Years ago, we lived in Wisconsin and drove up to Minneapolis to catch a baseball game. My parents loved the city and spent the whole drive home praising how clean and safe it was.

Well, that was then and this is now.

We watched Minneapolis burn a few months ago.  The next act in lawlessness is carjackings, as we see in this local report:

Over the past two months, Minneapolis police have logged more than 125 carjackings in the city, a troubling surge that authorities had largely linked to small groups of marauding teens. But an increasing number of adults have been arrested in recent weeks for the same crime.

Within a one-hour period Saturday morning, police reported three separate carjackings in southeast Minneapolis, including one where an elderly woman was struck on the head. Such attacks are up 537% this month when compared with last November. 

And there is a bit more:

The spree comes amid a nearly unprecedented spike in violent crime, particularly shootings, since the May 25 killing of George Floyd in police custody and the civil unrest that followed.

I would respectfully correct the story.  The violence did start the day after George Floyd's death.  The key is that the violence was allowed to happen and tolerated by weak local leadership.

What we are seeing in Minneapolis is that if you let gangs burn buildings, loot stores, and destroy police stations, then they will eventually get around to carjackings.  It is the natural cycle of lawlessness and not much more.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

Image: Lorie Shaull.