Meet me in St. Louis, and bring a gun

And now, the award for the United States's most dangerous city goes to … the envelope, please … St. Louis!

Take that, Camden, New Jersey. In your face, Baltimore. Up yours, Detroit.

The AP story says, "Some criminologists question the findings, saying the methodology is unfair." Okay, what criminologists question the findings? Why do they think the methodology is unfair? The AP doesn't bother to tell us. The AP says so! What else do you need to know?

I'd bet a dollar to a dime that the reporter didn't talk to one single criminologist about this particular study. Since the study's findings are politically incorrect — one more city with a high minority population wins the gong for crime — doubt must be cast on the result.

This is the kind of shoddy journalism we have come to expect from the mainstream media. Look, I don't know anything about the study (no link to it is provided, so we can't judge for ourselves) or whether its methodology is valid. And a news report should try to give both sides, or many sides, of the story. But casting doubt on the integrity of researchers by reference to unnamed sources with no corroborating evidence or explanation is not balance.

I'm loving it that St. Louis's mayor is named Francis Slay. Absolutely Dickensian.

And then there's this nugget of wisdom from a police spokeswoman: "Crime is based on a variety of factors. It's based on geography, it's based on poverty, it's based on the economy."

I couldn't help myself, Your Honor. Those 14 people I shot, it was down to my geography. If I'd grown up in a better geography, I'd be wearing your robes, Judge.

What geography led you to a life of crime?

Being in St. Louis, Your Honor.

How comforting it must be to believe that a bad economy causes crime. Then again, considering the actions of certain highly placed financial players, crime may well contribute to a bad economy.