AMAC Exclusive – By Tammy Bruce
Two announcements were made in the last week that may have gone under the radar for you but exemplify how much trouble our culture is in and what happens when society’s ‘leaders’ lose their grip on principles and values. Patricia Krenwinkel, one of Charles Manson’s murderous followers, has been recommended for parole, and John Hinckley, the attempted assassin of President Ronald Reagan, will be unconditionally released from all psychiatric and court supervision this month.
The order to unconditionally release Hinckley was issued last September, with the implementation date to be this month. “Prosecutors had previously opposed ending restrictions, but they changed their position last year,” reported the Associated Press, conveniently as Democrats took over all three branches of government.
The judge assures us that Mr. Hinckley, who shot Reagan and three others, including James Brady, who died of his injuries in 2014, is “no longer a danger to himself or others.” A jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982, after which he was committed to a psychiatric hospital. He was allowed to conditionally leave that confinement and live with his mother in Virginia beginning in 2016 with the court and hospital supervision. The Associated Press notes some of those restrictions included “allowing officials access to his electronic devices, email, and online accounts; being barred from traveling to places where he knows there will be someone protected by the Secret Service; and giving three days’ notice if he wants to travel more than 75 miles (120 kilometers) from his home in Virginia.”
All of that will be over on June 15. And what is Hinckley‘s reaction to his new-found freedom? He has announced he is a musician and is launching what he calls his “Redemption Tour.” According to multiple reports, his ‘concert’ in New York City is sold out.
A self-reverential concert tour is not exactly reflective of Hinckely understanding or accepting the seriousness of what he did. We’re told his mental health is restored, so one would think this would include being horrified at his actions and wanting to shrink away into an obscure, anonymous life after having caused so much violence and destruction of people’s lives. Instead, launching a “Redemption Tour” signals that the stalker of Jodie Foster, killer of James Brady, and attempted presidential assassin believes redemption means fame and fortune are finally due him.
According to the Associated Press and reported by the Washingtonian, “Hinkley wants to use music to make a new name for himself. “I’m a musician. Nobody knows that,” he has reportedly said to his doctors. “They just see me as the guy who tried to kill Reagan.” Poor him.
Last year, the Democrats’ dangerously lackadaisical attitude toward crime and violence visited us on another front. We endured shocking California parole recommendations for Sirhan Sirhan, the murderer of Robert Kennedy, and Leslie van Houten, another of Charles Manson’s followers and convicted murderer.
Fortunately, embattled California Governor Gavin Newsom put the kibosh on both of those releases after national outrage. In the case of Sirhan, Mr. Kennedy’s family including his widow Ethel were forced to chime in imploring the governor to stop the release.
But the California parole board, of which only 1-3 of its 17 commissioners participate in parole hearings and decisions, keeps trying to let the worst among us out onto the street. They have now recommended parole for Patricia Krenwinkel, one of the most bloodthirsty members of Charles Manson’s “family” who participated in the notorious 1969 murders in Los Angeles of actress Sharon Tate, her unborn baby, and her four friends. Krenwinkel was also an active and brutal participant in the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca the next night.
Charles Manson, Krenwinkel, and his other followers responsible for the spree murders were originally sentenced to death. California briefly reversed the death penalty in 1972, commuting everyone on death row to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
That idiotic pique was eventually reversed but condemned the victims’ families to relive the horrors of their loved ones repeatedly as they endured attending and speaking at parole hearings throughout the years.
Los Angeles Magazine reminds us that at the Tate home on that horrific evening, “Abigail Folger was two days shy of her 26th birthday when Krenwinkel chased her onto the lawn of the Tate home on Cielo Drive, wrestled her down, and stabbed her repeatedly. According to Krenwinkel, Folger begged her to stop stabbing her, saying, ‘I’m already dead.’ The next night, Krenwinkel, Watson and Family member Leslie Van Houten broke into the Los Feliz home of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary. Manson and Watson had directed Krenwinkel to do something ‘witchy’ so she stabbed Leno multiple times in the stomach with a two-tined serving fork.”
Charles Manson had noted that Krenwinkel was the most like him. We can see that. Sharon Tate’s sister Debra Tate has initiated a petition at Change.org to stop the Krenwinkel release. She pleads, “For years, this woman laughed about the murders in court and showed absolutely no remorse at all. She admits she was not on drugs the nights of the murders & committed them to ignite a race war. Society cannot allow this serial killer who committed such horrible, gruesome, random killings back out & I am asking for your help by letting the parole board know that you do not want to see her get released by signing this petition.”
The next steps could take five months, as the parole board recommendation is reviewed by their legal division. If they approve it, which is expected, it goes to Governor Gavin Newsom for the final yes or no.