Dick Young
Good Luck in Heaven!
UPDATE 11.9.23: At The Wall Street Journal, Joshua Crawford has identified a problem with the FBI’s newly released Crime in the Nation Statistics. He explains disturbing crime trends in America that the media is attempting to explain away with Covid excuses. He writes:
There’s more to the FBI’s newly released Crime in the Nation Statistics than headlines would have you believe. The story from many outlets is that violent crime is no longer an issue—it surged with the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020 and has since declined. Violent crime nationally fell 1.3% in 2022, putting the year’s rate on a similar footing as 2019’s. But a glance at the top-line FBI numbers indicates that more is going on. Murders decreased 6% compared with 2021, and aggravated assault decreased 1.5%. But carjackings rose more than 8%, and robberies increased 1.3%.
Part of the problem with most media analysis is that 2019 didn’t represent a historical baseline of homicide and violent crime rates in America—2014 did. Nationally, violent crime and murder were much more prevalent in 2019 than in 2014. So though U.S. rates have fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, the country is well above normal violent-crime rates. Total violent crime in 2022 was 5% higher than in 2014, an increase that represents tens of thousands of additional victims in a single year. The national homicide rate in 2022 was 43% higher than in 2014. Since 2015, there have been roughly 30,000 more murders in the U.S. than there would have been if the homicide rate had stayed at the 2014 low.
None of this is easily attributable to Covid, nor are the vast local differences in violent crime and homicide rates that emerged in the past year and a half. Some cities have seen marked drops in crime. So far in 2023 homicides are down 17% in Atlanta, violent crime has fallen 12% in Dallas, and Miami’s murder and violent crime rates have hit historic lows. Elsewhere, things aren’t going nearly as well. In Washington, violent crime is up 40% in the first 10 months of 2023 compared with this time last year, and homicides are up 33%. Seattle has already had 10 more murders this year than in all of 2022. San Francisco’s murder rate also is on track to surpass last year’s.
Pre- and post-pandemic comparisons obscure it, but there’s an obvious factor that explains the rate differences in these places and the overall national increase: public safety policy. Officials in Washington, Seattle and San Francisco all have permissive attitudes toward criminals and hostile ones toward police. The capital has been a leader in bad policy. Washington has twice significantly defunded the police in recent years, and in 2022 attempted to reduce penalties for carjackings even as auto-theft rates were skyrocketing. That change was so ill-advised that Congress overturned it this year.
UPDATE 10.5.22: Americans want to be safe. New polling shows that crime and public safety are top issues for Americans headed into November’s mid-term elections. Is it any wonder? After two years of a crime wave unleashed by Democrats during the summer of 2020, Americans have had enough. Politico’s Elena Schneider reports:
More than three-quarters of voters said violent crime is a major problem in the United States, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday, demonstrating why the issue has become a key to the battle for control of Congress this fall.
Crime and public safety are proving to be a potent mix of issues in the midterm election, as Republicans relentlessly tie Democrats to a pandemic-era rise in crime on the campaign trail and in TV ads. From Pennsylvania to New Mexico to Ohio, Republicans are airing wall-to-wall ads that attack Democrats for being “dangerously liberal on crime,” as one TV ad aimed at Democrat John Fetterman says in the Pennsylvania Senate race.
New Orleans almost certainly had the nation’s highest murder rate per 100k of any big city in the first half of the year. The below table includes cities 200k+ with available data through late June. pic.twitter.com/ZC268J0o2p
— Jeff Asher (@Crimealytics) July 1, 2022
UPDATE 1.21.2022: Across the country the big cities that will be most at risk given any disruption in life, EMP or otherwise, have allowed the ascendence of George Soros-backed District Attorneys who treat criminals as though they are victims. The new DA of Manhattan, Alvin Bragg recently issued a “Day 1” memo, outlining the crimes he would NOT be prosecuting. Big-city dwellers everywhere must be terrified of a future where crime has no consequences. Here’s the NY Post on Bragg’s soft-on-crime implementation of the law.
In his first memo to staff on Monday, Alvin Bragg said his office “will not seek a carceral sentence” except with homicides and a handful of other cases, including domestic violence felonies, some sex crimes and public corruption.
“This rule may be excepted only in extraordinary circumstances based on a holistic analysis of the facts, criminal history, victim’s input (particularly in cases of violence or trauma), and any other information available,” the memo reads.
Assistant district attorneys must also now keep in mind the “impacts of incarceration,” including whether it really does increase public safety, potential future barriers to convicts involving housing and employment, the financial cost of prison and the racial disparities over who gets time, Bragg instructed.
In cases where prosecutors do seek to put a convict behind bars, the request can be for no more than 20 years for a determinate sentence, meaning one that can’t be reviewed or changed by a parole board.
UPDATE: 4.7.2021: As the Derek Chauvin trial comes to a conclusion at the end of April, expect trouble, especially if Chauvin is found innocent of murdering George Floyd. If you don’t own a fireproof suit (joking, but not really) and get your gun and your training (a la Your Survival Guy), you’ll regret it!
UPDATE: 6.11.2020: Minneapolis is preparing to disband its police force. How will and your wife, with kids at school, handle the effects of an EMP when no one is enforcing the law? If you thought the looting and rioting was bad after George Floyd, wait until there aren’t any police at all. An EMP attack would make America’s COVID-19 disruption, job losses, sickness, and deaths look pleasing by comparison. COVID-19 is but a minor-league warm-up to the pain and disruption that would befall America after an EMP attack. Think your family is prepared for the lights going out? Good luck in Heaven!
UPDATE: 6.1.2020: Among the many short-circuits I uncovered in my own Key West preparation this year was what a big percentage of batteries are no good, even fresh in the pack. My new rule is to take a flashlight to the store on battery replenishing day and try a battery from each to-be-purchased pack in my light BEFORE I LEAVE THE STORE. Preparation adds up to a whole annoying series of little things that all must be in order.
UPDATE 3.2.20: Right now the world is being infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at an unknown rate. People in China, Italy, South Korea, Japan, and even America are panicking. Many of them are underprepared for any type of disaster, including a pandemic. It is a good time, without panicking, to consider your long-term survival preparations and to make adjustments as necessary.
UPDATE 8.1.18: I originally posted this on January 23, 2015. Since then, Hurricane Irma hit the Florida Keys with brutal winds and rains, and Houston was nearly drowned by Hurricane Harvey. Puerto Rico has been sent back to the stone age by Hurricane Maria. If you’re living in areas prone to natural disaster, and especially isolated spots like islands, this sort of preparation is an absolute must.
One second your family home has power. The next second—click—the power is out and could stay out for days, weeks or longer. Sound impossible? Not at all. How do you rate the worldwide radical Muslim security risk today? I research and write about risk weekly and today rate our risk at maximum. The media plays down the risk because 99% of Americans are completely unprepared for an extended power outage. I have written for years about the savage effects of a terrorist-led EMP attack. If EMP is a subject that is foreign to you, you need to read the material I have provided for you on this site.
Losing power is no joke and quite possibly life-threatening. A few days ago the juice clicked off here in Key West. This time our battery-backed solar had to keep Debbie and me up and running for only a half hour or so (past outages have been longer). Key West is a tropical island 150 miles from Miami and only 90 miles from Cuba. so it makes sense to be prepared at all times. And yes, I may be much more paranoid than you. Most people, however, have a vested interest in a lack of paranoia theme as they have done squat about emergency preparation. Hunkered down in a 50th floor co-op in Manhattan (what mind-blowing vulnerability), sequestered in a manicured suburban enclave, or simply mindlessly isolated in some impossible to defend (24/7) rural setting, the results would be the same. No water for six days, and the whole crowd will not have to worry about anything ever again.
Picture this. Your spouse is beavering away on Wall Street in some high-rise glass office building when your phone clicks off, the giant Sub Zero refrigerator and wine cooler crank down along with all the lights and air conditioning. The Suburban sits in the driveway with the gas gauge probably near zero because you have been too lazy to keep the beast filled. And the kids? All at school. Just great! What’s your move now?
Your goose is cooked. You had better drop to your knees and pray that the juice is out because some neighbor has lost attention and driven into a power pole. Any extended outage and you are an ill-prepared sitting duck.
Our recent power outage put us into game-day mode and Debbie and I hit our local ACE hardware store (Strunk’s) on a mission. We had become too lax, but now our preparation list is up to speed. Our satellite phone is on full charge. Our giant rain barrels are tested and full. Our CC Solar Observer AM/FM weather solar emergency radio, Bearcat portable scanner, and the solar powered Powermonkey (charge your iPad, smartphone, and GPS) are good to go.
Next up was an emergency drill with our five shot (with integrated red dot laser) Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 38 revolvers. Doesn’t a 9mm or a 45 Caliber handgun offer more fire and stopping power? Of course. That is why the military and local law enforcement team choose such weapons. Debbie and I are well-educated, self- defense-oriented homeowners in a tight setting. We are not day in and day out gun professionals. As such, we both prefer the simplicity of a no-safety, non-jamming revolver over a semi-automatic handgun.
Finally, check on our Lifestraw. Lifestraw is perfect for creating potable water.
Now you have a little KISS emergency prep guide that could help your family ride out a threatening situation caused by an extended electrical outage. I have just scratched the surface for you here and have not even touched upon rifles, ammo, food supplies etc. You can find all you need here at richardcyoung.com. After you have met the basic requirements I have provided, click to my posts on Navy Seals survival packs (Debbie and I carry two packs on the road), head to your grocery store for a small mountain of 24 packs of bottled water, gas up the beast, top off your supply of toilet paper and village Burgundy, and give a call to your local NRA outpost. Sign up your whole family for NRA’s great handgun safety course. Debbie and I are Florida Concealed Weapons License holders and the NRA course was a worthy prerequisite.
My best luck to you and your now enlightened and prepared suburban family. And oh yes, the ATMs, your local pharmacy (prescriptions) along with your gas station will likely be among the first casualties of a terrorist electric grid attack.
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