Super Bowl guacamole is an important thing. It can make or break a seven-layer dip, after all. Itās not as important as reducing Crime, however.
While the two may seem to be unrelated, leave it to Sen. John Kennedy to connect them. In remarks to reporters on Wednesday, the colorful Louisiana Republican said President Joe Biden and other liberals have ātoleratedā rising Crime rates and were āmore interested in Super Bowl guacamoleā than in solving the problem.
Thereās little doubt that Crime rates have soared since 2020 for a variety of reasons ā and, according to The Wall Street Journal, they didnāt go down in 2021, either.
The leftās ādefund the policeā rhetoric and focus on liberal nostrums like gun control havenāt helped. At The Western Journal, we continue to note the ineffectiveness of the liberal response to an unprecedented Crime wave, and weāll continue bringing readers the truth about violent Crime. You can help by subscribing.
According to the New York Post, Kennedy made the remarks during a news conference focused on the November midterm elections inside the Capitol, telling the media āthereās no question that Crime has increased in America.ā
āHomicides, shootings, armed robbery, carjackings ā in many of our cities, well, itās safer to walk down the streets of Mogadishu than walk down the streets of those cities,ā which he termed āsome of the worldās largest outdoor shooting ranges.ā
While this is a bit of colorful hyperbole on Kennedyās part, thereās no question thereās been a spike in Crime.
As the Journal noted in a January report, homicides in 22 major American cities rose 4 percent in 2021ās third quarter, according to a study by the think-tank Council on Criminal Justice.
Thatās after murders spiked 30 percent in 2020 ā āthe largest single-year increase ever recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,ā the Journal noted. Some cities set records for murders, including Albuquerque, New Mexico; Louisville, Kentucky; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Portland, Oregon.
āCriminologists and local law-enforcement officials donāt agree on the reasons for the surge in violent Crime,ā wrote the Journalās Zusha Elinson.
āSome cite stress from the COVID-19 pandemic. Some point to what they see as frayed relations between law enforcement and black communities after police killings, such as that of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Others blame bail reform and moves in some cities to bring fewer prosecutions.ā
Kennedy, however, blamed liberals for treating criminals as victims ā discounting āfree willā and responsibility.
āThere are a number of reasons for the increase in our Crime rate, but I think part of it is our public leadership,ā Kennedy said.
āWe have many leaders in many of our cities today who believe ⦠that the criminal is the victim. We have many leaders in our communities today who believe, deep down, that, if a criminal commits a Crime, itās really not the criminalās fault. Itās the fault of an unfair world,ā he continued.
āAnd many of these same people believe that punishment, prisons and cops make it worse. And I do not believe that any free society can order a civilized culture without accepting the concept of free will and responsibility.ā
And the fish rots from the head, Kennedy said.
āI think President Biden has tolerated a lot of this,ā Kennedy said.
āAn uncharitable person might say that his silence in this case, that heās ā at least the administrationās more interested in Super Bowl guacamole than the Crime rate,ā he continued.
āAnd the only way, it seems to me, that in America weāre going to address this problem is from the top-down. Bottom-up works too. President Biden needs to address this issue and the change in leadership of some of our public officials.ā
Biden isnāt interested in showing the kind of leadership Kennedy is asking for, though.
As the Post noted, the president āvisited New York City last week to discuss increasing rates of murder, carjacking and other violent crimes, but the public portion of his talks with local Democrats focused on lax gun laws in the South and relatively uncommon homemade āghost guns,ā rather than policies that critics say create a revolving door for violent criminals.ā
In New York City, bail reform laws gone wrong and a new Manhattan district attorney who has enacted criminal justice reforms along the lines of what weāve seen in Los Angeles and San Francisco ā fewer prosecutions, fewer accused criminals given pre-trial detention, prosecuting robberies of less than $1,000 as misdemeanors ā are bigger concerns for community leaders than āghost gunsā and the Southās firearm laws.
But then, why should we be surprised the president wouldnāt address that? Last month, before the visit, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said media concerned over the Crime rate ā particularly Fox News ā are living in an āalternate universe.ā
āOn Fox is Jeanine Pirro taking about āsoft-on-Crime consequences,āā Psaki said. āI mean, what does that even mean, right? So, thereās an alternate universe on some coverage. Whatās scary about it is, a lot of people watch that.ā
No, whatās scary is that there were at least 485 murders in New York City in 2021, up 4 percent from 2020 and up 52 percent from 2019. Car thefts in 2021 were up 15 percent from 2020 and 92 percent from 2019, the Post reported. When Biden visited the city, at least publicly, he was more concerned about āghost guns.ā
He might as well have expressed his concern about the Super Bowl guacamole situation in NYC.
Those avocados can get overripe, after all ā and if you donāt buy them early enough, they might not be ripe at all. Either way, it can ruin your dip.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
