Tag Archives: #GeorgeSoros

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Larry Krasner draws a challenger

I have written frequently about District Attorney Larry Krasner, the anti-police crusader that George Soros helped get elected in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia. Mr Krasner ran promising to completely overhaul the prosecutor’s office, to:

  • Stop prosecuting insufficient and insignificant cases
  • Review past convictions, free the wrongfully convicted
  • Stop cash bail imprisonment
  • Treat addiction as an illness, not a crime
  • Protect immigrants while protecting everybody
  • Reject a return to the failed drug wars of the past
  • Stand up to police misconduct

Wikipedia noted of Mr Krasner:

In his first week in office, Mr Krasner fired 31 prosecutors from the District Attorney’s Office, including both junior and career supervisory staff. Up to one-third of the homicide prosecutors in the office were dismissed. Those fired represented nearly a 10% reduction in the number of Philadelphia assistant district attorneys.

In February 2018, Krasner announced that law enforcement would no longer pursue criminal charges against those caught with marijuana possession. That same month, Krasner instructed prosecutors to stop seeking cash bail for those accused of some misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies. Krasner said that it was unfair to keep people in detention simply because they could not afford bail. He also announced that the DA’s office had filed a lawsuit against a number of pharmaceutical companies for their role in the city’s opioid epidemic. Krasner instructed prosecutors to stop charging sex workers who had fewer than three convictions.

In March 2018, it was reported that Krasner’s staffers were working on creating a sentence review unit–the first of its kind in the country–to review past cases and sentences, and seek re-sentencing in cases when individuals were given unduly harsh punishments. Also in March 2018, it was reported that Krasner instructed prosecutors to: “Offer shorter prison sentences in plea deals. Decline certain classes of criminal charges. And explain, on the record, why taxpayers should fork over thousands of dollars per year to incarcerate people.” He said,

Fiscal responsibility is a justice issue, and it is an urgent justice issue. A dollar spent on incarceration should be worth it. Otherwise, that dollar may be better spent on addiction treatment, on public education, on policing and on other types of activity that make us all safer.

Given the approximately 40% increase in homicides in the city this year from 2019, a year which had the highest number of killings since 2007, it doesn’t seem as though Mr Krasner’s ideas have made anyone safer.

Well, now the District Attorney has drawn a primary opponent for next year’s campaign:

A former Philly homicide prosecutor fired by District Attorney Larry Krasner is challenging him for reelection

by Laura McCrystal | December 11, 2020 | 5:02 PM EST

A former Philadelphia homicide prosecutor who was among the staffers fired when District Attorney Larry Krasner took office will challenge the incumbent in next year’s Democratic primary.

Carlos Vega, who worked in the District Attorney’s Office for 35 years and was the first Latino homicide prosecutor in Pennsylvania, has been a vocal critic of Krasner. He plans to formally announce his candidacy Wednesday.

Vega left the District Attorney’s Office in January 2018, when Krasner fired 31 staffers during his first week. He filed a lawsuit against Krasner last year, alleging that his firing was based on age discrimination. Krasner has denied the firing was related to age, and the lawsuit is still pending in federal court.

Vega said in an interview Friday that his campaign will focus on victims of crime and their families, who have accused Krasner’s office of failing to keep them updated and excluding them from decisions.

Protesters, including Jamaal Henderson of ACT UP Philadelphia, gathered outside Philadelphia City Hall in June and called for allocating funds to community services instead of the police.. Photo by Alejandro Alvarez, The Philadelphia Inquirer,

What? A prosecutor focusing on the victims of crimes and their families, rather than Mr Krasner’s coddling of criminals? That’s kind of what the black community said they wanted, according to Thursday’s Philadelphia Inquirer, but, then again, the same people want cop killer Wesley Cook, who uses the fake name ‘Mumia Abu-Jamal’, released from prison, and want the police department defunded.

Mr Krasner should run on his record: 353 homicides his first year, up from 315 in 2017, 356 in 2019, and now up to 466 so far this year. With 20 days left to go in 2020, Philly has already seen its 3rd highest murder total in history, is on pace to easily break 1989’s 2nd place record of 489, and might just challenge 1990’s all time record of 505. If Mr Krasner is re-elected, after that record, then the City of Brotherly Love will have gotten what it deserves.

George Soros money got another ‘social justice’ district attorney elected, in Los Angeles, and he’s already doing the same stuff Mr Krasner has done.

Black Lives Matter? It sure doesn’t seem that they do in Philadelphia, where black men are being murdered every single day, and the District Attorney is more concerned about the murderers than the murdered.

Would Mr Vega be a better District Attorney than Mr Krasner? We can’t know if he would be much better, but one thing is certain; he couldn’t be any worse. The Inquirer article does have a link to a fund-raising site for Mr Vega, but given that it’s an Act Blue site, I will not link it. The site says that Mr Vega “worked to overturn wrongful convictions,” so he might just be on the social justicey side himself, just not as bad as Mr Krasner. What Philadelphia really needs is a tough, and I mean tough on crime Police Commissioner and District Attorney, people who will do for Philly what Rudy Giuliani did for New York City, catch and prosecute harshly the petty crooks when they are “Johnny Misdemeanor,” before they become “Johnny Felony.”
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Cross-posted on RedState.

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A ‘Social Justice’ prosecutor in Los Angeles; what could possibly go wrong?

Law enforcement in Philadelphia has gone to [insert slang term for feces here] since Larry Krasner has become District Attorney:

When he was running for district attorney, Larry Krasner, supported by a PAC funded by George Soros, made his commitment to social reform and reducing the inmate population quite clear. He promised to fundamentally transform the city’s criminal justice system.

No one can accuse Krasner of not following through.

As the Inquirer reported on June 23rd (2019), Krasner is funneling an increased number of gun cases to a court diversionary program called Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD). In 2018, Krasner’s first year as district attorney, 78 cases were sent to the ARD program, compared with 12 the previous year.

Why does this matter? Because criminals who carry guns usually intend to use them.

Maalik Jackson-Wallace, for example, was given a second chance by Krasner’s office. Jackson-Wallace, whose case was highlighted by the Inquirer, was initially arrested on a gun possession charge. The case was sent to ARD and Jackson-Wallace received probation. He was arrested a second time for gun possession and released on unsecured bail. On June 13th, he was arrested again and charged with murder; police say he shot and killed a 26-year-old man. (Jackson-Wallace’s attorney claims it was in self-defense.)

When Krasner was practicing law in Philadelphia – specializing in criminal defense and civil rights cases – he sued the police department some 75 times. He doesn’t believe in the death penalty, and he’s called law enforcement “systemically racist.”

Well, George Soros put big money into another district attorney race, helping George Gascón win the office in Los Angeles County. Mr Soror poured $2,250,000 into Mr Gascón’s coffers. And now Los Angeles County will have the same problems which helped send Philadelphia’s homicide rate to record levels.

LA County DA Gascon To Eliminate Cash Bail, Will Re-Sentence Death Penalty Inmates

By CBSLA Staff | December 7, 2020 | 2:07 PM PST

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – The county’s lead prosecutor announced sweeping changes Monday for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, including the elimination of cash bail for misdemeanor and some felony offenses.

Newly sworn-in George Gascon announced Monday that county prosecutors will no longer seek cash bail for any misdemeanor or non-violent, non-serious felony offenses.

Attorneys who have clients behind bars awaiting trial on any of the affected offenses can immediately schedule a hearing to revisit bail and his office won’t contest their release.

Gascon, 66, also told reporters he is taking the death penalty “off the table” and will seek to re-sentence inmates on death row to life in prison.

The former San Francisco prosecutor also declared he won’t file any gang enhancements in criminal complaints, saying they undermine rehabilitation, exacerbate racial inequities and unnecessarily crowd jails and prisons.

He also pledged to immediately end the practice of charging minors as adults, and will make victims’ services available to families of those shot and killed by law enforcement officers.

The District Attorney’s office will also not require victims of crime to testify against perpetrators in order to gain access to victims’ services.

If victims do not have to testify to get help, that just means more criminals will go untried and unconvicted.

The death penalty bit makes little difference: California has 725 people on death row, but only 13 executions since the restoration of capital punishment in 1976. The Pyrite State has not executed anyone since January 17, 2006. Sentencing people to capital punishment only means spending more money on them.

But releasing accused criminals without bail? All that does is invite them to commit more crimes.

Gascon, a retired Los Angeles police officer, has served as both police chief and district attorney for San Francisco.

As that city’s lead prosecutor, Gascon authored a ballot measure to reduce some felonies to misdemeanors, including some thefts, which led San Francisco to have the nation’s highest property crime rate per capita in the U.S., according to the Associated Press.

This is what ‘social justice’ law enforcement gets us: less law enforcement and more crime. Everything the social justice warriors touch turns out badly.
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Cross-posted on RedState.

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George Soros is still spending money to destroy responsible civilization Just like with Larry Krasner, he's dumping money into 'social justice' prosecutors

We have previously noted that Larry Krasner, then a Democratic candidate for District Attorney in Philadelphia, received a lot of money from billionaire America-hater George Soros in his 2017 campaign.

Philadelphia had plenty of experience in treating criminals leniently, and then being shocked, shocked! when criminals who could have and should have been behind bars at the time upped their game to shooting police officers.

Larry Krasner won the election to become District Attorney in Philadelphia in 2017, and was the beneficiary of a huge campaign contribution from leftist billionaire George Soros, is a leftist who hates the police and doesn’t pursue supposedly petty offenses, and ran on a platform saying he would:

  • Stop prosecuting insufficient and insignificant cases
  • Review past convictions, free the wrongfully convicted
  • Stop cash bail imprisonment
  • Treat addiction as an illness, not a crime
  • Protect immigrants while protecting everybody
  • Reject a return to the failed drug wars of the past
  • Stand up to police misconduct

The wholly predictable results? In 2018, Mr Krasner’s first year in office, city homicides jumped from 315 to 353, a 12.06% increase. The following year, homicides held almost steady, rising to 356, but this year, 428 people have been murdered in the city, as of 11:59 PM EST on November 12th, a 40% increase over the same day last year, good for 7th place all time in Philadelphia’s homicide history . . . with 49 days left in the year.

But, it seems that some people like lax law enforcement, regardless of how many dead bodies it leaves on the streets. From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Retired Philly cops looking to unseat Larry Krasner lose first battle with billionaire George Soros

by Chris Brennan | November 13, 2020 | 5:00 AM EST

A political action committee organized this summer by retired Philadelphia police officers eager to oust District Attorney Larry Krasner next year said it supported 69 candidates in 17 states in last week’s election.

And while Protect Our Police PAC says 38 of those candidates won, it lost its first face-off with billionaire liberal philanthropist George Soros.

Soros, who spent almost $1.7 million to help Krasner win the 2017 Democratic primary election, gave $244,000 to a Georgia PAC backing Shalena Cook Jones, who defeated two-term Republican Chatham County (Savannah) District Attorney Meg Heap.

The Protect Our Police PAC took heat in the race, with complaints that a billboard it posted was racist because it made it seem Jones supported violent protest (Jones is Black, Heap is white) and that mailers attacking Soros’ involvement were anti-Semitic. The PAC denounced those as “false accusations meant to discredit and distract” and said, “We unequivocally denounce racism and anti-Semitism.”

PAC president Nick Gerace feels confident about 2021, vowing to “counter George Soros’ efforts to elect weak prosecutors who too often side with criminals rather than victims.”

The PAC gave $50,000 last month to State Rep. Martina White, Philadelphia’s only Republican state legislator and a regular Krasner foe. It also sent mailers to retired cops supporting the reelection of state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, an occasional Krasner foe.

Krasner has shrugged off the PAC so far, dismissing in an August fund-raising email the idea that “no one should ever challenge the thin blue line, no matter the abuse or discrimination that occurs in our communities.”

“(T)he abuse or discrimination that occurs in our communities”? A skyrocketing murder rate, aided by Mr Krasner’s lenient treatment of lower level crimes, doesn’t constitute abuse?

Oh, well, I guess that it doesn’t count as racial discrimination when one black guy kills another black guy, the most common description of murder in the City of Brotherly Love, does it?

Mr Soros was born on August 12, 1930, making him 90 years old now. His mission in life appears to be to destroy responsible civilization by backing ‘social justice’ causes, and Mr Krasner is right there, serving as one of his accomplices.
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