I was, however, the target of an attempted mugging in broad daylight, in a busy tourist area of St. Petersburg, Russia, one warm summer day in 2009. I shouted (in Russian) at the would-be purse-snatcher like a woman possessed, hollered “Police!” as loudly as I could, and watched as the startled young man pulled his hand back from my bag and disappeared into the crowd.

Then I finished my tour of the beautiful city on the Baltic, and returned to my Holland America cruise ship for another delightful evening of dining, theater, and a bit of low-stakes gambling. After all, I lived in the city once known as the murder capital of the United States. A failed mugging attempt was no big deal.

Actually, in 60-plus years of living in Washington, D.C. and its close-in suburbs, never once was I the victim of any sort of crime . . . unless you count the time a gang of neighborhood kids keyed my car (and several others) in the parking garage of my apartment building.

The same was true of everyone I knew. It wasn’t just luck; we knew what precautions to take, what neighborhoods to stay out of, and how to protect ourselves. But we didn’t barricade ourselves in our homes. We went out in the evening — to dinners, to movies, shopping, visiting friends — doing all the normal things that people enjoy doing.

Was there crime? Of course, there was. And there still is. It’s part of city life. But is it — in Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, or most other U.S. cities — so out of control that the local police can’t handle it?

Not according to the police officials, mayors of the cities and governors of the states — all “blue” Democratic states, by the way — that are being targeted.

In my six decades of living in Washington, there was only one occasion when the federal government had to step in and activate the National Guard: during the riots of 1968, following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., when rampaging mobs burned down whole neighborhoods, demolished vehicles, killed 13 people and injured 1,000 more during a four-day period of total, unhinged bedlam.

Other cities — notably Baltimore and Chicago — suffered similar riots. It was a time when the danger was real and obvious, local law enforcement was truly overwhelmed, and reinforcements were legitimately needed. The Army National Guard was rightly deployed, and they did their job.

But they did it properly, with respect for law-abiding citizens. And when the rioting had been quelled, the troops were withdrawn.

They weren’t sent out to dislodge homeless people from their encampments, or to arrest anyone who looked like an immigrant. They weren’t lied to about some imaginary crime wave. And they weren’t there for an indefinite period of time.

I’m not angry at the troops who are patrolling Washington’s streets today; I’m angry for them. Because they have been sent out on a fake mission to do a job that is not rightly theirs. And their organization — the military force to which they have sworn their allegiance — is being bastardized by a power-crazed sociopath who knows no limits.

That is not my Washington. And this is not my America.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/1/25