33 Comments

They want to seize the guns of law-abiding citizens so they can seize even more power and let criminals run wild. Since the shooter was not white, the Sacramento tragedy was barely mentioned in the national news. Same thing happened with San Bernardino, Boulder, etc.

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I was following this and watched when they named the suspect. Nobody was showing his picture and they buried it "below the fold".

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Soros only allows national coverage if the shooter is white. The naivete in this article is astounding.

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Newsom Administration Lies:

People don’t kill people… guns kill people.

Equity is the most important consideration for any Corrections system. Until racial equity has been achieved, there is no racial justice.

Releasing African-American inmates to restore equity is the primary objective of any Corrections system.

Focus on reoffending blames the victim (the inmate) instead of society. Before we can achieve equity, we must ascribe the blame for all crime on society… and, in particular, on white privilege.

Californians understood that former Chief Justice Rose Bird’s primary focus was what would now be called restoring equity. Since she didn’t believe that criminals were responsible for their own behavior, the prison doors must be thrown open so that the victims of inequity… inmates of color… may be freed.

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I am a survivor as well. In my case, it was constant covert incest with dirty overtones. The offender dried out and become less handsy. The offender was told that they were not responsible for their actions by a psychiatrist who should have lost his license (for failure to report sexual abuse to DCFS). He never talked to my other parent or to any other member of my family. That was DCFS’s job. Instead, he put the lightest possible weight on the behavior the offender reported and said that if they did not stop, that would be reported as sexual abuse. Someone needed to assess what was going on… but no one did.

Since he told the offender not to take responsibility for what they had done, they never did. The offender died in 2021 and I am trying to let God judge.

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God will judge (or has already) regardless of your opinion.

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I know. I am placing my judgment into his hands.

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The majority of violent crime is done by a minority of the criminals. Lock up violent felons and do not let them out.

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Until violent people remain locked up for good, we will continue to have high rates of violent crime. Not everyone can be rehabilitated and it's time to come to terms with that. I'm also all for prevention programs to help stop crime, but at some point people have to take responsibility for their own lives. The constant messaging that the people committing atrocities are the real victims and those who live their lives as responsible citizens are racist, transphobic, sexist, evil, etc. needs to stop. This country has been ruined by the apologists and enablers of criminals, in addition to the criminals.

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You lost me at Soros ...

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Well you've gone completely off the rails now. Totally.

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Michael you said "I support strong gun controls". Such as? What "gun controls" does CA not have that you would like to see implemented?

Why do you support "strong gun controls"? Do you think that criminals obey them or do you want more controls on law-abiding citizens?

This is really idiotic thinking, IMO.

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"I support strong gun controls..."

This makes you no different than any other garden variety progressive. Why do you support strong controls? How about strong rules allowing regular people / non criminals to carry a concealed pistol? Do you want to win? Be different.

"I worked for George Soros’ foundation in the 1990s, and believe he means well..."

Your 'belief' and his 'meaning well' are irrelevant. He's some eastern european non-american who has been on record as wanting an "open society", and has advocated unamerican policies his entire life. I thought "rich white old men" were the problem. Why does he get a pass, and since when did we start ignoring actions and results?

This is one of the most naive statements I've ever heard from someone of your caliber. If you want to win, you have to be different. Dancing around the edges will get you nowhere.

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Apr 7, 2022·edited May 9, 2022

They still think they can create gun laws that criminals will obey.

They really will just use anything to crack down on law abiding citizens bring armed.

They refuse to admit that the way they’ve handled things drives gun sales more than anything else.

They have a clear agenda.

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What Yuri Bezmenov said. I'll add that it sounds like, "Smiley" Martin was a hero in the mold of St. George Floyd in his taste for violence against women. Another noble victim of "White Supremacy", and "Institutional Racism", whose depravity and identity is conveniently buried while The Great Replacement we see on TV and the Internet shows a different reality. Then, the depravity's tragedy is used to whip up support for disarming the law abiding citizenry.

Mr. Schellenberger I appreciate the work you have done with Apocalypse Never. I find your tap dancing around issues without taking a strong stand or sometimes taking a stand and then taking the other side in your rhetoric frustrating. Here you admit that gun control and the obscenely tyrannical notion of suing someone who sold another person a gun would not have prevented the crime then go on to say that you are for strong gun control.

I get it. You are running for election. I ignore your messages for support in a Campaign for Governor of California because this type of political messaging and equivocation is what got California and our nation into this spot. "The Left" has long since abandoned acting in good faith and the "The Right" is starting to wake up to the fact that the old rules were burned and buried long ago. Equivocation just isn't going to get it done. The Left takes ten miles for every inch given. Their safety-at-any-cost brigades are the gravest of dangers to us all.

As for Soros, and his good intentions, I don't buy it. If he funds these organizations, then he is responsible. His intentions are irrelevant, if not highly suspect given given how many decades he has been funding the destruction of our nation and the people who are bent on it. Consequences matter. May there be consequences proportional to the hell that the purported best of intentions is leading to.

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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022

You’re using right-wing trigger words – –eg “Soros” “crime agenda”… Labels! That never helps to engage the better part of my liberal-centrist mind. And you don't parse the issue fully. Because this guy should’ve been monitored, are you saying we don't incarcerate too many people, and need to find alternatives? Because this guy found a gun that was already outlawed, does that mean we don’t need gun reform? These are not arguments but zero-sum thinking that undermines seriousness. Justlook at the wacko comments you stir up – – like the one that begins “They want to”…

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Soros’ Open Society foundation is the largest contributor to the campaigns to elect far-left DAs such as Boudin, Gascon, Krasner, etc. who in turn author and support bills that lead to early release, zero bail, and decriminalization of theft, drug use, assault, etc. Prop 47 in CA which was authored by George Gascon does this, and Prop 57 and AB 109 have led to the early release of violent criminals like Martin.

Take your political sensitivities and tribal allegiance to the left out of this.

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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022

Name calling (“tribal allegiances”) is one way to shore up an argument. But not the best way.

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Fair enough! :-)

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Let me fix that for you: “Because this guy STOLE a gun that was already outlawed, does that mean we don’t need” more laws burdening law-abiding citizens?

How does your “liberal-centrist” mind feel about the guilty criminals who go free because of the police limitations enshrined in the Fourth Amendment?

Your comment epitomizes the sort of knee-jerk “zero-sum [un]thinking” that has turned California into a “wacko” land.

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The gun wasn’t outlawed. It was a regular, albeit stolen, semi-auto handgun. The scary thing is that it was illegally modified to be full automatic with a very simple addition called an auto sear that can be 3D printed. Again, no gun laws will prevent this.

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deletedApr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022
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Apr 5, 2022·edited Apr 5, 2022

I believe in Both-And thinking. Unfortunately, the landscape is so filled with smoke from false arguments, name-calling, conspiracy- mongering, labeling, and assumptions about motivations—ad well as complete irrelevancies – – like those mustered by Republicans against Justice Jackson, its very hard to see clearly or listen deeply. I’d like better from Shellenberger. Even you pretend to know what Soros cares or doesn’t care about. You seem to know in fact that he's NOT a good man. I’m not at all sure he isn't a victim of snti-Semitic conspiracy theorists. https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-49584157

My original point was,however, was that it’s not fair, given all that distortion about him, to cite his name at the top. It just triggers an emotional reaction. I will think about what you say, and do sone research, about violent criminals.

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George Soros is about as much a victim as Jeremy Corbyn. Only a Corbynite could have much good to say about the SOB.

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Nope. Don’t know a thing about Corbyn. Just an attempt at labeling. Not an argument.

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So, Michael, Cali has some of the strictest gun laws in the Nation. When you write that you "support strong gun controls" What does that mean? huh? Or is it just pandering and meaningless rhetoric. What do you actually propose and why should it work when none of Cali's law seem to work now?

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Very sad to hear this is going on.

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Are there any articles that track policy with populations/releases/crime? I see a ton of anecdotes (which all seem incredibly cut and dry) but I never see a macro picture tying it all together. Anywhere in press even in conservative places even though it seems like the biggest policy slam dunk you could ever have because the picture seems so clear. Genuinely curious.

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Huge fan of yours, but you lost me at “Soros funded.” Sounds Qanon-y

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Soros has a sordid history. He collaborated with Tony Blair to crash the value of silver in the UK and caused a run on the Bank of England. He was a Nazi collaborator as well, although he claims he did so at age 14 to avoid persecution. By his own admission, he helped confiscate property from other Jews. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9tKvasRO54. Also, he is 91. I wish these ancient creatures would take a step back from trying to run the world.

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George Soros is literally the most philanthropic person alive. He factually was a child, a Jewish child, when he was put in an impossible position. 14. He’s not trying to run the world, he’s donating money to causes he cares about.

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You're woefully ignorant on the man. He's one of the most dangerous men in the world.

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At least you recognize it. I'll give you that...

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