By Steve Pomper
Several recent stories about criminality in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco, demonstrate the mind-numbing belligerent ignorance of their political officials. Whether it’s ignorance or a willful radical leftist ideology is up for grabs. But, giving the benefit of the doubt, the ignorance is belligerent because they don’t know what they’re doing but insist on doubling down on dumb.
It’s amazing that I still hear news stories, three in Seattle and one in Portland, that amazed me. That the easy answers to what they’ve made complex through their mindless radical leftist convictions seem so elusive. The Seattle City Council recently voted against a law that would bring the city’s drug laws into compliance with state law.
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) has suddenly discovered she represents a state devastated by crime (violent and property) and the CCP’s Fentanyl attack on the U.S. Why the sudden interest? Right. She’s up for reelection next year. Washington, generally, and Seattle, specifically, continue to decay, as it earns the undesirable moniker: “Fentanyl ground zero.” King County even reported the M.E. ran out of space for all the bodies of O.D. victims.
Not to worry. A recent tiptoe through the headlines has Cantwell reassuring her constituents she will fix it. The Seattle Times reported, “Cantwell holds fentanyl roundtable as WA becomes overdose epicenter.” There she sat with Seattle’s fire and police chiefs, the city’s mayor and several other “leaders” to address the question Times reporter Nina Shapiro posed. “Why is Washington the epicenter of the fentanyl crisis?”
Rather than dissect the specifics of the Fentanyl crisis, I’ll let KVI 570 radio host and former Republican candidate for Washington State governor John Carlson get to the point. A point that somehow eluded the Washington and Seattle political leftist Illuminati. Carlson pointed out that with all the “brain power” sitting around that “round table,” no one brought up that the public possession or use of Fentanyl in Seattle is not illegal.
When a drug is illegal somewhere and not illegal somewhere else, addicts will go to where it is not illegal. Is that so hard to understand?
In June, another Seattle radio host and FOX News contributor, KTTH 770 radio host Jason Rantz wrote, The city of Seattle and King County, Washington, are on pace to soar past 2022’s record high of 1,000 fatal drug overdoses, a number that has climbed every year since the county decriminalized drugs in 2018.”
Another issue in the Emerald City is the proliferation of organized commercial shoplifting and burglaries. One recent burglary attempt at Seattle’s downtown national flagship Nordstrom store shows how bold the criminals have become in blue cities.
KOMO News reported two suspects became upset when their efforts to break into the Nordstrom store were unsuccessful. So, being thugs with a diverse criminal skill set, one of them pulled a gun and attempted to shoot through the store window. The suspects are still at large.
There’s no mention of whether Nordstrom will close the venerable department store location, as the company recently did in San Francisco, where the corporation closed both city stores “amid rampant crime.” However, The Seattle Times is also reporting that Bartell Drugs, a chain now owned by Rite Aid, which has operated in the Pacific Northwest since the 1800s, will close another Seattle store due to crime.
As with Cantwell’s “roundtable” on Fentanyl and the Nordstrom ballistic burglary attempt, the company’s statement did not blame crime, specifically, organized commercial shoplifting, which some now claim the Mexican cartels control. It’s also widely reported they control the Fentanyl distribution and while we’re at it, human trafficking.
This final story was also mentioned by Carlson who told his audience about a Portland, Oregon, media outlet that wanted to find out how easy it is to buy Fentanyl in Rose City. Cutting to the chase, it was easy.
The Willamette Week reported, “On Portland’s Fentanyl Corner, a Dance With Death Sells for $20: What’s now being sold on this corner is a drug so powerful and unpredictable that observers can watch its victims collapse within feet of obtaining it.”
Carlson reported the drug is being sold by “Honduran kids who wear black ski masks and look barely old enough to drive” and appear to sell with impunity at the infamous intersection of 6th Avenue and Harvey Milk Street. Is the Honduran connection evidence of cartel involvement? I don’t know, but there it was instantly in my mind when I heard it.
All these stories have something glaring in common: the politicians and mainstream media speaking and reporting on these issues neglect to mention the simple solution: stop passing dumb laws and quit preventing cops from enforcing the law. And pass smart laws and allow the cops to enforce them. Is that too much to ask for? Apparently, it is.