol magazines holding more than 10 cartridges (including magazines for rimfire rifles), causing outrage among Evergreen State grassroots activists who will be looking unseat as many Democrats as possible in the November 2022 election.

Senate Bill 5078 goes to the desk of anti-gun Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee, who has already vowed to sign it. Two Democrat House members—Reps. Kirsten Harris-Talley from Seattle and Steve Kirby from Tacoma—voted against the measure, breaking ranks from their majority Democrat colleagues.

The vote came about two weeks after Liberty Park Press published a revealing report about the ineffectiveness of magazine capacity limit that many readers sent to their state lawmakers.

The late-night Friday vote was hailed by anti-gun Democrat Attorney General Bob Ferguson in a tweet now posted at the Facebook page of the Washington 2022 Legislative Action Group. The legislation was introduced at Ferguson’s request by Democrat Sen. Marko Liias of Lynnwood.

“Today is the fulfillment of years of hard work from so many,” Ferguson wrote. “More than five years ago, I stood with the parents of shooting victims, legislators, mayors, police chiefs and representatives from faith communities to say enough is enough, and proposed banning the sale of high-capacity magazines in Washington state. Today, our Legislature chose public safety over the gun lobby, and I am deeply appreciative of their service. This policy will save lives and make our communities safer from gun violence.”

 

But Wade Gaughran, owner of a Bellevue gun range and firearms retail business, reacted bluntly, telling KING News, “There’s no way that an intelligent person is going to look at this law and see that it would stop or limit or change the of any kind of mass shooting.”

He predicted a surge in magazine purchasing, a notion reinforced by an announcement from at least one firm—Palmetto State Armory—announced it will prioritize orders from Washington State residents: “All magazine orders placed from Washington State with Palmetto State Armory with ship out immediately and receive priority over all other orders.”

Dan Mitchell, owner of Vancouver’s Sporting Systems, posted a “Fact Sheet” about the magazine ban, which included a depiction of the state flag with dictatorial overtones.

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BLUF:
Peter Ambler of Giffords Law Center is unhappy that gun rights advocates are pointing out evidence that further unravels his cause, so it’s not surprising that he thinks it’s “deeply irresponsible” to do so. In other words, he wants us to stop pouncing and seizing and hammering and exploiting and feasting and gloating.

Giffords’ Ambler to 2A Supporters: Stop pouncing on Ukraine!

The history and rationale behind the Second Amendment are clear-cut. The defense of self, family, community, and country is protected in the founding documents of several states, not just the U.S. Bill of Rights. In a constitutional republic with checks and balances, with power splintered and diffused among various levels of governments, an armed citizenry is the ultimate check and balance against enemies both foreign and domestic.

The United States is approaching its 250th anniversary. That the republic has lasted so long, contributed so much to human flourishing and prosperity, spread the ideas of liberty and justice around the world, doesn’t mean that we can take the status quo for granted and forget or distort what it took to get here. The rest of the world provides periodic reminders and warnings of what could happen if America abandons its founding principles. Ukraine is the warning du jour.

Our friends in the Gun Grab Lobby, however, aren’t drawing the same lessons from Ukraine. When faced with yet another example of why an armed citizenry is good, their response is to cry foul and ask us to not cite it.

Ukraine crisis emerges as talking point in U.S. gun debate

By Barbara Goldberg and Brendan O’brien

NEW YORK, March 1 (Reuters) – Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gun rights advocates in the United States have sought to use the crisis to bolster their position on the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment to keep and bear arms, injecting a new element into the heated debate.

Arguments linking the invasion to gun rights have cropped up this week across social media, in a post by the National Rifle Association and during a legislative vote in the Georgia statehouse.

“What is happening in Ukraine proves the wisdom of our founding fathers in drafting the Second Amendment,” the NRA said in a blog post on Monday, pointing to Ukrainians who have armed themselves to defend their country.

Is a newly discovered fossil a talking point in the evolution “debate” or is it yet another piece of evidence supporting evolution? Ukraine is not a mere talking point despite how the headline downplays it as one.

Anti-gun violence advocates, however, point to increasing fire-arms deaths in the United States and say tighter regulations and fewer guns are what is needed.

Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said it was “deeply irresponsible” for gun rights advocates to tie their “more guns everywhere” advocacy to the Ukraine crisis.

“The tyrannical actions of Vladimir Putin don’t erase the fact that 45,000 Americans died from gun violence in 2020, nor do they erase the urgent need for commonsense, popular gun violence prevention policies like background checks and funding for community violence intervention programs,” Ambler told Reuters.

“Anti-gun violence advocates,” better described as Anti-Second Amendment activists or gun control supporters, want fewer guns in the hands of the citizenry. A good question to ask them would be, “Can you define fewer?” We all know the answer to that, and it’s no mystery that the question was not asked by the reporters.

Peter Ambler of Giffords Law Center is unhappy that gun rights advocates are pointing out evidence that further unravels his cause, so it’s not surprising that he thinks it’s “deeply irresponsible” to do so. In other words, he wants us to stop pouncing and seizing and hammering and exploiting and feasting and gloating.

Seasoned readers and Second Amendment advocates know this already, but new readers may not, so I will also point out that the 45,000 “gun violence deaths” that Ambler is citing is vastly inflated using suicides, which are the bulk of firearm mortalities. That would be like calling suicide by hanging “rope violence” and suicide by jumping “bridge violence” or “gravity violence.” Ambler’s suggested background checks and community violence intervention programs won’t do anything to address the bulk of those mortalities.

Ukraine was among the arguments wielded by Republicans to win a 34-22 vote in the Georgia state Senate on a concealed carry bill that split down party lines on Monday.

“I would be willing to bet you today that 99 percent of the people of Ukraine would give anything that they have to have a Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms,” Lindsey Tippins, a Republican state Senator, said in asking his fellow legislators to back the bill.

It’s unfortunate that it was a party-line vote, but thanks to the “arguments wielded,” the end-result is a win for our natural right of self-defense. Three cheers for pouncing on Ukraine!

Let’s all meet the shooter;  Jalyon Elmore
Student charged in Olathe, Kansas school shooting

MISSION, Kan. (AP) – An 18-year-old football player was charged Saturday in a shooting that wounded an administrator and a school resource officer at a suburban Kansas City high school.

The Johnson County prosecutor’s office announced Saturday that Jaylon Desean Elmore is charged with attempted capital murder in the shooting Friday at Olathe East High School. His bond is set at $1 million and no first appearance has been set..

Online records show he has a previous conviction for aggravated robbery.

KMBC 9 News learned that a school administrator pulled the student, who was a senior, from class this morning after receiving a tip that the teen had a gun in his backpack.

They went to the administrator’s office. The student refused to open his bag. That’s when the assistant principal called for the school resource officer. When SRO entered the office and that’s when the shots were fired.

 

Report: Good Guy with Gun Stops Kansas High School Shooter

An armed school resource officer shot and wounded an alleged school shooter, and the officer himself was shot and wounded, at Kansas’s Olathe East High School on Friday morning.

An administrator, a school resource officer, and a student — the alleged shooter — were injured in the incident, which occurred around 11 a.m., the Kansas City Star reported.

“Police said it was that school resource officer who shot the suspect,” KMBC noted.

The school administrator and resource officer were both in “stable condition,” as of 2:30 p.m. local time, KSHB observed.

Again, it’s nice when pictures are available for positive ID

BLUF:
Dr. Leonardo wants to solve the “problem of whiteness” or pose it as a problem. The real problem is that people have begun to see others as impediments to their ability to move forward in life. It actually foments racism, division, and anger. It teaches victimhood by always having someone to blame because of the color of their skin.

UC Berkeley Prof. Zeus Leonardo: Abolish Whiteness, Abolish White People

Zeus Leonardo

UC Berkeley Professor Zeus Leonardo believes in Critical Race Theory. In so doing, he made the statement to a class that “to abolish whiteness is to abolish white people.” Is he advocating genocide?

“To abolish whiteness is to abolish white people. That’s very uncomfortable perhaps, but it asks about our definitions of what race is and what racial justice might mean.”

UC Berkeley education professor Zeus Leonardo:

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“The deep commitment to an Iran nuclear deal that makes no sense has me convinced that a lot of people are either being bribed or blackmailed.”
–Prof. Reynolds

Joe Biden Spits on US Allies to Secure a Deal That Makes No Sense.

While the Biden administration has done its best to hide the ongoing negotiations, you’ve probably been made aware by now that a new JCPOA nuclear deal with Iran is in the works.

Guess who’s at the forefront of helping secure that deal? That would be none other than Vladimir Putin, who the United States is ostensibly at economic war with over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. About now, you are probably asking how that makes any sense at all. But stick around, because I promise you that it gets even worse.

Recently, I wrote two articles noting the seeming subservience of the Biden administration to Russia (see here and here), even as Biden himself has trotted out the tough-guy talk for a gullible public. Yet, behind the scenes, it appears that a deal with Iran has taken priority, even as Putin continues to bomb cities in Ukraine.

But hang on, I told you things would get worse. According to Kenneth Vogul, the Biden administration is now looking to normalize relations with the communist Maduro regime in Venezuela. How does that connect with the Iran deal? We’ll get to that in a moment.

 

Ostensibly, this action is being taken to help separate Venezuela from Russia. But anyone who is able to critically think and possesses a modicum of knowledge regarding international relations will quickly realize how dumb that contention is. Venezuela and Russia are allies, to the point where the latter held nuclear exercises there back in 2018. Russia has also been a supplier of commodities and materials to Venezuela as the South American nation has suffered under Western sanctions.

Now, does anyone think a quick visit from the Biden administration is going to “drive a wedge” between Venezuela and Russia given the relationship that exists between the two nations? In short, the Times’ spin on the matter, no doubt meant to protect the White House, doesn’t add up.

There is something that does add up though, and it connects to the Iran deal.

 

That makes much more sense. Russia has reportedly been making demands as part of its role in negotiating the new Iran deal. Putin having one of its chief allies legitimized on the world stage, setting up the framework to have sanctions removed while expanding Russia’s sphere of influence, sounds like a pretty good win for the Russian leader, doesn’t it?

In short, Biden’s pursuit of a boondoggle Iran deal boils down to empowering Russia and spitting on our allies, whether we are talking about Ukraine, Israel, or Venezuela’s democratically elected government. And for what? What is the United States getting out of a deal with Iran? There is no strategic interest there, especially given Israel, which does actually have a direct strategic interest, is against the JCPOA.

Again, nothing about this makes sense, and when nothing makes sense, it’s probably time to start asking tougher questions about what lies beneath the surface. Why have the last two Democrat-led presidencies been so obsessed with making a deal with Iran? Who is gaining what here? Are there payoffs involved? Why is Russia even a part of the negotiations given its behavior in Ukraine?

It seems the Biden administration is willing to do just about anything to hand the Iranian Mullahs another big win. That shouldn’t just be extremely concerning, it should be a scandal.

I can remember back when I was a teenager that the econuts and the anti-nuclear nuts, like GreenPeace, were always considered Russian stooges.
Watermelons: “green” on the outside, “red” on the inside.

Don’t just take Crenshaw’s word for it:

What with the earlier stories of the power behind the throne looking for ways to get rid of Kamalalalamadingdong, I wasn’t the first person to have ‘Ron Brown?’ pop into mind.

God Help Us: White House May Send Kamala to Europe for Diplomatic Mission.

Joe Biden was unable to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine, but now the White House is considering a new strategy. According to The Hill, there are active discussions about “sending Vice President Harris to Warsaw, Poland, and Bucharest, Romania, in the coming days to show solidarity with Ukraine as it faces an escalating Russian invasion.”

“The discussions involve sending Harris to visit troops stationed in Romania and potentially to the border with Ukraine, where a refugee crisis has seen more than 1 million people flee that country since the Russian attack,” the report continues. “The trip could happen in the coming weeks, one source said, adding that there is no active dialogue about sending President Biden to the region.”

“A presidential visit is a heavier logistical lift,” the source told The Hill. “The vice president has a smaller footprint and is historically more nimble.” The White House declined to comment, but one official was sure to make it known that Harris has been “deeply involved in the administration’s engagement with allies and partners.”

Harris spoke separately with the leaders of various European allies earlier this week to discuss Russia’s invasion.

“You can expect the vice president will continue to engage with allies and partners on these issues,” the official added.

And how well have her diplomatic skills worked so far? Last month, before Russia invaded Ukraine, Harris was at the  Munich Security Conference, during which she threatened Russia with “severe consequences” if they invaded Ukraine. That obviously worked out well.

Republicans brutally mocked her visit.

“Biden is deploying Kamala Harris to Europe to help ease Russia-Ukraine tensions,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) tweeted at the time. “Right, because she’s doing so well with our southern border…”

“I doubt [Putin’s] sitting back at the Kremlin right now shaking because Kamala Harris is over there,” Rep Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Newsmax at the time. “She can’t even find our southern border, much less the Ukrainian border. This is a joke, this is a travesty.”

After the failed trip, Harris continued to inspire zero confidence that she is capable of effective diplomacy or even understands world affairs. Earlier this week, in an attempt to explain the Russian invasion in layman’s terms, Harris said in a radio interview that “Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine, so basically, that’s wrong.”

Clearly, Harris doesn’t know what she’s doing, and for the White House to be even considering sending her back to Europe is a horrible joke.

An uprising in Kherson

Putin’s theory of how Russia would pacify a conquered Ukraine appears to have been that Ukrainians would … just sort of pacify themselves. Russia can’t mount an effective long-term occupation of a country this large but it wouldn’t need to, provided that Ukrainians placidly accepted their fate and welcomed their integration into Russia.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Russia’s entire war strategy rested on that dubious assumption bearing out. If Ukrainians resisted and forced Russia to commit to a lengthy pacification effort, there’s no telling how long Moscow would be able to sustain it. Especially with western sanctions taking a wrecking ball to their economy.

To put it another way, Putin really, truly seems to have believed his own bullsh*t about Ukrainians greeting Russian troops as liberators. In a worst-case scenario, he may have imagined that Ukrainians would resist initially but then would roll over once their cities were occupied and all hope of expelling the invader was lost.

That theory was tested today in the southern city of Kherson, the site of Russia’s most significant victory to date. The Russian military seized it days ago and moved in to occupy it. If Putin is right that Ukrainians will reconcile themselves to their fate once they fall under Russian control, the first evidence should emerge in Kherson.

His theory looked shaky yesterday. Today it looks shakier:

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Like most politicians, DeWine has his finger stuck up in the air to see which way the wind blows the strongest before he makes a decision.

Will DeWine sign permitless concealed carrying of handguns in Ohio?

Democrats have called on Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to veto permitless concealed carrying of handguns, but supporters of the legislation that’s now on the governor’s desk called it a historic Second Amendment victory.

DeWine is reviewing the bill, his spokesman said.

A bill to allow permitless concealed carry of handguns, Substitute Senate Bill 215 and also known as “constitutional carry,” passed the General Assembly on March 2 and has headed to DeWine to either sign or veto. It did not pass by a veto-proof majority.

On Friday, DeWine’s press secretary, Dan Tierney, did not answer questions on whether the governor still supported the list of gun reforms he promoted after the August 2019 mass shooting in Dayton’s Oregon District. Asked what DeWine — whose campaign touts him as a supporter of law enforcement — would say to police groups that opposed SB 215, Tierney was likewise silent.

“I would note Governor DeWine has long supported the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms,” Tierney said.

Bill contents

The current bill, with state Sen. Terry Johnson, R-McDermott, as its lead sponsor, says anyone at least 21 years old who is otherwise legally allowed to have a gun can carry a concealed handgun without a permit, without the previously required eight hours of gun safety training, and potentially without a pre-purchase background check.

Those who already have concealed-carry permits would no longer have to carry that license with them.

And if a driver is stopped by police, that person would no longer be required to tell officers that they have a concealed weapon unless they’re specifically asked about it.

Concealed carry licenses will still be available for those who want them, Johnson has said.

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Comment O’ The Day

I changed my mind, there is one group of Americans I do want to send to Ukraine; The Clinton family.

With reports that the Russians are bombing civilian targets, I’m reminded that it was Bill Clinton in 1994 who convinced the Ukrainians to give up their nuclear weapons. I think therefore it’s fair that the Clintons be shipped to Ukraine to be human shields for Ukrainian civilians.

Either Putin will avoid dropping bombs on the Clintons or the Clintons will have the same fate as the people they disarmed. This seems fair to me.
–J.K.

Not surprisingly, crimes like this aren’t happening all that much in places where demoncraps aren’t in charge of the goobermint

Carjackings in cities like NYC, Philadelphia jump over 200% – often with kids behind the wheel, officials say.

Carjackings have skyrocketed 200% — or more — in multiple big cities across the county in past years, as law enforcement officials and crime experts pleaded with lawmakers on Tuesday for help addressing the rampant issue, with one official warning: “Anyone in a car is a potential victim.”

“The primary goal is to do our best to ensure that no one has a gun in their face demanding their car in the first place.”

— Dallas Police Chief Edgardo “Eddie” Garcia, to Fox News Digital

Law enforcement executives and officials from crime monitoring agencies from across the country convened on Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a hearing to address the startling trends related to carjackings. During his time at the microphone, National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) president and CEO David Glawe revealed some cities saw carjacking upticks as high as more than 280% between 2019 and 2021.

Carjackings have soared by 286% in New York City from 2019 to 2021, while Philadelphia saw the second-highest increase, with 238, the NICB found. Chicago followed with the third-highest increase, 207%, from 2019 to 2021, then Washington, D.C. with a 200% increase and New Orleans with 159%, Glawe told lawmakers.

“A disturbing subplot to these bleak numbers is that many carjackings are often committed in furtherance of other serious violent crimes, and many carjackings are committed by juveniles are committed by juveniles — some as young as 11 years old,” Glawe explained.

Glawe was joined by Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart, Metropolitan Family Services executive director Vaughn Bryant, Alliance for Automotive Innovation president and CEO John Bozzella, former U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman and Dallas Police Department Chief Edgardo “Eddie” Garcia.

Garcia, who also spoke on behalf of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, testified that the increase in carjackings is being driven by certain factors, such as financial gain and to further other violent criminal activity.

“Many of these carjackings are also committed by juveniles seeking to gain notoriety on social media or as part of gang initiations,” he said.

He pointed to reluctant prosecutors and judges who “continue to release violent and repeat offenders pretrial,” and noted that the challenges also apply to juvenile offenders.

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