Yesterday was a very significant day in the world of criminal justice in America. In San Francisco, Attorney General Eric Holder announced proposals that would break with harsh punishments for non-violent drug offenders and give federal prosecutors more authority on charging offenders, a change in policy long overdue. "Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long and for no good law enforcement reason," Holder said.
In New York City, a federal judge ruled that the NYPD's "stop-question-frisk" policy aimed at curbing crime intentionally discriminates on race. Mayor Michael Bloomberg angrily denounced the judge's decision afterwards, and says the city will appeal the decision.
And in Boston, a federal jury found mobster Whitey Bulger guilty on in connection with 11 of the 19 murders he had been accused of. It was never in doubt that he would be found guilty. As was known long before he was apprehended two years ago in Santa Monica, law enforcement protected Bulger for decades, a disgusting reality that the families of his victims will always have to live with.
Bulger is 83-years-old, which means he'll die in jail. Maybe it will only be a few years he ultimately will live behind bars. A few years for all of those people he killed, and was protected the whole time? It doesn't really seem fair, does it? Let's face it, he had been in retirement in recent years. So now he can have the state of Massachusetts take care of him in his golden years.
Justice was not served in this whole sordid tale.
In the news -
Might these be the last months of Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission? We've heard that before, of course, but County Commissioner Sandy Murman said yesterday she knows of a couple of local lawmakers preparing such legislation.
Speaking of transportation in Hillsborough County, there were many unhappy members of the public at last week's Policy Leadership Meeting in the county, where all they key decision makers were nowhere to be found. Now some of those transit activists are demanding certain items as those meetings continue.
Marco Rubio now says that he doesn't want to force a government shutdown if ObamaCare isn't defunded. He says it's on President Obama, and will be his fault if he doesn't defund his own program, which is actually the law now.