Roses are red, violets are blue, is an old nursery rhyme, poem, and eventual song title, ending in “the honey’s sweet and so are you.” A modern-day version might be rewritten:

Peace is red, crime is blue

Vote for Democrats, and you’ll find this true

Rising crime in American cities is often ignored by the media which, instead, focuses on the Omicron variant and fully vaccinated universities and sports teams shutting down over new COVID cases, flying in the face of common sense and everything we have been told about vaccinations.

ABC News dipped its toe into crime reporting recently with this headline, “It's just crazy: 12 major cities hit all-time homicide records.” While COVID cases might be spiking, so is crime, with some cities breaking decades-old homicide records.

"It's terrible to every morning get up and have to go look at the numbers and then look at the news and see the stories. It's just crazy. It's just crazy and this needs to stop," Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said after his city surpassed its annual homicide record of 500, which stood since 1990.

Is this what President Joe Biden means by “build back better”?  Is this somehow former President Donald Trump’s fault, despite him being out of office for almost a year now? ABC News offers a few potential explanations but misses a big one.

Experts say there are a number of reasons possibly connected to the jump in homicides, including strained law enforcement staffing, a pronounced decline in arrests and continuing hardships from the pandemic, but that there is no clear answer across the board.

It’s interesting that the media and law enforcement have trouble finding motives or explanations when those might be politically incorrect. For example, if a young Muslim male shouts “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire on a crowd of shoppers, big media will struggle to find motive. This story of a French terrorist shooting makes the point, “The New York Times claimed Wednesday that it is ‘unclear’ what motivated the gunman who shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ before opening fire on a Christmas market in France.”

What is the common denominator regarding the homicide spike in 12 major American cities?

FoxNews screen grab

While ABC News is befuddled as to what these 12 cities have in common, Fox News, practicing journalism by asking basic questions of who, what, where, and why, easily found the common denominator. All 12 cities are led by Democrat mayors.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, famous for letting his city burn and be destroyed by BLM and Antifa, is a Democrat. Tucson Mayor Regina Romero is also a member of the donkey party, as is Austin Mayor Steve Adler. Mayors of Indianapolis Joe Hogsett, of Philadelphia Jim Kenney, and of St. Paul Melvin Carter, are all Democrats.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller is a Democrat as is Greg Fischer of Louisville. So are the mayors of Baton Rouge, Columbus, Toledo, and Rochester. Each mayor of these 12 cities is a proud member of the Democrat party.

While ABC News struggles to find an explanation, it took me just a few clicks on my computer, alone without a research staff which ABC undoubtedly has, to unearth this correlation between rising crime cities and the political party of leaders of those cities.

This correlation is not surprising. One clue might be in the attitudes of Democrats toward law enforcement, crime prevention, incarceration, all factors which influence criminal activity.

Breitbart compiled a list of who has been naughty or nice when it comes to defunding the police. Here are a few examples.

Start with Portland, “Last year Portland’s Democrat-dominated city council gutted the police budget by nearly 15 percent, a loss of $27 million from a $200 million budget.”

Portland voters must approve of this, “The city’s new district attorney, who won 77 percent of the vote, chose not to pursues cases against some 550 charged with interfering with police officers during last year’s riots and protests.” As the saying goes, “In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.”

National leaders, safe within their security-tight cocoons either in Washington, D.C. or their home districts, which they occasionally visit, fan the flames of defunding the police.

Breitbart kept a list of such statements. President Joe Biden, during his campaign, supported “reallocating police resources.” His cackling sidekick Vice President Kamala Harris agrees saying, “I applaud Eric Garcetti” for defunding the Los Angeles police department.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats refused to criticize the Minneapolis City Council for defunding the police. Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar called for dismantling the Minneapolis Police Department. Her sister in silliness Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants to “reallocate resources away” from police, claiming the crime surge is simply “hysteria.” Another squad member, Rep. Ayanna Pressley still supports defunding the police.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn compared federal law enforcement to Nazi Gestapo, claiming last year’s violence in Washington, D.C. was from the police, not looting and fire-starting thugs. Biden’s Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta supports, “decreasing police budgets and the scope, role, and responsibility of the police in our lives.”

How hard is this to explain? Democrats at a local, state, and national level push to defund the police and are quick to pile on and punish any law enforcement officers who for the most part are trying to do the best they can in the violent and unpredictable world of confronting and arresting criminals. Examples are legion, from Michael Brown to George Floyd.

When your boss doesn’t have your back, you may look away from criminal activity, which is known as the Ferguson Effect. If those in charge believe proactive policing in minority neighborhoods is racially oppressive, then it is much easier for the average cop to just look the other way, rather than risk losing their job, pension, or winding up in prison if things don’t go perfectly.

Heather MacDonald summed this up nicely:

If local and national leaders are unable to summon the will to defend our most basic institutions from false and inflammatory charges of racism, they have forfeited their right to govern. Unless new leaders come forth who understand their duty to maintain the rule of law, the country will not pull back from disaster.

CNN, in an accidental foray into honest journalism, reported this headline, “Even Democrats are now admitting 'Defund the Police' was a massive mistake.”

MSN News acknowledged the same:

The Democratic Party’s quest to defund police forces, an act in which it kowtowed to its hard-left-wing base, has come to a very bitter end. The resulting surge in violent crime has produced a massive public backlash that threatens the careers of elected Democrats throughout the nation. Naturally, the endangered species is trying to distance itself swiftly from the wreckage that “defund the police” has left behind.

ABC News’ conclusion of “no clear answer” seems as clear as could be. If you defund and criticize something, expect less of it. Red cities and states, for the most part, offer residents a rosy life. At the same time, the blue locales provide not violets, but crime, murder, and mayhem. Remember this when it comes time to vote, and more importantly count the votes.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer. On Twitter as @retinaldoctor.

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