Said Bryce Turner, 27, a member of a Facebook group that tracks down stolen bikes in Burlington, Vermont, where the police force was reduced by 30% after a ballot measure influenced by the George Floyd incident.
Turner is quoted in "The Bike Thieves of Burlington, Vermont/A hunt for stolen goods has put citizens and business owners in the center of a debate about policing and a growing, sometimes violent, problem with crime" (NYT).
Mr. Turner has personally recovered more than a dozen bikes — many of them from City Hall Park. The newly renovated park reopened to the public in October 2020... Mr. Turner and the others in the group say they believe the bikes that end up in the park are being sold in exchange for drugs. “It’s an open-air drug and bike market,” he said of the park.
They believe that the theft is part of a broad black-market operation, and point to a pickup truck that has been photographed around town, hauling a stack of bikes in the back, under a tarp. The police say that they have seen online reports of the pickup but that they have no probable cause to pull the vehicle over.
Still, the bike group perceives a growing sense of lawlessness in the park. One day in August, Mr. Turner was walking past a group of people in the park when someone punched him in the back of the head. Seeing no police officers around, he found a firefighter nearby and told him about the assault. “He called it in to the police, but he basically said nothing is going to come of this,” Mr. Turner said. “The cops have their hands full.”
Posts
99 comments:
Democrat party is pro-crime. No matter how you slice it.
The inner city comes to Vermont.
The same people pushing this lawlessness mail millions of ballots to people who participate in these open air drug markets.
The "Homeless" problem is just a vote gathering operation for the Regime.
If you buy a used bike, you are probably buying a stolen bike. The adage at my university has become universal—spend more on the lock then on the bike.
I was in Burlington recently and there was a guy checking car doors for a car to rifle right on Cherry Street in the middle of the day. I am kind of done with that town, there are smaller towns up and down the lake which are still very pleasant.
Why would anyone want to be a cop in a Democrat run city ? This will take a long time to repair. The damage may be permanent. Black cops are more vilified than white ones.
The Regressives (TM) who run Burlington, like the other cities that they run (eg, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, etc.) view the theft of personal property as a form of equity, in other words “redistribution of wealth”. The article states that the bikes are being sold for money to buy drugs - hence the thieves using their “found” money to buy the drugs. These criminals then perceive this citizens group as a threat to their drug lifestyle and will assault the people of this group. It’s almost like the Regressives (TM) endgame is anarchy/chaos nationwide by getting rid of law enforcement, through the combination of reducing police force numbers and getting DA’s and judges installed who release the criminals. They want no one to have anything except for themselves as the ruling powers that be.
"Gun-free zone" signs have worked so well, why don't they just post signs saying "Do not steal"?
I have the feeling that you could open up a shop in the middle of town, call it "The Bike Thieves of Burlington" and do great business, with people lining up outside waiting to buy back their stolen bicycles.
Sounds like vigilantism to me. There only a hop-skip-and-jump from a lynching.
Interesting. The Facebook group in Portland OR doing this outnumbers sworn officers employed by PPD.
Oh wait. That’s stolen CARS in Portland. Ain’t defunding cops fun!
Sounds like he needs a punch in the back of the head. And looks like it, too.
We all agree that theft is not OK. But many among us think that property is theft. Sounds like over half of the voting population of Burlington VT think that.
Is there a word Althouse can use to represent “ingenuity that shouldn’t be fucking necessary”?
Is this a tacit admission that crime might be a problem despite all democrat gaslighting in NY and CA and PA?
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition now urges people not to report a stolen bicycle to the police because it could lead to an encounter of thieves of color (racist assumption) and police (way too optimistic) which tend to be problematic. So the coalition is now one between bicycle thieves of color and bicyclists.
"citizens and business owners in the center of a debate"
Who are they debating with?
"a growing, sometimes violent, problem with crime"
Progs like it. George Floyd is a saint to them.
"“It’s an open-air drug and bike market,” he said of the park . . . Still, the bike group perceives a growing sense of lawlessness in the park."
Progs want it. Dem voters vote for it. So far, they prefer their own sense of moral superiority over basic public order. Bikes be damned.
Police funding seems to have found the progressive sweet spot where to police will protect criminals from citizens but won't protect citizens from criminals.
Historically when the police aren't around or are otherwise unavailable people take matters into their own hands. Vermont may be ready for a Vigilance Committee.
When you think: LAWLESSNESS, or RAMPANT DRUG USAGE, or PEOPLE WALKING AROUND PLAYING PUNCHOUT.
You Immediately think: Vermont
What?? I was assured by Twitter anons that no municipality actually implemented Defund the Police. It was all just a rightwing fever dream!
Where are these facts when we need them?
But, in Good News!
Once the democrat, Soros appointed vote counters (like Katie Hobbs) got done "counting" the vote..
It Turns Out, that democrat, Soros appointed vote counters (like Katie Hobbs) WON!
so, it's ALL GOOD!
You can't walk in the park but; at least the democrat, Soros appointed vote counters (like Katie Hobbs) WON!
Serious Question
Has Anyone asked the Governor on Georgia (you know, Stasi Abrams) what she CURRENTLY thinks about having the person that is running for Governor being theperson that does the vote counting?
I wonder if her answer has changed?
I've always used a bicycle that nobody would want. When new, dressed up with poorly applied duct tape and things hanging off.
Inchoate vigilantism -- which certainly will mature to the real thing in these George Floyd-policeless shitholes. What else does anyone expect?
He's really trying to have his cake and eat it, too. Because the police were partially defunded, his group has taken on one of the jobs of the police. (To find and return stolen property.) But he just can't bring himself to say that the police do an important job and should be supported, not defunded.
some religious nut said..
why don't they just post signs saying "Do not steal"?
typical! next; you'll be telling us not to swear, or not to commit murder
My feelings towards Your ox, are NONE of Your business.. You religious bigot!!
If they really wanted to solve the bike theft problem, they'd form a Burlington Self Defense Force, storm City Hall Park, arrest everyone who has a stolen bike and flog them right on the spot. Repeat as necessary.
When the city "leaders" complain about the BSDF actions, tell the city "leaders" "You're next. Who wants to be first to learn what happens in a lawless city?"
Burlington was once the home of Burlington College, that the wife of Bernie Sanders drove into bankruptcy with fraudulent loan. A loan based upon mythical income that the College had no means of repaying. The lawless City Hall Park is a perfect park for Bernie.
As the Instant-man notes from time to time, cops also protect alleged perps from mob justice.
I'm noticing a lot of after hours smash-n-grab in retail establishments near the University of Washington.
They used a vehicle to smash the door at the Safeway, and grabbed the beer, and wine. A local drug store suffered a similar fate.
Did I mention the 15ft security fence surrounding the Apple store in downtown Portland??
There is also a barrier of concrete blocks at the foot of the tall fence, but they've made the blocks look nice. They painted the blocks white. Think iBlock.
Still when there is a heavy rain, millions of gallons of bacteria infested water pours into the lake, spreading the smell for a dozen miles and closing beaches, because, even though Bernie was once mayor, the city has ignored the problem.
I know this may sound radical, but we all agree that theft is not OK.
Assumes facts not in evidence. Apparently many Democratic politicians and their voters do not agree that theft is not OK.
There is also the issue of violence and even murder as NYC gangs fight over the right to sell drugs to the college kids. That, unfortunately, is also a thing.
Raid homeless camp, demand proof of purchase.
You know something if you told us they have less bikes on the road, meaning the deaths caused by bike riders on bike lanes will be reduced. It's not a loss in my estimation. To the contrary that's a net gain to the communities of Burlington, Vermont and South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico and California and Texas and New York and South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan and then Washington DC to take back the White House Aaaaarhhhhh
Link to video
The one encouraging fact in all of this is that drugs are becoming increasingly deadly.
So weird how, when you cut your police force, denigrate those police still patrolling, ignore the laws on the books, fight to keep bails free and jail time short, that you would see a rise in crime and a lowering of civil standards in your community.
But at least you got to vote all the same people back in to keep running things the way they are.
Hence the problem with one party states. If you decide that only one party will do, you take it or leave it. Obviously, this is what you want, given you want other people to make decisions for you. Enjoy.
No, they don't agree that theft is not OK. Because for it to be theft, personal ownership must come first. They want no ownership. At that point, if you aren't using the bike at the time, then someone else should not worry about using it. If you don't understand this, ask the "anti-cop" agenda folks their thoughts on socialism. See Predictions for 2030. Burlington, VT voted majority Democrat, so they are getting what they wanted. Gooder and Harder.
Burlington has a serious case of "Portland envy," so things are only going to get worse.
"Sounds like vigilantism to me. There only a hop-skip-and-jump from a lynching."
Now you're getting my hopes up.
In all seriousness, if a bike thief did happen to get beaten within an inch of his life what are the chances the cops would be too busy to investigate that crime?
Police don't protect us from criminals, they protect the criminals from us. 1 month of a vigilante bike posse passing out 19 swat canings and bikes in Burlington will once be safe.
Carol,
Facts are racist; get a clue!
How many people here read stuff like this and find themselves becoming ever more introverted? The odds of interacting with batshit crazy people that would label this effort anti or pro cop seem very high, while interacting with sane, level-headed people is low.
"The police say that they have seen online reports of the pickup but that they have no probable cause to pull the vehicle over."
It's a rare cop who wouldn't be able to follow a vehicle for more than a few minutes without finding a reason to pull it over. The police really are saying that the risk/reward ratio for pulling over that particular truck is not favorable. The only question is exactly why that is the case.
It's not a matter of government police or nothing. If the police/government can't or won't do their job, the job falls to their employers, The People. Having The People taking up crime control is not the best options since personal bias and grievances can enter into the "enforcement" without the bare professionalism/accountability of government police.
God forbid rampant theft, daylight drug selling and punch out games be linked to defunding the police.
Search around, loser, I'll bet there is a thriving business in used bicycles.
Plan on buying one on a regular basis.
Oh yeah if you see your (or any) bike being stolen make sure you call out, "Please stop".
"...we all agree that theft is not OK..."
I suspect someone is going to be in for quite the surprise.
The good Americans want to aid and abet a historically discriminated class: criminals, who abort, rape, rob, burglarize, punch, burn, and stage nationwide insurrections attacking not Democrat "heroes", regular citizens, and granny, too.
thieves of color (racist assumption)
Diversity (e.g. color blocs) is racism, but also sexism, ageism, and other forms of class-based bigotry (e.g. Jew privilege).
George "Fentanyl" Floyd died from a progressive condition that preceded and, in fact, prompted, a premature exit from the officer's car and subsequent restraint. America has a clear and progressive Fentanyl and other psychotropic drugs problem promoted through outsourcing, illegal immigration, equitable and inclusive.
What nobody want to admit is that bike thefts to support an open air drug market in Burlington, VT is Donald Trumps fault. There's no other explanation.
no municipality actually implemented Defund the Police
No worries. Victims of democratic crime waves (e.g. redistributive change, diversity reparations, etc), will be compensated through buy back vote programs (e.g. Obamacares, Bidencares, rape with "burden" relief in the privacy of a friendly neighborhood Planned Parenthood chamber/clinic). The first rule of progressive club is a slate of liberal principles. #HateLovesAbortion
Lars Porsena said...
"Sounds like vigilantism to me. There only a hop-skip-and-jump from a lynching."
When there is no law and order guess who uphold the law? The public. No. It's just a hop skip and jump from hiring more law enforcement officers. Lynchings happen when leftists don't like you. No matter what color you are.
Historically when the police aren't around or are otherwise unavailable people take matters into their own hands. Vermont may be ready for a Vigilance Committee.
Don't be ridiculous. There are still plenty of police around, and there is no conceivable crime that would be more likely to summon the wrath of every organ of the combined Federal, state, and local law enforcement and judicial establishment for its suppression.
Democrats hate organized, otherwise-law-abiding taxpayers independently dealing with threats to their own well-being far more than they hate rape, murder, or terrorism, much less bicycle theft and muggings. Especially if they are white and the threats they are dealing with are not.
None but the the most ephemeral and disorganized "committees of vigilance" will be able to exist until there has been a complete collapse of society and the police are no longer being paid.
At the rate we are going, I expect to see this within my lifetime, and I'm not young.
Historically when the police aren't around or are otherwise unavailable people take matters into their own hands. Vermont may be ready for a Vigilance Committee.
Don't be ridiculous. There are still plenty of police around, and there is no conceivable crime that would be more likely to summon the wrath of every organ of the combined Federal, state, and local law enforcement and judicial establishment for its suppression.
Democrats hate organized, otherwise-law-abiding taxpayers independently dealing with threats to their own well-being far more than they hate rape, murder, or terrorism, much less bicycle theft and muggings. Especially if they are white and the threats they are dealing with are not.
None but the the most ephemeral and disorganized "committees of vigilance" will be able to exist until there has been a complete collapse of society and the police are no longer being paid.
At the rate we are going, I expect to see this within my lifetime, and I'm not young.
Oh. And people don't get "lynched" anymore. You're more likely to get shot by a mostly peaceful protestor.
Not only is theft not okay, it's okay it's not okay.
Theft is normal and good in our society.
Now
Right Inga?
Love the picture of the stripped bike frame. I wonder how many they've "recovered" in that condition and dropped off at people's houses with a cheery; "We got your bike back!"?
Remember Mayor of New York City Rudy Guiliani who implemented a "broken windows" policy of policing in the rotting Big Apple? Police began citing small code violations, arrested people for petty crimes, and generally made people clean up their acts. This was a policy recognizing as a fallacy the old canard that "broken windows improve the economy because someone gets paid to fix them."
Instead, the people breaking the windows were themselves required to pay for the repairs, and those spray painting subway cars had to wash subway cars, and mirabile dictu, broken windows and gang-tagged subway cars decreased in frequency. Small time criminals were deterred from larger crimes over time, if only because they were incarcerated and lost the opportunity to continue committing bigger and better crimes.
What Burlington, et al., is seeing is the opposite of Guiliani's policy. "Let the little stuff go," say the advocates for open air drug markets and homeless slum dwellings everywhere in the city. "Don't bother the little criminals with consequences."
That is happening here in Austin, Texas. A homeless guy, who camped along a railroad track a quarter mile from my construction site, decided to use my site's water tap and hose for morning ablutions, and started taking construction materials to build up his "camp" area. Early one morning a crew of mine warned him away, not with threats of police attention, but with severe personal consequences that would come from these immigrant laborers themselves. They saw that he was making more work for them, cleaning up after him, and taking their work materials, which however small the amount directly impacted their bottom line.
I think if I hadn't shown up during their initial discussion with him, they might have explained things to him using force, or even 2x4s. After all, they could just put his body, in whatever shape, back in his camp and nobody would be the wiser. The Austin police are useless regarding anything involving the homeless. The crew also explained to me that in their home countries locals handle petty criminals themselves, because police there are both inadequate to the task of policing petty crime and themselves corrupt. Self-service criminal justice, like my men were about to perform, is what you get when you have people taking stuff and damaging the livelihoods of others, but no recourse for fixing the problem.
Let the bike thieves keep stealing bikes, I say. Eventually, probably sooner than the local police expect, someone will stop them, good and hard.
I just hope the bicyclists who are getting their bikes stolen are the ones who think they own the road because they are on a bike wearing spandex. You know, the ones that don't stop at stop signs or stop lights. Or just go full speed into the road when it intersects the bike path, always expecting the right of way...even at busy time like 4 or 5pm. God forbid they interrupt their heart rate.
I'd imagine bicyclists in liberal Burlington, VT are a complete pain in the ass.
I'm glad they're getting their bikes stolen. I'm rooting for the drug addicted thieves.
Thanks George Floyd!
ALP thinks The odds of interacting with batshit crazy people that would label this effort anti or pro cop seem very high, while interacting with sane, level-headed people is low.
So, cutting the police budget by 30% is not anti-cop? Demonizing them so they "go fetal" as Second City Cop describes the Chicago PD, is not anti-cop?
What planet do you live on and how long have you been here?
Sounds like vigilantism to me. There only a hop-skip-and-jump from a lynching.
I got that vibe too. And I expect it to be a lot more blatant and frequent in the future. On the flip side given the dramatic reduction in police presence what do you expect?
Historically when the police aren't around or are otherwise unavailable people take matters into their own hands.
Yep.
Tick.
Tock.
They may be missing their bikes but they have endorsed a state right to abortion constitutional amendment. So I guess things are balanced, cosmically speaking.
"...we all agree that theft is not OK..."
LOL. I think that ship has sailed.
Maybe Bernie can help you find your bike.
When Leftists are forced by reality to see their policies don’t work they always say “both sides are bad and everything is trash” instead of thinking about why conservatives believe in and support certain things like the rule of law.
If you don’t punish law breakers they will escalate their behavior. This has never not happened on a society wide scale. Ever. How do leftists not know this?
This is one of those posts where one can predict, before ever going to the comments, that our resident Leftist commenters will avoid like the plague.
Why do you think that is?
You may ask yourself, "What is that beautiful house?"
You may ask yourself, "Where does that highway go to?"
And you may ask yourself, "Am I right, am I wrong?"
And you may say to yourself, "My God, what have I done?"
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Who remembers Zero Tolerance?
Wikipedia
Beware, the left (authoritarian)-right (anarchist) nexus is leftist.
The cops are not there to protect the citizenry. They are there to protect the perpetrators. Without the rule of law, justice becomes much shorter, more violent and less stringent about civil rights. I'm good with it, but I wonder if these "social workers" are up to the task.
I spent some time in Burlington last summer. I'm pretty sure the folks there are getting the kind of society they are hoping for. Based on conversations in coffee shops and restaurants, Bernie is just barely lefty enough for the denizens of that lovely city. It goes to show that even a small, prosperous and peaceful town can go full shithole if enough effort is made. I think Burlingtonians are up to the task.
M:
"How do leftists not know this?"
Because Teh Narrative™ says otherwise.
How do you not know this?
retail lawyer,
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition now urges people not to report a stolen bicycle to the police because it could lead to an encounter of thieves of color (racist assumption) and police (way too optimistic) which tend to be problematic. So the coalition is now one between bicycle thieves of color and bicyclists.
I've read this as well. It's a wonder the SFBC doesn't force its ridership to leave their bikes unlocked. Preferably decorated with a big "FREE" sign. It would be a match for the "NO RADIO" signs San Franciscans have been leaving in their car windows for decades now. Next decade, perhaps "COME IN AND TAKE WHATEVER YOU FEEL LIKE" signs on private residences.
Please don't call the cops; they might accidentally pick up someone who isn't a MAGA-gear-toting redneck. And that would be very sad.
The failure of the authorities to protect the people will lead to people protecting themselves. This bike recovery group is just a start of vigilance. It will spread to other areas of civic life. When observant vigilance fails to move authorities (like the truck full of bicycles), it is only short step to doing something about it. Vigilantes are coming, you can count on them.
If vigilantism happens (may it never be), the FBI will be happy to prosecute the perpetrators and give them the J6 treatment.
Matt Taibbi has a take on this:
"A Florida FBI agent blows the whistle on a Bureau that's stopped worrying about making cases, shifting resources to a vast new mission: domestic spying without predicate. Part one of a series
Late on an October morning in a quiet neighborhood near Daytona Beach, Florida. FBI agent Steve Friend sits in his kitchen, fidgeting. He’s a wiry, energetic man, built like a marathoner, not muscled up but exuding fitness, not a sitter. This is not a person meant for desk work, much less staying home all day. But as a whistleblower whose name has been all over media after a complaint about statistical manipulation and other problems in the January 6th investigations, this will be his lot for a while.
By that morning, the first rush of news stories about Friend’s case already passed. CNN and MSNBC demonized him, Fox hailed him as a hero, but the furor was beginning to die down. What a whistleblower talks about in this inevitable moment will say a lot about his or her motivation. Looking out a window into the stillness of his suburban neighborhood, Friend shook his head.
“I love my job,” he said, sighing. “I was living my best life as an FBI agent. I was coming home every day, and my kids were my biggest fan club. Like, ‘Daddy, did you put the bad guy in jail?’ And I thought, ‘Man, this is it.’”
It’s not the tone of a disgruntled malcontent, but someone who made a reluctant journey to whistleblower status, beginning with a whirlwind series of events that brought him and his family out of the Midwest to north Florida less than two years ago. He worked a child pornography detail before being transferred to the assignment that would upend his life: investigating J6. The FBI not only took Friend off vital work chasing child predators to pursue questionable investigations of people maybe connected with the Capitol riots (often in some misdemeanor fashion), they used dubious bureaucratic methods he felt put him in an impossible spot.
Essentially, the FBI made Friend a supervisory agent in cases actually being run by the Washington field office, a trick replicated across the country that made domestic terrorism numbers appear to balloon overnight. Instead of one investigation run out of Washington, the Bureau now had hundreds of “terrorism” cases “opening” in every field office in the country. As a way to manipulate statistics, it was ingenious, but Friend could see it was also trouble.
As a member of a dying breed of agent raised to focus on making cases and securing convictions, Friend knew putting him nominally in charge of a case he wasn’t really running was a gift to any good defense attorney, should a J6 case ever get to trial.
“They’re gonna see my name as being the case agent, yet not a single document has my name as doing any work,” Friend says. “Now a defense lawyer can say, ‘Hey, the case agent for this case didn’t perform any work.’ Labeling the case this way would be a big hit to our prosecution.”
Friend ended up refusing the arrangement, which led to his suspension. He followed procedure, making protected disclosures to superiors and the FBI’s Office of Special Counsel (OSG). He then reported his suspension to Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson and whistleblower-whisperer Chuck Grassley of Iowa. They sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, detailing Friend’s procedural objections, including that “agents are being required to perform investigative actions” they “would not otherwise pursue,” at the direction of the Washington Field Office (WFO)."
No link to the article as it came via email.
Gilbar said...
"My feelings towards Your ox, are NONE of Your business..."
That's no ox... the joke tells itself!
If/when your average citizen is reluctant to choose between a pro-cop/anti-cop stance, that’s an indication of a moronic convergence.
You will own nothing and you will be happy. That's an order.
"If you don’t punish law breakers they will escalate their behavior. This has never not happened on a society wide scale. Ever. How do leftists not know this?"
To be a leftist, you have to ignore the incentives that motivate human beings and value intentions over real life experience. They're basically four-year-olds who want what they want regardless of how things in the real world actually work.
What if the Burlington City Council just voted to buy a kick ass bike for all the drug addicts who are stealing them? But only the drug addicts. They could let go of more police to buy the bikes. Win-Win.
I'm sure that would fix the problem.
Doesn't sound so far fetched does it? At least for Burlington, VT...Berkeley, CA....Madison, WI...
Theft? Redistributive change.
We all agree murder is not OK.
"unlawful killing of another human being by a person of sound mind with premeditated malice," c. 1300, murdre, earlier morþer, from Old English morðor (plural morþras) "secret killing of a person, unlawful killing," also "mortal sin, crime; punishment, torment, misery," from Proto-Germanic *murthran (source also of Goth maurþr, and, from a variant form of the same root, Old Saxon morth, Old Frisian morth, Old Norse morð, Middle Dutch moort, Dutch moord, German Mord "murder"), from suffixed form of PIE root *mer- "to rub away, harm" (also "to die" and forming words referring to death and to beings subject to death).
Well, there's the rub: "unlawful"... We clearly don't all agree. If you can get away with it.
MadTownGuy,
Actually there is a link, at the very top right where it says "Online":
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-fbis-transformation-from-national
Non-subscribers can read quite a ways into the article before they get to the "only subscribers can read the full thing" message.
"In all seriousness, if a bike thief did happen to get beaten within an inch of his life what are the chances the cops would be too busy to investigate that crime?"
The chances are very low. The stinking scum who pay themselves out of our pockets to "manage" our cities refer to the drugged rabble they encourage to hang around stealing and terrorizing the populace as "Our homeless community". If the person who got punched had punched back, he would probably be in jail, and facing a heavy fine. Taxpayers have only one right, the right to remain silent.
"Taxpayers have only one right, the right to remain silent."
Not only one. They have right to pay to maintain the system.
My son suggested giving Burlington to NY.
I suggested given all of Chittenden county to NY…
Kirk Parker, thanks. I'm never certain if what I get through email has more content than what's on the free part of Substack.
Burlington has been very far left for decades. Poor decisions amplified and reinforced over many years have bad consequences. The far left residents of Burlington are unlikely to figure out that they are the source of the problem. Don’t expect things to get better any time soon.
Democratic Voters: "Well if it isn't the consequences of my own actions!"
I didn't know they have polar bears in Vermont.
Of course, saying this is practically a federal crime: doing it, not so much. Unless you pick the right type of polar bear.
Women need not apply. I mean only the ones who were women to begin with.
Now I've just gone and committed two federal infractions.
I could openly be investigated by the police in Canada and Britain for this post. Here, we use secret investigations. For now, at least.
Meanwhile at least 28 non-domestic, nearly all random and several more casual-acquaintance black-on-white homicides and many, many more black-on-black homicides in September are not being investigated as hate crimes, but if the victim was LGBTQ, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Asian, Native American, homeless, Hispanic, legal or illegal immigrant, or any other specially protected class different from the offender class, the FBI would helicopter in. Unless the offender was black, in which case careful weighing of competing victim narratives would determine their level of response.
There is no justice: there's just us -- Judge Dredd
Passing Wind wrote: "I'm glad they're getting their bikes stolen. I'm rooting for the drug addicted thieves."
Yeah, whatever.
Unless the offender was black, in which case careful weighing of competing victim narratives would determine their level of response.
A model of South Africa, where Xhosa compete with Zulu, natives are caught in the middle, and transnational interests tip the balance with an empathetic appeal.
"What if the Burlington City Council just voted to buy a kick ass bike for all the drug addicts who are stealing them? But only the drug addicts. They could let go of more police to buy the bikes."
Sure, because they are stealing the bikes to ride them.
/sarc
Post a Comment