Liberal Justice
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau is looking for another scalp to add to his trophy room by going after football player Plaxico Burris. Burris is not accused of killing a wife and her friend nor engaging in the sadistic ‘game’ of dog fighting.
Burris did something foolish that caused injury to himself. He somehow dropped a loaded gun that discharged and slightly wounded himself. For this grave offense against the laws of New York, Burris faces 3½ years in prison.
Morgenthau is a careerist who sometimes seemed ready to do the Mob’s bidding while posing as a ‘crimefighter’. His selective prosecution of the so-called “Mayflower Madam” did a great service for the pimps and mobsters who exploit women. Ms. Barrows ran a decent operation where the ‘working girls’ got a fair shake. Those with the right connections can run their cat houses with a wink and a nod from officialdom. Thanks to the DA and the NYPD Vice Squad, the competition to the Mob was eliminated.
The ‘gun laws’ of New York were a form of Yankee ‘Jim Crow’ that date back to the era of Big Tim Sullivan. Sullivan was one of the more notorious pimps to hold public office (including a stint in the U. S. House of Representatives). When tertiary syphilis reduced his capacity to run the mob, a protégé who had been made a Lieutenant in the NYPD took over and squeezed some bookies a bit too hard. When one was about to give testimony, Lt. Becker yelled: “I want Rosenthal croaked”. While this did not have the ring of “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?”, the effect was the same. Despite the efforts of some on the force, Becker went to the Hot Seat.
Folks with the right connections can get a carry permit in New York but commoners (without political or Mob ties) can forget it. The athlete was deemed worthy of a concealed carry permit in Florida so it appears as if he had a clean record.
Morgenthau recently mouthed off in a WSJ piece about his opposition to liberalization of concealed carry laws. We could easily write him off as another Liberal infected with the typical cultural bias of a New Yorker. Yet perhaps he is just playing the usual game of a thug-hugging hack in using guns as a scapegoat and diversion.
Morgenthau is the son of the Treasury official who came up with the draconian plan for destroying the postwar industrial base of Germany. Leaking of this scheme was a boon to the Nazi leadership as it obliged the German military to fight on in a hopeless cause with great casualties on both sides. Harry Truman had a better idea.
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