Daniel Greenfield / Sultan Knish Articles at DanielGreenfield.org

“Divesting in police is investing in black lives,” St. Paul School Board Director Chauntyll Allen declared as the district voted not to renew its contract with the St. Paul Police Department. It was 2020 and the heyday of the Black Lives Matter race riots over the drug overdose death of violent career criminal George Floyd. Police defunding fever was running high in the Twin Cities. A Somali Muslim student with the last name Omar claimed that police officers had “brutalized multiple Muslim girls” and attacked their hijabs. After the vote, Omar claimed that removing police officers “means better safety and less trauma for black and brown kids”. Another student named Muhammad promised that “removing police from schools is an important step toward true safety.” Three years later true safety has been officially achieved. A St. Paul Public Schools survey found that 55% of high school staff feel unsafe at work. 71% of staffers had seen physical violence in school and 40% were worried about...

Last month, the New York Times brought its readers the heartwarming story of the Powderhorn neighborhood in Minneapolis whose residents had decided not to call the police. "If you are a comfortable white person asking to dismantle the police I invite you to reflect: are you willing to stick with it?" Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender had demanded. "Will you be calling in three months to ask about garage break-ins? Are you willing to dismantle white supremacy in all systems, including a new system?" Powderhorn residents had taken that message to heart and refused to call the police. A few days later, a “juvenile” girl was assaulted. The Associated Press reported that, “the people who took the victim to the hospital did not call police.” By July, the encampment had grown to 800 people and 3 sexual assaults. The oppressive system of “white supremacy” was being dismantled one rape at a time. The Powderhorn Park encampment really took off whe...

If Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender didn’t exist, Portlandia would have had to invent her. After a degree from UC Berkeley, Bender worked for a New York City bike lobby, then did a stint in San Francisco, before she went back to Minneapolis to work for Minnesota’s DOT on bike lanes while running the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition whose burning passion was putting bike lanes everywhere. Militant bike activists are the dumbest and most loathed figures in urban civics. No group of people is as entitled, obnoxious, or clueless as a bunch of white hipsters in lycra shorts out to convince city officials that giving them more bike lanes will end wars, eliminate racism, and save the planet. There was only one possible career pathway for Bender in Minneapolis. Urban planning through politics as a DFLer. Once in office, Bender began transforming entire streets into bike lanes. The plan was to have 60% of the residents of Minneapolis using bikes, walking, or taking the bus by 2...