Posted on 12/31/2013 4:45:43 AM PST by markomalley
Mark Andrew is a prominent Minneapolis Democrat. He served as long as he wanted to as a Hennepin County (Minneapolis and inner-ring suburbs) Commissioner, from 1982 until he resigned from the Hennepin County Board in 1999. He served a term as chairman of Minnesota’s Democratic Farmer Labor Party in the mid 1990s. Last month he came in a distant second in a crowded field running for Minneapolis mayor, though it wasn’t for lack of trying. There might be a left-wing cause or canard that Andrew hasn’t supported in the course of a long public career, but I doubt it. He’s a liberals’ liberal.
Andrew is back in the news this month because he was assaulted last week in public at the Mall of America by two teenage girls, one 17 and one — Letaija Shapree Cutler-Cain — 18. They were protecting a teenage boy who had stolen Andrew’s iPhone off a table at the MOA Starbucks. The trio had been casing the Starbucks all afternoon to assess the potential for a robbery.
Andrew gave chase to the teenage boy who lifted his phone. As he followed, the girls jumped him and pulled out a baton with which to pummel him. “I’m going to kill you! Let me go or I’m going to kill you!” Cutler-Cain yelled as she dug her fingernails into his face. Andrew took nine stitches in his head as a result of the beating.
The New York Daily News has a good article rounding up the facts of the story as of this past weekend. Yesterday Cutler-Cain made her first court appearance on charges arising from the incident and the 17-year-old was charged in juvenile court. KARE11 reports on Cutler-Cain’s court appearance here. I would like to know why the authorities aren’t moving to have the 17-year-old certified for prosecution as an adult, but that’s a story for another day.
Andrew’s phone was recovered at the Mall. Where is the thug who lifted it from Andrew? Chercher l’homme. That too is a story for another day.
However you look at it, this is an appalling story. The theft took place in broad daylight at a highly trafficked spot in Minnesota’s most highly trafficked mall. Andrew describes himself as a target because of his age, but, as I recall, Andrew is a tall, imposing man. He was nevertheless jumped by one girl while another beat him with a deadly weapon and Andrew was left to fend for himself. Perhaps real men don’t shop at the Mall of America, or patronize Starbucks, but that doesn’t exactly suffice for an explanation. Andrew says the patrons were too scared to help out. As it turns out, Andrew must have been the manliest man in the vicinity.
All this over an iPhone which, at best, might have a street value of a few hundred dollars. (Here is an article on the trade in stolen smartphones.) In all likelihood, however, wouldn’t the phone would have had the updated iOS7 operating system with security features making it more difficult for anyone but the owner to use the phone?
Irving Kristol famously described a neoconservative as a liberal mugged by reality. In Minnesota, however, the liberal’s not for turning. In the immediate aftermath of last week’s events, Andrew was sticking to type. Andrew told the Star Tribune he would remain involved in the case and try to help his attackers.
“They’re damaged kids, and maybe they’re too far gone, but I think there’s redemption for everybody,” he said. “So we’ll try to find a way for them to get in a place where they can turn their lives around.” Prison would be perfect.
> The American Dream is dead for too many people today; until decent jobs are widely available again expect this surge in property crimes to continue (and increase).
That has little to do with it — the violent underclass gets fed, housed, and money for drugs (and smart phones) in a consequence-free environment. They don’t want jobs, don’t need them, and won’t ever want them. What we need are more prisons, and to keep that revenue-neutral, eliminate welfare programs.
I'm all for redemption. Many folks experience conversion of heart as they await their hanging.
sitetest
As I have posted from time to time, I would rather have styled myself as ‘headsonpints’, but the times command realism.
Actual heads on pikes make a political statement that is impossible to misunderstand; my metaphorical handle was chosen to reflect this.
See my tagline - we are up against pure Leninists, now that Marx has been discredited except in Ivy League English Departments. “Who-whom?”
So, “Heads On Pikes!”
Maybe Andrew is too far gone to recognize reality.”
****************
I think you have got it exactly right.
Hold the cards folks. I think we have a bingo. If you ever had the displeasure of being in a room full of liberals, you will likely hear what they really think. And it is not what they prescribe for everyone else.
“That has little to do with it — the violent underclass gets fed, housed, and money for drugs (and smart phones) in a consequence-free environment. They don’t want jobs, don’t need them, and won’t ever want them. What we need are more prisons, and to keep that revenue-neutral, eliminate welfare programs.”
The problem is that more Americans are quickly ending up in the violent underclass; people with no hope can be desperate. There are not nearly enough jobs (McJobs included) for the number of people out of work.
Building more prisons is just enlarging government; they are part of the “poverty-industrial complex”. If they worked in a way where convicts grew their own food, made their own clothing, etc. (self-sufficient), I would agree with you; instead, they just became more pork, loaded with de facto government jobs...
Too bad we can’t rid society of all these players, but if I had to choose one it would be Andrew.
I live between Newark & Jersey City in NJ; it has been gone in much of those for decades. As we are overrun by immigrants (legal & otherwise), simple things like using blinkers/indicators in automobiles have become a thing of the past.
Hold the cards folks. I think we have a bingo. If you ever had the displeasure of being in a room full of liberals, you will likely hear what they really think. And it is not what they prescribe for everyone else.
Yes, I have been in the room full of liberals, and it is just as you say. Privately, and off the record, they will candidly speak differently. However, they have a vested interest in speaking libspeak. They must repeat the party line, else they be excommunicated.
The peril in this type of activity is that by practicing this deception over time, they become cloudy thinkers and victim to the catechism; they make stupid, heavy handed decisions that are long on over thinking and lacking in common sense. It becomes a disease; a type of mental illness. They dither, parse words and pander; they are incapable of acting decisively and logically. They therefore, make poor leaders.
Just stopping the little thugs from riding the light rail without paying would probably eliminate half the problems with the feral yutes at the MOA.
And the leftists and their media enablers would wail about a return to slavery...
“pulled out a baton with which to pummel him”
Andrews brought a soft heart to a baton fight.
A potential winner of the Robert Fisk* “They aren’t responsible for their own actions” Award.
* - Robert Fisk was attacked and beaten by locals in Afghanistan. His bloody head was shown to the world. Commenting after the attack, he sided with the attackers: “If I had been them, I would have attacked me.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1699708.stm
“And the leftists and their media enablers would wail about a return to slavery...”
No doubt; that is what transformed the prison system into pork to begin with.
If you want to beat the holy heck out of an idiot and steal everything he has, you won't find a more pliant victim than Mark Andrew.
“The new American Eloi are being bred and raised to simply accept their status as prey as normal and even righteous retribution for perceived past sins.”
Doubtful - check the number of firearms owned by American citizens.
Seems Americans own 44% of all private firearms on earth.
And, we are going better every day.
;-)
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