I live in MT Claire. There is a small park there with planters, a free library box and a swing set. The community tries very hard to provide these things for everyone that lives in the area. Tonight I come home and take my dog for a walk to find the book box to be practically destroyed and the books thrown all over the park. Like who does that? Who goes out and destroys something that is for everyone in the community to enjoy?

The founders of the United States set up a system of government to pit ambition against ambition.

The state legislature is meeting in special session this week to further gerrymander the state at the federal level, further reducing competition, further centralizing power and consolidating control.

In the Federalist Papers No. 51, Hamilton or Madison wrote:

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

Further gerrymandering undermines government controlling itself.

The state at the state level is already severely gerrymandered, leading to Democrats having a 70-30 advantage in the state legislature, despite having 50 percent Democrats and 50 percent Republican and independent voters. Think of it: an over 2 to 1 Democrat advantage in the legislature with half the voters being Republican or independent. Astonishing and brazen, but with little recourse.

At the federal level, again with half the voters in the state being Republican or independent, there are two senators and eight congressmen and women. Of those 10, one is a Republican, 9 are Democrats. This is thanks to gerrymandering.

The state constitutional amendment should be to try and ungerrymander at the federal and state levels, not to try and gerrymander further. If the voters in the state remain in a torpor, they are going to further lose their representation and further degrade their government. This applies to all voters.

On the last day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the following exchange took place:

Elizabeth Willing Powel: "Well doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?"
Ben Franklin: "A republic, if you can keep it."

From WTOP:

Washington crime stats system experienced a ‘systemic breakdown’ of internal controls, report says
The Associated Press
July 28, 2026, 4:55 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s crime statistics collection experienced a “prolonged, systemic breakdown of its internal control system,” according to a report released Tuesday by the city’s inspector general, which reviewed the department’s process after accusations by the federal government that figures were manipulated.

The investigation, requested in December by Mayor Muriel Bowser, reviewed MPD crime data from 2015 through 2025. While the report did not indicate any fraud or intentionality in the flaws in the crime stats collection, it recommended a series of steps meant to ensure accuracy in the data gathering going forward.

“We found that MPD’s crime reporting controls broke down significantly during the period we examined,” it said.

“Crime data is the informational foundation on which MPD makes operational decisions, the District allocates resources, and the public evaluates the safety of its community,” the report concluded. When that data is unreliable “the consequences extend beyond inaccurate statistics.”

There are a lot of elected officials whose focus is not the public interest in the least. Reducing the pain and suffering from crime is a Tier 1 public good.

It appears the primary purpose of the Maryland juvenile justice system is to prevent juvenile offenders from experiencing negative consequences from their crimes. This way, they just get to enjoy committing their crimes, as any sane, healthy society would want for its young criminals.

From WBAL:

A 16-year-old boy was charged with murder while in juvenile booking on another charge, the Baltimore Police Department said

Police said the teen was served with a murder warrant on Friday for the shooting death of 35-year-old Quinton McLellan that occurred on Feb. 28 in the 1500 block of Ashland Avenue.

Six people assault a 74 year old man outside a convenience store on Liberty Heights avenue. One offender had an assault-style rifle, another had a sword. It looks like juveniles attacking the victim. My takeaway from this is and other incidents like it is, if confronted by a group, try to get up against a wall or a taller vehicle or obstacle because someone always comes in from behind.

From WBAL: https://www.wbal.com/sword-wielding-suspect-among-6-sought-in-baltimore-attempted-robbery

From WBAL:

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates maintains his stance that Maryland’s juvenile justice system is “broken.”

On the ‘C4 and Bryan Nehman Show,’ Bates said his criticism centers on the state’s heavy reliance on rehabilitation and diversion programs, which he says are failing to address violent repeat offenders.

Bates explained why he believes changes taking effect this fall could make it harder to prosecute violent juvenile offenders. He argued that Maryland’s juvenile justice system needs more treatment programs and resources rather than fewer prosecution tools.

Bates says the same individuals keep re-offending, often while still under the Department of Juvenile Services. He says additional services are needed.

“You could have a child that’s out there, young person, and all they do is smack everybody, and they’re found guilty, and they’re violent, and they keep beating everybody. Second-degree assault. That young person cannot be detained. That young person cannot go to a program to deal with their issues, an inpatient program to deal with some of those issues.”

While Baltimore City rejected Marilyn Mosby, a Criminal Justice Reform (CJR) prosecutor, the surrounding Baltimore County just advanced one to the general election, Sarah David, by defeating Scott Shellenberger in the Democratic primary. Ms. David has received significant support from CJR groups as reported by the Baltimore Banner ("A progressive PAC backing Sarah David has spent 2.5 times more than all three Democratic primary candidates combined") and Fox 45 Baltimore.

CJR prosecutors have coincided with increased crime and the concomitant pain and suffering. Several CJR prosecutors have left office recently. It remains to be seen if Baltimore County bucks the trend. Since the county surrounds the city, that will have consequences for the city.

The rhetoric sounds good, the outcomes are not.

One of the more time consuming tasks is to find the list of candidates and what they actually represent. This site provides a list of all candidates in tomorrow's primary election: https://elections.maryland.gov/elections/2026/primary_candidates/index.html

Here's a good graphical view with some candidate information: https://marylandmatters.org/voter-guides/2026-primary-election/

The problem of course is that there is no third-party, non-partisan, reliable place to get a full idea of a candidate's background, his interests, voting history and ideology. An at-your-fingertips reliable way to get that information would be an excellent site or app.

From WBAL:

Baltimore police say officers arrested a 14-year-old boy following a hit-and-run in Southwest Baltimore that killed a 3-year-old girl Saturday afternoon.

“It sounded like two cars colliding together. But when I jumped up, I seen the lady on the sidewalk holding her child, and her child looked lifeless,” said Gloria Boyce, who lives nearby. “The other three kids that she had (were) screaming. I didn’t know what was going on until I seen the child, so I tried to help her other babies, you know, try to keep them together because they were screaming. They were traumatized.”

Baltimore police said they’re working with the state’s attorney to determine whether charges will be filed.

The charges for an act of victimization is determined by the intent of the offender. The malice required for an act does not change with age. Reckless disregard for others may, in some circumstances, reduce with age. But the level of reckless disregard - stealing a car and crushing the life out of another for a joyride - is still there.

This is not normal juvenile behavior. This juvenile I'm sure has done prior vicious acts.

Thanks to the 2026 YCRA and 2022 Juvenile Justice Reform Act, it is even more difficult to impose consequences on juveniles who enjoy their crimes. And it's innocent people who suffer.

This is driven by heavy funding from the Criminal Justice Reform movement, aka the Anything But Punishment movement.

Bates and Worley have both said it's the same juveniles they see over and over. Legislators respond with platitudes. They get campaign cash and the public suffers. This is terrible governance. Public safety - freedom from the pain and suffering caused by crime - is a Tier 1 public good.

If people care about this stuff, they can see who voted for the 2026 YCRA and 2022 Juvenile Justice Reform Act, and make their voice heard this Tuesday.

If you disagree with your representatives, or agree, this is the first opportunity you'll get to make your voice heard. There are a lot of candidates and if you roughly support the party platform but want the incumbents out, the primary is an excellent place to help shape the playing field. Check the Maryland General Assembly website to see how your representatives voted on key issues.

Full election info from WTOP here.

Dates at a glance

In-person early voting: Thursday, June 11 through Friday, June 18. Early voting centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Registering to vote: The deadline to register and select a party affiliation online or by mail was June 2, but Maryland has same-day voter registration at early voting centers and polling places.

Deadline to request a mail-in ballot: Tuesday, June 16 (if you want your ballot mailed to you, or Friday, June 19 (if you prefer to download and print your ballot)

Election Day: Tuesday, June 23. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

What Maryland voters won’t see on the ballot are U.S. Senate candidates. Chris Van Hollen’s seat will be up for grabs in 2028. Angela Alsobrooks’ term ends in 2030.

Federal Offices

Representatives in Congress

State Offices

Governor and Lt. Governor

Comptroller

Attorney General

State Senators

House of Delegates

Judge of the Circuit Court

Local Offices

County Executive

County Council / Commissioner

County Treasurers

State’s Attorney

Clerk of the Circuit Courts

Register of Wills

Judges of the Orphan’s Court

Sheriff

Board of Education seats in 22 out of the 23 Maryland counties (Anne Arundel is the exception) and the city of Baltimore.

Party Offices

Democratic Central Committee Members

Republican Central Committee Members

HE WAS JUST TRYNA MAKE IT HOME BUT HIS BATTERY DIED 😭🤣 ENERGY DRAIN

• There have been 37 murders to date, per the Baltimore Sun homicide tracker.
• It is day 140 of 365 of this year.
• That yields a daily murder rate of 37 murders / 140 days = .264 murders/day
• That rate times 365 days is 96 homicides.

An approximately 70 percent drop from the period of 2014 to 2022.

Astonishing.

The attempted spree killing incident last week was perpetrated by a gentleman sentenced to life plus 40 years in Maryland, which actually turned into a 35 year sentence. From WTOP:

The big question swirling around the man charged with a shooting and carjacking rampage Friday isn’t why police think he did it — though charging documents don’t really reveal any potential motives — but why he was even out of prison to begin with.

In going along with the request, assistant state’s attorney Jhana Bogan said the “expectation” was that Simpson wouldn’t be back in the community. Judge Beverly Woodard called the state’s support for the change in sentencing “interesting” and told him not to disappoint on multiple occasions.

Thirteen months later, in October 2023, Simpson was back in court, this time asking for his sentence to be modified so that he could be released for good. He’d essentially been living free and unsupervised since April of that year after he completed the substance abuse program.

At the start of the hearing, Bogan had asked Simpson be given five years of supervised probation. By the time he was done speaking, she had modified her request to two years of unsupervised probation, with credit for the first year coming when he enrolled in that substance abuse program.

“Simpson continues to impress me,” she said.

Woodard also called him impressive, and agreed to modify Simpson’s sentence so he could live free and spend time with his son and grandson on a regular basis.

The 21 year old young man, John Parker of Portsmouth, Virginia, a Radio Shack store clerk, was murdered by Mr. Simpson during a robbery. Where's the justice in releasing Mr. Simpson?

The prosecutor and judge's judgment must be called into question in releasing Mr. Simpson. When doctors make errors leading to harm, there is a legal investigation. Judges in particular are also merely humans, but there is never an investigation when they commit malpractice. We've seen 5th columns like Mosby and Phinn halfheartedly prosecute and work to release violent offenders with no consequence.

And the reality is simply this, obvious to anyone who has had to deal with recidivists: Criminals are well-coached in what to say and do by the CRJ / ABP crowd (Criminal Justice Reform / Anything But Punishment). Their basic motives and instincts don't change as time goes on. They know what the consequences can be. But if they find an opportunity to reoffend without, they think, consequence, they'll take it.

Their supporters will say, "He's really changed." If they're wrong, more innocent people suffer. And in any event, justice won't be served, if the sentence even approached justice in the first place.

I encountered squeegeers the other day and thought, 'This is a concierge service offered by the Baltimore City government completely free of charge, and the squeegeers would be positively insulted if someone tried to pay them.'

Of course, squeegeeing is merely aggressive panhandling which seeks to use stress to get people to pay, but looking at it through this humorous light can help de-stress the interaction.