It is so hard to decide what the biggest reason for the coming red tsunami in 2022 will be. It could be the economy with high inflation, the total invasion of illegal aliens, Kamala’s cackling laughter or the Democrat’s total indifference to the soaring crime rate in Democrat cities where they have defunded the police. My guess is it will be healthy mixture of all of the above.
Sex in the City star and former candidate for governor of New York Cynthia Nixon now says that shoplifters should not be arrested even though many stores are being closed down permanently because losses due to theft make them unprofitable. She claims that arresting people for shoplifting is criminalizing poverty.
Errol Louis, a Spectrum News NY1 journalist retweeted a NYT story:
“The mundane crime of shoplifting has spun out of control in San Francisco, forcing some chain stores to close. Walgreens said that thefts at its stores in San Francisco were four times the chain’s national average, and that it had closed 17 stores, largely because the scale of thefts had made business untenable.”
Louis added on his tweet:
“Worth noting that several candidates for Manhattan DA (and for NYC Mayor) say shoplifting should not be prosecuted because that’s ‘criminalizing poverty.'”
Nixon shared the tweet by Louis on Twitter and wrote:
“The CVS on my corner has started locking up basic items like clothing detergent. As so many families can’t make ends meet right now, I can’t imagine thinking that the way to solve the problem of people stealing basic necessities out of desperation is to prosecute them.”
Democrats with a healthy dose of money from George Soros has been getting prosecutors elected who want to decriminalize crime. And what about the side effects. Stores are forced to close and the company’s shareholders must eat the cost. How about the employees that lose their jobs? Or how about the old and infirm and people without a car that lose a pharmacy in their neighborhood?
Twitter reactions lambasted the former Democratic New York gubernatorial candidate’s proposal:
- Tony Bruno: “Guess that embarrassing foray into politics wasn’t enough to prove how out of touch with reality you truly are.”
- Erielle Davidson: “No, it’s mostly organized gangs that then resell the items. These stores close down when the theft becomes too great, taking jobs (and access to basic necessities) with them. We’ll need to invent a new academic term for this phenomenon—toothpaste deserts or something.”
- Andrew Sullivan: “‘Legalize Crime’ is almost as effective as ‘Defund The Police.'”
- Kurt Schlichter: “Democrats are for theft.”
- A Twitter user: “You live in a neighborhood of $3 million-dollar apartments and townhouses. No one at your CVS is ‘desperate’ to steal ‘basic necessities.’ This isn’t just moral grandstanding on your part, it’s really incompetent moral grandstanding.”
- A commenter: “Letting people just steal stuff doesn’t solve the problem either. Which laws do we choose to follow? Do you really think society will be better off if we let people just walk into a store and steal whatever they want? This is how Democrats lose elections.”
- Another user: “Well Cynthia, why don’t you go down to the CVS on your corner and simply buy these items from the store. Then set up a table outside the door with the items available for anyone to take, for free. Then you can directly help these families you are so troubled about.”
- A commenter: “I grew up poor, and we never took anything that we hadn’t paid for. It’s insulting that you think the less fortunate have no ability to discern right from wrong. Also, allowing widespread theft will result in higher prices, punishing the poor and honest.”
- A Twitter user: “San Francisco allows theft to go on unabated, so the retailers all close. Then there are no jobs and no easily accessed commodities.”
- A commenter: “Tweet out your address and open your pantry.”
