PolitiFact slaps 'Pants on Fire!' rating on Lt. Gov. Patrick's claim Austin is among most dangerous cities

As many Texans have already figured out, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick seldom lets the facts stand in the way of a good right-wing narrative.

Now, PolitiFact is calling out the master of partisan hyperbole for claiming Austin, whose city council recently voted to reallocate some police funding to social programs, is one of the most dangerous places in the United States. His inference there is that cities that rethink how they fund the cops are overrun by violent crime. 

“The city of Austin is a disaster if you haven’t been there," the Republican said at a "Back the Blue" news conference in Houston late last month. "A great city, now one of the most dangerous cities in America and definitely in Texas."

PolitiFact hit Patrick's Pronouncement with its 'Pants on Fire!' rating, a designation it uses to signify the bullshittiest of bullshit claims. You know, the kind that would be depicted in cartoon form with wafting stink lines and swarms of flies.

Here's the deal: Austin's crime rates don't even remotely bear out Patrick's statement — either that it's among the most dangerous U.S. cities or "definitely" among the most dangerous places in the Lone Star State.

Austin’s violent crime rate of 400 incidents per 100,000 residents ranked 28th among the 30 largest U.S. cities, above only El Paso and San Diego, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program.

When it comes to Texas, the same source shows Austin ranking 128th among 534 cities spread around the state.

In other words, file this Patrick statement somewhere between equally colorful claims that Black Lives Matter indoctrinates children with communism and that drug lords would be decapitating people in El Paso if not for the border wall.

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