Here’s the crime story of the week. New York City cops busted a heroin ring comprised of five religious Jews, all male. Prosecutors allege that the men sold a variety of hard drugs out of a Brooklyn apartment but would not provide the narcotics from Friday evening through Saturday morning because of Shabbat. The rest of the week, they would sell you all the heroin, cocaine and oxycodone you want.

This might seem bizarre — unless you think about it. Many on the left, including some in the media, are peddling the sick scenario that selling hard drugs is not a violent crime and should not be harshly punished. In New York state, liberals have been screaming for years to end tough mandatory prison sentences for hard drug dealers. In their opinion, the punishment does not fit the crime.