I don’t recall where I read this, but a man was speaking to a crowd and said this: A bear hunter wanted a fur coat. He was hunting for a bear, and he located one. He aimed at the bear and, at the last second, the bear raised his arms and told him to wait, he wanted to talk. So the man lowered his gun and they met face to face, whereupon the bear said, “look, you want a fur coat right?” The man said “yes.” The bear told him he just wanted something to eat. The man lowered the gun further, and the bear promptly ate him.
The moral of the story is the man got his fur coat — and you can’t negotiate with evil.
That story is playing out all around us today, and although it’s not new, it seems like it's grown faster and bigger than I believed possible. Violence is everywhere, from the classroom to the streets, and its effects are painful. In too many cases, some are trying to negotiate or excuse evil.
And it's biting us daily.
Across the country, cops are either severely shorthanded or routinely restricted from actually arresting criminals. In some places, when they do make arrests (including for violence against them), those suspects are let go almost immediately with no bail.
It is a trifecta of foolish politics.
Our southern border has been overrun and it's being reported widely that we don’t know who many of these people are. While many may be looking for a better life, others are members of notorious gangs, violent people who we know about, but they are here anyway. Even worse, unaccompanied minors are being trafficked and dangerous drugs are crossing the border and killing people in crazy numbers.
Yet, we continue to let them in.
Cities and states that have become sanctuaries for illegal migrants, many that previously mocked southern states for their intolerance and complaints, are now crying when it affects them.
It’s affecting their schools, crime, available public services and spaces, and actual citizens in ways the Southern states have been for years, and they don’t like it either. Now that they are affected, they demand federal money.
Besides, the feds don’t have any money, and what they do have is otherwise wasted on other foolishness. Of course, normal bears aren’t evil and neither is the snake in a similar story crossing a river on a benevolent creature's back, then biting it. When the benevolent creature asked why, the snake said “because I’m a snake.”
The crime I’m reading about isn’t stealing bread to feed a family. It’s TVs and expensive clothes being stolen without consequences because criminals know they can and nothing will happen.
After years of beating up cops politically, especially white cops but also minority cops, because they are cops, there is a nationwide shortage.
So, actually, the defund police movement worked; there are fewer candidates, and standards are lower. People who should not be cops will join law enforcement agencies. Politicians now say they want officers who have to return.
But they made such a mess politically, it will be hard.
It’s not just police standards that are being compromised. Doctors, nurses, federal aviation and almost every profession is affected by this diversity, equity and inclusion nonsense. I recently read where police academies in one state were being taught about 68 genders and the difference between them. How do you say “stop, police” in 68 genders? Oh, and of those genders, some are “fluid,” which I guess means they can change their minds.
To be honest, I didn't get past the first couple sentences. I still have a BS meter, and it went off.
I recently attended a local retirement party and was talking with a local leader who told me they have to spend more time teaching basic police work such as burglaries and car stops because our state academy spends too much time on lectures by the likes of Black Lives Matter and other similar groups. Just more blaming the white officers in the room for their problems.
If that's the case, it’s no wonder they can’t get qualified candidates. But just like the guy who got his fur coat, the knotheads who come up with this nonsense got what they wanted, and now, on the surface at least, it seems they don’t like it.
I doubt they are sincere, but we’ll see.
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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.
