Penna Dexter

Question: Will Americans vote to stop the riots, the looting and the defund-the-police efforts in major cities across the country? The parties certainly understand that citizens, even those who sympathize with the peaceful George Floyd protests, are appalled at the violent turn some of the protests took. Most people abhor the violence, and the destruction of businesses and the livelihoods of their owners and employees. Other than calls to defund police, we didn’t hear a word about this at the Democrats’ convention. Their party platform calls for removing Confederate monuments but nothing about controlling the mobs that are often doing it. Neither is there a word of condemnation of the violence that is devastating their constituents who live and work in our cities. In fact, when federal agents are sent to protect federal property in these cities, as is their duty, the Left cries foul and the media amplifies their opposition. But the general uptick in violent crime, including murder, in our cities, has brought a systematic and sustained response from the feds. At a news conference last week in Kansas City, Mo., Attorney General William Barr announced that federal-state task forces have made more than 1,400 arrests as part of “Operation Legend,” an anti-crime initiative the Justice Department launched in early July. Under this initiative, the Justice Department has dispatched more than 1000 federal agents to help local law enforcement investigate violent crime. This effort is named after LeGend Taliferro, a four-year-old boy who was shot and killed in his sleep the morning of June 29 in Kansas City. The city’s police, assisted by the FBI and U.S. Marshals, arrested his suspected murderer the second week in August. Operation Legend has expanded and is working now to restore peace to eight additional cities. At his press conference, the Attorney General stated, “The most basic duty of government is to protect the safety of our citizens.” Smart politicians won’t ignore that.