Michael Ramirez Essay: Post Progressive Primitives 10-02-23

From America's Premier Editorial Cartoonist

Target joins other retail chains, closing stores because of rampant theft and crime.

THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS

By Michael P. Ramirez, October 2, 2023

Do you remember back in your childhood when you were doing something wrong, like throwing a football in the house, and the errant throw or a missed catch resulted in the absolute obliteration of your mother’s favorite lamp? Worse than the sound of the lamp pieces cascading against the wall was that look of anguish on your mother’s face and the sound of those eight words that you knew would follow, “This is why we can’t have nice things!” 

That image crossed my mind as I read the news last week about story after story of teams of criminals targeting retail stores with organized smash-and-grab incidents and retail theft in cities across America.  My first thought was that we were always held accountable for our actions as children. Even a little horseplay with no bad intentions required penalties. For many of today’s criminals in those cities, there is no accountability, and trust me, there are no good intentions… (continued below)

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