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China Exposed, Coronavirus & Criminals, Sanders Stays In

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Listen to “China Exposed, Coronavirus & Criminals, Sanders Stays In” on Spreaker.

Good news is a bit scarce today but the Three Martini Lunch is discussing three big stories. Join Jim and Greg as they document the latest evidence that China covered up the COVID-19 outbreak and refused to admit person-to-person transmission until late January. They also bang their heads on their desks as Philadelphia police make it known they are not going to arrest people for a wide variety of crimes while New York City and other major metropolitan areas look to empty their jails to reduce the risk of the virus spreading. And they wonder why Bernie Sanders continues his presidential when he’s hopelessly behind in the delegate count after another major shellacking on Tuesday.

This episode is sponsored by Acre Gold.  Go to getacregold.com/martini. Acre is giving away a gold bar for the month of March. Tweet why you should win and mention @get_acre for a chance to win the free gold.

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‘They Can’t Find One Single Crime That’s Been Solved’

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Listen to “‘They Can’t Find One Single Crime That’s Been Solved'” on Spreaker.

President Trump is taking heat from political adversaries and international activists for withdrawing the United States from the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, but one of the nation’s leading crime researchers says the tactics used in the treaty have never been used to solve any crime.

The Obama administration signed onto the Arms Trade Treaty shortly before Trump took office.  It would require widespread firearm registration and licensing within signatory nations.  The goal is to be able to track guns and prevent them from winding up in the hands of terrorists, gangs, cartels, and other nefarious elements.

Crime Prevention Research Center President Dr. John Lott says the premise seems to make sense: if you can find the gun used to commit a crime, you can find the person responsible.  However, Lott says most guns aren’t left at the crime scene, those that are are not registered, and killers do not use guns registered in their own names.

In addition to concerns about second amendment rights, Lott says there’s literally no evidence the UN approach works.

“When you look at Hawaii or Chicago or Washington, D.C. or other countries such as Canada, people have gone back and looked at the data.  They can’t find one single crime that’s been solved as a result of registration and licensing,” said Lott.

In Honolulu, for example, Lott says police logged 50,000 working hours filling out paperwork for gun licensing and registration.  Not only has it not solved crimes, he says it’s taking valuable time away from police work that does yield results.

“Maybe if you’d solved thousands of crimes, or at least hundreds of crimes, or at least a dozen crimes, or at least any crime, then there might be some discussion about the trade-offs that were there.  Obviously, 50,000 hours of police time could have been used in traditional policing that we know works, we know solves crime,” said Lott.

Listen to the full podcast as Dr. Lott explains how the UN Arms Trade Treaty could also handcuff U.S. foreign policy and how fierce the debate over the second amendment will be in the 2020 campaign.

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Criminal Justice Reform: Is ‘FIRST STEP’ the Right Step?

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Listen to “Criminal Justice Reform: Is First Step the Right Step?” on Spreaker.

President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan are leading the push to enact the bipartisan FIRST STEP Act, which supporters say will do much more to help prepare convicts to benefit society upon re-entry and address sentencing guidelines for some non-violent offenders.

The House has already passed the bill and a strong majority of senators are expected to support it if it comes to the floor in this lame duck session.  Senators still have to address overall spending, a farm bill, and many nominations in those remaining days.  But conservative supporters warn that if this doesn’t happen in the next two weeks, it may not happen for years since Democrats are poised to take control of the House in January.

Marc Levin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation says the bill really just takes successes from the state level to the federal level.

“It really builds on the success in many states – especially conservative states like Texas, Georgia, South Carolina – where we’ve basically shown it’s possible to both reduce the prison population and increase public safety,” said Levin.

The sentencing changes are getting the most headlines, especially for non-violent drug offenders.  Levin says no one is going easy on those offenders, but there is an effort to make productive citizens out of them.

“There are people now, for a drug offense, ending up with life in prison.  This (bill) reduces that mandatory minimum to 25 years.  I’d say that’s still pretty tough, but it is moving in the direction of saying, ‘We have to lock up people we’re afraid of, not those we’re mad at,” said Levin.

Critics of the bill, like Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton see provision like inmates being able to earn credits and transition to halfway houses ahead of schedule as likely to put the public in greater danger.

Levin says the credit system does not even apply to violent offenders and some non-violent criminals.  He also says the system does not reduce the sentence but does provide an avenue for those prisoners to undergo a more gradual transition back into society.

Listen here for the full podcast, as Levin details the many different programs the bill would facilitate to address why different inmates committed their crimes and to prepare them for productive lives instead of just “warehousing” them and throwing them back on the streets.

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Anger Over Amazon, Criminal Justice Reform, Dem Leadership Fight

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Listen to “Anger Over Amazon, Criminal Justice Reform, Dem Leadership Fight” on Spreaker.

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America marvel at how the crony capitalism that determined where Amazon will build its second headquarters united elements of the right, left, and libertarians.  Jim also pushes back on arguments that competitions to land major businesses always involve soaking the taxpayers, but agrees that the liberals are very selective in their outrage over such moves.  They also react to the news that President Trump is getting on board with a push for bipartisan criminal justice reform before the end of the year.  And they pop the popcorn as some House Democrats remain determined to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming Speaker of the House again, although her opponents are still missing one crucial thing.

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Three Martini Lunch 12/22/16

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America groan as conservative House Republicans are reportedly prepared to be less demanding on reining in spending once Trump is in office.  They also shake their heads as more revelations suggest the Germans should have had the Berlin terrorist out of the country a long time ago.  And they discuss three hate crime allegations that turned out to be hoaxes – the latest in a series of fake news.

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