Writes The Editorial Board of The Washington Post, in "How do you fight shoplifting? Not by locking down everything in CVS."
If that's not what "you" do, what are "you" supposed to do? "You" are supposed to arrest people and punish them, we're told. But who's the "you"? That's not something CVS can do. CVS is stuck with limited options, and it's doing something within its power. Is it supposed to stop so that things can be stolen because that creates the opportunity to arrest people and punish them?
Actually, the WaPo Editorial Board is not recommending arresting all shoplifters — only "ringleaders" and maybe people who "steal 10 or more times in a 30-day period." But CVS ought to reload its shelves and give free rein to those who avoid organized crime and who avoid getting caught more than twice a week.
ADDED: The only items on display were "sunscreen and greeting cards"? Really? Did the WaPo editors observe that first hand or were they duped into passing along the joke of some racist comedian?
ADDED: It does say "When we visited," so that must mean at least some of the 13 members of the Editorial Board directly saw what was on display. Speaking of display, I'm seeing, right now, that the comments over there have been undisplayed. I was able to see comments before, and when I attempt to view the post at the Wayback Machine, I'm told "Access Denied":
Posts
153 comments:
You fight shoplifting like the crime it is….arrest the criminals. Like Upstate Guy said about education, there needs to consequences for failure….in this case failing to obey the law. This doesn’t seem to be an issue in The Small Town.
"Writes The Editorial Board of The Washington Post, in "How do you fight shoplifting? Not by locking down everything in CVS.""
Oh, for f*ck's sake. Does the WaPo Editorial Board think their readers are so stupid as to not remember how this all came to pass?
If they do (think their readers are that stupid), how soul-sucking must it be to write for such dolts?
It's almost like they want CVS to fail. Things left unsaid: everything you buy at CVS you can get online from this thing they call Amazon. I guess Bezos saw no reason to state the obvious.
People who read WaPoo and believe what they read are no better off than reading what is written in public toilet walls.
Dare I ask why sunscreen and greeting cards were left out?
As for greeting cards, they're only wanted by people who are too nice to engage in theft OR they need to be perused individually and won't sell at all if they can't be seen.
As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this.
The WaPo Editorial Board has had Sally Quinn on it. I know what to expect.
Soros DA's... Soros Secretary of States, Top-Crook moral degenerate Biden and his disgusting drug using coke snorting tax payer funded with corrupt son... made wealthy thru Ukrainian energy company washed clean US tax dollars... (plus china)
After Saint Fentanyl died - and the White Nazi-Antifa Radical Leftwing youth with their BLM-ers- were allowed to do whatever they wanted with impunity.
If you can burn it down with impunity, whats a little shop-lifting. The left cried - "DEFUND THE POLICE!"
While Jan-6 people are rotting in prison for 20 years... Antifa arsonists and shoplifters are not even arrested - and if they are - they are allowed to go home.
When hero Kyle Rittenhouse attempted to protect property - he ended up on the run... chased by antifa thugs. In self-defense - he shot and killed a child rapist/ white left antifa thug - and the Joy Behar/Rachel Maddow soi boi NYT corrupt leftwing media cried boo hoo for the poor poor white leftist nazi child rapist.
Now we have crime everywhere - from shoplifting to car theft to brazen burglaries .... and the white left do not care. The white Newsum Hillarywood land leftists live safely behind walls and barricades with plenty of security. Screw the rest of us. On top of all that we must pay for open borders and the millions of illegal entrants. Who get free stuff from a corrupt governmetn hell bent on importing a new D-voting base - so they can have their One-Party state.
Biden and Hunter will be OK. Not to worry.
CVS is being sued for selling homeopathy, so it's kind of a wash.
Due to rampant theft that government allows, more stores will close. People will decry having no place to shop, but no business can survive rampant theft. Grocery stores have profit margins of 4-5%, so every time someone steals $4-$5 worth of merchandise, the store has to sell $100 to account for the loss. The socialists who refuse to prosecute the criminals don't mind stores closing. For one thing, so long as it doesn't impact their neighborhood, they have no reason to care. The increased costs get passed to the consumers, and the socialists condemn that as corporate greed. Already, there has been a few calls for government owned grocery stores. The few examples that already exist are losing money, but they don't care. They just hit up the taxpayers to make up the losses.
This is the America the White Left want.
Whine about guns - but do not allow police to use guns to stop crime.
I blame the Supremes for reversing affirmative steal.
If only there were a parallel nation that could be run by our media overlords. Wait...are we already living in it? How do I transfer to the parallel universe that isn't being run by the media overlords?
This is the Progressive Utopia that Obama wanted when he promised to fundamentally transform America. Suckers....You believed it when he claimed his winning "was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."
He lied to you with a straight face, and sold us out. Embrace the suck, as Nancy is proud of saying...
"and maybe people who "steal 10 or more times in a 30-day period."
So CVS is expected to keep track of who is stealing and how much but the government keeping track of who's voting is racist? Is that about right?
“Mr. Bezos, tear down that paywall.”
Althouse at 9:52 AM.
That was pretty funny.
If you encourage your local politicians to create a policing desert, just what do you think will happen?
As for Michael K's comment re those who read and believe what's printed in the WaPoo, I'm reminded of a graffito from my days at Ft. Polk in the summer of 1969. "We are the unwilling, led by the incompetent, doing the unnecessary for the ungrateful". Well that was one trainee infantry grunt's view of things as he faced a high school graduation trip to Viet Nam.
The WaPoo reader and believer is one of the clueless, governed by the incompetent and at the mercy of the lawless.
As for our host's concern, people with lots of melanin sunburn too.
"Dare I ask why sunscreen and greeting cards were left out?"
You almost dare. Very gingerly alluding to the Problem That Shall Not Be Named.
Heather Mac Donald occasionally names it. Not saying Althouse should.
Still, everyone knows HMD is a witch and so the problem still cannot be named. Hence, no solution. The absence of which enables endless prog handwringing and virtue signaling, as by WaPo. Progs like the persistent unsolvability, the better to exploit the problem politically.
Sunscreen and greeting cards... good lord.
"As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this."
It's what's not said that speaks the loudest.
CVS telegraphs unbridled mercantilist savagery.
Does this involve black people?
I like that the suggestion to arrest shoplifting ringleaders is essentially the entire strategy the DEA has had for the last 40 years in its unsuccessful war on drugs.
At last liberals have come full circle. Sunrise sunset.
Washington Post, in "How do you fight shoplifting? Not by locking down everything in CVS."
you KNOW how the WaPoo wants us to "fight shoplifting"..
They want you to buy from Amazon.
They want you to shun CVS for being ukky, because They want you to buy from Amazon.
Guess WHY They want you to buy from Amazon.. Come on! Guess!
Sounds like what everything looked like the first week of the pandemic.
I visit San Francisco often so I know what a post-apocalyptic landscape looks like.
I would shoot shoplifters, but that's just me.
Shorter WaPoop:
Only racist corporations resist thievery.
Do elite Democraps in power listen to WaPo's marching orders?
usually it's the other way around.
Creola Soul said...
needs to consequences for.. failing to obey the law.. doesn’t seem to be an issue in The Small Town.
do you know how we buy things like firewood or fresh veggies in my Small town*?
There is a pile of them next to the road.. and there is a jar to put your money in.
do you know how we buy eggs in my Small town?
You go onto their porch, and open their egg refrigerator, and there is a jar to put your money in.
Of course, the people that live in the houses are all armed.. so, there's that.
in my small town* okay, actually in the country just outside of my small town
Balderdash to the WaPo editorial board.
the witch who boasts about hexxing her boyfriend, clay felker to an early grave
Black Lives Matter for shoplifting.
Redistributive change and bag limits in sanctuary cities. Stay away from Martha's Vineyard, where they are neither so green nor empathetic.
The solution to this type of urban crime is to ban horse carriages from the streets of DC so that the Amish have to walk all the way into town to steal stuff. They would also have to carry all the loot clear back to the farm. Pretty soon they would tire of this, particularly if they didn't need suntan lotion or greeting cards. Crime problem solved.
What, you say it isn't the Amish? Who could it be? Gadfly? Rich? Cookie? Anyone? Crack?
Is the reason for the season of stealing progressive prices ("inflation")?
Democrats really do not understand even the most elementary principles of economics, do they? When shoplifting means that you’re “sold” items for zero (because the items were stolen) then from whence comes the money to pay employees and rental on the building and to buy more merchandise do you can keep the shelves stocked?
CVS has gone to hell in a handbasket since they fired Dan Rather.
As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this.
Winter with its short days, watery sunlight, and lessened need for sunscreen distresses me too.
The stores being cleaned out by thieves will have to close and then the media can write articles about how terrible it is that these neighborhoods don't have access to a pharmacy as if it's the fault of the corporations instead of the fault of politicians who catered to criminals.
The District is currently considering what to do with the old RFK stadium and surrounding property. The mayor, who is in bed with developers, wants mixed development, with a new football stadium, as if any team is insane enough to come back to D.C.
Every day there are more and more reasons to construct a new high-capacity prison on that spot.
"Roses are red / Violets are blue / I stole this card / 'cause I'm thinking of you!"
“AS As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this.”
The theft rings tend to be Black, and that would esp be the case in DC. Whites need sunscreen. Blacks - not so much. They have more melatonin in their skin that makes it less important.
The other thing is that there is almost always a haze over the city. I remember, when living there, we would go camp on top of the ridge in Shannadoah Nat park, and marvel that there were stars at night. You just almost never see them there in DC. I fully expect that the drugstores in LA would have a much harder time keeping sunscreen on their shelves.
“As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this”.
Nothing to think about. You know exactly what it is.
The people robbing CVS need to rob each and every domicile that the Washington Post’s editorial board owns, rents, leases or run as a co-op. Then the CVS robbers need to rob every living relative of the Washington Post’s editorial board members to the 7th cousin.
" The District’s U.S. attorney, Matthew M. Graves, declined to prosecute 56 percent of cases in the past fiscal year, an unusually high number relative to other cities’." This must be one of the "vermin" Trump was talking about. What police officer wants to arrest shoplifters? Surely there would be a "disparate impact" on certain lionized populations, and what if the shoplifter resisted arrest and was accidentally killed, like George Floyd?
Nothing to worry about. CNN assures us it's only a panic. https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/17/business/shoplifting-retail-crime-stores/index.html
We all know what the problem is - non arrest, non trying cases, non conviction, and non incarceration for shop lifting, unless, maybe, at industrial levels. The leftist denizens of DC did this to themselves, and worse, to the poor black neighborhoods, by voting in DAs and other politicians more interested in posturing for racial Justice than law and order. So they got neither. The (rich) whites who voted for these people can just get into their car and drive across the border to fully stocked pharmacies. The poor cannot. And are now paying the prices, as their neighborhoods are turned into pharmacy deserts by the consequences of these brain dead leftist policies.
So now the strategy is to lock up merchandise instead of locking up thieves... Brilliant strategy!
And now the shelves are bare... tough luck
Reap what you sow.
I live in Texas and we still lock up thieves and the shelves are full!!!
Althouse writes, "As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this."
And do you think the WaPo editors are unaware of that effect? The liberal white guilt complex has had a disproportionate and causative influence on the conditions that are rapidly devolving into barbarism in many cities. It often prevents people with logical minds from reaching logical conclusions and acting on them. Consequently, the mayors, city councilmen, and prosecutors, doctrinaire Democrats all, who, through their actions and deliberate inactions, have created this climate of chaos, crime, and filth, continue to be elected and re-elected into power. The self-destructive stupidity of smart people is astonishing.
Would the editorial staff of the Washington Post object if I steal their stuff? Like, just walk up and snatch their phone or wallet. They can afford the loss.
What if I steal their stuff less than 10 or more times in a 30-day period? Would it be OK then?
Maybe our Leftist friends here could weigh in on this. LOL, as if.
Actually, the WaPo Editorial Board is not recommending arresting all shoplifters — only "ringleaders" and maybe people who "steal 10 or more times in a 30-day period."
Holy crap. Althouse's summary reads like a parody of the progressive approach to crime. No wonder doing edgy comedy is so hard these days. Real life is almost too absurd to make fun of. On second thought not almost. It is too fucking absurd.
As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this.
Yes that's EXACTLY why they wrote it that way, it is subtle racism and virtue signaling in a way that gives them implausible deniability. Again this article is so much in our resident MC's wheelhouse we ALL agree with his takes on it today. And I say this before seeing most of what he will have to say.
Sunscreen not stolen has no racial implications. You can sell sunscreen online as easily as anything.
The sunscreen problem might refer to Nietzsche's History of an Error, third stage
1. The true world — attainable for the sage, the pious, the virtuous man; he lives in it, he is it. (The oldest form of the idea, relatively sensible, simple, and persuasive. A circumlocution for the sentence, "I, Plato, am the truth.")
2. The true world — unattainable for now, but promised for the sage, the pious, the virtuous man ("for the sinner who repents"). (Progress of the idea: it becomes more subtle, insidious, incomprehensible — it becomes female, it becomes Christian.)
3. The true world — unattainable, indemonstrable, unpromisable; but the very thought of it — a
consolation, an obligation, an imperative. (At bottom, the old sun, but seen through mist and skepticism. The idea has become elusive, pale, Nordic, Königsbergian.)
New Soviet Democraticals delivering Soviet results.
Who could have predicted that?
"And do you think the WaPo editors are unaware of that effect?"
I think some racist comedian made a joke and they passed it along, too witless to perceive that it could have been someone's idea of a joke. If they perceived the special character of sunscreen — that black people don't need or want it — and they *still* used that item, they'd have to be choosing subtly nudging readers to picture the shoplifters as black. Why would they do that? I think they didn't notice somebody's idea of a joke.
"Real life is almost too absurd to make fun of."
Babylon Bee hardest hit.
When the property damage done during the St. George Mostly Peaceful Protests was pointed out, it was dismissed by the left because insurance would cover it. Now that the St. George Five Finger Discount Event is in full swing, why can't CVS just file an insurance claim, like before?
Democrats in DC are following the example of Castro in Havana in pointing out 'capitalism has failed'.
See https://www.city-journal.org/article/why-havana-had-to-die
Interestingly, 45 comments and not one of Althouse's resident lefties has posted a defense of the WaPo editorial... the lefties have not posted at all either way.
I think they didn't notice somebody's idea of a joke.
Grok would've pick up on it. I'm 67.25% confident.
This article and the previous one on school performance are two sides of the same coin: the both represent the fallout from progressive attitudes towards the most destructive members of our society. Little DeMarcus can't read, so he makes trouble all day long in school, and then he and his friends go loot a CVS after class. In both cases, the solution is to remove the troublemakers: expel them from school for poor performance, and arrest them and throw them in prison if they're looting stores. But, we don't, because too many progressive nitwits are lead around by their feelings, and too many others are grifters willing to exploit it, and then whip up racial animosity, in order to make a buck.
'"Roses are red / Violets are blue / I stole this card / 'cause I'm thinking of you!"'
I actually laughed out loud at this : )
Don’t bother Mayor Bowser about it. It don’t make no nevermind.
"As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this."
Two can play that game,
I doubt if fresh fruits & vegetables would ever have to be locked up, but would you be equally distressed if there was a lock-up exception for watermelon.
The WaPo forgot to mention the classical music albums and Bob Dylan records that were left untouched. Oh, and DVDs Of "Friends" and "Fraiser".
CVS exists to make money selling things. Perhaps the DC Government (Funded by tax payers around the country) can provide CVS a "Government Theft subsidy". Just reimburse CVS and other DC stores every month for the cost of goods stolen.
Problem solved.
Althouse, we have all seen the video clips of flash mobs ransacking stores in blue cities. No one needs to nudge us to visualize what the perps looked like.
To answer Althouse's comment. The shoplifters are black. Look at the demographics of DC. Or any video showing people pillaging and looting stores in big cities. That's why the authorities are allowing it. Because the shoplifters and looters are black. They don't want to put too many black people in jail.
Why stick your head in the sand and pretend otherwise?
Want more? Vote Newsum.
Because crime is cool. Does not matter. what does matter is abortion on demand.
As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this.
I assumed they left the sunscreen out because it's November now, and DC-area people aren't laying out in the sun as much.
But now you've made me think of racism. Great. Thanks a lot, Ann.
WaPo:
Hey, CVS, just lie back and think about England.
WaPo needs to invite the shoplifters into its headquarters so that they can be trained to run the business. After all, the existing group of reporters, editors, execs, business staff, et al will eventually die-out. Who better than the denizens of D.C. to write the news articles that sniff-out and uncover those things that others wanted hidden!!
Do black people need sunscreen? I thought that was one advantage to having black skin. Please correct me if I'm wrong - medical people.
Althouse writes, "I think some racist comedian made a joke and they passed it along, too witless to perceive that it could have been someone's idea of a joke."
That's an improbable theory at best, don't you think? It's like attributing crop circles to aliens.
I suspect it had exactly the effect the editors intended -- a palpable twinge of white liberal guilt that precipitates a species of cognitive dissonance that in turn engenders the political paralysis noted earlier. Here's a simple test, how would you receive a news article about two separate arrests and prosecutions, an urban black charged with shoplifting $1000 worth of eye makeup from a CVS store in the Woodland district of DC, and a suburban white charged with stealing $1000 worth of perfume from a Nordstrom in Arlington. Would you want to know more about the first case or the second case?
Grocery stores have profit margins of 4-5%
Actually closer to 1.5-2%
John Henry
What items weren’t stolen from the CVS?
“Things White People Like”
"Sunscreen and greeting cards."
Hah--back when the "supply chain" crisis was even worse than it is now, there was a severe shortage of sunscreen in the 50 to 70 X stuff that we pasty-faced types require. All the "local" CVS' and Walgreens had was the store brand, which is awful (oily, thick, uneven and grainy) and the high-end cosmetic stuff, which is outrageously expensive, and I am not nearly sexy enough to be worth it.
It was frustrating.
I got a brainstorm, and went to the CVS in the hood (also quite local). Sure enough--no shortages there. Some dust on the containers, but there it was.
Blogger rcocean said...
Perhaps the DC Government (Funded by tax payers around the country) can provide CVS a "Government Theft subsidy". Just reimburse CVS and other DC stores every month for the cost of goods stolen.
Chicago is doing something like this with city owned grocery stores.
But it is not "fascism" or even "national socialism"
Oh, no. Those are ideologies of the right, just ask the chef. (Still waiting for an explanation of how they are not socialism but not holding my breath.
John Henry
I’d love to know what the end game is. These are mostly urban areas. Fewer police and convictions than needed, fewer grocers and pharmacies, higher teacher to student ratios, etc. Do they really think they’re building a more equitable future? A more prosperous one for everyone?
How do they expect everyone to get to everything they need in a 15 minute walk, if there’s nothing there to go to?
Our public schools suck.
I would note that I have continued to stop occasionally at that location (it's on my way to work), and it does not appear to be suffering from a large wave of shoplifters, or to have to lock everything up (at least not any more than anywhere else around here).
The really amusing thing, here?
All the "white liberal" types like Althouse are going to demonstrate surprise, surprise, surprise when some "right-wing law & order type" like Trump or someone somewhat adjacent to him winds up winning elections by landslides when they start campaigning on "Law and Order", pointing out all the BS brought in by the idiot liberals.
They'll no doubt cry "Demagogue! Racist!! Hitler!!!", but the reality is, they'll have brought this on themselves, along with the deeper societal reactions to their BS.
Y'all really do not want to know what I've heard from "recovering liberal" types from Portland and Seattle that have relocated here, and people I know who still live in those cities for economic reasons. They're going to be on-board for all sorts of outrageous things, just so the pain stops...
Y'all claim to be fighting "right-wing nutjobs", but the reality is that you're fighting... Reality. Said "reality" being that your world-view and policies do not work, and have wrought untold destruction wherever they've been implemented. Aside from the "true believer" leftoid freaks with purple hair, do you think that any resident of the urban polity that used to be Portland has any love for you or your worldview? Do they trust you to "fix" the mess you've made? Do you think that's going to make for a long-term future for your radical belief systems?
When scholarly research on this era of mass theft is performed by actual criminologists, rather than the predetermined narrative presented by media morons or the prog sociologists' hueristic claims of victimology versus intersectionality, I wonder what the findings will be. Are there actually large, albeit loose-knit criminal organizations operating in large cities across the entire nation doing this kind of mass theft, or is it a grassroots effort by specific demographics, spurred by some specific incentives and needs that have suddenly cropped up? The former case invites wonder at the lack of public notice of a new criminal organization. The latter case invites despair over how easy it is to destroy entire cities using just the local kids.
Inside is a big sign over the beverage isle that says "Grab & Go".
So whatever's happening, it must be good for business.
Ann Althouse said...
"Dare I ask why sunscreen and greeting cards were left out?
As for greeting cards, they're only wanted by people who are too nice to engage in theft OR they need to be perused individually and won't sell at all if they can't be seen.
As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this."
Ann,
As for greeting cards...when Gemco and Fedco went out of business, the last thing that they had left on the shelves were the greeting cards. People usually buy them the day that they need them so they're not worth stealing and storing. (Especially when the dollar stores have them for a dollar.)
As for the sunscreen.....summer just ended so there is not, currently, a good market for reselling stolen sunscreen.
These shoplifting gangs aren't dumb. They know what they can sell for a quick buck and what they can't. And they don't want to store inventory for months and months. (It's stolen property, so they want to get rid of it as quickly as possible.)
The editorial says “when we visited,” those were the only items on display.
Maybe if everybody just ignored the problem, it would solve itself.
Pointing it out doesn't help any.
Besides, it's too risky to discuss because of cancellation risk.
Nobody should ever mention this stuff.
Then everybody who matters will be happy.
After all, who goes to downtown pharmacies anyway?
They're way too icky.
Everybody knows that.
I am now upset by all this racist talk.
I need to go take my soma.
The Crack Emcee said...
"CVS is being sued for selling homeopathy, so it's kind of a wash."
I got so much grief one time because I dared to tell someone that the orientation of the planets couldn't possibly affect their mood.
Plus, if I hear one more person talk about "sending healing light".....
I had a roommate once named, Bonsai. (He was a blonde haired, white guy.) He made his money by being a "psychic healer." One day I come home and he's doing his hand clapping ritual in the corner of the living room. I ask my other roommate if he is practicing his psychic healing. She told me that he was doing a "long distance healing to a guy in Santa Ana." Yeah, it's all bullshit and he was actually taking money from people who could have spent their money to get real medical help for their conditions.
"There is a sucker born every minute.
Each time that second hand sweeps to the top
Like dandelions up they pop
Their ears so big, their eyes so wide
And though I feed 'em bonafide baloney,
With no truth in it.
Why you can bet I'll find some rube to buy my corn.
'Cause there's a sure-as-shooting sucker born a minute.
And I'm referrin' to the minute you was born."
The beloved Bartell's chain of drug stores in Seattle was sold to RiteAid.
Sure.......tie two rocks together, and see if they float.
I will soon be living in a drug-store desert.
Ann, you can relax. It's about demand and dollar value per item. The people shoplifting are not stealing for themselves. They are stealing for resale.
When you seen a teenager loading a trash bag of hair products and makeup, it's not that he wants to dress up and dye his hair 50 times next week...
In my rural county in a red state all of the products in CVS, Walgreen, Kroger, etc are prominently displayed on the shelves just as usual. I suspect that is because when a shoplifter is caught, store security detains them and then calls the police who arrive in just a few minutes and arrest the culprit. If this is the culprit's second or third conviction, they spend a few months in jail. Repeat offenders have been known to be sentenced to five years or so in prison once their probation or parole for previous criminal charges have been revoked. Believe it or not, that method of justice seems to work pretty well as we have yet to have any of our pharmacies close down due to produce "shrinkage".
"Shoplifters ransacked this CVS over two days early last month, and it hasn’t been restocked since. Weeks later, there’s still hardly anything to buy — or steal."
Wow! you mean the management of CVS doesn't want to pour more money down teh drain?
You have to be an "intellectual", or some other sort of Leftist, to be so stupid as to be surprised that store managements won't spend money on places where the gov't won't protect their investment.
Writes The Editorial Board of The Washington Post, in "How do you fight shoplifting? Not by locking down everything in CVS."
You do it by locking up everyone who shoplifts, and keeping them locked up.
Actually, the WaPo Editorial Board is not recommending arresting all shoplifters — only "ringleaders" and maybe people who "steal 10 or more times in a 30-day period." But CVS ought to reload its shelves and give free rein to those who avoid organized crime and who avoid getting caught more than twice a week.
And they can go fuck themselves
The Safeway in my area lost over $100,000 worth of liquor in a short period and had most of its grocery carts disappear. Now when you enter there are two armed security guys there right inside the door. That’s how you stop it.
Althouse thought she was reading the Washington Post when obviously it was the Babylon Bee.
"Actually, the WaPo Editorial Board is not recommending arresting all shoplifters — only "ringleaders" and maybe people who "steal 10 or more times in a 30-day period."
That is a punchline, right? ... right?
Yancey Ward said...
Shorter WaPoop:
Only racist corporations resist thievery.
If people steal WaPo from a newsstand, does theWaPo company still get paid for those papers? Because it sure would be funny if every place that sold WaPo had all their stock regularly stolen, so long as it was WaPo that took the financial hit
"As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this."
Oh, "distressed", are we? Think how this gal must have felt about the sunscreen surplus.
"10 or more times in a 30-day period."???!!!
Is this a joke? If not, the joke is the WaPo.
Glenn Loury black people have something to prove
"Black people have something to prove: that we're not more criminal, that we don't neglect our children, that we're just as smart as anybody else, we have the burden of dispelling the suppositions about us some people are inclined to arrive at based upon what they see in the world"
George Soros and his pet D.A.s have conspired to obstruct justice on a massive scale. That sounds like a huge RICO suit/prosecution awaiting for someone to take on.
GA6 I believe it. Antifa are pasty white haters. Have you seen their mug shots?
Breezy: "I’d love to know what the end game is."
Cloward-Piven.
Nothing less than the purposeful, total and complete collapse of all systems, institutions and norms which the left/dem/LLR-left believe will usher in an opportunity for that left to rebuild/reset all of society along the lines they prefer.
The idea is things will get so bad the citizenry will accept any and all leftist totaliarian authorotarian controls for any semblance of stability...
...sound familiar?
Forgot to mention the liberal judges who default sentence is "time served." The poor, misunderstood criminal then walks and is free to resume his nefarious ways again. Those judges should be included in the RICO indictments.
After all the stores close, thieves will have fewer options. We've known about the freight trains that get looted outside Los Angeles, delivery trucks will be targeted for armed robbery, and porch piracy will naturally devolve into home invasion. We're headed for a new age of highwaymen and brigandry. The millions of third world desperadoes that have been welcomed into America are going to drive the decline.
11/19/23, 12:41 PM
Blogger rcocean said...
Do black people need sunscreen? I thought that was one advantage to having black skin. Please correct me if I'm wrong - medical people.
11/19/23, 12:44 PM
My wife, who is Black, uses sunscreen much more than I (Northern European ancestry) do.
My understanding is that the UV radiation damages the skin, no matter how much pigment you have. Black skin isn't damaged as much, but it's still damaged.
As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this.
@Althouse, the Post is playing a “gotcha” game with you — you’re supposed to think of individuals with an excess of melanin for our latitudes, and then they get to point at you and say “racist, racist, racist.” Though you sort of preempted them by feeling bad yourself. In reality I think loudogblog at 1:16 probably has it right — who wants to buy sunscreen on the five finger discount in the winter?
It reminds me of the old “gotcha” joke. What is it that the Queen of England does sitting down, her son does standing up, and her dogs on three legs? (I told you it’s an old joke!)
Answer: Shake hands, of course,and if you thought of anything else then you have a dirty mind.
CVS!?!? All the chain drug stores are floundering.
If I recall correctly, CVS saw profits in these "under-served" neighborhoods.
That business model has recently been changed to "serve-yourself" neighborhoods.
The shoplifting and looting of highend stores is done by criminal gangs. The perps are usually blacks, the people running the "rings" are usually not. The thieves are told what to steal. After they get paid off, the Ringleaders deliver the stuff to "fences" who usually sell it overseas.
Its a big business. Maybe people stealing low cost items are just shoplifters, but the people targeting highend stores and taking expensive clothes, drugs from the pharmacy, and other items, are NOT.
I wouldnt be shocked if some the $$ ends up in the pockets of the "Soft-on-crime" local politicans.
The shoplifting and looting of highend stores is done by criminal gangs. The perps are usually blacks, the people running the "rings" are usually not. The thieves are told what to steal. After they get paid off, the Ringleaders deliver the stuff to "fences" who usually sell it overseas.
Its a big business. Maybe people stealing low cost items are just shoplifters, but the people targeting highend stores and taking expensive clothes, drugs from the pharmacy, and other items, are NOT.
I wouldnt be shocked if some the $$ ends up in the pockets of the "Soft-on-crime" local politicans.
You should go watch "Caged" (1950) - these sort of organized shoplifting rings have been around for LONG time.
The Gods of the Copybook Headings descend on CVS!
"Dare I ask why sunscreen and greeting cards were left out?"
No secondary market. Or perhaps the looters are just lousy salesmen.
They are not shoplifting criminals, they are merely patriotic protesters and tourists.
I found the answer to the larger question as to why this grand scale shoplifting is happening ...
Raising children without consequences is producing a generation of antisocial young adults, without drive, discipline or knowledge.
The Closures that took 50 million children out of classrooms ...
I am so old that I remember food deserts" in certain neighborhoods. Nobody who reads the NY Times or WaPoo could understand why this might be. Thiose of us who did understand had a secret handshake.
“I think some racist comedian made a joke and they passed it along, too witless to perceive that it could have been someone's idea of a joke.”
So this is the We Tu Lo, Sum Ting Wong, Ho Lee Fok process applied to drug store commodities instead of Korean Airline Cabin crews? Possible, but it is probable that cards and sunscreen are just hard to move low value items. The Amazon fences don’t want them. The liquor goes first. Liquor stores still have plywood doors in places in Chicago since the summer of love.
"Access Denied"
Perhaps the WaPo commentariat is beginning to resemble the Althouse regulars.
Democracy dies in darkness, even if you must strangle it with the lights out.
When there is nothing for them to steal on the shelves... they will just COME TO YOUR HOUSE AND STEAL, OR WORSE.
And I am not joking. That is what will happen. Gangs will descend on the suburbs and kick in doors. And in places like NY, Chicago, and LA, with good 'gun control' there will be terror in the homes.
They will be so used to ignoring the law, and the law ignoring them, that to find more loot they will go where the loot is. I.E. your home.
Reap what you sow. You voted for it.
The collective Soviet-schooled economic left... in unison.
Add some whine: "But that is what insurance is for.." & "Those rich stores deserve it."
Installa an airlock, or turnstile system that limits the number of shoppers who can enter or exit at any one time, and require that no one may enter wearing a mask or hood. Anyone requesting exception from that rule may do so after presenting proper ID Everyone entering should be photographed (or have their ID recorded) and barred from patronizing the store again if they prove themselves to be thieves. They may also be restrained or diverted in the exit machinery until the cops arrive. Stores whoulc=d be required to report the race of all thieves.
“' Seattle rioters during Burn Loot Murder shouted “nigger!” at my son’s black National Guard sergeant."
With your posting here. I do not beleive you.”
Believe what you like. He witnessed it multiple times. I’m sure they rationalized it as punking a Tom, but I doubt that’s what was in their hearts.
“I think some racist comedian made a joke and they passed it along, too witless to perceive that it could have been someone's idea of a joke. If they perceived the special character of sunscreen — that black people don't need or want it — and they *still* used that item, they'd have to be choosing subtly nudging readers to picture the shoplifters as black. Why would they do that? I think they didn't notice somebody's idea of a joke”.
You can’t seriously mean that. Sometime a sly bigoted line is just a sly bigoted line meant for the smart people. Problem is there’s a lot more smart people than these hateful bigots.
“' Seattle rioters during Burn Loot Murder shouted “nigger!” at my son’s black National Guard sergeant."
Yes, it happened. Scratch a white progressive protester and you'll find a raging racist.
I saw video of white soi-boys/girls coming up to a Black cop talking to a Black protester and disrupting their conversation.
They have "home rule" in the District of Columbia. The people elect the Mayor and the Council, and those folks or their appointees hire the people who administer the Government. That includes the police. Don't like bare shelves at CVS? Elect law-and-order leaders.
When I moved to DC in 1969, 14th & Irving NW had been devastated by riots, but over the years it was rebuilt and renovated into a thriving middle class neighborhood, mostly Black and Brown, but some Whites, too. That's how it was when I moved away in the early 2000's. If it's not that way now, then the people can do something about it.
"And do you think the WaPo editors are unaware of that effect?"
I think some racist comedian made a joke and they passed it along,..
Yep, bouncing off the fact that black hair products were first things to be locked up years ago, leading to cries of discrimination, and ending with all hair care stuff incarcerated.
>Ann Althouse said...
Dare I ask why sunscreen and greeting cards were left out?
As for sunscreen, I'm not going to say, but I'm distressed that the Washington Post made me think about this.<
This distresses you? My, you are rather fragile.
Leaving sunscreen out seems pretty obvious for practical reasons.
However, though I doubt it, I do hope that someone at WaPo meant this as the excellent wry joke that it is.
Access Denied -- This is actually the only hopeful part of this whole story. It suggests the readership of the WaPo, Democratic bureaucrats and government cheerleaders nearly all -- are starting to realize that perhaps just maybe something might be amiss with their policy choices. But the powers-that-be at the WaPo shut down the comments because such thoughts are still wrong-think among our elite narrative makers, ironically not unlike wondering why the sunscreen is still on the shelf (for which I think our host is correct: a joke they didn't get).
In a startling incident captured on video, a mob of around 40 people descended on a 53-foot FedEx trailer in Memphis, Tennessee, looting it while it was halted at a red light.
https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/15/fedex-truck-blocked-looted-memphis-tennessee-video/
A lot of these goods are getting resold at places like Amazon or something called Facebook Marketplace or just on a street corner somewhere. I do wonder about the Amazon connection and whether or not Amazon makes the third party sellers who use its platform verify where they are getting their goods from.
I try not to buy anything from Amazon that I can get in a store in my area. Because I wonder about the source of some of that merchandise. Apologies to the hostess for that, but I do try to go through the portal for kindle books.
All this easy thievery eventually attracts average law-abiding kids. Why should she/he/they go without a new pair of shoes, or pants, or shirts, or computers simply because Mom can't afford to buy them?
Everybody else is getting it for free, why not join the crowd?
No doubt some of the kids stealing stuff would get a good ass whoopin' if mom and dad found out about it.
And, some of the kids would be encouraged by mom and dad to participate.
Sad situation.
Being clueless apparently is part of the job description for WaPo editorial board members.
Second look at Islamic anti-crime policies?
Discipline begins at home.
Shit... I got anyone beat.
I know this gal and watched as she went from horse trainer to groomer to animal massage "therapy" to ... drum roll ...
Debbie's Energy Healing for Animals
That people pay for this blows me away.
For a good chuckle, read "The Science Behind". That is a well polished piece of fantasy work.
"rcocean said...
Do black people need sunscreen? I thought that was one advantage to having black skin. Please correct me if I'm wrong - medical people."
___
Getting warmer..
Obviously mocking Crack's favorite topic - homeopathy.
I had a friend from Cameroon who was very dark. When he burnt he got an incredibly dark red. He said it hurt a lot.
All that is left is sunscreen and greeting cards. That is hilarious. They never have to lock down the sunscreen do they?
The solution for me was to move to a place where people don't behave like that.
It will be CVS' solution also.
Blogger Oligonicella said...
Obviously mocking Crack's favorite topic - homeopathy.
--
Crack was complaining about lockdown of his hair products quite a while ago.
The joke would have been sunscreen and Father’s Day cards, which some numpty ruined by obscuring it into greeting cards
Surprised no one picked up on that
Lol. It took me a really long time to get why Althouse thought sunscreen and greeting cards were a racist joke.
I happen to know that greeting cards are generally sold, marketed, managed and stocked by the greeting card companies, which lease space in the stores and agree to maintain and stock the displays; the stores get a percentage.
So the greeting cards were probably delivered after the big theft.
Not so sure about the sunscreen.
Apparently everything in a CVS pharmacy except greeting cards and sun block can be traded for crack.
Nobody ever thought of getting their dealer a nice 'Thank You' card?
Bruce Hayden wrote: "They have more melatonin in their skin..." Who's going to tell him?
When I began working in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office thirty-some years ago, we routinely prosecuted shoplifters for Robbery (theft + personal violence) if they struggled or hit the security guards who were attempting to hold them for police. Security guards and police would chase shoplifters down the street for blocks if need be.
We would usually agree to drop the charges down from Robbery Felony(2) to Simple Assault and Retail Theft. Judges usually gave the offenders some time in the county jail. The system worked pretty well; we had no rampant shoplifting problem.
I don't know the fine details of how our current Soros-backed progressive District Attorney chooses to deal with shoplifting cases, but every store now experiences people just strolling in, taking stuff, and strolling out again.
"' Seattle rioters during Burn Loot Murder shouted “nigger!” at my son’s black National Guard sergeant."
With your posting here. I do not beleive you.”
CRACK MC: Believe what you like. He witnessed it multiple times. I’m sure they rationalized it as punking a Tom, but I doubt that’s what was in their hearts.}}}}
Anyone who has paid attention to the behavior of the Antifa-types and other Lefty rioters, agitators, and protesters will have heard the N word flung at ANY "enemy" the Leftists are targeting, regardless of the apparent race of their target. First time I heard it on video I thought it must have been uttered by a lone nutter, but then I've heard it used in other various videos several times since.
Ideally, local authorities would do their job and CVS wouldn't have to do anything, but since that's not happening, what can CVS do on their own?
CVS could adopt the Costco model: You have to be a member to shop there. You don't get in without your membership card, which unlike Costco, will need to be scanned for the door to open. Like Costco, there will be a guard to ensure the picture ID matches. You can't get out until your receipt is checked by a guard.
Some added administrative details: The membership would be free and since most stores will not be locked-down, like the above; membership gets you a 5% discount at all stores and entrance into high security stores.
"You don't get in without your membership card..."
The Democrats say that it's difficult for some people to get IDs. Requiring a membership card would seem to be an unfair burden on those folks.
So is Washington DC now a pharmacy desert?
People outside these cities shouldn’t try and fix these cities. These cities are getting exactly what they vote for - crime and disorder. Voters should not be protected from the consequences of their votes. It will self-correct… eventually.
And, yet, despite the authors of this piece being, at best, incredibly stupid and, at worst, insane, we will continue to be provided with articles from the Washington Post on this very blog, most likely.
I mean I'm not judging, but when the guy screaming about lizard people while wearing underwear on his head is taking a dump on your front stairs, there does come a point when you realize that further discussion with said individual is not productive.
Last time I heard, CVS was a for profit business. No profit, no store. It's that bloody simple.
Sunscreen eh? They know their customers...
If any scumbag local government types dare to tell CVS they can't operate this way, like they did to the convenience-store owners in Detroit who were installing bulletproof cashiers' booths, I hope they close every store in the city.
Holy shit, do Democrats love criminals and hate honest taxpayers. Words can't describe how much I hate their guts and wish to see the very last of them hunted down with dogs.
Looks like they've opened up the comments again.
Cloward-Piven.
Nothing less than the purposeful, total and complete collapse of all systems, institutions and norms which the left/dem/LLR-left believe will usher in an opportunity for that left to rebuild/reset all of society along the lines they prefer.
At least where I live, this would not work out to the liking of those who hope it would usher in the socialist millennium. Quite the opposite, in fact. The only things keeping some unspeakably reactionary social changes from occurring is the presence of a functioning police force and judicial system, and an economy that keeps most honest people in employment.
A friend visited me recently in Florida from his blue Northeast state. He was struck by the apparent lack of crime - and the lack of stench of crime. He wondered why aloud. I told him everyone here is armed, and everyone here knows everyone here is armed.
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