Tag: crime

MSNBC Contributor Claims He’s More Afraid of Climate Change Than Crime in Washington, DC

If you needed more proof that MSNBC is not a serious news network, you’re in luck.

During a recent appearance, frequent guest Anand Giridharadas tried to downplay crime in Washington, DC by listing the things he is more concerned about, such as climate change, losing his vote, whatever that means, and other imaginary problems.

At one point, he manages to throw in a concern about the middle class, which is funny because the left abandoned them years ago.

He says that there is a crime problem in DC but qualifies it as a small one and accuses Trump of being an authoritarian. How original.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

ANAND GIRIDHARADAS: Crime is real. It is blown out of proportion. People are feeling much more unsafe than they statistically are—but the feeling matters. People deserve to be safe, but they also deserve to feel safe.

I think it is true that Democrats have sometimes ignored or lectured people, holding a spreadsheet of statistics. That said, it’s really important to be clear about what is going on here: a relatively small crime problem is being used for specific authoritarian purposes that we know and understand.

Let’s be clear—D.C. does have one really big crime problem, which was the January 6th insurrection incited by the current president of the United States. His first act in coming back was pardoning all the people who tried to overturn constitutional order in Washington, D.C.

When I go to D.C., I’m not afraid of losing my wallet so much as I’m afraid of losing my vote. I’m not afraid of losing my wallet so much as I’m afraid that my children’s freedom to breathe will be stolen in a world where climate change policy is nonexistent. I’m afraid that the future of middle-class people will be stolen by the very things you were talking about cutting—the safety net, Medicaid, rural hospitals.

If you watch the video below, you’ll notice that Joe Scarborough jumps in at the end, trying to save the segment. It doesn’t work.

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DOJ Unveils Charges Against Haitian Gang Leader ‘Barbecue’ Over Sanction Violations

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Aug. 12 that it will charge Haitian gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier with conspiracy for his role in a scheme to transfer money illegally from the United States.

“Cherizier and a U.S. associate sought to raise funds in the United States to bankroll Cherizier’s violent criminal enterprise, which is driving a security crisis in Haiti,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in a statement.

Cherizier was sanctioned in 2020 by the United States using the Magnitsky Act, which allows the president to impose sanctions for human rights abuses, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.

His indictment under the Magnitsky Act is the first of its kind in the history of the DOJ, she said.

The State Department is offering up to $5 million for the capture of Cherizier, who is nicknamed “Barbecue” because he is accused of notorious human rights abuses—including a 2018 massacre in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Saline, in which the bodies of victims were burned, cut into pieces, and fed to pigs and dogs.

Cherizier denies the charges, and told the Associated Press in 2019 that the nickname comes from his childhood, when his  mother was a street vendor who sold fried chicken.

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Mexico, under pressure from Trump, transfers 26 more cartel members to US

Mexico sent more than two dozen suspected cartel members to the U.S. on Tuesday, amid rising pressure from President Donald Trump on Mexico to dismantle the country’s powerful drug organizations.

Authorities shipped 26 prisoners wanted in the U.S. for ties to drug-trafficking groups, Mexico’s attorney general’s office and security ministry said in a joint statement.

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Mexico said the U.S. Department of Justice had requested their extradition and that it would not seek the death penalty for the accused cartel members.

The transfer is the second of its kind this year. In February, Mexican authorities sent 29 alleged cartel leaders to the U.S., sparking a debate about the political and legal grounds for such a move.

That Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum permitted yet another large-scale extradition of Mexican nationals underscores the balancing act she faces as she seeks to appease Trump while also avoiding unilateral U.S. military action in Mexico.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy said among those extradited were key figures in the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel, which are Mexico’s two dominant organized crime groups.

“This transfer is yet another example of what is possible when two governments unite against violence and impunity,” U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said in a statement. “These fugitives will now face justice in American courts, and the citizens of both our nations will be safer.”

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Tornado Cash Co-Founder Roman Storm Convicted, Raising Fears for Privacy Rights and Open-Source Development

Roman Storm’s guilty verdict is sending shockwaves through privacy advocates and the open-source development community, with many warning it could change how the US criminal justice system treats creators of decentralized tools.

A federal jury in New York on August 6 convicted the Tornado Cash co-founder of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, a charge that could carry up to five years in prison. Jurors could not agree on two other allegations, conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to breach US sanctions, leaving prosecutors the option to bring those charges to trial again.

Tornado Cash, launched in 2019 by Storm along with Alexey Pertsev and Roman Semenov, was designed to obscure the origins of cryptocurrency transactions and give users financial privacy.

Although the protocol never took control of user funds, US authorities claimed it had been exploited for laundering illicit proceeds and sanctioned it before later reversing that decision in March. Pertsev is facing trial in the Netherlands, Semenov is still wanted by the FBI, and Storm’s arrest took place a year after Pertsev’s.

In September 2024, Judge Katherine Failla allowed the case to move forward, ruling that Tornado Cash met the definition of a money transmitter under federal law and should have followed Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer rules. Privacy supporters have long argued that holding developers accountable for the actions of users, particularly when they lack the technical ability to intervene, creates a dangerous precedent.

The Blockchain Association, a crypto policy group, called the decision “a dangerous precedent for open-source software developers.”

In an earlier amicus brief, it said Storm had no custody or control over the funds moving through Tornado Cash and warned the ruling could lead to criminal charges against creators of browsers, messaging apps, or other tools if those were misused.

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DC Crime is ‘Down’? ABC News Anchor Says She Was Jumped, Coworker’s Car Was Stolen

ABC News anchor Kyra Phillips said Monday that she was assaulted just blocks from the network’s Washington, D.C., bureau within the last two years, adding to concerns over public safety in the nation’s capital despite official reports of declining violent crime.

Phillips shared her experience during a live broadcast, referencing multiple recent crimes in close proximity to ABC’s offices.

“We’ve been talking so much about the numbers and yeah, usually that’s how you play devil’s advocate, is you talk about, ‘Oh, well stats say crime is down,’” she said.

“However, I can tell you firsthand here in downtown D.C. where we work right here around our bureau just in the past six months, you know, there were two people shot. One person died literally two blocks down here from the bureau.”

She continued, “It was within the last two years that I actually was jumped walking just two blocks down from here. And then just this morning one of my coworkers said her car was stolen a block away from the bureau. So we can talk about the numbers going down, but crime is happening every single day because we’re all experiencing it firsthand while working and living down here.”

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Denver Post Doxxes Citizens For Sharing Pictures And Public Records About Crime

On Aug. 1, The Denver Post exposed the names, locations, voter registrations, and employment of three private citizens who legally obtained public information and sent some to the popular social media account Do Better Denver. On Aug. 7, a Denver Post columnist defended the paper’s decision to dox the three women for sharing public information.

“People who claim to be citizen journalists must stand by their work with a byline and endure the negative comments and threats that come with the job,” wrote Denver Post columnist Krista Kafer.

The Post identified the three people it doxxed by doing a public records request for those women’s public records requests: “The Post filed open records requests to obtain copies of requests tied to DoBetterDNVR,” wrote The Post’s crime reporter Shelly Bradbury in her Aug. 1 article. On Aug. 5, the Denver Gazette confirmed the three doxxed women are not the account administrator. The public records they shared with the accountholder comprise less than 1 percent of Do Better Denver posts.

Bradbury also wrote that the Post targeted the women specifically for exercising their legal rights to view public information. The three, Bradbury wrote, “stand out because of their involvement in the account since its early days in 2023, their connections to each other, and because they did not just send a single video or photo to the account but pursued information through open records requests.”

Do Better Denver alleged the Post did this at the behest of local government officials angry about public disclosures of their activities. One public record one of the women discovered, for example, showed the city paid $2.1 million for vacant rooms for illegal immigrants. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s spokesman did not respond to Federalist requests for comment Monday.

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DC lawmakers try to reclaim control of MPD, National Guard after Trump invokes Home Rule

D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen announced plans to reintroduce legislation granting the District of Columbia full control over its National Guard and Metropolitan Police Department.

This move comes in response to President Donald Trump’s recent decision to assume control of D.C.’s police department and deploy the National Guard without consulting local officials.

The proposed District of Columbia Police Home Rule Act would repeal the president’s authority to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department, while the District of Columbia National Guard Home Rule Act would designate the D.C. mayor as Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, aligning with the powers held by state governors.

“President Trump’s unprecedented federalization of the D.C. Police today and his activation of the D.C. National Guard without D.C.’s consent underscore the necessity of D.C. statehood,” said Congresswoman Norton.

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Seventh Suspect Arrested in Cincinnati Mob Attack Against White Couple

A seventh suspect was arrested in connection with the Cincinnati mob attack against a white couple attending a jazz festival late last month.

Gregory Wright, 32, was arrested and charged with one count of aggravated riot and aggravated robbery.

The other six suspects indicted are (via WXIX):

  • Aisha Devaughn, 26, of Evanston
  • Dominique Kittle, 37, of Walnut Hills
  • Jermaine Matthews, 39, of East Price Hill
  • Montianez Merriweather, 34, of South Cumminsville
  • Patrick Rosemond, 38, of Reading
  • Dekyra Vernon, 24, of Evanston

WXIX reported:

Cincinnati police have arrested the seventh suspect in connection with what Cincinnati’s police chief calls a “violent attack” Downtown, according to Hamilton County court officials.

Court documents show that Gregory Wright, 32, is facing one count of aggravated riot and aggravated robbery.

Jail records show that he was booked into the jail at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Crime Stoppers posted on their Facebook page on Friday that police were searching for the seventh suspect, who has now been confirmed to be Wright.

Central Business District Commander Adam Hennie claims that the suspect took a gold chain off the victim’s neck while he is being beaten on the ground.

“The suspect then walks away from the location and places property in his pocket, then proceeds to film the rest of the events,” Commander Hennie said.

Cincinnati mob violence victim who goes by ‘Holly,’ blasted Democrat leaders for being soft on crime during a press conference with GOP Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno last Wednesday.

Last week Holly said she is suffering “very bad” brain trauma after the horrific attack by a mostly black mob at a jazz festival last weekend.

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Trans sex offender escapes prosecution after trying to kidnap child during elementary school recess

A transgender registered sex offender will escape prosecution after he tried to kidnap a child from a Colorado schoolyard — thanks to a controversial law that has faced criticism from prosecutors and even the suspect’s lawyer.

Solomon Galligan — who now reportedly goes by Carmen — was found by doctors to be mentally incompetent after he allegedly attempted to snatch the 11-year-old boy during recess at Black Forest Hills Elementary School in Aurora in April 2024.

And because the suspected creep can’t be “restored” to competency, according to his evaluation, the judge overseeing Galligan case was left with no choice but to dismiss the charges under a 2024 amendment to the state’s much-maligned competency law.

After years in and out of the criminal justice system, Galligan, 33, now could again find himself back on the streets, Ryan Brackley, who prosecuted the case as the assistant district attorney in Colorado’s 18th Judicial District, told The Post.

And victims and criminal justice advocates alike are sounding the alarm over the threat.

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Manslaughter, Arson, Hate Crimes — See All The Crimes Suspects In New York Now Get Released For Under Bail Reform

As New York celebrates the start of 2020, a host of new laws are taking effect at midnight — including one releasing scores of potentially dangerous suspects from jail and back onto city streets.

New York’s bail reform law eliminates pretrial detention and cash bail for the vast majority of misdemeanor and non-violent felony cases. Hundreds of offenses such as stalking, grand larceny, assault as a hate crime, and second degree manslaughter will no longer be eligible for bail or pretrial detention.

“They eliminated bail but they never put in the safeguard we need of allowing a judge to assess dangerousness and the result is we’ve got some glaring loopholes that will go into effect,” Mark Peters warned.

CBS2’s Urban Affairs Expert says this sets New York apart from other states, such as New Jersey, which have also eliminated cash bail.

“So someone can walk up to someone on the street punch them in the face and if they haven’t done lasting physical injury there’s no bail available… they’ll be let out that day they can go punch someone the next day,” Peters added.

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