Tea and Vitriol

Too many coincidences are too coincidental. A recent incident following a crime scene investigation in Rochester, New York bears this out. On June 18, officers of the Rochester Police Department were investigating a shooting on North Street that sent a man to the hospital with non-fatal gunshot wounds. These incidents have become as common as pig tracks in our fair city. They taped off the area that they were investigating, to prevent onlookers and passers-by from contaminating evidence at the site. Low and behold, skipping out of a bar in the vicinity, comes an individual who was curious about the activities of RPD in that area so early in the morning. He came, looked at the outer perimeter and then appeared to be leaving. However, he proceeded to walk deeper into the crime scene and was told by the police officers to leave. The individual refused to do so, was promptly arrested for Obstruction of Governmental Administration in the 2nd Degree (a misdemeanor) by the police officers the

 Last year, on May 30, 2020 Rochester had its first riot since 1964. Egged on by Free the People, ROC terrorists, a "peaceful protest" over the death of drug addict and career criminal George Floyd in Minneapolis became violent. Injuries, vandalism and looting stores in Rochester, spilling over into the Town of Irondequoit, took place over the next few hours, setting the pace for a summer of unrest here. The mayor, Lovely Warren, and her then police chief, La'Ron Singletary, did nothing except warn people to stay out of the rioters' and looters' way. They caved in. So did City Council days later They also stated that the violence was caused by "outsiders" who had "taken over" the "peaceful protest." ANTIFA was the scapegoat, one conveniently used by all the cities experiencing riots over Floyd's death while in police custody.  The reality was very different. Within a few hours, video evidence revealed no such thing. The rioters, v

In the past, one of the contributing factors of a society's collapse has been a loss of faith or trust in the institutions that previously provided it with a modus vivendi. In our nation, our state and even in our city, we are seeing that now. Peaceful, law abiding citizens have been suffering a series of shocks regarding law enforcement and the judiciary, leaving them feeling unsafe, uncertain, downright frightened and betrayed. Liberal progressivism was responsible for the Bail Reform Act, which allowed judges to turn loose violent criminals without bail, prior to their trials. The result has been that these criminals go out, commit more crimes, are arrested and released back into the community again. And again. This not only frustrates the various law enforcement agencies, making a mockery of their job to make their communities safe. Or at least to feel safe. Criticizing this law only elicits responses of "racism," since the Black community was gung-ho for it. Then com

  Now that the Democratic Primary is over and the Warren regime is winding down to its inevitable end, there is one question that needs to be asked and answered: Who's minding the store? There has been a power vacuum in Rochester for the last eighteen months, since the pandemic began.  That became apparent with City Hall's inability or unwillingness to deal with people congregating in public in violation of Governor Cuomo's directive forbidding it. It was obvious when City Hall collapsed before the demands of the Free the People, ROC terrorists after the May 30, 2020 riots, violence, vandalism, looting and general disruption of Downtown Rochester. The mayor and her then police chief claimed that they were caused by "outsiders," when anyone seeing video footage knew they were locals, and mostly Black people involved, straining their credibility even further. Worse to come was when the conspiracy of silence over the death of Daniel Prude came unraveled in August and

 Let's face it. Rochester has become a very dangerous place in which to live. Last night we had four shootings within an hour, only a short distance apart from each other. This is besides the other shootings, stabbings and assaults that are now Rochester's "New Norm." The victims were all women. One of them died. She was the 36th victim so far this year. Usually, shooting victims are men.  I suppose that, in a spasm of equality, women are now considered fair game for violent death. And the interim chief of police took off for the weekend, going on "vacation." Despite all the Pollyannas out there trying to tout the benefits of living in our fair city, Rochester was considered to be New York State's "Murder Capital" long before Mayor Warren's administration began. The anti-cop, pro-criminal atmosphere created by both her administration and City Council merely intensified the situation in Rochester, helping to maintain and expand its grip on t

  Tomorrow, June 22, is the Democratic primary election in Rochester, New York. Since this is a one-party city, the primary usually determines the winners for the various elected offices in Rochester, making the general election in November seem almost superfluous. I have already written at length about the race for the mayoral throne, so I can skip that here. Today's topic is the race for the five positions of city councilperson-at-large. The four district city councilpersons race is two years off, which is a shame because one of them is  quite crazy and needs to be removed from office and institutionalized, both for her good and the city's. Well, in two years... This year, there are some seventeen candidates running for the five at large seats. Almost all of them are unacceptable. They represent either woke progressivism or far-left radicalism that has created a distrust for law enforcement and the Rochester Police Department and seem more concerned with the rights of violent

On May 30, 2020 Rochester experienced its first full-blown riot in over fifty years. That was a year ago. This explosion of violence, vandalism and looting was detonated by the death of a Black ex-con, George Floyd, while being detained by the police in Minneapolis, Minnesota the week before. Rochester's "peaceful protest" was orchestrated by Madame Ashley Gantt, leader of the local terrorist organization, Free the People ROC, which is part of the nationwide BLM movement. It was NOT peaceful. Beginning as as assembly at Martin Luther King Park during the height of the pandemic, Madame Gantt and her speakers whooped up the attendees into a frenzy, chanting obscenities at and about the police. Then they chose to march to the Public Safety Building, where they set fire to or vandalized vehicles, throwing objects at the police, hoping to injure them as the police guarded the building. Then, they dispersed, proceeding to vandalize and loot stores in their paths. Even the Town

 "Put the Blame on Mame" was a cabaret number best remembered in Rita Hayworth's film noir  classic, "Gilda." Ten years later, it was less effectively performed in Anita Eckberg's schlocky horror-drama "Screaming Mimi." Mame was a woman who was blamed for everything and anything, from the Chicago fire to the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. Since these events were more than fifty years apart, it suggests that Mame was quite a dame and had remarkable staying power. Today, we are still blaming Mame in Rochester. Except that we have renamed Mame. Mame is now the police department. Or "systemic" racism. Or "White privilege." Or sexism. Or politics. Mame is everything but personal responsibility or ethics. Rochesterians don't seem to like those concepts too much. After all, all the recent shootings, stabbings, non-fatal assaults and car-jackings here have been blamed on systemic racism or the pandemic. For once, something isn