JOHN HINDERAKER: On Violence, Obama Obfuscates As Usual. “The violent crime rate has been falling since it peaked in the 1990s, and it continued to fall during the early years of the Obama administration. What is causing concern, however, is that after decades of decline the homicide and violent crime rates are rising again. What Obama fails to mention is that the homicide rate jumped alarmingly in 2015–up by 6.2% over 2014, according to the FBI. So this year’s “uptick”–the homicide rate is increasing again–is on top of that jump last year. And it isn’t just in “some cities,” the national rate is up significantly during the last year and a half. . . . But those bare numbers aren’t the real point. Ten years ago, there was not a movement dedicated to attacking, and sometimes killing, police officers–worse, a movement supported by the President of the United States himself. Ten years ago, police officers were sometimes killed in shootouts with felons, but we didn’t have ideologues hunting police officers on the streets, and shooting them en masse.”