Hot time, summer in the city,
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty.
Been down, isn’t it a pity?
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city
All around, people looking half-dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

~ Summer in the City The Lovin’ Spoonful 1966

Summer is shaping up to be a hot number in the nation’s capital. Both the temps of the pavement sweltering and baking, and that of the local populace, slowly frying with the normal irritations that the suffocating furnace of a city summer brings, may well reach the boiling point. Fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk scorching. Add in a crime wave that only seems to be accelerating, thanks to a city government frozen in incompetent, woke impotency, and you have the makings of a real hell hole.

That’s where the local hoity toity newspaper stands ready to help. In a good part responsible for making sure the Washington city bureaucracy remains a Democratic and progressive stronghold, this summer the editors of the Washington Post are bent on performing a public service by providing expert advice on how not to become a victim to avoid the consequences of their advocacy.

No, not how to save on your electric bill or conserve water doing dishes – nothing so mundane.

With a nifty checklist and some useful hints, the WaPo wants to help you avoid that ever more common D.C. hazard known as “The Carjacking.”

Where things are at: major newspaper (WaPo) running a "how not to get carjacked" feature in the paper. "Stick to center lane," "don't drive alone at night," etc. https://t.co/aZfqRaGGRN pic.twitter.com/AW5R09Plss

— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) June 8, 2023

That seems a bit extreme but professional advice is always welcome. Are they really having an issue?

…In 2018, authorities in D.C. and its neighboring jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia reported a little more than 200 carjackings, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from area police departments. By the end of 2022, that number swelled to more than 1,000, with the majority reported in D.C. and Prince George’s County. Despite the launch of task forces to address the problem and a slowdown since pandemic peaks, carjackings each year since 2018 have surpassed the previous year’s total.

The numbers look even more impressive when you use color. Per usual, I don’t think their “task forces” are accomplishing much more than spending money.

From January 1 to June 1 (2023), there were 2,885 incidents of Motor Vehicle Theft in DC. Within the same period in 2022, there were 1,324 incidents. Motor Vehicle Theft has increased 118% since last year. https://t.co/VF4FL8c2jH pic.twitter.com/XE61EYp1vq

— Crime Data | DC (@crimedatadc) June 1, 2023

“I don’t see a problem” is basically where the chair of the D.C. city council sits…

Remember folks, one of the leaders told u your feelings don't matter. But guess what, when the city has hit 100 homicides at a rate not seen in damn near 20 years. U have every right to feel unsafe. Stop voting for these people that don't care. Just ridiculous. https://t.co/YtZsgcLlNs pic.twitter.com/hWPoeE0Lol

— DC REALTIME NEWS (@RealTimeNews10) June 8, 2023

…as D.C. murders start bouncing up against Baltimore numbers, which is nobody’s idea of “NO CRIME CRISIS.”

What’s going on in DC? DC murders reach Baltimore levels for the month of May!

Baltimore 26 murders
DC 24 murders https://t.co/Ln80kalBIH

— Charmcitycop (@charmcitycop) June 8, 2023

In a March of this year “attack on home rule,” Congress overruled a D.C. council rewrite of their criminal code, and Biden signed it (He vetoed overturning a second D.C. police-reform act last month.). This would have lowered penalties for things such as carjacking, etc.

…”I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule — but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections — such as lowering penalties for carjackings,” Biden wrote in a tweet. “If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did — I’ll sign it.”

Late last year, the Council of the District of Columbia overhauled the city’s criminal code for the first time in a century, NBC’s Washington outlet reported. The bill would have shifted Washington’s approach to crime, eliminating most mandatory minimum sentences and reducing mandatory maximum penalties. Mayor Muriel Bowser had opposed the changes to the city’s criminal code, saying they would not make the nation’s capital safer. But she called on Congress, which has the authority to review legislation the city passes, not to interfere with the district’s sovereignty.

As it is, you would be hard pressed to say the nation’s capital is “safe” and that, arguably, the council is doing what it can to make it even less so to the best of their limited abilities.

But something really struck me, normal Democrat city governance vitriol and incompetence aside, while reading the WaPo article and going through the various D.C. crime Twitter accounts I follow.

This is from the WaPo analysis:

…In the District, most carjackings occur in Wards 5, 7 and 8, which share a border with Prince George’s County. In many instances, police say, carjackings involve perpetrators crisscrossing the jurisdictions.

So if those wards are specifically Ground Zero for this criminal activity, you would think that the Metropolitan Police Department and the mayor’s office would be using what resources they have to target that, correct? I mean, that’s common sense. You beef up your police presence where crime happens

But they’re not. They’ve actually pulled officers out of those wards and shifted them to wealthier sections of the city. They are actively allowing this to fester.

‘Splain that to me…and the folks getting yanked out of their cars with a gun in their faces.

Choosing to shift 7 officers to the least-violent part of DC when we're in a "crisis" is a CHOICE.

The most junior MPD officers cost ~$71K in compensation so that's a resource worth half a million dollars being deployed to where it can do the LEAST to reduce violent crime (3/

— DC Crime Facts (@dccrimefacts) June 8, 2023

Don’t you find that interesting? So the city council is talking a great game and fleecing the federal government for more money, all the while shifting the resources that they do have away from where they’re needed most. And why?

Has anyone confronted that worthless mayor or Chairman No Crime Crisis Here?

One can only assume they’re being slighted because they are poorer neighborhoods which leads itself to all sorts of other questions and conjectures. But white people aren’t doing this to the folks in those wards – their city council is, and that’s the same city government that is anti-police and all about letting criminals free. Again, which the poorer wards pay for.

And, quite possibly, anyone trying to drive through there who has to stop at a traffic light or for gas.

Might want to try to maintain your cool and keep a copy of the tip sheet just in case.