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A Tragic Night
Townhall.com ^ | April 7, 2016 | Emmett Tyrrell

Posted on 04/07/2016 8:20:03 AM PDT by Kaslin

At 9:30 p.m. the other night, I was presented with a tragic lesson regarding one of our country's pig-headed policy errors, devised ever so quietly by President Barack Obama in league with progressives all over the country. Most Americans are unaware of this policy -- they never voted for it; they never debated it. The progressives are just imposing it on us through stealth. This is the Democrats' latest advance in democratic process.

The other night, I had retired early after a long day of writing when suddenly my wife shook me. She asked me with some urgency if I'd heard the disturbance outside our townhouse. I had heard a thud, so I rushed to the front window a few feet away. One story below, in the dull illumination of the streetlight, a man in a gray hoodie was leaning over what looked like a stovepipe. On second glance, the stovepipe was actually a male victim lying on his back, blood streaming out of a wound on the back of his head. The lout in the hoodie was frisking the man's upper body. As I opened the window, he furtively withdrew, leaving the man alone on the sidewalk.

By the time I threw on some clothes, my next-door neighbor, a health care worker, was bent down over the man calling the police. She was an expert in telling the man to remain still and not move his limbs. I urged him to remain calm, though calmness was not likely achievable. He was badly hurt. We tried to reassure him, when suddenly there were about 20 first responders flooding the scene. They were superb in attending to the victim. They told us the gentleman was 67. He was a black man who, it turned out, lives just a block away. His wallet was still on him. Apparently we had interfered with just a random robbery -- at 9:30 at night on a busy urban street. The assailant was extremely reckless, and he is still at large.

After a number of days, the police had questioned everyone in the neighborhood. They told us that the victim had died four days later from his wound. He was of North African origin and left his grieving family behind. They lived just a block away next to a famous Baptist church. Presumably, the pastor, a very energetic man, offered the family the comforts of faith. The day before the attack, President Obama had attended Easter services there. Security was tight.

The neighborhood that the victim lived in is a racially integrated one. It is not a posh neighborhood; but it is hardly a slum. It is a place where the victim and his family could feel safe -- probably safer than the neighborhood they inhabited when they first arrived to America. The man certainly did not anticipate the random violence, let alone his death. But this connects to my original point regarding one of the progressives' most pig-headed public policies.

As a matter of public policy, neighborhoods today are being engineered so that they are not homogeneous. Government bureaucrats are quietly mixing the upper class with the middle class, the working class, the impoverished and, of course, the clients of welfare. Populations of different classes, races and ethnic groups are being mixed together by government edict so neighborhoods are wondrously heterogeneous. Who knows -- maybe there is a quota for gays and lesbians, or whatever the next trendy American sexual preference might be. It is a perfect prescription for social unrest -- and even violence. Just recently, it was reported that the city of Baltimore is setting aside millions of dollars for neighborhood revitalization.

So the law-abiding are to be mixed with the lawless, the peaceful citizens with the thugs -- thugs who will no longer have to walk great distances to commit crimes. A generation ago, buses and other vehicle transportation did not work to homogenize America. So now the progressives are more ambitious: They are extinguishing property rights and freedom of association in pursuit of their noble vision. In fact, when it comes to where you choose to live, free choice is being extinguished. Now, adult America is being treated as our children are in our deplorable public schools: It's being coerced into diversification. It is a value that has been imposed on us in the name of political correctness, which many of us thought was a joke.

This venture into social engineering has never appeared on any ballot I know of. But it is abhorrent to the workings of a free society.

Oh, and one more thought about the decedent. It is a shame he had to die. But as the progressive Pulitzer Prize-winner Walter Duranty said in the 1930s of Joseph Stalin's grisly collectivization program (that killed millions in Ukraine): You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: housing; hud
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1 posted on 04/07/2016 8:20:03 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
I really hate "hide the ball" articles where you don't know what the subject is until you get a few paragraphs in. Not a good approach in an era when people are flooded with information as it is.

So, I never did find out what his complaint was.

2 posted on 04/07/2016 8:24:17 AM PDT by Bruce Campbells Chin
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To: Kaslin

From Bill Belichick to black thugs that matter. I never trust anyone in a hoodie.


3 posted on 04/07/2016 8:27:33 AM PDT by petercooper (All the world's problems are caused by the sandrats, hoodrats, gimmedats, democrats and commiecrats.)
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To: Kaslin

When it is all said and done we will be amazed at how many of our problems were caused by the Stalin wannabes.


4 posted on 04/07/2016 8:28:28 AM PDT by Slyfox (Donald Trump's First Principle is the Art of the Deal)
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

That the Obama Admin is forcing all neighborhoods to become ‘diverse’. Putting law abiding citizens in closer contact with people who may intend harm. Must be another one of Obama’s EOs or EAs.


5 posted on 04/07/2016 8:28:34 AM PDT by originalbuckeye ("In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

Reading. A lost art.


6 posted on 04/07/2016 8:28:58 AM PDT by enraged
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To: Kaslin

Just spreadin’ the misery around......................


7 posted on 04/07/2016 8:29:12 AM PDT by Red Badger (The Left doesn't like him and the Right doesn't like him, so he must be the right guy for the job...)
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To: Kaslin

I was just discussing this issue recently with a local business owner in my suburban area. There’s three new HUD houses on a quiet little street in our area and one of them looks like crap. Sagging porch, tarp, a mess. All because the government is determined to implement the policies described in the article.


8 posted on 04/07/2016 8:29:30 AM PDT by Ciexyz ("You know who gets hurt? The people who worked hard, lived frugally, and saved their money."- Trump)
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

I agree, some of these columnists act as if they’re writing Agatha Christie mysteries, paragraph after paragraph before they get to the point. And there is more and more of it.

I did get to the complaint which is how the Feds under Obama are quietly mixing the welfare class and the poor into more affluent neighborhoods as government policy.


9 posted on 04/07/2016 8:31:09 AM PDT by Will88
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To: Kaslin
Although I understand Tyrrell's complaint - nefarious social engineers in Government forcing neighborhoods to lose their identities (while the ruling class live in their gated communities) - I don't see how it necessarily related to the crime.

But sure, I'm all for piling on the Government overlords.

10 posted on 04/07/2016 8:32:30 AM PDT by El Cid (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
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To: Kaslin

A related story on a thread a bit further down the list today:

http://canadafreepress.com/article/rent-to-criminals-or-else


11 posted on 04/07/2016 8:34:46 AM PDT by originalbuckeye ("In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: Slyfox

When its all said and done be sure to have a gun. :-)


12 posted on 04/07/2016 8:34:53 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

There is a move afoot to relocate lawless people into otherwise law abiding communities. It’s done under the guise of forcing affordable housing into every community.


13 posted on 04/07/2016 8:36:49 AM PDT by ChiefJayStrongbow
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To: enraged
Reading. A lost art.

Apparently, so is writing. Tyrell is kind of a pretentious snob though, so it's not much of a surprise.

14 posted on 04/07/2016 8:40:47 AM PDT by Bruce Campbells Chin
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To: Georgia Girl 2

I can’t complain about putting these people in affluent neighborhoods. I don’t live in one and besides, most of the affluent vote Democrat.


15 posted on 04/07/2016 8:41:10 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: originalbuckeye

Yeah, bad idea. Too bad ol’ R. Emmitt decided not to mention that until 4-5 paragraphs in.


16 posted on 04/07/2016 8:41:32 AM PDT by Bruce Campbells Chin
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To: originalbuckeye

Hubby and I are in the process of buying land in AZ. It is very diverse in that area. We have mini-mansions next to trailers.

The difference is that everyone who buys out there have some things in common. We all want space and privacy. We respect property lines. We’re independent. When left to our own devices, diversity will automatically happen. (Like hiring the best people for the job without regard to race or sex. You’ll get a great team from many backgrounds)

What the government can’t seem to understand is that diversity is the natural result when people focus on a common goal without being concerned about race or sex or economic background. But you can’t force it.

Everyone in this neighborhood wants to pay their own way and have the freedom to choose how they live. So we’ll have manicured lawns next to the garden and goat farm. And we all earned our own place in the neighborhood. No bureaucrat paved the way for us to get in. None of us are subsidized. We are free to build the life that we want.

We’ve lived like this before and things were peaceful.


17 posted on 04/07/2016 8:44:56 AM PDT by Marie (The vulgarians are at the gate! MAGA!)
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To: Marie

Freedom of association is always a good thing. If a neighborhood NATURALLY diversifies, then yes, the people are all striving for the same atmosphere/living condition. Forcing ‘diverse’ people on an established neighborhood is just wrong. Just a curiosity, where are you buying in AZ, if you don’t mind saying?


18 posted on 04/07/2016 8:50:33 AM PDT by originalbuckeye ("In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

I’ve learned one thing in life you cannot make redbirds live with bluebirds. If too many redbirds move in the neighborhood the bluebirds leave and the neighborhood turns into shite. Its an unchangeable factoid. :-)


19 posted on 04/07/2016 8:59:44 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

I’ve learned one thing in life you cannot make redbirds live with bluebirds. If too many redbirds move in the neighborhood the bluebirds leave and the neighborhood turns into shite. Its an unchangeable factoid. :-)


20 posted on 04/07/2016 8:59:45 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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