One of the most prolific photographs of Mayor Muriel Bowser was taken in June 2020 when after the Department of Public Works painted the words "Black Lives Matter" in yellow, 35-foot-tall (11 m) capital letters, along with the D.C. flag, during the series of George Floyd protests taking place in the city. Bowser became a National Heroine for recognizing the side of America that revolted against “law and order” policing that results in the deaths of black perpetrators and at once, was going to stick it to a political foe, President Donald Trump, as New York Attorney General Letitia James is attempting with a fraud trial.
BLM protesters were voters not just those seeking retaliation for the death of George Floyd through a violent “Summer of Love”. However, Bowser, having spent over 8 million dollars alone on the “Plaza” has never completely won over the Radical Left’s adoration with her “Defund the Police” response. In fact, on June 10th, 2020, the Washington Post reported Bowser saying:
”Her critics say her gestures, including renaming a street and marching with demonstrators, are simply performance, not progress. Black Lives Matter is very critical of police. They’re critical of me,” Bowser said shortly after she hung the new Black Lives Matter Plaza sign outside the White House, and the group Black Lives Matter D.C. responded on Twitter, “This is a performative distraction from real policy changes. Bowser has consistently been on the wrong side of BLMDC history.”
Bowser, at the cost of public safety, was committed to winning the Radical Left over. She also knew that she needed to be seen as tough on crime for the traditional Democrat-Marxists that wanted “safe streets” to keep citizens and businesses in the City. So, you engineer a political propaganda machine that speaks to both groups as if you are satisfying all. Tough to do when homicides have swollen from 105 in 2014 to 226 in 2022 and despite unfounded claims that Recovering Guns will reduce Crime (2,178 Recovered in 2014 and 3,152 Recovered in 2022). The SCIENCE says:
“The studies, data, and examination of the available evidence by scholars suggest that assault weapons bans or buybacks will have little if any effect on rates of violent crime and gun violence.”
However, when you are a Democrat-Marxist, the only SCIENCE that matters is POLITICAL. Full speed ahead! Run the Propaganda Machine!
Bowser wins her Democrat Primary in June 2022 and the Media gives cover despite her dramatic flaws as a Law Enforcement Mayor. According to the D.C. Board of Elections, 438,373 (almost 65 percent) of the District’s more than 670,000 inhabitants were registered to vote as of Jan. 31 this year. Of registered voters, three in four identified as Democrat, one in eight as belonging to no party, and just six percent as Republican. So When You Win the Democrat Primary then, You are Mayor.
The Media also persists in the Narrative that there are major political differences within the DC Democrat Party and that Bowser is the fulcrum that keeps it balanced. NBC Washington Staff and Associated Press, on June 22, 2022 reports it this way:
“Mayor Muriel Bowser won the Democratic primary on Tuesday, overcoming a progressive rival and virtually guaranteeing that she will win a third consecutive term to lead a city confronting inequality, crime and public safety concerns.
Bowser defeated At-large Councilmember Robert White, who harshly criticized her response to spiraling violent crime rates, and Councilmember Trayon White, who represents Ward 8, the poorest and most crime-ridden area in the District.
Under pressure from activists calling to defund the police, Bowser largely stood by her police department, fighting public battles with the D.C. Council over the police budget. She quietly replaced an older white police chief with a younger Black successor and has pushed for funding to build Metropolitan Police Department staffing, currently at 3,500, up to 4,000 officers over the next decade.”
I wonder how the Associated Press and NBC would have reported it if a White Republican Mayor replaced an older Black Police Chief with a younger white successor? Things that make you go, “Hmmmmmmm?”
So Nelson Mandela, eh. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., eh.
Mayor Muriel Bowser owed her Radical Left constituents patronage in order to keep her Black Card. Quite a tight rope walk it is. You have to show Congress that you are “a strong black woman who don’t need no man” but also you know how to say that you “believe in law and order” because you know on which side the bread is buttered. You have to show the City Council that you got their Radical Left back and can keep constituents silent even when they see with their own eyes that it's Mogadishu out there and no one is safe! You have to show the Police that you got their back in a strong Mayor system but, they will have to get used to the New Normal: BlackLivesMatter Defund the Policing. Finally, you have to show your voters that Demographics, not Crime, is all that Matters and we can solve anything if we just hire the right Black, female Police Chief that will put away her Faith to police the LGBTQRSTUVWXYZ and the P community--”And my faith has nothing to do with me treating anyone differently,” What next stop Police & Community Advocates Speak at Faith & Blue Weekend Breakfast:
“I wear two kinda divine hats in this space”.
Checking the Boxes, Mayor Bowser appoints Pamela Smith to the post of Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department. With only one leg of the race remaining--DC Council Confirmation and Approval, Smith would formally become the second woman and first African American woman to become Chief of the DC Metropolitan Police Department. D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto, Chairwoman of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, said a confirmation hearing will be held as soon as possible.
Houston, err, DC. we have a problem that the Propaganda Machine may not be able to repair:
U.S. Representative for Texas's 28th congressional district Henry Cuellar.
We are not talking about a guy or gal in their first term to the US House from Idaho . He is a member of the Democrat Party. Cuellar has described himself as a "moderate-centrist" or conservative Democrat. Cuellar was first elected to Congress in 2004. Cuellar is a Member of the powerful Appropriations Committee and a Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee. Cuellar voted in favor of both articles of impeachment against Trump. Political Leaders endorsing him for 2024 included Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark, and Democrat Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, and Assistant Democrat Leader Jim Clyburn also endorsed Cuellar. Again, Not A Junior Congressman from Montana.
On October 2, 2023, at around 9:30. p.m. ET, Cuellar was held at gunpoint and carjacked by three robbers outside of his Washington D.C. apartment residence. The suspects stole Cuellar's vehicle as well as his luggage, though the car and all of his belongings were recovered by law enforcement a few hours later. Cuellar was reportedly unharmed. US Capitol Police and DC Metropolitan investigations are ongoing.
What was merely smoke a few weeks ago is now a political flame.
The smoke was once white and then began to turn black over Smith’s short term as Chief. Smith was supposed to be Bowser’s election gift to the Radical Left and BlackLivesMatter constituency. The chief, an ordained minister who had introduced herself as a “pistol-packin’ preacher” began to receive cover from the Media and Propaganda Machine seemingly from the beginning. Her biography seemed to cover all of the political factions Bowser needed. She was an experienced law and order cop as she had served as Chief of the US Park Police. The Propaganda Machine never seemed to question why a woman who became Park Police Chief, the first in its 230 plus year history, just retired after one year. “Smith — who the Washington Post reports is 54-years-old — did not offer a specific reason for retiring, but she expressed gratitude for her 24-year career with USPP in a statement.” The same Propaganda Machine? Never Questioned in July 2023 although it reported the following in April 2022:
“When Smith took the job, she inherited a troubled department, with issues that had been becoming increasingly public in recent months. It was unclear Friday night how much progress had been made in addressing these issues.
And on Wednesday, the Park Police officers’ union filed a five-page complaint with the inspector general saying the agency was “engaged in gross negligence and mismanagement at great risk to the safety of the public due to understaffing of sworn personnel.” The Fraternal Order of Police’s Park Police Labor Committee said staffing for the three field offices had dropped from about 639 officers to 494 officers, lower than the force size in 1975.
The complaint said that Smith decided in February to cancel certain days off “to fill the massive holes in even bare minimum law enforcement coverage. … Under the current staffing system, every officer is basically on call, all the time and there is no end in sight."
The IG condemns her for maladministration and not one question from the components of the Propaganda Machine of Bowser or Smith. Amazing!
The white smoke fades to black when some in the media begin to question where or who Smith is getting her stats. Smith admits that she has no law enforcement strategy or plan and must wait for her leadership team to help form one. This although she was once a noted Police Chief with the US Park Police. 59 Days into her new gig, the “pistol-packin’ preacher” announces that crime has fallen 30% since she was promoted. This just 37 days after DC Councilmember Trayon White called for the National Guard to enter the City because “We are in a War Zone”. By the way, Smith hasn’t had time to talk with White about that National Guard thing.
“What we’ve seen in that space is that there is a 30% decrease with our focused patrol efforts,” acting Police Chief Pamela Smith told the I-Team in late August.
According to an I-Team analysis of documents provided after Smith’s statement, total crime rose in areas D.C. police included in its Focused Patrol and Community Engagement Strategy by 15.5%. Violent crime dropped by 3.5% from May 1 to August 22.”
Amazing!
Not to be outdone, DC Councilmember Pinto advised that the passage of her Crime bill this summer resulted in a reduction of crime in the City to 25%. Although no data accompanied that revelation. It is very rare that a piece of legislation can have such an immediate impact. Yet, no questions from the Propaganda Machine.
The DC Police said hold my beer. Since the Culture of Data Skewing has been established, we can do you one better:
"With the stand up of the nightlife task force we've seen a reduction in that type of crime," James Boteler, Commander of D.C.'s Third District, continued.
But a search of the Metropolitan Police Department's crime data tells a different story. According to a search of their Crime Cards, an online platform that allows users to search for crime type by police district and geographical areas, robberies along the U Street corridor increased since the task force started.
During the first six months of 2022, before the task force was in place, 45 incidents of robberies were reported in Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B. Over the last six months of 2022, 73 incidents of robberies were reported in ANC 1B, an increase of 62%.”
Maybe the question should be, “Has Pamela Smith created a Culture of Statistical Skewing to Fit Narratives or did she inherit that?
We are proving that you do not need a plan or strategy to watch a fire burn. We waited nearly 90 days for a plan and Bowser and Smith lent this one to us for her September 27 hearing. Here is the Battle Plan:
OUR STRATEGIC PLAN
There are three core components to building
our successful strategic plan:
„ Prevention & Intervention — The best way we can make our communities feel safer is to prevent crimes before they even happen.
„ Accountability — We cannot prevent every crime, but we can work to ensure those who commit them are held accountable.
„ Sustainability — This is challenging work, and we cannot do it alone. We must recruit new officers to join us, make sure our members stay healthy so they can fight crime, and look for ways to use technology and partnerships to expand our reach and impact.
Or maybe you prefer Bowser’s Crime Theorem since she got into politics:
“So you ask me what are we doing differently and here’s the truth. Wherever I have seen spikes in gun violence, throughout my tenure from ANC, to the council, to mayor We've literally thrown everything at the problem. And we watch to see what works and we adjust as we go along.”
It’s the Spaghetti Crime Strategy. Now we are getting somewhere. So this is why you went with the Curfew that has touched the lives of 28 children since its inception. Heck, none of our Radical Left Maneuvers are working, let’s try this one from the Oldies but Goodies even though the Department of Justice said it wouldn’t work. DC is now more reassured of its safety especially on this statistic, 217 homicides to date and 38% (83) have occurred under the “pistol-packin’ preacher’s” watch. Smith is on pace to have more homicides in her short tenure than her predecessor, former Chief Robert Contee (134).
Tom Sherwood brought up a significant point about Smith’s September 27 District of Columbia Council Committee on the Judiciary & Public Safety hearing. Seven of the Thirteen DC Councilmembers either did not attend or did not ask the Acting Chief any questions. The most glaring sign of trouble, even before the Cuellar Incident, is that the Chairman, Phil Mendelson, and former Mayoral candidate Robert White did not attend. The following Councilmembers did not ask even a single question: Kenyon McDuffie, Brianne K. Nadeau, Janeese Lewis George, Vincent C. Gray and Trayon White, Sr. That is half of the City Council. Has the City Council made a “down-low” determination that Smith will not make it to the finish line of confirmation. Are there too many fires and smoke signals that this will not be a prudent pick for Police Chief beyond Acting? Is the #BlackLivesMatter experiment at Police Chief a doomed failure? Bowser can’t have such a loss on her record. Whom will she point to as racist or sexist, when it was the Party that rejected the choice? Or has Congress sent a note that a new Search Committee must be formed?
The Propaganda Machine had to keep this from the masses. They need to know that Smith is effective and is loved and has been given great support. LaShonia Thompson-El is a gun violence reduction advocate, said, "One of my hopes is she will be community-centric and she will implement a community policing strategy that also involved community engagement. I'm hoping she will look at violence from a preventive lens and potentially work on the root causes of the violence. I know, traditionally, the job of the police is to respond to violence and solve crime, but we actually need a leader who is interested in the public health approach and is interested in approaches that cause less harm. A lot of the violence we're seeing is predictable. I strongly feel it can be prevented, but we have to approach it and be willing to provide resources and build strategy around how to prevent it, as opposed to coming up with punitive responses that are more reactive and responsive. They're not helping fix the problem. They're actually harmful and cause more trauma." She was joined by Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton, “ We're very optimistic. It's clear to me the mayor and deputy mayor have done a thorough search and have gone through all of the potential candidates. We're very confident Chief Smith has the resume, experience, and credentials to fulfill this role, especially in such a critical time. I think the rank-and-file of the Metropolitan Police Department are excited about working with Chief Smith, and I think she can get the job done." Yeah, the same guy who just a few months ago told Congress that DCMPD was going to hell in a handbasket.
Then, two days after the Cuellar Incident, Mayor Bowser held a Press Conference about Operation Trident Targeting Violent Offenders. A three-day fugitive apprehension operation, conducted by the Metropolitan Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation Washington Field Office, and Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), has resulted in the apprehension of 48 fugitives and the recovery of three firearms. Of the 48 arrests, there were 96 total charges, 72 of these charges were warrants closed and 24 were additional charges. Of the warrants, 19 were for Failure to Appear, 33 Bench Warrants, nine Fugitive from Justice, two Federal Warrants, seven Parole Violations, two Probation Violations, and three Firearm Recoveries. Some arrestees were charged with multiple counts for active warrants.
While I celebrate them for working together to get this accomplished, I ask, “Isn’t this your reasonable service? Aren’t you supposed to arrest those that are probation and warrant violators"?
According to 24-405 of the DC Code:
If said Board of Parole, or any member thereof, shall have reliable information that a prisoner has violated his parole, said Board, or any member thereof, at any time within the term or terms of the prisoner’s sentence, may issue a warrant to any officer hereinafter authorized to execute the same for the retaking of such prisoner. Any officer of the District of Columbia penal institutions, any officer or designated civilian employee of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, or any federal officer authorized to serve criminal process within the United States to whom such warrant shall be delivered is authorized and required to execute such warrant by taking such prisoner and returning or removing him to the penal institution of the District of Columbia from which he was paroled or to such penal or correctional institution as may be designated by the Attorney General of the United States.”
Yes, it's supposed to work like that.
By the way, we estimate there are at least 6,000 plus outstanding active warrants in the Nation’s Capital. Hence, the Mayor threw a press conference to acknowledge that in 72 hours they collected 0.07% of those outstanding. It would probably be cheaper to offer a reward to the General Public for turning in those on the ACtive Warrants list. Far better than spending $300 million on putting speed bumps in the middle of roads that have not experienced a traffic accident in decades. This was important that the Bowser Administration mobilize the Propaganda Machine for a soiled Police Chief looking for a win and a Mayor trying her best to seem like she is “doing something”.
Desperation is the Essence of the Spaghetti Crime Strategy. Desperation is a noun from the Latin desperationem (nominative desperatio) "despair, hopelessness.." Valerie Sabater writes, “Desperation is a poison that turns off your hopes, motivations, and energy little by little. It’s the scab that permanent disappointment leaves and the thorn that makes you breathe through bitterness until you’re immersed in a dangerous psychological trap.” While the Radical Left has promoted an illogical reasoning that people unable to defend themselves are the victors over desperation. Criminals sense the weakness of those that they attack. Moreso, they understand the probabilities of success. Many offenders who victimize other people do so deliberately, intentionally, and with advance planning. More driven by greed than poverty, criminals take advantage of a people without hope, full of despair. Such a feeling is invasive and oppressive. The People of Washington, DC have been invaded by the Radical Left’s Agenda and are now oppressed by it. There is a needed change but not as simple as a change of Police Chiefs. The people must put off their shackles and take control of the place that lacks it.
You don’t have to be a Vegas Poker Star to understand that you have the edge in a hand where an individual is unable to defend themselves. This realization is what law abiding citizens fear--"state of being afraid, uneasiness caused by possible danger". What citizens and criminals don’t doubt is the inability of the government to fully protect their lives or stop them from committing crimes. It is that lawlessness that drives people to make choices out of their desperation. For the criminal, it is to create victims--from Latin victima "sacrificial animal; person or animal killed as a sacrifice". For the citizens, it is to flee or fight. Without the inability to fight, the government has given the law abiding only one real option. Bowser’s and Smith’s Spaghetti Crime Strategy offers no other assurance.
