Austin police protest
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

While TTAG’s home town of Austin, Texas is a smaller city in a very big red state, it’s run by city officials who aspire to make the capital all that other larger people’s paradises such as San Francisco, Seattle and Portland have become. Austin’s city council took a meat axe to the city’s police budget in August and it’s hardly alone in doing that in this post-George Floyd world.

Cities around the country have cut their law enforcement budgets and demonized the cops still on the job, causing a record number of LEO’s to choose to quit or retire and find other more rewarding forms of employment.

New York, D.C., Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Columbus, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Milwaukee, Santa Fe, Asheville, North Carolina, and Norman, Oklahoma — yes, Norman, OK — to name a few, have or are in the process of cutting their law enforcement budgets and reducing the number of beat cops. This, at the same time allegedly non-violent prisoners have been sprung from jails in many of these same cities to keep the inmates safe from Covid infection.

The result has been entirely predictable: a spike in crime rates and drastically increased response times for emergency calls. You’ve always been your own first responder, but, increasingly, you may have time to order a pizza and watch a movie before a cruiser rolls up to your front door.

The Austin Police Association says understaffing is causing 911 calls to go hours without a response.

According to [Austin Police Association] president Ken Casaday, Saturday night some shifts were staffed at just 50 percent.

“The shift I worked on last night– it’s supposed to have 10 people. We only had five,” says Casaday.

He explains, more APD officers are taking jobs elsewhere and those still serving Austin are stretched thin.

“For several minutes last night we had no officers available to answer 911 calls in the City of Austin because we were just overrun with calls from midnight to 2 a.m.,” Casaday says.

Over the summer Austin City Council voted to cut the police budget by eliminating unfilled positions and temporarily halting cadet classes. Now APA is pointing to increased violent crime.

– Melanie Torre in Police association says officer shortage causing 911 delays

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111 COMMENTS

  1. Austin city leaders are working hard at turning a nice city into a cesspool. They are most of the way there.

    Texas (esp Austin) is well on it’s way to Californication.

    Sucks

    • Well, the GOP has (and is likely to retain) control of both houses of the state legislature by comfortable margins, as well as holds all statewide offices. Not a lot of appetite anywhere in Texas except in the fever swamp parts of Austin for the “defund the police” virtue signaling.

      As far as Austin, the legislature and governor routinely pass stuff to unwind Austin socialist craziness (e.g., its tight regulations of Uber and Lyft, a ridiculously oppressive tree preservation ordinance, etc.). Currently, they are warming up a bill that would put APD under the aegis of the state police (DPS), but would make Austin pay for it from the first dollars of sales tax revenue. And I expect there will similarly be a bill that unwinds the city’s goofy laws that let the homeless pretty much do whatever they want.

      • All the madness in Austin probably helps wake up the rest of the state. There is some benefit to that.

      • Especially during the past 6 months or so, I don’t get to downtown Austin real often, but a recent trip showed that the governor’s takeover to the extent of homeless encampments under all overpasses has been overridden somehow, the scum is back. Somebody needs to start a fund drive to buy one-way bus tickets to LA or SF, California thinks homeless dopers are the cat’s meow, they can have ours! I would donate. Meanwhile, my car gun is a .45, as opposed to my carry 9 mm.

      • “Well, the GOP has (and is likely to retain) control of both houses of the state legislature by comfortable margins, as well as holds all statewide offices.”

        I really hate to point out the 900-pound gorilla sitting over there in the corner, but if that’s true, why hasn’t Texas passed constitutional carry yet? 😉

        • A plethora of RINOs doth abound! The last two Speakers of the House were RINOs. Thankfully, Dennis bonnen embarrassed himself by plotting against other Republicans. There will be a new Speaker this coming legislative session but there are no candidates popping up so far. Hopefully, we can get a good solid Conservative Republican as the Speaker. And then, Constitutional Carry should pass without much trouble.

        • Texican beat me to it. The last two Texas House Speakers have been RINO’s who simply refused to let it come up for a vote.

          Under Texas’ post-Reconstruction constitution, the governor is extremely weak, with very limited powers.
          The Texas House Speaker is the most powerful person in the state, and the Lt. Governor is #2 (actually more powerful than the Governor). The GOP has had a comfortable majority in the Texas House for the last few decades. So why have we been repeatedly saddled with RINO’s (first Strauss and then Strauss 2.0 a/k/a Bonnen)?

          Any sane legislative caucus would decide among themselves one person the party was going to put forward for Speaker, and enforce party discipline on members to support the caucus’ choice. (Indeed, doing it that way and disavowing the old “pledge card” practice has been a plank of the official Texas GOP platform for years.) Instead, however, Strauss and Bonnen relied on the old-school Texas method, whereby Speaker candidates solicit and obtain “pledge cards” from House members from both parties. Strauss was notorious because he effectively got elected by having the support of a few GOP moderates and 100% of the Dem caucus (who would rather see a RINO than a hardcore GOP guy, especially when Strauss would also give the Dems a few committee chairs for their support).

      • I OPEN CARRY one of my Custom 1911’s when I visit Austin.

        Only been asked to leave ONE place so far.

        Get lots of nasty looks but NO aggression. IF somebody asks me to “Shoot me Nigga…” I will comply.

  2. Crime skyrocketing helps us, at the expense of of the citizens in the areas where crime is rising.

    I’d really like to believe the citizens in those cities will wake the fuck up and throw the bums out, but I look at at Leftist cities like San Fransisco, Portland, and Seattle where the citizens willingly tolerate atrocious behaviors like public urination and defecation. In fact, they are proud they are so ‘woke’ and tolerant of other’s misfortune. “The poor dears. They can’t help it…”

    That’s what those folks are, proudly tolerant of rising crime and public sidewalks literally slick with disease from human shit.

    And they are hell-bent about bring that to where you live…

    • Boy, I wish you really would get too old for this sh$t, because your comments are boomer as f%&$.

      • I applaud your comment, soy boi…stand firm with your coprophagia coprophilia…Liberal Enlightenment at it’s best!

      • “Boy, I wish you really would…”

        Sorry, my purpose in life is to piss off fuckwits like yourself.

        Embrace the suck, troll-boy… 🙂

      • You’ve overplayed your use of the word “boomer”, Hail, and have been mis-applying it. Which pretty much indicates you don’t even know what the term means.

        There might be a few true Baby Boomer generation readers here, but most are likely Gen X’ers. And by your junior high level tactics and grammar, I’ll be betting you yourself are a Millenial a most, and likely just a Zoomer.

        Try again.

        • The dimwitted trolls like to use the term “Geezer” too. I guess that applies to anyone who has gotten out of their mommies basement and is actually paying their OWN way thru life.
          Such a pathetic level of troll on TTAG, perhaps the MOST pathetic on the entire internet.
          The IP address info shows just how thin the trolling group is on TTAG. The same few losers are just putting on different “masks” to cover up their true identity.
          Suck it trolls! Enjoy that sweet, SWEET TDS in a few weeks. Be sure to shed LOTS of tears, I use them to lubricant my firearms!
          Trump/Pence 2020 FTW.!

    • It will be interesting to see if there’s a voter/taxpayer backlash.

      It seems almost inevitable but then you have to consider that in many of these places people have fled the city over time and particularly in the last six months.

      Months back I figured that Mayor Hancock (Denver) was in for a rough ride. Especially when commercial real estate started to fall like a rock. But then you started to see how rents and house prices in Denver dropped at the same time the edges of the Metro and just beyond started to spike as did commercial real estate. People and businesses with the means to leave generally did.

      Which raises the question of who is left? Are they the unable who wished they could and will demand change or are they the true believers? I suspect a large enough percentage are the latter that it’s going to take at least another cycle for them to wise up. If they ever do.

      • strych9,

        … in many … places people have fled the city over time and particularly in the last six months.

        … who is left? … are they the true believers? I suspect a large enough percentage are …

        I came to say exactly that. I believe that a significant majority of the people staying behind in those ultra-Progressive cities are the true believers. They have to be for two simple reasons:
        1) Leaving would mean admitting that Progressive dogma is an abject failure: can’t have that, now can we?
        2) Staying supports continued self-loathing and self-flagellation for being evil privileged people.

      • “Which raises the question of who is left? Are they the unable who wished they could and will demand change or are they the true believers?”

        Look at Seattle and San Fran for your answer. The ‘true believers’ live in gated communities and buildings with secure access.

        Nothing will change until you see Seattle, San Fran, etc, change their ways. And they likely will never, because doing so will expose them for being the racists they really are.

        Saw an article a day or so back about New York city. It seems the high-dollar designer stores have a serious problem. The shoplifters have gotten so brazen they just walk into the stores and walk out with the goods. The clerks are instructed to do nothing about it, for fear of the store being labeled as ‘racist’…

        • “That’s Yelp’s new deal.”

          Heard about that, what a wonderful tool to sabotage a competitor’s business.

          Worse, companies will pop up that will specialize in gaming the Yelp algorithms, creating phony reviewer accounts that will check the right boxes as to being a legit reviewer.

          Something tells me Yelp will bow out of that ‘service’ in the not-distant future…

    • While it would be nice if they would learn from their mistakes I’m afraid humans have the capacity to suffer a lot more for an ideology they hold strong faith in.

  4. Welcome To Austin You Are Now Leaving The State Of Texas or something like that. It’s takes a total nitwit to walk around with a sign that says. End Systemic Racism. Where is this Systemic Racism? I haven’t seen it at Walmart or anywhere else and I’m no homebody. Where is it? Must be something concocted by democRats for political gain, etc.
    What to do? The Gov. and AG of Texas should round up city officials and charge them with what is clearly taxpayer public endangerment.

    • Charge them with theft of Services… They are still collecting the same ammount of taxes WITHOUT providing the services they were meant to pay for. IT’s FRAUD on a massive (governmental) scale.

    • They call themselves liberals, but in reality they’re progressives and radical socialists who are wearing the liberals’ dead skin like a mask. And they’re campaigning to do the one thing socialism is best at — spreading misery.

      They get triggered by MAGA and yell that America was never great because it was never miserable enough. Instead of MAGA, they’ll MEME: Make Everyone Miserable Eventually.

      • “They call themselves liberals, but in reality they’re progressives”

        Correct. That has actually been going on for the past century, ever since Woodrow Wilson gave progressives a bad name. Liberalism was looked upon favorably until it was twisted to represent Big Government, which was antithetical to liberalism. Now that the dems have ruined the liberal name, the progressive name is cool again.

  6. Pretty soon all of the calls will just be to pick up bodies.

    “911, What’s your emergency?”
    “There’s a guy laying in the street (sidewalk, front yard, front porch, liquor store doorway, etc). Looks like he got shot.”

      • Larry,

        I’ve tried twice to post where you can read about the Portland incident without a paywall. No success with either of the two earlier attempts.

        Try typing lawenforcementtoday into your search engine. That should get you to a non-paywall site where you can search for that particular story.

        Dan, what’s the secret to posting a link without going to comment Limbo??

  9. A liberal is someone who thinks they have a headache because they aren’t beating their head against the wall hard enough.

  10. It used to be a Conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. Now liberals just apologize to the mugger.

  11. If this is what the voters want by all means give it to them. To the rest you can put up with it or unfortunately moving may be in their best interest.

    • I am actually fine with it except for one thing. At least as far as I have seen, what law enforcement remains concentrates on persecuting those who defend themselves against those the LE refused to defend them from. If cops are not available, forget any bodies you find later. Things would calm down pretty quick, maybe enough to trim more LE jobs.

  12. So glad to see the Hippie Utopia of Asheville on that list. 100 Breweries in the county (I love alcohol, but get real), most of them complete with day care facilities, women with more hair than their “men” on their legs and underarms, real fucking paradise. I have nothing of substance to add, I just despise that place. ☹

  13. Sounds like the Austin PD needs to take some employees off revenue generation aka speed traps and move them to overnight patrol. Eliminate the drug unit, put them on overnight patrol. Eliminate any and all bodyguard duties and put those officers on overnight patrol. Eliminate the SWAT team, and put those employees back on overnight patrol.

    Police departments are government agencies. I have never seen any government agency that did not have a bloated budget and a staff of lazy no accounts who would be doing more service to the community picking up cans on the side of the road.

    • Chris Mallory,

      No, no, no, you have it all wrong. All the city of Austin needs to do is hire Social Workers to replace the missing police. Then, when someone calls 911 to report an armed robbery in progress at a liquor store, a Social Worker can race over there and lecture the liquor store owner about his/her “privilege” and how he/she owes the armed robber. The wonderful results:
      1) the liquor store owner cheerfully hands over the money in the cash register to the armed robber
      2) the armed robber joyfully skips out of the store while whistling a happy song
      3) the armed robber immediately goes to the nearest grocery store to buy healthy organic fruits and vegetables for his/her child at home with the money from the liquor store cash register
      4) the liquor store owner sleeps soundly that night knowing that he/she helped feed children
      5) no one gets hurt and no one goes to jail

      Who could possibly oppose such a fantastic approach and results?

      Note: in the event that readers are really dense or have not yet had their morning coffee, my above commentary is sarcasm/satire.

      • My suggestion of “wonderful results” would be the liquor store employee has somebody to hide behind, while shooting the robber.

  14. The whole “Defund the Police” movement is about pensions, not “police brutality.” Police, and public sector pensions, are very underfunded, and the localities have two choices to deal with this problem: raise taxes to astronomical levels, or cut services. The whole “police brutality” schtick is nothing more than kabuki theater to cover up the real reason.

    In other words, the defunding of police would have happened anyway, now they can use the lie of “police brutality” as a smoke screen.

    Since Roman times, state pension obligations have been the downfall of civilization. When the Roman legions didn’t get their promised pensions, they came out of retirement and just took what they thought they were owed.

    Next up is education. What will the excuse be there?

    • Jimmy Beam,

      Honestly, I think you are wrong. Democrat politicians love increasing taxes. And the bizarre corollary: Democrat constituents love paying ever-increasing taxes.

      Just look at the countries in Europe whose effective combined tax rates exceed 60% of their income in many/most instances. You don’t see or hear about anyone complaining or rioting over high taxes over there.

      Come to think of it, look here in our own nation. When is the last time you heard about Democrat constituents complaining or rioting about high taxes? Answer: never.

      • They need to raise taxes so high to pay these pension obligations that it would kill the economy. People may not complain, but they would just walk away from their homes. They couldn’t sell them, and they couldn’t pay the taxes and mortgage. This situation is now about to happen in Chicago.

        So they won’t raise taxes, but they’ll cut services, and you’ll get the same result. Not only police, but firefighters and other services. People will just walk away from their homes because the situation will become so unlivable.

        The Left has so f*ed everything up on all levels. We are facing the collapse. These cities are f*ed even if Trump wins. If you can, get the f* out of the larger cities. Now.

    • Well, to hear the teacher’s unions tell it, they’re are already so indispensable and important to society that they can’t risk their health by actually, you know, teaching in the age of covid.

      The difference between police and teachers is that while the police rank-and-file are unforgivably conservative and their unions tend to reflect it, the teacher’s unions are incredibly woke and 100% Marxist, so they’ll probably get a pass. The socialist misery will be passed on to someone else

    • The excuse in education should simply be that our children have not been educated, so you don’t get your pension! Simple!

      • Heck, the kids might be better off with no education at all than with the aggressive maleducation schools are pushing now.

    • Don’t need an excuse to defund education. They’re the ones that taught kids to desire Communism and to hate the Nation we used to call America. Defunding is too good for them,. They should have to RETURN the money they STOLE WHILE TEACHING LIES. Starting with College Professors.

  15. What is particularly ridiculous, and typical, of the liberal mentality is that the cadet class that was next in line, that was just cut by the city council, was the first majority minority cadet class in Austin’s history.

    Those are predominantly Black and Hispanic people who left their jobs and some of whom moved specifically for that cadet class, only to have their enlightened betters yank the rug out from under them.

    In one fell swoop the the Austin city council has ensured that the police force is still predominantly older white men and impoverished minority families at the same time.

    The Klansmen are amateurs compared to these “people”.

    • The KKK were Democrats too. You might call them the violent wing of the Democratic Party. In this century, the violent wing has called itself Occupy, Antifa, and BLM.
      So, what’s changed, other than their cloaks and masks are now black instead of white?

      • “The KKK were Democrats too. You might call them the violent wing SOCOM of the Democratic Party.”

        FIFY

    • I’ve always felt that the easiest way to turn the minds of the crazies running the shows in the Leftist hovels is to dox them. Provide all the BLM, anarchists and leftist “soldiers/soldjahs” the info about exactly where to do their demos where they’ll do the ‘most good” and infer that there’s probably a lot of real wealth worth “transferring ownership of” in those ‘hoods as compared to the inner cities they’re burning and looting.

      Let some of the privileged call in to 911 and wait an hour- cops, EMTs/fire dept. Doesn’t matter. Even if these cretins do have some form of hired protection it wouldn’t likely stand up long against a Portland/Kenosha-style peaceful protest.

      It’s always been the express purpose of the Left to spread the misery around to everyone except those in charge. Put a little real life into the mayors and councilmembers of those places that have chosen to screw LE and civilzation. They’ll come around, get run out of their neighborhoods or die in the fires. They need to be put up in front of other crazies who are just as whacked out as they are, but who are also absolutely violent and really don’t give a damn.

      • “Put a little real life into the mayors and councilmembers of those places that have chosen to screw LE and civilzation.”

        It is the “civilization” you mention that votes the crazies in office, and keeps them there. You will never run out of “crazies” to hold office, and other “crazies” to put them there.

        • No, not the civilization, just the complacency that comes with the surety that most will go through their days/lives without worrying about being eaten by a lion or tiger, or having one’s government spirit them away in the middle of the night, or being outrightly and publicly killed for what one believes. Most Americans, regardless of the Left’s insistence, do not have to worry about where their next meal will come from nor finding a place to sleep at night, or even getting urgent medical care for normal maladies. The government now provides a surety that Nature does not, and there’s where the problems begin. So, many are truly left with far too much time on their hands. (Like you and I wasting time on this site when we could be doing something constructive or profitable.)

          Every great “civilization” has reached the point of having life become too easy and all have failed over recorded history. Of course, you know that. The complacency is always one of the reasons it’s so difficult to raise alarms about the slow erosion of rights and liberties, the old frog in the heating pan syndrome.

          • “No, not the civilization, just the complacency that comes with the surety that most will go through their days/lives without worrying about being eaten by a lion or tiger, or having one’s government spirit them away in the middle of the night, or being outrightly and publicly killed for what one believes.”

            What you describe is a “civilization”. A civilization has a society, a culture, that holds that “civilization” apart from others. We have a civilization the not only depends on the crazies for comfort, but actually feeds those crazies, rewarding them with public office. It is not the office holders that destroy the culture, the society, the nation, the civilization, but the civilians themselves.

      • “Let some of the privileged call in to 911 and wait an hour- cops, EMTs/fire dept. ”

        Because that’s not how it’s actually going to work. We’ve seen this play out all over the world. The wealthy simply set up their own legal political subdivisions and install their own private security forces and emergency forces in them.

        Go try to bash in windows and burn down businesses in Brooklin Novo in Brazil, or some of the wealthier enclaves in Mexico city. The police will get a call, eventually, to pick up the bodies.

        Sadly, this further division of the classes is coming to America.

        • “Sadly, this further division of the classes is coming to America.”

          Just wait until they pass “Medicaid for all”. Businesses will abandon private health insurance and throw the people into the ‘program’.

          That will create a vicious 2-class system of health care. The wealthy will pay cash and get good health care, while the ‘poors’ will suffer long waiting lists if God forbid they need a specialist.

          And I can easily see the good doctors refusing to participate in the public plan and being private only.

          Once the ‘poors’ figure out what’s really going on, they will go all BLM and burn it all down…

        • Hell, I just now got your ‘Brooklin Novo’ reference.

          That’s what they want for us, Sao Paulo Brazil. Crushing poverty for the masses, while the wealthy commute by private helicopters. What a great way to spark a revolution…

        • Geoff,

          Yup, I think there’s a good number of people on the Left that miss serfdom, and are arrogant enough to misunderstand which side of the haves/have nots line they are on.

          • “…and are arrogant enough to misunderstand which side of the haves/have nots line they are on.”

            It is a conceit of us all that if we lived at another time in history, we would be part of the wealthy class.

  16. What do you mean “coming?”

    This has always been the case.

    One of the main reasons I purchased my first pistol.

  17. Meh…my local 5-O are particularly pathetic. They failed on May 31. They didn’t believe me on Halloween last year about gunshots during trick or treating. Didn’t want my help and charged through my yard chasing a carjacker. They’re good at harrassing motorists or garage sales. I call myself at 1-800 Plug You 😕😕😕😕

  18. My family has been waiting for the Chicago PD to protect us from arsonists and rioters like (future mayor) Richard J. Daley since 1919.

    If you’re not in custody or a confidential informant, the police don’t have any legal duty to protect you from ANYTHING.

    Protect YOURSELF or don’t get protected AT ALL.

    Anybody who tells you different is a LIAR.

  19. the criminals are going to find out in the worst way imaginable that the police were created to be an anti vigilantism measure
    that is to say theyre not there to protect us from them nearly as much as theyre there to protect them from us

  20. As former President Obama famously said, “Elections have consequences.” Residents in these urban Hellscapes voted for the City Councils who have implemented these policies. Now those urban constituents get to reap what they sowed.

    Nothing will change/happen until those violent mobs start venturing into outer reaches of the suburbs or more rural areas. When that happens, those violent mobs will be in for a rude awakening.

  21. The rest of the OKC metro doesn’t call the southern suburb “The People’s Republic of Norman” for nothing.

    It’s a mostly fine place to visit, but I don’t want to live there, anymore.

  22. Ask the gentleman with the sign to give the definition of systemic racism. Then ask him specifically what laws we have that fit that definition.

    Should be interesting.

  23. I call on the Governor of Texas and the legislature to disincorporate the City of Austin and have all functions transferred to the county government. The liberal cancer that is Austin must be excised expeditiously with extreme prejudice.

      • “My family has lived in Austin on and off since 1977. Today I hardly recognize the place.”

        As California goes, so goes the nation.

  24. Austin and Houston have turned into honey-holes for firearm purchasers across the state of Texas. I’ve done numerous round trip drives, and GLADLY relocated over a dozen firearms to the D/FW area. Lots of military personnel in those areas are getting up in years, and their families have no interest in firearms brought here from Europe.
    Their loss is my gain.
    Trump/Pence 2020.

  25. Southwest of me by 35 miles or so is the City of Atlanta where they have decided to “reinvent the culture of policing” which seems to be the current code for firing cops and replacing them with social workers. Fortunately the county I live in hasn’t been taken over by that kind of idiots….yet.

    We tend to get the government the majority vote for. Thank God for the Electorial College!

    • Thing is, in many cases, cops are called out to do social worker’s jobs.

      Every problem becomes a nail when all you have is a hammer.

      When the hammer is a moron with a gun, innocent people die.

      • That is a real problem. If there was any evidence that these people had a serious plan to fix it, I might almost be on board with the calls to reform policing. Unfortunately, when the “hammer” is a maleducated moron with an educational psychology degree, the part where many innocent people will die holds true — with suffering added to the mix.

    • I’m just waiting for a bunch of social workers to get mowed down in a gang war.

      The other motivation is that social workers make nowhere near what a cop makes. If they could pay social workers less than the minimum wage, they would. Sounds to me like the Leftist governments are just looking for some cheap cannon fodder.

  26. Have you made an ER visit recently? Folks, we’re already there. My last visit, due to very bad renal calculi, compounded by the blood thinners I’m required to take, I sat in the waiting room, writhing in pain, for 13 Fooking hours, before I was called back. Triage my aching arse!

    • I had to wait in the ER for 10 hours to get a few stitches from being hit by rocks thrown by some thugs in public housing (they weren’t aiming for, and couldn’t see, me on the other side of a wall).

      I had to wait 10 hours and I was personal freinds with the Executive Director of the hospital and his boss!

      It took a call to them to get assistance.

  27. Well, we can comfort ourselves with one thought in all of this:

    The woke, scolding, college-indoctrinated, virtue-signaling females who have provided the political base for much of this recent stupidity will get a good dose of what they claimed they wanted: anarchy. In anarchy, women don’t fare so well, especially loud, obnoxious women.

    This all brings to mind a poem by WB Yeats titled “The Second Coming,” written as his wife was recovering from the Spanish Influenza, the first stanza of which is:

    “Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.”

    That seems rather descriptive of these times, about 100 years later.

    • “That seems rather descriptive of these times, about 100 years later.”

      This is what the end of empires looks like.

    • “The woke, scolding, college-indoctrinated, virtue-signaling females who have provided the political base for much of this recent stupidity will get a good dose of what they claimed they wanted…”

      That already exists, Seattle and San Fran. Do you see them demanding change? They’re like those Christian faithful in southeast Asia, who cut themselves to prove their piety…

      • Look at the issues of “Major Jenny” in Seattle.

        She was all for the “summer of love” until “summer” came to her front door.

        • A visit courtesy of Kshama Sawant and all the third-world females on the city council. Talk about opening the gates to the barbarians…

  28. “Systemic racism” What a joke. Democrats can’t afford NOT to have the racism / white supremacy scare. How else are they going to energize their voters? By just coming up with solutions? That’s a good one! BLM is nothing but a get out the (democrat) vote organization. Who are dem pols going to blame for their own failings if not the “scary” white man who is just trying to mind his business and go about his life? They call it systemic so they don’t have to prove it. Democrats are firmly invested in grievance politics. That, the virus, and a long list of fake news narratives is all they have this election cycle.

    • That may backfire. BLM might be functioning as a “get out the vote” organization more to the benefit of the Republicans than the Democrats.

      Wouldn’t that be a wonderful outcome!

  29. Yeah quit the cop job and go work at the construction sight, you’ll find out all about real work. Oh pity your no longer one of the privileged.” I give him a half a day”, , “are you kidding the way he’s moving he won’t last two hours”,,,Wah I want my mommy.

  30. Nothing new.

    When I lived in Philadphia over 20 years ago, it took 4-1/2 hours to get the police and paramedics to respond to a street brawl with serious injuries right on the street outside of my home. It was the same year there was a blizzard and we couldn’t dig out our cars for 5 weeks and public transit was useless because of reroutings. Even the National Guard couldn’t get though with their HumVees.

    You cannot count on your local police or local government for anything. They are incapable of performing their functions anytime things are not routine. They have no real reserve capacity.

    You are your own first responder for all emergencies and sometimes, even non-emergencies.

  31. Quite frankly, where I have my redoubt, there isn’t a local police department to defund.

    Very little government at all. Just the minimum.

  33. These people really snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

    Inadequate police accountability was a problem in many cities. But then, the campaign went from “hold police accountable” to “defund the police” and “tear down that statue”!

  34. I will say it again: Want failing schools,
    increase in crime,
    political corruption and high taxes?

    Just keep voting democrat!

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