By Steve Pomper
What began as a steadily growing phenomenon across blue America has become a radical woke pastime: blame/punish crime victims and innocent law abiders for criminals’ actions.
Innocent people are being punished for crimes committed against them, punished for crimes thugs with guns commit against other people, and now, corporations blamed/punished for criminals’ actions.
First, for nearly 30 years, Seattle has been fining vandalism victims if they don’t remove graffiti scrawled on their property. This is bad enough, but it’s happening while city leaders refuse to punish criminals for committing any property damage and have worked to defund the police.
And those city leaders have allies in the courts. Just this past June, according to KING 5 News, “Seattle officers are not allowed to make graffiti-related arrests after a United States District Court judge ruled on Tuesday, siding with four plaintiffs in a lawsuit” (yes, really).
Yet, a graffiti law, discussed below, aimed at property damage victims still stands.
Not a surprise, really, since the judge is Marsha Pechman who, as reported at NPA, dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by two Seattle cops against socialist City Council whacko Kshama Sawant for publicly referring to them as “murderers.”
The officers were forced to shoot an armed and dangerous suspect. But the judge ruled Sawant did not mean the two officers who shot the suspect when Sawant said the officers who shot the suspect were murderers. What?
Anyway, the Seattle graffiti law is ludicrously called “The Graffiti Nuisance Ordinance….” But for this warped municipality, the nuisance is not the vandals committing the property damage; it’s the victims not cleaning the damage soon enough.
According to the city, the law “requires property owners to remove graffiti in a timely manner or risk having the property considered a nuisance and dealt with through the four steps below. It was adopted in 1994 to encourage the rapid cleanup of graffiti and to prevent its spread throughout the community. Seattle Public Utilities’ (SPU’s) Graffiti Prevention Program enforces the ordinance.”
This perversion (or inversion) of law passed in 1994 and shows just how ahead of the radical, woke curve the Emerald City is. Hey. Here’s an idea. How about arresting the suspects and, as a part of the punishment if convicted, making them clean graffiti around the city? Or, if you’re going to make residents clean the mess then, at the very least, arrest, charge, and prosecute the culprits. Oh, right. A federal judge won’t allow that.
Volunteer cleaning graffiti
And now, there are some municipalities (you can probably guess which ones) suing Hyundai and Kia for—ready? —making their cars so stealable. According to Jamal Andress at Scripps News, “Car thefts are up in many places around the country, and certain types of Kia’s and Hyundai’s are the main targets.”
Woke cities famous for lax law enforcement like, “Baltimore, Cleveland, New York, and Seattle are suing automakers Hyundai and Kia, two popular targets for car thieves, for…” the extra “costs for police investigations, prosecutions, and a link to jumps in other crimes.”
That’s a laugh. These cities already don’t investigate, arrest, charge, or prosecute suspects for many crimes—including car theft. It seems these cities are simply after a payday, so they can do more of their best thing: wasting money. If cities can sue car manufacturers for criminals stealing their cars, what other producers or goods will be targeted? Watch out, Schwinn! Those bikes you make are pretty darned easy to steal.
Marxist Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson accused the car companies of being “‘deeply destabilizing’ in the Windy City.” That’s another laugh. Even funnier, by extension, he also blames the car companies for other “crimes such as reckless driving, armed robbery, and murder.”
I mean, why blame the criminals when you can blame the capitalists instead? Why arrest bad guys when you can fleece the good guys and punish them for trying to keep their cars affordable. But wait… the Marxists believe the companies are the bad guys, and the criminals are the real victims.
In the twisted blue-hued half of the country, the cities also have another ally in federal court. In August, a federal judge rejected a $200 million settlement offer. Never mind deciding the merits of the case as to whether the companies are even liable for criminals’ actions, the judge called the offer amount “inadequate.”
Making your cars less vulnerable to theft is a great idea. Though, it’s something the market would eventually remedy with lower sales. But blaming car manufacturers for vehicle thefts—especially while not vigorously enforcing the law, including auto theft, is not a great idea.
Lastly, one truly blithering item. Victim blamers are going even further than those blaming car companies for car thefts. Are they marching on the Washington D.C. City Council chambers to demand a stronger criminal justice system and increased law enforcement? Nope. According to Louder with Crowder, a supermarket chain, Giant Foods, based in looney D.C., is removing “all brand names from their D.C. store.”
Because, as we’ve seen so many examples of, radical, anti-cop D.C. refuses to enforce the law unless it’s against their political enemies.
Sorry, folks. If you want to steal food at the Giant in D.C., it’s gonna have to be the generic variety. I guess that goes for law-abiding shoppers, too. Neither the businesses nor the citizens can depend on that city’s government to protect them against criminals.
And, lastly, there’s the ongoing issue of punishing law-abiding gun owners for the acts of criminals using firearms. I’ll just say one thing: In my state, I cannot buy a magazine that holds more than ten rounds for my Glock 17.
I’m law abiding. I carried a gun for over two decades as a cop. Retired, I’m now LEOSA qualified to concealed carry a firearm in any U.S. state or territory. Yet my state government has unconstitutionally punished me, using as its excuse criminals’ illegal actions, which my state government largely refuses to punish.