More on the Alba case; plus the election of Manhattan’s DA Alvin Bragg
There’s more on the genesis of the Simon/Alba confrontation, at least according to the deceased’s family (by the way, Alba’s age has been variously listed as 51 and as 61, but it appears to actually be 61):
Simon was killed July 1 when he confronted Alba over a bag of chips that his girlfriend had tried to buy for her daughter. The girlfriend said Alba snatched the snack from her 10-year-old daughter’s hand, according to a criminal complaint.
When the benefits card she tried to use for the purchase was denied, she told Simon, who went behind the counter where Alba, 51 [sic], was working.
So instead of telling the daughter they didn’t have the money for the chips, this woman becomes incensed that Alba (allegedly – I haven’t heard that there’s any video demonstrating this) “snatched” the snack from the girl’s hand.
Hey lady, you should have had the girl surrender it if your EBT card didn’t have the wherewithal to pay. And if the proprietor “snatched” it, report him for rudeness. Don’t have your career criminal boyfriend come to physically threaten and intimidate an elderly man.
In addition, apparently the girlfriend slashed Alba’s arm with her own knife – a different knife than Alba had grabbed – during the scuffle. It’s certainly possible she did this in order to protect Simon after he’d already been stabbed, however.
Simon apparently had nine children, although the article doesn’t say how many women are involved in that. As for his ex-wife, here’s what she had to say:
“Personally, I don’t feel like it was self defense,” she said.
“He stabbed him multiple times. That was overkill. Self defense for a push? You got pushed, you’re sitting there, going back and forth with words. He just was trying to make him apologize to the little girl.”
Of course. When you can’t pay for something, and the clerk or store owner reclaims that thing you can’t pay for, instead of explaining to your 10-year-old that you can’t always get what you want and that’s why it’s good to have a job and make enough money to pay for what you want, you call your violent boyfriend to address this heinous wrong committed against your daughter by a guy nearly twice his age.
Simon was out on bail for having assaulted a police officer, and I keep trying to get more information about some of the details of that assault, but so far I haven’t found anything.
As commentary and background on all of this, I want to highlight this from commenter “Steve White,” who points out that the current regimes are interested in imprisoning political prisoners and freeing common criminals, which was a feature of the original Soviets as well:
In the old Soviet Union, the founders believed that criminals were the product of the old, evil system — they were victims, and thus required a certain leniency when held accountable for their crimes. Every so often Moscow would decree an amnesty for common criminals, after which the Militia (the police) would have to round them up all over again.
Whereas the innocents were political prisoners (Article 58 in the Soviet Constitution) and were deviants in the new system — by rejecting scientific socialism they were indeed criminals and thus deserved the harshest sentences and conditions. They were the ones sent to the ‘corrective’ labor camps in the Kolyma and other regions; they dug coal, mined for lead, and dug the canals, and died by the hundred-thousands.
The natural law of self-defense was likewise perverted in the Soviet Union; Solzhenitsyn outlines this very well in Gulag.
And that’s what the left has in mind in the US too, with Manhattan’s new DA Alvin Bragg as a practitioner of the approach. How does someone like Bragg get elected? Well, New York is a heavily Democratic city, and the key to getting elected is winning the Democratic primary.
One thing I have never understood is the extraordinarily low turnout in NYC municipal elections. In November of 2021, when Eric Adams was elected mayor and Bragg elected Manhattan DA, turnout in NYC was 1.1 million voters, or 21% of the over 5 million registered voters in the city.
Because Bragg is the DA for Manhattan, only voters in Manhattan were allowed to vote for him. There are over a million voters registered to vote in Manhattan. Bragg got 83% of the vote, which amounted to 182,828 votes out of about 220,000. That means that he was supported by about 17% of the voters eligible to vote for him.
I’m not sure why turnout is so low there for something so important. I’m not making excuses for it, but it’s one of the things that allows an extremist such as Bragg to be elected. Many voters probably didn’t follow the race because in the past it didn’t matter much who became DA because most DAs – even Democrats – were interested in actually putting criminals behind bars. Bragg ran as a reformist, but he doesn’t appear to have revealed the full extent of his extremism.
Plus, since Democrats almost always win in NYC, it’s really the primaries that count. But in NYC even the primaries have a very low turnout. When Bragg won the Democratic primary for DA, many of his opponents were even more leftist and “reformist” than he. He may have seemed like one of the more moderate choices of all the people running as Democrats.
What’s more, because there were seven candidates in the race, Bragg didn’t have to get a majority of the votes in order to become the nominee, just a plurality of them. He actually only won 34% of the votes, and that made him the Democratic nominee, which almost automatically made him the winner in November. The total number of votes cast in the Democratic primary for DA was 250,603, and Bragg received 85,720 out of about 1,051,000 enrolled active voters in Manhattan. This means that about 8% of NYC voters voted for Bragg in the primary, and that determined the outcome.
It’s not an excuse; voters need to be far more involved. But it certainly helps explain how it is that Soros chooses heavily Democratic cities, chooses a leftist candidate, and throws a great deal of money into the race to make sure there is name recognition for his candidate and to help that candidate win the primary and then the election.
I suppose there are folks who are just stuck in a place, but why live in a sh/t hole, with crazy people in charge. The right of self defense is in the Bible , and the Constitution . We get the government we deserve .
Oh great meteor of redemption wherefore art thou ?
NYC’s Bragg may well prove to be the worst of the entire ghastly assortment of Soros-funded DAs, who in city after city are devoted to the enforcement of “anarcho-tyranny”, leniency towards violent criminals and punitive measures against ordinary citizens should they happen to be of the wrong ethnicity or the wrong ideology. SF now has a replacement; she is also “progressive”, but could hardly be any worse than the loathsome Chesa, while the fate of LA’s equally odious Gascon hangs in the balance. One of the strangest elements of this story ( which is all too indicative of the sad decline of Gotham) is the very costly shirt worn by the decedent, whose favoring of a particular brand has made the designer (Amiri) famous for the moment.
When enough voters feel unsafe for long enough, voter participation increases and a Guiliani is voted into office.
When enough voters feel safe for long enough, voter participation decreases and a de Blasio is voted into office.
The pattern could not be more obvious.
Neo: “I’m not sure why turnout is so low there for something so important. I’m not making excuses for it, but it’s one of the things that allows an extremist such as Bragg to be elected.”
Here in Washington state, they instituted all mail ballots in 2011. The main reason given was to increase turnout and participation. Strange about that. Last November the turnout here in Snohomish County was 35%. Really bad, IMO. Only local offices involved, but those are the ones that count the most. The local official’s policies and actions will have the most affect on your life. Yet, people aren’t interested or can’t be bothered to vote
The Democrats who run Washington state and New York City have it figured out. Low turnout = good. Easier to turn out enough votes to win. Mail in ballots = good. Much easier to produce enough phony ballots to win.
Steve White’s comments about the Soviet system and what the Democrats are doing is spot on. The Gramscian march is well along its path. We should be calling them what they are – Marxists.
Kiki,
Newton’s Second Law of Motion; “An object at rest will remain at rest until acted upon by an outside force” applies to people as well as inanimate objects.
The ‘progressive’ left rejects both the Bible and the Constitution.
They are working to throw both upon history’s ash heap.
I grew up in a neighborhood similar to the one where this took place. For those of you who didn’t, what may not be obvious is EVERY station where money is exchanged is a fortress. Many cashiers are behind walls of bullet proof glass. (Self-serve gas station mini marts look like Fort Knox.) Every regular patron knows if they breach that barrier they WILL be met with force.
All cash drawers have a small, dense baseball bat or club right below the drawer. Or a crowbar. The cashier can reach it in a fraction of a second. Many have knives or revolvers within easy reach. No one wanders into that space to “go back and forth with words.” It is intentionally very visually a non-public fortress. It takes a very deliberate, conscious effort to get behind the counter.
Rufus T. Firefly:
Yes, and New Yorkers know this, as does Bragg. Anyone looking at the video can see the sort of setup, too.
Regarding the Democrat machine in these areas. It can be overcome, but it takes a major, deliberate and very well led effort. A lot of people in these communities have jobs with the government, or adjacent to the government.* I have a close family member who was involved with this. Precinct and Ward captains get marching orders on how many votes are needed to put the machine candidate in. They have a nearly inexhaustible supply of minions to ensure the number of people needed get to the polls. And they make sure those people pull the correct levers.
Low turnout in Democrat machine run areas is not a sign that a small number of motivated voters can overcome the machine. It is a sign that the machine is so confident it doesn’t even bother running up the tally.
*This 3:14 second clip from Rodney Dangerfield’s “Back to School” explains big city economics and politics as well as a 314 page Thomas Sowell book.
Rufus T. Firefly:
Low turnout makes the machine’s task easier, however. If the actual turnout was very very high, it would be much harder to overcome it. However, in NYC, I think that the Democrat percentage of actual voters is so high that the Democrat would nearly always win anyway.
Rufus,
Here is your ‘Back To School’ Rodney clip. It is awesome and i have linked it here before as indicative of the world Trump came from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSLscJ2cY04
Achhh! I forgot the link!
Thanks for saving my bacon, Griffin! The clip is awesome. Not only very funny, but very accurate.
neo,
I agree. I didn’t mean to imply it’s futile. Ousting corrupt politicians like Bragg not only can be done, it should be done. I’m just pointing out it takes a lot of people working closely together. Intimidating phone calls will be made. Threats will be made, and possibly implemented. Shrinking violets need not apply. Fortunately, as you pointed out in a prior post, New York produces a lot of Vickie Paladino’s!
Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago pointed out that the camp guards were deliberately chosen from the criminal class. They would do whatever they were told and had no problem with brutality.
That last train wreck of a mayor in New York was elected for his first term, as he and his supporters constantly reminded everyone, with 75% of the vote, and therefore a “landslide,” giving him a “mandate” to be a lefty mayor. But something like fewer than 25% of eligible voters bothered to vote.
The lunatics (and psychos) are in charge of the asylum.
The criminals (and thugs) are in charge of the precincts.
“It takes a [liberal] village…”
Related:
“NYC bodega owners urge DA Bragg to drop murder charges against Jose Alba”—
https://nypost.com/2022/07/10/nyc-bodega-owners-urge-da-bragg-to-drop-murder-charges-against-clerk-jose-alba/
He’s still in Riker’s.
Wonder if Adams (and “Biden”) are gonna get the race war they seem to badly want (and need?)….
+ Bonus:
“Texas AG Demands Biden Apologize Over Mounted Border Agents Controversy”—
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/ken-paxton-cbp-agents-whipping-migrants/2022/07/09/id/1078047/
“There is no coincidence Latinos are shifting to the right: Bienvenido founder”—
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6309336135112/
“The lunatics (and psychos) are in charge of the asylum.” (continued)….
‘Terrified Dems Ramp Up ‘Worse Than Trump’ Anti-DeSantis Narrative as Fears About His Popularity Grow;
‘ “If you think Donald Trump is dangerous for our democracy & freedoms then let me introduce you to Ron DeSantis. He has turned Florida into DeSantis-stan where the only freedoms you are allowed are ones he personally approves of. You can not spell Dictator w/o the D.” ‘
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/07/terrified-dems-ramp-up-worse-than-trump-anti-desantis-narrative-as-fears-about-his-popularity-grow/
Viva Jose Alba!
“Reform clubs” worked to take down the old Tammany Hall Democratic machine in the 1950s and 1960s. Now it looks like they are the new machine. With low turnouts, activists are the only ones who vote in the primaries, and Republicans or third party candidates aren’t going to win, so effectively, the activists run the borough.
I have a vague memory from the early days of the pandemic where authorities claimed they had to release “non-violent” prisoners to protect them from the ravages of COVID-19, meanwhile arresting parents for attending sparsely attended JV football games sans mask or going to parks with their kids sansd mask or chasing down paddle boarders on the beaches of SoCal. Good times!
Voters in NYC have nothing to bragg about.