Jesse Jackson's Escalade stolen and stripped, Republican dirty-tricks or Detroit youth having a bit fun?

There are lots of funny answers to this question. The story itself is hilarious, and ties with Senator Carl Levin getting hit in the face with a pie in Big Rapids a few weeks ago as one of my all-time favorites.

I will not answer this with sarcasm or humor, and here is why: I have lived in Detroit and the metro area for over 40 years. I have spent most of my 24-year career in downtown Detroit, and I still have an office there that I work out of occasionally, although I do most of my work from home. I know how to survive in Detroit. I know how to avoid crime, how to spot crime before it is about to happen, and I have an excellent sense for who is trustworthy and who is not. I gained this knowledge thanks to my career in law and criminal justice and to my own cynical nature. I have also taken self-defense and crime prevention classes.

So let me tell you about Detroit. If you want to survive in the city, always look around you. Never look to the ground, never fuss with your purse or your coat, never divert your attention from what is going on around you. Look behind you from time to time as well. Pay attention to other people. Never go to the city with more than $5.00 in cash. My office was broken into downtown many years ago, and the kid went through the ladies' purses. All he got from me was $5.00 because it's all I had. Two of my colleagues were robbed at the same time, and they lost hundreds of dollars between them.

Never go to the city wearing expensive jewelry, and never carry an expensive handbag. I own expensive jewelry and handbags. I wore my expensive diamond one time in Detroit. Some unsavory youths got onto the People Mover with me, and I slipped my ring off inside my pocket until I got off at my stop. I have never done that again. I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I own a few designer handbags that cost $400. I leave them at home when I go to the city.

Never speak to someone on the street in Detroit. Many times I have been approached by people, including innocent-looking women, asking for the time or directions, and I keep on walking quickly and tell them to go away. One of the easiest ways to get robbed is to stop to help someone because your guard is automatically down when you are trying to be altruistic. I don't help people in Detroit. I can't afford to.

Only once in my life have I owned an outrageously expensive automobile, and I never drove it to Detroit, not one time. You are just asking to be victimized if you drive downtown in a nice car. Don't go downtown in a foreign car either. Your car will probably need a new paint job at the end of the day.

The criminal element is attracted to people whom they believe have money, and that includes their vehicles, their handbags and their jewelry. The Cadillac Escalade is associated with wealth and power in Detroit. Kwame had two black ones. All the powerful black people in Detroit own one, whether they are politicians, drug dealers or owners of successful businesses. White people in Detroit rarely own them, and in my experience the ones that do are the type that hang out in the casinos all night, high on drugs, pretending to rich and powerful, trying to hang with the big dogs.

The answer to your question is neither. Jesse Jackson's Escalade was stolen and stripped because he doesn't understand black people, their culture, their plight or the way they think any more than he cares about them. This is another case of black-on-black crime due to opportunity, envy, class warfare, and the desire of the perpetrators to earn a quick and easy buck. Nothing more. It happens every single day. Jesse Jackson got what he deserved. Stupid people always do, sooner or later.

Any rational person would not have even considered the republicans being involved as they have no history of such tricks. On the other hand, the liberals have been known to pull tricks like that to blame on the republicans. Logically, since you immediately imply the republicans have something to do with it any rational person would think exactly the opposite. So, whether it was street gangs or democratic thugs (little difference, I know) it more than likely was somebody from the left, another criminal Obama supporter.

You should be proud to be in such company!

Well, I guess if, as a Rep I am being called a racist, a member of the party of NO and an obstructionist - I may as well confess to being a thief too!. Nuff said. Side note - ever been on West Jefferson on a summer Fri Nite?

Republicans are classier than to steal and strip, and they

don't hang around much in Detroit. I suspect, in this case,

it was just the usual Detroit thugs that steal things to sell for the money.

The good citizens of Detroit are implementing Hussein Obama's

spread the wealth philosophy.

Kudos to such entrepreneurship!

Yeah -- lol, that was hilarious.

Jesse Jackson, Detroit, Green jobs, a gas-guzzling SUV and crime.

It's the American Dream.

It's just a sign of the times in Detroit.

And Jackson's retort is typical. Blame somebody else. Blame the "white man."

Poetic justice coupled with a dose of Karma

According to Jesse, its whiteys fault for creating the conditions that cause people in the hood to steal Jesse's party mobile.

The Escalade is THE most popular vehicle for theft so this is hardly surprising.