GOPer denounces bail reform after attempted 'assault' with a "My Kitty plastic self-defense keychain"
And our idiot media buys his story.
Violent crime in New York has spiraled out of control and no one is safe. At a campaign rally Thursday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin was presenting his vision for the future of the Empire state when a violent maniac tried to assassinate him, lunging at his throat with a sharp weapon. “You’re done!” the would-be assassin reportedly yelled before trying to take the state representative’s life.
The madman was apprehended by police before he could complete the vile deed. But just hours later he was out on his own recognizance. The New York Post spoke with prosecutors about the miscarriage of justice, who framed the incident as “an attempted assassination,” adding: “If they wanted to be really aggressive, they could have charged attempted murder.”
“This just makes a mockery of New York’s criminal justice system, that someone can take a swing at a gubernatorial candidate’s throat and be arrested and released in a matter of hours,” he said.
“I think that makes New York’s criminal justice system just look like a national laughingstock.”
His running mate Alison Esposito, who helped disarm the suspect, also questioned the second-degree assault charges. “I am not certain that assault two is the appropriate crime when you’re taking a dagger and attempting to stab a sitting United States congressman in the neck.”
Zeldin himself decried the suspect’s release. "My first and foremost concern about cashless bail and the need to overhaul it is dangerousness," Zeldin said.
"The judges should have discretion to weigh dangerousness. It's about the victim," Zeldin. "But even if you were having a conversation with the strongest advocate of cashless bail, I would challenge them on this point: I would argue that they're doing a disservice to the person who attacked us on stage last night because they rush -- they have to, by law -- they have to rush to get him released."
CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post: they all ran with headlines suggesting bail reform led to the discharge of a dangerous assailant.
“New York GOP says attack on Zeldin proves bail reform is broken,” Politico just kinda said taking the GOP at its word.
I need to take a moment to process how insane this is. OK, I’m back after screaming into a pillow and the void.
First of all, the bail outcome has literally nothing to do with bail reform or any type of judicial lenience: the second degree assault charges? That’s what the police charged him with. So the headlines should actually blare, “Police undercharge white man.”
But actually they didn’t undercharge him. He was charged with second degree attempted assault because, rather than nearly severing Zeldin’s head with a samurai sword, as the breathless headlines and statements suggest, the man—a mentally ill Iraq war veteran who admitted he’d recently succumbed to alcoholism and had not been in his right mind, “attacked” the Congressman with this: MY KITTY PLASTIC SELF-DEFENSE KEYCHAIN WEAPON
“Ideal for any ladies who are out late night and need something to use for self defense,” Stephanie B. writes.
“Purrfect" self-protection keychain tool” the site reads.
What’s also “purrrrrfect” is the PR blitz that our idiot media bought without asking any questions. I guess technically a My Kitty could cause serious damage if the victim is … a newborn baby. But from the photo below, it looks like Zeldin has things under control.
It’s crazy that we have politicians so dishonest they’d inflate this incident to absurd heights to score political points. Truly tragicomic. But mischaracterizing things is this guy’s job.
The much bigger problem is our idiot, idiot media and their willingness to lap up any story that supports the false claim that bail reform is going to kill us all.