The New York State Legislature banned bail for defendants charged with most misdemeanor and nonviolent offenses without giving judges any discretion, which has accompanied a spike in crime. Yet The New York Times has been shilling for the left-wing, soft-on-crime policy, despite the undeniable street violence that has already resulted. Now they’re accusing opponents of racism, the giveaway of a desperate losing argument.
The latest comes courtesy of Albany bureau chief Jesse McKinley. “Bail Reform Backlash Has Democrats at War.” The text box: “Some urge judicial discretion, while others accuse critics of fear-mongering.” Guess which argument McKinley favors? Here's the answer:
A serial bank robber who struck again four hours after he was released from custody. A wall of white faces in police uniforms, filling the State Capitol steps in protest. A protected witness bludgeoned to death.
These are some of the images and incidents that have been used in what has become one of New York’s most divisive political battles in years: a bitter, often racially tinged debate over the state’s new bail and discovery laws. Since the changes went into effect, law enforcement officials across the state have drawn attention to crimes committed by people freed without bail.
As usual, the paper blamed other outlets (ahem, New York Post) for covering the actual news of street crime -- a strange stance for a self-respecting reporter to take (click “expand”):
Those opponents have helped funnel a parade of negative stories to the press about crimes allegedly committed by those released under the law. New York City tabloids have regularly featured cover stories of repeat perpetrators, including several anti-Semitic incidents, while upstate communities have been rattled by incidents such as a deadly accident that resulted in the death of a 9-year-old, in which the driver was released with a desk appearance ticket.
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Other supporters have suggested that the opponents of the new law are racially motivated, noting that a Facebook page devoted to repealing the law has been peppered with anti-immigrant sentiment and offensive comments about lawmakers from minority groups.
McKinley tends not to hand out valentines to police. He ignored violent assaults on cops during an “Occupy Oakland” protest in 2011.
A March 2009 story cowritten by McKinley on Lovelle Mixon, who shot and killed four Oakland police officers after a traffic stop, also expressed sympathy for the killer.
McKinley’s sympathy for convicted murderers even showed up in his theater reviews. From his December 2006 piece on some performance art in Berkeley re-enacting the execution of Tookie Williams, who murdered four people in 1979
"[Killer] Tookie Williams was also a black man sent in the end to his death by a white man. Like a lot of black kids, he had it tough, and in his youth he did heinous things. Social hardship is no excuse for murder, but there is no escaping the fact that justice is a racial issue in the United States."
