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Small towns, big gang issues »

Posted by: berkeley 1 year, 9 months ago

Along the 450 miles of the Central Valley, an explosion of gang violence in recent years has transformed life on the wide, tree-lined streets of California's agricultural heartland.

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If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. Of all the enemies to public ...

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Comments: 24
  • Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)jmopinion
    jmopinion
    Feb. 25, 2008, 7:58 a.m.

    Better nip it in the bud in California before the US turns in to Mexico.

    • Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)joeblowe
      joeblowe
      Feb. 25, 2008, 2:11 p.m.

      "Brown has declared the gang problem a top priority, likening it to domestic terrorism" - This sounds about right. Perhaps suspected gang members SHOULD be whisked off to Gitmo for a little waterboarding. Then, if it turns out they really ARE gang members (and really, I don't think it's that hard to tell)- keep them there indefinitely without counsel. What the heck, if we can keep SUSPECTED foreign terrorists there under those conditions, why not idiot gangbangers that are MORE likely to be terrorists (of a sort)? Let's make that damned "Patriot Act" work for us.

      /endsarcasm/???

      • Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)abntv
        abntv
        Feb. 25, 2008, 2:57 p.m.

        Gang activity in central Calif. has been a problem for decades..the central valley has had turf wars and drive by shootings for almost as long as LA. Until the people of Calif. stand up and say they have had enough it will continue. Illegal immigration has only made a bad situation worse. It has been my opinion based on several years of law enforcement work in the central valley, that gang activity be covered under the federal organized crime statutes and bring in federal money and resources to deal with the problem.

        • Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)NoWayMan
          NoWayMan
          Feb. 25, 2008, 3:23 p.m.

          a big culprit here is crystal meth. its the cancer of america, and is now being made in mexico where it is shipped north. that's whats fueling a lot of these turf wars and a lot of this rage.

          • Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)retbg
            retbg
            Feb. 25, 2008, 4:34 p.m.

            Well, when you have ignored the problem for years and are afraid to make people pay for their crimes for fear of offending some (former) minority, this is the result. The gangs are in charge and our leaders do not have the stones to do anything about it - and we are creating another political monster with the nit-wit muslims in this country who demand perks no one else enjoys and again, our leadership does nothing for fear of "offending". I say a plague on both their houses.

            • Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)tanglang
              tanglang
              Feb. 25, 2008, 5:26 p.m.

              This has become a huge problem for many American towns. I know it is a huge problem in Cobb County Ga. We have been hiring more officers for our gang task force. The crazy thing is, hispanic gangs such as Sur13 and Ms13 have almost completely replaced more traditional gangs such as Crips and Bloods. We still have a small Vice Lords problem, but they stick to the hood selling crack. The hispanics are the ones who have robbing crews who will break down doors in suburban neighborhoods and tie up then kill the homeowners before robbing their house. About ten years ago my neighbors fell victim to one of these incidents. They only found parts of their bodies about ten miles away.

              This is due to the fact that our government has failed us when it comes to illegal immigration. Our illegal alien problems with hispanics are no different than the problems France is facing with muslim immigrants.

              • Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)macemare
                macemare
                Feb. 25, 2008, 5:36 p.m.

                Too late---we are like mexico--our politicians are just as corrupt as any mexican pol....they let all our jobs go overseas, so there is less of a tax base....they allow chinese child labor into this co******ry..We are doomed by crooked greedy politicians,,,and very unpatriotic...Hell--Obama will not even wear a u s flag pin in his lapel...

                • Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)Howtogo
                  Howtogo
                  Feb. 25, 2008, 6:23 p.m.

                  As an ex-native Californian I'm placing the blame for the major gang problems in California directly in the laps of the "Politically Correct" PhD's from places like Berkeley, San Francisco and the P.C. politicians of California. In the 60's the gangs & graffiti was explained away as cultural expressions that were a way for the Hispanic youth to feel like a family, and we were not to condemn it.

                  Of course then the Black community wanted the same recognition and a way to defend themselves from the Hispanic Gangs. With all of the P.C. feelings and support from the PhD's; things rolled out of control to where it is now. This is a Pandora's Box that was opened by the touchy feely dogma of the multicultural movement and we are all stuck with the outcome.

                  • Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)nostalgia
                    nostalgia
                    Feb. 26, 2008, 5:01 a.m.

                    April 27, 2007

                    MS-13 WATCH

                    Ultra-violent gang found in 42 states

                    Central American members move to Los Angeles, then branch out

                    Cliques of the ultra-violent Latin American MS-13 gang have been identified in 42 U.S. states, according to the director of an FBI task force, speaking at a conference here.

                    Another violent group, the 18th Street Gang, is in 37 states, said Brian Truchon, director of the FBI MS-13 National Gang Task Force, or NGTF.

                    http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?A...

                    02/14/07

                    Central America/U.S.: Gangs Need Urgent Cooperation

                    National police heads from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Mexico met officials from US agencies. LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa set the tone, calling for "smart and effective cooperation." Gang-related violence has been increasing in Los Angeles, even as other forms of crime were falling.

                    http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/13/gangs-immigran...

                    This isn't new and it's spreading

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