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America The Current Situation

Concern about crime: up. Actual crime: down.

Graphic: “A reminder, because it’ll be a U.S. election year, and certain parties campaign only with fear and loathing...” Features three headlines showing dropping crime rates.

2024 will be an election year in the U.S., and it’s probably be a nasty one. One particular candidate — who faces a boatload of indictments, pretty much committed an act of treason (and possibly more than just that well-publicized one) — still has plenty of followers who see him as either a means to entrench their lofty position in society, or as an avatar into which they can channel their resentment.

That candidate has already campaigned on the fear of rising crime, with crime often being a code word for “the coloreds.” The Southern Strategy still lives.

But actual crime, it turns out, has been dropping:

Infographic: “U.S. Homicides Fall in 2023,” showing drops in homicides in New York (down 11%), Los Angeles (down 16%), Chicago (down 13%), Houston (down 11%), Phoenix (down 15%), Philadelphia (down 21%), and San Antonio (down 12%). Homicides in Dallas were up 14%, and Austin showed no change.

The problem is that it’s all too easy to sell the idea of rising crime. The general perception, according to a recent Gallup poll, is that crime is up, in spite of the actual numbers. And for those who keep carping about “the illegals” contributing to the not-rising-but-rising crime, the numbers say that they’re may be less of a problem than other groups.

The “Family Guy” “OKAY/NOT OKAY” meme, where Peter Griffin, in stereotypical “Middle Eastern garb” is having his skin color compared against an “OKAY/NOT OKAY” color chart.

Expect a nastier news cycle in the new year.

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Thanks to Los Angeles’ best blogger, Tony Pierce, for the find!

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