Welcome To The People’s Republic Of Seattle

If you haven’t seen the documentary The Fight For The Soul Of Seattle, or even if you have, there is one fact you probably don’t know about it. Ted Bundy was once appointed to the Seattle Crime Prevention Advisory Committee. If that sounds like a sick joke, what has been happening recently is on a par with it, because while murder is still illegal in the Emerald City, just, the progressive imbeciles who control it have been considering a new “poverty defense” to misdemeanors including theft and assault.

That’s right, if the perpetrator is homeless or “mentally ill”, theft or even clonking someone over the head may be excusable out of “necessity”.  If that sounds far fetched, here is Keith Ellison, the Attorney General of Minnesota explaining how a rape victim should call a social worker rather than the police, because clearly she will benefit more from counselling from some idiot rape crisis worker than seeing her attacker taken off the street. Ellison is the man more than any other who was responsible for the recent mass rioting and two billion dollars of damage caused to America because he gratuitously withheld the police bodycam video of the death of George Floyd, video that while not exonerating his accused killer, provides a different perspective on his death.

In Los Angeles, progressives are instituting similar changes. Not all these are bad; the elimination of cash bail – if applied sensibly – is a good thing. In the UK, suspects are generally bailed in their own recognisance, sometimes with conditions. A breach of bail is a criminal offence in itself, and is likely to result in a remand in custody, but what has been happening in New York City should be a warning to the entire country. Cash bail was abolished at the beginning of the year. In January, the homeless Eugene Webb was said to have punched a woman in the face dislodging two of her teeth. This was an unprovoked attack on a stranger, and certainly in the UK would have warranted a remand in custody. Instead, he was turned loose, and it was only when he appeared in court again on a similar charge that a judge ordered he be detained for a mental health assessment. This case is far from unique.

But, bad as New York, Los Angeles, and the State of Minnesota may be, Seattle tops them all. The defunding of its police and the campaigns against them is leading to their mass exodus. While such defunding isn’t a bad idea per se, it is one thing to order them to turn a blind eye to victimless crimes such as prostitution and possessing small quantities of marijuana, but quite another to hold them back while the city is torn apart by rioters. The madness in Portland, Oregon was arguably even worse.

Seattle also has its own brand of fake news. Recently, leaflets that claim a man was murdered by the police in December 2015 have been distributed there. Raymond Azevedo was indeed shot dead in Northeast Seattle, but a simple Google search turns up dramatic dash-cam footage of a car chase like something out of a Hollywood crime fantasy film. Hardened recidivist Azevedo stole no fewer than three vehicles before he was blasted to death while still trying to make his getaway.

All these jurisdictions have one thing in common, they are Democrat controlled, run largely by progressives. To keep abreast with just how bad things are in Seattle, check out the Seattle Real Estate Podcast (pictured above) which can be found on YouTube. It remains to be seen how much real estate there will be there if present trends continue. What buildings remain standing will be valueless.