Category: Victims
Bonhoeffer and Thanksgiving
Timed with the Thanksgiving holiday, Angel Studios has released the film Bonhoeffer – Pastor, Spy, Assassin. The film tells the true life story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran minister, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident. He directly challenged the German church of the 1930s and 1940s to reject the heresies demanded by Hitler, which Hitler intended to…
Resistance and Collaboration with Evil
Each of us is commanded to do good. Everyone. The obligation to do good is always present, and it is particularly intense in the presence of evil. In our modern times, evil is not discussed much, and the notion of “good versus evil” leaves many people uncomfortable. That is unfortunate. Without contemplation about the timeless…
Sound of Freedom, Over the Trafficking Target
Last week, on the Fourth of July, the film Sound of Freedom was released in theaters. The release had been delayed for years. The criticism the film has received since its release has also been unusual. There is a key connection between the delayed release and the post release criticism. The film is based on…
Make the Victim Pay for Police Service
Too many shoplifters in your town? At least one community in Kenosha County, Wisconsin wants fewer reports of retail theft. But, actually stopping the stealing can be a challenge. The Village of Somers has an idea. If a store has too much theft, just make the merchant pay a $500 fee for calling the police.…
Lemmer Appointed to IL MMCW Task Force
This past January, the Task Force on Missing and Murdered Chicago Women (MMCW) Act took effect in Illinois. The act was passed by the Illinois General Assembly in June of 2022. The legislation created a task force seeking to examine the issue of missing and murdered women in Chicago. Under the act, the Illinois Association…
Paying Respects to Officer Areanah Preston
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) will take the lead in paying respects to slain Police Officer Areanah M. Preston. Sadly, the department has considerable experience in how to render honors to a fallen member. Police Officer Preston was the second CPD officer murdered this year. The pain of the loss of Police Officer Andres Vasquez…
NPR, AP, THE Pandemic and Traffic Deaths
Going back to the height of THE pandemic, polling by Gallup showed public confidence in key institutions was low. Even as the news media has pushed narratives focusing on other institutions, the public held the media in very low regard. Like trust in Congress low. There are many reasons to hold the media in low…
The Pandemic Excuse and Bigger Problems
The news cycle last week was dominated by coverage relating to the death of Tyre Nichols. Nichols died three days after he was stopped by, fled from, and was stopped again by police in Memphis on 7 January 2023. An extended struggle with police left Nichols severely injured. Two fire department EMTs and a fire…
A Chicago Crime Microcosm Story
Single, easily observed and understood examples can be extremely valuable. Such microcosm events help to provide clarity. They are useful in addressing public policy issues that have been deliberately obscured by political motivations. Politics have complicated the public policy discussion relative to crime. In cities across the nation, Americans have experienced declining public safety and…
IL Public Safety, Bad News Ahead
In Illinois, state’s attorneys are the elected county prosecutors. They represent the people of their respective counties in court. When 100 out of 102 elected state’s attorneys have a warning, then the people are wise to listen. The coming full implementation of the SAFE-T Act in January 2023 will make Illinois far less safe. On…
Continued Lawlessness and Outright Evil
Since May of 2020, the nation has witnessed growing lawlessness. Compared to 2019, violence in cities like Chicago drove the year-over-year national murder rate higher by nearly 30 percent in 2020. That single-year murder-rate increase is the largest ever recorded. While the final 2021 national murders statistics will not be released by the Federal Bureau…
Kim Foxx and Prosecutor Politics
At Secure 1776 we have tried to completely ignore the Jussie Smollett hate-crime hoax circus. Why? Because it all started with a minor television actor attempting to gain notoriety for purposes of career advancement. After Smollett completes his 150 days in jail we can expect he will again be aggressively looking to ca$h in on…
More Spectacle Chicago, Yet Another Juvenile Carjacker, Now Murderer
The spectacle of lawlessness in Chicago is far too frequent, and far too often involves juvenile offenders and juvenile victims. On 9 February 2022, Chicago Police announced the arrest of a 16-year-old, Anthony Brown for the murder of a 15-year-old Michael Brown (known to Anthony, but not related). On 8 February 2022, Michael was shot…
Connect the Dots: One News Feed, Two Stories, One Cause
Journalism and politics are supposed to be two professions comprised of smart people. Smart people that have the ability to correctly connect the dots. However, a divided political landscape has encouraged a deliberate blindness. The result, some of the smart people do connect the dots, but they don’t want you to do so. Instead they…
Buried Yesterday, Is There Resolve Today?
In our New Year’s Day editorial, we made clear that 2021 was not a “happy new year” relative to public safety. Our founder also made clear that for 2022 to be a “happy new year,” resolve would be required. On 29 December 2021, Bradley Police Sergeant Rittmanic’s last known words were to her attacker, as…